"Interface and HCI" via Brandon in Google Reader

UI Nerdgasm Alert: 10/GUI is sweeping us off our fingers

2009-10-15T21:00:00Z

Filed under: Video, Beta

Kitschy soundtrack, good voiceover and an intensely thorough demo add up to one cool re-imagining of our conventional human/computer interaction. In other words: this looks as close to the UI in Minority Report as I've ever seen. The key seems to be rewarding the user for having 10 fingers, and using all 10 to do a high number of operations in clever ways. This is really, really clever, too, just check out the name: 10/GUI. Check it out, you won't be disappointed. Well, if you hate using your fingers you might.

UI Nerdgasm Alert: 10/GUI is sweeping us off our fingers originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sponsored Topics: Download Squad - User interface - Minority Report - Vimeo - C. Miller

Augmented Reality Texture Extraction Experiment

2009-09-20T00:57:11Z

This is an AR-based experiment that enables the user to lift textures from real-world objects in live video and apply them onto 3D objects that are overlayed on top of them. Only box primitives are supported here, but the general idea could be extended to other types of 3D primitives or potentially even more complex objects with some clever image compositing and UV mapping (a-la Photosynth, I guess).

View on Vimeo.

Click for live demo

Click the image on the right to run a live version of the experiment, in case you have the patience to suffer thru the quick-and-dirty hotkey-based UI.

Print the AR marker (PDF | PNG) and point your webcam at it.

It’s running Saqoosha’s (feature-incomplete) Alchemy branch of the FLAR Toolkit, along with Papervision3D.

In the future, it would be nice to figure out is how to apply bilinear filtering to the ‘deperspectivized’ textures. I could also add a feature to export the textured 3d objects into a 3D file format (probably OBJ) if there’s any interest.

Conceptually, this piece builds on these two video projection tests, and is a modest implementation of one of the themes from this post of ideas for augmented reality.

Quote: Bill Bernbach on getting your message heard

2009-07-29T11:42:30Z

Pro:Motion Gamepad, Endorsed by Doctors, not Gamers

2009-06-23T06:38:53Z

SmartFish is no stranger to ergonomic peripherals (still remember their keyboard?). What we didn't know until now is that it's interested in PC gaming market. Its latest Pro:Motion is the first controller of its kind that emphasizes more on preventing hand fatigue than improving your performance.

Unique to the "batwing" gamepad is the ergonomic shape. Instead of a conventional "fixed position" design, the Pro:Motion relies on robotic technology that tracks your usage pattern, and it will actually reposition itself (vertical & horizontal wrist rotation) using its built-in motorized parts. So, the dynamic positioning gamepad in aluminum finish is literally made for everyone. Besides its sophisticated ergonomic features, the Pro:Motion comes with two analog sticks, triggers, and D-pad as well as vibration feedback. Its 5-year warranty reassures us that the doctors are quite confident about the product, or they could be hit with a heap of lawsuits.
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Peregrine USB Power Glove (Too Good to be True?)

2009-06-05T16:20:09Z

Someone must be a fan of Fullmetal Alchemist's Colonel Mustang, and probably is inspired by the way the state alchemist can take out his enemy by flicking fingers to create explosion and flames. He actually started a company called Peregrine some five years ago, and began engineering a nifty USB glove which basically allows him to give commands depending on how he contacts the 30 touch-sensitive buttons located all over the glove with his thumb. While this isn't exactly flicking fingers, there are bound be some differences from conception to reality in product designs.

While Peregrine intends to heavily push the USB glove of the same name as the company to PC gamers, the glove can be just as useful in Photoshop or perhaps other professional software. The Peregrine, however, doesn't offer gesture-based control so we guess you couldn't really punch your enemy in a FPS game with this glove on. We do like the magnetic breakaway USB pod that attaches to the glove. This virtually eliminates the chance of ripping out the wire. This maybe not the perfect power glove, but the Peregrine maybe worth a try if you are a heavy RTS or WoW fan. It's available for pre-order at $100 and ready for delivery this Fall.
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I track cheap eye trackers...

2009-06-05T11:46:00Z

ooo-ii: The Design of the Star Trek Movie Information Displays

2009-06-05T06:51:43Z

After having watched the Star Trek movie in the Sydney IMAX theatre (and almost getting a neck strain desperately looking for the miniscule USS Enterprise in some of ultra-wide shots), one has to admire the incredibly designed information panels on the bridge. I was not surprised to learn that the company behind its execution, OOOiii [ooo-ii.com], was also responsible for the gesture-like interfaces in Minority Report and The Island.

On a technical level, the live visual effects office OOOii created a complete Flash / ActionScript 3 framework for compositing and sequencing various effects that was used live on the set during filming. An AIR application was used for authoring the various sequences and also to control them as the actors manipulated them. The resulting architecture thatutilized many computers, dynamic content rendering, and broadcasted meta data, to create what appears to be a contiguous world into which all of the screens act as windows. It also means that the man who converted his studio flat into a replica Star Trek spaceship probably saw this coming when he sold his apartment last year.

Still interested? You can explore a 360 degrees rendering of the bridge on the OOOii website, admire the original concept art from James Clyne, or watch an interesting interview with the creators.

Sony PlayStation Motion Controller Video: How It Works [Sony]

2009-06-02T22:45:28Z

We saw details of the PlayStation Motion Controller, but now we can see what the E3 attendees saw, a full walkthrough from the keynote presentation. [YouTube via DVice]

Microsoft: Project Natal Is "The Endgame" [E3 2009]

2009-06-03T01:30:00Z

What is Project Natal? Is it a fancy motion controller? Is it an easy way to talk to your TV? Is it a new way to use the 360 or Live? No, to Microsoft, it's much more. It's the goal.

Talking to Marc Whitten, Microsoft's Xbox Live General Manager, he's happy to show you last.fm, Sky, Facebook or Twitter, the latest services to be announced for Xbox Live. But these are just updates, part of Live's slow evolution to...something bigger. And you can see that in Whitten's body language when he hears "Natal." He goes from somewhat stiff and professionally cordial to shifting restlessly in his seat with sparkling eyes, like a kid who just wants to get back to his favorite toy.

As it happens, Natal is precisely what Microsoft's Xbox 360 Live team is and has been working toward since at least the development of NXE (though surely earlier, especially from a pure hardware perspective). And according to Whitten, it's the last step of Live.

You can have an amazing Live experience without Natal and you can have an amazing Natal experience without Live. But the magic, the endgame, the place that we're going in this social world in the living room is [Natal and Live] tied together. We spend a ton of time on how we're going to reimagine the future with this idea of controlerless gaming and Live together.

To be fair, "endgame" was my word originally, but Whitten, a man ever so careful with his diction, couldn't help but to use it. He sees entertainment and communication converging on Live, and he sees Natal as the way to assemble it all in your living room.

Indeed, if Natal works as well as advertised it's hard to see the technology, the idea, as anything less. You know, at least until we get the holodeck. [Image]

Eyeglass-Mounted Display Tracks Eye Movements To Manipulate Data [Displays]

2009-06-03T02:30:00Z

German researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems have embedded a head-mounted microdisplay into a pair of glasses—allowing the user to access and manipulate data with simple eye movements.

The [CMOS] chip measuring 19.3 by 17 millimeters is fitted on the prototype eyeglasses behind the hinge on the temple. From the temple the image on the microdisplay is projected onto the retina of the user so that it appears to be viewed from a distance of about one meter. The image has to outshine the ambient light to ensure that it can be seen clearly against changing and highly contrasting backgrounds. For this reason the research scientists use OLEDs, organic light-emitting diodes, to produce microdisplays of particularly high luminance.

Wearers could scroll through menus, shift elements and pull up new info by simply focusing on a particular area or moving their eyes in a specific way. The researchers envision this technology proving useful for doctors and engineers somewhere down the line, but you and I both know that if and when something like this becomes readily available, there will be millions of hipster Geordi La Forges out there inundating the world's coffee shops and Apple Stores. [Fraunhofer via Fast Company]

Video: Sony's PS3 motion controller in action

2009-06-03T11:26:00Z

In case you missed it yesterday, video of Sony's PS3 motion controller prototype has made its way to YouTube. It's not an ordinary Wiimote, it's not as mind blowing as Microsoft's Natal, it's, well... it's something in between. And it's not available until 2010 so this is as close as you'll get for awhile.

Continue reading Video: Sony's PS3 motion controller in action

Filed under: Gaming

Video: Sony's PS3 motion controller in action originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Jun 2009 06:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Unveils PS3 Motion Controller

2009-06-03T14:17:00Z

Sony confirmed rumors at E3 yesterday by debuting their take on a motion-based input device, set to be released for use with the PS3 in the spring of 2010. The BBC has some entertaining video of the demonstration. "A sensor sits on top of the TV and detects the position, distance and movement of two controllers held in a user's hand. The device can not only measure where the controllers are in relation to each other, but also how close they are to the sensor, meaning you can create true 3D movement within a game. ... During the demonstration, the developers showed what the Sony PlayStation Controller was capable of, enabling users to wield weapons, fire a bow and arrow, write on screen and manipulate objects in a virtual environment. 'One thing that is really difficult to do in a virtual world is drawing,' said Mr Marks. 'And in particular, writing requires extreme precision. [The controller can be measured] to sub-millimetre accuracy.'"

German scientists create eyeglass display that responds to eye movement

2009-06-03T17:01:06Z

Displays incorporated into eyeglasses — or even contact lenses — have been popular fare of spy fiction from Mission: Impossible to Torchwood. It's wicked cool to see messages like "THAT IS THE TARGET -- ELIMINATE HIM" scroll by your field of view, but the glasses are almost always one-way, with the wearer just a passive observer of incoming data. Now researchers in Germany are about to do one better than science fiction, creating an eyeglass display that a user can control with simple eye movements.

How does it work? Hit the jump for more.

Microsoft's Project Natal roots revealed: 3DV Systems ZCam

2009-06-03T21:21:00Z

We had a hunch that 3DV Systems' technology -- which we actually toyed with back at CES 2008 -- had something to do with Microsoft's newly unveiled Project Natal motion tracking solution, and today details have trickled in to us confirming as much. As the story goes, 3DV Systems was initially hoping to have the ZCam in the manufacturing process by the tail end of 2008, but Microsoft swooped in and acquired the outfit just weeks after it blew minds in January. At the time, not much thought was given to the pickup; now, however, we're treated to a bona fide ZCam brochure which details the actual specifications behind the Xbox 360's newest friend. Granted, we have every reason to believe that Natal has advanced significantly from what you'll see in the gallery below, but it's still a tasty nugget of behind-the-scenes information. Of note, the former 3DV Systems VP of Business Development was quoted as saying that the target retail price of the ZCam was $100, though it still had aways to go as of early 2008.

Gallery: Microsoft's Project Natal roots revealed: 3DV Systems ZCam

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Microsoft's Project Natal roots revealed: 3DV Systems ZCam originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Light Blue Optics promises touch-interface pico projectors

2009-06-04T01:33:00Z

A projector that fits in your pocket not enough to impress your jaded self? Then how about a pico projector that also functions as a full-fledged touch interface? While details are a bit scant so far, Light Blue Optics says it is working on producing just that, and says it could be released to OEMs as soon as the end of this year. That projector would apparently be able to pump out WVGA or QVGA images at 10 lumens, and it'd boast an "ultra-wide" throw angle and the ability to correct for optical aberrations, which should allow it to be used on any flat surface like in the concept above. Unfortunately, there's even fewer details on the touch part of the equation, with Light Blue Optics only going so far as to say that it involves an "additional product configuration."

[Via PicoProjector-Info.com]

Filed under: Displays

Light Blue Optics promises touch-interface pico projectors originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Testing Project Natal: We Touched the Intangible [E3 O9]

2009-06-04T00:23:39Z

One hands-on with Project Natal would make for a nice story, but it wouldn't be complete. So we're giving you two full sets of impressions on Microsoft's motion-capturing E3 bombshell.

Matt Buchanan tested Project Natal today, as did I. Here is his personal take on the technology right alongside mine. We did not share our independent experiences before pasting the text below. Neither of us were allowed to shoot what was happening on screen—hence the crazy pics of our bodily reactions, and that intensely audible racing-game video.

How Natal Works
The test system was an ordinary Xbox 360, connected to small PC and camera that simulates the final Natal rig. There are two cameras—one RGB, for face recognition and display video, and one infrared, for tracking movement and depth. Why infrared? The eye doesn't see infrared light. And when you combine an infrared camera with an infrared emitter (also part of Natal), a room is flooded with a spectrum of invisible light that works in the dark.

Natal also has its own internal processing system handling an unspecified amount of the heavy lifting behind Natal's cleaver image and speech recognition. It breaks the human body into 48 points tracked in real time, and it can sense your whole body in Z space, or depth. In fact, on a heat map that measured depth, my hands appeared hotter than my shoulders—because they were closer.

Natal is so smart, in fact, that, if your room is narrowed by a pair of couches, it can signal to a game to narrow the level. It can see about 15' x 20' of a room, according to project leader Kudo Tsunoda's informal estimation.

Breakout
Matt: My first taste was talking to the father of Project Natal, Kudo Tsunoda and watching as his simple, small hand gestures were mapped perfectly onto the screen. He started up the ballsmacker demo you might have seen in our liveblog, knocking a swarm of balls into wall with every part of his body.

When Kudo gestured to me try it, I jumped right in and immediately started smacking at balls with my hands and feet and knees and arms and head as one ball exploded into many, like a virus, until I was doing sad white ninja jerking and jumping movements. Kudo didn't tell me how to "set it up" or what to do. I just did it. You have to realize, Kudo towers over me. I didn't have to calibrate it to my body size, or stand in a weird way for it to adjust. It just worked. Well, until I broke it at the end—it froze up after a few rounds and had to be rebooted for Mark. Hey, it's an early tech demo, so don't read into it. Until that point, it worked remarkably, incredibly well—better than I expected, honestly. The bright fluorescent lights were turned off and on, and Natal didn't flinch. My real movements translated exactly how I expected them to—the precise position, velocity—90 percent of the time, no matter how ridiculously I moved, and some of the other 10 percent might've just been my own bad timing. But the result is a remarkable sense of control. Immersion.

Mark: Microsoft loaded the 3D Breakout demo we saw at their press conference. I stepped up to a white piece of tape right after Matt, and given that I'm 4 inches taller, Natal needed to account for my larger size.

After about 10 seconds, the blue, ghost-like figure filled in. And he was both taller and bigger-handed than Matt's avatar. Natal noticed that I'm a bigger guy. It made no adjustments for the fact that I'm also better looking.

The first thing I noticed was a slight lag I hadn't intended. It's not horrible, but my avatar moved a hair more slowly than I did. That didn't stop me from reaching up, spiking the imaginary ball at a wall imaginary bricks, and then flailing around to keep up with 2, 3, 4, 5 and more spheres flying at me at once.

My avatar recognized both my pitiful kicks and swipes. And while my avatar never left the ground when I jumped, this turned out to be but an animation limitation within Microsoft's tech demo. My wireframe preview image and heatmap did leave the ground. Besides, this is nitpicking. On the PS2 I played Nike Kinetic, something a bit similar. And I always wanted to be having fun. But on Natal, even in a stuffy windowless room surrounded by Microsoft execs, I was having fun. (Disregard my stern, focused face in these pictures.)

Burnout Revenge
Matt: The Burnout racing-game demo was a little more abstract—in one sense, I almost wished I had a wheel to turn, a pedal to press, because I wanted the feedback. I had trouble getting used to "pressing" the gas, which you do by moving your right foot forward. I threw myself off-balance by taking a ginormous step toward the Frankenstein's lab of demo equipment along the wall (upon which I could see myself represented in infared, covered in boxes like smallpox). But turning my air steering wheel, I felt completely in control. A lot of that was the software—it registered even the smallest pivots of my elbows that sent my forearms right or left—but the way it responded exactly how I expected it to is what made it feel so natural. Which is the real key here. It feels natural.

After I hit full speed on a straightaway, I tried to do a 180. I crashed into a wall and died. Normally, that'd make me bad. But I couldn't stop smiling that I'd held the future of gaming control in my hands—and it was simply air.

Mark: As soon as Matt crashed, I greedily jumped in, asking him if it was OK but not waiting for him to answer. I wanted to play Natal more, and I've played a ton of Burnout.

Burnout showcases a few important points for Microsoft. First, it's a real game that's been on the 360. So Natal doesn't weigh down on the processors so hard that you can't play games. Second, it requires fine motor control.

I raised my hands in the air, mining a steering wheel. I hadn't given the system any time to scan my body after kicking Matt out, but I stepped by foot forward, signaling the gas all the same. The car accelerated. I twisted my arms. The car turned just the right amount.

Microsoft had clearly tweaked the Burnout code a bit, forcing the car to feel a bit more like a powerful sedan than a street illegal beast out of some Fast and Furious sequel. And I'm guessing that Natal's ever so slight control delay was masked by the feeling of a looser-driving steering wheel that we find in more standard cars.

So I floor it, growing confident as I wave through traffic and slowly build speed. I reach maximum velocity, throw my foot back to break, cut the wheel and toss the car into a spin. Yes. This feels right. Just right.

Holy shit.

But Natal can't work this well. It just CAN'T. I need to break it, teach this Microsoft prototype a little humility. What if I stand on my tip toes and steer eight feet in the air?

The car handles fine.

What if I kneel on the ground and steer?

Yup, it still works, save for a moment when my knee shifted and I tricked the machine—a fair mistake, even by my highly ridiculous dork standards.

Closing Thoughts
Matt: Project Natal is the vision of gaming that's danced through people's heads for decades—gaming without the abstraction of controllers, using your body and natural movements—which came more sharply into focus when Nintendo announced the Wii a few years ago. I haven't been quite this blown away by a tech demo in a long time. It looked neat onstage at Microsoft's keynote. Seeing it, feeling it in person, makes me want to believe that this what the future of gaming looks like—no buttons, no joysticks, no wands. The only thing left to get rid of is the screen, and even that'll happen soon enough.

Mark: 2010...or maybe even 2011...is just too long to wait. I want Natal now.

Kudo Tsunoda Testing Natal:

BCX or BCI ?

2009-06-02T05:52:00Z

Microsoft introduced a prototype camera Monday that can be used as a controller for the Xbox 360. Codenamed "Project Natal," the camera eliminates the need for a handheld input device -- instead, the gizmo can track a player's full body movement, recognize their face and voice, scan images of real items and respond to both physical and vocal commands. Microsoft also debuted 10 exclusive new games and several additions to the Xbox Live online service at their flashy Electronic Entertainment Expo press conference at University of Southern California's Galen Center. But the biggest gee-whiz moment came when Microsoft senior vice president Don Mattrick and Steven Spielberg introduced "Project Natal." read on.....

Remains of the Day: The Future of Your PC Is Coming to the Xbox Edition [For What It's Worth]

2009-06-03T23:00:00Z

We glimpse the future of controller-free computer interaction (in this case, with the Xbox 360), Google tours celebrities' (primarily fake) iGoogle homepages, and Microsoft suggests a terrible new name for netbooks.

Project Natal for XBOX 360
The announcement took place on Monday, but we just stumbled across the demo video and can't help but get a little excited about our Minority Report future. [YouTube]
Microsoft to use a new term for netbook
That term, according to DigiTimes? A rather unwieldy "low cost small notebook PC." What's your favorite LCSNPC? [DigiTimes]
Tour the homepages of your favorite celebrities
Celebs show off their iGoogle homepages. Yes, we're convinced Donald Trump uses iGoogle like we're convinced he was born with that hair. [Official Google Blog]
4 ways to prepare for a layoff
Career blogger Marci Alboher shares four things you should do to prepare if you're concerned a layoff is imminent. [Manage Your Life]
The importance of being immediate - Google Mobile App now for Nokia S60 smartphones
Google Mobile app hits Nokia Series 60 smartphones. [Google Mobile Blog]
10% Of Twitter Users Account For 90% Of Twitter Activity
Believable. [Silicon Alley Insider]

Canon gets all 'Steve Zissou' with its Mixed Reality Aquarium

2009-05-01T20:17:00Z

In some ways, augmented reality is an elegant solution to the main problem with VR: while there are some areas where insane levels of immersion are required, this stuff ain't cheap -- relegating solutions like CirculaFloor to academics, the military, and the extremely well-heeled. But how about those who just want to see wild graphics while they, you know, "party?" Canon's Mixed Reality Aquarium headset transforms any area you inhabit into a giant fishbowl. Not the sort of thing that you'll want to do more than once, probably -- although, to the company's credit, this is more of a research project than an actual product. How about an option to swim with Daryl Hannah from Splash? That would be pure gadget gold. That said, this does make for a fun video -- which we've graciously provided for you, after the break.

[Via Oh Gizmo!]

Continue reading Canon gets all 'Steve Zissou' with its Mixed Reality Aquarium

Filed under: Displays

Canon gets all 'Steve Zissou' with its Mixed Reality Aquarium originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 May 2009 15:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is This Video of Microsoft's Xbox 360 Motion Controls? [Xbox 360]

2009-05-01T18:26:32Z

The first meaty rumors of the Xbox 360 using full-body motion controls—without a controller—are pretty interesting, since Microsoft showed us their "write in the air" tech a couple months ago, complete with Xbox logo:

Microsoft showed off a "Write in the Air" system developed in China. You can write with a gyro controller or in thin air, using a camera. Is it next for the Xbox?

You can't help but notice the giant Xbox logo there on the screen, and the researcher I talked to said that it would be a great system for the Xbox or for Microsoft interactive TV. Still, when I pressed him, he said he didn't know of any immediate plans. Whatever, it makes sense, except maybe the part where he grabs an orange and uses it as a stylus.

If the rumors are true, the orange makes a lot more sense now, don't it? Not that I'm any less skeptical of these kind of controls actually working for gamers in the real world. PSEye, anyone? [Giz@Microsoft TechFest]