Discussions

> Discussions > FutureMonitor™ Discussions > Seen -- snapshots of change > The next computer-body interface

	Discuss: Seen -- snapshots of change Topic: The next computer-body interface

You must be signed-in with your registered username and password to post a reply.

Author

Posts

Sort:

melblake

Member Since:
21 Jan 2006
Posts:4

14 Mar 2006 3:34 PM

4 have marked this post as Insightful

Beautiful data and image interface. Seen at the NYU Media Research Lab site, this multi-touch system enables many fingers/users to work at the same time. Check out the amazing video at http://mrl.nyu.edu/~jhan/ftirtouch/
Uploaded by melblake on 3/14/2006 10:36:46 AM

Frymaster

Member Since:
23 Mar 2006
Posts:32

30 Mar 2006 12:42 AM

1 have marked this post as Insightful

Not just pretty pictures. That video is so thoroughly righteous, I'm embarassed that I didn't check it out earlier. </br>I'm pretty sure I'm in love with just about everything I saw, including that enormous table/screen thingee. There's no such thing as a big enough monitor, but that's a start. Can you imagine developing an enormous relational database with something like that? Zooming in? Following connections? Ooh, I'm getting all hot 'n bothered.</br>More than the touch part -- which is cool, no doubt -- what gets me going is the interface that simply has objects without individual windows. Also, the way the control surface extends infinitely off the screen, or on the screen as the view zooms infinitely out. For some people (like creative-type, outside the box-type) it's easier to fully comprehend complex datasets with an integrated visual representation. Hence the ridiculous, 27-million-tile representations of your gi-normous database hanging on the wall in your IT department.</br>You can already see the beginings of these kinds of interfaces in Google put in their Maps/Earth vs. previous MapQuest-based designs. </br>Or maybe I'm overthinking this, and I'm simply impressed by how much data you can get when you start to measure the screen in square feet!

mkb

Member Since:
05 May 2006
Posts:11

24 May 2006 3:36 AM

0 have marked this post as Insightful

No, I don't think you were overthinking it. What I do think is that we just saw another example of science-fiction morphing into fact (which it seems to do with some regularity). How often have we seen/ read about interfaces like this in the past? Admittedly, most of the folks developing this whiz-bang technology were reading Heinlen, Dickinson, et al before they even hit puberty, and hence they were inspired (biased?) towards certain ideas, but still, ain't it interesin'? The thing is, is this just a step towards 3-d holography displays as UI's? Maybe this will be the interface - our new desktop, if you will, with interactive, 3d image floating above to display information/ avatars? No more stale computer labs - how about rooms you can walk into, and right away your actions are part of the machine, which is displayed all around you. The way you walk, gesture, all manipulating the data. All of this, and you never need to plug yourself in via some physical tether.

Golly, ain't life a treat?

You must be signed-in with your registered username and password to post a reply.