I have a 2yr old boy who loves his grandfathers IPhone. It blows me away how quick he has figured out the concept and use. So i also purchased a HP touch screen puter. I've noticed all of the kids (nieces, nephews, also) love it. It seems that kids pick up the concepts quicker when using their hands directly. My son now fly's on his computer... Volcano videos on you tube, his reading lessons, math games, etc. Other words I can see a huge leap in learning curve for young kids! Just my 2 cents.
How about instead of a touch screen they make a touch keyboard? The keys can be reconfigured on the fly. It would support multiple language options, programmable shortcuts, you dream it there will be a widget or plug-in for it. Easiest way to get dual screens onto laptops is one screen on the lid and one where the keyboard used to be.
I can`t picture any graphic professional touching a screen of their desktop or laptop. Phones, terminals, OK, but desktops never.
Sony camcorders are also no go for me because of their touchscreens.
I can't imagine me using a touchscreen on my desktop. It would be very unconfortable, having to strech my arm to press the screen... I think that where touch makes sense is on smartphones, PCs scattered around the house, ATMs, on tablets and on big screens for schools/colleges. I wouldn't trade my keyboard/mouse combo for a touchscreen.
Were I see a great application for a touch screen is on the keyboard. I use CAD software a lot and to have a separate touch screen attached to the keyboard where the dozens of tool buttons could be placed would be hugely useful. Similar function would be handy in programing and graphics apps, anytime clusters of tool-bars clutter the functional workspace would now be at the fingertips without hours of programming balky macros.
Try this simple test if you think that a touch interface will ever be used on a vertical desktop screen. Stretch your arm in front of you so that it almost touches the screen (my screen is an arm's length away). Time yourself for 2 minutes while doing some pretend touch moves - including moving your arm to all four corners of the screen. The average weight of a human arm is 7.5 lbs (3.4 kg), and you will really feel the effort required to support it after such a short time. Now extrapolate this experience to a day's computing!
Open Labs Miko and Neko audio workstations have had 15" touchscreens for years. Touchscreens are a real aid to controlling soft synths and DAWs both live and in the studio. OL has steadily been upgrading the software for ease of use. I don't know if the newest screens are multi-touch but OL will undoubtably be one of the first manufacturers to utilize them. BTW I own and use a Miko, but it's generation 2 versus the newest gen5.
Jazzmutant's Dexter and Lemur are already using multitouch screens for audio-visual manipulation.
Korg is also well known for touchscreens, in such devices as the Kaos pad as well as their synths.
The Theremin was the first audio device that used no-touch hand control for manipulating pitch and tone. Not many musicians have embraced them, but the best known thereminist was Clara Rockmore, way back in the 1930's! Still being produced by Moog Music, though Moog wasn't the original manufacturer.
Roland's D-beam is an infrared controller with more limited functionality than the Theremin, though being tied in digitally to their synthesizers and drum machines allows for wider range of function assignment.
For audio work the touchscreen is more reliably (and maybe finesse-wise) manipulated than the gesture based interface. The tiltability of the iPod/iPhone adds a third axis of control that is appealing to synthesists as well.
Have you ever used a Samsung Q1? Every time anyone sees this for the first time they fall in love with it. Having a "laptop/tablet" that works like a cell phone (ie, slide out keyboard) would put this thing over the top. Take a netbook, reverse the screen (so that the screen is on top) remove clam-shell opening, and have the keyboard slide out when needed.
I'd like to see a handheld thats about the size of a DVD case (~5x7). Minimum screen res should be atleast 1080x640, preferably 1280x720. It would make text on many websites a bit small, but thats pretty easy to increase.
On something this size, you would have to have multitouch and preferably have haptic feedback. That would make it much easier to use a vitual keyboard one handed. If it took up the bottom 1.5-2" then the keys should be large enough that it wouldn't be too difficult to be able to type reasonably fast on it.
A tablet like the one Apple is working on would be very cool if done well. Hopefully itll have laptop parts and not phone parts.
I dont see how touchscreens could possibly be implemented with a desktop platform. Natal is likely coming to the PC, so yeah I think gesture is whats next as far as input with desktop platforms.
I have a 2yr old boy who loves his grandfathers IPhone. It blows me away how quick he has figured out the concept and use. So i also purchased a HP touch screen puter. I've noticed all of the kids (nieces, nephews, also) love it. It seems that kids pick up the concepts quicker when using their hands directly. My son now fly's on his computer... Volcano videos on you tube, his reading lessons, math games, etc. Other words I can see a huge leap in learning curve for young kids! Just my 2 cents.
How about instead of a touch screen they make a touch keyboard? The keys can be reconfigured on the fly. It would support multiple language options, programmable shortcuts, you dream it there will be a widget or plug-in for it. Easiest way to get dual screens onto laptops is one screen on the lid and one where the keyboard used to be.
I can`t picture any graphic professional touching a screen of their desktop or laptop. Phones, terminals, OK, but desktops never.
Sony camcorders are also no go for me because of their touchscreens.
I can't imagine me using a touchscreen on my desktop. It would be very unconfortable, having to strech my arm to press the screen... I think that where touch makes sense is on smartphones, PCs scattered around the house, ATMs, on tablets and on big screens for schools/colleges. I wouldn't trade my keyboard/mouse combo for a touchscreen.
Were I see a great application for a touch screen is on the keyboard. I use CAD software a lot and to have a separate touch screen attached to the keyboard where the dozens of tool buttons could be placed would be hugely useful. Similar function would be handy in programing and graphics apps, anytime clusters of tool-bars clutter the functional workspace would now be at the fingertips without hours of programming balky macros.
Try this simple test if you think that a touch interface will ever be used on a vertical desktop screen. Stretch your arm in front of you so that it almost touches the screen (my screen is an arm's length away). Time yourself for 2 minutes while doing some pretend touch moves - including moving your arm to all four corners of the screen. The average weight of a human arm is 7.5 lbs (3.4 kg), and you will really feel the effort required to support it after such a short time. Now extrapolate this experience to a day's computing!
Open Labs Miko and Neko audio workstations have had 15" touchscreens for years. Touchscreens are a real aid to controlling soft synths and DAWs both live and in the studio. OL has steadily been upgrading the software for ease of use. I don't know if the newest screens are multi-touch but OL will undoubtably be one of the first manufacturers to utilize them. BTW I own and use a Miko, but it's generation 2 versus the newest gen5.
Jazzmutant's Dexter and Lemur are already using multitouch screens for audio-visual manipulation.
Korg is also well known for touchscreens, in such devices as the Kaos pad as well as their synths.
The Theremin was the first audio device that used no-touch hand control for manipulating pitch and tone. Not many musicians have embraced them, but the best known thereminist was Clara Rockmore, way back in the 1930's! Still being produced by Moog Music, though Moog wasn't the original manufacturer.
Roland's D-beam is an infrared controller with more limited functionality than the Theremin, though being tied in digitally to their synthesizers and drum machines allows for wider range of function assignment.
For audio work the touchscreen is more reliably (and maybe finesse-wise) manipulated than the gesture based interface. The tiltability of the iPod/iPhone adds a third axis of control that is appealing to synthesists as well.
Have you ever used a Samsung Q1? Every time anyone sees this for the first time they fall in love with it. Having a "laptop/tablet" that works like a cell phone (ie, slide out keyboard) would put this thing over the top. Take a netbook, reverse the screen (so that the screen is on top) remove clam-shell opening, and have the keyboard slide out when needed.
I'd like to see a handheld thats about the size of a DVD case (~5x7). Minimum screen res should be atleast 1080x640, preferably 1280x720. It would make text on many websites a bit small, but thats pretty easy to increase.
On something this size, you would have to have multitouch and preferably have haptic feedback. That would make it much easier to use a vitual keyboard one handed. If it took up the bottom 1.5-2" then the keys should be large enough that it wouldn't be too difficult to be able to type reasonably fast on it.
A tablet like the one Apple is working on would be very cool if done well. Hopefully itll have laptop parts and not phone parts.
I dont see how touchscreens could possibly be implemented with a desktop platform. Natal is likely coming to the PC, so yeah I think gesture is whats next as far as input with desktop platforms.