Video: PQLabs iTable digits-on lets us touch orcs, movies, me-too branding

Multi-touch is where it's at, but what if you already have one of those lame, obsolete, big-screen, flat-panel displays that accept only smudges from your fingers? What you need is a Multi-Touch G2 from PQLabs, an overlay that attaches to your existing 32-inch (or larger) set with double-sided tape, adding the multi-touch sensitivity that your fingertips have been yearning for. The company has also announced its upcoming iTable, effectively a multi-touch panel with a built-in computer, having something in common with Microsoft's Surface, but nothing with Apple's iPhone (from which it dishearteningly takes a naming cue). We spent a few minutes with our fingers stroking both the iTable and the Multi-Touch G2 and were impressed by both; they initially seemed a bit unresponsive but, within a few seconds, we were browsing media, building grunts, and decimating forests in no time. Playing an RTS like Warcraft 3 with gestures is a fantastic experience no strategy gamer should miss, but, at $2,399, is one that only the richest of tacticians can put in their buy queue. No pricing for the iTable just yet, but expect it to be more.

[roach @ Jan 10th 2009 8:25PM]

Am I the only one so reluctant to buy anything that start with lower case i followed by a name?

[Electromodo @ Jan 10th 2009 10:31PM]

You are not the only one... Those companies naming their products iSomething after Apple remind me of "mee too!" kids or just the poor relatives. Or Chinese rip-offs.

And they fall very low on my scale of respect.

[Levi @ Jan 10th 2009 8:26PM]

TO HELL WITH THESE PEOPLE AND THEIR iPRODUCTS!!!

Apple has an excuse: they started the trend. There is nothing "i" about this damn table!!!!

[Cris T @ Jan 10th 2009 8:29PM]

Doesn't " i " in iBook, iMac.... stand for internet? (internet Mac = iMac)

[Levi @ Jan 10th 2009 8:43PM]

I've read a bunch of discussions, nobody knows. If there's an answer out there, not enough people know it. Plus, how does it make sense with the countless other products that start with lower case i? iPod didn't have internet until the touch. iRiver is a company name. A WHOLE COMPANY named themselves iSomething. iRiver makes good products, but WHY THE i???!?!?!?@?!#!@$# $$%YS sagaegiaeorihasoifhas dvd vdf
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...oh my... I'm very soorry..

[Shyam D @ Jan 10th 2009 8:51PM]

The iRiver brand name was started in 2000, well before the iPod claim to fame and subsequent i-naming craze. So to be fair, they did it before it become the thing to do.

[Phoenix @ Jan 10th 2009 9:20PM]

BBC i-Player

[Nando @ Jan 10th 2009 10:05PM]

I tought the "i" was for interactive...

[Dahk @ Jan 10th 2009 10:35PM]

I thought the "i" stood for... I.

Greatest acronym ever.

[williambraski @ Jan 11th 2009 4:32PM]

Shyam D-

iRiver - Founded 1999

iMac - orig. released 1998

The 'i' originated as meaning "Internet" as the ease to getting on the Internet was a main selling point of the orig. iMac (remember the Jeff Goldblum "3-steps to get on the internet" commercials?). They kept the 'i' as a good luck charm since the iMac was so successful. Now it's akin to the Nike swoosh.

Yeah I'm bored at work today.

[gonintendo @ Jan 10th 2009 8:57PM]

Reminds me of cooliris for firefox.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5a9QYB_ths&feature=related
http://www.cooliris.com/

[betopark @ Jan 11th 2009 4:24AM]

Yes the first part of the video they were using cooliris to demonstrate.

And why all the talk about i this and that? I agree stupid name idea. Get over it, and write a comment on the product.

I wouldn't mind a product this. Especially the part that you can put over your existing screen. (like the beautiful one I am staring at right now.)

[beaver76 @ Jan 10th 2009 9:29PM]

"The iRiver brand name was started in 2000, well before the iPod claim to fame and subsequent i-naming craze. So to be fair, they did it before it become the thing to do."

To be fair to Apple they released the iMac in 1998, which would precede iRiver's claim to existence.

[Shyam D @ Jan 10th 2009 11:27PM]

The iMac was not popular until the iPod made the i-device naming structure big. Before then, naming something iDevice didn't cause any hype. The point was never to be unfair to Apple. The point is that yes, it is half ridiculous with all the iWaterHeater and iLawnMower,etc., but iRiver isn't on that same bandwagon.

[arash @ Jan 11th 2009 2:36AM]

oh plz engadget,dont compare it to surface.

[Decoy @ Jan 11th 2009 6:57PM]

Don't the orcs say 'stop touching meeeee?'

[aliennr9 @ Jan 12th 2009 1:08AM]

Nothing new, we developed multi-touch with those frames since 2007. Including Windows Driver.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNH2b1IWV1Q for windows
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyC_XphsAWo for games

[Das Boot @ Jan 12th 2009 10:23AM]

i like to be touched....

[Angstrom @ Jan 27th 2009 9:27AM]

Isn't this company in California?