HP has hooked up with the City of Chicago to install a whole bunch of
TouchSmart 2-powered kiosks for a period of six months, offering weary travelers an all-too-brief respite from their normal routine as they wander through O'Hare International Airport's many nooks and crannies. In terms of functionality, we're not talking about much action here -- don't expect to plop down and catch up on email or video call the fam on Skype -- but users can head over to the city's tourism website, watch a video about the TouchSmart's capabilities, and browse a whole bunch of sweet (and huge) images of the city courtesy of
GigaPan. The high-megapixel imagery suits the system's multitouch capabilities to a T, but needless to say, the high-gloss display doesn't get along too well with Terminal 1's harsh lighting; check out the video after the break to see what we mean.
posted Apr 1st 2009 7:51AM
Nice. A bit laggy though.
Which is expected because it's not OSX, but rather Windows underneath.
No, this is a crappy machine. I had bought one for my wife and took it back a week later. The hardware inside is horrible and with nothing running in vista but their touchsmart software, it consumes nearly 3.5gb of ram. the touch is nice, but the overall thing was done wrong.
And you didn't try installing Windows 7 on it?
iKurt: ftsu
fingerprint magnet
Sweet, I'll be at O'Hare tomorrow. I'll make sure to check it out.
I have used these touchsmart pc's and I thought i wouldnt use the touch screen too much but once you start using it it comes in handy. My next pc will either be one of these or an imac.
Where are these? I was just at O'Hare a few weeks ago, and I did not notice any of these. Are there any in Concourse B or C, as I should be traveling thru there again very soon, and I would like to check one out..
They're in Terminal 2, near Terminal 1. If you're in the B or C concourses (which are in Terminal 1), head towards Terminal 2. They'll be on the right, just after you enter Terminal 2.
Ah, I see.. the snippet says they are in Terminal 1, that would be why I haven't noticed them. I will have to be sure to check them out when I get there again. Thanks!
Woo Chicago!
Another extra little pinch of "Hey look at me!" for the Olympic Committee. Nice.
Yes, this is a practical use of touch-screen technology. However, under no circumstance do I see the benefit of such technology for a normal desktop or (worse) notebook computer. Put them in kiosks, jukeboxes, interactive tables, etc. and it all makes sense.
Saw these last week when I flew through O'Hare. Pretty cool display- they teamed with GigaPan for the display, so the site has a ton of high res pics. They display also has Giga Pans equipment in glass boxes. Very cool indeed.
The ExploreChicago.org site is pretty nice, I checked it out. A lot of good info on tours, places to eat, etc.
Why not Midway?
:(
because midway is supposed to be leased to a private company shortly.
Because Midway does not have nearly the number of travelers passing though it than O'Hare has.
I make a point of NOT flying though Midway, because to me, it seems like a crappy dirty, hole in the wall, airport. O'Hare is much brighter, cleaner, and just more inviting.
Ultratryon has clearly not been to Midway in the last 6 years.
Such public terminals have never been more than a geek curiosity. I recall come being all over San Francisco public spaces, the airport and tourist center twenty years ago. Those had far more information and were not just an ad for HP with some pictures added, but they still failed.
any idea what they used to create the interface?
Hmmm, I am betting HP didn't license all of these photos directly from the photographers. This definately looks like a commercial application to me. Does putting an image on the gigapan site mean that they can do whatever they want with them? Is this yet another company making a rights grab?
Starcraft was kind of fun on these.