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MicrosoftResearch posts

Microsoft messes with 'natural' user interface, featuring eye tracking, voice control and wild body gestures

by Paul Miller posted Nov 6th 2009 at 9:45AM

While today's Windows might not look completely out of place next to a Windows of yore, Microsoft Research certainly has some wild ideas for how to progress computer interaction. In a talk during Microsoft's college tour, Craig Mundle has been touting his research wares, including some pretty reasonable advances like auto completion of common concepts; automatic, intelligent sorting of large amounts of data; and a movable, modular work surface. One of the odder demos involves moving the LCD so it's flat on the desk and then using huge arm movements to manipulate a 3D model projected onto a piece of glass, and the demonstration of eye-tracking is intriguing while not altogether convincing. Of course, we've got a while before we'll see any of this stuff in real products, but perhaps we won't have to wait so long as ten years for that "2019" vision of the future to come to pass. Hit up the read link for the videos.

Microsoft researchers build muscle-computer interface, play air Guitar Hero

by Donald Melanson posted Oct 27th 2009 at 11:59PM

Legendary DIYer Johnny Chung Lee may have only been with Microsoft for a few months, but it looks like he's already making his presence felt, even when he's not working on projects himself. His latest effort involves getting videos from the User Interface Software and Technology (or UIST) conference online, including this look at a new muscle-computer interface developed by Phd student Scott Samponas and some other folks working with Microsoft Research. While it obviously has a number or potentially exciting and practical uses (like controlling devices when you're hands are full, or when you're running), Samponas et al apparently just couldn't help themselves from demonstrating one of its most obvious applications: an true implementation of air Guitar Hero. Video after the break.

Continue reading Microsoft researchers build muscle-computer interface, play air Guitar Hero

Microsoft's office of the future features interactive walls and Surface but, sadly, no Clippy

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Oct 7th 2009 at 8:02PM

You know, Microsoft Research isn't just about prototype tablets and the occasional multitouch mouse. No sir, it's also about designing work environments that are so impractical that you can bet you'll never see one in real life. For today's example we have a sort of Microsoft Office: no, not the productivity suite, rather a room that integrates interactive wall displays, Surface, and video conferencing. There is even an assistant / avatar for issuing voice commands, and while this demo has it played by a human being we have hopes that Clippy might be making a comeback. Ready to check it out yourself? Of course you are! The video is after the break.

[Thanks, Chris]

Continue reading Microsoft's office of the future features interactive walls and Surface but, sadly, no Clippy

Microsoft multitouch mouse prototypes in action (video)

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Oct 7th 2009 at 4:52PM

This week the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST) went down in British Columbia, and among all the pointing and the clicking the gang from Engadget Japanese were on hand to take a closer look at those wild and wooly multitouch mouse prototypes that Microsoft Research has been working on. Apparently Orb's hemispheric touch sensor supports a healthy helping of gestures (just the thing for point-and-shoot gaming), while Arty and FTIR certainly seem to know when you're clicking something. These are just prototypes, of course, but the video provides a fun look at some of the things you might soon see integrated into your computing experience. Peep for yourself after the break.

Gallery: Microsoft multitouch mouse prototypes in action

[Via Engadget Japanese]

Continue reading Microsoft multitouch mouse prototypes in action (video)

Microsoft Research shows off multitouch mouse prototypes

by Paul Miller posted Oct 5th 2009 at 12:53PM

Rather odd timing, given some recent developments in the Apple camp, but Microsoft Research has just surfaced some of its incredibly wild multitouch mouse prototypes. Each one uses a different touch detection method, and at first glance all five seem to fly in the face of regular ergonomics. The craziest two are probably "Arty," which has two articulated arms to cradle your thumb and index finger, with each pad housing its own optical sensor for mission-critical pinching gestures, and "Side Mouse" which is button free and actually detects finger touches in the table immediately in front of the palm rest. Of course, there's plenty of crazy in the FTIR, Orb Mouse and Cap Mouse (pictured), which rely on an internal camera, orb-housed IR camera and capacitive detection, respectively. Of course, there's no word on when these might actually see the light of day, but it should be quite obvious that Apple's not the only game in town thinking about this stuff. Check out the utterly enlightening video of these things in action after the break.

Gallery: Microsoft Research shows off multitouch mouse prototypes

Continue reading Microsoft Research shows off multitouch mouse prototypes

Microsoft unveils Barrelfish multi-core optimized OS

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Sep 29th 2009 at 7:33PM

With current operating systems, as the number of cores increases efficiency decreases. Microsoft Research has just announced an experimental OS, called Barrelfish, that they're developing in conjunction with ETH Zurich, in the hopes that they'll learn how to buck that trend -- both with current and future hardware. Building upon lessons learned with projects including Midori and Singularity, Barrelfish eschews share memory schemes in favor of message passing and a kind of database that shuttles information between cores. Heady stuff, for sure -- but just the kind of thing that sets off our Geek Alarms. If you can't wait to check this one out for yourself, hit the read link for the first release snapshot, in all its Open Source glory. The rest of us will probably remain content waiting to see how this new-found knowledge will trickle down to Windows 7 users in the future.

[Via DailyTech]

Codex and InkSeine -- the roots of Microsoft's Courier?

by Joshua Topolsky posted Sep 23rd 2009 at 10:54AM

Yesterday, the cats over at Gizmodo got a look at what appeared to be a pretty groundbreaking product from Microsoft -- the Courier -- a dual-screen, multitouch tablet with an advanced UI the likes of which we've rarely seen. According to the site's report, the product was in "late prototype" stages, and judging from the video, it looked to be pretty far along (at least as far as software was concerned). Today, MobileTechWorld looks as though it might be shedding a little more light on the device and its software... but it might not be quite what you think.

Continue reading Codex and InkSeine -- the roots of Microsoft's Courier?

Microsoft's "Gazelle" browser detailed -- it's more of a research project

by Nilay Patel posted Jul 10th 2009 at 4:44PM

If you're particularly attuned to tech gossip, you'll know that Google's Chrome OS announcement has prompted a lot of whispers about something called "Gazelle" being cooked up in Microsoft's labs. Part browser, part OS, the word on the street is that Gazelle will be announced soon, and ultimately compete in some way with either Chrome (the browser) or Chrome (the OS). As usual, most of this is just based on hopes and fairytales, but the scholarly folks at Ars Technica have done some digging and come up with a white paper from Microsoft Research that details some of what Gazelle is all about -- and surprise surprise, although it shares some similarities with Chrome, it's actually quite different.

At the most general level, Gazelle is an experiment in building an ultrasecure browser. Like Chrome, it breaks tasks up into different processes, but instead of separating at the page level, Gazelle breaks individual page elements into different processes, allowing content from different servers to be isolated and ultimately providing fine-grained security controls. To manage all these different processes, there's a central "kernel," which is where all the OS talk stems from -- it's all still running on Windows, and the rendering engine is still IE's Trident engine, but Gazelle manages all those separate processes independently, kind of like a virtualized OS. It's certainly interesting stuff, but it's still all just a research project for now -- Chrome OS is still vapor, but it's clear that Google intends to ship something, while Gazelle seems more suited to inspire future versions of IE. Still, it's interesting reading if you're into it, so hit the read link for more.

Read - Ars Technica analysis
Read - Microsoft Gazelle white paper [Warning: PDF]

[Image courtesy of Robert Scoble]

Somniloquy external networking card lets PCS "sleep talk" essential connectivity functions

by Paul Miller posted Apr 25th 2009 at 5:51AM

Some researchers at UC San Diego, teamed up with Microsoft Research, have a novel new method in the works to let your computer save on power in sleep mode while still keeping up with IMs and whatever other network activity you pesky folks might be up to. Dubbed "Somniloquy," the USB dongle acts as an external networking card, and takes over most of the communication duties, with its own embedded OS and flash memory (similar to the Killer NIC). When the computer goes to sleep, Somniloquy maintains IM connections, ongoing downloads and torrents, and keeps your computer present on the local network and wireless LAN. If an activity arrives that needs the full computer, Somniloquy wakes up the computer and patches it through -- going so far as to buffer downloads into flash memory, and then dump it periodically on to the hard drive. The wake-on network activity concept is nothing new, but Somniloquy really runs with it, and boasts up to 60 to 80 percent overall energy savings based on the person's usage habits. The device is currently in prototype stage, and in the future all its functionality could be integrated into a PC's network card -- and hopefully won't just be for the pros this time.

Video: NanoTouch spotted doing a little gaming

by Laura June posted Apr 20th 2009 at 11:06AM

Back when we first caught a glimpse of the NanoTouch, we'll freely admit that we thought it might be superb for small-scale gaming. The 2.4-inch LCD, developed by Microsoft and the Hasso Plattner Institute, the tiny screen boasts a capacitive touchscreen on the back (much like the LucidTouch), and is apparently quite sensitive. Check out the video demonstration of the NanoTouch in some gaming action after the break.

[Via Engadget Japanese]

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Microsoft Research Codex project tries two screens on for size

by Donald Melanson posted Oct 1st 2008 at 7:43PM

A handheld device with two screens isn't nearly the radical notion it once was, but Microsoft Research's Ken Hinckley seems to think there's still plenty of untapped potential with the idea, and he's actually taken things so far as to build an actual prototype device. As you'll notice, however, he didn't exactly build the so-called "Codex" from scratch, choosing instead to use two OQO Model 02s and folding case to hold 'em together. That, notably, lets him arrange the two screens into various positions that he calls "postures," like a laptop posture (which also lets him take advantage of the OQO's sliding keyboard), or a "battleship posture" that gives two people sitting across from each other their own screen. The big idea there being that the device adapts to different tasks, and actually uses the dual screens as two screens as opposed to one large screen. As should be clear, however, this is very much a research project, and there's no indication of an actual product in the offing, although, as Ken points out, there's not much stopping anyone from building their own -- you'll just have to bring your own code.

[Via GottaBeMobile]

Microsoft seemingly ready to demonstrate Spherical Surface

by Darren Murph posted Jul 25th 2008 at 5:28AM

Who knew closely investigating expo floor layouts could be so fun and rewarding? Sure enough, the 2008 DemoFest Booth Map hosted up for Microsoft's upcoming (July 27th - 29th) Research Faculty Summit shows allotted space for one "Multi-Touch Spherical Display." Of course, Redmond-based exhibitors may end up dedicating slot 110 to carbonated beverages and unhealthy snacks, but whether those sly cats are ready to admit it or not, we know this thing is real.

[Via ZDNet]

Microsoft Research thinks telescopic pixels will rival LCDs

by Darren Murph posted Jul 23rd 2008 at 11:31AM

The boys and girls at Microsoft Research are getting set to publish a report detailing a competing (and in their perspective, superior) technology to replace the LCD monitors we've grown to know and ~~love~~ heart with reservations. By using pixels that boast "a pair of mirrors to block or transmit light," displays could theoretically be created which are "faster, brighter, and more power efficient than liquid crystal displays." Dubbed telescopic pixels, the devices would be able to turn off and on in under 1.5-milliseconds, which is quick enough to put "red, green, and blue light-emitting diodes behind each pixel." Furthermore, these pixels are way brighter than those used in LCDs, which means users would see less power draw and be able to view the screen more easily in direct sunlight. Sounds solid from here, but could you not humor us with a release time frame or something?

[Via TG Daily]

Microsoft's LaserTouch prototype brings hand control to any display

by Darren Murph posted May 23rd 2008 at 8:28PM

We'll go ahead and get this out of the way: the fantastic product you're about to hear more on has "no plans" to go commercial. Now that we've thoroughly killed your buzz, let us introduce to you the LaserTouch. Said device is a prototype that recently emerged from Microsoft Research's labs, which essentially allows people to retrofit any display (monitor, projector, etc.) so that they can use their own hands to control the on-screen action. According to Andy Wilson, who played a vital role in the unit's creation, an infrared camera is used to track how a person touches the screen, while software that he developed handles the majority of the magic. Too bad this could totally undercut Surface sales, right?

Microsoft intros the TouchWall -- maps will never be the same again

by Joshua Topolsky posted May 15th 2008 at 11:13AM

If you've been watching CNN's election coverage lately (and we think you have), then you've probably seen anchor John King tripping the light fantastic on the channel's Magic Wall touchscreen. Apparently, Microsoft has come up with its own version of the board -- essentially a Surface flipped on its side and mounted. The device, known as the TouchWall, joins a handful of finger-friendly prototypes that Microsoft Research is working on (including a spherical unit we assume will be used strictly for world domination campaigns). The 4-foot-by-6-foot "wall" uses inexpensive infrared sensors and a rear-mounted camera -- which can be added to a variety of surfaces -- in order to create the hands-on experience. The company appears to be targeting this as a low cost "intelligent whiteboard" solution, so hopefully they'll be turning up in schools, small businesses, and the Engadget offices soon. Check the video after the break to see it all in action.

[Via CNET]

Continue reading Microsoft intros the TouchWall -- maps will never be the same again