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Hands-on with wireless, ultrasonic stylus and touchless gestures at MWC (video)
This isn't the first time you've heard of EPOS or XTR, but it's been quite some time since we've checked in with either of the outfits. So, imagine our surprise as we stumbled on new developments from each company as we perused the Texas Instruments booth at MWC. In the case of EPOS, we're shown a stylus that, in addition to offering traditional physical touch input, also allows users to interact with a device via ultrasound. The system is built upon TI's OMAP4 platform and requires that four microphones be placed at the corners of the screen. In this demonstration, we're shown how users can manipulate objects on a 3D plane via the Z-axis by pulling the pen away from the display. Next, we're shown a new application for the touchless gesturing system that XTR first debuted back in 2010. In this scenario, it's demonstrated how tablet owners could use the front-facing camera (at merely QVGA resolution) to flip through pages of a cookbook without worry of getting ingredients on the device. The concept software was developed by a French outfit known as Stonetrip, and also allows users to zoom and pan through the pages. You'll find demonstrations of each technology in a video after the break.
More Crash Commando details revealed, out in December
Click for high resolution image. Sony has revealed a whole load of new information about Crash Commando, an upcoming downloadable title that feels like a mix between Warhawk and Soldat. The game will feature 12-players online and offline, with bots making up the numbers if you can't get hold of eleven friends. You'll be battling it out with a multitude of weapons and vehicles, including tanks, rocket launchers and C4 in both multi- and singleplayer modes. You'll be able to practice your skills in the offline, singleplayer Boot Camp mode. Once you finally feel you're good enough to take it online, there will be full player profiles, with stat tracking, rankings and leaderboards. Crash Commando will also have full Trophy support when it launches in European territories this December. No word on a US release date yet, but expect it around the same time. Check out our E3 hands-on for more info on the game and peruse the gallery for the latest screenshots. [Via press release] %Gallery-28077%
Switched On: More options for getting from scribble to screen
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment. With all the hoopla around the iPhone 3G, the finger has taken center stage as the input device of choice on the go. However, last week's column on the prospects of the Livescribe Pulse was actually the penultimate one on the subject of smart pens -- at least two alternatives have entered the market. Both are based heavily on reference designs from Israeli companies that have taken a different approach than Livescribe.Rather than relying on a camera to read small dots on special paper, these pens work with practically any paper. And unlike the bulky Pulse with its ostentatious display, they are practically indistinguishable from normal pens and both come with software that can do a decent job of converting handwriting to text. The tradeoff is that some of the electronics have been offloaded to a small receiver that must be positioned on the paper, creating a two-piece solution. IOGEAR's Mobile Digital Scribe, powered by Pegasus Technology, is a follow-on from a similar earlier product that required that the receiver be tethered to the PC. The Scribe can still function this way. In fact, when connected to a PC, the pen can be used to scribble (presumably for quick doodles, otherwise why not just use the keyboard?) just as its tethered predecessor could. Writing appears on an on-screen note that appears as soon as the writer begins to write, and the software can have these pages "float" on the screen as sticky notes..
EPOS Technologies' digital pen records your writing
Have you ever been sitting around and suddenly thought of the cure for cancer, or figured out how to build the world's largest hamburger, but you didn't have any way to get your idea down? Sure, you could write it on a piece of paper, but what if that paper got ripped, or blown away by a strong gust of wind? Well luckily, EPOS Technologies thought about all of this and came up with a solution: a digital pen which records your movements on a piece of paper, and then saves them to a USB flash drive for later use. The two-part combo utilizes the company's proprietary system of transmission which employs ultrasonic acoustic waves to help measure the distance and position of the pen, so apparently all you have to do is clip the flash drive to a notepad or related writing surface, and off you go. The whole wacky set-up is available for the bargain-basement price of $79, and should be available by the end of the year.
