InputDevices
Latest
Apple patent application details method for detecting and displaying hand position on screen
We've had a glimpse at Apple's conception of a sensor-based keyless layout, and the latest patent application from Cupertino shows the company looking to further refine the input experience -- this time using a camera and other sensors to detect hand position and overlay that hand position on a device's screen. The filing details three methods to this end. The first shows a user's hands on a traditional hardware keyboard projected in an on-screen representation (as background, Apple mentions the ergonomic strain of looking down to check your hand placement, so perhaps that's the thinking behind this one). A second scenario involves a laptop with unlabeled keys, where the marked keyboard is displayed on the screen, and the final, most intriguing, setup shows backside controls on a tablet a la the PS Vita, with a user's fingers projected as if the device was transparent. Of course, this is just a patent application at this point, so don't expect to see this tech make its debut September 12th.
ZeroN slips surly bonds, re-runs your 3D gestures in mid-air
Playback of 3D motion capture with a computer is nothing new, but how about with a solid levitating object? MIT's Media Lab has developed ZeroN, a large magnet and 3D actuator, which can fly an "interaction element" (aka ball bearing) and control its position in space. You can also bump it to and fro yourself, with everything scanned and recorded, and then have real-life, gravity-defying playback showing planetary motion or virtual cameras, for example. It might be impractical right now as a Minority Report-type object-based input device, but check the video after the break to see its awesome potential for 3D visualization.
Bella KillerKeys brings desktops shortcuts and control to iOS for $20, we go hands-on (video)
Creative types working their magic on Windows may already be familiar with KillerKeys, a desktop app that brings push-button control to most Adobe apps, Microsoft Office, Sony Vegas and a few others, letting you tap a preset action rather than digging through a multi-layer menu or remembering hundreds of keyboard shortcuts -- if you use any of these apps as part of your workflow, the $10 (and up) investment certainly seems to be worthwhile. Now, Bella, the company behind KillerKeys, is bringing the tool to iOS (the iPad, more specifically), letting you tap your intentions on your tab, rather than using the mouse to click around the desktop. You can group buttons by function, and the panel adjusts automatically to match the current app -- there's also an application launcher available at the bottom corners of the display, which helps to minimize your mouse time. To that end, you'll also find an on-screen trackpad (which unfortunately wasn't functional during the company's demo at NAB), and once it's enabled you'll be able to reposition your pointer from the tablet, letting you hide that cumbersome mouse. Initially, the app will only be available for iOS when it ships next month, though an Android version is in the works, as is a Mac OS version of KillerKeys, which should launch with the iPad app. The mobile application will set you back $10, and you'll also need to pick up a copy of KillerKeys, which ranges in price from $10 for a home and student addition to $90 for the whole shebang. Check out the hands-on demo after the break.
Neonode zForce uses infrared LEDs to measure pressure, replace capacitive touch (hands-on)
Smartphone fanatics may recall the Neonode N2 -- a rather unique recall-plagued feature phone that ultimately resulted in the demise of the company's handset arm. Neonode is still a major player in the portable device market, but may be more familiar to OEMs that employ its infrared LED-based touch technology, rather than consumers that utilize it in e-readers, with tablets soon joining the mix. zForce offers several advantages over its capacitive-based counterparts -- it's incredibly responsive and accurate, and can now measure the intensity (or pressure) of your touch, and not just position. There's also a built-in proximity sensor that can be added to any device for a few pennies, which is considerably less than traditional offerings. However, because Neonode uses an array of infrared LEDs and photodiodes, a raised bezel is required to accommodate the additional hardware, making it impossible to integrate a flush display.We went hands-on with an updated smartphone-sized embed of the company's zForce technology that not only works with any object, such as a finger, pen or a paint brush, but also recognizes both the pressure of your implement and also its size, so a larger paint brush has broader strokes than a smaller one, for example. Because the device can operate at 500Hz all the way up to 1,000Hz (refreshing 1,000 times per second), it appears to be incredibly responsive, with an almost unnoticeable delay between the time you touch the pad and when your input is displayed on the screen. A second demo unit, called Stargate, offers dual-layer touch with support for 3D control -- you can literally reach inside the unit to manipulate an object. There's no word on when this latest tech will make its way into devices, or how exactly we'll see it used, but you really need to see it in action to get a feel for how it works -- jump past the break for our video hands-on.%Gallery-149305%
Open source controller framework lets you add the finishing touch
There are plenty of off-the-shelf controllers out there, but what if you fancy something a little more... you? How about fully customized, with a good seasoning of affordability and style? Design student Alex S has built a framework to help you build just that. The units shown above are for DJ-based programs, but you can create interfaces for any software that takes HID or MIDI input, and as they're modular, create endless ultra-custom set-ups. Keen to dismantle any technical barriers, Alex created a step-by-step Instructable, but you'll still need to get your hands dirty with Arduino and some circuitry. The whole project is open source, and while it's a step up from Lego, until we can just print these things, it seems like a great option to us.
Knowles Electronics Mems Joystick for Samsung Galaxy Tab, Nintendo 3DS hands-on (video)
With gaming on tablets, the visual experience is often top-notch, but the controls are unfamiliar at best -- even inadequate at times. But adding a traditional joystick is impractical, especially when aesthetics is a key selling point for manufacturers. Chicago-based Knowles Electronics has a fairly practical solution, however, and hopes that some manufacturers will adopt its Mems Joystick. At just 1.6mm tall, the joystick is slim enough for a device to maintain a svelte profile, and the 40 microamps it consumes during normal operation is relatively negligible, according to company reps. Tablets are just the start -- Knowles built a series of prototypes to demonstrate a variety of potential applications. We took the joystick for a spin on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Motorola Atrix, Nintendo 3DS and a pair of laptops. All of the joystick prototypes connected using Bluetooth or USB, and were designed specifically for this CEATEC demonstration -- sadly they won't be available for purchase, though manufacturers could implement the controller into similar products. It took only a few seconds to get accustomed to the pair of joysticks mounted to the back of the Tab. Controlling gameplay felt natural, and we definitely preferred playing with a clear view of the display. We also navigated through Google Maps, and scrolled a web page -- both experiences felt superior to moving around the touchscreen. The 3DS joystick functioned similarly to the native controller included with that device, though Knowles reps noted that it's significantly smaller, and uses less power -- and without compromise, it seems. Jump past the break for a walkthrough of the devices we saw today, but try not to fall in love -- you won't be able to use the Joystick anytime soon, if manufacturers decide to implement them at all.%Gallery-135902%
Canon X Mark I Mouse Lite hands-on impressions
It's a calculator. It's a wireless mouse. It's a Bluetooth numeric keypad. It's... really bizarre. Canon's X Mark I Mouse Lite takes everyone's favorite desktop rodent and tries to make it all fancy like, filling that wasted space below the mouse buttons with a calculator -- monochrome LCD and all. Except that the unused space below the mouse buttons isn't wasted at all -- it was designed for resting palms, not poking fingertips. The result is a mediocre mouse paired with a mediocre calculator, for $60. Sadly, it's not nearly as elegant of a solution as it may appear to be, and after a couple days of use, we were ready to switch back to our boring old single-function mouse. So what exactly left us so unimpressed? Jump past the break to find out.%Gallery-129884%
Canon launches X Mark I Mouse Lite, pairs ten-digit calculator and Bluetooth laser mouse (video)
Have you ever looked longingly at your mouse, noting its underutilized input device real estate? Canon has, replacing that excessive unused space with a built-in calculator in its X Mark I Mouse, announced today for folks in the US. (If you'll recall, we spent a few quality moments with this guy in Germany last year at Photokina.) The combo device provides users with both a physical ten-digit adding machine and a numeric Bluetooth 2.0 keypad, which you can use seamlessly with a variety of apps, replacing the number pad now absent on many desktop and portable keyboards. The company's camera design team helped to create the hybrid input device, which also includes a trio of mouse buttons and laser tracking. Canon also announced its X Mark I Keypad, a full-size calculator with Bluetooth support that's powered by either AAA batteries or a built-in solar panel. Both devices will be available for $60 in August and September, respectively, and will ship in both black and white.%Gallery-129107%
Microsoft Research reveals RearType, puts QWERTY back where it belongs
We've seen a few wacky split keyboards in our day, and even the occasional back-typing peripheral, but Microsoft Research has just congealed the core ideas into a why-didn't-I-think-of-that device for mobile use. Dubbed RearType, the QWERTY solution literally sticks a three-row keyboard on the back of a tablet PC, allowing users to have the same physical sensation as on laptop or desktop without taking up valuable touchscreen real estate. While there's still a few kinks to be worked out of the system (like how to set it down without triggering input) and no plans yet for commercial availability, a brief study showed users could attain 15WPM speeds on average with a single hour of training, and one participant managed to eke out a healthy 47WPM in the same timeframe. We imagine a certain Motorola device is feeling a mite jealous right about now. See the front of the (non-Microsoft) tablet right after the break, and read the full study at our more coverage link.
Engelbart's chorded keyboard reborn as stunning red jellyfish
In December 1968, Douglas C. Engelbart introduced the world to two brand-new computer peripherals of his own invention.The first was his invention, the computer mouse -- which, as you're well aware, revolutionized user input two decades later. The second, the chorded keyboard, still has yet to take off outside the Braille community. But after forty years, Doug Engelbart hasn't given up on the latter device; he recently commissioned an industrial designer, Erik Campbell, to modernize the antiquated keyset into this lovely jellyfish-inspired, five-fingered keyboard replacement. Made of silicon rubber and recycled plastics, the concept peripheral uses pressure-sensitive pads at each fingertip to detect key-presses, turns combinations of presses (the "chords") into letters and words, and sends them over wireless USB to the host computer. Sure, chorded computing isn't for everyone (else we'd all be sporting iFrogs and typing gloves), but if this concept ever comes to fruition, we just might be tempted to learn. Update: Though Doug Engelbart brought us the computer mouse, he did not invent the chorded keyboard, merely demonstrated it at the same 1968 event. Thanks, MAS! [Thanks, Semfifty]
Logitech brings out Wireless Desktop MK710 with a claimed three-year battery life
Logitech raised a few eyebrows with the longevous battery life on the MK700, and for its encore the company is bringing even more endurance with a claimed three-year battery life for both the keyboard and mouse -- a feat it claims to have been first to achieve. Aggressive power-saving algorithms are the purported reason you won't have to swap out the AA cells for a cool 36 months, but Logitech is quick to reassure us that these optimizations won't be causing any unseemly lag. It's also quite boastful about the MK710 coming equipped with its teeny Unifying receiver to really minimize peripheral clutter. If only the keyboard wasn't the size of a spaceship's dashboard, we too might have been interested in dishing out the $99 and saying farewell to our wires. Either way, the combo is hitting Europe this month with Americans having to wait a bit for an April launch.
Tangible 3D UI being developed in Japan (video)
People have been trying to sell us 3D this and 3D that for ages, but for the most part it's always been the same flat surface we're looking at and poking with our fingers. Some restless souls in Japan, however -- including Engadget's very own Kentaro Fukuchi -- have begun developing a way for computers to recognize a person's interactions with real objects and to respond accordingly. The essence of this new technique is to use translucent rubbery objects, whose diffraction of specially polarized light is picked up by a camera. Thus, relatively subtle actions like squeezing and stretching can be picked up by the different light results produced. Still in the early stages of design, the system is hoped to assist in surgery training, though we've got video of its more fun potential uses after the break.[via New Scientist]
Microsoft Wireless Arc Mouse folds up, makes you look cool
Microsoft has had its share hits and misses as far as product design goes, but this Arc Mouse due this winter looks to be a slick little input device. Wireless and collapsible, the Arc Mouse promises to combine both portability and style for those of you on the "fashion edge" (their words, not ours). Hyperboles aside, this $59.95 optical jobby seems to be the real thing, and comes in both red and black. Look for it for the holiday season littering holiday gift guides.
Rock Band Stage Kit with lights, smoke leaked by GameStop
As if playing Rock Band wasn't one of the greatest group gaming experiences to come along in years, it appears that a new accessory is set to amp up the fun even more by bringing an "interactive light and smoke stage show" to your already thrashing performances. Apparently you can already pre-order this so-called Rock Band Stage Kit from GameStop for 100 bucks, although they've since pulled the box image from the product page, so you'll have to rely on the screencap above to see what you're paying all that money for. Ships on June 23rd, according to the retailer's site, giving us plenty of time to install a proper stage and stadium seating in our game room.[Via Technabob]
Shocker: wireless keylogging is quite easy
Well as usual, with the benefits of wireless technology come detriments in the form of security holes, and now a pair of researchers from Dreamlab have proven just how easy it is to sniff out the transmissions broadcast by RF keyboards. According to their whitepaper, "27MHz keyboard insecurities," Max Moser and Philipp Schrödel claim that keystroke signals sent from Microsoft's Wireless Optical Desktop 1000 and 2000 are encrypted with a simple one-byte offset cipher -- meaning that there are only 256 possible keys, with less than 50 sample strokes needed for decryption. And in case you thought you were safe with a non-Microsoft board, think again: Team Dreamlab is busy hacking Logitech's "Secure Connect" protocol as we speak. [Warning: PDF link][Via Hack-A-Day]
Avago Technologies develops hybrid, touch-sensitive controller
A Korean company called Avago Technologies has just announced a new control unit for remotes, video games, phones, and media players called the AMRS-2325. The small, touch-sensitive pad is a multi-faceted input device which allows control to vacillate between an iPod-like scroll-wheel, a game joystick, or a four-way navigational pad. The company also produces an electronic controller for the pads, called the AMRI-1000, which is an IC chip used to switch functionality between the various modes. Together, the two technologies make for a supposedly low-power solution which Avago, judging from their artist renderings, seems to think would be equally suited to an Xbox 360 controller, Logitech remote, or Zune / iPhone hybrid -- an idea which should scare the living daylights out of Apple and Microsoft fanatics alike.[Via Remote Shoppe]
Unboxing the Logitech MX Air
If there's such a thing as a Logitech fanboy, you can count us among their legions, as we've been more than pleased with almost all of the products (mice, webcams, surround sound speakers, wireless gamepads) that we've ever purchased from the peripherals giant. And we must say, the new MX Air certainly lives up to this enviable reputation. From good hand feel to instinctive reactions in 3D space to the sweet virtual scrollwheel (it even makes a freakin' accelerating and decelerating clicking sound, just like the MX Revolution!), the latest member of the MX family is a pleasure to work with all around, and also features the no-brainer plug-and-play setup that we've come to expect from these devices. We'll have a more detailed hands-on a little later, but for right now you can check out our unboxing pics in the gallery below... %Gallery-4810%
Sigma APO's 'Zoffy' mouse declares its love for Vista
Man, what a racket they've got going over there at Microsoft. Not only does the company get to unilaterally decide exactly when we all "need" a new operating system, it gets to siphon money off of hardware manufacturers for the privilege of advertising their products as "Vista-certified." Now we can see why said certification might be useful for entire systems or even select components such as video cards, but how is our computing experience going to be any different if we use a mouse adorned with this supposedly-coveted seal of approval? Nevertheless, Sigma APO of Japan has decided to shell out some cash to Redmond to get the ol' "Made for Vista" badge slapped on its oddly-titled "Zoffy" laser mouse, but predictably, there's no indication as to how this model differs from the Logitech you're clutching at the moment (except for its bargain basement price). On the specs front, you're getting a 1,600dpi laser (adjustable to 800dpi), four-way scroll wheel, rubberized grip, and not much else. Still, if you can deal with the dearth of buttons and absolutely gotta have "Vista-certified" bragging rights for all your gear, Zoffy will be available at the end of the month for about $27.
Elecom's PRUMIE mice combat the dreaded "accidental side scroll"
We've got to hand it to peripherals manufacturer Elecom for thinking outside the box and trying to solve a perceived problem with its new PRUMIE lineup of mice -- unfortunately, in our opinion, they addressed the wrong problem. All three PRUMIE models come with the increasingly-standard multi-direction scroll wheel -- meaning that it scrolls both up and down as well as side-to-side -- and in order to combat the dreaded issue of mis-scrolling, the mice come with a "tilt guard" to prevent accidental left and right clicks. Now we can't speak for everyone, but we never really find ourselves side scrolling when we're trying to navigate a page vertically; instead, our biggest problem -- which isn't much of a problem at all, really -- is pushing the wheel too hard and triggering a downwards "scroll click." So if Elecom could do something about this occasional nuisance, we'd be sold, but we certainly wouldn't pick up a PRUMIE for the sole reason of thwarting an "issue" that we never encounter. Still, if accidental side-scrolling just happens to be the bane of your existence, you can grab the M-P1UP2R series (available in six colors) for 3,000 Yen ($26), the M-P2UP2R (three colors, adds thumb buttons) for 3,600 Yen ($31), or the M-P3UP2R (three colors, adds thumb buttons and a "high accuracy laser sensor system") for just 4,800 Yen ($41).[Via Slash Gear]
Wacom's Hello Kitty Favo graphics tablet
There's nothing we hate more than a mismatched desktop set, so now that we've got a Hello Kitty keyboard, Hello Kitty mouse (with matching mousepad, naturally), and Hello Kitty mini-vacuum all hooked up to our Hello Kitty Epson Endeavor laptop, our dull grey graphics tablet stands out like a sore thumb. The nice thing about being a Hello Kitty fanatic, though, is that you never have to wait too long for your favorite peripherals to get Kitty-fied, and sure enough, Wacom has just made all our dreams come true with its new HK-adorned Favo tablet. Although the A6-size tab doesn't provide enough workspace for the serious graphic artist, those of us who use these input devices solely for drawing mustaches and devil's horns on our photos should find it more than adequate, and of course the pink pen and plastic, Kitty-shaped pen holder are just icing on the cake. Chances are good that you'll have to get your import on if you want to scribble all over Kitty's face each day, but if you're as obsessed with appreciative of finely-crafted Kitty swag as ourselves, nothing can stop you from adding this feline-friendly Favo to your collection.
