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Joué's MIDI controller adds tactile fun to music-making
The Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) arrived in the '80s to help digital instruments communicate with each other. Nowadays, with much of the action on computers, a new breed of MIDI controllers has emerged. Many of today's designs include built-in pressure sensitivity to provide a semblance of analog expression when played, but Joué is a bit different. It was developed to free digital music artists from the lockstep confines of keyboards, button rows, glowing displays and marching lights, while providing modular flexibility and, above all, fun. The name Joué, translated from French, literally means "play" or can be interpreted as "I play," and the company would like you to approach the device with an open and creative mind. It's a USB-powered pressure-sensitive board that works with a variety of soft -- and occasionally squishy -- pads that are detected and uniquely identified through embedded RFID tags. You map portions of each pad to any MIDI-capable program like Ableton Live, Apple Logic, Garage Band or iPad apps to help bring your music to life. They're swappable on the fly, and the tactile interfaces offer an alternative to high-tech distractions. The device is currently on Kickstarter; the company is raising funds to move from industrial prototype to final product, and as usual, early bird deals are available. You can buy a Joué board and starter pack of pads for just over $300, with the eventual retail price expected to be under $500.
Synaptics will bring pressure-sensitive screens to Android phones
Right now, the only way to get a pressure-sensitive screen in a smartphone is to snag an iPhone 6s or wait patiently for the Force Touch version of Huawei's Mate S. You won't have to be quite so picky in the near future, though: Synaptics has unveiled ClearForce technology that brings pressure sensitivity to many phones (read: Android). The tech enables the kind of finger-savvy features you've already seen in the iPhone and Mate S, such as contextual menus and photo zooming, as well as extra tricks like scrolling and choosing special keyboard characters. Synaptics isn't saying just which phone makers like the concept, but "leading" brands should launch their ClearForce devices sometime in the first quarter of 2016.
The next iPhone's Force Touch reportedly trumps that on the Watch
Many expect the upcoming iPhone to include a pressure-sensitive screen, but just what will it entail? Will it be an upsized version of what you saw on the Apple Watch? Not by a long shot, if you ask 9to5Mac. Its sources claim that the future handset is using a next-generation version of Force Touch that recognizes three dimensions of input, not just the existing two. Reportedly nicknamed 3D Touch Display, it'll respond to multiple levels of pressure (a deeper press will trigger different functions, for instance) and allow app makers a whole new level of functionality. Just what Apple will do with this rumored feature is still up in the air, but you'll only have to wait a few days to get the full scoop.
Adonit's latest Jot Touch stylus works with Adobe's cloud software
Adonit, the company known for its artist-oriented iOS styluses (stylii?) has just released a new model: the Jot Touch with Pixelpoint. The "Pixelpoint" term refers to the fine point 3.1mm tip that Adonit claims is more artist friendly than a regular stylus. For further fine control, the pen has a thinner design and 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity (which requires an iOS device with Bluetooth 4), along with 2 shortcut buttons. Finally, the company says the new Jot Touch is the first stylus to work with Adobe Creative Cloud (via Adobe's Line and Sketch apps), allowing users to access their Jot files, copy and paste between devices and use Adobe's Kuler color picker. The Jot Touch with Pixelpoint is now available from Adonit for $120, and you should be able to grab Adobe's Sketch and Line apps soon at the App Store.
Wacom teases upcoming HD mobile tablet for 'creative uses'
Wacom's dipped its electronic quill in a lot of stylus-enabled tablets, but hasn't yet done what many of its creative pro users would like: build one of its own. It looks like that's about to change as the Bamboo maker has posted a teaser on Facebook saying it'll bring a mobile tablet "this summer" with a pressure-sensitive professional pen, multi-touch capability and an HD display. There are no other details like what OS such a device may boast, but if it offers its own functionality as well -- say, Cintiq-style input on a desktop machine -- then Wacom could be onto a winner. [Thanks, Mark]
Delta Six controller brings fragging to life, worries your friends
Chances are you know someone who takes their CoD a little too seriously -- well, this peripheral is for them. The Delta Six controller is the latest brainchild of Avenger inventor David Kotkin, made to please hardcore FPS gamers with immersive and responsive input. A built-in accelerometer is used for aiming, while the faux recoil and acting out a reload will put you closer to real combat than an appearance on Stars Earn Stripes. The hardware also features a scattering of pressure sensors -- allowing you, for example, to bring up the sights by meeting cheek with gun body, or if you're feeling lazy, squeezing the side of it instead. Depending on your class bias, you can add and retract plastic from the main frame for an SMG, assault or sniper rifle form factor (see below for the gist). There's no word on availability, or if it will actually improve your game, but the price is slated as $89 at launch. After the break is a short product demo in video form, although we suggest you skip straight to 1:30 to avoid the awkward live-action CTF scene.
Ten One ships $80 Pogo Connect, a pressure-sensitive Bluetooth 4.0 stylus for iPad
While there are many third-party capacitive pens for the iPad on the market, none are as precise as pressure-sensitive models like the ones Samsung Galaxy Note aficionados have enjoyed for some time. Enter the Pogo Connect, which is described as the world's first pressure-sensitive Bluetooth 4.0 iPad stylus. Brought to you by Ten One Design, the Pogo Connect was originally codenamed "Project Blue Tiger" back in March. The benefits of Bluetooth seem to be key here, as it offers full pressure sensitivity thanks to a "Crescendo Sensor" technology that works at multiple angles and without calibration. You also get palm rejection capabilities so the page doesn't get smudged from your hand resting on the surface. The pen has a removable magnetic tip, leaving room for interchangeable tips in the future. There's also an LED status light, an integrated radio transmitter to let you know its location in case you lose it, and it runs on a single AAA battery. Be aware that the Connect is only compatible with around 16 apps for now -- they include Brushes, SketchBook Pro, Paper by FiftyThree, and PDFPen -- but Ten One hopes to add to the list over time. You can pre-order one now for $79.95, and if you're one of the first 2,000 to do so, you'll get a special edition pen with a laser-engraved tiger. Those intrigued can get a peek at the company's promo video as well as the PR after the break.
PressurePen goes up for pre-order, is expected to ship in November
With its recent Kickstarter success now in the history books, it's time for that open-sourced PressurePen to offer its stylus services to folks who missed out on the crowd-funded party. Luckily for those people, though, the pressure-sensitive instrument is now available for pre-order straight from the creator's site, so they, too, can snag one for themselves. The PressurePen starts off at a not-too-shabby $30 for the "kit" only, which doesn't include the plastic shell but is perfect for savvy tinkerers; meanwhile, the PressurePen with Stylus bundle costs $60, or $20 more if you'd like two additional tips. Units are expected to start shipping at some point in November, but better hurry as the company's saying there are only "a limited number available at this price."
Pressure-sensing PC technology knows when you're busy, blocks notifications accordingly
We know better than most that when you're working to a deadline, constant pop-ups, notifications and pings can be a real pain. Our frustrations might soon become a thing of the past, however, with some help from boffins at the Graduate University for Advanced Studies in Japan. They are working on technology which monitors keyboard pressure and silences those distractions until it deems you're not busy, showing over 80 percent accuracy during volunteer testing. Understanding that quiet time is also appreciated for other tasks, they plan to use similar techniques to spot when you're staring intently at that report or -- more importantly -- attending to a beverage. It's still early days for the project, but if the stress-saving tech ever spawns a product, we'll take two please. [Image Credit: Getty Images / Jean Louis Batt]
Samsung Galaxy Note II getting redesigned S Pen with rubber tip, improved grip
Today at its IFA 2012 press conference, Samsung confirmed that the newly announced Galaxy Note II will make use of a new, redesigned S Pen. In addition to boasting an improved 8mm grip, it has a rubber tip. It also recognizes 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity, which is already true of the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet. Other than that, Samsung hasn't shared much in the way of specifics, but if you'd like to see video of the new Note in action, we can at least offer that.
Synaptics spills more details on ForcePad, a pressure-sensitive trackpad coming to laptops in 2013
We spend an awful lot of time in laptop reviews railing against modern trackpads -- you know, the ones that mistake left clicks for right ones, or have a really stiff button mechanism. Well, it looks like relief might be on the way. Synaptics (easily the largest touchpad maker of 'em all) just spilled more details on ForcePad, a pressure-sensitive pad that responds differently depending on how much you bear down with your fingers. Before we get into possible use cases, though, it's important to clarify this: there is no mechanical touch button, meaning those stiff hinges we've been complaining about should be moot. Rather, if you want to "left click" or "right click" you'll need to push against the pad with your finger. When you do this, you'll get the littlest bit of tactile feedback, along with a sound effect. (You can turn those off.) All told, the pad responds to up to 1,000 grams of pressure, and recognizes 64 different levels of sensitivity. As you can imagine, this feature is likely to come in handy with drawing apps, but Synaptics also imagines it being used in gaming. With scrolling, too, you can page through documents quickly or slowly, depending on how hard you press the trackpad. Additionally, the pad recognizes up to five fingers at once, and can tell when you're applying more pressure with one finger than another. For now, Synaptics won't name any future products that will use this technology, so don't put any stock in that Lenovo machine used in the first demo video below -- it's just a U300s retrofitted with a ForcePad. But, a company rep did say we'd start seeing ForcePad-enabled laptops at CES in January, so expect lots of notebook news then.%Gallery-162613%
Adonit Jot Touch pressure-sensitive Bluetooth stylus for iPad
Although there are many electrostatic styluses for the iPad for those who wish to use them, the seemingly unattainable goal of creating a pressure-sensitive stylus eluded peripheral manufacturers until now. Adonit's Jot Touch (US$99.99) became available to the public earlier this week, becoming the first pressure-sensitive stylus for the iPad. I had a chance to test-drive an Adonit Jot Touch for a few weeks, and although I'm not an artist who can really take advantage of the lifelike brushes, pens and pencils that pressure sensitivity provides, I'm still impressed with the capabilities of this new stylus. Read along for a review, and see how the pressure-sensitivity features work in a few apps. Design Placing the Adonit Jot Pro and Jot Touch side by side, you immediately see some differences. The Jot Touch is slightly longer than the Jot Pro, although the rubberized grip area is smaller. The Jot Touch also has three buttons that are used to turn on the stylus (and get it to pair with your iPad) and provide one-touch shortcuts. The tip of the pen is also slightly different. Looking closely at it, you'll notice that it's slightly longer than that on the Jot Pro. That's because it compresses into the body of the Jot Touch when you're applying pressure to the pen. Since the Jot Touch has a built-in battery to power the Bluetooth transceiver and other electronics, Adonit came up with an ingenious way of charging the stylus -- there's a tiny USB dongle with a very strong magnet in it. Plug the dongle into a USB port, place the tail-end first into the magnetic port, and it charges. A tiny LED near the buttons lets you know when the battery has been topped off. The Jot Touch will work as "just another stylus" with any app, but requires that an app be "Jot Ready" to take advantage of pressure sensitivity. Adonit provides a Software Development Kit (SDK) to any developer who wants to add more precision, pressure sensitivity, or shortcuts to an app. So far Adonit lists 14 apps that are ready to take advantage of the Jot Touch, including such titles as PDF Pen, Procreate, and SketchBook Pro. As with the Jot Pro, the Jot Touch also comes with a screw-on cap to keep the plastic "precision disk" (unique to the Adonit styluses) clean and undamaged. There's also a replacement tip included in case you do damage or lose the original tip. You can purchase the Jot Touch in either red or gunmetal gray. Functionality So, how did the Jot Touch work? OK, once I restarted my iPad. For a few days I was having issues with the Jot Touch pairing with Procreate, and kept bothering both the Adonit and Procreate teams. Finally, someone suggested that I restart the iPad, and that cleared most of the issues. What do I mean by "most" of the issues? Well, I don't know if I had a faulty Jot Touch or not, but it kept dropping the pairing with my iPad. I'd work for a minute or so, and then it would disconnect. I wondered if it was just the app I was using, but it happened with every app I tried. With Procreate, the pressure sensitivity works with a number of pens and brushes to increase or decrease the opacity. I liken this to using a pastel stick -- with a very light touch, not much pigment is transferred to the paper and the paper often shows through. When you press down hard with the pastel, more pigment is transferred and no paper shows through. The two shortcut buttons are used to "undo" and "redo" your most recent strokes, and can be used to back up through changes you've made to your drawing. Tapping the lower shortcut button with a finger is a very intuitive way to undo your work instead of having to move away from your work and tap an undo button. With Clibe, a "social journaling" app, the buttons work to increase or decrease the brush size. When the app detects the Jot Touch, a small + sign appears on the drawing/painting tools to indicate that the device buttons can be used. It's a lot easier to understand how the Jot Touch works by watching it in action, so I tried to capture video of the Procreate app and the Jot Touch in action using the Reflection app for Mac. Unfortunately, Reflection quit mirroring the video whenever I paired the Jot Touch to the iPad, so I couldn't nab video that way. This also means that the video is taken with an external video camera and isn't the best quality, so be forewarned. During the video, you'll notice that the device disconnects -- you actually see a small window appear saying "Jot Touch Disconnected". This is the problem I referred to earlier. Conclusion I like the concept of the Jot Touch, and I think as more and more developers use the Adonit API to add capabilities to writing and painting apps, the device will become much more useful. As it is, using the Jot Touch with the Procreate iPad app is the closest equivalent I've found to traditional art tools. I don't believe that the issue I had with Bluetooth pairing failing constantly is a common problem; it's probably a one-off issue with the review device. Pros Very ergonomic design, well-balanced in the hand Shortcut buttons can be used to perform various tasks in applications Already supported by a number of iPad apps Ingenious charging mechanism Reasonable price Cons Review device disconnected frequently from iPad Some apps make poor use of the possibilities of pressure sensitivity and the shortcut buttons (a developer issue, not Adonit's problem) Who is it for? Anyone who needs a pressure-sensitive stylus for the iPad, particularly those who have fallen in love with using Apple's tablet as an artistic tool #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
RIM patent application puts pressure on sensitive touchscreens for a possible unlock alternative
RIM's been busy on the patent application front lately, filing off concepts for anything from smartphone docks to rotating keypads -- even flirting with potential forays into forensics peripherals. Perhaps sensing the crushing need to differentiate its ailing BlackBerry brand, Waterloo's taken to the USPTO with a doc submitted last November that could do just that. The pressure-sensitive input scheme and touchscreen interface described therein would respond to a user-set pattern of force by granting access to a handheld device's features and applications. Sure sounds a heckuva lot like a new password protection implementation, but that's just our humble take. What it actually is, where it goes from this legal limbo and whether or not it ever winds up in BB 10 tech is truly up in the air. What you can count on, though, is a continued flood of in-process IP procurement from a company close to the edge.
Fabian Hemmert's urgency-augmented calling concept detailed on video
Fabian Hemmert's no stranger to unorthodox cellphone designs, but things are really starting to get zany in his newest video. While speaking at TEDxSalzburg, Hemmert was able to elaborate on a project that he's been tinkering with for a year or so. In essence, it's the realization of tactful calling, or urgency-augmented calling. In an effort to solve a very real social problem ("Should I answer this call right now? Is it important?"), this here concept would utilize an inbuilt pressure sensor as well as a tweaked user interface. The caller would be able to press on the sensor in order to indicate the level of importance, and the receiver would be able to screen calls based on the level of severity. In theory, all of this sounds fantastic -- the only issue is that telemarketers (amongst others) all think that each of their calls is of the utmost importance. Like anything in life, this too would only truly work if not abused. Head on past the break and mash play -- we're pretty convinced this is just a few tweaks short of being amazing.
Pressure-sensitive drawing headed to iPad in free software library (video)
"The iPad's IPS panel is pressure-sensitive, you say?" No, that's not quite right, but with some clever software and a special capacitive stylus, the folks at Ten One Design built a convincing proof of concept anyhow. While we're not quite sure how it works, the current theory states that the soft tip of the stylus expands like a brush when you press it down, generating a "larger press" that can be detected by the hooks in Ten One's code -- which they soon plan to share as a free software library (assuming Apple allows) with developers around the world. See it in action in a video after the break, and if you're feeling your inner Rorschach today, let us know what you see in the above drawing.
Sony prototypes pressure-sensitive tactile touchscreen, hopes to use it ASAP
Sony may come up with some far-out ideas, but the company insists this one's a bit closer to home: it's a LCD touchscreen with force sensing resistors and piezoelectric actuators that can detect how much pressure is applied and vibrate the panel respectively. Tech-On was rocking the scene at Open House 2010, and reports that the Cover Flow-like interface shuffled icons faster the harder a demonstrator pressed down, an interesting UI quirk in and of itself. Though the publication sadly didn't get to test out the tactile feedback for themselves, Sony said commercialization might not be too far off -- when asked about that telling Sony Ericsson logo, the company asserted that it'd like to see the tech in mobile phones "as soon as possible." We'd love to hold them to that, but unfortunately the applied pressure mechanic is just a prototype at this point.
Pressure-sensitive touchscreens show up on the not too distant horizon
Ever heard of quantum tunneling? It's the basis for the latest approach to gather steam in the never-ending quest to endue touchscreens with force recognition, and its promises are as lofty as you'd expect. Developed by UK researchers Peratech, this new methodology revolves around a 75-micrometer (less than a tenth of a millimeter) quantum tunneling composite, which display makers can add to their screens relatively cheaply and painlessly. The pressure-sensing layer consumes no power when it isn't depressed and requires a miniscule two micrometers of movement to register a touch. Japanese display maker Nissha (who counts LG and Nintendo among its customers) has grabbed a license and we're even hearing devices could be coming out as soon as April. Check the Peratech site for more info.
Puyocon mouse reacts to being squeezed, thrown, gyrated (video)
The Puyocon isn't about to swoop in and replace your trusty old two-dimensional laser pointing mousie just yet, but we're always suckers for bizarre input peripherals. Demonstrated by Tsukuba University at Siggraph Asia 2009 last month, it is a soft and squeezable ball that offers a quirky new spin on the old airborne controller idea. Differing from the Wii Remote in the fact that it won't break your HDTV (or itself) if it slips out of your hand, the spongy ball operates on the basis of a three-way accelerometer and 14 pressure sensors in order to give detailed multidimensional information to the system it's controlling. That's probably overkill for the humble computer desktop, but there might be hope for the Puyocon becoming a commercial reality through games that make use of all its input points -- after all, if there's room for the Wiiwaa, why not the Puyocon too? See it in action after the break.
Stantum shows off resistive multitouch Slate PC, we're awed again
Stantum Japan already got us all giddy and schoolgirlish once, and now that the company's TouchPark has reached the proof of concept stage, we're ready to fawn all over again. Initially compatible only with smartphone hardware, the firmware seems to have been adapted to the x86 instruction set, as it's now perched atop a Dell Mini 10 netbook modded with a resistive touchscreen. Responsiveness and accuracy are both remarkable, with the multitouch feature accommodating as many fingers as you can fit on the screen. There's pressure sensitivity too, and we even get to see the thing used with a paintbrush. A paintbrush. Scalable from 2.5 to 30 inches, this can do all the gestures, swipes and rotations you want, and viewing the video after the break will lead you to conclude the same as us: this needs to be out yesterday.
Pressure-sensitive keyboard lets you express fury, tenderness
Microsoft's hardware division has always pushed the envelope, and its latest prototype is no exception: this pressure-sensitive keyboard looks exactly like a normal 'board, but each key can register up to eight levels of pressure, opening up all kinds of interesting possibilities. Sure, there's a gaming demo, where pushing buttons harder makes you run faster or jump higher, but that's sort of old hat -- we're super intrigued by the typing corrector, which uses the pressure difference between keys you mean to type and keys you accidentally graze to fix your mistakes. Definitely interesting stuff, and we're sure to see more novel uses in October when Microsoft opens its first Student Innovation Contest by showcasing student projects made using keyboard prototypes. Videos after the break!
