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Multitouch Goodness: Full-Screen Multitouch Mac OS X Is Here

gizmodo.com — It's not from Apple, but it gives a pretty good idea of what to expect from the Cupertino company: a band of developers called the NUI Group have developed Lux, a platform that shows the power of a free open framework that will enable true multitouch interaction in Mac OS X.

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  • Samtherocker, on 05/16/2008, -26/+17"It's not from Apple, but it gives a pretty good idea of what to expect from the Cupertino company"

    Yeh... Sure it does...

    /sarcasm
    • homercles337, on 05/16/2008, -22/+7It does because apple doesnt innovate they market. This has already been done by MS with Surface. Nice try mactards.
      • Samtherocker, on 05/16/2008, -1/+22The reason I don't think the video gives an idea of what to expect from Apple, is because it shows the multi-touch capabilities being used in a pretty superfluous way, and operations that multi-touch is actually useful for are already being worked into Mac OS X with trackpad gestures.

        And I'd prefer not to be called a 'mactard' thanks, I'm not bashing the technology displayed in the video (or Microsoft's Surface), I'm simply saying that the video does in no way give us, "a pretty good idea of what to expect" from Apple. I actually think that MS's Surface is very interesting but I think the thing that makes it interesting/innovative is not the use of multi-touch technology, it is the way it interacts with other devices.
    • Berzerker7, on 05/16/2008, -7/+4Too bad surface has nothing to do with the Mac idea of Multi-Touch.

      Sorry, try again.

      P.S. Yes, I did just lowercase surface.
      • TomFrost, on 05/16/2008, -2/+6You're... affirming your pride in using improper grammar?

        No matter how you feel about Surface, it's a proper noun.
      • jrbrewin, on 05/16/2008, -1/+1the paint demo at the beginning (not sure if there really was any other point to this movie because the pointless music, and the horrible horrible lag on the 'multitouch' sensor made me cringe) was almost identical in principal to one of the surface demos that microsoft showed.

        somewhat ironic that the microsoft one was infinitely more slick, technically and aesthetically.
    • ePuck, on 05/16/2008, -1/+4Striking resemblance to the surface in its uselessness. It's like happy gillmore when he's trying out for the hockey team. He can't play the actual game but DAMN what a slapshot.
    • digginamish, on 05/16/2008, -3/+1Funny how the article on Engadget yesterday didn't get the same number of Diggs as this article even though it was a much more polished product that could actually be integrated into business:
      http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/15/microsoft-intro ...

      But then again, that article said "Microsoft" in it and this one said "Apple" - I guess that explains it ;)
  • dontswimtoshore, on 05/16/2008, -8/+22this is insane.
    • deaftly, on 05/16/2008, -3/+1unsane even
    • PRlME, on 05/16/2008, -6/+1insane...its only a ***** multi touch for god sakes wtf. I mean yea ok its cool but is a video with a person running the screen like there having sex necessary? 6 months down the like its going to join the who gives a ***** archive. Remember the i-Phone you can pinch to zoom in and out of a picture thing Who gives a *****. thank you
    • TheIinLive, on 05/17/2008, -1/+5no, this is sparta...?
    • ttamshadbolt, on 05/17/2008, -1/+6its hard to tell when a comment thread starts and finishes with this new comment system :(
    • GawtMilk, on 05/17/2008, -0/+1If there are no new comments a bit to the right, it's finished.
  • R031E5, on 05/16/2008, -10/+76But where's my multitouch 3D porn?
    • EBFoxbat, on 05/16/2008, -1/+17At the end of your right arm.
    • cowsgonemadd3, on 05/16/2008, -6/+12Porn is wrong. Its a sin to look at porn.
      • winmywii, on 05/16/2008, -3/+6Well, I am going to hell 3 times today, and I haven't left work yet.
      • strategynode, on 05/20/2008, -0/+0Are you kidding?
    • cmsisson, on 05/16/2008, -2/+11If you build it, they will cum.
    • mijelh, on 05/16/2008, -2/+2Everywhere: It's called sex
    • shawnanigans, on 05/16/2008, -2/+4Do you really want baby oil and tears getting all over your monitor?
    • rimantas, on 05/17/2008, -0/+1arms are too tired after this for any porn
    • bigandy, on 05/18/2008, -0/+1you're mother's still busy working on that.
  • superfishmaster, on 05/16/2008, -12/+7Wow that is AMAZING!
  • jumper66, on 05/16/2008, -11/+3How did you make this work in OSX?... does this work with iphone mutltitouch?
    • bigsteve, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2RTFA. Especially the video at the bottom.
  • nothingisreal, on 05/16/2008, -27/+7THIS IS SO FAKE!
    • fagalagolopolis, on 05/16/2008, -0/+7You just think nothing is real
  • rootadmen, on 05/16/2008, -5/+12Now this with one of those curved screens would be sweet. Maybe a 360° one, you could just walk around the room tossing things around..
    • trixterIreland, on 05/16/2008, -1/+0walking isnt that interesting in a small room. something like cybercarpet would help, basically its an inverted trackball, but instead of one ball its many, providing an omnidirectional treadmill of sorts. For those that dont remember trackballs, think of a mechanical mouse upside down so the ball is on top. For those that dont remember mechanical mouses you are a little late into the game :)
      • YoctoYotta, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2The motors and computing power to anticipate every motion you could potentially make and control that type of application has to be decades away. I agree that would be incredible though. GTA XIV??
      • DanMiller, on 05/17/2008, -0/+1Remember trackballs? They still sell them, alot of people use them for design work.
  • socivitus, on 05/16/2008, -11/+6Absolutely incredible.
    • synthoid, on 05/17/2008, -1/+2Meh, I'd rather buy another copy of GTA4.
  • slimjim5811, on 05/16/2008, -12/+7Reminds me of Tom Cruise in Minority Report.
  • PiGuy, on 05/16/2008, -10/+86Very cool, but all of this is platform independent. OSX has nothing to do with the technology.

    I wonder how well it works in the light...
    • yokozuka, on 05/16/2008, -4/+17The demo is running in a MacBook with Mac OS X. They used Flash to quickly prototype the interface, but the developers are now using Xcode to create a few touch Mac OS X applications. So the framework works everywhere, yes, but they are running and developing over OS X.

      I any case, really cool stuff I think. Specially knowing that you can run these apps in a simple browser.
      • sHockz, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2how did you know that yokozuka? do you know the same people i know ::naturalui::cough? I really like how they did this on the flash environment. Shows the potential of web 3.0 i think ;-)
      • takua108, on 05/17/2008, -0/+1Which of these is YOUR definition of "Web 3.0?"
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_3.0
        (There's a lot of 'em.)
    • mentor972, on 05/17/2008, -2/+1Well, you DO at least need a decent operating system to do this. Just imagine trying to get this to work in Vista.
    • vijayrajesh, on 05/19/2008, -0/+0I agree with your "independent" point.

      But i am little afraid whether will apple patent the "pinching" technology in multi touch, so other people may not use all behaviors for multi touch as OSx is doing now.
  • pafboy, on 05/16/2008, -14/+4I want one

    http://www.reliablesource.org/
  • DeathWish808, on 05/16/2008, -17/+3That's pretty cool, but this completely smokes that...http://tinyurl.com/2tcnbl
  • homercles337, on 05/16/2008, -26/+5Yep, totally new technology. http://www.microsoft.com/surface/index.html

    Nice try mactards...
    • Chirp08, on 05/16/2008, -1/+12Oh shut the ***** up already, at no ***** point did anyone say "APPLE DID IT FIRST" not to mention this isn't even by Apple or platform specific.
      • Tenlow, on 05/16/2008, -2/+3Flaming aside, he does have a point. The title is a little biased towards Apple, even though the technology is not exactly revolutionary or new.

        I'm actually just bitter now that I bought a MBP they're coming out with something new and better.
  • badassninja, on 05/16/2008, -12/+6That could go so great with my wobbly windows. Someone make a Open source for that crap and now.
    • natchiketa, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2funny, i would've thought a 'badassninja' could tackle something like that solo.
      • badassninja, on 05/16/2008, -0/+1Oh Snap son! LOL Yeah you would think so. I guess I'm not as awesome as claimed.
    • acero47, on 05/16/2008, -1/+3What's an ass ninja?

      Relevancy link: http://xkcd.com/37/
      • badassninja, on 05/16/2008, -1/+2A Ass Ninja is someone who comes into your ass and is gone with out you even know he was there. My name could mean that or it could mean 'Bad Ass' Ninja. You know, or whatever.
  • wild, on 05/16/2008, -4/+62Why do they always feel the need to show fingerpainting effects with multitouch demos? I get it. It knows where more than one touchpoint is. Now she me the useful stuff.
    • khail250, on 05/16/2008, -4/+4she me, she male?
      • natchiketa, on 05/16/2008, -2/+3got something on your mind? :)
      • wild, on 05/16/2008, -1/+4*she=show

        (And as I think of it, that really should be the equation we live by...)
    • ePuck, on 05/16/2008, -2/+11Completely Useless but cool technology
    • yoris, on 05/17/2008, -1/+4The reason they keep showing those fingerpainting effects it is because that is a cool visual effect which easily dazzles the audience (and, in case of for-profit guys, the investors). They don't have the useful stuff that you're looking under control yet. Look at the video closely: whenever he is trying to do something that could be considered "useful" (move the slider, move the "hello" textbox, ...) he needs 2 or 3 attempts, and the mechanism takes more energy then doing it with a mouse would.

      That's actually the thing with Multitouch: getting a quick visual demo is easy, getting a working system that doesn't frustrate the hell out of its users is at the moment just not something any company can deliver. But a lot of people think "how difficult can it be", build another one of these quick visual demos which leave us all craving for more, and then disappear into oblivion to join all the previous teams who thought that the first 1% of the job was actually more like 90% of it.

      I'll be impressed when someone releases a demo of, let's say, a comprehensive set of multi-touch tools which allow more productive use of photo-editing software then what we can currently do with the mouse. As long as it's nothing but fingerpainting porn, all they really have is a demo.
    • daborg, on 05/17/2008, -0/+1But dude, this is completely amazing! Not only can you draw swirls on your screen, you can do it with MULTIPLE COLORS AT THE SAME TIME! This is a complete breakthrough in graphical UIs, that will synergistically leverage the starved swirl-drawing market that is just waiting to boom!

      But wait, that's not all - this amazing UI ALSO solves the problem of watching FIVE VIDEOS at the same time - AND you can turn them around and scale them while watching them! I can't tell you how many times I've been watching my five favorite TV shows at the same time, and felt a deep urge to rotate Scrubs a bit to make it look better next to Lost.

      Honestly, this is a COMPLETE BREAKTHROUGH! This guy is not only leveraging the swirl-drawing market, but also COMBINING it with the slanted multi-video watching market! Think of the synergies! Just imagine - watching five shows... AND drawing swirls on top of them - ALL AT THE SAME TIME!

      I'm not even going to go into the possibilities inherent in being able to write HELLO on the screen - I'm sure you're as excited about that as I am. This is going to be a revolution people!
  • cledford, on 05/16/2008, -11/+6EPIC
  • dukeeeey, on 05/16/2008, -8/+7wow it's almost as cool as my touch screen till at work
  • nosscaj, on 05/16/2008, -8/+14good thing those mac screens aren't super glossy cuz that would make finger smudges stand out like a sore thumb*....oh wait.

    *my apologies for the bad pun.
  • pOwErEdByNOS, on 05/16/2008, -8/+33"Full-Screen Multitouch Mac OS X Is Here"

    "It's not from Apple, but it gives a pretty good idea of what to expect from the Cupertino company."

    Which one is it?
    • Neoanarchist, on 05/16/2008, -3/+4It is OS X running on hardware that provides the capability to use multi-touch. It's really not that complicated. Actually, it's not complicated at all.
      • PabloMac, on 05/16/2008, -0/+3Then why didn't you roll it out last week?
    • UKsHaDoW, on 05/16/2008, -2/+5Its developed by a 3rd party, running on os x.
      Not hard to understand.
    • UKsHaDoW, on 05/16/2008, -1/+1I accidently reported this post by accident, Clicked on the wrong button trying to reply.
      Maybe a confirm dialog would be usefull.
    • jordan314, on 05/16/2008, -1/+2Agreed that the title is misleading and buried as inaccurate; A prototype like this (of which I've seen many) is far from "Is Here".
  • Dumbledorito, on 05/16/2008, -1/+32As someone who lives to keep fingerprints off of his monitor, I'd rather have a "Minority Report" style "gesture" system.
  • bigsteve, on 05/16/2008, -1/+12If this was optimized using CoreAnimation and not run through Flash 9, and maybe even optimized for a better GPU (this demo was run on a MacBook with it's somewhat craptastic Intel integrated graphics) it'd look even more impressive. I'm glad we're starting to see more open frameworks available for more platforms that bring multitouch to the casual programmer.

    I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS
    • maxthreepwood, on 05/16/2008, -1/+3Apparently, it's available for Mac OS X through Xcode. You can get the framework and work from Xcode. It's not low level, like UITouch, but it's pretty cool.
    • bigsteve, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2Right, I saw that, but the demo recorded here, he said, is sitting on top of Flash because it allowed him to quickly get a prototype up. I'd love to see what comes out when he has time to optimize/code native.
    • pprkut, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2I could think the fact that it can run on a MacBook is a good thing, considering how many have been sold.
  • corneliusJones, on 05/16/2008, -11/+51Isn't this the same as that Microsoft table that came out like a year ago?
    • DiggOrNotToDigg, on 05/16/2008, -5/+15Yes it is
    • paloooz, on 05/16/2008, -6/+7It's not a computer, it's a big ass table.
    • darlyn, on 05/16/2008, -4/+11And it wasn't released. Microsoft has only made prototypes and given (or sold) samples for publicity.
      • LoudMusic, on 05/16/2008, -0/+7And you can tell this is totally ready for prime time.

        Totally.
      • ultimateXhobo, on 05/18/2008, -0/+0microsofts UK interface research lab hasnt even been given a surface. would be shocked if more than 1 unit existed.

        was just a pr stunt to shout ME TOO ME TOO over the iphone multitouch ui
    • JohnFromChicago, on 05/16/2008, -4/+3I believe the MS system uses cameras as motion sensors ... which is why it's shaped like a tub. This is on an LCD screen - no tub required. I'm sure this will be in a near future iMac - like the stand acts as a dock/base station and the screen can be removed and carried like a tablet. Microsoft won't have anything like this for quite some time. But when you're 5+ years behind, and you're only proven business model is selling stolen IP in a controlled market, you're going to get caught with your pants down. A lot.
      • AnDReSX7, on 05/17/2008, -0/+2This framework, which was NOT developed by Apple, can be used in several platforms, including Windows and Linux. (Stated in the article)

        So please stop the fanboy-ism, and learn to appreciate contributions like this one, which works in a series of environments. I think thats the one reason why this app may be important in the future.
      • Jeffler, on 05/17/2008, -0/+2The cameras are actually there for recognition of devices for sync purposes.
    • Doji, on 05/17/2008, -1/+5The microsoft table is nothing new, this tech has been around a LONG time. If I remember correctly, NUI group even existed before it came out.
    • domness, on 05/17/2008, -0/+1A year ago? It's not even out yet mate.
  • Dumbledorito, on 05/16/2008, -8/+12So for their table, Microsoft built a time machine, and stole it from this guy, who is secretly Steve Jobs, right?
  • MacNyce, on 05/16/2008, -6/+7As an Avid editor in the TV biz, I can't wait to edit video like this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    wow
    • PabloMac, on 05/16/2008, -0/+3That's where Final Cut Pro is headed.
      • MacNyce, on 05/17/2008, -0/+1Final Cut Pro, then Avid Media Composer, then Quantel systems and others. This is the future of editing.
    • istoleherface, on 05/16/2008, -2/+2You use that many exclamation marks and you have a job? That's crazy!

      Oh wait, you said you work in television. Sorry, my mistake.
      • MacNyce, on 05/17/2008, -0/+4I have a six figure salary and work with comedians all day, damn, I am dumb. Stupid TV job. I guess we all can't be smart like you. Thanks for showing me the light. What's your name, istoleherface? How cool, is that what you do to the "ladies", steal their faces? Can you teach me, oh great master? And while you are at it, maybe you can teach me how to troll the internet, complaining about the way people express themselves and have no actulal valid commentary. You are gifted.
        • danielsamuels, on 05/17/2008, -1/+2pwnt.
        • istoleherface, on 05/17/2008, -2/+1I understand that flat irony gets you alot further on the internet than good grammar. Shame it's not the real world.
        • nfxmedia, on 05/19/2008, -0/+1@istoleherface: No, but accurate spelling gets you further in this world. It's time to find something that grants you fulfillment other than nitpicking comments.
  • garths, on 05/16/2008, -1/+17First of all, quite cool.

    But, I didn't really see any integration with OS X. These were all custom apps. I did some multi-mouse input (similar idea to multi-touch, just with mice instead) work in 1998-2000, and what we discovered is that every major OS and every major app for every OS makes an assumption that there is one cursor, one point of interaction. Insert multi-touch into, say MS Word, and everything is going to break.

    Unfortunately, integrating full-blown multi-touch into an OS will require a major rethinking of the interaction framework, and more than likely a complete rewrite of all multi-touch aware apps. We will have to see if Steve or Ballmer are willing to make the investment for this to work properly.
    • yoris, on 05/17/2008, -0/+4You're right on the money.

      One comment though: judging from the speed at which Apple is rolling out their Multitouch stuff, I would say they also figured that out, about 4-5 years ago even. Getting the technology right to detect multiple touches and having a few custom apps work with it is one thing; creating a coherent set of gestures which your entire user base can quickly pick up and which your entire application landscape can use as input is something else entirely.

      Compare it to switching gas-powered cars to electrical cars or switching from driving on the left side to driving on the right: the theory is simple, but the practicalities of it are so enormous that anyone seriously planning on undertaking such an endeavour had better tread real slowly and have a very clear idea of how to get from A to B. Apple's actions over the past 2 years in relation to Multitouch definitely demonstrate that they know where they're heading and that they're willing to take their time, so I would say they have clearly given this issue a lot of thought., unlike the people from this demo, who seem to think that the easy part is the hard part and vice-versa.
  • Tyr7BE, on 05/16/2008, -11/+13Seems sort of like a poor man's Surface to me.
    • fLUx1337, on 05/17/2008, -0/+3I'm sure you will find it useful then! ;)
  • jeff419, on 05/16/2008, -4/+23So you can spend thousands of dollars to finger paint?
    • bigsteve, on 05/16/2008, -0/+6You can make a setup like the one used in this article for pennies more than the cost of a webcam (assuming you already have a computer.) The software is also free and open source. The movie at the bottom details building the device. All that's necessary is a cardboard box, piece of paper, piece of glass, scotch tape, and a webcam.
    • yoris, on 05/17/2008, -2/+1People have been known to spend more to finger other things.
  • Dreamscar, on 05/16/2008, -15/+7omg, mac story, MUST DIGG!
  • mkppk, on 05/16/2008, -7/+15Multitouch is great for mobile devices.. but seriously, for day-to-day apps who really needs (or more importantly WANTS to) have to reach out with their arms and touch the screen to get something done?

    I can use my mouse and keyboard that are 3 inches away from me at all times much more quickly and efficiently than reaching across my desk and waving my arms around. Plus see the entire screen while I do it since my arms and hands aren't in the way.

    Seems like a solution looking for a problem in most cases.

    I'm making a note here: HUGE WASTE
    • bobcrotch, on 05/16/2008, -1/+5Agreed. It's pretty cool for the novelty factor but I think that it would be too limited for any kind of large scale adoption. I don't really see this replacing a keyboard and mouse any time soon.
      • bigsteve, on 05/16/2008, -1/+1I don't see this replacing keyboard and mouse input, but it certainly has applications. I could see consumer/prosumer multitouch technology appearing, and being great for say multimedia editing, especially collaborative efforts...
    • beerbarron, on 05/16/2008, -0/+3Disagree, I am a photographer, and being able to manipulate with objects, like brush strokes and multiple objects would be very handy, especially if the price was right (someday) composers wouldnt need to buy keyboards, that clutter up space, they could use a virtual piano with software midi sequencers... list goes on
    • roflbrothel, on 05/17/2008, -0/+3I would definitely want a practical touchscreen on my home PCs, but I still want to be able to use a keyboard and mouse too.

      Huge waste? Hardly.
    • yoris, on 05/17/2008, -1/+2No-one ever said that the display surface and the multi-touch surface need to be the same surface. Imagine having a keyboard that you can still use as a multi-touch input device when needed... that's the direction Apple is slowly moving us in. In fact, think bigger, what if your entire desk was a multi-touch input surface?
      • DanMiller, on 05/17/2008, -1/+1I'm a big Apple fan, I own one, but you might acknowledge that Windows recently released a table top application called Surface. Yes, time may show that Apple implements it in a unique way but lets not throw all the credit to Apple just yet.
        • domness, on 05/17/2008, -1/+1They haven't released it yet.
        • DanMiller, on 05/17/2008, -0/+1Poor choice of words, they demoed one. The point is that they have showed technology very similar in this kind of application.
    • GMarx, on 05/17/2008, -0/+0It's hard to overstate my dissatisfaction
  • gavdog2020, on 05/16/2008, -12/+10It's pretty obvious this isn't from Apple, because Apple would never show something that is so far behind Microsoft. Microsoft Surface is lightyears beyond this.
    • bigsteve, on 05/16/2008, -0/+12Surface has a team of full time paid MS engineers. This guy made this on his own time out of his own pocket in his basement.
      • gavdog2020, on 05/16/2008, -5/+0I could give a damn about this guy's personal life. Much cooler things have been produced in a basement.
    • JohnFromChicago, on 05/16/2008, -2/+7How is Surface behind this? Surface is built into a table. Try taking that on a train. This can be completely mobile or adapted to the desktop with a large screen. Surface is a parlor trick. If it was a reality based product, it would be on the market by now. The iPhone is proof MS has no concept of this at all. If MS could compete with a touch interface in a portable way, don't you think they'd have a WindowsTouch phone by now? You keep holding your breath for MS to release their vaporware. Us Mac folks will calmly be about the business of leaving you even more woefully behind than you already are.
      • Raptor007, on 05/16/2008, -1/+1I think you meant to say "how is Surface beyond this", right?
      • gavdog2020, on 05/16/2008, -4/+1How is Surface "beyond" this? Are you serious? I hope you enjoy your train trip with a rotating video player and finger paint simulator.
        • DanMiller, on 05/17/2008, -0/+2This isn't an Apple product, it's a 3rd party implementing multitouch into OS X. We can all assume that when Apple decides to move multitouch into the market it will have useful and powerful applications. Surface, while cool is not a consumer product yet available, at least at this point multitouch is a reality that I can hold in my hands.
  • flaknugget, on 05/16/2008, -3/+13Why would anyone want to work with their arms flailing all over a screen instead of a mouse and keyboard. It looks exhausting.
    • imontoya, on 05/16/2008, -1/+2I agree it does look exhausting. However, have you seen the movie "The Island" ? I imagine multi-touch surfaces being used more and more in this manner, as true desktops, and not vertically like we currently use our monitors. Reaching up to touch your monitors would be very exhausting, and the way we use such a touch surface would be very much different from how we use our monitors today.

      As far as taking away the "exhaustion" of using such an interface, I think the user interface itself will make it easy to bring things closer to your reach so you can work with near windows. The windows (or desktop items) least recently used might migrate away from your reach, while recently used windows stay within each reach of your hands. There could be a small navigation window near by, giving you access to the entire (large) desktop view in a mini-window, not unlike current day virtual desktops. For comfort, most operations would be done in near space, and the amount of reaching would have to be limited. Fully extending your arms to reach a window you need to work on would not be practical if it happened more than just occasionally. That's why I say the UI has to help you here, and more research is being done in this area of touch.

      I am a hardware and software developer, and I have two large monitors in front of me, sitting on a curved desk that's about 36" x 48" on one side and 28" x 36" on the other side. That's a lot of real-estate and I would love to use it all as my monitor, for CAD, CAM and CAE, such as drafting and drawing, PC board layout, verification and synthesis, software engineering, etc. I can certainly use more space than my 2 monitors currently give me.

  • johnomaz, on 05/16/2008, -10/+1though it was ran on a Mac Book Pro, it was a Flash application. NOT integrated into the OS. Not only that, it looked quite laggy. Almost a full second of the movement of his fingers for the effect to appear on the screen. The title is VERY misleading, and IMO, submitted by a die hard Mac fanboy. /buried for stupidness.
  • ePuck, on 05/16/2008, -6/+5Striking resemblance to the surface in its uselessness. It's like happy gillmore when he's trying out for the hockey team. He can't play the actual game but DAMN what a slapshot.
    • DanMiller, on 05/17/2008, -0/+1Things I thought would be cool with multi-touch/surface.

      Splitting a check at a restaraunt. drag the items you ordered into your corner of the table.

      Sharing photos via wireless. Place the device on the table and resize and drag the ones you want into the device.

      Input devices such as keyboards or control panels that can actively adapt to different scenarios, move from a calculator to a telephone, to an alarm panel for your house.

      The ability to visually move information from one device to another over a network, write a note on the screen for your kid which will automatically then be sent to there personal computer, this could be done on the way out the door.

      Despite the ease of keyboard and mouse input there is something to be said about the ease of visual cues. Moving, sharing, and organizing information with direct physical cues from the user is a powerful tool.
  • JerodSlay, on 05/16/2008, -3/+23My God! when will someone do something truly useful with multitouch? I don't care about making 5 parallel "S" curves on my screen!!!!
  • jptolife, on 05/16/2008, -8/+4OMFG!!!
  • LuckyASN, on 05/16/2008, -2/+6Why is it that whenever someone comes out with a touch screen whatever, they feel the need to show off their fingerpaint skills?
    • beerbarron, on 05/16/2008, -0/+1Kinda, like why do people use expensive computers to do word processing...because they can
  • Princeamor, on 05/16/2008, -13/+3Amazing, Mac continues to Innovate in technology! Go Apple! They're doing a really good Job!
    • l815, on 05/16/2008, -0/+5lol did you even read the article? Has nothing to do with Apple, they just showcase it on apple.
    • MacTyler, on 05/16/2008, -1/+2facepalm
  • crimsonalucard, on 05/16/2008, -5/+5One thing you'll see is that this multi-touch is slow. There's a very noticeable time lag when moving objects. Due to this performance issue, the NUI group multi-touch application is not on the same level as Jeff Han's or MS's surface.

    A multi-touch device should be a HID peripherial similar to an optical mouse which does all image processing on an embedded processor. The NUI group has finger blob tracking running as a process on the OS which will of course deliver inconsistent speeds and noticeable performance decrease to other applications.

    The NUI group is a bunch of software developers taking the concept of multi-touch and trying to build a solution purely in code and some web cam devices. They have no clue how to build an actual hardware multi-touch product. This group will NOT ever end up being a big part of the multi-touch industry. In fact, If I recall the company is founded by a bunch of art students.
    • Nainto, on 05/16/2008, -0/+3It seems your are somewhat mistaken crimsonlucard. I do agree with the fact that it should all be hardware based, but The NUI Group uses the same method as the Microsoft Surface and (i think) Jeff Han. In fact, Jeff Han pioneered the method that the NUI Group uses.
      • crimsonalucard, on 05/17/2008, -0/+0The method used is FTIR, but the approach the NUI group is taking is different purely because Jeff Han and Microsoft use hardware based image processing and the NUI group does not. The NUI group does not have the technical knowledge to achieve do the same thing.
    • nuiman, on 05/16/2008, -0/+4As far as lag is concerned this is running on a first generation Intel Core 2 Duo Macbook... with 1GB of ram... Also the particular projector used in this video has a horrible latency so GO YELL AT 3M...

      What does Jeff Han and Microsoft have some thing magical that nobody else has access to?.... Wow so Microsoft has hardware blob detection... its not that hard to develop that yourself you know :) And that is why NUI Group is around... to try and make open hardware development easy and available to the masses. So crimsonalucard please... join our community and build your own MT table... maybe you can help make it faster.

      Whats wrong with artists?
      • arjie, on 05/17/2008, -1/+1No offence, but an Intel Core 2 Duo laptop with 1GB of RAM sounds pretty high (sure it isn't very high) spec to me...
      • crimsonalucard, on 05/17/2008, -1/+0I did join the community, and I suggested using an FPGA for hardware image blob detection. People largely disagreed with me because touchlib image processing running on the OS is currently the easiest to implement solution right now.

        Artists lack technical knowledge, thus by logic dealing with new technology, image processing, and hardware UI design is more in the domain of specialists in engineering rather then artistry. If an artist were to compete with an engineer in this domain (which is currently what the NUI group is doing), by logic the engineer has a much higher probability of succeeding.
    • nuiman, on 05/16/2008, -0/+4And you have to keep in mind these applications are running in a Virtual Machine... aka Adobe Flash Player 9... so there is no way this demonstration can be compared to Phillip Davidsons C++ code that runs Han's MediaWall...

      Now thanks to Adobe Flash Player 10 we will have much better performance by utilizing more GPU... but still AS3 performance is not C++ :)
      • crimsonalucard, on 05/17/2008, -0/+0Flash is plenty fast. I've even seen the NUI group google earth demonstrations. The bottleneck is not because you guys are running flash. The bottleneck occurs because you guys are running image analysis as a process on the OS rather then on a embedded processor.

        Take the wii for instance. The wii controller actually utilizes IR blob detection. This is the exact same thing you guys are doing with a webcam. The difference is you guys are running it on a system that is about five times faster and has about 5 times more RAM. So why is it that your system experiences crazy Lag and the Wii does not? It's because the Wii has a dedicated blob tracking embedded processor inside the wiimote that does ALL image processing. It's that simple. The optical mouse does it, the wii does it, if the NUI group doesn't do it, then the NUI group will be left in the dust, that's the basic reality.
  • l815, on 05/16/2008, -4/+5This technology has been out for a while. Nothing special, and no real use for it yet. Gaming and typing will still be done on a keyboard and mouse, and the only thing touchscreens have proven effective are with menus...
    • crimsonalucard, on 05/17/2008, -0/+0Not so. This implementation of multi-touch is actually quite terrible. Look up perspective pixel and Jeff Han
  • AgentVladimir, on 05/16/2008, -2/+15Surely everyone's missing the point: you can build this for about a fiver. That's genius. Who cares if it has not practical use, you can just use it to show off to girls.
  • lystig, on 05/16/2008, -3/+11Buried, whats the point of having multitouch when it's not integrated into a table?
  • alperea, on 05/16/2008, -2/+11Wait you need to use both arms to control the UI? I need at least 1 hand free
  • CCmachined, on 05/16/2008, -10/+4APPLE GOT 0WNED

    ..seriously though, this is nothing special. could be done with Linux for years:
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=Yx9FgLr9oTk
    with flashy 3D effects too... this was over a year ago people! multitouch wasnt even out yet!
    • Nainto, on 05/16/2008, -2/+4I saw that video when it came out. That isn't multitouch and the 3d effects have nothing to do with this framework. Also, Apple didn't get owned, this framework was developed by NUI Group and will soon be for ALL platforms. The demo was just on a Mac. What this is doing is completely different from the video you posted.
    • UKsHaDoW, on 05/16/2008, -0/+4The x server does not have multi pointer technology as of yet, this is coming in a future update.
      There are prototypes versions although.
    • jjpertusch, on 05/16/2008, -1/+3buried for linking to a smug ***** whistling through the entire video like im supposed to be impressed.
  • Modestexcuse, on 05/16/2008, -2/+2That is very cool.

    I do not see this being a computer I interact with on a daily basis for work. I am content and productive with my current setup. What advantages does this technology afford the average office employee.

    Anyone agree?
    • cruzweb, on 05/16/2008, -0/+3Possibly. But who knows where the future will take us, I mean, how many people said the same thing you're saying about multi-touch when the gui originally hit the market? People were content and productive with the command line.
    • roflbrothel, on 05/17/2008, -0/+1I don't agree.
    • crimsonalucard, on 05/17/2008, -0/+0http://www.perceptivepixel.com/

      Look at that site and rethink your position. The crap implementation by the NUI group you see on the OSX is not going to be on anyone's desktop.
  • robbie32, on 05/16/2008, -4/+4What about the Microsoft Surface? I'm not a fan-boy when it comes to Windows, Mac, or Linux, but respect needs to be paid to the originators. Besides the surface can do all that and is supposed to be able to integrate with peripherals (that is I suppose, if it becomes mainstream enough). I'm not particularly impressed with this demo.
    • Nainto, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2I think it was actually Jeff Han who pioneered this approach with his company perceptivepixel. Microsoft Surface is really nothing new when it comes to the approach. It's mostly the software, if anything.
      • beerbarron, on 05/16/2008, -0/+5Agreed, I highly doubt MS was the first to come up with this idea
    • cerupcat, on 05/19/2008, -0/+0NUIGroup was actually established before the Microsoft Surface and Iphone were ever announced. The technology to do these things have been around for a while, but not until more recently (Jeff Han) has anyone really dived into this.
  • in2apps, on 05/16/2008, -9/+4Very cool - NUI Group you need a social network to support your efforts. Start one in minutes with in2community.com
    • Nainto, on 05/16/2008, -0/+3NUI group already has a very active forum....
  • joltjake, on 05/16/2008, -9/+4Who gives a ***** about these stupid drawing programs and google earth, show me something actually new already. So it's on osX, well great, so all the mac fanboys cum in their pants, but that does me no good. That thing left me unimpressed.
    • joltjake, on 05/16/2008, -0/+5The real story should be the DIY touch screen, I'm definitely making one of those.
  • Nainto, on 05/16/2008, -2/+6Actually if they are using the most common FTIR (frustrated total internal reflection) method then it works sorta crappy in lights where there is some infrared such as the sun and some common household lights. (Probably why this video was recorded in the dark) The Diffused Illumination method, what the Microsoft Surface uses, works somewhat better in light but is still not 100%. In my opinion Stantum (http://www.stantum.com/) is the only company with a true multi-touch solution. Unfortunately, it's over $4000 to get a kit from them.
  • Vector713, on 05/16/2008, -2/+5Okay, enough with the pretty finger painting. They do that in every multi-touch demonstration, and it wasn't ever that impressive. I'd love to see more pratical applications with multi-touch now, please. Photo zooming doesn't count either.
    • bobbywan, on 05/21/2008, -0/+1yeah all i was thinking was "launch Firefox dammit!". Show us something I'M going to use it for. I'll never type the word HELLO and flip it upside down. Never.
  • SmilinJoe, on 05/16/2008, -1/+8Why is everybody bitchin' and moaning about this?.. I think it's cool ! Yeah, Microsoft put out Surface, but I ain't paying 10k for it.. I rather make one on the cheap - then I can scale it up and do what *I* want with it - on whatever OS I please..
    • beerbarron, on 05/16/2008, -0/+3agreed, most people are bitter because they are inept at making one... am gona source a lot of cheap web cams, and boxes, and then do a class with this!
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