No keyboard, no touchscreen either

A new device lets you control your computer with hand motions. But its software is inconsistent and frustrating, says  David Pogu.

By now, we all know what the future will be like; movies and TV shows have described it in detail. We know about the flying cars (thank you, “Blade Runner”), holograms (thank you, “Star Trek”) and robot butlers (thank you, “Jetsons”).

So when will we really get those technologies? Probably on the 11th of “Don’t hold your breath.”

 There is, however, one exception. As of this week, you can buy your own little piece of “Minority Report” and “Iron Man”: controlling your computer by making hand motions in the air.

The Internet has been buzzing about the much-delayed Leap Motion Controller ($80 or Rs 4,726) since its first public demonstrations over a year ago. 

Imagine controlling on-screen objects just by reaching into empty space, just like Tom Cruise! Imagine gesture recognition just like Microsoft’s Kinect game controller, but on a much smaller, more precise scale! Imagine the future, plugged into a USB jack on the Mac or Windows PC you own today!

The Leap Motion sensor is beautiful, tiny and self-contained. It is a sleek, glass-and-aluminum slab (1.2 by 3 by 0.5 inches), with nonskid rubber on the bottom. A single USB cable (both a long one and a short one come in the box) stretches away to your computer; a light comes on when it’s working.

If you have a desktop computer, you put the sensor between your screen and keyboard. If it’s a laptop, you park it on the desk just in front of the keyboard. Soon, Leap says, you’ll be able to buy a PC from HP or Asus that has the sensor built right in.

You download the Leap software, and presto: a somewhat buggy tutorial instructs you to insert your hands into the space – an invisible two-foot cube – that’s monitored by the Leap’s cameras and infrared sensors.

This device is like the Kinect in that it recognises body parts in space. But not only is the Leap far smaller and less expensive, it’s also far more precise. According to the company, it can detect the precise positions of all 10 of your fingers simultaneously, with a spatial accuracy to a 100th of a millimeter – 200 times as accurate as the Kinect.

And remember, the Leap adds gesture recognition not to your TV, but to your computer. A machine that can run millions of different programs for all different purposes. Games, sure, but also office work. Creative work. Communication.

Entertainment. Surely this little wonder is a very big deal.

Unfortunately, it’s not. The Leap’s hardware may be simple, attractive and coherent – but its software is scattershot, inconsistent and frustrating.

The first crushing disappointment is that no software recognises your hand motions unless it’s been specially written, or adapted, for use by the Leap.

There are 75 such apps already on the Leap’s app store, Airspace; some are free, some cost a few dollars. Not all work on both Mac and Windows.

Most are games. In the best of them, you control the action in 3-D space, just as with the Kinect but without having to stand up. For example, Boom Ball ($5 or Rs 295) is the classic Breakout game, where you try to knock out bricks by bouncing a ball against them – but your paddle is attached to your finger in vertical space.

In Disney’s clever Sugar Rush ($2 or Rs 118), a spinoff from the “Wreck-It Ralph” movie, you bake yourself a racing car shaped like a wedge of cake, and then steer it by holding both sides of an invisible steering wheel. When you play Dropchord ($3 or Rs 177), you hold two index fingers out in space; you’re defining a line between them that you use to slice dots and avoid X’s. Cut the Rope is here, too (free).

There are some interesting music-making programs, which makes sense, since hand motions are generally associated with playing instruments. Air Harp ($1 or Rs 59) is just what it sounds like. Chordion Conductor is a sweet-sounding arpeggiator (generates music from chords you select).

A few simple educational apps are available, like Molecules (rotate molecules on the screen; free), Cyber Science 3D (pull apart a skull; free) and Frog Dissection (you guessed it; $4 or Rs 236).

There are some stunningly obvious problems with all of this. First, the motions aren’t consistent from game to game. In some apps, “clicking the mouse” involves jabbing toward something on the screen; in others, you have to point to the object and remain perfectly still while a cursor “fills up.” As on the Kinect, that waiting period is presumably to avoid accidental selections. But keeping your finger absolutely motionless in space is darn hard.

In some apps, you go back to the previous screen with a quick finger-swipe to the left. In others, you waggle your hand horizontally.

There’s just no rhyme or reason. Learning the gestures in one app gives you zero applicable skills for the next one.

The finger-tracking itself works inconsistently, too. In some apps, the computer seems to know precisely where your fingers are; in others, you feel ignored or misunderstood. The result is mushy frustration, like trying to play the guitar wearing boxing gloves.

The second huge problem: Half these apps would work much better with mouse and keyboard, or at least a touch screen. In Neko’s Puddle game ($5 or Rs 295), you conduct dripping liquids along various surfaces by tilting them, but the arrow keys would do just as well.

The third huge problem has to do with the app Touchless. It’s the one app that goes beyond gimmicky demoware and games, the one that comes closest to the promise of “Minority Report.” It’s an app that lets you operate the cursor and scroll windows right in your operating system (OS X or Windows).

The thing is, when your finger is up in the air, how is the software supposed to know when you’ve “clicked” something? There’s no glass to tap, as on a touch screen, and no button to click, as on a mouse.

Leap’s solution: there’s an arbitrary invisible wall in space over the sensor. You can’t see it, you can’t feel it – but when your finger crosses that line, you’ve just clicked.

Painting programs like Corel Painter Freestyle (free) require the same technique.
As you’d guess, this method is a disaster: fussy, frustrating, imprecise. The motion gesture you’ll probably use at this point is throwing the stupid thing out the window.

In short, the Leap Motion Controller is a solution in search of a problem. It desperately needs a killer app, some program that couldn’t exist without the Leap’s special talents: tracking the three-dimensional motions of 10 individual fingertips with incredible precision. Most apps don’t even avail themselves of that 10-finger tracking feature. Most detect only a single finger or hand.

It’s very exciting that the Leap controller has attained excellent hardware design, high precision, excellent speed and low price – today. Unfortunately, the software that will justify its existence still lies in the future.

from:NJYTOUCH

No keyboard, no touchscreen either

A new device lets you control your computer with hand motions. But its software is inconsistent and frustrating, says  David Pogu.

By now, we all know what the future will be like; movies and TV shows have described it in detail. We know about the flying cars (thank you, “Blade Runner”), holograms (thank you, “Star Trek”) and robot butlers (thank you, “Jetsons”).

So when will we really get those technologies? Probably on the 11th of “Don’t hold your breath.”

 There is, however, one exception. As of this week, you can buy your own little piece of “Minority Report” and “Iron Man”: controlling your computer by making hand motions in the air.

The Internet has been buzzing about the much-delayed Leap Motion Controller ($80 or Rs 4,726) since its first public demonstrations over a year ago. 

Imagine controlling on-screen objects just by reaching into empty space, just like Tom Cruise! Imagine gesture recognition just like Microsoft’s Kinect game controller, but on a much smaller, more precise scale! Imagine the future, plugged into a USB jack on the Mac or Windows PC you own today!

The Leap Motion sensor is beautiful, tiny and self-contained. It is a sleek, glass-and-aluminum slab (1.2 by 3 by 0.5 inches), with nonskid rubber on the bottom. A single USB cable (both a long one and a short one come in the box) stretches away to your computer; a light comes on when it’s working.

If you have a desktop computer, you put the sensor between your screen and keyboard. If it’s a laptop, you park it on the desk just in front of the keyboard. Soon, Leap says, you’ll be able to buy a PC from HP or Asus that has the sensor built right in.

You download the Leap software, and presto: a somewhat buggy tutorial instructs you to insert your hands into the space – an invisible two-foot cube – that’s monitored by the Leap’s cameras and infrared sensors.

This device is like the Kinect in that it recognises body parts in space. But not only is the Leap far smaller and less expensive, it’s also far more precise. According to the company, it can detect the precise positions of all 10 of your fingers simultaneously, with a spatial accuracy to a 100th of a millimeter – 200 times as accurate as the Kinect.

And remember, the Leap adds gesture recognition not to your TV, but to your computer. A machine that can run millions of different programs for all different purposes. Games, sure, but also office work. Creative work. Communication.

Entertainment. Surely this little wonder is a very big deal.

Unfortunately, it’s not. The Leap’s hardware may be simple, attractive and coherent – but its software is scattershot, inconsistent and frustrating.

The first crushing disappointment is that no software recognises your hand motions unless it’s been specially written, or adapted, for use by the Leap.

There are 75 such apps already on the Leap’s app store, Airspace; some are free, some cost a few dollars. Not all work on both Mac and Windows.

Most are games. In the best of them, you control the action in 3-D space, just as with the Kinect but without having to stand up. For example, Boom Ball ($5 or Rs 295) is the classic Breakout game, where you try to knock out bricks by bouncing a ball against them – but your paddle is attached to your finger in vertical space.

In Disney’s clever Sugar Rush ($2 or Rs 118), a spinoff from the “Wreck-It Ralph” movie, you bake yourself a racing car shaped like a wedge of cake, and then steer it by holding both sides of an invisible steering wheel. When you play Dropchord ($3 or Rs 177), you hold two index fingers out in space; you’re defining a line between them that you use to slice dots and avoid X’s. Cut the Rope is here, too (free).

There are some interesting music-making programs, which makes sense, since hand motions are generally associated with playing instruments. Air Harp ($1 or Rs 59) is just what it sounds like. Chordion Conductor is a sweet-sounding arpeggiator (generates music from chords you select).

A few simple educational apps are available, like Molecules (rotate molecules on the screen; free), Cyber Science 3D (pull apart a skull; free) and Frog Dissection (you guessed it; $4 or Rs 236).

There are some stunningly obvious problems with all of this. First, the motions aren’t consistent from game to game. In some apps, “clicking the mouse” involves jabbing toward something on the screen; in others, you have to point to the object and remain perfectly still while a cursor “fills up.” As on the Kinect, that waiting period is presumably to avoid accidental selections. But keeping your finger absolutely motionless in space is darn hard.

In some apps, you go back to the previous screen with a quick finger-swipe to the left. In others, you waggle your hand horizontally.

There’s just no rhyme or reason. Learning the gestures in one app gives you zero applicable skills for the next one.

The finger-tracking itself works inconsistently, too. In some apps, the computer seems to know precisely where your fingers are; in others, you feel ignored or misunderstood. The result is mushy frustration, like trying to play the guitar wearing boxing gloves.

The second huge problem: Half these apps would work much better with mouse and keyboard, or at least a touch screen. In Neko’s Puddle game ($5 or Rs 295), you conduct dripping liquids along various surfaces by tilting them, but the arrow keys would do just as well.

The third huge problem has to do with the app Touchless. It’s the one app that goes beyond gimmicky demoware and games, the one that comes closest to the promise of “Minority Report.” It’s an app that lets you operate the cursor and scroll windows right in your operating system (OS X or Windows).

The thing is, when your finger is up in the air, how is the software supposed to know when you’ve “clicked” something? There’s no glass to tap, as on a touch screen, and no button to click, as on a mouse.

Leap’s solution: there’s an arbitrary invisible wall in space over the sensor. You can’t see it, you can’t feel it – but when your finger crosses that line, you’ve just clicked.

Painting programs like Corel Painter Freestyle (free) require the same technique.
As you’d guess, this method is a disaster: fussy, frustrating, imprecise. The motion gesture you’ll probably use at this point is throwing the stupid thing out the window.

In short, the Leap Motion Controller is a solution in search of a problem. It desperately needs a killer app, some program that couldn’t exist without the Leap’s special talents: tracking the three-dimensional motions of 10 individual fingertips with incredible precision. Most apps don’t even avail themselves of that 10-finger tracking feature. Most detect only a single finger or hand.

It’s very exciting that the Leap controller has attained excellent hardware design, high precision, excellent speed and low price – today. Unfortunately, the software that will justify its existence still lies in the future.

from:NJYTOUCH

No keyboard, no touchscreen either

A new device lets you control your computer with hand motions. But its software is inconsistent and frustrating, says  David Pogu.

By now, we all know what the future will be like; movies and TV shows have described it in detail. We know about the flying cars (thank you, “Blade Runner”), holograms (thank you, “Star Trek”) and robot butlers (thank you, “Jetsons”).

So when will we really get those technologies? Probably on the 11th of “Don’t hold your breath.”

 There is, however, one exception. As of this week, you can buy your own little piece of “Minority Report” and “Iron Man”: controlling your computer by making hand motions in the air.

The Internet has been buzzing about the much-delayed Leap Motion Controller ($80 or Rs 4,726) since its first public demonstrations over a year ago. 

Imagine controlling on-screen objects just by reaching into empty space, just like Tom Cruise! Imagine gesture recognition just like Microsoft’s Kinect game controller, but on a much smaller, more precise scale! Imagine the future, plugged into a USB jack on the Mac or Windows PC you own today!

The Leap Motion sensor is beautiful, tiny and self-contained. It is a sleek, glass-and-aluminum slab (1.2 by 3 by 0.5 inches), with nonskid rubber on the bottom. A single USB cable (both a long one and a short one come in the box) stretches away to your computer; a light comes on when it’s working.

If you have a desktop computer, you put the sensor between your screen and keyboard. If it’s a laptop, you park it on the desk just in front of the keyboard. Soon, Leap says, you’ll be able to buy a PC from HP or Asus that has the sensor built right in.

You download the Leap software, and presto: a somewhat buggy tutorial instructs you to insert your hands into the space – an invisible two-foot cube – that’s monitored by the Leap’s cameras and infrared sensors.

This device is like the Kinect in that it recognises body parts in space. But not only is the Leap far smaller and less expensive, it’s also far more precise. According to the company, it can detect the precise positions of all 10 of your fingers simultaneously, with a spatial accuracy to a 100th of a millimeter – 200 times as accurate as the Kinect.

And remember, the Leap adds gesture recognition not to your TV, but to your computer. A machine that can run millions of different programs for all different purposes. Games, sure, but also office work. Creative work. Communication.

Entertainment. Surely this little wonder is a very big deal.

Unfortunately, it’s not. The Leap’s hardware may be simple, attractive and coherent – but its software is scattershot, inconsistent and frustrating.

The first crushing disappointment is that no software recognises your hand motions unless it’s been specially written, or adapted, for use by the Leap.

There are 75 such apps already on the Leap’s app store, Airspace; some are free, some cost a few dollars. Not all work on both Mac and Windows.

Most are games. In the best of them, you control the action in 3-D space, just as with the Kinect but without having to stand up. For example, Boom Ball ($5 or Rs 295) is the classic Breakout game, where you try to knock out bricks by bouncing a ball against them – but your paddle is attached to your finger in vertical space.

In Disney’s clever Sugar Rush ($2 or Rs 118), a spinoff from the “Wreck-It Ralph” movie, you bake yourself a racing car shaped like a wedge of cake, and then steer it by holding both sides of an invisible steering wheel. When you play Dropchord ($3 or Rs 177), you hold two index fingers out in space; you’re defining a line between them that you use to slice dots and avoid X’s. Cut the Rope is here, too (free).

There are some interesting music-making programs, which makes sense, since hand motions are generally associated with playing instruments. Air Harp ($1 or Rs 59) is just what it sounds like. Chordion Conductor is a sweet-sounding arpeggiator (generates music from chords you select).

A few simple educational apps are available, like Molecules (rotate molecules on the screen; free), Cyber Science 3D (pull apart a skull; free) and Frog Dissection (you guessed it; $4 or Rs 236).

There are some stunningly obvious problems with all of this. First, the motions aren’t consistent from game to game. In some apps, “clicking the mouse” involves jabbing toward something on the screen; in others, you have to point to the object and remain perfectly still while a cursor “fills up.” As on the Kinect, that waiting period is presumably to avoid accidental selections. But keeping your finger absolutely motionless in space is darn hard.

In some apps, you go back to the previous screen with a quick finger-swipe to the left. In others, you waggle your hand horizontally.

There’s just no rhyme or reason. Learning the gestures in one app gives you zero applicable skills for the next one.

The finger-tracking itself works inconsistently, too. In some apps, the computer seems to know precisely where your fingers are; in others, you feel ignored or misunderstood. The result is mushy frustration, like trying to play the guitar wearing boxing gloves.

The second huge problem: Half these apps would work much better with mouse and keyboard, or at least a touch screen. In Neko’s Puddle game ($5 or Rs 295), you conduct dripping liquids along various surfaces by tilting them, but the arrow keys would do just as well.

The third huge problem has to do with the app Touchless. It’s the one app that goes beyond gimmicky demoware and games, the one that comes closest to the promise of “Minority Report.” It’s an app that lets you operate the cursor and scroll windows right in your operating system (OS X or Windows).

The thing is, when your finger is up in the air, how is the software supposed to know when you’ve “clicked” something? There’s no glass to tap, as on a touch screen, and no button to click, as on a mouse.

Leap’s solution: there’s an arbitrary invisible wall in space over the sensor. You can’t see it, you can’t feel it – but when your finger crosses that line, you’ve just clicked.

Painting programs like Corel Painter Freestyle (free) require the same technique.
As you’d guess, this method is a disaster: fussy, frustrating, imprecise. The motion gesture you’ll probably use at this point is throwing the stupid thing out the window.

In short, the Leap Motion Controller is a solution in search of a problem. It desperately needs a killer app, some program that couldn’t exist without the Leap’s special talents: tracking the three-dimensional motions of 10 individual fingertips with incredible precision. Most apps don’t even avail themselves of that 10-finger tracking feature. Most detect only a single finger or hand.

It’s very exciting that the Leap controller has attained excellent hardware design, high precision, excellent speed and low price – today. Unfortunately, the software that will justify its existence still lies in the future.

from:NJYTOUCH

No keyboard, no touchscreen either

A new device lets you control your computer with hand motions. But its software is inconsistent and frustrating, says  David Pogu.

By now, we all know what the future will be like; movies and TV shows have described it in detail. We know about the flying cars (thank you, “Blade Runner”), holograms (thank you, “Star Trek”) and robot butlers (thank you, “Jetsons”).

So when will we really get those technologies? Probably on the 11th of “Don’t hold your breath.”

 There is, however, one exception. As of this week, you can buy your own little piece of “Minority Report” and “Iron Man”: controlling your computer by making hand motions in the air.

The Internet has been buzzing about the much-delayed Leap Motion Controller ($80 or Rs 4,726) since its first public demonstrations over a year ago. 

Imagine controlling on-screen objects just by reaching into empty space, just like Tom Cruise! Imagine gesture recognition just like Microsoft’s Kinect game controller, but on a much smaller, more precise scale! Imagine the future, plugged into a USB jack on the Mac or Windows PC you own today!

The Leap Motion sensor is beautiful, tiny and self-contained. It is a sleek, glass-and-aluminum slab (1.2 by 3 by 0.5 inches), with nonskid rubber on the bottom. A single USB cable (both a long one and a short one come in the box) stretches away to your computer; a light comes on when it’s working.

If you have a desktop computer, you put the sensor between your screen and keyboard. If it’s a laptop, you park it on the desk just in front of the keyboard. Soon, Leap says, you’ll be able to buy a PC from HP or Asus that has the sensor built right in.

You download the Leap software, and presto: a somewhat buggy tutorial instructs you to insert your hands into the space – an invisible two-foot cube – that’s monitored by the Leap’s cameras and infrared sensors.

This device is like the Kinect in that it recognises body parts in space. But not only is the Leap far smaller and less expensive, it’s also far more precise. According to the company, it can detect the precise positions of all 10 of your fingers simultaneously, with a spatial accuracy to a 100th of a millimeter – 200 times as accurate as the Kinect.

And remember, the Leap adds gesture recognition not to your TV, but to your computer. A machine that can run millions of different programs for all different purposes. Games, sure, but also office work. Creative work. Communication.

Entertainment. Surely this little wonder is a very big deal.

Unfortunately, it’s not. The Leap’s hardware may be simple, attractive and coherent – but its software is scattershot, inconsistent and frustrating.

The first crushing disappointment is that no software recognises your hand motions unless it’s been specially written, or adapted, for use by the Leap.

There are 75 such apps already on the Leap’s app store, Airspace; some are free, some cost a few dollars. Not all work on both Mac and Windows.

Most are games. In the best of them, you control the action in 3-D space, just as with the Kinect but without having to stand up. For example, Boom Ball ($5 or Rs 295) is the classic Breakout game, where you try to knock out bricks by bouncing a ball against them – but your paddle is attached to your finger in vertical space.

In Disney’s clever Sugar Rush ($2 or Rs 118), a spinoff from the “Wreck-It Ralph” movie, you bake yourself a racing car shaped like a wedge of cake, and then steer it by holding both sides of an invisible steering wheel. When you play Dropchord ($3 or Rs 177), you hold two index fingers out in space; you’re defining a line between them that you use to slice dots and avoid X’s. Cut the Rope is here, too (free).

There are some interesting music-making programs, which makes sense, since hand motions are generally associated with playing instruments. Air Harp ($1 or Rs 59) is just what it sounds like. Chordion Conductor is a sweet-sounding arpeggiator (generates music from chords you select).

A few simple educational apps are available, like Molecules (rotate molecules on the screen; free), Cyber Science 3D (pull apart a skull; free) and Frog Dissection (you guessed it; $4 or Rs 236).

There are some stunningly obvious problems with all of this. First, the motions aren’t consistent from game to game. In some apps, “clicking the mouse” involves jabbing toward something on the screen; in others, you have to point to the object and remain perfectly still while a cursor “fills up.” As on the Kinect, that waiting period is presumably to avoid accidental selections. But keeping your finger absolutely motionless in space is darn hard.

In some apps, you go back to the previous screen with a quick finger-swipe to the left. In others, you waggle your hand horizontally.

There’s just no rhyme or reason. Learning the gestures in one app gives you zero applicable skills for the next one.

The finger-tracking itself works inconsistently, too. In some apps, the computer seems to know precisely where your fingers are; in others, you feel ignored or misunderstood. The result is mushy frustration, like trying to play the guitar wearing boxing gloves.

The second huge problem: Half these apps would work much better with mouse and keyboard, or at least a touch screen. In Neko’s Puddle game ($5 or Rs 295), you conduct dripping liquids along various surfaces by tilting them, but the arrow keys would do just as well.

The third huge problem has to do with the app Touchless. It’s the one app that goes beyond gimmicky demoware and games, the one that comes closest to the promise of “Minority Report.” It’s an app that lets you operate the cursor and scroll windows right in your operating system (OS X or Windows).

The thing is, when your finger is up in the air, how is the software supposed to know when you’ve “clicked” something? There’s no glass to tap, as on a touch screen, and no button to click, as on a mouse.

Leap’s solution: there’s an arbitrary invisible wall in space over the sensor. You can’t see it, you can’t feel it – but when your finger crosses that line, you’ve just clicked.

Painting programs like Corel Painter Freestyle (free) require the same technique.
As you’d guess, this method is a disaster: fussy, frustrating, imprecise. The motion gesture you’ll probably use at this point is throwing the stupid thing out the window.

In short, the Leap Motion Controller is a solution in search of a problem. It desperately needs a killer app, some program that couldn’t exist without the Leap’s special talents: tracking the three-dimensional motions of 10 individual fingertips with incredible precision. Most apps don’t even avail themselves of that 10-finger tracking feature. Most detect only a single finger or hand.

It’s very exciting that the Leap controller has attained excellent hardware design, high precision, excellent speed and low price – today. Unfortunately, the software that will justify its existence still lies in the future.

from:NJYTOUCH

Touchscreen Devices Will Soon Be Able to Identify Fingerprints

A new touchscreen display, which is capable of identifying fingerprints, is closer to reality.

Not only will the display redefine online security but could revolutionise the way in which humans and computers interact in the public sphere.

Current touchscreens emit light but are not able to sense it, which makes it impossible to identify fingerprints unless a supplemental sensor is added.

Researchers Christian Holz of the Hasso Plattner Institute in Germany told New Scientist that these touchscreens cannot scan fingerprints and fingerprint sensors are not able to show images.
from:NJYTOUCH

U.S. driver safety group sues Ford over touch-screen systems

(Reuters) – Ford Motor Co has been hit with a proposed class action claiming it neglected to fix defects in vehicle touch-screen control systems that create safety hazards for drivers.

The lawsuit was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California by the Center for Defensive Driving, a non-profit driver safety group. The plaintiffs are bringing the lawsuit on behalf of customers who purchased or leased Ford vehicles equipped with a MyFord Touch system, as well as variations like MyLincoln Touch and MyMercury Touch.

According to the lawsuit, customers have complained that the system freezes up, malfunctions, blacks out and fails to connect with mobile devices. The complaint said system flaws have created “significant safety risks” for drivers, diverting their attention from the road when the product malfunctions and failing to contact 911 during emergencies as designed.

Ford launched MyFord Touch in vehicles in 2010. The system was designed to centralize audio, navigation, climate, mobile-device, entertainment and safety controls through LCD interfaces powered by Microsoft’s Sync operating system. The MyFord Touch system can be controlled via a touch-screen panel, voice commands or by buttons on the steering wheel.

Since its launch, however, MyFord Touch and other so-called infotainment systems in Ford vehicles have been an “unmitigated disaster,” plaintiffs said in the lawsuit.

A representative for Ford declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.

Ford, the second-largest U.S. automaker, reported 400 problems with its MyFord Touch system for every 1,000 vehicles in November 2012. The company previously said it aims to lower that number to 360 by August.

Automakers have struggled to create easy-to-use and effective touch-screen systems that integrate entertainment and navigation systems.

Ford has faced public criticism over its systems from some customers. At least two websites, including syncsucks.com, have been set up to chronicle customers’ problems with the systems, the complaint said. Customers also have lodged complaints with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over the system, according to the lawsuit.

“In theory, MyFord Touch is a brilliant idea and worth the premium that Ford charged its customers for the system,” plaintiffs’ lawyer Steve Berman of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro said in a statement. “In reality, the system is fundamentally flawed, failing to reliably provide functionality, amounting to an inconvenience at best, and a serious safety issue at worst.”

Ford said in a June press release that Sync and MyFord Touch were sold on nearly 80 percent of 2013 Ford vehicles, up from 68 percent in 2012.

Ford has issued several updates to address issues with the system, but the complaint said that the updates failed to address plaintiffs’ problems.

The company said in June that it is also planning to add buttons and knobs to MyFord Touch systemsin future vehicles.

Plaintiffs are seeking a court order compelling Ford to recall or replace the systems, as well as damages.

from:NJYTOUCH

A common complaint about the new MacBook Air is the lack of a touch screen

    The MacBook Air recently released is a laptop that sets the bar for the genre. Even with all that Apple has accomplished with the new laptop, a common complaint is the lack of a touch screen. The support for touch screens in Windows 8 is creating an expectation that laptops need to have them. The fact is that OS X handles multi-touch on a trackpad better than Windows 8 does on a touch screen.

I can already hear the cries of discontent over my statement that OS X handles touch operation better than Windows 8. There are no doubt Windows 8 users that find touch operation to be quite nice on touch screenlaptops. While I agree that it is adequate on Windows 8, I firmly believe that touch operation on MacBooks is better.

Apple has perfected the use of touch gestures on the big trackpads found on all current MacBooks. After only a short period of learning the gestures, OS X is wonderful to control with them. This operation, coupled with the intelligent use running apps in the full-screen mode, makes the MacBook (Air or Pro) simple, intuitive, and delightful to use.

Moving from one full-screen app to another is as simple as swiping left or right with three fingsers. That’s how I have my Macs configured, anyway, as the number of fingers can be set to however many feels right for each user.

If too many apps are open and swiping doesn’t get to the desired app quickly, simply swipe up on the trackpad with three fingers to get to Mission Control. This presents all running apps and the dashboard, allowing instant teleportation to the desired app by tapping it. It’s possible to rearrange the order of the apps by dragging one to the desired position on the Mission Control screen. I do this to put my two apps accessed most often side-by-side so the left/right swipe gesture mentioned above swoops back and forth.

When I need to run an app, the dock at the bottom of the main screen is convenient. Even easier, pinching on the trackpad with the thumb and three fingers fires up the Launchpad. This shows all installed apps on pages that can be cycled by swiping left and right. It’s similar to the home screens on the iPad except all apps are presented alphabetically. Reversing the pinch gesture collapses the Launchpad, as does tapping on an app to run it.

What makes the Mission Control and Launchpad more efficient than similar operations on Windows 8 is that the Mac utilities can be accessed from any screen. There’s no need to go back to the main screen (or Start screen on Windows 8), you can get anywhere with an intuitive gesture on the trackpad from any screen or app.

Touch operation in the Safari browser on the Mac is great. The pinch/zoom gesture works in Safari just like it works on the iPad, and there’s a good reason that has become the standard. It is particularly handy on the 11-inch MacBook Air, zooming in as needed and back out again.

The two-finger left/right swiping in Safari is a great way to move back-and-forth among web pages. This is complete with a graphical animation of the next/last web page moving into view. That’s not just fluff, it makes it possible to see at a glance if the upcoming page is the one you want.

The touch gestures discussed in this article are only the ones I use most, there are others that contribute to the utility of touch operation on the Mac. The operation is not only intuitive, simple, and practical, it quickly becomes natural. What may be important to some Mac users, virtually all of the touch gestures are configurable by the user to make them feel the most natural. Equally important is how most of them are optional for those who don’t want touch control.

I like using my HP Envy x2 with both a touch screen and good trackpad. Microsoft has done a decent job making its latest OS work with both types of controls. But there are some tasks that are more natural to execute using the touch screen, and others the trackpad. It’s a mixed bag using touch on Windows 8.

I use both Windows 8 and OS X on the Mac, and the latter is clearly superior to me. Touch operation on Windows 8, both the touch screen and trackpad, feels like Microsoft tried too hard to make it work on all device types. While it works, it never feels natural nor works as well as touch control on the Mac.

from:NJYTOUCH

removable Infared touch panel

removable Infared touch panel

How it works

removable Infrared technology uses infrared emitter-collector pairs to project an invisible grid of light a small distance over the surface of the screen. When a user touch the surface of screen, the infrared emitted from LED beam is broken ,the absence of the signal at the collector is detected and receiver transmits X-Y axis information to the PC port via touch controller. removable Infrared technology is the survivor of harsh applications. It's the only technology that does not rely on an overlay or substrate to register a touch, so it's impossible to physically "wear out" the touch screen. It's an excellent choice for harsh industrial and outdoor kiosk applications.

Model List

Model No. Spec. External Dimension Active Dimension Detail Spec NJY-3200-IR-N 32" 766.0mm x 460.0mm 704.2mm x 398.2mm more NJY-3700-IR-N 37" 888.4mm x 532.5mm 826.6mm x 951.2mm more NJY-4200-IR-N 42" 1000.0mmx593.0mm 938.2mm x 531.2mm more NJY-4600-IR-N 46" 1088.8mm x 642.8mm 1027.0mm x 581.0mm more NJY-5200-IR-N 52" 1228.0mmx724.0mm 1166.2mm x 662.2mm more NJY-5500-IR-N 55" 1279.0mmx750.0mm 1273.2mm x 744.6mm more NJY-6000-IR-N 60" 1391.8mmx806.8mm 1330.0mm x 745.0mm more NJY-6500-IR-N 65" 1501.8mm x875.8mm 1496.4mm x 870.4mm more NJY-7000-IR-N 70" 1611.8mmx988.4mm 1549.5mm x 871.6mm more NJY-8000-IR-N 80" 1830.8mmx1073.8mm 1769.0mm x1012.0mm more

Highlight & Benefits

.Built-in touch systems, aluminum alloy frame,tender apperance,hardly effect the apperance of displays. .No weakening the illumination of display screen,not indistinct .High touch precision at 4096 X 4096 .Use any entity of diameter over 8mm .No delay,fast response .perate on the screen surface .operate with finger or stylus/gloved hand .touch to operate all application software .manually write, draw, filling up and so on .operate under -41℃~71℃ .humidity <80% .reliable and stable .easy mounting, only use RS-232 or USB connection .highly stable, no drift .durable .fully sealing,free maintenance

Typical Application

.Gaming machine .Indoor and outdoor kiosks .ATMs .Industrial control .Pos .In-vehicle and transportation .Medical equipment .Voting machine Infrared touch screen calibration software Connected the touch screen ，Open software ， Select the connected touch screen ，Click on the calibration .Then into calibration full screen page. Click on touch screen according to hints on the page ，Finally, save and exit

Synaptics puts touch on the back of tablets

Reports are circling around Apple’s supply chain of a potential shift in the company’s display strategy for its future iPhones and iPads — moving back to LCDs and away from touch panels — but a drastic realignment of its supply chain is probably not likely, observes DisplaySearch.

Calvin Hsieh, senior analyst at DisplaySearch, cites a report from China that Innolux has delivered “touch on display” samples for the iPhone, another China report that Innolux and AU Optronics have provided “one-glass solution” (OGS) samples for the iPad Mini, and his firm’s own analysis that theiPhone 5 uses in-cell touch technology but the iPad mini uses a glass/film dual ITO (GF2, or DITO) structure. With both those processes struggling to attain good yields, could Apple end up changing its display technology adoption midstream?

TOD is a proprietary on-cell touch technology developed by Innolux in which the sensor is located on the upper glass (the color filter substrate) beneath the top polarizer. On-cell touch combines both LCD and touch so it must meet Apple’s LCD display requirements; Hsieh notes, adding that Innolux accounted for less than 10% of iPhone 4 display shipments (3.5-in, 960×640). “If Apple were to adopt TOD, it would very likely request that Innolux share its technology, structure or even patents with Apple’s other LCD suppliers in order to ensure adequate supply,” he writes,” and Apple also probably would want to take over the controller IC and algorithm from any Innolux partners (e.g. Synaptics). Apple already owns DITO patents, he adds.

The OGS display technology is an even more complex problem, Hsieh points out. OGS integrates the touch ITO sensor circuits into the cover glass, via two possible methods: a piece type such as “touch on lens” (TOL) or a sheet type, each accomplished with a different process. Either way the X-Y sensor patterns are on the same side of the substrate, so it’s called a “SITO” structure or “G2.” Touch panel maker TPK owns patents for the piece-type OGS method, and claim they have key SITO patents as well and are suing Nokia and Chinese panel maker O-film, Hsieh notes; whether the aforementioned Innolux-AUO partnership could produce the technology given the TPK patents is unclear, he says.

There’s more to Apple use of OGS display if it chooses that route. Sheet-type OGS has a compressive cover-glass strength of 500-6600 Mpa; Corning’s IOX-FS and Gorilla glass have 600-700 Mpa for smartphone sizes and cannot be used in sheet type, Hsieh says. Piece type has the higher CS value but are difficult to mask-stamp and align under lithography, and throughput may be low.

Among iPhone 5 panel suppliers only LG Display offers everything from in-cell touch LCD to cover glass lamination (consigned by Apple), Hsieh notes. Other in-cell touch LCD makers Japan Display and Sharp rely on partners for the cover glass. If Innolux and AUO continue with their OGS partnership, they have a choice:

An integrated offering of LCD, OGS sheet patterning (cover glass with SITO sensor), and lamination let Apple specify the IOX-FS glass sheet with compressive strength of Gorilla 1; “In this scenario, LG Display will never give up and must be one of the suppliers,” he notes.

Integrate the LCD, OGS piece-type sensor patterning, and lamination, using consigned cover glass pieces from other finishers (e.g. Lens One). The challenge here is expanding tools, throughput, and yield for piece-type patterning, to be acceptable for the iPhone’s >100M unit base.

All that is somewhat speculation, though, because long-term Apple touch supplier TPK already “has excellent OGS sheet and piece-type technology, and high lamination yield rates,” and is unlikely to simply hand over that business to new entrants. “Although AUO and Innolux have advantages as LCD makers and can shorten the supply chain by producing LCD and touch at the same time, TPK has strength in OGS integration from sensor patterning, cover glass finishing (for sheet type), to module lamination,” Hsieh writes. “Thus, there is a good chance that TPK will once again be a key touch supplier to Apple if it decides to change touch structures.”

NJYTOUCH

Apple Cuts iPhone 5 Display Orders By 50%

Journal reported on Monday that Apple is confronting low demand for its new iPhone 5, reason why the Cupertino-based company has cut the display orders for its flagship smartphone by 50%. The reputed publication is quoting sources close to the matter that say that Apple has also cut the orders for other iPhone parts, as well.

According to the sources, we are talking about a cut of 50% for the iPhone 5 displays that are supposed to ship in the January – March time frame. There’s also another source that claims that Apple did the same for other iPhone components.

Even tough this might suggest that Apple’s iPhone 5 is not selling well, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions, yet, as the Cupertino-base company might as well have enough parts on stock, so it would make no sense for the suppliers to ship new ones.

On the other hand, Apple might also get ready for the production of a new iPhone model, the yet-unannounced iPhone 6 (or iPhone 5S, or The iPhone, or whatever they decide to call it). Therefore, it’s part suppliers might get ready to kick off the production of the parts for the next gen iOS-powered smartphone.

An article written by the guys at Nikkei confirms the information, showing that Japan Display and Sharp touch screen manufacturers have registered drops in LED displays orders for the first quarter of 2013.

It was reported that Apple initially planned to order 65 million touch panel units from the two aforementioned companies, but, for some reason, the number have been reduced.

It’s not clear yet whether LG Display, another important screen supplier for Apple, was affected, as well.

njytouch

Cambrios CEO John LeMoncheck to Highlight Alternative Materials Enabling Touch Panels

Dec 10, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Cambrios Technologies Corporation:

        WHO:
                   John LeMoncheck, President and CEO of Cambrios Technologies
                   Corporation
        WHAT:      Numerous disruptive display technologies are entering the market,
                   with OLED leading the way. DisplaySearch estimates the OLED screen
                   market could reach $44 billion by 2019, up from $4 billion in 2011.
                   In addition to large OLED TV's, leading CE companies like Samsung
                   are actively developing curved and flexible OLED displays.
                   Regardless of the display technology, consumers expect beautiful,
                   high-resolution screens with increasingly demanding touch capabilities. To equip tomorrow's most advanced display devices with
                   high performance touch screens and excellent optical properties,
                   device makers are abandoning indium tin oxide (ITO) in favor of
                   affordable, flexible, new transparent conductive materials.
                   John LeMoncheck will be joined by executives from LG Electronics and
                   Kent Displays in a panel discussion entitled, "The Download on New
                   Display Technologies," to assess the advantages of and differences
                   between various new display technologies including AMOLED, Crystal
                   LED, Retina and flexible displays. John will also highlight why
                   Cambrios' ClearOhm(TM) material is replacing ITO and
                   enabling the next generation of touch-enabled displays.
        WHY:       In order to equip the latest curved or flexible devices with the
                   advanced touch capabilities consumers now expect, device makers must
                   utilize flexible materials such as ClearOhm coating material - the
                   only commercially available solution processed transparent
                   conductive material with performance rivaling or exceeding that of
                   ITO. Priced to enable consumer devices, ClearOhm solutions are also
                   changing the OLED lighting landscape. Cambrios has also demonstrated
                   OLED lighting with efficiencies of more than 40 Lm/W using ClearOhm
                   electrodes, and these electrodes even improve angle dependence of
                   color, resulting in improved OLED displays and lighting products.
        WHEN:      Session ET2: The Download on New Display Technologies
                   Wednesday, January 9, 2013
                   3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. PST
        WHERE:     2013 International CES
                   Las Vegas Convention Center, North Hall N259

http://www.cesweb.org/

Cambrios will also have a meeting room at CES, and will demonstrate several touchscreenproducts enabled by ClearOhm material, including laptops and All-in-One computers. To arrange a meeting with Cambrios and view these demonstrations, please contact: cambrios@stearnsjohnson.com.

About Cambrios:

Cambrios leads the industry in providing solutions based on proprietary, innovative technologies for consumer electronics markets using nanotechnology. Its breakthrough transparent conductor products, available today, simplify electronics manufacturing processes and improve end-product cost and performance for current and next-generation consumer devices such as large area and flexible touch, and other high conductivity, optically clear applications. The company’s first product, its ClearOhm(TM) coating material, produces a transparent, conductive film by wet processing with significantly higher optical and electrical performance than currently used materials such as indium tin oxide. Applications of ClearOhm(TM) coating material include transparent electrodes fortouch screens, EMI shielding, OLED displays, e-paper, OLED lighting and thin film photovoltaics.

Cambrios is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California with offices in Japan and Taiwan.

About CES

With more than four decades of success, the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) reaches across global markets, connects the industry and enables CE innovations to grow and thrive.

The International CES is owned and produced by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the $195 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry. More than 2,000 companies enjoy the benefits of CEA membership, including legislative advocacy, market research, technical training and education, industry promotion, standards development and the fostering of business and strategic relationships. CEA also owns and produces the International CES – The Global Stage for Innovation. All profits from CES are reinvested into CEA’s industry services.

ClearOhm(TM) is a registered trademark of Cambrios Technologies Corporation.

SOURCE: Cambrios Technologies Corporation

NJYTOUCH

New AsureSpace Touch Panels Have Power Over Ethernet

Asure Software, Inc., a leading provider of workplace management software solutions, today announced the next generation of AsureSpace Touch Panels. The digital displays feature power over Ethernet, an enhanced user interface, multi-room support and simple customization — all designed to enhance the efficiency of scheduling and managing meeting rooms across organizations of all sizes.

“Our goal with this new generation of AsureSpace Touch Panels is to make our innovative displays even easier to configure, install and use, thereby helping our clients improve the efficiency of their workplace while maximizing their real-estate utilization,” said Pat Goepel, CEO of Asure Software. “The panels’ evolution is in keeping with our philosophy of developing solutions that ‘keep it simple’ and deliver a high return on investment.”

AsureSpace Touch Panels, integrated with the AsureSpace Meeting Room Manager, Resource Scheduler and Workspace Manager solutions, are eight-inch tablets enclosed within a wall-mountable case and feature an LED light bar to easily indicate if a room is available. The intuitive, easy-to-use user interface includes multiple display options that can easily be configured during setup, including the ability to customize logo and branding.

Since the panels are powered over the Ethernet — meaning that just one low-voltage cable supplies both network connectivity and power to the units — there is no need for electrical outlets. This is especially convenient since the panels are designed to be placed directly outside a room’s entrance. Industry-standard Video Electronics Standards Association mounting cases makes them easy to install on walls. Further, a single panel can serve two rooms with entrances located close to one another.

AsureSpace Touch Panels make ad hoc booking easy. Users can view availability and make room reservations directly on the touch panel screen; or they may choose to use their desktop or mobile device to access the scheduling application. Two-way integration with the AsureSpace Meeting Room Manager, Resource Scheduler and Workspace Manager solutions eliminates double bookings. Any open time — even times during the current day — may be booked. When users arrive at a room, just a glance at the red (occupied) or green (free) light answers the question “Is this room available?”

Asure Software, Inc., headquartered in Austin, Texas, offers intuitive and innovative technologies that enable companies of all sizes and complexities to operate more efficiently and better control costs. The company ensures a high-performing work environment by delivering its “keep it simple” solutions and expertise to more than 11,000 clients worldwide. Asure Software’s suite of solutions ranges from time and attendance workforce management solutions to intelligent on-demand workplace management solutions.

NJYTOUCH