TableConnect Mirrors iOS & Android Devices on a 60″ Touchscreen: Immobile Device

About three years ago, I talked about Table Connect, a 58″ touchscreen display that mirrors the screen of an iPhone. Or not. It turns out that the display we saw in the video wasn’t even a prototype; the “demo video” we saw was made using special effects. But now the same people behind that viral video claim they can make a real device.

Now called TableConnect – the lack of a space tells you they’re serious this time – is more or less the same idea, except now the final product will supposedly work with both iOS and Android devices. As with the fake product, you’ll be able to navigate and control your mobile device from the screen itself. The table can even be propped in an upright position to mimic the portrait mode of mobile devices.

TableConnect is expected to have an edge-to-edge 1080p LED touchscreen and come in two sizes: 60″ and 32″. It will also have several “Smart Areas” – i.e. home buttons on every corner and orientation buttons on the edges.

TableConnect will also supposedly support Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and HDMI connectivity, although this part is confusing because the prototype shown in the video below connects to an iPhone 4 using a 30-pin cable. TableConnect will also require a jailbroken iOS device, although the final product will supposedly come with a “pre-configured” iPhone or iPad. There’s currently no word on exactly which Android devices it will work with.

TableConnect is currently asking for money on Indiegogo to help with the development of the final product. Unlike most fundraising projects you cannot get a TableConnect as a reward, but even if they did offer one, most of us won’t be able to afford it anyway. The projected final cost for the 60″ version is a jaw-dropping €25,000 (~$33,000 USD) while the 32″ version will cost €15,000 (~$20,000 USD). There goes my dream of playing epic sessions of Spaceteam.

From:NJYTOUCH

InFocus will make jumbo, touch-screen computers in Tigard

InFocus Corp. said this morning that it will manufacture new models of its jumbo-sized, touch-screen computers in Tigard instead of overseas.

The new manufacturing facility employs six now and InFocus said it’s in the process of expanding to 10 people. Prior models are still made in higher volumes in Asia, but the company — headquartered at a separate site near Tigard — said it didn’t make sense to produce the new, 70-inch version overseas given shipping costs on a specialty product.

The new Tigard facility will be InFocus’ first production facility in a decade. The company said it will add a service center to the facility in the near future.

InFocus was once the leader in Oregon’s cluster of electronic display companies, pioneering the market for digital projectors — which were initially made in Oregon. But larger brands such as Epson, NEC and Sony made the market more competitive and InFocus shifted production to China.

Sales continued to fall as competition increased, but InFocus remains a leader in the projector market. Revenues totaled $150 million in 2011, the last year for which the company reported sales.

InFocus introduced the $6,000, 55-inch Mondopad in 2011 as a collaboration device in conference rooms. Earlier this year it introduced a scaled back version called the Big Touch for $1,000 less.

The new Tigard facility will make an $11,000, 70-inch Mondopad and an equivalent Big Touch device. InFocus already employs about 50 at its Tigard headquarters.

Correction: An earlier version of this article reported that the manufacturing facility is in Beaverton. It’s actually just south of Beaverton, in the Tigard city limits.

From:NJYTOUCH

Acer Aspire R7 Touchscreen Notebook Gets Intel Chips, Active Pen

The R7 features a repositioned keyboard and high-definition touch-screenmounted on a hinge that allows the screen to flip, reverse, lie flat or float.

Computer maker Acer announced its Aspire R7 notebook now includes the latest 4th generation Intel processor and an Acer Active Pen to further redefine the notebook’s touch capability.

Designed to provide a better environment for both touch and typing, the R7 features a repositioned keyboard and high-definition touch-screen mounted on what the company calls an “Ezel hinge,” which allows the screen to flip, reverse, lie flat or float. The notebook also features up to 12GB of memory, up to 1TB hard drive (or up to 256GB SSD), and full-size backlit keyboard.

The Ezel Hinge makes it possible to flip the 15.6-inch full HD 1920 x 1080 touch-screen around to share visuals and other content with others. The dual hinge technology allows for single-hand switching between modes and keeps the display steady when touched. The keyboard is closer to the edge of the chassis to make typing more comfortable and bring the keys closer to the user.

In addition, the Acer Active Pen can be used with gesture controls at the same time, so customers can, for example, resize a picture with the pinching gesture and adjust fine details with the pen. The device uses electromagnetic induction technology and responds to varying degrees of pressure sensitivity like an actual pen.

From:NJYTOUCH

Google announces second generation Nexus 7 tablet

Google has started rolling out a software update for the new Nexus 7 tablet with build number JSS15Q. The new update fixes the touchscreen problems being faced by several users.

Google’s Paul confirmed in the Google Product forums that the ongoing update is indeed for the touchscreen issues. Here is his statement.

“As a couple of you have mentioned, there’s a new system update that’s started rolling out for your Nexus 7s. This update does address the touchscreen issues discussed in this thread.”

As you would know, Android updates are typically rolled out in phases and this specifically being a bug-fixing update will be released to even smaller number of consumers at first, so that Google can check the impact before a wider release. Don’t get impatient if you don’t get the update right now, it is better to wait for the wider release.

If you have already updated your Nexus 7 tablet with JSS15Q update and you previously had touchscreen issues, do let us and other readers know in comments if the update fixed the problem.

From:NJYTOUCH

Touchscreen laptops are here to stay and that’s a good thing

here are lots of business conferences… TNW Conference US isn’t one of them.

“We’ve done tons of user testing on this, and it turns out it doesn’t work. Touch surfaces don’t want to be vertical. It gives great demo, but after a short period of time you start to fatigue, and after an extended period of time, your arm wants to fall off.” -

-Steve Jobs

What Jobs was referring too in this speech from 2010 was, of course, gorilla arm; a by-product of holding your arm in a vertical position while performing micro-movements on a touchscreen with one’s finger.

There have been many rumors over the years that Apple would introduce a touchscreen laptop, and it seems there’s no smoke without fire – patents have been filed and, by Jobs’ own admission, the company has carried out extensive user-testing in the field. Based on its research, however, it seems any plans to introduce a touchscreen MacBook were shelved long ago.

However, having used a touchscreen Windows 8 machine on and off for more than a year, I can safely say my arm has remained human at every juncture. And the key lies in how I’ve been using the touchscreen.

There’s not a chance in hell I’d forego a mouse and keyboard on a laptop. They’re essential facets of usability, functionality and any other kind of -ality. But that doesn’t mean a touchscreen doesn’t fit right in alongside it. This blending of traditional peripherals and the more contemporary touch-based interface really works.

I still use a mouse for a lot of stuff, like highlighting words to copy/paste for example, and clicking on links. But as soon as I hit a page that requires scrolling, or even in the main Start screen where the Windows Store and all the apps are housed, the mouse is dropped and that trusty old forefinger really comes into its own. It’s never more than a few seconds at a time, plus my elbow actually sits rested on the desk – it’s not a big deal.

Confusing the debate

While I am wary of the wave of hybrid Windows devices that have hit the market – tabtops, convertibles or whatever other nomenclature takes your fancy – I just don’t like them. They’re trying to be too many things at once – call me old-fashioned, but I like my laptop to be a laptop and tablet to be a tablet. Some devices don’t even know if they’re Windows or Android.

And I’m still awaiting the first line of real quality Ultrabooks. Almost a year on from the Windows 8 launch, the selection of decent, portable, powerful laptops is pathetic.

Plus, Windows 8 isn’t that great an operating system – it’s not designed with its core user-base in mind. As with the hybrid machines, Windows 8 is trying to be too many things at once. Microsoft’s Windows Store is absolutely fine in itself, but the duality of the desktop and Windows UI (Metro) desktop apps is confusing.

But here is the point. All this natter around the pros and cons of poor software and hardware merely muddies the water when it comes to the touchscreen debate. Touchscreen laptops, as a concept, have become synonymous with Microsoft’s latest operating system (though Google has started dabbling in this realm), and thus haven’t had the chance to really take off.

With the right hardware and software, I can’t see touchscreen laptops being anything other than successful. It’s almost as though Jobs & Co. were anticipating that people would use a touchscreen machine exclusively with their extended arm and forefinger – of course that would never work, it’s not a natural way to interact with a computer.

But alongside a mouse and keyboard, touchscreens fit in pretty well and I’d be surprised if nearly all machines – be it Windows, Mac, Chromebook or a new contender – weren’t touchscreen-enabled a few years from now. I just hope that the keyboard and mouse aren’t ushered out the back door in the process.

Meanwhile, if you want to see what a touchscreen MacBook might look like, check out this concept video below.

From:NJYTOUCH

Ready for a 3D touchscreen?

Soon, future tablets, smartphones and mobile devices may sport touchscreens that not only let you pinch and zoom, but also let you poke and stretch them as well.

The screen, which its creators described as 2.5-D instead of full 3-D, has a flexible liquid rubber sheet laid over actuators, and sits under a Kinect-based camera that projects images onto the sheet, Discovery News said.

“If you pull on it, the sheet makes a little mountain. Poke it and it dents. Rub your finger on it and it senses the friction. Stretch it and it shows the distortion on the image,” it said.

Discovery News said the camera also measures how deep the screen is poked into it or how far its stretched.

Appropriately, the device designed by Massachussetts Institute of Technology Media Lab’s Dhairya Dand and Rob Hemsley was named Obake – a mythical Japanese shapeshifting spirit.

Dand and Hemsley said today’s 3D displays are not true 3D but mere optical illusions.

“We created a 2.5D display that is shape changing with the help of actuators, depth cameras, projector and a silicone screen. ‘Obake’ (o-baa-keh) as we lovingly call it, imagines how we would interact with elastic display. We could literally pinch and pull them!” they said.

“Create mountains by pulling them out of the screen, draw rivers with your fingers, elevate an entire terrain to see a cut section view. Make your data come alive,” they added.

The two also said current state-of-the-art touchscreens still assume 2D images, while many 3D displays do not exploit the range of gestural controls.

Long way to go

But Discovery News noted it will take some time before this technology finds its way into a mobile device as small as a smartphone.

“Actuators are relatively large, and there would have to be room for pressing in as well as extruding, and the need for a projector. Odds are this technology will first show up on tabletop applications,” it said.  — ELR, GMA News

from:NJYTOUCH

Apple Rumored To Be Testing Foxconn Subsidiary’s Touch Panels For Next iPad mini

Apple is already working with Foxconn on the touch display panels to be used on the second-generation iPad mini, reports The China Times.

Specifically, the Cupertino-based tech company is working on the next iPad mini’s display with Shenzhen Century Science & Technology (SCST), a subsidiary of the Chinese manufacturing company.

The current, first-generation iPad mini has a 7.9-inch non-Retina display. As a matter of course, Apple is expected to switch to a Retina panel for the so-called iPad mini 2.

But according to rumors in the industry, Apple is also planning on incorporating monolithic or one-glass solution (OGS) technology for the device’s display.

To this end, sample OGS photomasks from SCST are said to have already been delivered to Apple for testing for the iPad mini 2.

Should an agreement come to fruition between the two parties, SCST will enter Apple’s supply chain as a panel supplier for the device.

SCST is also expected to collaborate with Innolux, which is Taiwan’s largest LCD maker.

If things go according to plan (or according to rumors, at least), SCST will join LG Display and AU Optronics as Apple’s iPad mini display suppliers.

NJYTOUCH