Multi-Touch Screen

Tristan Naramore referred me to a video clip of Jeff Han‘s talk at TED earlier this year. Jeff demonstrated his multi-touch screen, which is incredibly cool. Unlike touch screens today, you can interact with the screen with multiple fingers simultaneously. It’s also pressure sensitive. More importantly, according to Jeff, the technology is affordable.    (L7M)

One of my passions is integrating online tools into face-to-face environments. The problem is that computer interfaces obstruct physical collaboration. They discourage engagement with others who are present. The design challenge is understanding the tradeoffs. But the tradeoffs could disappear if only we had better physical interfaces. The multi-touch screen is a step in the right direction.    (L7N)

Watching the demo reminded me of another important HyperScope design point: Views of a document should have an address. With HyperScope, any view of a document is addressable. Similarly, with Google Maps, I can always generate a URL to a particular view of a map. Jeff Han‘s geospatial demo was cool, but when the app is actually deployed, I hope the developers don’t forget to make every view addressable.    (L7O)

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