Multitouch on the Desktop

This video demos SpaceClaims upcoming multitouch-enabled feature for their 3D CAD system. Some of these gestures, like the '2 finger to anchor, 1 to control', I first saw in Jeff Hans work. Makes for a great looking demo, but would only be sustainable with a tablet PC or something like a cintiq before your arms fall off. From my perspective, the solution will be a replacement device for the keyboard, where your hands are not interacting directly with the screen — but are one abstraction away from, like a mouse — and that's quite the UI design challenge.

From interactiondesign.se

Project Natal on the Jimmy Fallon show

My previous post on Microsoft's 3D system gaming system 'Natal' questioned the 3D system's latency. In this fresh real-world demo on the Jimmy Fallon TV show, Kudo specifically aimed to demonstrate the 'low latency' of the system. I'm not sure if the red jumpsuits were related to demoing the system, but the system seemed very robust, and responsive enough for fun gaming. I think Microsoft has a winner here.

UPDATE: Via Engadget Apparently the red "suits were just for fun" UPDATE 2: Video got pulled down, sadly. I'm trying to find a replacement to embed.

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Microsoft Shows Off it's ZUI

Microsoft Office Labs has shown off what I think is a pretty nice little implementation of a Zoomable User Interface. The idea for ZUIs has been around for over 15 years but has yet to be used in a popular, mainstream interface (that I've seen) to navigate through a set of documents. Could you see yourself using this system?

Watch the Microsoft Canvas for OneNote ZUI video examples here.

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