Wow, 3D and multi-touch. Who woulda thought of that. It’s like putting peanut butter on bread. What’s interesting about this is that it’s being used in public to get some collaboration going on with residents in Helsinki. CityWall is a large multi-touch display… which acts as a collaborative and playful interface for the everchanging media…
It’s hard to get away from sketching if your an industrial designer. It’s at the core of conceptualizing your designs. I love the sketching and if you love it too… heck, if you’re even slightly interested in how new interface technology is changing the idea of working in 2D and 3D you’ll want to see…
Come in out of the large open spaces, where you risk inevitable attacks from throngs of flying ninjas, and have a look at the near possibility of how we will be interfacing with virtual objects in the future. 3D space is a pretty big area to be manipulating like a clump of old clay, but…
Each week, I’m going to start posting a comment from one of you wonderful readers that take the time to comment in the posts. I see a lot of discussion being missed, and that is just sad, don’t ya think? Here’s the first one. In a previous article on OpenGL and Direct3D, a commenter named…
Yes that’s my monochrome body standing there, moving objects around on a very mobile, very modular and yeah, very cool multi-touch display. It’s the newest in new future technology form none other than MultiTouch, the company. Moving stuff around on a screen with your fingers isn’t new, but theirs is the first completely modular, multi-touch…
Today, the T-mobile G1 phone running the highly anticipated Google Android OS, that everyone is scraping the brick off of buildings to see, is being revealed. On top of that it’s cutting into position for iPhone/Blackberry replacement and plans to take over a large segment of smartphone users by the end of the year. THe…
Who wouldn’t want a Quad-Core, 16GB, Terabyte powerhouse of a computer, crankin’ a 1GB of graphics power, to sit on their laps in the airport or lug back and forth to the office. Sound like a briefcase of a computer? It might be, but that won’t keep Dell from the incessant teasing that it will…
Ok, so it’s here. The first attempt at 3D CAD on a mobile device that just happens to be developed by Apple. Oh yeah, and the there’s the multi-touch thing. Fabio Policarpo currently working as a Senior Engineer at DoubleFine Productions, a game developer in San Francisco, California. Who knows the motivation he had behind…
Oh, the tangled web of 3D CAD hardware and software. It spans between the cracks of ultimate compatibility for the software, ultimate confusion for the user and sticks to you right after walking through the door of deciding what computer to buy. SolidWorks uses the OpenGL graphics API. Other CAD companies have decided to use…
You all are gonna flip, or rather, explode, when you see this. I’ve been looking for 3D CAD news out of Siggraph08 that happened last week, but have not found much beyond some announcements about rendering models. Fortunately, Mark Treadwell from Premier Rides came across some info and filled me in. A team from Berkeley…
I see you wavin’ your hands around like your folding laundry, but that imagery floating around you is just all kinds of freaky… OHhhh, those are holograms and your moving them around with your knuckles and those sensors in your hands. I shoulda known. It’s here. Obscura Digital is using their multi-touch technology along with…
Twitter = accessibility. It has opened up clogged lines of communication and expanded personal and community networks around the world and it just keeps getting bigger, I tell ya. When some of us were on months ago, there’s wasn’t much buzz on the 3D CAD side of things. That has changed big time in the…
Isn’t display technology just wonderful? No? You want something curved? well, if you’re not happy with the flat Microsoft Surface with multi-touch, get ready to literally wrap your hands around the Spherical version. Microsoft Research took the globular multi-touch screen out of the box today to reveal just how gaming, advertising and messing around with…
MCAD is running like heck from the desktop. The possibilities of where CAD data is accessed from and where you are when you access it just keeps on growing I tell ya. First you have laptops coming out sporting the AMD Turion X2 Ultra to integrate processor and graphics card capabilities. That equals more power,…
That atomic rubidium vapor you’ve been storing in those old canning jars may soon be put to good use as a storage medium for images which, in turn, could allow 3D data storage, display and possibly manipulation. A group of physicists from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel… yeah, that place, warmed up…
Ok folks, so here it is. The beginning of the end of the mouse and 3D desktop controls. The first I saw of this was a craptastic video back in March of some guys fiddling with a glove and a wiimote to control SolidWorks. Little did I know, a cool guy named Brian put up…
I’ll agree with you, workstations nowadays are just not cuttin’ it. Our desires for widescreen monitors, THX Dolby surround sound, air filtering, light therapy, web cams, and battery backups are diminished by plain old systems that just ‘get the job done.’ NO MORE! NovelQuest introduces… to you… in July… the ultimate in killer workstations… THE…
Right now, everything is in this amazing state of flux. The Apple WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) is kicking off (10AM PST) on the WestCoast and on the East Coast SolidWorks 2009 Beta may be announce (12AM EST). It’s just about more than someone interested in new technology can handle. These two things are obviously not…
AMD has just been making all sorts of Duo-core, 64-bit waves with their new mobile ‘Puma’ platform release yesterday. There’s a lot of news, but not much meat about what this chipset will do for mobile computing or 3D, so here’s some key points to start a discussion. Maybe some others, more hardware savvy than…
Before you run out to get one of those rubber balls to sit on, take a look at this concept fro Jian Guan that will have your deep-vein thrombosis taking a long clot-free vacation to the island of comfy-chair bliss. The SmartChair, aptly named, provides a biofeedback system that senses your movement and adjust the…
As if Multi-touch technology wasn’t enough to make you sing and dance through the forest of TechBlogs, two developers have been working with Plasma and OLED technology to make whatever displays will be in the future thinner, more flexible… and yes, spreadable. Flexible Plasma monitor Shinoda Plasma has create a supper-thin (1 mil), super-flexible (wrap-around)…
While Micorsoft’s Surface is kinda cool, but also like the Pac-man console at that pizza place, the newly debut Microsoft Touchwall puts it all in perspective and drops an ax on what it would take to get multi-touch technology into your tech-grubby hands. All this uses is a couple hundred bucks of readily-available, rear-projection hardware…
It looks like something that doesn’t exist except in the movies. Since the Ironman Movie launched last week I’ve been trying to get my hands on some video of the stinkin’ cool 3D holo-CAD user interface he uses to design the MarkIII he goes kickin’ butt in. If you’ve seen the movie you already know…
It looks like a pre-programmed bunch of flippy things making your phone look cooler than those plain jane iPhones, that’s what it looks like. The HTC Touch Diamond is the next amazing 3D interface stuffed into a tiny 2.8 inch display to make you strap that drool-cup on again. Sure its tiny, but you can…
Last night at 11 PM CST Microsoft let loose the fetters of Live Mesh, a new platform technology to synchronize and interact with data across any device and access it from anywhere from any computer or browser. Oh, but it’s so much more and it could, and I think will, affect how you work with…
Yep, faster than blindfolded Japanese hurdle jumpers for sure. You may think your 8GB flash memory thumbdrive is all that. Sure, it’s tiny and cute and degrades slowly over time, but how about some memory that will store and access information over 100 times faster and not degrade? IBM’s Racetrack memory has been buzzing around…
Ok, enough of the silly posts. Time for something seriously cool and real. If you use Gmail, it’s an absolute pain to have it synced with Outlook. On top of that, if you use Plaxo and have all your other email accounts synced with Outlook, your Gmail account is an abyss of random email addresses…
There’s an interesting segment in technology that really has the largest direct effect on how we work and how teenagers spend 20+hours of their week. The Screen. That amazing peripheral you’re gazing into right now to which we’ve come to view the entire world through… until it goes black or your laptop is yanked off…
Ya know, I’ve heard about people drawing 3D models in the air, but this is the first time I’ve seen it. To me it seems like a bunch of ‘keyboard-like’ commands in the air but, wow ya know, pretty close to what you might imagine huh? 3D hand input modeling system You can see another…
A very new and very large report on 3D Technology came out this month that “takes a realistic view of 3D display technology and its future in the professional and consumer electronics sectors.” Being familiar with developing a product in 3D, you may like to know 3D display technology is spreading and could affect how…
So, I was in the sphere yesterday, right, and the boss says, “You’re 3d models are all mis-shappened, are you using this thing right?” He just doesn’t understand the stress of having to be in this thing for hours. Ya gotta just love those virtual reality developers. They’re always thinking of the next way to…
So these OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) are the posh new way of illuminating those dark research laboratories. Flexible OLED’s aren’t new, but GE’s is the latest with this fancy printable OLED sheet. These OLED’s are so thin they could be used in just about any capacity that requires some sort of lighting… and more.…
Well, the top secret Microsoft technology that was speculated a couple weeks ago, is indeed the Microsoft Research Worldwide Telescope project of Roy Gould and Curtis Wong. This will be a free download early this Spring at WorldwideTelescope.org. I have to admit it pretty inspiring and it will be incredible to open of the sky…
There’s this stylish new keyboard that’s been floating around the sphere of tech-hungry computer users. One with programmable keys. Oh, and each key is a separate full-color OLED display. If you frequent tech blogs, you’ve probably seen this or a video. It’s certainly cool, but also makes one think of how antiquated a keyboard seems…
Wait till you wrap your head around this… or rather warp this around your head. Emotiv Systems is preparing to launch the Emotiv Epoc. A wireless device that senses brain activity and allows you to interact with an interface. “The $299 headset has a gyroscope to detect movement and has wireless capabilities to communicate with…
Yesterday I speculated that Microsoft could be bringing out some new 3D visualization technology. Thanks to Pete Yodis. He got to the TechCrunch article first revealing Microsoft Will Announce the WorldWide Telescope On February 27. Cat out of Bag… or is it? The reason I kinda wonder is that this was in the news last…
The tech sector has been buzzing like a physician induced, caffeine-like high about a post Robert Scoble wrote last week. A post that revealed that Microsoft will reveal something never revealed by those that reveal things previously unrevealed. And that is about all you can get out of it… unless you look a little deeper.…
For those who use the Firefox Web Browser (and you should of you don’t) or are interested in trying new stuff you may be interested to know that Firefox 3 is in Beta now. You can download the Beta Version here or the portable version here that won’t interfere with your existing version. It definitely…
I love new developments in interface design and the whole questioning why we do things the way we do. I cover some of it in the Tech to Watch category and have focused a lot on monitor technology. However, one aspect of interface design is the mouse. You have the SpacePilot to reduce mouse clicks…
This is similar to the wii remote touchless and doesn’t look as cool, but still it’s another step toward tossing that keyboard and mouse at a churning industrial size fan. [youtube]tuAIckCTaNo[/youtube] Link to Touchless Interface Video Elliptical Labs is the purveyor of this fine example of hands free manipulation. Everyone thinks this is to, you…
I know, my hand is beautiful in a pasty sort of way, but that isn’t important. That orangish thumb drive between my digits has SolidWorks 2008 running off it. It uses Thinstall application visualization to lock and load the software. By packaging with Thinstall, the application has all files, libraries, components, and data that it…
Well, the fury of CES 2008 has ended and nothing is left of Las Vegas except what’s usually there and looking forward to better stuff next year. It’s was the typical flash and dazzle, new HDTVs and digital photo frames, but, there’s a handful of CAD related goodies you’re gonna want to see. Alienware Curved…
The Australian have some crazy idea that you can get 3D data from drawing lines on top of video. They’re actually doing it too. The Australian Centre for Visual Technologies is gettin’ all fancy with innovative technology and have creatively named it VideoTrace. VideoTrace is a system for interactively generating realistic 3D models of objects…
Yep, SolidSmack is not “live at CES” like all these other blogs. I’m just sitting back and letting all those guys do the legwork, shoving each other to get to the laser pointers and paying $5 for an ounce of water. I’ll have my chance at SolidWorks World. The 2008 International CES features all the…
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is going on next week week and one of the coolest things that will be debut has gotta be this LG-Philips 14.3″ bendy screen you can… bend. This is a little bit bigger and a little bit cooler than Sony’s smaller razor-thin screen. Source Engadget
Boy, I tell ya. The big gaming systems like the Xbox 360 amd Nintendo Wii come out and the kids go crazy with tearing things apart and making mods. A nice young man named Johnny Chung Lee has done just that with his Wii-mote and is moments away from manipulating 3D space with his fingertips.…
Ever wonder where software developers (eh-hmm) and the technology elite get their ideas for interface design? It may very well be the last episode of Battlestar Galatica or James Bond. It’s no secret sci-fi has been an inspirational motif of futuristic possibilities, but the guy behind a lot of it may be the one to…
What is it with cool hologram stuff coming out? I absolutely love this stuff and Vizoo Media is bringing holograms and visualization to a new level “with revolving video images, that can be seen 360° in all ambient light conditions.” The product is called the Cheoptic360 and you can’t even describe how amazing this looks…
You know that open-source software like Apache or OpenOffice that actually makes it possible for you to do things on your own? Some bright guys applied that to hardware and have developed BUG, an open source, web-enabled, modular software + hardware platform. Sound cool? Here’s what they have to say. Bug Labs is a new…
The title of the post is actually a post I’ve been working on, thinking about and contemplating since the iPhone came out… then, BLAM! all of a sudden SolidWorks Labs goes and announces Drawings Now available on the iPhone. Thanks guys. you’ve ruined hours of coming up with the future of CAD and thinking of…