Archive for the ‘touchscreens’ Category

JooJoo Tablet Gets a Makeover Before Launch

2010-03-10joojop
JooJoo, the tablet formerly known as CrunchPad, is set to land at the end of this month with several new features that weren’t seen in the early prototype.

Most noticeably, the drab, solid-colored home screen seen in the JooJoo prototype (below) has been replaced with an elegantly polished icon grid laid on top of a customizable wallpaper (above). Engadget, who first reported the story, has some exclusive screenshots posted, in addition to the one above.

Also interesting is the addition of a new text-entry option allowing you to display a smaller keyboard designed for one-handed operation, which can be dragged around to avoid interfering with content. There’s an option for a larger virtual keyboard for two-hand typing as well. The one-handed typing solution is intriguing to me, and it makes me wonder whether Apple will do something similar with its iPad. From my hands-on time with the iPad, I found the larger virtual keyboard to be unpleasant to type with compared to entering text on the iPhone.

Some more factors competing with the iPad: Flash is now fully working on the JooJoo. Videos can also be played from a thumb drive plugged into the JooJoo’s USB port.

Oddly, the hardware has changed color as well. Rather than black, it sports a champagne exterior, JooJoo maker Fusion Garage told Engadget.

The JooJoo looks sweet, and that home screen is quite attractive. But as I’ve said before, I have doubts that a vertically integrated product from this small company will succeed. The JooJoo runs its own custom operating system, and it’ll be difficult for Fusion Garage to persuade developers to code apps for a device with a relatively small user base. We’ll just have to see what happens when the JooJoo goes on sale March 25.

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Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Posted: March 11th, 2010
at 10:07pm by Brian X. Chen

Topics: Fusion Garage, JooJoo, Media Players, Tablets, operating systems, touchscreens

Apple Tablet Rumors Spread to Australia

Apple has reportedly met with major U.S. publishers, including The New York Times and Wired.com’s parent company Condé Nast, to discuss the future of digital media — perhaps floated by a touchscreen tablet. Now, even Australian media companies appear to be in talks with Apple, too.

Australian newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Tuesday that Australian media companies have received specifications of Apple’s tablet. However, the Herald said none of its sources would go on the record (presumably because they are barred by a non-disclosure agreement.)

Corroborating previous Apple tablet rumors, The Herald claims the device is “tipped to be a larger version of the iPhone,” with a strong focus on e-reader capabilities.

The Herald’s report trails a video making rounds on the web yesterday, in which NYT editor Bill Keller alluded to an “impending Apple slate” during his keynote speech discussing digital strategies. Keller declined to comment when Wired.com requested clarification on the remark; he responded, “I ain’t sayin’” to All Things Digital.

Nevertheless, to date there’s a heap of independent reports citing anonymous sources who claim a media-centric Apple tablet is due out early 2010. To keep up with the news and rumors, read our previous round-up aggregating rumor reports about the Apple tablet.

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Illustration of an imaginary Apple tablet: Factoryjoe / Flickr

Posted: October 27th, 2009
at 1:13pm by Brian X. Chen

Topics: Apple, Australia, International, Media Players, Tablets, rumors, touchscreens

Nokia Patent Gives Another Glimpse Into World’s Touchy-Feely Future [Patents]

Gadget patents are a strange lot. Is that dual-handed interface for an iTablet, or something else? Will my remote really Tweet someday? Probably not, but this patent from Nokia had me thinking of a touch- and, more importantly, pressure-sensitive future:

Now, touch screens are nothing new, obviously. The iPhone’s an obvious example, as are the multitude of touchscreen handsets that have done their fair share of pinch zooming, screen swiping and touch typing in its wake.

Add in pressure sensitive gestures, however, and a new level of control descends on the venerable touchscreen. Again, Apple’s been here before—at least with a 2007 patent—but nevertheless it’s interesting to see a giant like Nokia weighing in with some ideas too (let’s just hope they get their homework handed in before doomsday though, right?).

Like I said, the Apple one is going on two years old, and we haven’t seen anything yet. Our expectations with these things must remain in the realm of the real and the grounded. Still, as we explained earlier, touchscreens are our future, and the added functionality provided by a pressure-sensitive screen seems an inevitability. Question is, who’s going to be first to successfully drive this tech to where it really counts: Into the mainstream consumer market? [Unwired View via Engadget]

Posted: October 25th, 2009
at 11:00am by Jack Loftus

Topics: Apple, CellPhones, Displays, Phones, nokia, patents, touchscreens

In-App Sales and iTablet: The Killer Combo to Save Publishing?

Apple on Thursday made a subtle-yet-major revision to its App Store policy, enabling extra content to be sold through free iPhone apps. It’s a move that immediately impacts the publishing industry, and it could pay even bigger dividends if the Cupertino, California, company indeed delivers its highly anticipated touchscreen tablet.

While the most obvious beneficiaries would be app developers, a market segment that can also benefit from the new in-app commerce model are people and companies that create content and need to set up shop in a way that doesn’t, in effect, charge someone for just walking in — like media publishers.

Newspapers and magazines are reportedly in talks with Apple about repurposing their content onto a “new device,” presumably the rumored touchscreen tablet Apple will deliver in early 2010. Numerous reports suggest an Apple tablet would have a strong focus on redefining print media. Enabling in-app commerce through free apps was a crucial move to help make this goal a reality.

Apple’s earlier in-app sales model wasn’t ideal for publishers. Previously, in-app commerce was a feature exclusive to paid apps; free apps were not permitted to sell content. Newspapers and magazines already struggle to sway readers to pay for content to begin with, and charging for apps cuts off potential customers. By allowing commerce within free apps, Apple creates the opportunity for a free media app to serve as a gateway for readers to get hooked on a newspaper’s or magazine’s content, which could help lure them into paying for exclusive premium content.

CNN is an exception: Its recently-released iPhone app costs $2. The Wall Street Journal will later this month begin charging for most of the content it delivers through its free app, and the Financial Times has an app that only offers up to 10 free stories a month without a subscription to the newspaper. But for the most part, publishers have loathed charging for an app, even if it then enabled them to try to charge for content within that point of sale. Reducing the cost barrier of that business model to zero changes things considerably. At least one small publisher, Scarab Magazine, has already taken advantage of the change.

Picture a free magazine app that offers one sample issue and the ability to purchase future issues afterward. Or a newspaper app that only displays text articles with pictures, but paying a fee within the app unlocks an entire new digital experience packed with music and video. This is an example of the “freemium” model that Wired magazine’s Chris Anderson explains in his book Free. It’s a model that some publishers, including Wired’s parent company Condé Nast, are already experimenting with on their websites. (Our sister publication Ars Technica, for example, offers its general content for free, as well as a “Premier” subscription option for readers to access exclusive content.)

If Apple does indeed deliver a tablet, the key for publishers is to create a convenient experience that readers will pay for, as opposed to the content itself. A free app would be the first step toward offering that experience. (And then the publisher will have to figure out what to do about ads, but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves.)

It’s plausible to imagine that a freemium strategy would be much more effective through a tablet app than a website. If the tablet is indeed designed like a 10-inch iPod Touch or iPhone, as insiders have described it, then publishers developing apps will be able to take advantage of features such as the accelerometer, GPS, live video streaming and multitouch to innovate the way they engage with their audience — and, ultimately, persuade them to pay.

Only now is the relevance of a touchscreen tablet becoming more clear. Scores of tablet devices have come and gone in years past, and many analysts and tech enthusiasts wondered why Apple would enter what is considered a failed product category. Clearly, Apple sees a gaping hole — the publishing industry’s lack of vision for a working digital model — and a touchscreen tablet, combined with the App Store and this new in-app sales model, would seek to fill it.

What’s in it for Apple? Primarily, squashing Amazon’s Kindle. Who would wish to read a digital newspaper or magazine on the Kindle’s drab e-ink screen if Apple delivers a multimedia-centric tablet? Wired’s Steven Levy shares my view in his assessment of the Kindle’s newspaper experience: “[The Kindle DX's] plodding menu-based interface still made navigating newspapers difficult, and the rich graphic quality that makes magazines such an indulgence is totally missing. Even the flashiest print publication looks like The New England Journal of Medicine.”

Can Apple redefine print media to save the publishing industry? It probably has a higher chance than any other tech company out there. Apple is a market-shaper, and that’s the kind of a company the publishing industry needs to resuscitate it as the traditional advertising model continues to collapse. Daily Beast editor Tina Brown believes that, thanks to the powers of the internet and technology, we’re entering the “golden age” of journalism in the next three years. Perhaps Apple’s tablet will be a crucial part of it.

See Also:

Illustration of an Apple tablet: Photo Giddy/Flickr

Posted: October 16th, 2009
at 11:35am by Brian X. Chen

Topics: Apple, Kindle, Media Players, Tablets, amazon, app store, e-books, e-commerce, rumors, touchscreens

Design Epcot’s Newest Roller Coaster Each Time You Ride [Rides]

Opening today, Epcot’s Sum of All Thrills ride will change every time you ride. That’s because you’ll draw your design on a touchscreen computer before hopping on.

Using prerendered chunks of track and a digital ruler, you can shape the path of their virtual roller coaster, bobsled track or jet flight. (Should you draw something that’s impossible to perform, the system will guide and correct you.)

As for the simulation itself, your fate is in the hands of an industrial robot arm from Kuka Robotics, like you’ve seen in car plants. We can only assume that the robot shakes you at high velocities until you feel dizzy or sick, all while fans occasionally blow air at your face to simulate velocity.

Several years back, I tested a similar build-your-own coaster ride at DisneyQuest. Some effects were actually pretty wonderful, but the customization was fairly limited and the simulators were far more typical. Knowing my well-being is in the grasp of a robot that could literally destroy me makes the whole prospect sounds a lot more exciting. [CNN]