In January, at CES in Las Vegas, Think Optics introduced a combination hardware/software solution that leverages the iPhone platform as a powerful remote control appliance for entertainment electronics and/or computers.
Their presentation included a number of standard remote controls to choose from, but I responded from the "Applying Technology" perspective, because of the ability to create your own control systems.
The video clip of co-founder and CTO, Anders Grunnet-Jepsen demonstrating the product provides a great overview. Take a look. (bad video - good content)
Pretty neat.
But in the fast moving tech world; that was then.... And this is now! Heck, almost 30 days have passed. So of course, their January technology announcement is now obsolete... in a most exciting and serendipitous way.
I am imagining that Think Optics must already be working nights and weekends to get their iPhone system leveraging the full screen real estate of the iPad!
This is very significant in two ways.
First of all, if I own an iPad, I am exploring "lean back" computing... and surely I want to be able to control a lot of stuff around me as I lean back and enjoy myself.
But the more significant potential that Think Optics and the iPad provide is an immensely rich exploration platform for human interface. The combination of the multi-touch hand held device and their control creation tool, opens up many exciting possibilities... Especially because it makes control system creation accessible to the brilliant light of a billion minds!
IMAGINING APPLICATIONS
CRUSH THAT DWARF: The grand finale winners and undisputed champions of this year's "Robot Wars" competition were the "ZapWarriors" from Milford, Michigan. Their astounding performance, that totally devastated the rest of the field was attributed to the three iPad controllers they used to operate their assault robot. "well, we decided that we weren't gonna use the standard model airplane controllers we'd been using before... and it really paid off. We came up with all sorts of ways to control our Zapper robot that we'd never been able to even think about before!" said Billy Smithers, the ZapWarrior's team captain.
FOR PETE'S SAKE: Peter is a design student at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. Earlier in the year, General Electric sponsored a contest for designing better man/machine interfaces. When Peter read an article in Science magazine about how humans respond to color cues in identifying priorities, he knew what his submission was going to be! He began to envision a control system for machine operations that was based on the color schemes discussed in the research. Two weeks later he submitted a working prototype of his idea for the contest. The award winning entry was built on the iPad using the Think Optics software.
Trying to control myself in Applying Technology - It's Theo
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Cool blog! The iPad seems to be confusing some folks because it's not entirely clear what to do with it -- unlike the iPod (music) & iPhone (calling). In other words, other than it being an expensive e-reader, how's it really more useful than a laptop? Well, as you put it, we're entering a new era of "lean back" computing (love that phrase!) as well as the era of large touch screens. And so the iPad is essentially a blank canvas just waiting for designers & engineers to create astonishing applications we haven't even dreamed of yet. Way to start the new decade!
ReplyDeleteTHEO REPLIES:
ReplyDeleteScott - My reaction on the launch was a "wanna have" not a "must have". From a pure marketing perspective, they dummed down the first release to focus on Kindle Killing... pricing and all.
Judging by the hit my Amazon stock took... they are probably onto it.
The other applications will evolve.
I also think it is (despite to stupid name) everything a woman user want in a portable computer. I predict a huge acceptance in the female market.
I also expect these to be laying around the house not assigned to anyone in particular.
Applying iPad technology is something I will surely be tracking (and it justifies getting one!)
Theo