touchscreen

MacBook Air not only laptop getting touchy-feely

From the moment I played with the iPhone and Microsoft's Surface tabletop computing technology, I have been waiting for pinch-zooming and other motions to make their way into mainstream PCs.

The wait is essentially over.

Although it's the MacBook Air that's been getting all the ink for adding such gestures, Synaptics announced at the Consumer Electronics show last week a version of its touchpad for Windows notebooks that will also support a range of gestures, including methods for continuous scrolling, zooming in and out, and trackball-like movement.

And that's just the start.

"There will be … Read more

Teach an old dog new computer tricks

Should you buy your dog an iPhone for Christmas? In a recent study of animal cognition, dogs were able to use a touch-screen computer to answer questions and win a treat.

Read the full story at MSNBC.

Photos: Cowon Q5W

It's been just a few days since Cowon's announcement of the U.S. availability of their supercharged Q5W portable media player, and we already have one in the office to play with. It's a real beauty. Take a look at Crave's photo gallery of the Cowon Q5W to see if it's the megagadget it claims to be.

Cowon Q5W pricing and U.S. availability

Cowon America has officially announced that the specs for their long-awaited ubergadget, the Cowon Q5W (formerly the Cowon Q5), will be identical to the specs on the version released in Asia. The Cowon Q5W should be available in the states by the end of November (next week). The Cowon Q5W (the extra "W" denotes its wireless capabilities) will retail for $549.99 (40GB) and $599.00 (60GB). That may seem pricey compared to the latest generation of Archos PVPs, but one look at the Cowon Q5W's specs and you'll realize that the gadget is on another … Read more

A big-screen touch screen from the defense sector

Microsoft made a splash earlier this year with a tabletop PC called Milan. Designers and developers there might have been spared building their 85 early prototypes, however, if they'd just gone shopping at defense contractor Northrop Grumman instead of Ikea.

As it turns out, Northrop Grumman--best known for missile systems and other military gear--for several years has been hawking the similar TouchTable as part of what it calls an "integrated collaboration environment." It'll be showing off the technologies next week at a defense conference in London, and last month delivered a TouchTable to the Federal Aviation … Read more

Sony's new stylish shooters

Sony's two new Cyber-shot T-series cameras don't look very different from past models, but they certainly feel different; these new cameras eschew buttons in favor of big, touch-sensitive LCD screens.

The Cyber-shot DSC-T200 and T70 respectively replace the DSC-T100 and DSC-T20 in Sony's lineup. Their 3.5 and 3-inch 16:9 touchscreens control nearly every aspect of the cameras. Besides changing settings and navigating the cameras' menus, users can also control focus with the touchscreens by tapping the object they want to focus on. This isn't the first time Sony has attempted a touchscreen system with … Read more

JazzMutant's multitouch music controller

Before Apple came along and integrated multitouch-screen technology into the iPhone, one of the first companies to weave multitouch into a commercial product was a boutique music controller company named JazzMutant. Their first product, the Lemur, was an extremely niche (and pricey) product that allowed musicians to use the Lemur's suite of touch-screen tools to play and tweak their music. You know its cool if Bjork takes it out on tour.

Dexter, JazzMutant's latest product, promises to bring multitouch technology to a wider audience. Released just a few days ago, Dexter is aimed at recording studio engineers and … Read more

Touching photos with HP

Whenever people complain to manufacturers about skimping on screen size, the stock answer is usually, "Well, we wanted to make the camera small and light, but we needed to leave room for the buttons."

That's not an excuse that needs to be used with the HP R937.

HP has made room for a bigger screen on the back by eliminating most of the buttons. The R937's large 3.6-inch display, as on some of the Sony Cyber-shot compact cameras, doubles as a touch screen from which you can navigate menus and manipulate photos after they have … Read more

Not sure about Prada phone

Prada's phone is as close to the iPhone as you'll get. Everything is done with a tap of your finger. There are essentially no buttons to work with.

Once you get beyond how this looks, though, you'll face up to a major cell phone decision: do you really--I mean REALLY--like this feature? In my case, it's starting to feel like a "no." There's something to the tactile feel of a standard cell. Even with a flat panel (think Razr), you still get a feel for the numbers you're dialing. Not so here. … Read more

Gateway's new notebook with a twist

A PC with a twisty screen you can write on almost always=cool, and Thursday Gateway will release its latest take on the concept with the E-155C Thin & Light Convertible Notebook.

This one is aimed at students. The E-155C looks like a notebook, but works like a tablet PC with digital pen and touchscreen capability, with a screen that swivels 180 degrees in both directions. It has a 12-inch wide screen, Core 2 Duo processor, biometric fingerprint reader for security, and an alarm and flashing LED light should someone try to break in. All of this weighs in at … Read more