Say what you like about Microsoft, but their Research arm certainly know how to put together an eye-catching demo. Chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie has been doing a tour of US colleges showing off a prototype next-gen computer – among other things – that has a transparent glass display and can be controlled by pen, voice, touch-free gestures and eye-tracking.
The addition of a digital compass to the iPhone 3GS has turned it into an essential city navigation tool for many pedestrians, but what if you’re more commonly found on a bike? Japanese firm Ubiquitous Entertainment have put together a prototype called iPhone ARider, which uses a retractable head-mounted display and a 3GS to show live navigation to a biker.
Video demo after the cut
Now that Archos’ Android Internet Tablet has been exposed, it only seems right that the identity of the mysterious slimline Android MID we’ve been puzzling over these past few weeks should also be confirmed. The touchscreen device is actually a Rockchip concept intended to demonstrate the Chinese chip makers new RK2808 720p-decoding chipset.
Video demos after the cut
Alright, as images go this one isn’t the most eye-catching we admit, but the technology it’s explaining is far more exciting. Researchers in Japan have developed what they’re calling a Liquid-OLED, and just like the gooey fruit-flavored chocolates your mother loves it has a liquid center rather than the traditional solid-state one you’d find in traditional OLEDs. The benefit, they claim, is that Liquid-OLED displays could be more easily curved, and even refilled should the organic layer degrade over time.
Pressure sensitivity in musical keyboards is nothing new – pressing the keys harder results in a louder note, just as if you sit down with ever-increasing force on a piano – but until now it’s not something we’ve seen on regular QWERTY keyboards. That could all change, if Microsoft Hardware decide to put their pressure-sensitive keyboard into production: developed as a prototype for the UIST 2009 student innovation contest, it can track 8-bit pressure information across all of its keys.
Video demo after the cut
A new paperless payment system that uses an iPhone or iPod touch is currently being trialled in an NYC store. Codenamed Square, the system involves a small plastic card reader which plugs into the PMP’s headphones socket; this is used to read the credit card’s magnetic stripe, with the price tapped in on-screen and the customer signing with their fingertip.
News earlier this week that Foxconn had reportedly given around $44,000 compensation plus an Apple laptop to the family and girlfriend of Sun Danyong, the engineer who committed suicide after losing an iPhone prototype, was met with disappointment at what was seen to be an unfairly low amount. Now an anonymous company official has revealed that Sun’s parents will be paid not only a 360,000 yuan lump sum ($52,600) but a further 30,000 yuan ($4,385) every year until they die.
Pegatron have been showing off their Freescale-powered netbook prototype again, and if you’re wondering why there’s a Palm Pre perched on the end then it’s because the two share the same basic ARM Cortex A8 core architecture. In the unnamed netbook’s case, though, the Freescale iMX515 runs at 1GHz, and is capable of playing 720p video and running 3D games.
The Apple/Foxconn saga continues, and after the official statement from Cupertino yesterday tipped “investigations” into the death of 25-year old Foxconn engineer Sun Danyong there are now reports that a security official working for the majority stakeholder in the manufacturer has been suspended and handed over to Chinese government authorities. In an official statement from Foxconn, they confirmed that the Hon Hai security official – identified only by his surname, Gu – has been turned in, and that the company “welcomes public discussion” on how they might improve their management.
Don’t ask how, but CrackBerry have managed to lay their hands on not one but two working BlackBerry Storm 2 prototypes, and seeing as they know we’re all just a little bit interested in the upcoming touchscreen smartphone they’ve shot a demo video. First-impressions are positive, with an improved SurePress touchscreen and better on-screen typing feel.
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