Tag: Interface

Musicians rejoice! IK Multimedia just dropped a big update to their iRig HD interface, making it the best way yet to connect musical instruments to your iOS device, PC or Mac. The iRig HD 2 lets you connect guitars, basses, and other instruments to digital devices, and lets you record, tweak and tune sounds to your heart’s content.

I’ve seen some unusual user interfaces and input devices over the years, but one that I’ve never thought of before now is a pinwheel. Sure, there are games on the Nintendo handhelds which require that you blow on its microphone to create virtual wind, but this is definitely much a more tangible interface.

There have been other throwback GUIs in the past, but this one created by the Amsterdam-based art director Ben Vessey looks pretty cool. You can retrofy your modern Mac OS machine thanks to this set of icons and wallpapers.

For some reason, whenever I see small, interesting cube-like devices, I think of the puzzle cube in Hellraiser, which is also knowns as a Lemarchand’s box. However unlike those, these ones developed by the MIT Media Lab allow you to visualize something on each of the six screens, one on each side, not open a door to Hell!

For a moment, I thought that this might be another concept design, but it isn’t. The Sony SmartWatch is a real product – an Android-powered watch that will allow you to use your smartphone even when it’s sitting in your pocket.

Most of the personal media players on the market are pretty much the same thing. They are generally boxy devices that look like big MP3 players with a color screen. iRiver has a new PMP called the P8 that looks nicer than the typical PMP.

Engineers from MIT CSAIL have figured out out how to get the Xbox 360 Kinect to not just sense larger body movements, but to actually detect individual fingertips in mid-air.

If you ever got a chance to watch the short-lived Caprica, they had a technology just like this. Now, it looks like smart paper could soon be upon us, as the Japanese have come up with some interesting research using paper as a touchscreen.

I’ve been thinking about computer interfaces for a while, and I was pleasantly surprised that Microsoft is embracing the hacking of the Kinect, instead of shunning it. The latest hack includes using the Kinect as an interface for your computer.

Are you planning on spending a couple of grand on installing home automation systems in your house? Then you should most definitely look at these cool Star Trek-themed screens and interfaces that were recently created by Pascal.

Seriously, will the future be button-less? What’s up with this surge of motion- and gesture-based UIs? Aside from Microsoft and Sony working on motion-based gaming controllers, Hitachi is also currently working on a Minority Report-ish interface.

I like high tech stuff that is easy to use and looks sort of like magic. Such is the case with the new Slurp device that turned up today. It’s a squeezy dropper that has some tech gear grafted onto it.

Vending machine technology hasn’t really changed that much in the last 20 years. Sure Coca-Cola has started to roll out their awesome Freestyle custom drink machine, but that’s not really a vending machine – it’s more of a soda fountain for the 21st century.

While I’ve been getting used to the touch-only display on my new iPad, I have to say that I really wish I could use both my fingers and a pen for doing things like taking free-form notes.

With all the buzz about 3D televisions coming out this year, the biggest problem with these displays is that they require special glasses to create the 3D illusion in your eyeballs. While this new device prototype doesn’t produce truly stereoscopic images, the effect it produces is the next best thing.

This shiny Mylar dirigible doesn’t look like the safest airship I’ve ever seen. No, not because of its poor aerodynamics. It’s more about the fact that it’s controlled by a group of people standing in another room who are trying to maneuver the blimp through various silly body movements.