DailyDirt: The Human-Computer Interface

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Wed, May 11th 2011 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Keyboards and mice have been the traditional input devices for a lot of computer users. Recently, though, touchscreens and other devices are gaining in popularity. Here are a few more interesting examples of ways to interact with computers.

A Microsoft researcher has collected a historical gallery of devices such as pen inputs, trackballs, joysticks, etc. This isn't an exhaustive collection of input devices, but it includes some interesting artifacts -- like the OrbiTouch. [url]
A bunch of "mixed reality" interfaces have been demonstrated where the user interacts with objects while a vision system (or some other collection of sensors) tries to interpret the actions as user input. Basically, just imagine combining Kinect with random common objects... [url]
An artist has created a video game where the players use their tongues to control a virtual bowling ball. This "French kissing" interface probably has a bit of an "eww" factor for most gamers -- but maybe there are applications for quadriplegics. [url]
To discover more interesting tech-related content, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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Filed Under: hci, hmi, input devices, kinect, kissing

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Rekrul, 11 May 2011 @ 5:19pm

A Microsoft researcher has collected a historical gallery of devices such as pen inputs, trackballs, joysticks, etc. This isn't an exhaustive collection of input devices, but it includes some interesting artifacts -- like the OrbiTouch.

I can't help but notice that this "historical gallery" is heavily slanted in favor of Intel based systems and omits some of the most famous or earliest examples of each category. Where's the Atari joystick? The Intellivision disc controller? The Amiga JoyBoard? The KoalaPad?
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TRACE, 11 May 2011 @ 5:47pm

Turn off all the lights, oh-oh, French kiss...
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Anonymous Coward, 11 May 2011 @ 9:45pm

See

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/05/11/009245/Creating-a-Force-Field-Invisible-Touch-Int erface
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Anonymous Coward, 11 May 2011 @ 9:45pm

See

http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/386015/invisible_touch_interface_creates_multitouch_f orce_field_/

for a new CHI device.
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JR, 12 May 2011 @ 9:05am

WriteHander
I still have a couple. In the day (before keyboards were affordable and most folks built their own computers) they were a great gadget.

One thing missing is the rat�an upsidedown trackball designed to be operated with the foot.
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Michael Ho (profile), 12 May 2011 @ 3:37pm

Re:
I think this gallery is not meant to highlight the most popular examples in each category -- but the curiosities and the oddballs of each category. So that just means the heavy slant towards Intel-based systems means Intel designs some weird and unpopular UI devices.... Although it does seem to include a few of the more popular user interfaces eg. IBM's little red dot on laptop keyboards.
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/bibuxton/buxtoncollection/detail.aspx?id=6 0
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Rekrul, 13 May 2011 @ 3:17am

Re: Re:
I think this gallery is not meant to highlight the most popular examples in each category -- but the curiosities and the oddballs of each category. So that just means the heavy slant towards Intel-based systems means Intel designs some weird and unpopular UI devices.... Although it does seem to include a few of the more popular user interfaces eg. IBM's little red dot on laptop keyboards.

Well, the joystick section includes a Gravis joystick and three by Kraft, even though there was nothing particularly odd or unique about any of them. And what could be more oddball than the Joystick/Paddle combo controllers for the Bally Astrocade, the Amiga Joyboard, or the Intellivision disc controllers? What about lightpens for drawing directly on normal monitor screens, or light guns for shooting at on-screen targets?
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Michael Ho (profile), 13 May 2011 @ 2:00pm

Re: Re: Re:
Hmmm. Maybe it's time we create a wiki page that curates a more complete history of interesting UI devices -- and we'll avoid all the "PivotViewer" and Microsoft Tags stuff... And make it searchable.
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Rekrul, 14 May 2011 @ 4:28am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
At one point, I believe there was an Atari compatible controller that looked like a yellow trackball mounted in a blue version of the base from a standard Atari joystick. Except that it wasn't a trackball. As I recall, you used it by squeezing the side of the ball for the direction you wanted to move. I never had one, but I remember seeing pictures of it in a magazine.

There was also a base-less joystick that you simply held in the air and mercury switches detected which way the stick was tilted. It never worked very well. :)
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