Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Fingerworks.com Content Pulled Ahead of Apple Tablet Announcement

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)

tiguk said:
forgetaboutpro said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)



Other way round
Click to expand...

Actually, it was both ways round. Initially Porsche were looking to by VW, then when that fell through, VW saw an opportunity.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Didn't know that
 
harley3k said:
We've seen this tried so many times before.

I remember watching a really old demo of voice req on an apple Quadra years ago and it was an embarrassment when the thing didn't work well, and the operator couldn't even get it the "stop listening" command to work.

Also, consider using the tablet in a meeting where there are other tablets...everyone's talking to them instead of typing?

I just don't see it.
I reserve the right to be surprised and proven wrong though :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3gKPh1SHWo
Click to expand...

Your very right about how awful it was but, the quadra's processor was a slow motorola chip (today's chips are much faster) and it didn't have the benefit of a webcam reading your lips as well as decoding the sound at the same time.
 
tiguk said:
Actually, it was both ways round. Initially Porsche were looking to by VW, then when that fell through, VW saw an opportunity.
Click to expand...

their businesses have been intertwined for a long time, lot of german politics wrapped up in it too, it was not just about market share, or winning and losing.
 
bobborries said:
Your very right about how awful it was but, the quadra's processor was a slow motorola chip (today's chips are much faster) and it didn't have the benefit of a webcam reading your lips as well as decoding the sound at the same time.
Click to expand...

So we've gone from voice recognition to lip reading using software and a camera?! Wow. I have a 3GS and the the voice control is terrible. Even if they have improved it, it won't be precise enough to drive the entire machine.
 
eastcoastsurfer said:
So we've gone from voice recognition to lip reading using software and a camera?! Wow. I have a 3GS and the the voice control is terrible. Even if they have improved it, it won't be precise enough to drive the entire machine.
Click to expand...

Even if it worked, I just wouldn't want to interface with it that way.

Talk to most youth today, they text more than they talk on their phones.
Don't know why I would want to have to talk to my tablet, unless maybe if I'm in my car.

Think of it - on the train, at a coffee shop/library, at your desk (cubical), in a conference room, class room.... Voice Req isn't practical in many situations where you would want to use your tablet.
 
TheSlush said:
Amen. And let me add to that, "Ferrari buying Toyota". :D
Click to expand...

Ferrari would be lucky to buy a company like Toyota. Maybe they'll learn to build cars that are not so finicky.

On another note, wouldn't it be funny if Apple is actually releasing some fancy Apple TV remote and Steve Jobs is just watching the threads go out of hand :D. I wonder what leaked rumors he would have to fabricate to undo the mess.
 
After reading this thread I looked up CHORD typing and while it sounds interesting, I think the learning curve would be too steep for an Apple product.
But there might be something similar.
Lets sum up the advantages of keyboards which many of you keep on pointing out so vehemently:
- you get tactile feedback whether you have successfully entered a character
- you get some tactile feedback where your fingers are before you press a key and hence
- you don't need to look where you're typing
- your hands are not in the way of the screen
- the QWERTY keyboard is very well adopted

The disadvantages, as I see them, might be these:
- the QWERTY keyboard layout has been shown to be slower than other key layouts (some claim deliberately)
- let's not forget: the keyboard, too, has quite a steep learning curve
- if you are not a very good typist you WILL have to look at the keys thus moving the whole screen out of your view
- it is a mechanical gadget therefore it's vulnerable to wear and tear
- it's an extra piece of machinery you have to have near your computer and thus lug around with you in a mobile computer (laptops are just a clever way of hinging two pieces of machinery together)
- although international standards vary they are unflexible
- they seem to put quite a bit of strain into the muscles of your hands and wrists
- they require you to use both hands to acquire any significant speed

While I think that the new slate will feature a touchscreen QWERTY keyboard just like the iPhone (plus handwriting and speech recognition) Apple might have something else in store:
I dimly remember seeing a patent they hold which enabled the screen to distinguish between your fingers (I may be wrong). Now imagine a screen in text input mode that pops up the eight most commonly used letters in bubbles around your index finger whenever and WHEREVER it tapped the screen. With a miniscule slide towards the one you want you select a letter. A little click tells you that your letter has been entered. A slide to-and-fro capitalizes it. A tap by the middle finger makes eight other letters appear etc. The thumb just taps for a space or swipes to choose different input modes (digits, etc). Combine that with iPhone style predictive text or even with text correction like Spelly in Google's Wave, which even takes care of wrong grammar and collocations for you, and you've got an input method that can beat QWERTY - using only one hand. Entering text will look like banjo playing.
This does not of course remove your hands from the screen and it takes a bit of a learning curve but it could be a revolution for text input nonetheless.
 
Small White Car said:
I may be wrong, but I don't think Fingerworks existed to really sell the products very much. They developed technology and made devices to show off that tech, but I think their point was to sell their inventions to other companies, not to make much money from their own devices.
Click to expand...

If that was indeed their goal, they sure did a good job of it! :cool:
 
harley3k said:
Even if it worked, I just wouldn't want to interface with it that way.... Voice Req isn't practical in many situations where you would want to use your tablet.
Click to expand...

If it did have voice recognition, it could only be as an option. Consider, for instance, the incident in which I was anxiously checking the screens at the airport for my connecting flight and some guy walked up behind me and started a conversation on his phone 8" from my ear (for which he and the other person definitely received an earful). A device relying solely on VR could lead to all manner of new entries in the dictionary of getting-along-with-other-humans.
 
7-10 inch touch screen with on screen keyboard would be a real problem for me. When I put my hand on my Air screen (13.3 inch), I loose an instant 40%-50% of my visible screen. I am tall guy, with big hand, but still. Wasn't that one of the stylus reasons for many old tablet solutions.
If I transfer this to a 10 inch screen I go yikes, on a 7 inch I go home and leave the device.

On screen chorded input would also suck, same reason.

And then there would be a question. Why massive gesture and CHORD for an entertainment device? I mean personally, I hope for a work solution, but I doubt it will be one.

Edit: Apple, don't come around the corner with a keyer system. That would be silly.
 
End of fingerworks.com

I was at the Fingerworks site awhile back just to see what, if anything, might be up there since the acquisition. Surprised that it was still languishing I grabbed what manuals I could in electronic form.

Why? I own their touchpad and keyboard. The keyboard takes A LOT of getting used to and, honestly, I don't use it. However, the touchpad was/is amazing as a peripheral.
 
harley3k said:
Even if it worked, I just wouldn't want to interface with it that way.
Click to expand...

I agree completely. Orality and literacy are related, but very different approaches to communication.

Simply put, we speak differently than we write. Voice commands are okay for mobile functions, e.g. "Map 1402 East Main Street," or "How many quarts in a gallon?," but impractical for composition of most documents.

Just try dictating a proposal, or even a letter. Talk about a learning curve. It requires serious practice and concentration to do so. Then try editing it using voice recognition. If you get that far, try reading it. It's not likely to flow, and it'll probably look structurally awkward.

If this thing is really going to be anything more than a media player, it'll have to have writing-based input. I vote for a software option that allows either handwriting or qwerty-style typing.
 
Great MBP

Berio said:
on an aside: the current MBP (summer 2009) is truly the best one i've ever used, (all the way back to the lombard).
Click to expand...

100% agree. I waited for the MBP 13" to be refreshed and get a backlit keyboard (love typing in the dark!) and I bought one as soon as it was announced. It is by far the best computer I have ever used in the last 30 years of my computing experience. Sure there are faster and cheaper alternatives but the design features from the battery indicator, the unibody construction, the edge to edge glass screen, the rubber seal between top and bottom when closed, the backlit keyboard, huge multi-touch pad, whole-pad button etc ... they all add up to a machine that I love to use again and again.

I bought an 3GS iphone at the same time and that is probably my most favourite gadget of the last 3 decades as well. I'm just hoping that the slate does come out and that it is both beautifully designed (glass+aluminum+curves etc), engaging interface (enhanced multi-touch a must) and a reasonable price (okay it won't be cheap but value is more than price alone!).

--Richard
 
cmaier said:
Why would this have anything to do with the tablet release? It's not like an upcoming tablet suddenly renders the contents of the page secret, and it's not like everyone on the internet, google cache, the wayback machine, etc. didn't already see/cache this. The cat's already out of the bag, so I can't see Apple caring about the website contents, even if the tablet is entirely based on that technology.
Click to expand...

I hope the 26th event will be Fingerworks' founders' big coming out party. Jobs will make reference to the acquisition back in 2005, and how their technology and expertise has since revolutionised Apple's product-line from their mice&Trackpads to iPhones and now their unrelenting research has now led to the greatest advance in computer interaction - The Apple Tablet.

Let's be entirely frank, multitouch right now on the iPhone, whilst very refined, is actually very simplistic and not pushing the envelope very far. Hoever, no other company is better placed to push this interaction model to a broader audience, and I believe the technology is now well-proven enough to introduce to more general computing tasks.

The refinement of multitouch and capacitive touchscreens is the unsung hero in the iPhone success and Apple's true secret ingredient.
 
Let's petition the Magic 8 Ball, shall we!

Let's petition the Magic 8 Ball, shall we!
 

Attachments

  • 8ball.jpg
    8ball.jpg
    39.8 KB · Views: 117
So was the site itself taken down? Or content pulled? The address no longer works for me. Just gives me a domain parking page.
 
hugodrax said:
Apple FEB 220 call is trading with a IV of 35.54 which way above HV.

This is very bullish for an Apple Tablet announcement. such high IV indicates that Apple tablet is imminent.
Click to expand...

Or at least it indicates people trading AAPL options think so.
 
View fingerworks web site

To view fingerworks website as it was with all videos, tutorials and explanations go to the wayback machine. You might need to go back to an early 2005 version to get some things but it should all be there.
 
Small White Car said:
I may be wrong, but I don't think Fingerworks existed to really sell the products very much. They developed technology and made devices to show off that tech, but I think their point was to sell their inventions to other companies, not to make much money from their own devices.
Click to expand...

That isn't quite true. Wayne Westerman was a professor of mine in school while he and John Elias were developing all the Fingerworks products. They sold several hundred devices, mostly the gesture pads. The people that had them swore by them. I spent many hours in their lab playing around with the different products in various stages of being complete and can testify that Wayne (as he liked to be called) cared very much about what he was doing. He was an amazing concert pianist who suffered from a severe case of repetitive stress syndrome presumably from playing and typing the bulk of his life. Originally they were very against the idea of being bought, but a year or so after I left college they had been acquired by Apple. Not sure if things changed or they just offered them a boatload of money (I believe it to be the latter).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back