The Next Generation Of Mouse
The Next Computer Mouse *May* Use “Touch” Technology
Well folks, it’s good to be back after WordPress “had some issues” (the first real problem in over 2 years).. Today, I am going to post a video which was brought to my attention by an alert reader. I found it quite interesting as the PC mouse has not changed much in decades, and one doesn’t think of “mouse” when they think of “revolutionary”.. at least, I didn’t.
The video features 5 prototype mice being developed at Microsoft Research; and it gives us a possible glimpse into the future — a future with no ‘clicking’ apparently. The mice are being used to determine how to best bring Touch Technology to us “average computer users”.. as some of us are going to resist the idea of touching our PC monitors (me, for one).
“Touch” (aka “Multi-touch”) technologies are all the rage, letting people use multiple fingers to zoom, pinch and manipulate objects on screen in everything from the iPhone to Microsofts upcoming Windows 7.
Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved.
post to jaanix
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Worldwide Telescope Now In Your Browser
A while ago now, I shared with my readers my visit to Microsoft Research headquarters here in the Silicon Valley, where I witnessed the “unveiling” of a new application called “the worldwide telescope”.
(please see, The WorldWide Telescope: An amazing app)
IMHO, this is simply the best exploration and education tool for astronomy (though you can explore our Earth quite impressively too) available.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
So, I was rather pleased to read on C/Net’s News that this terrific program has been ‘ported’ for use via a Silverlight-enabled web browser (Internet Explorer). Download the “client” (a plug-in) and you can now browse the heavens anywhere, anytime.
Instead of Copy > Paste-ing, I’ll just refer you to the C/Net article, for details.
Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix
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Pen Scanners– A Back-to-School Must
There are some technologies that really do make me say, “gee, I wish they had that when I was a kid”, and one of them is the hand-held document scanner.
A hand-held document scanner is pretty much exactly what it sounds like it is; a portable device that allows you to “scan” text and images into digital form so you can store them on your computer… and thus access them for later study.
It’s kind of like having your very own pocket Xerox machine.
This is simply a “must have” if you are a researcher, or a student, as it replaces hand-writing out your notes, or carrying pockets full of coins to feed into the library’s copy machine.
When you find a relevant passage in a book, or other document, you simply pass the device over the text, much like you would use a highlighter. Later, you attach the device to your PC via a USB cord, and thanks to OCR, you can open your scanned passages in a text editor, like Word.
Hand-held document scanners (generally) come in two flavors; a true “pen” style — as pictured above — and a “wand” style.
The “pen” style makes it easier to capture just the lines of text that you are interested in. However, you must pass it in a fairly straight line, and wobbling it high or low may cause you to have to rescan the sentence (most have a preview window).. and some people use a plastic ruler as a guide.
I prefer the “wand” style, even though it (usually) means capturing a whole page. The color versions of these devices are pretty good at scanning images. Another advantage of the wand is if you are scanning tables and charts– the included software allows you to open the scanned tables in Excel.
Tip of the day: A simply fantastic Back To School gift (either for yourself, or someone you love) is a hand-held digital note taker. They’re quite reasonably priced.
My personal reco is to go with the slightly pricier wand scanner, and to go with the pricier-yet color model.
I won’t say which one’s “best”, but I will say that I agree with this PC Magazine review (read it here).
Today’s free link: SyncBack is a backup program that also functions as a file synchronizer, such as keeping your thumbdrive files and desktop files updated. From ZDNet:”Easily backup, synchronize, or restore your files to another drive, FTP server, ZIP file, networked drive, or removable media.”
Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix
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The WorldWide Telescope: An amazing app
Yesterday I attended an event at Microsoft’s Silicon Valley Research Center and learned about the technologies of the future.
Well, sort of. What I saw was an overview of what Microsoft is doing in the area of R&D– research and development.
Microsoft is planning on sticking around for a while, and they understand that technology is innovation… not a stagnant build-it-once-sell-it-a-million-times type thing, like a paperclip.
This from their Website: “Microsoft Research is dedicated to conducting both basic and applied research in computer science and software engineering. Its goals are to enhance the user experience on computing devices, reduce the cost of writing and maintaining software, and invent novel computing technologies.”
It was an interesting and informative event, and I want to take a minute and thank those folks involved.
* The keynote technology displayed was a program that is available now, and it is pretty amazing — especially when one considers the amount of data that must be accessed — it’s a virtual picture of the universe. And the best part is, you can explore it.
Yes, you can fly to Mars… or Rigel.. or the crab nebula.. or the top of Mt. Rainier here on earth (Virtual Earth is one data source).
“A state-of-the-art combination of software and Web 2.0 services, WorldWide Telescope offers terabytes of high-resolution images, astronomical data, and guided tours that bring the universe to your fingertips.” (again, from Website.)
This isn’t just pictures folks, when you right-click on Mars (for example) and select Properties, you will be offered practically every known fact about Mars. This is an unparalleled learning tool!
The engine behind this is kind of hard to explain; maybe.. real-time, super-advanced PowerPoint? Infinite MSN Maps?
But I don’t have to try to explain it. You can see it for yourself, and I highly suggest you do. Simply stunning.
To read more about the project, click here.
To download it for yourself, click here.
I found this clip which was a “sneak peak” presented by Roy Gould and Microsoft’s Curtis Wong. It will give you some idea…
Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix
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• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
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