The Future of User Interfaces

A touch screen that supports multiple fingers at the same time? Big deal.

At least, that's what I thought before I saw Jeff Han's demo video. Now I'm convinced that this is the future of human-computer interfaces. The demo applications in the video are inspiring. My favorite were the eminently practical photo light table and audio mixer.

The technique scales to very large, rear-projected screens and looks like it would be inexpensive to manufacture. I'm excited about the possibilities. I think this might be the replacement for Cards, Table, and Whiteboard that I've been looking for.

Imagine a conference table with this technology in it, supplemented by six-foot electronic whiteboards at multiple sites that mirror the same content. Multiple people could collaborate and move cards around by simply touching the electronic cards and dragging their finger. To make notes, you'd zoom in on a card (with two fingers; see video), write with your finger, then tap an icon to snap the card back to its original size.

Cool stuff. I want one. Or maybe five.

(Link found at AppleGeeks.)

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