Panansonic selected InPlay Technologies new digital pen and touch solution for its Toughbook CF-H1, mobile clinical assistant (MCA) for doctors and nurses. See press release for details.

InPlay also recently announced its new pen solution that works with capacitive touch screens, called WriteSense technology. Unlike other products, WriteSense adds pen functionality to capacitive touch solutions that exist in the supply chain. This approach offers a lower cost integration. See press release and product brochure for details.

Kevin Huang, Senior Marketing Director at ASUS, and I were talking about how important it is for OEMs to incorporate feedback from end-users. ASUS is known to many as the #1 motherboard manufacturer and they've been working hard to let people know that they are successful with mobile PCs, and want you to join them in producing the first community designed mobile PC.

ASUS is partnering with Intel on WePC.com, where you can send in your ideas about a dream mobile PC. This banner at ASUS's #ces09 booth shows real concepts. Do you see the one you submitted?

ASUS & Intel are partnering to help bring people's dream PC to reality. Submit your ideas at WePC.com.

Current submissions are displayed on this banner. Many have to do with using PCs in new and modular ways.

Creating the book paradigm -- or breaking the PC paradigm is a repeated design concept.

This user submitted concept will look familiar to those who use convertible Tablet PCs.

More multiple screen, slate, or dual screen concepts.

HP's incorporation of natural interaction with PCs has hit a new high, with its successful TouchSmart PC and TouchSmart TX2 Tablet PC. The TouchSmart PC offers large viewing space, with its 22" or 25.5" display. People could easily see benefits of saving space by getting rid of an old tower, as well as being able to point and go. "I can get this for my parents," exclaimed one person playing with it. Later same comment came from people at CntrStg, who were using a TouchSmart PC running Windows 7 beta and multi-touch.

Both TouchSmart products are offered through HP's consumer division. Interestingly, we heard several comments from people interested in buying it for enterprise and education clients too. Will HP listen and as a result expand what they offer to their business clients?

HP TouchSmart PC and TouchSmart TX2 Tablet PC featured on the "Touch" rounds.

HP TouchSmart TX2 displayed as a slate.

 
HP TouchSmart TX2 in notebook mode. Writing with fingertip using Microsoft Journal.

We opened Journal for the first time on a couple of TouchSmart TX2s. (We knew it was the first time because Journal asked if we wanted to install the print driver.) People looked over our shoulders to see what we were doing, and I think were happy to see ink in addition to touch. Our goal was to answer how well we could write with the HP TouchSmart TX2. A quick check of the digitizer is scribbling all over the edges in Journal. The good news is no rogue lines!

I am looking forward to trying Windows 7 beta on the TouchSmart TX2, as it will support more than two finger multi-touch.

Introduced in September 2008, the HP TouchSmart PC IQ804 supports Windows Vista Home Premium. An added bonus for those who are testing the upcoming Windows 7 is that the hardware supports consumer OS features from improved Media Center to multi-touch.

The TouchSmart PC IQ804 has a 25.5" diagonal, widescreen display. The TouchSmart PC's slim, TV-like design reflects how it can be used by your family for: home video production, watching and recording high definition movies and stations, photo slide-shows, in addition to standard PC Internet browsing and productivity. Place it in a central entertainment area and enjoy. You can even mount it to a wall, but if you do this make sure it is at a height everyone can reach!

TheIQ804 supports high-definition content. We attached an antenna by Pinnacle to receive over-the-air HD stations. Reception was solid and were able to use it quite easily. Alternatively, you can connect the built-in tuner to cable and play DVD movies. If you want Blu-ray, then you'll want to get the higher-end IQ816.

HP TouchSmart Model IQ804 with 25.5" diagonal screen running Windows Vista Media Center. The football game was over-the-air, high definition.

Out of the box the HP TouchSmart PC Model IQ804 runs Windows Vista Home Premium and also has a special launch application for your family center.

Input choices: Keyboard, Mouse, Remote, and Touch

Equipped with wireless keyboard, mouse and remote control, it's easy to use the PC as a standard PC or TV. The HP TouchSmart IQ804 has an optical touch screen that supports tapping the screen lightly with your finger or stylus. In Windows Vista Home Premium you can use a single point to touch. When you install Windows 7 (M3 or beta) with the NextWindow multi-touch driver (beta), multi-touch is available and the PC will see two fingers.

You're probably saying to yourself, "Isn't that uncomfortable to reach out and poke at the display?" Surprisingly, no. We moved the giant slate from dining table, to coffee table, and then to desk just to see how we would interact with it. Multi-touch was easiest when we sat or stood close to the screen. A distance of about 10" was comfortable, which is much closer than we normally keep a monitor on a desk.

Balance of height of the display to your arms is important too. Even retailers will want to consider physical position. In one store, the base was roughly 4' off the ground and some people may have had a difficult time reaching the top of the display for a quick game of Solitaire or Mahjong.

Playing InkBall with one-finger touch in Windows Vista.

The updated Windows 7 Paint supports multi-touch. This is an example of how position of two fingers can be tracked at the same time to draw squiggles.

HP TouchSmart PC IQ804 Specifications and Unboxing

Display:
* Optical Touch-enabled 25.5" diagonal widescreen BrightView LCD with tilt adjustment

* 1920 x1200 display resolution

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS HD graphics module with 256MB dedicated video memory

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5850, 2.16GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 667MHz FSB

Memory: 4GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM, 200-pin (2 - 2GB modules occupied; 2 slots total)

Storage: 7200RPM SATA drive

Optical Drive: Slot load SuperMulti DVD burner with 8x DVD+-RW, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD +-R DL, 5x DVD-RAM, 8x DVD-ROM, 24x CDR, 24x CDRW, 24x CD-ROM

Network: 10/100/1000 BaseT

Wireless network: 802.11 b/g/n with built in WLAN antenna; bluetooth

Personal Video Recorder: TV Tuner Dual format NTSC or over the air ATSC high-definition TV tuner

Remote Control: HP Media Center remote control with IR receiver

Mouse & Keyboard: HP low-profile wireless keyboard with numeric keypad and wireless optical mouse

External ports:
* 5-in-1 memory card reader (SD, SDHC, MultiMedia Card, Memory Stick Pro and xD)

* 1 FireWire IEEE 1394 port (front)

* Headphone (front)

* Line-in (back)

* 5 USB 2.0 ports (2 front, 3 rear)

* Line-out (back)

* Digital Audio Out (back)

Webcamera: Integrated 2 megapixel webcamera

Operating system: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium, 64-bit

Energy Star and EPEAT silver qualifications

iPhone snapshot of the HP TouchSmart box straight from the store. The box does have a warning that it should be lifted by two people. The TouchSmart PC weighs 35.3lbs and packaged weighs about 58lbs.

Slit tape and opened the lid to see simple set-up instructions.

Items are packed in two layers. This is the first layer with the power adapter, power cord, remote control, remote batteries, manual, and keyboard.

Layer two is the HP TouchSmart display.

Connecting power adapter.

Booting HP TouchSmart for the first time. Windows Vista Home Premium is loading.

HP TouchSmart PC with 25.5" diagonal, widescreen display next to TabletKiosk and Motion Computing LE1700 Tablet PCs with 12" displays. A Zune (in front of TabletKiosk) made it into the photo too, as did the dog.

Closer photo of slze comparison.

Dual Boot with Windows Vista and Windows 7

The HP TouchSmart PC comes preinstalled with Windows Vista Home Premium. If you have access to Windows 7 beta builds, then you will want to create a dual boot. Fortunately, this is straight-forward and considerably easier than in the past.

Though you can use EasyBCD or  VistaBootPro, you should not need these to create the dual boot.

In short,

1. Backup your PC and if it is brand new, create system recovery DVDs
2. Log into Windows Vista
3. Click Start button
4. Right click Computer, select Manage and Computer Management window appears
5. Select Disk Management and you will see the system's disk volumes
6. Choose the disk volume that you want to split. Click on it, then right click and select Shrink Volume.
7. Follow the wizard instructions for shrinking the volume and creating a new. You will need to enter the new volume size.
8. Format the disk, NTFS. Make sure disk volume is set to primary. You may need to change drive letters, so that the new disk volume is labeled above optical drives.
9. Follow Microsoft instructions on installing Windows 7 beta.

When your system restarts, you will have a choice about whether to enter Windows 7 or Windows Vista. In our set-up it boots to Windows 7 if no selection is made manually.

Dual boot with Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Once you have Windows 7 installed you will need to install the drivers for the HP TouchSmart. We installed 64-bit and pointed the drivers back to the Windows Vista \Windows\System32 directory.

After you've completed basic driver installation, go to http://www.nextwindow.com/windriver/ to install the multi-touch driver (beta). Follow instructions on NextWindows' website.

When complete you will have access to multi-touch, improvements in Media Center, and a glimpse of future computing.

Windows 7 features improved Touch technology, such as a large button Tablet Input Panel onscreen keyboard.

Software developers, early adopters, and beta testers of Windows 7 should consider using the HP TouchSmart PC. The simple design influences the way you can interact with the PC and will give you a new view of Windows 7 and the application possibilities for the future. Consumers will appreciate the easy set-up and positive out-of-the box experience that HP has obviously put considerable effort into. The flexibility of this entertainment all-in-one makes it appropriate as a family PC.

HP has exceeded our expectations with its current HP TouchSmart PC line. This super-sized, slate form factor breaks from prior all-in-one PCs by adopting features found in entertainment systems and leading the way in natural interaction. We look forward to seeing how this line advances.

For more information on HP TouchSmart PCs:

• IQ804 Product specification sheet (pdf)
• HP TouchSmart PC website
• Videos on HP.com

According to CrunchGear, the leading maker of classroom interactive whiteboards, Smart Technologies, will introduce its Smart Table interactive learning center this week. Here is the press release dated this coming Thursday, October 23rd with details and a video showing kids using the new table.

Children can work in small groups around the table to manipulate objects, draw and write on the horizontal screen.

• 27" diagonal screen (29" W x 25" H)
• Supports multiple users & multiple fingers
• Gestures include pinching object to scale size and object rotation
• Wide viewing angle
• Ships with interactive learning applications, including activities and games
• Toolkit for teachers to create their own applications
• ISVs partners and content developers to offer products in Spring '09 to run on the Smart Table.

The press release lists $8000 as the educational price, with a caveat "To be determined." Look forward to seeing an update from Smart Technologies.

Congratulations on the new product launch. Can't wait to see how these will be used by students and the types of applications that are created for it.

• TouchKit Run for C++ devs for creating touchscreen apps: $1580 = frameless 70cm x 50cm multi-touch screen + calibrated infrared camera + SW pack
• Touchscreen ordering at restaurants (TheAge.com)
• On mini-notebooks or Netbooks: "Right now, the prices range from $300 to $800," says Via's Brown. "In the next year, $200 to $700 will be the range."
• Students at Klein School District in Texas get Tablet PCs, starting with Klein Oak High School
• Congratulations to rugged Tablet PC manufacturer, Mobile Demand for making Inc 500 list!
• Albatron Tee PC is a Windows CE 6 device with 400MHz ARM926, 7" display, 128MB, 128MB storage, WiFi, Bluetooth, & camera options
• First look at Fujitsu Lifebook T5010 Tablet PC
• Gigabyte Netbook Tablet PC: 8.9" display, swivel hinge, Intel Atom, 1GB DDR2, WiFi, Bluetooth, 1.3M camera = $799

Last week Panasonic released its new UMPC, Panasonic Toughbook CF-U1, in Canada. Rugged, of course. (Available in the US since June.) In the photo the Panasonic rep is pouring water on the PC to show it continue working in harsh environments. This announcement is a good reminder how Tablet PC form factors have continued to diversify. Think about how many different types of Tablet PCs are available today.

Tablet taxonomy may have changed over the years, but fundamentally two familiar categories are the pillars: 1) Slate and 2) Convertible.

Slate form factors have all the PC components centralized behind the display. Several companies offer slates: Motion, TabletKiosk, Electrovaya, HTC, OQO, Samsung, Fujitsu, Avantech, DRS, General Dynamics, Everex, Getac, MobileDemand, Panasonic, Roper Mobile, and others. The simple design where the display is always exposed makes it easy to use in medical environments, manufacturing, military, and other mobile work place environments.

Convertibles are traditional clamshell notebooks with a swivel or sliding hinge. All of the major OEMs offer convertible Tablet PCs, including Dell, HP, Lenovo, Toshiba, MPC, Fujitsu, and ASUS. The attached keyboard and choice to use a pen when needed appeals to general business users, students, and a growing number of consumers.

There have been attempts to segment the categories by type of digitizer too, with EM and resistive. But then along came dual EM + resistive digitizers and today dual EM + capacitive are available. Too complicated.

Screen size was another marketing distinction. Tablet PCs with 8.9" display and larger and UMPCs with 7" and lower. Then came MID, still a PC, but even smaller display than UMPCs. Of course, individual companies started calling things whatever they needed to so they could appeal to their specific customer base.

There are rugged, semi-rugged, commercial, and even consumer Tablet PCs. Some are called UMPCs, others MIDs, and I'm sure we'll see some Netbooks with digitizers eventually.

At the core, if these units have digitizers, then they are Tablet PCs. But Tablet PC may not apply as this category of multi-functions, multi-features, multi-shapes continues. What do you think the next generation will be called?

This is a nice problem for the software to have -- many different types of form factors on which it can be used and used in many different ways. I'm glad there are creative people helping to move these various form factors forward. I look forward to seeing what's next.

When you were in school, did you draw on your desk? When Microsoft launched Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, Loren and I talked about how great it would be if our eldest brother could finally draw on his desk again. Yes, mark all over it.

You see, he's an architect. Even though more recently his drafting table is primarily used for reviewing and his PC is used for drafting or redlining, with pen and multi-touch technology he could have a multi-touch table. Architecture firms could also use entire walls to literally walk a customer through a virtual building to proof the drawing.

With Windows SDK offering ink and shape & handwriting recognition at a platform level, Google TouchLib, Microsoft Surface, Microsoft TouchWall, and other similar efforts we're nearing an opportunity to converge developer platforms in order to expand and deliver a greater variety to users. I don't think it'll happen in one fell swoop, but consider the possibilities.

What major advancements do you want to see with PC operating systems? "Ease of use," may be a vague catch-all phrase, but it is a continual quest. "How can PCs be easier?" "How can more people benefit?" Consider how most people primarily interact with PCs today: keyboard and touchpad. Speech, touch, and pen have been wonderful emerging methods, even offered in some products, but we're really beginning to delve into natural interaction.

For example, an adult male talking in his native language to his PC will get impressive speech recognition results. Whereas, an 8 year old girl, who has high pitched voice and speaking in a foreign language, may not get great results -- let alone conditions that impact everyone at one time or another, like someone who has a cold and cough. As useable as today's speech technology is today, there is still a tremendous way to go to build out the possibilities. Wouldn't it be great for a PC to be able to identify and recognize multiple voices singing in a choir or those in a conversation? Or shifting to touch, what about multiple people interacting with objects on a surface at the same time and the PC is smart enough to know the angles they're reaching from or perhaps who is touching it? What about vision sensing in robots for not only location but also facial recognition?

Are you ready to let your fingers dance across your computer monitor, display, or interactive whiteboard? When Microsoft announced that it is including multi-touch support in Windows 7, there was plenty of groaning about dirty fingers.

"...I really don't want users pinching and dragging their dirty mits around the new LCD monitors," writes Slashdot user binaryspiral.

"I know I'm not the most tolerant person in the world, but when someone comes to my desk, points at something on the screen and leaves a big smeary finger print, violent thoughts flash through my mind," comments TheTruthIsOutThere on ZDnet.

Channel9 user, YearOfTheLinuxDesktop, expresses, "look: I can fill my display with dirty fingerprints!"

Do you agree with these folks? Is touching something bad? Or is it a fear you can get over?

Perhaps you are hyper-clean. Nothing wrong with that. If that's the case, when you scrub your desk and keyboard each day - before and after you snack - just take a quick wipe of the display too.

Perhaps you are a free spirit who rarely cleans and are slightly worried that this is one more place that people will notice you haven't cleaned. Trust me, they know it already. If salt from potato chips scratching your display worries you, then there are great inventions like hand-towels and napkins to help you out.