Slashdot Mirror
Peephole Displays
benh57 writes "A student at Berkeley has come up with a novel approach for navigating small handheld displays. In effect the display is a "peephole" into a much larger information area. You see different parts of the display by moving the handheld around - no more tiny scrollbars. Check out the DiVX movies to see it in action. It even works in 3D!"
is bronze.
How much pr0n can you see using this method!?
first
if it wasn't for that farking 20 seconds. I FAIL IT!
Already, the server is down.
Heh, I went to high school in Winnipeg with that guy. (Well, he was in grade 9 when I was in grade 12.) He was a math prodigy back then. Placed highly in all the Canadian math competitions while he was underaged by a few years.
Slashdotted! Who really thinks that linking to a site of 72MB DiVX files will survive Slashdot?
Being that it's similar to looking through a small hole to see a large interior I think they should call it The Speculum
Trolling is a art,
0 posts and already slashdotted, yow
What a very good, innovative idea....
somebody better give this kid a job, then Microsoft can steal his work and lock it into a proprietary format / device post haste!
Department of Homeland Security: Removing the rights real patriots fought and died for since 2001
I'm hoping to get a first post, but no, the site won't let me. It took TOO FUCKING LONG to load the submit page. Jesus Christ Rob, instead of posting repeat articles, how about fixing Slashcode you cockfuck?
And FIRST POST if I get it. And FUCK YOU to the moderators who will knock me down to -1.
I always wanted a way to view pr0n in a 3-d user space on my palm.. aside from hustler..
Sigs? We don't need no stinking sigs!
"BSD: Free as in speech. Linux: Free as in beer. Windows 10: Free as in herpes." --Man On Pink Corner in #52607549.
Nice concept, but I wouldn't want to use it in a bus or such. It real life it would crave some sort of gyro to detect movement. Imagine a bus rounding a corner and the text compensating by scrolling. At least it would serve as amusement to the fellow busriders.
Of course there are other solutions, and there is defenently a need for a solution to this problem. I would suggest having touch sensitive sides of the actual PDA. To scroll, simply stroke the side of the PDA (not a wheel, but the side). But there are probably even better solutions to this. I enjoy the peephole approach, but must regrettably say that the problem is to control it (without clicking tiny sliders).
Anyways, I think it would be neat to have a PDA where the little box part was just the computer (well, the screen part could also be used), and the visual interface used those 3-D glasses. Dragging the pointer around would show a mouse on the glasses. Make the interface bluetooth or 802.11 and that would be extra cool!
I seem to remember seeing something like this in a gadget-oriented genre, like a Bond film, for maps. It's a pretty cool idea, since it's not much different than using a magnifying lens.
In fact, when you think about it, this is a real-world application of a virtual device that implements a real-world tool. Check out The Movable Filter as a User Interface Tool : essentially a magnifying lens with "logical filters". Now that's been moved back into the real world again.
Who needs new ideas when there are so many good ones that haven't been used already?
Hasn't this been done before? In X, if the virtual resolution is larger than the screen resolution, you use the mouse to move around. How is this much different?
frost spit
Is that something like glory holes?
Come to the #1 site on the web
Mirror site on your servers. If google can why cant slashdot?
I''ve been using a similar style for years. I can't even play a game without moving the controller wildly about while playing a game.
There's no convincing me that moving the controller to the right doesn't help the car turn faster in GT3. Or that shaking it up and down while holding the X button so hard my fingers change colors doesn't help it with acceleration on the straight away.
Devil Ducky
MY peers would get out of jury duty.
VIDEOS To play DivX video, get a free decoder from divx.com. You can play DivX videos on Linux, MacOS, or Windows.
;o)
* video demonstration for CHI 2003, 16 Dec 2002 (5m 52s)
o high quality: AVI (72 Mb, DivX)
o medium quality: AVI (33 Mb, DivX)
o low quality: AVI (16 Mb, DivX)
* video figure for CHI 2003, 23 Sep 2002 (2m 35s)
o AVI (13.8 Mb)
o QuickTime (27.6 Mb)
* submitted to UIST 2002, Apr 2002 (3m 31 s)
o AVI (46 Mb, MPEG4.2)
o QuickTime (50 Mb, MJPEG)
o DivX (45 Mb)
How long will their server last?
Get your own free personal location tracker
and take a deep look into my dickhole, dumbass
After I get all excited doing this, where can I ... ahem ... insert myself?
Best Windows Freeware
I think this is a very innovative way to make the UI help get around the physical limitations of the device.
.02 worth...
But what we REALLY need are answers to those physical limitations. I have a lot more hope for a foldable display in the long term than in ways to try to make a big picture/UI fit on a small screen.
Not knocking what is an excellant piece of work, but sometimes a great solution to a problem blocks better solutions.
Just my
Hmmm...This sounds a lot like X-Windows when you set your desktop to be bigger than your monitor's resolution, or when you use virtual screens. Not a particularly revolutionary idea, but could be useful if intuitively applied...
credo quia absurdum
... will you see what you're typing on your projected keyboard?
I remember hearing about something with a hand held device that was gyroscope enabled that allowed you to do something similar (and this was about 2 years ago I think). If you tilt the device to the left, it scrolled to the left and so on. I don't have the URL handy, but it doesn't seem to me like this is that new of a concept.. unless I'm missing something (unfortunately the site is too slashdotted to read right now)
THE MARCH OF THE WHITE GUARD -- By Gilbert Parker
"Ask Mr. Hume to come here for a moment, Gosse," said Field, the chief
factor, as he turned from the frosty window of his office at Fort
Providence, one of the Hudson's Bay Company's posts. The servant, or
more properly, Orderly-Sergeant Gosse, late of the Scots Guards, departed
on his errand, glancing curiously at his master's face as he did so. The
chief factor, as he turned round, unclasped his hands from behind him,
took a few steps forward, then standing still in the centre of the room,
read carefully through a letter which he had held in the fingers of his
right hand for the last ten minutes as he scanned the wastes of snow
stretching away beyond Great Slave Lake to the arctic circle. He
meditated a moment, went back to the window, looked out again, shook his
head negatively, and with a sigh, walked over to the huge fireplace. He
stood thoughtfully considering the floor until the door opened and sub-
factor Jaspar Hume entered.
The factor looked up and said: "Hume, I've something here that's been
worrying me a bit. This letter came in the monthly batch this morning.
It is from a woman. The company sends another commending the cause of
the woman and urging us to do all that is possible to meet her wishes.
It seems that her husband is a civil engineer of considerable fame. He
had a commission to explore the Coppermine region and a portion of the
Barren Grounds. He was to be gone six months. He has been gone a year.
He left Fort Good Hope, skirted Great Bear Lake, and reached the
Coppermine River. Then he sent back all of the Indians who accompanied
him but two, they bearing the message that he would make the Great Fish
River and come down by Great Slave Lake to Fort Providence. That was
nine months ago. He has not come here, nor to any other of the forts,
so far as is known, nor has any word been received from him. His wife,
backed by the H.B.C., urges that a relief party be sent to look for him.
They and she forget that this is the arctic region, and that the task is
a well-nigh hopeless one. He ought to have been here six months ago.
Now how can we do anything? Our fort is small, and there is always
danger of trouble with the Indians. We can't force men to join a relief
party like this, and who will volunteer? Who would lead such a party and
who will make up the party to be led?"
The brown face of Jaspar Hume was not mobile. It changed in
expression but seldom; it preserved a steady and satisfying character
of intelligence and force. The eyes, however, were of an inquiring,
debating kind, that moved from one thing to another as if to get a sense
of balance before opinion or judgment was expressed. The face had
remained impassive, but the eyes had kindled a little as the factor
talked. To the factor's despairing question there was not an immediate
reply. The eyes were debating. But they suddenly steadied and Jaspar
Hume said sententiously: "A relief party should go."
"Yes, yes, but who is to lead them?"
Again the eyes debated.
"Read her letter," said the factor, handing it over. Jaspar Hume took it
and mechanically scanned it. The factor had moved towards the table for
his pipe or he would have seen the other start, and his nostrils slightly
quiver, as his eyes grew conscious of what they were seeing. Turning
quickly, Hume walked towards the window as though for more light, and
with his back to the factor he read the letter. Then he turned and said:
"I think this thing should be done."
The factor shrugged his shoulders slightly. "Well, as to that, I think
so too, but thinking and doing are two different things, Hume."
"Will you leave the matter in my hands until the morning?"
"Yes, of course, and glad to do so. You are the only man who can arrange
the affair, if it is to be done at all. But I tell you, as you know,
that everything will depend upon a leader, even if you secure the men....
So you had better keep the letter for to-night. It may help you to get
the men together. A woman's handwriting will do more than a man's word
any time."
Jaspar Hume's eyes had been looking at the factor, but they were studying
something else. His face seemed not quite so fresh as it was a few
minutes before.
"I will see you at ten o'clock to-morrow morning, Mr. Field," he said
quietly. "Will you let Gosse come to me in an hour?"
"Certainly. Good-night."
Jaspar Hume let himself out. He walked across a small square to a log
house and opened a door which creaked and shrieked with the frost.
A dog sprang upon him as he did so, and rubbed its head against his
breast. He touched the head as if it had been that of a child,
and said: "Lie down, Bouche."
It did so, but it watched him as he doffed his dogskin cap and buffalo
coat. He looked round the room slowly once as though he wished to fix it
clearly and deeply in his mind. Then he sat down and held near the
firelight the letter the factor had given him. His features grew stern
and set as he read it. Once he paused in the reading and looked into the
fire, drawing his breath sharply between his teeth. Then he read it to
the end without a sign. A pause, and he said aloud: "So this is how the
lines meet again, Varre Lepage!" He read the last sentence of the letter
aloud:
In the hope that you may soon give me good news of my husband,
I am, with all respect,
Faithfully yours,
ROSE LEPAGE.
Again he repeated: "With all respect, faithfully yours, Rose Lepage."
The dog Bouche looked up. Perhaps it detected something unusual in the
voice. It rose, came over, and laid its head on its master's knee.
Hume's hand fell gently on the head, and he said to the fire: "Ah, Rose
Lepage, you can write to Factor Field what you dare not write to your
husband if you knew. You might say to him then, 'With all love,' but not
'With all respect.'"
He folded the letter and put it in his pocket. Then he took the dog's
head between his hands and said: "Listen, Bouche, and I will tell you a
story." The dog blinked, and pushed its nose against his arm.
"Ten years ago two young men who had studied and graduated together at
the same college were struggling together in their profession as civil
engineers. One was Clive Lepage and the other was Jaspar Hume. The one
was brilliant and persuasive, the other, persistent and studious. Lepage
could have succeeded in any profession; Hume had only heart and mind for
one.
"Only for one, Bouche, you understand. He lived in it, he loved it, he
saw great things to be achieved in it. He had got an idea. He worked at
it night and day, he thought it out, he developed it, he perfected it,
he was ready to give it to the world. But he was seized with illness,
became blind, and was ordered to a warm climate for a year. He left his
idea, his invention, behind him--his complete idea. While he was gone
his bosom friend stole his perfected idea--yes, stole it, and sold it
for twenty thousand dollars. He was called a genius, a great inventor.
And then he married her. You don't know her, Bouche. You never saw
beautiful Rose Varcoe, who, liking two men, chose the one who was
handsome and brilliant, and whom the world called a genius. Why didn't
Jaspar Hume expose him, Bouche? Proof is not always easy, and then he
had to think of her. One has to think of a woman in such a case, Bouche.
Even a dog can see that."
He was silent for a moment, and then he said: "Come, Bouche. You will
keep secret what I show you."
He went to a large box in the corner, unlocked it, and took out a model
made of brass and copper and smooth but unpolished wood.
"After ten years of banishment, Bouche, Hume has worked out another idea,
you see. It should be worth ten times the other, and the world called
the other the work of a genius, dog."
Then he became silent, the animal watching him the while. It had seen
him working at this model for many a day, but had never heard him talk so
much at a time as he had done this last ten minutes. He was generally a
silent man--decisive even to severity, careless carriers and shirking
under-officers thought. Yet none could complain that he was unjust. He
was simply straight-forward, and he had no sympathy with those who had
not the same quality. He had carried a drunken Indian on his back for
miles, and from a certain death by frost. He had, for want of a more
convenient punishment, promptly knocked down Jeff Hyde, the sometime
bully of the fort, for appropriating a bundle of furs belonging to a
French half-breed, Gaspe Toujours. But he nursed Jeff Hyde through an
attack of pneumonia, insisting at the same time that Gaspe Toujours
should help him. The result of it all was that Jeff Hyde and Gaspe
Toujours became constant allies. They both formulated their oaths by
Jaspar Hume. The Indian, Cloud-in-the-Sky, though by word never thanking
his rescuer, could not be induced to leave the fort, except on some
mission with which Jaspar Hume was connected. He preferred living an
undignified, un-Indian life, and earning food and shelter by coarsely
labouring with his hands. He came at least twice a week to Hume's log
house, and, sitting down silent and cross-legged before the fire, watched
the sub-factor working at his drawings and calculations. Sitting so for
perhaps an hour or more, and smoking all the time, he would rise, and
with a grunt, which was answered by a kindly nod, would pass out as
silently as he came.
And now as Jaspar Hume stood looking at his "Idea," Cloud-in-the-Sky
entered, let his blanket fall by the hearthstone and sat down upon it.
If Hume saw him or heard him, he at least gave no sign at first. But he
said at last in a low tone to the dog: "It is finished, Bouche; it is
ready for the world."
Then he put it back, locked the box, and turned towards Cloud-in-the-Sky
and the fireplace. The Indian grunted; the other nodded with the
debating look again dominant in his eyes. The Indian met the look with
satisfaction. There was something in Jaspar Hume's habitual reticence
and decisiveness in action which appealed more to Cloud-in-the-Sky than
any freedom of speech could possibly have done.
Hume sat down, handed the Indian a pipe and tobacco, and, with arms
folded, watched the fire. For half an hour they sat so, white man,
Indian, and dog. Then Hume rose, went to a cupboard, took out some
sealing wax and matches, and in a moment melted wax was dropping upon the
lock of the box containing his Idea. He had just finished this as
Sergeant Gosse knocked at the door, and immediately afterwards entered
the room.
"Gosse," said the sub-factor, "find Jeff Hyde, Gaspe Toujours, and Late
Carscallen, and bring them here." Sergeant Gosse immediately departed
upon this errand. Hume then turned to the Indian, and said "Cloud-in-
the-Sky, I want you to go a long journey hereaway to the Barren Grounds.
Have twelve dogs ready by nine to-morrow morning."
Cloud-in-the-Sky shook his head thoughtfully, and then after a pause
said: "Strong-back go too?" Strongback was his name for the sub-factor.
But the other either did not or would not hear. The Indian, however,
appeared satisfied, for he smoked harder afterwards, and grunted to
himself many times. A few moments passed, and then Sergeant Gosse
entered, followed by Jeff Hyde, Gaspe Toujours, and Late Carscallen.
Late Carscallen had got his name "Late" from having been called "The Late
Mr. Carscallen" by the chief factor because of his slowness. Slow as he
was, however, the stout Scotsman had more than once proved himself a man
of rare merit according to Hume's ideas. He was, of course, the last to
enter.
The men grouped themselves about the fire, Late Carscallen getting the
coldest corner. Each man drew his tobacco from his pocket, and, cutting
it, waited for Hume to speak. His eyes were debating as they rested on
the four. Then he took out Mrs. Lepage's letter, and, with the group
looking at him, he read it aloud. When it was finished, Cloud-in-the-Sky
gave a guttural assent, and Gaspe Toujours, looking at Jeff Hyde, said:
"It is cold in the Barren Grounds. We shall need much tabac." These men
could read without difficulty Hume's reason for summoning them. To Gaspe
Toujours' remark Jeff Hyde nodded affirmatively, and then all looked at
Late Carscallen. He opened his heavy jaws once or twice with an animal-
like sound, and then he said, in a general kind of way:
"To the Barren Grounds. But who leads?"
Hume was writing on a slip of paper, and he did not reply. The faces of
three of them showed just a shade of anxiety. They guessed who it would
be, but they were not sure. Cloud-in-the-Sky, however, grunted at them,
and raised the bowl of his pipe towards the subfactor. The anxiety then
seemed to disappear.
For ten minutes more they sat so, all silent. Then Hume rose, handed the
slip of paper to Sergeant Gosse, and said: "Attend to that at once,
Gosse. Examine the food and blankets closely."
The five were left alone.
Then Hume spoke: "Jeff Hyde, Gaspe Toujours, Late Carscallen, and Cloud-
in-the-Sky, this man, alive or dead, is between here and the Barren
Grounds. He must be found--for his wife's sake."
He handed Jeff Hyde her letter. Jeff rubbed his fingers before he
touched the delicate and perfumed missive. Its delicacy seemed to
bewilder him. He said: in a rough but kindly way: "Hope to die if I
don't," and passed it on to Gaspe Toujours, who did not find it necessary
to speak. His comrade had answered for him. Late Carscallen held it
inquisitively for a moment, and then his jaws opened and shut as if he
were about to speak. But before he did so Hume said: "It is a long
journey and a hard one. Those who go may never come back. But this man
was working for his country, and he has got a wife--a good wife." He
held up the letter. "Late Carscallen wants to know who will lead you.
Can't you trust me? I will give you a leader that you will follow to the
Barren Grounds. To-morrow you will know who he is. Are you satisfied?
Will you do it?"
The four rose, and Cloud-in-the-Sky nodded approvingly many times. Hume
held out his hand. Each man shook it, Jeff Hyde first. Then he said:
"Close up ranks for the H.B.C.!" (H.B.C. meaning, of course, Hudson's
Bay Company.)
With a good man to lead them, these four would have stormed, alone, the
Heights of Balaklava.
Once more Hume spoke. "Go to Gosse and get your outfits at nine to-
morrow morning. Cloud-in-the-Sky, have your sleds at the store at eight
o'clock, to be loaded. Then all meet me at 10.15 at the office of the
chief factor. Good night."
As they passed out into the semi-arctic night, Late Carscallen with an
unreal obstinacy said: "Slow march to the Barren Grounds--but who leads?"
Left alone Hume sat down to the pine table at one end of the room and
after a short hesitation began to write. For hours he sat there, rising
only to put wood on the fire. The result was three letters: the largest
addressed to a famous society in London, one to a solicitor in Montreal,
and one to Mr. Field, the chief factor. They were all sealed carefully.
Then he rose, took out his knife, and went over to the box as if to break
the red seal. He paused, however, sighed, and put the knife back again.
As he did so he felt something touch his leg. It was the dog.
Hume drew in a sharp breath and said: "It was all ready, Bouche; and in
another six months I should have been in London with it. But it will go
whether I go or not--whether I go or not, Bouche."
The dog sprang up and put his head against his master's breast.
"Good dog, good dog, it's all right, Bouche; however it goes, it's all
right," said Hume.
Then the dog lay down and watched his master until he drew the blankets
to his chin, and sleep drew oblivion over a fighting soul.
But still, what does it all matter as long as userfriendly.org is still online?
4 -07 8 -20&res=l 4 -17 l ey/ s /comic-11.htm s /comic-20.htm s /comic-27.htm s /comic-32.htm s /comic-39.htm t oshop/variety3/Eegah_comic.jpg r .html
r iendly i t.htm t s/ComicStrips.html
To: Illiad
We respectfully ask you to delete all content hosted at userfriendly.org at your earliest convenience.
What's currently hosted there is, by its astonishing amateurism and outright offensive unfunniness, diluting the "User Friendly" concept currently used by parodies of boring and badly drawn web comics based on the incessant repetition of ancient tech support jokes and stereotypical anti-Microsoft zealotry.
These parodies are facing a bleak future, when there are sites like yours that are honestly intended to be "entertaining" by using even more tired clichés and even worse artwork than the parodies. How are parody authors supposed to survive if the objects of parody suddenly start to express the parodied traits even more extremely than the parodies?
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=1999-0
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=1999-0
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2000-0
http://www.somethingawful.com/features/usarfreind
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunny
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunny
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunny
http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/computarfunny
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http://somethingawful.com/inserts/articlepics/pho
http://www.themushroom.com/mush0122/unfriendlyuse
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=user%20f
http://internettrash.com/users/theepisodes/keensh
http://rmitz.org/comics.html
http://www.amk.ca/books/h/User_Friendly.html
http://www.rdrop.com/~half/Creations/Writings/Ran
Enough already. Stop it.
As it's been slashdotted already
OVERVIEW
Recent years have shown an explosion of interest in handheld computing devices (such as personal digital assistants, cellphones, and mini-notebook computers). These devices have a form factor that enhances convenience, portability, and durability, and they tend to provide desirable operational features such as instant-on, fast non-volatile storage, and simpler, more direct modes of interaction (touch screens, application-specific buttons, no need to "save" work and "quit" programs).
However, current display technology constrains the size of the display to be no larger than the physical size of the device. This sets up a tension between the desire to make the device small, light, and non-intrusive, and the desire to display a reasonable amount of information and provide efficient interaction.
Accessing a large amount of information on a small display generally requires some kind of selection or scrolling mechanism. Cellphones and PDAs, for example, have "up" and "down" buttons that are pressed repeatedly to scroll through lists of records, but using them is slow and cumbersome.
I propose a new scrolling mechanism based on the metaphor of a virtual window: the information is laid out on a virtual space much larger than the device itself. The device itself is moved around the virtual space to view a small part (a window) of the space. I hypothesize that this will have several advantages:
Scrolling becomes direct and intuitive; one can move to a new region of the space just as fast as one can move the device.
It eliminates the feedback loop of normal scrolling (press "Down", read, press "Down", read, etc.) and replaces it with a single movement.
It replaces discrete control with continuous control, massively increasing the bandwidth of information communicated between user and device.
It frees the hand used to operate the device, permitting scrolling and interaction at the same time. Scrolling moves into the background, occupying little or no cognitive load, producing the illusion that the entire
workspace is available at once.
It yields some of the advantages of two-handed interfaces for free: the non-dominant hand gives coarse positioning information, while the dominant hand does specific pointing and manipulation.
SPECIFIC GOALS
During this semester, i hope to achieve the following specific goals:
Choose a platform that is sufficiently open and fast to support this development (a Palm-based PDA will be a likely first choice if early attempts to interface to it are successful).
Explore and develop at least one method for sensing the position of the device. (Some possibilities to examine include: the use of accelerometers to obtain differential information; the use of a tether with a mechanical encoder to measure absolute position; the use of computer vision to locate a marker that's stuck to the device.)
Devise a task to be performed that requires scrolling functionality. (Possibilities include making a selection from a scrolling list, or locating an object on a large map.)
Develop a sample application that allows a user to perform this task (a) using directional scrolling buttons; (b) using conventional scrollbars; (c) using the virtual window technique (or techniques) developed in this project.
Perform user tests and compare performance and preference among these scrolling techniques.
Submit a short paper to UIST.
RELATED WORK
I've heard of other work on tilting input, but not direct-positioning input. Tilting, in my opinion, completely misses the point: tilt input is still differential rather than direct, and is therefore no better than holding down a scroll button and waiting until you've arrived. Positional input should be much better, because it just lets you put yourself where you want to be.
Joel F. Bartlett. Rock'n'Scroll Is Here to Stay. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, May/June 2000, pp. 40-45.
Jun Rekimoto. Tilting Operations for Small Screen Interfaces. User Interface Software and Technologies 1996.
I can't get a peep out of their server...
So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
... the porn industry leads the way in video display technologies!
I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
GNU/Peepholes
it's the same problem that 3D game developers have with the 'camera'. and on tiny handheld screens, this problem would be even worse.
Liberate your mind in two clicks or less.
This should be made into 3d goggles, but that would obsolete my laptop+3dgoogles+porno DVD collection.
It leaves both hands free!
This is a rather interesting approach for displaying information on tiny displays. I would love to see something which is connected to a device which triggers the position of one's hand, so moving a hand would move the "underlying' desktop. just like in acrobat, but used in real live. what do you think of this? But by the way, it is nice to see, that there are some peoples out there thinking about new solutions off the beaten track!
Bet you didn't know this
/., The competition for an average technology person
Also, on
I'll admit that it is terribly cool looking, though the concept is not entirely new. However, the practicality of it seems rather unlikely.
If you have to lug around a huge backpack of support gear, why not just carry a larger display, such as Apple's 17" laptop or a future roll-up screen. Now, I know everyone will jump on me and say that they will reduce the size of the support gear but, it is still going to be impractical.
In order to use this thing you must move around a fair bit. Imagine a subway train full of people gyrating with their PDAs. It will look like a bunch of DDR freaks on mescalin.
I think a much better solution would be to simple use a little track ball on the the bottom of the PDA to scroll around screen. but, that's not new technology at all.
It figures that Taco would post a story about GLORY HOLES!
when are they going to develop a "glory" hole display?
For your reading convenience, allow me to summarize all the posts that will appear in this article:
1. Wow, this is really cool/neat/excellent/unique! This kid is a credit to geeks/nerds/hackers/allofus for coming up with this! Wouldn't it be really cool if you could XXXXXXXXXXX, and get it to do YYYYYYYYYYY?
2. God, Slashdotted already. I know this has been said before, but Slashdot really ought to take some responsibility for the stories they post. Perhaps some form of cache/prior warning system/mirror to make sure the page is available, and the site owners don't get stuck with dead servers/massive bandwidth bills?
3. WTF? Is this what passes for news nowadays on Slashdot? Come on, this is total vaporware until I have a finished product in my hands! I can't believe crap like this gets posted, and my article about CompanyX abuses/government concerns/link that has been beaten to death on 100 other blogs/great new vaporware technology is totally ignored by the editors.
4. Oh great. Now all this kid has to look forward to is being bought out by Palm/Microsoft/Apple/Microsoft again and having his idea exploited for millions of dollars while he gets next to nothing. Or better yet, wait until Xerox/Microsoft/Apple/HP/Microsoft again decides they want to get this technology for nothing, and sues him for patent infringement somehow! Those bastard corporations don't care about anything but their bottom lines/profits/iron grip on their marketplaces/bullying the little guy after all!
4. This article is a joke. Therefore I will make this joke post/troll/blatant flame in an attempt to gain cheap karma/make lame humor attempt/piss off everyone.
It hurts when I pee.
If I understand the concept correctly (can't follow the links...slashdotted), similar approaches have been done many times before.
For instance, in the days of the Apple II, when the standard text display was 40 characters wide, there was a word-processor called "Magic Window", designed for people who didn't have the money for the 80-column cards. Basically it, too, gave you a "peephole" into a 40x24-character window which moved around your document as you typed. You never saw all your document, but usually you saw enough.
I loved that little program and used it as my main word-processor for writing and printing out my high-school essays (on a shitty Apple thermal printer lacking descenders!).
Well my web server admin just said today "it can handle a slashdot, easily" - so I guess I'm going to see if he was just talking out his arse ;)
These are just the low-res ones.
peepdemo-200.avi (15.3mb)
peepfig.avi (13.4mb)
peep.avi (44.2mb)
First two should be done in about five minutes, third may take a little longer.
Kirby's tilt and tumble did this years ago...
l
http://pocket.ign.com/articles/165/165341p1.htm
The poster:
I imagine that this will have lots of uses in the real world at some point.
I was able to download and watch one of the movies and he's done a really impressive implementation. Sure, right now he has a backpack full of equipment, but I imagine that technology for personal space location of equipment will come down in size, price, and battery power pretty quickly.
Long live innovation!
42 - So long and thanks for all the fish.
Rudy Rucker described a solution similiar to this in his book the Hacker and the Ants.
Users of workstations in his book would sit on a chair, using their feet the turn the chairs circular footrest, with the screen display keeping sync, giving the screen a 'viewport' type of functionality.
A fun book to read, with some cool sounding tech and funny characters IMHO.
that's the idea, rather than fiddle with two hands and a set of scroll buttons, move the device.
I quite like the idea
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
All he did was take what was available for a person of limited sight and make for one with normal sight. A co-worker of mine has a son who has limited vision and uses a tool called Zoom Text to do exactly this.
"If you are on fire you can just stop, drop, and roll. If you fall into Lava you are just dead." - my 5yr old daughter
Where can I buy one of these handheld things and will the peephole function work when I want to watch my hot female neighbor getting dressed?
'cuz then we can call it the PEE HOLE display.
Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week, you bone smuggling pack of open source faggots.
Gaffer/duct tape a nice colour ipaq on your face an
et violá : virtual reality
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
Google Cache of article link
Google Cache of Jun 2 revision of paper with missing reference added
6. Mandatory Porn joke/serious reference.
-- AND --
7. You know, a Beowulf cluster of these would make a real display!
- -
Are you an SF Fan? Are you a Tru-Fan?
Here you go guys... the site is slashdotted but Google has a cache of the site:
Main site (looks old)
Project Proposal
Just trying to be helpful... if its already posted then dont mod me down.
I really am supportive of this kind of innovation, but when it comes to any device with a tiny screen, I just think it's a case of rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. There's only so much information you can present, and with only so much usability, on such a small device. Until we have something really advanced, like holographic screens that are much larger than their physical device, we won't be able to escape this problem.
the peephole moves you?
Anyway, you're totally hosed if you're trying to read something while walking down the street.
Perfect. That means that the PDA will auto-scroll when the user walks slowly and adjust the scrolling speed with his walking speed. If you want to go to the previous page just walk backwards.
If you want to go to the start page, just run backwards 2 miles.
Also good for security documents, they can be read only in the secret room, when you get out, they scroll aside.
I can see the people walking in complex paterns on their way to work, in order to read the morning e-mails.
"Novel" here means "unsellable".
*watches as users wave palm pilot around, frantically looking for where they wrote down that phone number.
For those who couldn't face downloading the oodles of movies, this is the best scene:
Toward the end of the movie, he's demo-ing the prototype, standing in front of a bulletin board, and copying a *big* map onto the *small* screen of his Sony Clio. Quite impressive. But I did feel like going "Psssst. Use the built-in cam."
yes, we have no bananas
So we're going to be viewing everything on roll-up monitors that we have to shake around to find things on, all while tapping incessantly on a projection keyboard. Sounds like we're all going to be jerking around like idiots.
I think I'll wait.
here is the Google cache.
Extra hardware, extra cost, extra annoyance value.
There's a practical retail solution already, see Picsel, now shipping on Sony Clie's. Every document is displayed the same way, as a draggable, freely zoomable image, done with intuitive (touch-drag, tap-touch-drag) stylus commands.
Other nice stuff: it's cross platform (PalmOS, Symbian, WinCE, Linux, easy to port to just about anything else), and ~1.5Mb in size, which includes a web browser, file viewer, and viewers for .doc, excel, pdf, rich text and text. The only annoyance value is having to toggle between free view and input modes, but a tilting device would need a toggle or press lock anyway.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
alt.binaries.comp (240831), 36 dpi JPEG, 203 KiB.
mmmmmm.... sounds like fun, can I join in?
How can I come to work drunk anymore? I just perfected driving here, now I have to retrain on my PDA? Jeeze, sometimes technology is a bad thing.
You think that I'm crazy, you should see this guy!
Why is this different from the "rock 'n scroll" approach used in the itsy?
Funny that he was named after the sound his glasses make when a jock throws his glasses against the lockers.
There was a product out on the Mac waaaay back in the 128K/512K days that did the same thing. Since the screen was limited to a 9" viewing area, it made working with a page-sized document (in SuperPaint for example) very tedious. Unfortunately, I've forgotten its name.
This reminds me somewhat of the ACME(tm) Portable Hole favoured by Wile E. Coyote; the kind where you stick it to a wall and where the hole leads you to depends where on the wall the hole is stuck to.
Now if I stick my PDA to the wall, does it mean that passing Roadrunners will be able to Meep Meep their way through the screen, and I'll just splat comically against it on my way through?
Don't get me wrong, this is an interesting concept, but execution would be difficult to use in the real world. Someone already suggested the difficulties of using it on a bus - this would certainly cause real problems. Plus the fact that it would need gyros would increase the cost.
Projecting keyboards would be the ideal solution for palmtoppers on the move, IMHO.
I married Miss Right. I just didn't know her first name was 'Always.'
Is that because it's so "free love" that it's impossible to stay a virgin, or because it's so geeky that everyone's a virgin?
Why not just have a pair of glasses that contain the computer?
Nintendo tried this. It didn't go over very well.
Will I retire or break 10K?
And you could use GPS to detect precision.
Then you could use a very fast wireless link to connect to a collection of high resolution earth images.
So, if you held the device in front of you and looked at it, you could see exactly what you'd see if your hand was empty.
PHBs should be able to buy this "empty-hand" device for $2500.00 in two years; the rest of will get it for $99.99 at Wal-Mart in five.
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." - Philip K. Dick
there was something simmilar to this implemented in the prototype that compaq had b4 the ipaq. I seem to remember that you could control your movement by tilting the device. Not sure what exact name of the device was, but this idea of putting a gyro on a pda is been around for ages
I dont know who invented it but at least AmigaOS and X11 supported virtual Screens(which are larger than the physical screen)for a very long time.
..of another peephole display.
this is the most stupid thing i have ever seen! if you have a really long list you will end hitting yourself in the nuts!
couldnt you just use the stylus as a dragging instrument? that way insurance premiums wouldnt skyrocket!
doctor: tell me what happened?
patient: i have a pda wedged in my crotch!
I know you are psychotic, but please make an effort.
When I saw "peephole" I was thinking like a camera obscura -- like you look into a hole with a little projector and see a screen.
Pictured all these people holding a PDA up to one eye like pirates.
Then I got over it.
Keep your packets off my GNU/Girlfriend!
no need to "save" work and "quit" programs
I've been burned on this TWICE. I owned a Newton PDA with an external serial keyboard. It had a cute little clone of WordPad with one fatal flaw: a user couldn't roll back a document to the last saved version. (Most word processors let the user do this by closing the document without saving changes.) Without a commit/rollback structure to protect myself against accidentally deleting the contents of a document, I lost two important documents irretrievably.
It's the same reason RAID mirroring isn't a backup.
Will I retire or break 10K?
They guy has published the stuff in CHI, a forum for hci stuff. Some of the stuff that goes in there is like 'hey, we made interface X and it is much better that interface Y when we compared them'
some issues:
1 - you interact with the thing and make some use of the features, you have to hold it, and therefore your hand/arm will get tired, but that is always the case for the pda, I can not use one for more than one minute
2 - how sensitive the gyro is?
3 - if you tilt the screen, do you have to actually move your head to be able to see the screen. Pda's are not so good when you look at them from an angle
4 - someone said about what about when you go in a bus....
5 - Pda's are crap to look at
6 - why he did not use the buttons to move the virtual display? the gyro seems an overkill to me, although introduces one more input channel
I can not get access to the paper so no clue what this guy actually did, I'm just guessing
Maybe folks will be able to actually move about in their virtual 3D worlds by moving their peephole! Think of it--millions of Ultima or Sim players walking around the streets with their portable peepholes, instead of sitting alone begind their computer screens!
It makes a lot of sense for movies. Why let some mastering company control your pan and scan? Pan and scan yourself. If there's a really w-i-d-e scene, either look around during it, or watch it again on the other side.
Best Buy can have you arrested
..I wanted to add some data into my PDA's spreadsheet, but my arms weren't long enough to reach ZZ-999 :-(
~
----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------
Gone!
"But you know, we were happy in those days, though we were poor."
I used to beat up little shits like that all the time.
BTW, where do you live so we can meet up and fight?
Just imagine... Folks talking to the empty air (cell phones users, nowadays) Folks waving a small box around and looking at it (this peephole viewing technique) So when somebody is on the cell phone and needs to check out something on his palm pilot, here's what somebody will see... A person talking to the empty air, waving a small box around, and watching it closely... Maybe we can change the palm pilot to a wand, have folks wear cloaks and pointy hats...and call themselves Harry P....LOL
Supreme Granter of Doctor of Obviology Letters ("A FIRM Command of the Obvious")
This is the most content-free message, ever, but I have to say it... This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen.
There. I said it. =)
My
Limekiller
"...I don't want a PDA until they can draw on my iris with lasers..."
I'd rather have one which draws onto my retina.
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, Or close the wall up with our American dead!
You can get very clever on how you are bouncing the light around so that you are displaying the full image at all times but which part you actually see depends on the angle of your eye to the device.
In fact it's been in use in Japan for quite some time.
2 years and no mod points. Join reddit. Because openness is good.
It will look like a bunch of DDR freaks on mescalin.
Why do you assume that people from former East Germany (the Deutsche Demokratische Republik) are "freaks" and use hallucinogenic drugs?
Or is a "DDR freak" somebody who runs applications that benefit from the increased memory bandwidth of double data rate SDRAM?
Or do you mean the game whose fifth mix included a song titled "Hot Limit" and subtitled "We Drink Ritalin"?
Will I retire or break 10K?
Hey, that sounds just like my old Osborne 1.
Do you look at the left breast, or the right breast?
Left breast...
Right breast...
Left...
Right...
And now you've got two vigorous back-and-forth motions to deal with.
The only problem with scroll bars mentioned is:
Are we that worried about the screen real estate? Enough to break the user interface continuity from, say, your computer to your PDA for something as basic as scrolling? The "several advantages" of doing so seem pretty insubstantial:
If it's really just screen real estate, a trackball or little direction pad like a gameboy has makes more sense, with some sort of tiny but clear visual clue -- a border or something -- that you could scroll in one direction or another. But we're all used to scroll bars by now, we really are, and even something as simple as that would be jarring for lots of people.
Maybe there are some new ways to program for this model, to take advantage of those, uh, advantages, but for the stuff we do now it'd be clumsier.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
With orginal link removed from existance and google cache not keeping pictures - how is this different from the screen goggles sold for quiet a few years now. I remmember seeing a few years back a goggle pair that claimed to be equivalent of a 42" display or something like it.
RelevantElephants: A Somatic WebComic...
Kirby Tilt N Tumble for the Gameboy uses a 2 axis accelrometer to achieve this type of scrolling interface.
This has existed for a while as "Panning" on mobile platforms. Sometimes a small LCD cannot see all of a big picture / game / resolution and the graphics driver will let you pan around the larger image by dragging the mouse to the edge of the screen, like this "peephole".
Well, they say that pr0n drives most new innovations....
Ed Wedig
Graphic design services
docbrown.net
Wow. A motion activated scrollbar. Better that that puppy asap, along with clean underwear...
1. set display to 1024x768
2. open the page with the lead-in and comments
3. open 5-6 other program windows so the taskbar shrinks each one down a bit
4. laugh at the appearance of "Slashdot | Pee..." on your taskbar
Fun for endless seconds...er, yeah
Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
When I worked in a telecom store a year back or so, me and and another guy just got our hands on one of the last few Rex 6000 from our distributor. While we were talking a bit about it he got this very idea, that you should be able to scroll the screen by moving the unit over a table or so. I thought it was a brilliant idea, but then forgot all about it. Until now. Fancy!
Martin
The virtual gloryhole.
When those came out I aint leaving the house
http://l2.espacenet.com/espacenet/bnsviewer?CY=se& LG=se&DB=EPD&PN=WO9918495&ID=WO+++9918495A2+I+ /Anders Hedberg
The -ware books (Software, Wetware, Hardware) were some of the biggest steaming piles I ever read, outside of Star Trek novels. Is this one any better, or does it have the same assortment of cardboard characters, idiotic chattiness in the most dire situations, and deus-ex-machina super technologies?
Freedom: "I won't!"
if you look closely at the picture provided on the page, the current prototype is implemented with an optical mouse (on a visor). This limits the functionality of the tool to areas where enough space would be available for, say, a laptop if one were available. Something like this would need to be too sensitive (1 pixel or less resolution) for GPS, so in a practical implementation of a free-floating system one would need a relativistic system, which would require some sort of tagging for the user. Either way, it would be grossly impractical to use this sort of thing to write with (try writing on a piece of glass while moving it), limiting its utility to reading / playback. For those things, however, a built-in trackball would be as easy / simple to use, and wouldn't require a separate dongle or an extra hand.
Besides, when was the last time you stood absolutely still while using your PDA?
I don't mean to rail on the guy for coming up with a creative and fun interface option. This is very, very cool. But it isn't very useful, and I would hate to see too much VC devoted to it instead of something that would reach production... like a 2d clone of the jogdial.
This Sig is a mnemonic device designed to allow you to recognize this author in the future.
..is that the same Ka-Ping Yee that's coordinating the Python de-cal at Cal (duh) this semester?!
I saw a picture of him and he scared me. So.. so.. smarter-than-I-looking. Dude, now he REALLY scares me..!!!
started at 25 to 20 to 14 to 7 and stopped around 2.93KB/Sec
5i9|\|3d, 5|\|ip3ri|\|di59ui53
I can already envision guys on the subway bonking their palm pilots into my head as they try to move down to read the next line of text.
I object to that article, and to the next reply.
I first described this approach by 1986, while I was a researcher working for IBM. It was made public in the March 1987 issue of the "IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin" and then implemented independently elsewhere in the early 1990's, as detailed on my Web page here:m l ("Displays that know where they are")
http://www.geocities.com/cuncie/gadgets.ht
Since the TDB copy hyperlink is rotten I will quote a bit from the article here:
"Absolute Display Window Mouse/Mice
"Flat panel displays made movable on a large image surface can act as panning display window to provide improved spatial/visual coordination. A large drawing board is used to represent the actual size of the image were it to be displayed all at once; and one or more flat panel display(s) can be manually positioned over the expanse of said drawing board. The position (and perhaps orientation) of the display(s) on the board are sensed by digitizing devices, and this information is used to formulate what image information is shown on the display(s)... Displays with anisotropic active area aspect ratios can be reoriented (perhaps only in 90 degree steps for simplicity) to provide a portrait or landscape image as needed at the moment..."
Smart people often come up with good ideas that are already known to a larger world. They should not become discouraged. Keep at it and you will finally devise something truly original!
Ron Feigenblatt
Jeffrey Shaw, one of the most amazing artists alive. His EVE from 1993 and Golden Calf from 1995 (animation) seem to be good examples of this idea. Techies should study Art!
Two related projects that might be interesting:
The Itsy, a research project that arguably laid the foundations for the iPaq, used a similar navigation system, based on rocker switches to scroll through documents.
Itsy Project pages
There was another experimental user interface prototyped on the palm, designed as a sort of a `file/concept manager', where each document showed up as a small icon. Related items were connected by lines. Only the stuff at the center of the screen showed any sort of text description; other things were shrunk and on the periphery, and the user moved around a sort of fish-eye lens. Unfortunately, I can't find my references to the project anymore (google didn't help, although I didn't try for very long). If anyone finds/remembers the project, I'd love to hear about it.
This sounds like a virtual desktop screen larger than the physical monitor, only worse. The problem with the virtual desk top is it jumps around whenever the mouse gets near the edge, and it's a pain to see what you're doing
With the PDA it would be almost imposible to hold it steady enough to be useful, and what happens if you're in a moving vehicle? If you're trying to use the PDA in a meeting, you'll look silly trying to move the PDA around
Jason
ProfQuotes
A recent study has found that concentrating on difficult off-screen
objects, such as the faces of loved ones, causes eye strain in computer
scientists. Researchers into the phenomenon cite the added concentration
needed to "make sense" of such unnatural three dimensional objects.
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