Gizmodo

Now THATS an invention.

Really? Check this: [gizmodo.com]

Boy. If only Apple had thought of this...

[gizmodo.com]

... and gizmodo read their own articles.

Yes, I might think that this was revolutionary if I was trying to pat myself on the back by sticking my hand up my own arse. Having a webcam sticking out a half foot out the back obviously draws out the touch deficiencies in the iPhone or whatever crack apple is peddling these days.
I think the point is if you were to compare the two, you should be condemned for being criminally retarded. One is a product produced by the millions, and the second is a fucktard that thinks that you can fit a webcam attached by a half foot pole down your pants.
I suppose that if you can I should feel bad.

Wow, that might actually be usable, and look decent... in 2-3 more years.
Talks most, says least = Microsoft

Sorry, I just don't get the appeal. Seems ass backwards to me. I don't have an iPhone, but are people really having that many problems with the touch screen?

I just wanted to see him make Abraham Lincoln with the shadows.

Well......I could comment if I could see the pic! Do I need some sort of special download to view this pic?

That's just dumb...who wants a camera sticking out the back of their device???

Also, everything is done sort of backwards from the back. Your brain has to translate everything backwards. Imagine trying to write out a word from the back and having to trace out letters inversly...Not very easy!

@Foxbat2: It's a flash video.

@egyptiansushi: oh...thanks EGYPTIANSUSHI.

Wow.. totally and completely counter intuitive. Just how many things do you currently operate from behind in today's world.

Not computer-related things, just every day things. I can't think of one. It is counter to everything people do.

I'm all for trying to be innovative, but, IMHO, this ain't gonna hold up under real usability.

@ChopSue-Me: the camera was only for the proof of concept, they stated that in the clip that something in the body of the device would do it.

@MMEISTER:And it is counter intuitive but we did not always have a nice pointy mouse to select stuff on the screen. People got over using soapbars to draw. I think the challenge here is improving the input on a hand held device. One or two thumbs is just not going to enough at some point.

@drtaylor: agree. with something a cool device like this coupled with an apple interface would make for a pretty useful piece of technology. I don't know what it could be used for but I'm sure there are boatloads of ideas.

That's dumb not because the camera's sticking out (obviously they can get rid of that), it's dumb because it's dumb!

The narration is as boring as the device. Too much is made of "occlusion" as if the temporary occlusion of images through standard multitouch on the front of a device justifies this invention. In other words, moving your fat fingers out of the way to see the screen on the front is somehow such a bother that it's better to stroke it from behind. Dumb.

how is this better than speech-to-text technology? i know it's still pretty rough, but the advantages outweigh the complications that a dual sided touch-screen device might present. given time, which would prove better (and more marketable). you gotta remember that you need to sell these things.

yea that does actually look pretty stupid... i didnt realize there was anything wrong with the touch screens today. i guess unless your fat but who cares about fat people anyway.

A redesign of the typical QWERTY keyboard would be fantastically suited to this interface. Am I the only one who thinks this actually has potential? Sure old people won't be able to even learn to use it but I think it has real promise.

looking at this stupid invention gave me horrible flashbacks to goatse.cx

Why do Microsoft's touchscreen solutions all involve some type of jerry rigged camera system?

Yet another device to give you carpal tunnel....

Is this what you call "put I-phone to shame?" This artefact reminds me the 50's - 60' future devices used by the "Supe Heros" or the first versions of Microsoft "windows" compared with the Mac.

Good look next time.

Doesn't look that great, even if they get rid of the camera and the annoying framerate I don't think touching from the back is very intuitive.

This is really cool, but I don't really believe there's a need for it. Out vision system is designed to deal with occlusion. Never while using a touch screen have I said to myself "omg, I can't see anything". I suppose it will be useful for computer on the go, but who can walk and control ten tough points at the same time?

Obviously no system would ever be released that used the technology used in this prototype: a camera.

It's just an experiment in device interaction, and it's through things like this that we come up with very clever and easy to use methods of interacting with technology. If, for instance, this kind of device interaction proved to be very functional and easy to use in this unwieldly prototype, then obviously money should be poured into a way to do it without the camera. But how can you judge something that's obviously a pretty radical leap into untested UI fields without having tried it? You can't.

Typing behind the screen instead of in front of it would be a lot more intuitive if the users dangled upside down from their ceiling while typing.

Alternatively, the system could be made even more intuitive by requiring users to place their fingers directly onto their eyeballs.

Anyway, whoever said the iPhone had a 5 year lead over its competitors surely hadn't seen the blueprints for this revolutionary new gadget!

Interesting!
A relief for wrist pains also... you can use your fingers from both hands while still holding the device.
I like it.

Learning curve might be a little steep, but still worth it.

The camera, like the guy said on the video, could be replaced for other stuff. This is only a prototype. Most prototypes for touchscreen devices begins with motion sensing cameras, as they are cheaper.

Maybe something more interesting would be a device that had multitouch abilities in both faces.

i can't watch them open and close their hands behind this things without seeing it. Goatsee. This has the goatsee curse.

You get crap positioning control with your hands that way; it's easy to move your fingers in and out but not nearly as comfortable moving them up and down. Unless you rock your wrists back and forth you end up with horizontal bands on the screen that are hard to access. And rocking your wrists means you loosen your grip on the thing. You'd drop this all the time. Not to mention that while pushing is simple enough, dragging is really, really clumsy. Just use a stylus.

I would be a pretty cool device for use with two hands and pretty easy to get used. However for use with one hand it would be utterly worthless.

Translucent, guys... translucent.
not transparent.

MMEISTER said:

Just how many things do you currently operate from behind in today's world.

@RIDERED - I totally agree; I think this would be really interesting technology for something like a tablet which you'd hold with 2 hands, but for something like a cellphone or ipod or any other 1 hand device; seems like it wouldn't work at all.

While watching this I really thought it was an interesting, viable concept - but after thinking about it a little, I don't see it getting into the mainstream. Not because of the backtouching, but because people just don't like to carry around big ass pieces of hardware and use them "mobilely". Tablet PCs aren't selling well, and if you're not using it in a mobile context, you'll be putting it down on a desk, in which case you want a laptop rather than something you need to pick up to operate.

My favorite thing about this demo is that it uses a Fingerworks iGesture pad for multi-touch input. And while there's no definitive word, Fingerworks and all it's IP was most likely bought by Apple a few years go.

nope... sorry... not seeing it. This is not a natural position for your hands while typing. Also, any sort of latency would aggravate people. I think the future of mobile computing will be augmented reality. Until that gets ironed out and becomes inexpensive, I think touchscreen, multitouch, whatever is going to be the dominant interface.

Sweet, I've always wanted monochromatic bitmapped fingers at 2 FPS.

although there are some drawbacks to this, i noted some pretty cool possibilities. first, the main problem with this design (camera aside) is the fact that your fingers have to hover over the back screen. use apple's touch and pressure sensitive panels and voila, you've an answer: only respond to pressure and touch.
second, as others have said, moving your wrists around is more than a small problem. integrate real-life physics into the programming so that you can "throw" images and pieces across the screen instead of handing them off. kinda like apple's flick-scrolling.
finally, someone needs to fix that typing. i can't type keyboard-style on a non-keyboard arrangement. or give it better ergonomics. maybe.

I think this is a great conect but I don't know why so many of you are making such a big deal about the camera. Obviously, when the technology gets further along, they will be able to get rid of it or move the camera onto the actual device.