June 20, 2007

Multitouch: $2 or $10,000?

The folks at Medallia claim to have devised a multitouch user input device using two dollars’ worth of dye and Ziploc bags.  Hmm–interesting clip, but doesn’t it seem they’ve pretty much mashed up a couple seconds of new footage (producing colored blobs) with chunks of other people’s demos (the chess demo from Tactiva, etc.)?  Beyond the technology, I’m struck by the number of comments below the video that boil down to "hah hah u pwned those fat-cats lolz!!"  Man are there some credulous people in the world. [Via Tom Attix]

Speaking of pwning Microsoft, however, this parody of the recently-announced, $10,000-a-pop Surface project is pretty damn funny.  I can’t wait to get tanked with my friends, using a device the size of a small car. [Via]

Adobe peeps talk 3D at Apple tomorrow

If you’re in the Bay Area and are interested in the technical details of some of Photoshop CS3′s advanced features (3D, auto-alignment, etc.), swing by the Apple campus (De Anza 3, specifically) tomorrow night for a meeting of the Silicon Valley SIGGRAPH chapter.  Refreshments roll out at 7:30, and the talk begins at 8pm.  It’s five bucks for non-members, free for students.  Details below.

Abstract

Ashley Still and Pete Falco of Adobe will give an overview of some of the new features in Photoshop CS3 Extended, including movie paint, 3D, and automatic alignment and blending of multiple images. In addition to demonstrating these new features, they will provide an overview of the Photoshop 3D Plug-in SDK that can be used to extend the current capabilities. There will be ample time for Q&A.

Speaker Bios

Pete Falco is currently Sr. Computer Scientist for Adobe Photoshop. Pete has been on the Photoshop team since 2005 and is focused on 3D and technology transfer for Photoshop. Prior to joining Adobe, Pete worked as an engineer on QuickTime VR at Apple, as the Director of Engineering at Live Picture and co-founded Zoomify. He holds a BS and ME from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Ashley Still is currently Sr. Product Manager for Adobe Photoshop. Ashley has been on the Photoshop team since 2004 and is focused on new markets and advanced technologies for Photoshop. Prior to joining Adobe, Ashley worked with an Entrepreneur in Residence at Sutter Hill Ventures developing and evaluating business plans and at eCircles.com, one of the first online sites offering photo-sharing and editing. She holds a BA from Yale University and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.