What do you think? It’s great-looking, but I remain a bit skeptical about using touchscreens (which obviously lack the physical variation of a keyboard or dedicated hardware controller) in this way. If you’re a Photoshop user with an iPad, are you using Adobe Nav–and if not, why not? I suspect the problem is that one has to keep glancing over at a touch screen, whereas one can navigate a keyboard (or physical jog wheel, etc.) simply by feel. Yet the concept remains alluring, so I’m curious about others’ assessment.

[Via James Cox]

Check out more info from the MIT Technology Review, and from the product site.

[Via Mausoom Sarkar]

I can’t wait to see what Adobe tools can do with multitouch plus a super high precision stylus that pays attention to pressure, tilt, and rotation.

This bad boy costs $3699 and will be available in early August.

Cynical take: “Oh, you were bitching that UIs requiring you to lift your hands & touch a screen would make you tired? Wait’ll you have to hold up an iPad in one hand just so you can re-create Lawnmower Man! You’ll be built like Jeff Fahey in no time, tuffy!”

Actual take: Cool!

Check out the project site for more info.

[Via Dave Simons]

Enter Marco Triverio’s concept “Feel Me.” As Fast Company puts it,

When a friend is typing, you can see where they’re touching on your own screen. And when your fingers match up, from halfway across the world, haptic feedback can allow you to serendipitously touch. In a text-me-later culture, Feel Me enables communication that’s transient and visceral.

I think it’s rather brilliant. And as for Jeanne, sometimes I now see her across space, hobnobbing with Mitt Romney. Funny old world.

[Reader Pierre-Etienne Courtejoie quips, "I just shudder about the possible single-finger gestures to force quit software." (Hmm, seems very John Gruber-positive.)]

[Via]

Here’s hoping we see more pen-enabled goodness & lay that “If you see a stylus, it means they blew it” dogma to rest. [Via]

Good news, though: You can now go into Settings->Notifications, find the Calendar app, and set the notification type from Alert (which interrupts the video) to Banner.  Now our guys can watch their morning Mighty Machines without going ballistic when it pauses.

On the downside, here’s an intriguing little bit of usability research: Finn is often generating four-finger “swipes” (new in iOS 5 for switching apps) when simply trying to drag on the screen. While coloring in lines in the aforementioned Harold, he’d push hard and his little knuckles would register as multitouch swipes.  Thus he’d start switching apps, bringing up the list of apps, etc.  Who knew?

As always, I pine for Apple to introduce multi-user support in iOS.  Now in the kids’ profile I’ll add “disabling global swipe gestures” to “making it harder to exit the app via the Home button,” “disallow scary stuff on YouTube,” etc.

Update: Double who-knew: BubCap home button covers “are just rigid enough to keep toddlers from pressing the home button, yet flexible enough that adults can activate the button with a firm push.” [Via Iván Cavero Belaunde]

[Via]

Like Photoshop Touch, it’s coming soon for Android & iOS.

Here’s my brief overview:

To see the app in action, check out Russell Brown’s 10-minute feature tour:

So, when can you get it, and what does it cost?

We plan to release Photoshop Touch for Android shortly, after which we plan to bring it to iOS. When we talk about reaching new audiences, we’re not kidding: Photoshop Touch is priced at just $9.99.

So (to anticipate an inevitable question), why Android first? Many Adobe apps (Adobe Carousel, Ideas, Photoshop Express, Eazel, Color Lava, Nav) have already been released on iOS first, and it’s good to support customers across platforms. We’re busily coding for iOS as well, so I wouldn’t make too much of this particular detail. No matter what tablet(s) you use, we can’t wait to get Photoshop Touch into your hands.

One last thought for now: We’re still very, very early in the evolution of mobile devices for creative work, and Photoshop Touch–along with the many other Adobe touch apps announced today–is just a beginning. We’re eager to hear what you think, and I’m looking forward to hearing ideas & questions here and on Twitter (@PhotoshopTouch). (Today I’ll be largely offline, showing the app in person at Adobe MAX, so I apologize in advance if I’m slow to respond.)

[Via]

I’ve had a somewhat similar idea: use the gyroscope a smartphone (or multiple phones) to capture a person’s gestures in space, then use the resulting paths to do 3D painting & animation. That work could happen on the phone itself, or the paths could be imported into After Effects & other apps (think MotionSketch.next.), or even run interactively in Flash, WebGL, etc. Maybe the idea’s too esoteric to have legs, but I’d love to see it tried.

Check out Seth’s site for more info. [Via]

The Wall of Chile  at the 2010 Shanghai World’s Fair features a 4-by-1.2 meter (13-by-4 foot) display wall that enables visitors to access more than six hours of high-definition video and thousands of photographs.

Here are more info & more projects from the creators.