The Aha moment for me was watching the beans spill on the touchpad and getting immediately digitized and put into a presentation.
They also should have taken a real necklace, placed it on the touchpad and had it instantly digitized, then manually manipulated around the woman's neck.
Very cool product. I love seeing highly imaginative products, especially coming from well established companies.
Suggestion: Maybe whoever was in charge of this development project could push thru that super-cool HP logo and branding that HP was too scared to implement: http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/14/please-save-hp/
I think their existing logo is far better. The one above looks too modern, minimalistic, abstract, and edgy. For HP, I kind of expect something a little more curvy, playful, and potentially colorful.
Thanks for sharing that. Why can't I stop watching it? I keep waiting for something sinister to happen. Instead, nothing. No plot; just the past's version of the future of computing* coupled with extremely bad acting.
* Not just computing; it predicts a zero-emission, high-performance sports car that will sell 80K+ units in the first year.
This might be the future! I think that HP has got something that is the "Next big thing". This revolutionary computer has the potential to be for everyone, especially Children.
See DT's first look at http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/hp-sprout-multi-jet-f...
I seem to recall you being similarly skeptical about the iPad - and whether or not that was you, I think this is an equally transofrmatve product.
There is nothing artists (and scientists) like better than a new toy. The win here is a camera with a standard fixed orientation towards its subject; high-quality optics are sacrificed for reproducibility. I can think of numerous creative/education applications for this just from looking at the still pictures, and I haven't clicked on any of the videos yet.
- let ants walk on it to study swarming behavior
- put petri dishes on it and leave them overnight to measure bacterial growth
- liquids with different viscosities/specularities for artistic purposes; I've tried 'painting' with dishwashing liquid squirted out of the bottle and a camera, but it's difficult
- rolling marbles around for stochastic video effects
- make arty models of things in whatever medium you like and then wave them around and have them scanned into 3d without any tedious calibration/scaling
- massive possibilities for gestural control of music/animation
I could go on and on. Think of this like a 'macroscope.' The advantage of a microscope is not just the lenses that let you look at very small things, but the form factor that makes it easy and efficient to put your samples in position and focus upon them. You could make an effective microscope that was like a telescope and that you held in your hands to look at small objects, but as soon as you think about it you realize what an utter pain in the ass it would be to use because of the constant refocusing and reframing.
I think it's too expensive and there will be an app shortage at first, but I feel comfortable predicting that this (or an iteration by a competitor) will be a fixture in any creative/educational/lab environment in short order. In fact, this is what has been missing fromt eh 3d-printing side; most of the desktop printers are Not Very Good and building CAD models is tedious for most people. How much nicer to have a high quality interactive scanner and just send the refined model to a facility with a high-quality printer, CNC or sintering device for delivery or pickup.
>I seem to recall you being similarly skeptical about the iPad - and whether or not that was you, I think this is an equally transofrmatve product.
No, it probably was someone else. I immediately grapsed the significance of the iPad as the ultimate connectivity machine for the sofa and the crapper (not joking).
That said, I'm not sure this thing will get anywhere. I get the possibilities you mention, but I think the crucial thing to get to them is mass appeal (and a mass market), which this wont have IMHO.
The capabilities this affords already exist with existing laptops and tablets + some external peripheral, but they haven't seen widespread use because few bother.
So, the extra convenience for the uses you describe that this device allows, won't help sell it. Only if this is sold on its other merits (and after it sells enough), would the "macroscope" become something people start to use.
>There is nothing artists (and scientists) like better than a new toy.
Yeah, but this isn't Apple. HP doesn't have its own OS that they're putting on this thing - it won't be nicely integrated and it will be a pain in the ass to use. I predict it will be quickly abandoned.
They also should have taken a real necklace, placed it on the touchpad and had it instantly digitized, then manually manipulated around the woman's neck.
Very cool product. I love seeing highly imaginative products, especially coming from well established companies.
Suggestion: Maybe whoever was in charge of this development project could push thru that super-cool HP logo and branding that HP was too scared to implement: http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/14/please-save-hp/