I scored one of the only copies of Windows 7 Touch Pack out in the wild, and it really blew my mind, bringing the full power of Microsoft Surface to touch-enabled Win 7 PCs. Have a look:
In my first go-around with Win 7 touch, I didn’t feel so much ooh-aah as I felt relief, relief that Microsoft had actually baked intelligent touch controls directly into the new operating system. Once again, my touch experience is with the optically driven HP TouchSmart PC, this time running Windows 7 Release Candidate build 7100. Nothing you see is third-party, except for the beta TouchSmart multitouch drivers by NextWindows.
Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows 7 is a roundup of six demo apps directly from the Surface team that make it clear that the days of the big-ass table are numbered. Surface will finally go anywhere there’s a multitouch PC running Windows 7. Here’s me, showing off the Surface Lagoon, Surface Collage and Surface Globe apps:
In certain cases, as you can see in the video, “multitouch” just means two simultaneous inputs. This is a programming decision, not a fault of the screen. However, the TouchSmart’s optical screen isn’t the sort of thing you’d want to use to play a lot of games on. The other three apps in the Pack are games: Blackboard, Garden Pond and Rebound, shown in gallery below. I am not going to say that they were totally lame, they would just benefit from a capacitive touchscreen like those found in some high-end laptops and in top-tier smartphones.
Microsoft says: “The Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows 7 will be available to PC makers who will have the option to pre-install some, none, or all of the applications available in the Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows 7 on PCs designed for Windows Touch (PCs that meet the logo requirements for Windows Touch).” In other words, buy a touch-enabled Windows 7 machine and you might see this stuff pre-loaded.
HP loaned me the TouchSmart knowing full well that it wasn’t originally developed to run Windows 7 touch apps, and as such, it can’t be judged for its gameplay or minor hiccups. In the main Surface apps, it does a great job, and as for the OS, it runs Windows 7 smoothly with a spring in its step. But am I waiting eagerly to see Windows 7 running on a touchscreen with more dexterity? You bet your ass. Meantime, this beats a clunky $20,000 Surface table any day of the week. Keep the Surface apps coming, Microsoft—the age of touch is upon us. [Windows Team Blog]
Microsoft’s Vice President of Developer and Platform Evangelism, Walid Abu-Hadba, explained in an interview what he thinks Google’s real motivation for creating the Chrome OS might be, and according to him, it’s not out of love for the consumer.
Abu-Hadba’s statement that “Most of what Google does is defensive” isn’t actually the tech world’s most hypocritical statement (when was the last time Microsoft created something that wasn’t a version of an already-successful product?). He means that everything Google does is designed to keep their core business, search and advertising, growing and dominant. The impetus behind Chrome OS, according to him, isn’t to encourage simpler and easier computing, but weirdly enough, to distract other companies from attacking its own cash cow.
This is an interesting conversation because Microsoft has been doing just that, attacking Google’s core, with Bing—yet Abu-Habda doesn’t see Bing as a similar distraction to stop others from attacking Microsoft’s core business, Windows. So why is Microsoft allowed to venture into new-for-them waters with projects like Xbox, Zune, Silverlight, Bing and more, while Google is an inherently defensive company for announcing a ballsy new project of their own?
Microsoft might just be a bit nervous about Chrome OS, which we don’t think is really warranted at this point. Microsoft’s got an outrageously dominant OS marketshare, and seeing as how we know just about nothing about Chrome OS, it’s quite a bit soon to be launching attacks at a product that may well not be a competitor at all. [Venture Beat via Crunchgear]
Oh sure, we joke about rogue AI all the time, and we’re aware that we’ll probably pollute ourselves to death well before the robots get us, but who really thinks flesh-eating machines are a good idea? Has Morpheus taught us nothing? The (patently evil) scientists behind the EATR project — no fair, they’re making their own jokes now too — say the reconnaissance bot is powered by foraging for and consuming biomatter, which to you and us simply means soft, pulsating, yummy humans. They call it fuel versatility, as gasoline, diesel, and solar power may also be used if available, yet we’ll offer no prizes for predicting which energy source these chainsaw-equipped robots will prefer.
You don’t have to be tinfoil underwear type to get uneasy about some of the bizarre projects that DARPA throws its weight behind. But the organic matter-consuming EATR robot? Oh. God.
The defense research agency has announced they’ll be funding the EATR project—the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot—which aims to build a lumbering mechanical creature that lives off of flesh, both plant and animal:
EATR is an autonomous robotic platform able to perform long-range, long-endurance military missions without the need for manual or conventional re-fueling. The patent pending robotic system can find, ingest and extract energy from biomass in the environment, as well as use conventional and alternative fuels (such as gasoline, diesel, propane and solar) when suitable.
It’s actually a steam-powered machine, which employs a biomass furnace that can be fed by all manner of organic materials, harvested with its “gripper” claw and chainsaw.
The EATR’s ideal source of fuel would probably be foliage, not humans, but there are just too many red flags here. Claws? Chainsaws? “Organic matter” and “biomass” euphemisms? Not to mention this is the seconddeath-powered machine we’ve seen in as many weeks. The project is set to be completed in about 90 days, so enjoy the next three months, folks. [Register via Switched]
Sure, its phone lineup has more or less gone the way of the KIRF, but LG’s other endeavors are decidedly more interesting, and this new X13 netbook (more than likely the X130 when it launches) that’s popped up in the FCC is no exception. Compared with the X120, the body here appears to have a slightly wider form factor and the front doesn’t curve quite as dramatically. All the FCC is testing for is Bluetooth and WiFI — sorry 3G hopefuls — but specs-wise, we’d venture a guess and say it’s sporting a 1.6GHz Atom processor, 160GB HDD, 1GB RAM… you know, the same specs found in virtually every other netbook in existence. Hey, maybe we’ll get proven wrong, but with no clue on when LG’s going official with this one, we might be waiting quite some time for verification.
By now, you’re no doubt well acquainted with the Albert Hubo Einstein robot developed by the mad scientists at KAIST, but some researchers at the University of California, San Diego has also been working on their own Einstein bot for the past little while, and they’ve now managed to teach it some new tricks. While the bot has previously been able to display a full range of expressions through some pre-programmed facial movements, it’s now able to teach itself how to smile or display other emotions thanks to a new trial-and-error technique dubbed “body babble.” That apparently works by comparing Einstein’s attempts at an expression with some facial recognition software, which provides Al with some positive feedback each time he manages an actual expression. Did we mention there’s a video? Check it out after the break.
It’s been a little while since we’d heard anything about the super-slim MSI X600 — part of the X-Slim lineup they’ve unleashed upon the world. NewGadget’s gotten their hands on one, and it’s looking pretty sexy, we have to admit. We already know that there will supposedly be two offerings for this 15.6-incher — one with a 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Solo processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive, and the other with a 1.2GHz Intel Celeron processor, 3GB of RAM, and a 320GB hard drive. We still don’t have official word on US release or pricing, but the video’s after the break.
Cleanser here got the Palm Pre to run on Verizon’s network. Impressive! Except that data doesn’t work. Guess you’ll have to wait 6 more months (or more) after all. [Pre Central]
Download links are live for the latest version of Microsoft’s softly maligned not-Flash plugin, and they come bearing gifts. Ars breaks the new features down:
• Media: GPU hardware acceleration, new codec support (H.264, AAC, MPEG-4), raw bitstream Audio/Video API, and improved logging for media analytics • Graphics: GPU Acceleration and hardware compositing, perspective 3D, bitmap and pixel API, pixel shader effects, and Deep Zoom improvements • Application development: Deep linking, navigation and SEO, improved text quality, multi-touch support, 60+ controls available, and library caching support • Data: Data-binding improvements, validation error templates, server data push improvements, binary XML networking support, and multi-tier REST data support
That first one is far and away the most important, since high-bitrate HD streaming is well on its way to becoming the de facto standard for online video, and Flash kinda sucks at it. I still notice fairly high CPU utilization running their test video, but the instant skipping feature is definitely impressive. [Ars]
I scored one of the only copies of Windows 7 Touch Pack out in the wild, and it really blew my mind, bringing the full power of Microsoft Surface to touch-enabled Win 7 PCs. Have a look:
Microsoft’s Vice President of Developer and Platform Evangelism, Walid Abu-Hadba, explained in an interview what he thinks Google’s real motivation for creating the 
You don’t have to be tinfoil underwear type to get uneasy about some of the bizarre projects that DARPA 
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