Multitouch : Selecting hardware and software for multi-touch application - multi-touch

I am trying to build an internet connected touch based device using which users can do minor editing and upload photographs to web. The device will capture photographs using a USB based camera.
The question i have is where to find hardware for this custom requirement, i am looking for a touch screen around 24 inches in size.
Can any one recommend a reliable hardware vendor who supplies LCD/Capacitive based touchscreen.
I also thought to wait till launch of Windows 8, because it is built to support multi touch. I believe during launch of Win8 lot of hardware vendors will sell multi touch lcd monitors, which i can use.
If anyone can provide directions on this it will be a great help.
P.S > I am open to develop on any platform.

Look at 3M monitors and infrared frames which support 4+ touches. The old ones which come with Dell monitors suck so much. Your OS of choice is Windows 7. Also consider Flash/AIR for fast development.

Related

Google Cardboard controlling PC

When I saw the Google Cardboard for Unity, I assumed this meant that you would be able to make a Unity PC game and use your phone as a screen/controller. All I can see is it wanting me to make an android app which is all well and good, but it doesn't allow for input from the keyboard.
Is there a way to stream the Unity PC project to the device and retrieve input (i.e. Headtracking, NFC magnet)?
The problem with such a solution is latency. In VR latency is a big deal. The overall latency from input to photons reaching your eyes should be 20ms or lower. Regular games have 30-60 ms latency by themselves. Add to that the gyro latency, the phone display latency... If you want to add another 25ms or more ping to your VR experience, that's gonna be painful and may even make you sick. If you want to read more on why latency is such a big deal in VR, Michael Abrash wrote an excellend blogpost about it: post on latency
If you want to necessairly use a keyboard for navigation, consider using a bluetooth keyboard that can be used with android devices. Also keep in mind that with the current technology, especially without a dedicated headset, really dynamic vr experiences probably won't work very well and can make some people uncomfortable or sick. For a good read on designign virtual reality experiences, please refer to this guide from the Oculus Rift: http://static.oculus.com/sdk-downloads/documents/Oculus_Best_Practices_Guide.pdf
There's nothing in the Cardboard SDK for talking with a PC-hosted Unity game. You could adapt the code from the Unity Remote 4 project:
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/18106
We are developing the app what you want except it uses GearVR instead of Cardboard. Please check the link below.
http://challengepost.com/software/airvr
Streaming from your PC to your phone's Cardboard is possible using third-party apps, such as Trinus VR (the client app on your phone) and Vireio (the streaming app on your computer). The two apps will then communicate via your home network (Wi-Fi or other) to stream the images.

iPhone vs. iPod Touch Software Development

I'll be working on a project in the near future to develop a relatively simple Bluetooth/Gyroscope application. The customer doesn't seem to know whether they want this to work on the iPhone or the iPod Touch and I have no experience working with either of the two- so it's best to assume they'll want it to work identically regardless of device.
I'm getting mixed results in my searches, some are saying that the iPod Touch does have a bluetooth chip or gyroscope and others aren't mentioning it. I assume the version of the device will matter, but I'm not sure what generation I'll be dealing with.
Are there any differences that I'll need to be aware of if I begin development with only one of the two devices? Also, what are the most widely supported development tools; my experience is obviously quite limited in this domain.
A good starting point is the iOS Technology Overview
The iPod Touch obviously lacks the phone capabilities and will more likely not have an active network connection as it only has WiFi. Bluetooth and Gyro will be there on both models (latest generation at least).

WIA can not find my internal camera in windows 7

I am currently working on a project where I need to access a build in camera (software will run on a tablet), stream what the camera is showing, and allow the user to take a picture from the stream. I have a version of what I am trying to accomplish on my laptop with its built in camera working. The major difference is the Laptop is using windows XP the tablet is using windows 7.
Running the software on the tablet I get an exception (with some research it appears that exception is cause by no WIA device found). Is it possible that the built in Camera is not WIA compatible? The device does show in the Device Manager as an USB Camera Device, but unlike the camera on my laptop I can't access it directly. I have to use 3rd party software put in by the tablet maker to get the camera to work.
Has anyone experience similar problems? I have to believe if the tablet maker can do what I need I should be able to do something similar.
There also is the Windows Portable Device API that can access cameras, but that appears to be written in c++, without a .NET wrapper. Does anyone know of a simple tutorial of how I could get .NET to place nice with it? EDIT: Just tried WPD didn't list any devices either. I am beginning to thing this camera doesn't exist.
Any knowledge/ pointers to resources would be appreciated. (So far google has turned up the same few articles, no matter which way I approach the problem)
Turns out my Camera was not WIA compatible. I was able to get the tablet to do what I needed it to do using directshow (actually directshow.net)
Good links if others are trying to do something similar and having similar problems
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd375454%28VS.85%29.aspx
http://directshownet.sourceforge.net/faq.html

Is it possible to output video of my iPhone application running on a device?

I am working on an app for a client where he will be showing it in a board from to a group of directors for a serious presentation. Because the iPhone is so small, it wouldn't make sense to have him demo the app on the actual device because no one would see anything.
Is it possible to have the screen output on a computer or tv so that everyone in the room can see what is going on?
http://dragonforged.com/DFVideoOut.shtml
For outputting video off an App from the iPhone/iPod.
Demo of the software http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upfTZRlszJo
UPDATE: The AV cables described below will not work. Apple only enables TV output for YouTube, iPod Video and iPod Photos.
From Apple's support site:
All you need to get TV out is a compatible iPod or iPhone and the correct cable. If your device works with the component and composite cables, then the choice depends on the TV(s) you will be connecting to.
You need either the Composite AV Cable or the Component AV Cable. Both cables connect to the iPhone's dock connector.
Not unless you're Steve Jobs.
Use the emulator to demo the app via a laptop.
Then pass around an iPhone for the 'hands on' time.
If it's not a phone app, but suitable for the iPod touch, then buy a dozen of them to pass around as demos.
Its not exactly what you want but:
www.projectaphone.com
You cant pass the phone around, but in reality - you need to see the finger interaction anyways.
I wonder if an overhead projector would work - with the projector light turned off of course. Maybe the light emitted from the iPhone would be sufficient in a dark room?
You could demo it on the simulator.
Some applications for jailbroken iPhones exist to let an AV cable work in any application. The ones that come to mind are iPhone-TVOut (http://code.google.com/p/iphone-tvout/) and ScreenSplitr.

iPod Touch compared to iPhone as development platform for iPhone apps

Essentially I'd like to know just how compatible are the iPhone and the iPod Touch. I would like to know if I could buy an iPod Touch (and thus save some cash) and develop iPhone apps on it or if I really should spend the extra money and put up with AT&T and get the iPhone.
What exactly is different between the two devices (other than the missing phone part in the iPod Touch).
Has anyone done this successfully? Or am I crazy for even thinking it?
EDIT
I've corrected the references to iPod Touch in the text so that #person-b won't strangle me..
Also, i would like to make sure that I point out the fact that I really am interesting in the feasibility of developing iPhone apps on an iPod Touch.
As #Chaos noted, the iPhone and iPod touch differ in their hardware features. The iPod touch lacks:
GPS
3G/EDGE cellular connection (that is, it can only connect to WiFi networks)
Compass
Camera
Built-in microphone (the second generation iPod touch supports external microphones; the first generation doesn't)
As for the CPU speeds, Apple doesn't publish any kind of spec for that. However, the iPhone 3GS is definitely faster than the current iPod touch, which is a bit faster than the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G. If your app is CPU-intensive, you should test it on an older iPhone.
Another important difference is the networking capabilities of the different devices. If your app never has to connect to the Internet, then an iPod touch is just fine. However, if you're using the network at all in your app, remember that WiFi connections are nice and stable and fast, but 3G and EDGE connections are slow and crappy and prone to intermittent failure. Your app needs to be able to deal with a crappy Internet connection. You don't actually need an iPhone to test this stuff, though; instead, you can write a script to artificially throttle or interrupt your development machine's network connection. Craig Hockenberry posted a good method for doing this, which you can find reproduced here.
As far as general software development goes, getting an iPod Touch is a fantastic way to get into iPhone app development. I live in Nebraska, where AT&T coverage is spotty at best (my friend's iPhone doesn't get a clear signal in my house). You won't get the bells and whistles of a 3GS, but you'll save on the up-front investment.
I recently purchased a MacBook and a 32GB iPod Touch to do just what you're suggesting - get into iPhone app development on a budget. In the end I plan to pickup several more devices, but just to get started it doesn't make sense to break the bank. I've developed Windows and Linux software but I'm new to Objective-C and the Mac platform in general, so I'm expecting a learning curve. I'd prefer not to be forking over $100 per month to AT&T while I get up to speed.
Here's what I paid for new-in-the-box hardware and software from Apple to get started:
MacBook - $1070
iPod Touch 32GB - $428
iPhone 3.0 OS upgrade - $10.70
All told I've spent $1500 (including tax) to have a viable development platform. According to BillShrink the TCO of a 16GB 3GS with an average usage plan is $2800 (http://www.billshrink.com/blog/iphone-versus-palm-pre-versus-android/). Add in the MacBook and you're up to nearly $4000 in the first two years. I got 2X the capacity for $440...
While I agree that going straight to the iPhone provides the most flexibility, I also think that the iPod Touch is a great introduction to Apple's new software platform. You can save up to $2400 (depending upon how much your current cell plan costs) while getting a feel for the development process.
Update:
One major reason to get the iPhone 3GS is to get OpenGL ES 2.0 support. If you want to do any advanced shader-based rendering, the 3GS is the only iPhone that will work. The 3GS is also nearly twice as fast as the 2G iPod Touch for OpenGL ES 1.1 code. Source: http://toucharcade.com/2009/06/20/iphone-3g-s-vs-ipod-touch-cpu-opengl-es-benchmarks/
No GPS
No 3G Chip
Different CPU Speed (depending on model)
No compass (if we're talking 3GS)
No camera.
Other than that, the apps I'm working on work as well on our graphics guy's iPod Touch as well as on the 3G/3GS
Aside from the other features lacking that other people have listed, the iPod Touch also lacks a built-in microphone, so apps relying on audio input are also a problem.
In general, though, the iPod Touch makes a great testing and development platform for general-purpose apps or games.
I started developing apps for the iPhone on my iPod Touch, here these gadgets are really expensive... and that is a bummer..
The only problem i have encountered while developing was the lack of 3G and the GPS because i wanted to see how my apps will work on 3G compared to WiFi and also i wanted to use the Maps Api but the Touch doesn't have the GPS and i had to find an iPhone to test my app..
If you want to start developing i think the ipod touch is a good starting point also, the 3GS is really expensive(here - Romania - is like 1100 euros - 2 year contracts) and the 3G also(still 600 - euros - 2 year).. so if you only want to play with cocoa and build small apps for free... keep in mind the costs.
The first generation of ipod touch didn't had the volume buttons, the second generation has them..just to confirm
One thing to bear in mind is that the second generation iPod Touch has a more powerful processor than the original and 3G iPhone. If the app you're making is a particularly CPU intense one, you may want to pick up an old iPhone to test against.
There are also a lot of used first generation iPhones out there. You don't need a plan to use them to run apps and get on the Internet via wi-fi. If you really need to test against the older iPhones, you should be able to get one used and not pay AT&T for a subscription.
Yes, this would work fine. They will be more even product lines after apple updates the ipod's to the same internal tech specs as the new iphone. The "iPod Touch" is just like the iphone software wise except for the hardware specific apps.
The iphone has a few more hardware features over the ipod touch like the cellular radios of course, camera, microphone, compass (3gs), and GPS.
So if you are not developing any application that uses any of those device features, the ipod touch should serve you well.
A quote from gizmodo.com
The iPod runs Mac OS X like the iPhone does and we have got unofficial word from inside Apple that it runs exactly the same applications. The exact quote: "they use the same damn binaries".
That quote is from an article that is almost two years old now, and I haven't seen anything to suggest it is incorrect.
So as has been said, as long as you aren't trying to develop hardware specific applications then using the iPod Touch should be fine. Though personally I believe if you intend to develop for a platform you should use that platform. I also understand the iPhone is expensive so I don't blame you for wanting to save some cash. :)
Many people have give pretty good answers. But they have really only pointed out the difference and have not said if you should get an iPod Touch or an iPhone.
GET AN IPHONE
It is simple as that.
It does more than an iPod touch as listed above.
You can use it as a phone and replace your existing phone.
Once your game actually sells you will end up getting an iPhone anyway because you are now making money, you will then need to sell you iPod touch at a loss (you dont really need it).
You will build more than one app in the next year and one of them might rely on the iPhone camera, GPS, or even Video, maybe even compass, you will need an iPhone for all this.
You will now want the internet where ever you are to check you sales stats every day when they come out.
Save you money, buy one device, buy an iPhone and sell your old phone.
The September 2010 iPod Touch has 2 cameras and a microphone. It has the same functionality as the iPhone4 apart from the phone part & doesn't have GPS.
I think it's better to spend money on a iPod Touch 4th gen than on an iPhone 4 (unless you need really accurate GPS coordinates in your app).