A look at new technology that could change your desk-jockey ways (PrintMag.com)
In February 2006, a New York University research scientist named Jeff Han took the stage at TED, the big-ideas conference in Monterey, California. Standing behind a sort of glass easel, wearing a black turtleneck and jeans, he could barely contain his excitement. “I really, really think this is going to really change the way we interact with machines from this point on,” he said. As he began to demo his new “multitouch” screen—resizing photographs with a pinch, pawing across digital maps, and tossing documents around like playing cards—the audience gasped in delight. Hyperbole aside, Han was right. After two decades of pointing and clicking, here was the possibility of interacting directly with our data. With the sweep of a hand, he had softened the hard line between the physical and virtual worlds—the line that keeps most of us glued to a keyboard and a mouse day in and day out.
The next part of the story you already know. Last January, another man in a black turtleneck and jeans stood up in front of a bigger audience and announced the iPhone. A few months after that, you could buy one (more than four million of us have) and a new interface settled into everyday life. But we still only use it at a small scale, even if it’s obvious that the Han-style interface would “really really” change the way we work.
