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i phone gestures
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Finally, the iPhone is here! As it turns out, I played an itsy-bitsy part in its development! Read on to find out more.
A few days ago, Apple released the iPhone. I think a lot of people saw this coming; I'm just surprised that I didn't see it sooner! I was certain of its existence though, quite a few months ago. I was chatting with a former professor of mine who had recently started working for Apple. He mentioned that what he was working on was top-secret (I think that he just wanted to brag about his elite position!). I, half-jokingly said "You're on the team for an Apple cellphone, aren't you?" --- I don't think he plays poker, because his face--and lack of response--was a dead giveaway.
Here we are, a few months later, with the existence confirmed. It's certainly a neat looking piece of technology, from what I can see!
"My TouchStream stealth is like this, without the metal frame"
What really excites me, though, is knowing that I played a very, very small part in shaping the iPhone! In the summers of 2001 and 2002, I was an intern at a small start up company in Delaware, called Fingerworks. The company was based around a technology called "multi-touch," which supported real hand gestures on a flat sensing surface. The company produced a number of products, like the Touchstream Stealth that I am typing on right now, the TouchStream Mini, and a hybrid product that placed a multi-touch sensing surface in a Microsoft Natural Keyboard's numpad area.
The multi-touch surface, combined with the gesture capability is a very nifty technology. I am typing on a completely flat surface. It's a bit difficult to get used to typing without the texture feedback of a keyboard, and the lack of key travel is a bit disconcerting at first, but I can now type at the same speed that I do on a normal keyboard. If I need to move the mouse pointer, I just stop typing, and drop my index and middle fingers and wiggle them around. No need to move any other part of my hand. To simulate a click and drag, I drop the first three fingers. For a right click, I tape my thumb and middle two fingers.
But it doesn't end there. To copy a link, you can highlight it by tapping three fingers (simulating a double click), and then pinching your thumb and middle finger together. Then, move to the insert location, and flick your thumb and middle finger apart to paste. It's easy, fast, and intuitive. To open a file, I twist my fingertips on the surface as if opening a jar.
Gestures are fully customizable, too, using full-featured Java utility.
Now, if you visit the Fingerworks home page, you find a message that the company is no longer operating, with little other explanation. Well, as it turns out (this is just a very educated guess, I've never had official confirmation of this) the company was bought by Apple. Fast forward a few years, and voila: iPhones with multitouch technology!
I haven't experienced the iPhone first-hand, so I'm not sure how the technology compares to that technology that I am using now, but I can only imagine that it has improved by leaps and bounds.
During my time at Fingerworks, I helped with USB firmware and driver development. I also helped with the assembly of some of the hybrid devices. Now, admittedly, this is a very miniscule role, but it is enough to make me feel some amount of pride! I hope to see more multi-touch products coming from Apple in the near future. Hopefully, I'll even be able to play a part in the development of these so-far unnamed devices.
In the meantime, I'll hold on to my TouchStream stealth, unless anyone wants to pay me a few thousand dollars for it! It is, after all, a piece of history!