Edward Kirk
May 16th, 2008, 10:13 PM
<img src="http://www.iphonealley.com/images/storyimages/may08/lux.png" align="right"/>
While this technically isn't directly about the iPhone, we thought that some of you might find this to be interesting, especially with all the speculation flying around of an Apple-made multitouch Mac tablet of some kind. Microsoft released their answer to the iPhone with their multi-touch computer, Surface. Now, Christian Moore has created a similar framework for the Mac.<!--break-->
It's called Lux, and similar to Surface with Windows Vista, it's built as a framework that sits on top of OS X. It's not limited to that, however. It can run on any platform or even in a web browser. Best of all, it's open, so developers can tinker with it and start developing multitouch desktop applications. Gizmodo got a chance to sit down with Christian to ask a few questions about the project.
Like Microsoft's Surface technology, Lux consists of multiple applications. An app written in C++ tracks the movement of the hands, which sends this information to Flash (although he notes that it could just as easily be another C++ app or WPF). The framework will function in Mac, Windows, or Linux.
He created a demo video (you can see it on <a href="http://gizmodo.com/391103/full+screen-multitouch-mac-os-x-is-here-but-not-from-apple" target="_blank">Gizmodo</a>), which, surprisingly, runs fairly well on just a MacBook.
Still, cool as it is, he notes that Apple's UITouch technology used in the iPhone is superior in that it runs at the core level of the iPhone's OS, whereas this runs on top, making it much less efficient processor-wise.
Wishing your Mac could do this? You can get a ~box from Naturalui or build one yourself from a cardboard box using the following demo:
<center><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pQpr3W-YmcQ&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pQpr3W-YmcQ&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object></center>
[via <a href="http://gizmodo.com/391103/full+screen-multitouch-mac-os-x-is-here-but-not-from-apple" target="_blank">Gizmodo</a>]
While this technically isn't directly about the iPhone, we thought that some of you might find this to be interesting, especially with all the speculation flying around of an Apple-made multitouch Mac tablet of some kind. Microsoft released their answer to the iPhone with their multi-touch computer, Surface. Now, Christian Moore has created a similar framework for the Mac.<!--break-->
It's called Lux, and similar to Surface with Windows Vista, it's built as a framework that sits on top of OS X. It's not limited to that, however. It can run on any platform or even in a web browser. Best of all, it's open, so developers can tinker with it and start developing multitouch desktop applications. Gizmodo got a chance to sit down with Christian to ask a few questions about the project.
Like Microsoft's Surface technology, Lux consists of multiple applications. An app written in C++ tracks the movement of the hands, which sends this information to Flash (although he notes that it could just as easily be another C++ app or WPF). The framework will function in Mac, Windows, or Linux.
He created a demo video (you can see it on <a href="http://gizmodo.com/391103/full+screen-multitouch-mac-os-x-is-here-but-not-from-apple" target="_blank">Gizmodo</a>), which, surprisingly, runs fairly well on just a MacBook.
Still, cool as it is, he notes that Apple's UITouch technology used in the iPhone is superior in that it runs at the core level of the iPhone's OS, whereas this runs on top, making it much less efficient processor-wise.
Wishing your Mac could do this? You can get a ~box from Naturalui or build one yourself from a cardboard box using the following demo:
<center><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pQpr3W-YmcQ&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pQpr3W-YmcQ&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object></center>
[via <a href="http://gizmodo.com/391103/full+screen-multitouch-mac-os-x-is-here-but-not-from-apple" target="_blank">Gizmodo</a>]