Edit: Only primary Call to Action doesn't load the video. I got it to load when I randomly clicked on something. Here is a link: http://bcove.me/gqbyor0d
Same here and I took the full tour. For some reason the camera has to go around the device to show me the touch mat and from there it goes all the way around to tell me that the display is touch screen. Why does it have to keep going around the device? beats me!
I gave this a cursory scroll but by the time I got to the bottom I didn't know what the product was. I was also annoyed by the overcooked design so I gave up. Sorry.
I did the same thing and also didn't understand what it was. I also can't watch the video right now.
Then I studied the images a little closer. It seems that thing on top the monitor projects an image on the mat on the desktop. The mat seems to be touch sensitive which means you're primary interface is no longer a keyboard/mouse combo but a new interface that will be unique to each application.
Sounds interesting but unless other manufacturers starting selling the same thing, I doubt it'll be widespread enough to attract a large enough group of developers to build apps for it which will probably mean it might be niche product. Still cool though.
The video works for me, but I have to agree with the other comments - I needed to work very hard to figure out what exactly this actually was.
The first 40! seconds of the video didn't show the product in action, the first image of it was from such an odd angle that I didn't even know it was an image of it at first, and the later images don't actually show the camera that seems to be an important part of it.
Part of me thinks this is a solution in want of a problem, designed by the kind of person who uses a spoon for soup and a fork for their main course and thinks "If only I had a combination fork-spoon, my life would be so much simpler".
> Part of me thinks this is a solution in want of a problem, designed by the kind of person who uses a spoon for soup and a fork for their main course and thinks "If only I had a combination fork-spoon, my life would be so much simpler".
I'm not convinced either - the demo could have been done with a smartphone app (take a picture, then allow you to manipulate objects via touchscreen).
Maybe there's more depth information that this device can capture that would be difficult to do with a normal camera? Maybe the project can do neat projections onto objects placed underneath it?
Seems like this could find success in specific niches (things needing tactile design?). Not sure if that's where HP wants to go with this.
> The first 40! seconds of the video didn't show the product in action
Same about the microsite: "We believe hands can do amazing things. What will you do with yours?" - So what is the site about? I scroll down one screen - "Blending the physical and digital worlds that you live in, Sprout unleashes your creativity like never before." - I still got no idea, it's just marketing gibberish.
The visual design is certainly beautiful, but there's a lesson: First of all, tell me what the site is about!
??! There are pictures. I came here first, saw your comment, then looked at the site and had not trouble understanding the product or principle of operation just by looking at it.
Obviously that's no help to blond people who would prefer text, but in fairness they're highly unlikely to use such a product anyway.
On screen no. 1, there's a picture of sunlight shining through somebody's hand.
On screen no. 2, there might as well be a picture of an iPad with a fancy case.
On screen no. 3, I see that this machine can be operated in desktop mode, but I still know nothing about what makes it special. Is it an Android tablet with an innovative desktop stand?
On screen no. 4, there is a matrix of six little images; two of them finally (and way too late) let me guess the mode of operation.
On screen no. 5, there finally is a clear view of the machine.
> who would prefer text
This is not about text vs. pictures. What I'm saying is that if you try to advertise a new kind of product to me, you should just go ahead and tell/show me what the point is. When you have done that, show me pictures of sunlight and trees (if you think that's necessary).
1: a hand, text about creativity, so it's something I can manipulate?
2: it's an electronic device of some kind.
3: it's a computer with some sort of tray instead of a keyboard...?
4: (small pictures of people) oh, that's a second screen of some sort, it looks like there's touchscreen action going on with both screens, and it's some sort of projector?
5: OK, it's definitely some sort of a second screen, that looks like a board game so I suppose it must be interactive and the thing on top is a camera or something
6: Some hipsters I am supposed to identify with but I don't care
7: that top thing looks more elaborate than just a projecter, looks like a Kinect so it's probably a camera and/or motion detector
8: it's on sale now plus that's a pen so it must have pretty decent resolution on the lower part, maybe it's also a tablet
9: Accessories, oh it's called a 'touch mat'
10: I can 'grab' and 'mash' things? OK it's definitely got a camera in it then.
All I did was scroll, without clicking on the alternative buttons or + buttons (which turn out to have specs, now that I have tried them).
I found it perfectly simple to work out what was going just on the first look. Personally I am OK with having my curiosity stimulated. The 'Tour' thing (in the second section of the page) is self-explanatory, had I clicked on that first.
You shouldn't have to infer anything for a new product being announced. This is shoddy marketing on HPs part and makes me feel like they have something to hide. Definitely not tempted to buy this.
Yeah for 1800 they need to be doing a lot better job marketing their video wouldn't even play, their page is way too vague, 1800 is not starving artist friendly and their target are high end Mac users, this would be a bigger win if it was under $1000 and was a set of accessories to pimp out the Mac mini, this functionality + macosx. Get creative and make a deal with apple trying to sell creatives on windows 8 is going to lose
I don't know, I got it. I actually kind of like the idea and think it could be quite useful if it's high enough resolution.
What is a bit problematic for me is the position of the projector/camera relative to the monitor. I really don't want to have to extend my arm out to interact through touch. I f-ing hate having to interact with touch at a distance. I don't think it works for extended periods because it puts a strain on your arm.
I would have much more liked a design that allowed you to rotate monitor vertically so the projection/camera surface is off to the side or something. Or maybe they should make the projector/camera surface a separate device.
From what I saw you can use a wireless keyboard/mouse so the issue of reaching won't be as prevalent. Though you might mean you would actually use touch all the time, but I couldn't see myself doing that.
I watched the second video first, so it was pretty obvious what it actually does. The first video is a bit useless.
I hope they sell the camera part separately, that's the awesome part. The touchscreen doesn't seem to serve a purpose, that would be just as good or better with a mouse or trackpad.
The touch idea is cute, but I don't see the point in touch when there's no tactile feedback.
Behold patent US147119[0], issued 1874, nearly a century before Taco Bell existed. The specific word "spork" was common enough to include in dictionaries just a couple decades later.
Hilariously, if you do an google ngram search for "spork,foon"[1], you'll find that in comparison, foon is incredibly popular, completely drowning out uses of spork.
I looked at the book results. It's apparent that the ocr has misconstrued ye olde "s" as an "f"; a mistake I also make, on those rare occasions I read something printed before 1800 or so.
Yeah I know. My meaning was that you could spend thousands (millions?) of dollars designing and manufacturing sporks, or you could just switch utensil as required for free.
Whilst a spork is great for the singular task of "I'm eating minestrone", the benefits of it don't make it worth it having been created.
Much like this project. Why not use your already-good wacom and computer and webcam, which you already have, instead of buying a product which is probably a bit shoddy in at least one of those areas?
I simply scrolled through the whole page, didn't find any useful description and closed it. I guess a nice, short text summary at the top of the page is out of fashion now.
In case other people are having trouble telling what it is, it appears to be a projector over a touch sensitive white board it can project on to placed in front of the computer where the keyboard normally is. Then it can track your hands for touch input.
I scrolled through the entire landing page, tried to watch the video which got stuck at 24 seconds before revealing something, then finally managed to get some frames from later on. Really terrible marketing since they are hiding what it is, but whatever. Seems inferior to a Wacom Cintiq in every way so far (an LCD with pressure sensitive pen with buttons that graphics artists use).
"It's a unique machine that combines an all-in-one Windows 8 PC with a set of 3D scanning cameras, a giant tactile touchpad and a downward-facing projector (for displaying graphics on said touchpad). The design is built around a concept HP is calling "blended reality" that blends the 3D physical world with our 2D digital one. The obvious target audience is creative types. You know: makers, tinkerers, designers, etc... Rather than the traditional method of control built around mice and keyboards, Sprout focuses on touch and pen input. The 23-inch LCD serves as the primary display, but it's the bottom display, the 20-inch capacitive pad positioned under the camera and projector that serves as the primary point of interaction."
Presumably, if you're reaching across the pad, you're looking at the monitor, and if you're touching something on the pad then you probably can't see through your arms/hands anyway.
That being said, I think a second screen would be preferable all the same, but it would probably bump the cost significantly.
Screens are [comparatively] cheap, esp. Vs a custom projector + touchpad + 3d camera set-up. I don't think they went this route to save on production costs.
I think it's an interesting approach. There are some things you can do with a projector that you couldn't do with another screen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9JXtTj0mzE)
I could see some applications taking advantage of this when it comes to working with physical items
I was also quite confused about why they would choose a projector over a second screen, actually it was the most nagging question until, watching the intro video, someone projects a graphic onto a physical sheet of paper, so I suppose the immediate interaction between projection and physical objects is the main reasoning behind it.
In a two screen scenario, I suppose the user would have to image the paper, then composite it digitally. It's an interesting approach although I wonder how often it would be used.
When you have a physical 3-dimensional object you can use the projector cast images on it. I wonder if it is used for calibrating and lining up objects for the 3D camera as well.
In my opinion, the killer app is digitisation of paper documents, tracking changes, and live multi-user editing. The 3d scanning stuff is a neat addition on top of that, but a much more niche use case.
e.g. My colleague writes a document and emails it to me. I open it, print it out, and bring it to Sprout, placing it on the capacitive mat. As I'm reading it, I'm annotating it with pen on paper. Sprout tracks my annotations, digitizes them, and adds them as a digital layer to the original document.
While I'm annotating, my colleague joins the "session" and wants to make more changes and incorporate some of my suggestions. I see that notification, chuck away my piece of paper, and have Sprout project the digital document onto the capacitive pad. While I watch, my colleague makes changes which are live-updated to my document. I see her copy my hand-written notes which have been digitised and OCR'd. She takes my notes, changes the font, and sticks them into one of the paragraphs. Likewise, I can use the stylus to make more annotations that my colleague sees in real-time, or, since the document is digital this time around, I can just edit the paragraphs directly too.
Think Google Wave + Collusion for iPad + the ability to do fairly seamlessly with both digital and physical documents.
Yes, you're right - that is unnecessary. I only really wrote it like that to make it clear that you could digitize documents that didn't start out as a digital file.
From what I can see, what you talk about here is more the wishy washy magic the PR companies use to fool the masses.
How does Sprout do great OCR or facilitate joint collaborations?
These are both problems that need solving but have nothing to do with Sprout. PR often has things like this ‘solved’ for their mockups which people then falsely associate with the product.
See the mass delusion many people have with the Minority Report interface.
Why not just edit the email/document using a keyboard, you can even do it in a google doc so the other person can live collaborate, but as we know live collaboration is fine in movies but in real life is very very hard to do. Humans are just not build for it.
This isn’t about applications or Sprout, it’s about solving very hard problems.
But that's exactly my point - Sprout doesn't do this, but it provides a form factor with all the sensors and actuators necessary to do so. An application could then provide this functionality and support these use-cases.
Yes, it'd be a very complex application, solving some fairly hard CS and CV problems, along with probably needing to invent a whole suite of new UI paradigms.
I guess what I was saying, invent OCR that good you’ll sell it to someone like IBM for a billion dollars.
Actually find a workflow that allows live collaboration to be more efficient than working individually might be hard to capitalise but would be revolutionary and change the world. I’ve never seen Pair programming in XP really work, for instance. It’s certainly not common practice for most workers.
Each solution would be amazing for plant earth, Sprout doesn’t help solve either.
>Why not just edit the email/document using a keyboard, you can even do it in a google doc so the other person can live collaborate, but as we know live collaboration is fine in movies but in real life is very very hard to do. Humans are just not build for it.
Because some people prefer a pen to a keyboard when trying to mark modifications to a draft?
Surely you can imagine of at least one situation where a pen is a useful input device.
Honestly it's very difficult to imagine a case where pen is better. I can type faster than I can write, and everyone can read my typing much more easily than my writing. Etherpad (sadly killed by google) had a great annotation UI. Maybe for serious mathematics with formulae, or something where you want to annotate 2D diagrams (architecture?), but that seems pretty niche.
I can, not saying you can’t, but technology using a pen interfacing with a computer is decades ok and mature but is still not commonly used hence I don’t think it’s a useful tool in general.
I did the the idea they displayed with making what appeared to be an ad or such but I think the work area is too small. I can see all sorts of fun for kids in arranging toys on different backgrounds to produce interesting pictures, provided there is some ease of sharing their work. Same with adults who want to do quick mock ups, something this would open up that world a lot more than any paint or image program ever did, most are still too arcane for the majority of users. This is like taking grade school collage work and suddenly making it a valid development tool
So, it's a combined 23" touch screen and projection surface with touch and camera-based tracking, at a 90 degree angle to each other. With a built-in Core-i7-based computer, of course.
Pretty nifty, but also extremely specialized. Daring move!
Love to see this kind of innovation in the (IMHO stale) personal computer market. Even if it fails, or becomes a niche product we should encourage HP and others to follow and keep up with creative new form factors.
At the time I'm writing this all posts are complaining about the presentation of the site... yes it sucks, but the product looks really cool. It appears to be a combination of a camera and projection tool allowing the user to add real objects, such as a coffee mug, to the projected image and have it added to that image. Then user can use their hands to digitally move things around and otherwise manipulate the image.
That is really cool, but I can't help but think how limited its uses are. The real-world objects need to be relatively small (like a coffee cup, not a car) and you are limited by taking pictures from the top-down angle. However, that kind of interaction is really natural and would be easier to learn than say Photoshop.
Two screens at a 90degrees angle? Just imagining it make my neck hurts, they could have at least tilted the bottom one. There is a reason I learned to touch type...
As a pre-school lab coach with 300 children weekly in my lab I would LOVE to get two and see what kids could do with some help with teachers.
I really like the idea of kids putting a physical 3d object into something 2d and build a simple blue print. STEM tool for children seems perfect to me.
Neat machine. Desktop computers need things like this. After all, what can you do with today's desktop computers that you can't conveniently do with a tablet?
I can't predict a mass market destiny to this but it warms my heart to see a huge company release some kind of engineering chimera
3d cam is what is a perfect addition to 3d printers. Well, 3d printers prove pretty useless without 3d cams. It also enables 3d movement detection.
Something bugs me though, how is it possible for the 3d cam to see beneath the object (bird origami) to come out with such a perfectly scanned shape?
I see some interesting potential to make a three-dimensional experience using camera tracking and perspective effects on the surface.
Although at first I was a bit skeptical of the replacement of a touchscreen with a projector, there are some capabilities of a projector that you just don't get with a touchscreen – mainly, projecting images on real objects placed on the pad. This, combined with a 3D printer, could allow designers to create 3D shapes and project surfaces onto these objects.
The Aha moment for me was watching the beans spill on the touchpad and getting immediately digitized and put into a presentation.
They also should have taken a real necklace, placed it on the touchpad and had it instantly digitized, then manually manipulated around the woman's neck.
Very cool product. I love seeing highly imaginative products, especially coming from well established companies.
Suggestion: Maybe whoever was in charge of this development project could push thru that super-cool HP logo and branding that HP was too scared to implement: http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/14/please-save-hp/
This might be the future! I think that HP has got something that is the "Next big thing". This revolutionary computer has the potential to be for everyone, especially Children.
See DT's first look at http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/hp-sprout-multi-jet-f...
I seem to recall you being similarly skeptical about the iPad - and whether or not that was you, I think this is an equally transofrmatve product.
There is nothing artists (and scientists) like better than a new toy. The win here is a camera with a standard fixed orientation towards its subject; high-quality optics are sacrificed for reproducibility. I can think of numerous creative/education applications for this just from looking at the still pictures, and I haven't clicked on any of the videos yet.
- let ants walk on it to study swarming behavior
- put petri dishes on it and leave them overnight to measure bacterial growth
- liquids with different viscosities/specularities for artistic purposes; I've tried 'painting' with dishwashing liquid squirted out of the bottle and a camera, but it's difficult
- rolling marbles around for stochastic video effects
- make arty models of things in whatever medium you like and then wave them around and have them scanned into 3d without any tedious calibration/scaling
- massive possibilities for gestural control of music/animation
I could go on and on. Think of this like a 'macroscope.' The advantage of a microscope is not just the lenses that let you look at very small things, but the form factor that makes it easy and efficient to put your samples in position and focus upon them. You could make an effective microscope that was like a telescope and that you held in your hands to look at small objects, but as soon as you think about it you realize what an utter pain in the ass it would be to use because of the constant refocusing and reframing.
I think it's too expensive and there will be an app shortage at first, but I feel comfortable predicting that this (or an iteration by a competitor) will be a fixture in any creative/educational/lab environment in short order. In fact, this is what has been missing fromt eh 3d-printing side; most of the desktop printers are Not Very Good and building CAD models is tedious for most people. How much nicer to have a high quality interactive scanner and just send the refined model to a facility with a high-quality printer, CNC or sintering device for delivery or pickup.
>There is nothing artists (and scientists) like better than a new toy.
Yeah, but this isn't Apple. HP doesn't have its own OS that they're putting on this thing - it won't be nicely integrated and it will be a pain in the ass to use. I predict it will be quickly abandoned.
>I seem to recall you being similarly skeptical about the iPad - and whether or not that was you, I think this is an equally transofrmatve product.
No, it probably was someone else. I immediately grapsed the significance of the iPad as the ultimate connectivity machine for the sofa and the crapper (not joking).
That said, I'm not sure this thing will get anywhere. I get the possibilities you mention, but I think the crucial thing to get to them is mass appeal (and a mass market), which this wont have IMHO.
The capabilities this affords already exist with existing laptops and tablets + some external peripheral, but they haven't seen widespread use because few bother.
So, the extra convenience for the uses you describe that this device allows, won't help sell it. Only if this is sold on its other merits (and after it sells enough), would the "macroscope" become something people start to use.
Thanks for sharing that. Why can't I stop watching it? I keep waiting for something sinister to happen. Instead, nothing. No plot; just the past's version of the future of computing* coupled with extremely bad acting.
* Not just computing; it predicts a zero-emission, high-performance sports car that will sell 80K+ units in the first year.
I think their existing logo is far better. The one above looks too modern, minimalistic, abstract, and edgy. For HP, I kind of expect something a little more curvy, playful, and potentially colorful.
As w/ everything. Great software makes great hardware. Only 8 apps at launch (not that it is actually bad per se) and I find it hard to believe that it will gain traction among current developers. I can't think of any reason to start developing for sprout, a platform with zero users right now. Users won't buy because no apps, developers won't code because no users; it will be interesting to see how HP will manage to solve this.
Still, it's good to see a big consumer-oriented company like HP trying (at least) to innovate in some new way.
At the same time, at $1800, it still makes a solid all-in-one PC with decent specs. I tried to configure an iMac with similar specs but there weren't any 1:1 comparisons.
An iMac with an i7 of roughly equal speed, same 8GB RAM, a screen 2" smaller diagonal, similar nVidia graphics, same native resolution display (without touch capability), similar 1TB hybrid SSD/HDD, and none of the fancy projector/camera stuff would cost $1899.
Obviously these are going for different users and the iMac comes with Apple's trademark thin, industrial design whereas the Sprout adds the touch screen, pad, camera, and projector. Still, if you wanted an all-in-one and had $1900 to spend, I can see how you might pick up one with equivalent "guts" which came with the unique input options.
Worst case you don't get much use out of the projector stuff and still have a solid all-in-one on par with an iMac of similar price.
FWIW, the iMac's Fusion Drive includes a 128Gb SSD and a discrete spinning HDD, whereas the sprout appears to have a 'hybrid drive' which is a spinning disk with a small SSD used for cache. Much less expensive, flexible, and speedy.
A more Apples to Apples (sorry) comparison would be the non-fusion drive iMac for $1699
That said, the added hardware on this still seems to make it a relative bargain.
Yeah, good call. I was trying to find a configuration that was fairly close to see if it was roughly in the same range. Seems like it is so if you were comparing the two, you could spend about the same amount of money and either get a nicer storage option and Apple materials or a larger screen with touch, touch pad, and all of the projector/camera stuff.
My main interest was whether this was drastically more or less expensive than the most popular all-in-one PCs out there even if you don't care about using the unique Sprout stuff all the time.
I like the concept in general, but I have two main problems with it:
1. A vertical touch screen! my arms hurt just from watching the video showing that lady stretching her arm and dragging objects across some presentation slides. You simply can't do that for more than a few seconds.
2. I'm fearing a chicken and egg situation with the software aspects. I mean the photo editor they show looks nice and original but pretty limited. Without wide adoption from software makers you won't have more professional grade apps, and without professional grade apps, you'll still have the limited set of toy apps and no adoption.
I wonder to what degree public perception of a company's brand (think HP, Microsoft, Ebay vs Google, Apple) helps or hinders their ability to get a product off the ground. It reminds me of the old Shakespearean "What's in a name?" question.
One would like to believe that the product, if good enough, will always win out, but that's probably not the case, especially if it relies on an ecosystem to develop around it to be fully viable.
If brand quality matters severely, then an interesting question is whether or not startups have an advantage against large corps with bad reputations. Is it better to be StartuppyMcstartup nobody's ever heard of or Microsoft?
I admit the second thing I thought of after finally figuring out what this thing does, was how are they going to sell this for $50 and what will be the equivalent of the required every three months $75 ink cartridge?
The first thing I thought of was whenever you see something like this, its to goose the stock price. Generic investor types will fall for anything, as generations of AT&T and IBM advertisements have shown. I checked finance.google.com and this must be either very new news or older than a week news.
I think it can hinder it quite a bit, especially for something like this. The UX design for blending physical and virtual environments has to be nearly perfect. HP's track record with consumer facing software does not instill me with confidence that they can pull this off. I hope to be surprised.
I think this will have a huge impact on the success of the product. I have an HP laptop right now and all the HP made software is terrible, it doesn't run well, crashes constantly and doesn't use the UX rules of any Microsoft OS (in fact parts would feel more at home on OSX than Windows) If they can get their stuff together and have a team that actually puts out usable software, that would go a long way towards making this a viable product.
If apple had released this product, it would sell like crazy. I think the fact that HP made it will prevent it from getting traction, but it would be nice to be proven wrong.
> Any way Sprout looks very interesting and promising.
Interesting, I agree completely. Promising? I dunno about that. Given the price, I'd be afraid to buy it, given the high likelihood that HP forgets it exists in 6 months. Unique hardware like this requires serious development effort to utilize it properly, and if this doesn't get traction—and at almost $2,000, I think it's unlikely to get any traction—then nobody's going to bother writing that software. It's a chicken-and-egg problem; without sales, there won't be much custom software, and without that custom software, there's no reason for most to buy it.
I understand your sentiment, but can't quite agree.
Apple are innovating. I like the way all my iDevices are becoming 'as one'. Not quite to Mark Weiners vision yet - but its compelling and builds on Apples core value proposition: non-fragmentation.
Sprout is a 'gilding the lily' kind of innovation. Its impressive (in my humble opinion) and could open up a new type of product if there is sufficient demand for HP to continue. But it feels more like a marketing led shot in the dark, than HP building on their strengths in the touchscreen PC space.
--
Anecdotal cul-de-sac:
My assumptions about innovation were overturned on a college summer project (EE). Having been told to 'innovate', I produced a thing + bells + whistles. My comparatively low marks & tutors comments showed me (rightly) that innovation should have focused more on 'thing'. The rest was not so important.
I now think of it as an Overton window in the product lifecycle (Im sure theres a term for this, but I don't know it).
'Just because it can be done, doesn't mean it should.'
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[ 4.2 ms ] story [ 219 ms ] threadEdit: Only primary Call to Action doesn't load the video. I got it to load when I randomly clicked on something. Here is a link: http://bcove.me/gqbyor0d
Then I studied the images a little closer. It seems that thing on top the monitor projects an image on the mat on the desktop. The mat seems to be touch sensitive which means you're primary interface is no longer a keyboard/mouse combo but a new interface that will be unique to each application.
Sounds interesting but unless other manufacturers starting selling the same thing, I doubt it'll be widespread enough to attract a large enough group of developers to build apps for it which will probably mean it might be niche product. Still cool though.
The first 40! seconds of the video didn't show the product in action, the first image of it was from such an odd angle that I didn't even know it was an image of it at first, and the later images don't actually show the camera that seems to be an important part of it.
Part of me thinks this is a solution in want of a problem, designed by the kind of person who uses a spoon for soup and a fork for their main course and thinks "If only I had a combination fork-spoon, my life would be so much simpler".
I'm not convinced either - the demo could have been done with a smartphone app (take a picture, then allow you to manipulate objects via touchscreen).
Maybe there's more depth information that this device can capture that would be difficult to do with a normal camera? Maybe the project can do neat projections onto objects placed underneath it?
Seems like this could find success in specific niches (things needing tactile design?). Not sure if that's where HP wants to go with this.
Same about the microsite: "We believe hands can do amazing things. What will you do with yours?" - So what is the site about? I scroll down one screen - "Blending the physical and digital worlds that you live in, Sprout unleashes your creativity like never before." - I still got no idea, it's just marketing gibberish.
The visual design is certainly beautiful, but there's a lesson: First of all, tell me what the site is about!
Obviously that's no help to blond people who would prefer text, but in fairness they're highly unlikely to use such a product anyway.
On screen no. 1, there's a picture of sunlight shining through somebody's hand.
On screen no. 2, there might as well be a picture of an iPad with a fancy case.
On screen no. 3, I see that this machine can be operated in desktop mode, but I still know nothing about what makes it special. Is it an Android tablet with an innovative desktop stand?
On screen no. 4, there is a matrix of six little images; two of them finally (and way too late) let me guess the mode of operation.
On screen no. 5, there finally is a clear view of the machine.
> who would prefer text
This is not about text vs. pictures. What I'm saying is that if you try to advertise a new kind of product to me, you should just go ahead and tell/show me what the point is. When you have done that, show me pictures of sunlight and trees (if you think that's necessary).
1: a hand, text about creativity, so it's something I can manipulate?
2: it's an electronic device of some kind.
3: it's a computer with some sort of tray instead of a keyboard...?
4: (small pictures of people) oh, that's a second screen of some sort, it looks like there's touchscreen action going on with both screens, and it's some sort of projector?
5: OK, it's definitely some sort of a second screen, that looks like a board game so I suppose it must be interactive and the thing on top is a camera or something
6: Some hipsters I am supposed to identify with but I don't care
7: that top thing looks more elaborate than just a projecter, looks like a Kinect so it's probably a camera and/or motion detector
8: it's on sale now plus that's a pen so it must have pretty decent resolution on the lower part, maybe it's also a tablet
9: Accessories, oh it's called a 'touch mat'
10: I can 'grab' and 'mash' things? OK it's definitely got a camera in it then.
All I did was scroll, without clicking on the alternative buttons or + buttons (which turn out to have specs, now that I have tried them).
I found it perfectly simple to work out what was going just on the first look. Personally I am OK with having my curiosity stimulated. The 'Tour' thing (in the second section of the page) is self-explanatory, had I clicked on that first.
What is a bit problematic for me is the position of the projector/camera relative to the monitor. I really don't want to have to extend my arm out to interact through touch. I f-ing hate having to interact with touch at a distance. I don't think it works for extended periods because it puts a strain on your arm.
I would have much more liked a design that allowed you to rotate monitor vertically so the projection/camera surface is off to the side or something. Or maybe they should make the projector/camera surface a separate device.
I hope they sell the camera part separately, that's the awesome part. The touchscreen doesn't seem to serve a purpose, that would be just as good or better with a mouse or trackpad.
The touch idea is cute, but I don't see the point in touch when there's no tactile feedback.
Hilariously, if you do an google ngram search for "spork,foon"[1], you'll find that in comparison, foon is incredibly popular, completely drowning out uses of spork.
I looked at the book results. It's apparent that the ocr has misconstrued ye olde "s" as an "f"; a mistake I also make, on those rare occasions I read something printed before 1800 or so.
[0]: https://www.google.com/patents/US147119
[1]: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=spork%2C+foon&...
Whilst a spork is great for the singular task of "I'm eating minestrone", the benefits of it don't make it worth it having been created.
Much like this project. Why not use your already-good wacom and computer and webcam, which you already have, instead of buying a product which is probably a bit shoddy in at least one of those areas?
I scrolled through the entire landing page, tried to watch the video which got stuck at 24 seconds before revealing something, then finally managed to get some frames from later on. Really terrible marketing since they are hiding what it is, but whatever. Seems inferior to a Wacom Cintiq in every way so far (an LCD with pressure sensitive pen with buttons that graphics artists use).
"It's a unique machine that combines an all-in-one Windows 8 PC with a set of 3D scanning cameras, a giant tactile touchpad and a downward-facing projector (for displaying graphics on said touchpad). The design is built around a concept HP is calling "blended reality" that blends the 3D physical world with our 2D digital one. The obvious target audience is creative types. You know: makers, tinkerers, designers, etc... Rather than the traditional method of control built around mice and keyboards, Sprout focuses on touch and pen input. The 23-inch LCD serves as the primary display, but it's the bottom display, the 20-inch capacitive pad positioned under the camera and projector that serves as the primary point of interaction."
I don't like the lower screen with a projector - then the image is obscured by the shadow your hands make...
That being said, I think a second screen would be preferable all the same, but it would probably bump the cost significantly.
I could see some applications taking advantage of this when it comes to working with physical items
In a two screen scenario, I suppose the user would have to image the paper, then composite it digitally. It's an interesting approach although I wonder how often it would be used.
In my opinion, the killer app is digitisation of paper documents, tracking changes, and live multi-user editing. The 3d scanning stuff is a neat addition on top of that, but a much more niche use case.
e.g. My colleague writes a document and emails it to me. I open it, print it out, and bring it to Sprout, placing it on the capacitive mat. As I'm reading it, I'm annotating it with pen on paper. Sprout tracks my annotations, digitizes them, and adds them as a digital layer to the original document.
While I'm annotating, my colleague joins the "session" and wants to make more changes and incorporate some of my suggestions. I see that notification, chuck away my piece of paper, and have Sprout project the digital document onto the capacitive pad. While I watch, my colleague makes changes which are live-updated to my document. I see her copy my hand-written notes which have been digitised and OCR'd. She takes my notes, changes the font, and sticks them into one of the paragraphs. Likewise, I can use the stylus to make more annotations that my colleague sees in real-time, or, since the document is digital this time around, I can just edit the paragraphs directly too.
Think Google Wave + Collusion for iPad + the ability to do fairly seamlessly with both digital and physical documents.
How does Sprout do great OCR or facilitate joint collaborations?
These are both problems that need solving but have nothing to do with Sprout. PR often has things like this ‘solved’ for their mockups which people then falsely associate with the product.
See the mass delusion many people have with the Minority Report interface.
Why not just edit the email/document using a keyboard, you can even do it in a google doc so the other person can live collaborate, but as we know live collaboration is fine in movies but in real life is very very hard to do. Humans are just not build for it.
This isn’t about applications or Sprout, it’s about solving very hard problems.
Yes, it'd be a very complex application, solving some fairly hard CS and CV problems, along with probably needing to invent a whole suite of new UI paradigms.
Actually find a workflow that allows live collaboration to be more efficient than working individually might be hard to capitalise but would be revolutionary and change the world. I’ve never seen Pair programming in XP really work, for instance. It’s certainly not common practice for most workers.
Each solution would be amazing for plant earth, Sprout doesn’t help solve either.
Because some people prefer a pen to a keyboard when trying to mark modifications to a draft?
Surely you can imagine of at least one situation where a pen is a useful input device.
Pretty nifty, but also extremely specialized. Daring move!
"1024 x 767 DLP projector"
That is really cool, but I can't help but think how limited its uses are. The real-world objects need to be relatively small (like a coffee cup, not a car) and you are limited by taking pictures from the top-down angle. However, that kind of interaction is really natural and would be easier to learn than say Photoshop.
I really like the idea of kids putting a physical 3d object into something 2d and build a simple blue print. STEM tool for children seems perfect to me.
HP contact me :)
I can't predict a mass market destiny to this but it warms my heart to see a huge company release some kind of engineering chimera
3d cam is what is a perfect addition to 3d printers. Well, 3d printers prove pretty useless without 3d cams. It also enables 3d movement detection.
Something bugs me though, how is it possible for the 3d cam to see beneath the object (bird origami) to come out with such a perfectly scanned shape?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPGPV4-e3JI
Although at first I was a bit skeptical of the replacement of a touchscreen with a projector, there are some capabilities of a projector that you just don't get with a touchscreen – mainly, projecting images on real objects placed on the pad. This, combined with a 3D printer, could allow designers to create 3D shapes and project surfaces onto these objects.
They also should have taken a real necklace, placed it on the touchpad and had it instantly digitized, then manually manipulated around the woman's neck.
Very cool product. I love seeing highly imaginative products, especially coming from well established companies.
Suggestion: Maybe whoever was in charge of this development project could push thru that super-cool HP logo and branding that HP was too scared to implement: http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/14/please-save-hp/
Which is probably just a demo thing, and nothing that users can or will do in real life.
There is nothing artists (and scientists) like better than a new toy. The win here is a camera with a standard fixed orientation towards its subject; high-quality optics are sacrificed for reproducibility. I can think of numerous creative/education applications for this just from looking at the still pictures, and I haven't clicked on any of the videos yet.
- let ants walk on it to study swarming behavior
- put petri dishes on it and leave them overnight to measure bacterial growth
- liquids with different viscosities/specularities for artistic purposes; I've tried 'painting' with dishwashing liquid squirted out of the bottle and a camera, but it's difficult
- rolling marbles around for stochastic video effects
- make arty models of things in whatever medium you like and then wave them around and have them scanned into 3d without any tedious calibration/scaling
- massive possibilities for gestural control of music/animation
I could go on and on. Think of this like a 'macroscope.' The advantage of a microscope is not just the lenses that let you look at very small things, but the form factor that makes it easy and efficient to put your samples in position and focus upon them. You could make an effective microscope that was like a telescope and that you held in your hands to look at small objects, but as soon as you think about it you realize what an utter pain in the ass it would be to use because of the constant refocusing and reframing.
I think it's too expensive and there will be an app shortage at first, but I feel comfortable predicting that this (or an iteration by a competitor) will be a fixture in any creative/educational/lab environment in short order. In fact, this is what has been missing fromt eh 3d-printing side; most of the desktop printers are Not Very Good and building CAD models is tedious for most people. How much nicer to have a high quality interactive scanner and just send the refined model to a facility with a high-quality printer, CNC or sintering device for delivery or pickup.
Yeah, but this isn't Apple. HP doesn't have its own OS that they're putting on this thing - it won't be nicely integrated and it will be a pain in the ass to use. I predict it will be quickly abandoned.
No, it probably was someone else. I immediately grapsed the significance of the iPad as the ultimate connectivity machine for the sofa and the crapper (not joking).
That said, I'm not sure this thing will get anywhere. I get the possibilities you mention, but I think the crucial thing to get to them is mass appeal (and a mass market), which this wont have IMHO.
The capabilities this affords already exist with existing laptops and tablets + some external peripheral, but they haven't seen widespread use because few bother.
So, the extra convenience for the uses you describe that this device allows, won't help sell it. Only if this is sold on its other merits (and after it sells enough), would the "macroscope" become something people start to use.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKJNxgZyVo0
* Not just computing; it predicts a zero-emission, high-performance sports car that will sell 80K+ units in the first year.
It does look slick though!
Still, it's good to see a big consumer-oriented company like HP trying (at least) to innovate in some new way.
An iMac with an i7 of roughly equal speed, same 8GB RAM, a screen 2" smaller diagonal, similar nVidia graphics, same native resolution display (without touch capability), similar 1TB hybrid SSD/HDD, and none of the fancy projector/camera stuff would cost $1899.
Obviously these are going for different users and the iMac comes with Apple's trademark thin, industrial design whereas the Sprout adds the touch screen, pad, camera, and projector. Still, if you wanted an all-in-one and had $1900 to spend, I can see how you might pick up one with equivalent "guts" which came with the unique input options.
Worst case you don't get much use out of the projector stuff and still have a solid all-in-one on par with an iMac of similar price.
A more Apples to Apples (sorry) comparison would be the non-fusion drive iMac for $1699
That said, the added hardware on this still seems to make it a relative bargain.
My main interest was whether this was drastically more or less expensive than the most popular all-in-one PCs out there even if you don't care about using the unique Sprout stuff all the time.
1. A vertical touch screen! my arms hurt just from watching the video showing that lady stretching her arm and dragging objects across some presentation slides. You simply can't do that for more than a few seconds.
2. I'm fearing a chicken and egg situation with the software aspects. I mean the photo editor they show looks nice and original but pretty limited. Without wide adoption from software makers you won't have more professional grade apps, and without professional grade apps, you'll still have the limited set of toy apps and no adoption.
One would like to believe that the product, if good enough, will always win out, but that's probably not the case, especially if it relies on an ecosystem to develop around it to be fully viable.
If brand quality matters severely, then an interesting question is whether or not startups have an advantage against large corps with bad reputations. Is it better to be StartuppyMcstartup nobody's ever heard of or Microsoft?
The first thing I thought of was whenever you see something like this, its to goose the stock price. Generic investor types will fall for anything, as generations of AT&T and IBM advertisements have shown. I checked finance.google.com and this must be either very new news or older than a week news.
Any way Sprout looks very interesting and promising.
Interesting, I agree completely. Promising? I dunno about that. Given the price, I'd be afraid to buy it, given the high likelihood that HP forgets it exists in 6 months. Unique hardware like this requires serious development effort to utilize it properly, and if this doesn't get traction—and at almost $2,000, I think it's unlikely to get any traction—then nobody's going to bother writing that software. It's a chicken-and-egg problem; without sales, there won't be much custom software, and without that custom software, there's no reason for most to buy it.
Apple are innovating. I like the way all my iDevices are becoming 'as one'. Not quite to Mark Weiners vision yet - but its compelling and builds on Apples core value proposition: non-fragmentation.
Sprout is a 'gilding the lily' kind of innovation. Its impressive (in my humble opinion) and could open up a new type of product if there is sufficient demand for HP to continue. But it feels more like a marketing led shot in the dark, than HP building on their strengths in the touchscreen PC space.
-- Anecdotal cul-de-sac: My assumptions about innovation were overturned on a college summer project (EE). Having been told to 'innovate', I produced a thing + bells + whistles. My comparatively low marks & tutors comments showed me (rightly) that innovation should have focused more on 'thing'. The rest was not so important.
I now think of it as an Overton window in the product lifecycle (Im sure theres a term for this, but I don't know it). 'Just because it can be done, doesn't mean it should.'
So in the long run its a good move for them.