3 ms·

Back when Apple announced "3D Touch" (by name before showing it), I dearly hoped it was _finally_ introducing above-the-screen finger detection. Instead it was

Back when Apple announced "3D Touch" (by name before showing it), I dearly hoped it was _finally_ introducing above-the-screen finger detection. Instead it was pressure sensitivity, and even that got dropped a few years back. I'm still hoping for a hover-like mechanism that allows touchscreens to have non-commital interactions. As you say, touch is surprisingly devoid of depth for its maturity and time on the market. I'm hoping some level of above-the-screen finger detection comes eventually, because if it gets to a mainstream distribution stage, it opens the door for bleeding-edge to aim for larger detection distances, and eventually seeing hand gestures above the screen. Whether it's in this form or something completely different, our screen interactions need to be broadened, especially in a direction that allows users to signal intent but not commitment (like hovering with a mouse, or looking with eye tracking).

mncharity 2y ago
> it opens the door for bleeding-edge to aim for larger detection distances, and eventually seeing hand gestures above the screen [...] our screen interactions need to be broadened [...] signal intent but not commitment (like hovering with a mouse, or looking with eye tracking) My laptop used to have several cameras (flopping up from behind screen) for 3D hand tracking, (crufty) keycap touch, and head/gaze pose. With shutter glasses, overlaying a slightly-raised transparent top-down view from a keyboard cam was helpful and tolerable. Browser-based stack. Input fusion with diverse latencies required app state rollback. Fun(ish). > _finally_ [...] even that got dropped a few years back [...] eventually [...] broadened This was profoundly frustrating. Waiting for a couple of giant companies, interested only in extremely difficult mass consumer markets, to make tech available so it can afterward be explored and nitches probed, with patents shackling everyone else, was just... sigh. Pharma turning the nation's explore-exploit dial hard over regrettably leaves a lot of paths forward nonviable.

mncharity 2y ago

> it opens the door for bleeding-edge to aim for larger detection distances, and eventually seeing hand gestures above the screen [...] our screen interactions need to be broadened [...] signal intent but not commitment (like hovering with a mouse, or looking with eye tracking) My laptop used to have several cameras (flopping up from behind screen) for 3D hand tracking, (crufty) keycap touch, and head/gaze pose. With shutter glasses, overlaying a slightly-raised transparent top-down view from a keyboard cam was helpful and tolerable. Browser-based stack. Input fusion with diverse latencies required app state rollback. Fun(ish). > _finally_ [...] even that got dropped a few years back [...] eventually [...] broadened This was profoundly frustrating. Waiting for a couple of giant companies, interested only in extremely difficult mass consumer markets, to make tech available so it can afterward be explored and nitches probed, with patents shackling everyone else, was just... sigh. Pharma turning the nation's explore-exploit dial hard over regrettably leaves a lot of paths forward nonviable.