11 ms·

Sprout

617 points by perone 12y ago

himanshuy 12y ago
Video does not play on safari.
- ponyous 12y ago
  Same in FF. 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 http://bcove.me/gqbyor0d
  - FlyingLawnmower 12y ago
    Interesting -- it played fine for me on FF.
superuser2 12y ago
I still can't tell what Sprout is.
- ponyous 12y ago
  Yup, same here. Video doesn't load, and I'm not gonna take N minutes just to figure out what am I looking at.
- thrwy10 12y ago
  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!
- zecg 12y ago
  I clicked specs, saw "Operating system: Windows 8.1" and politely let myself out.
- drivingmenuts 12y ago
  Me neither but, strangely, I still kind of want one.
bjackman 12y ago
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.
- xtrumanx 12y ago
  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.
eranation 12y ago
It's actually pretty cool, too bad they leave the punchline at the end of the too long video talking about hands.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
kbar13 12y ago
I think the product looks like one of those shitty toy computers from shoprite.
richthegeek 12y ago
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".
- bentcorner 12y ago
  > 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.
- currysausage 12y ago
  > 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!
  - anigbrowl 12y ago
    ??! 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.
lnanek2 12y ago
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).
pa5tabear 12y ago
Engadget summary with videos: http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/29/hp-reveals-sprout/ http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/29/hp-reveals-sprout/ "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."
- rsync 12y ago
  Oh, I thought the lower screen was an e ink display, sort of like simulating a sheet of paper there. I don't like the lower screen with a projector - then the image is obscured by the shadow your hands make...
  - lost_name 12y ago
    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.
    - seanp2k2 12y ago
      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.
  - columbo 12y ago
    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 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9JXtTj0mzE) I could see some applications taking advantage of this when it comes to working with physical items
unwind 12y ago
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!
- josefresco 12y ago
  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.
- tinha 12y ago
  As a SDK developer for Sprout, it is indeed a daring move, we're all very proud :)
  - raphman_ 12y ago
    Any reason why there is no information on the projector's resolution anywhere on the website or in the datasheet?
    - tinha 12y ago
      Hmm..It should be there, if not, it will be on the developer guide.
    - kevincrane 12y ago
      It's on the website, under "Closer Look". "1024 x 767 DLP projector"
      - lmm 12y ago
        They couldn't afford to spring for one extra line of pixels to make it a standard resolution?
jnorthrop 12y ago
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.
staz 12y ago
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...
- baldfat 12y ago
  To me this is the way all pen and paper works. When I write I have a piece of paper on the desk and the screen in front. Seems natural to me.
nutate 12y ago
Radical hardware with a buy now button that doesn't go to kickstarter. Awesome.
baldfat 12y ago
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. HP contact me :)
kubiiii 12y ago
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?
michaelbuckbee 12y ago
Really neat. Reminded me of the D&D downward projecting map setups: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPGPV4-e3JI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPGPV4-e3JI
nathannecro 12y ago
Really neat concept and (it appears) fine execution! Right now, it's a really niche product, but I'm looking forwards to see if this is improved and adopted more widely. Also, the main video doesn't show much. This is much better: http://bcove.me/0mvq74jn http://bcove.me/0mvq74jn
bsimpson 12y ago
I was big into experimental interfaces in around 2006. There was a similar peripheral for the Mac whose name escapes me. (I only ever saw marketing material for it.) It had a sensor to detect the depth and positions of your hands above your desk. Its software would then cast a hand-shaped shadow on your screen, so you could see what you were about to interact with. The UI was like a touchscreen, but you'd abstract the touching away from the displaying for ergonomics. It was a cool concept. Bummed it never went anywhere. Sprout could be interesting, but it would be a lot more interesting if it came from a brand that moved platforms (like Apple). I don't know if HP has the developer mindshare (or sales volume) to have a "revolutionary" product that people get excited about. There are too many other Windows machines (both inside and outside HP) for this to get the attention it deserves.
- ryanmclaughlin 12y ago
  Pretty sure you're thinking of Leap Motion. https://www.leapmotion.com https://www.leapmotion.com
  - bsimpson 12y ago
    Nope. I think the one I'm thinking of had a green website with a photo of a MacBook and a grey tablety thing that detected your hands. This was long before Leap was a thing. I think the tablety-thing was an L shaped touchpad, where the depth sensors were in the | part of the L.
- 0942v8653 12y ago
  It's called Leap Motion. https://leapmotion.com https://leapmotion.com In my opinion it's no better than a touchscreen because you have to wave your hands in the air which is more work than keeping it on a desk. I wouldn't buy it.
  - pbreit 12y ago
    I think Leap still has huge potential (mainly commercial) but unfortunately not as a general purpose UI device. In fact, it's much worse than a touchscreen for all 2-D situations (ie, pretty much everything that's being represented on a flat screen).
stevenschmatz 12y ago
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.
mapleoin 12y ago
"Hands. They've always done amazing things..." That's a great beginning for a video parody of some Silicon Valley startups.
- atom-morgan 12y ago
  Remember Facebook's "Chairs"?
malloreon 12y ago
This is a neat idea but I'll bet in practice it is very tiring to use.
swamp40 12y ago
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/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/14/please-save-hp/
- Xoxox 12y ago
  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-fusion-3d-ecosystem/ http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/hp-sprout-multi-jet-f...
- coldtea 12y ago
  >The Aha moment for me was watching the beans spill on the touchpad and getting immediately digitized and put into a presentation. Which is probably just a demo thing, and nothing that users can or will do in real life.
  - anigbrowl 12y ago
    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.
_almosnow 12y ago
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.
- soylentcola 12y ago
  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.
  - djrogers 12y ago
    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.
    - soylentcola 12y ago
      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.
dyeje 12y ago
This looks pretty awesome. Looking forward to giving it a whirl.
dvirsky 12y ago
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.
Argorak 12y ago
I'm probably a bit weird in that regard, but the large image immediately reminded me of the Left4Dead cover image.
Throwaway1224 12y ago
Junk.
schtinky 12y ago
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?
- VLM 12y ago
  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.
- michael_h 12y ago
  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.
  - vxNsr 12y ago
    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.
- 12y ago
aaronetz 12y ago
Reminds me of the augmented reality sandbox [1] I've played with at a museum [2] and which was really cool. [1] http://idav.ucdavis.edu/~okreylos/ResDev/SARndbox/ http://idav.ucdavis.edu/~okreylos/ResDev/SARndbox/ [2] https://naturalhistory.novascotia.ca/ https://naturalhistory.novascotia.ca/
danielki 12y ago
Looks nice, but the 1-year warranty is a huge dealbreaker. If I'm going to be spending $1900 on a PC, it had better be guaranteed to last longer than that.
VLM 12y ago
Google terms to search for "augmented desk" "InteractiveDESK" This idea is introduced roughly every 4 years at least since the first time I saw it in the early 90s. There has been some limited commercial success. The local mall had a 100 sq ft model for kids to play with in one of the walkways. Balls bounce around and react when people walk into them. Its more or less a kinect with substantial changes in scale and optical path.
- Xoxox 12y ago
  So True!
bndw 12y ago
After watching the video on their landing page, I can't help but be reminded of the Generic Brand Video on Vimeo[1]. [1] http://vimeo.com/89527215 http://vimeo.com/89527215
- LiweiZ 12y ago
  Thanks for the video, which led me to the footage service:)
flameingo 12y ago
This looks really cool.(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBnf_lHxPdE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBnf_lHxPdE)
PaulHoule 12y ago
You're looking at low end parts for the price, particularly the inclusion of a "Hybrid HDD". Hybrid HDDs do almost nothing for for Windows, but putting an SSD into a Windows machine makes it dramatically more responsive. If you want people to experience a new thing in computing that is tactile you can't make people wait for a disc to spin up, ever.
aragot 12y ago
I almost thought "Wow, someone finally starts building Apple-level PCs". But the machine still only runs Windows. To a certain crowd of IT profrssionals, Apple has raised the standard to "I need both quality gear and the unix experience (including the command line but not only)". So much that it would make sense that HP starts supporting Ubuntu by default.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
hk__2 12y ago
Side note: “prout” is French for “fart”. For a French speaker, this product’s name hence sounds like “sfart”.
- Klinky 12y ago
  Seems like no tech name is safe with the French. Just the other day someone was stating the name of "Puer" someone chose for their server app means "to stink" in French. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8513314 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8513314
- Narretz 12y ago
  Correction: for a French speaker that doesn't know the word "sprout" and / or isn't at least an intermediate English speaker.
krosaen 12y ago
Wii or Virtual Boy? Ambitious in any case, glad HP is trying!
wmeredith 12y ago
Kudos to them for trying something new! This looks great. I can't help but think they would have a little more credibility if the industrial design wasn't a wanna-be iMac. Oy.
crapiola 12y ago
This product must have sounded like a good idea to some clueless but slightly rich tech charlatans. Looking at the product page, a mediocre genius like me can tell: The intro video tells zilch about the product. Tries to sell some grandiose vision about hands. As if they have evolutioned hands for snakes. That's a sore sign that there's not much to the product. "A creativity station. A fully functioning PC. Whatever you want to call it, Sprout can do it. " I want to call it the spaceship voyager on a mission to the planet of the MBAs. "Blending the physical and digital worlds that you live in, Sprout unleashes your creativity like never before." if by that you mean it makes you want to rant creatively, sure.
radnam 12y ago
This reminds me so much about osmo https://www.playosmo.com/ https://www.playosmo.com/ Disclaimer: Not affiliated with the company
- BlobbyLaMouche 12y ago
  Yes! Disclaimer: I own an Osmo. One thing where Osmo wins for sure is the name. The name appart, sprout is trying to be much more than Osmo. I have to emphasize the "trying" though. Sprout is going in all the directions between the 3D scanning, the touchpad and the projector. Osmo is much more modest with just a camera looking at the table, but this also means they could concentrate on user interactions that really made sense and an incredibly good pattern recognition experience. Anyway if I have the opportunity to play with Sprout I will!
leeber 12y ago
It's kind of cool from the video, but honestly I lost interest half way through. I'm not sure if it solves an existing problem or would appeal to the mass market though. I guess when you have cash that needs to be spent, you do stuff like this? I can't imagine this is the best innovation HP can come up with.
Domenic_S 12y ago
Did the woman in the video search for images and then steal the dolphin one to go with the HP logo?!
- tonyedgecombe 12y ago
  Good artists copy, great artists steal.
627467 12y ago
About time some serious attempt at blurring the lines between creating in digital and physical worlds. This along side paper and a 3D printer is going to be a fantastic tool in the creator toolbox. Let's see how the dev community reacts to non-Apple/Google new platform.
niels_olson 12y ago
Really cool idea, too bad it comes with an operating system. 1) This should be a sold as a peripheral, not with its own CPU 2) Turn the bottom into a matte finish Cintiq monitor that can be quickly shut off
IkmoIkmo 12y ago
My immediate reaction is that it looks pretty useless apart from being a foray into bringing digital and physical closer together, which may lead to other interesting things. We need springboards like this to find out what works and what doesn't and make something better, but in and of itself it doesn't seem too interesting. Just the first reaction to some of the videos that are mostly bleh marketing. Might have to revise my opinion once I see some more. Looking forward to seeing someone do a hands-on video, or just create something for 30 minutes with a camera looking over his/her shoulder.
- anigbrowl 12y ago
  I think it looks insanely useful, just wish it wasn't so expensive (and I might make a few tweaks to the hardware - if there aren't cameras embedded in the frame of the vertical screen, which I didn't check yet, then there should be). This is one of the most innovative products I have seen in the last several years.
  - IkmoIkmo 12y ago
    Don't mind me by the way, I'm not much of an artist so I don't really fit the immediate target group :P Could you talk a little bit about what kind of things you'd like to use it for and how that either couldn't be done before, or is better than what you could do before. The videos didn't really do it for me.
Raphael 12y ago
You'd think they would write a description of the product. Basic SEO.
fastball 12y ago
Looks cool, but not sure I could get into it without any sort of haptic feedback.
roxtar 12y ago
Reminded me of the original Microsoft surface
matt_morgan 12y ago
Interesting that it's being sold as an all-in-one, where it could easily be a peripheral that works with any computer. It's packaged as signature bold product but they got there incrementally, using (as others have pointed out) an idea that's come around at times before (but in even more niche areas like museums).
jscheel 12y ago
Really impressed with this. I'm glad HP is trying something innovative in the desktop market. As a father of a young girl, I'm really interested in something like this. Could be especially great for her.
swalsh 12y ago
With Tim Cook running Apple, there's a void in the "Well designed, but not cheap prosumer hardware" space. HP seems to want to stab it.
- mmanfrin 12y ago
  I'm not sure the connection between your two clauses -- are you saying that because Tim Cook is running Apple, Apple no longer produces "well designed, but not cheap prosumer hardware"?
  - swalsh 12y ago
    Yes. Steve Jobs was notorious for driving his team to do the impossible, no matter how marginal the utility might seem. He set the bar pretty high for design. All outside indications seem to demonstrate Tim Cook doesn't drive it to the same degree. I think Apple will still try to deliver on those traditions, but especially as the iphone 6 shows, they're not doing a great job at it. Apple seems to lead the way in making things thinner, and following behind in making "new" things. Its a clear void.
state 12y ago
If your target audience is 'makers' then why is this being marketed as a toy? The underlying idea is great, and I'm very much looking forward to someone implementing this correctly — but I'm not interested in buying a giant toy for creating more 'moments' for my 'followers'. I want something for doing actual creative work, and that's the only metric that matters for a product like this anyway. Maybe Bret should give it a try (http://vimeo.com/97903574 http://vimeo.com/97903574).
namuol 12y ago
Finally, the problem of creating those fancy desktop-at-a-coffee-shop splashes is solved! throws away SLR
tlrobinson 12y ago
Neat idea, but I don't necessarily want a whole new computer, just the projector + 3D camera. Someone should hack together an open source version. The hardware should be pretty straightforward: a commodity projector, a couple webcams, and perhaps an Xbox Kinect or similar.
pnathan 12y ago
Huh. This is novel. I don't know what to call it (initially I thought it was another tablet thing). I'm kinda intrigued by where it'll go.
ceeekay 12y ago
Looking at the "apps" section's picture, I can't help but feel like they've created a giant Nintendo DS. I also can't tell if I feel like that's a bad thing.
ceeekay 12y ago
I knew I had seen that first image somewhere... https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bb/Fatboy_Slim_-_Halfway_Between_the_Gutter_and_the_Stars.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bb/Fatboy_Slim_-...
Dharmakirti 12y ago
Loved it! Feels nice to see the pioneering spirit at HP is still alive. A cursory look at the SDK shows that it's mainly WPF and C++ (QT?) which might make it easier to develop apps. Looks interesting.
TheMagicHorsey 12y ago
This is the coolest thing out of HP in a long time. I hope they don't screw it up in the typical HP way through tone-deaf responses to the market. They are going to have to work pretty hard winning over consumers because their PC and device brand has been damaged almost irreparably through decades of selling characterless beige boxes with poor performance, durability, and customer support.
seltzered 12y ago
Are any of the hp Sprout folks from the MS Research 'illumishare' team from a couple years ago? the video reminds me of this demo of kids playing games over skype with a similar system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODx5t53j66M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODx5t53j66M also, an even older demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnL34XwTgag https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnL34XwTgag I'm actually a bit surprised they didn't stress the collaboration features more, guess there's an initial fear of how many people will own the same device.
zan2434 12y ago
is the primary text input supposed to be a virtual touch keyboard?
hammerbrostime 12y ago
Wow, this makes me wish HP didn't make shit hardware.
emmanueloga_ 12y ago
I'm always looking for the next note-taking device, and I got the idea it would be cool to combine a pico projector and a document camera, so I could project an image over my notepad and then just take a picture of it. This way I could, say, annotate web pages/pdfs with a real pen and scan quickly w/o having to rip the page. That's how I found this guy's work I posted a couple days ago [1]. Anyway, turns out HP has done the hard work for me. Now I just need to waste some $2k USD to verify my silly idea... :p 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8502303 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8502303
proffyt 12y ago
For history buffs, Pierre Wellner built a similar system at EuroPARC in 1991 called the Digital Desk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8lCetZ_57g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8lCetZ_57g
- georgeoliver 12y ago
  Wow, impressive! Did anything build on that do you know?
aridiculous 12y ago
This looks like something Apple should have been working towards for the Mac Pro, geared toward creative professionals.
foomoo 12y ago
The first image on the website [0] made me believe it is some kind of tablet with a big special case, as the picture is taken from an unexpected angle. But hey, first impressions... That being said, this looks like some real innovation and makes for an interesting creative workspace setup. Soon we'll have flexible flexible displays to close the gap between the screen and the projected area (see the moment in the video where she flicks an item from the screen on to the projected area? Quite literally, a gap in interaction). I can imagine this being used in some of the user interface research labs which have been working with similar hand-made setups before. Good move, HP. [0]: http://store.hp.com/wcsstore/hpusstore/Treatment/sprout_meetSprout_1900x603.jpg http://store.hp.com/wcsstore/hpusstore/Treatment/sprout_meet...
oliyoung 12y ago
Looks like a neat concept of something that Apple will commercialise in 3 years
Allysquad 12y ago
I love the fact that when created the advert for sprout they user doesn't actually type the words Ice cream party but it comes up. The user never actually hits the letter P but somehow it magically appears!
- pmr_ 12y ago
  This might seem like a minor issue but it annoyed me like hell. At that point I knew all I was seeing were the visions of a drunk marketeer anyhow, but at that point I realized that they weren't even bothering with reality.
  - Tepix 12y ago
    Same here. I still think it's an interesting concept, however. If they want it to gain traction, they should sell it as a peripheral.
anentropic 12y ago
looks very interesting, shame if its tied to Windows though...
fizgig 12y ago
First thing that popped to mind was projecting on top of a goban so I could get stomped by GnuGo while playing with my nice board and stones. There's something lost in playing Go w/o the tactile nature of a physical board and stones.
tempodox 12y ago
That does actually look somewhat interesting but what is a “20-point touch mat”?

Sprout

617 points by perone 12y ago

himanshuy 12y ago

Video does not play on safari.

ponyous 12y ago
Same in FF. 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 http://bcove.me/gqbyor0d
- FlyingLawnmower 12y ago
  Interesting -- it played fine for me on FF.

superuser2 12y ago

I still can't tell what Sprout is.

ponyous 12y ago
Yup, same here. Video doesn't load, and I'm not gonna take N minutes just to figure out what am I looking at.
thrwy10 12y ago
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!
zecg 12y ago
I clicked specs, saw "Operating system: Windows 8.1" and politely let myself out.
drivingmenuts 12y ago
Me neither but, strangely, I still kind of want one.

bjackman 12y ago

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.

xtrumanx 12y ago
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.

eranation 12y ago

It's actually pretty cool, too bad they leave the punchline at the end of the too long video talking about hands.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

kbar13 12y ago

I think the product looks like one of those shitty toy computers from shoprite.

richthegeek 12y ago

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".

bentcorner 12y ago
> 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.
currysausage 12y ago
> 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!
- anigbrowl 12y ago
  ??! 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.

lnanek2 12y ago

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).

pa5tabear 12y ago

Engadget summary with videos: http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/29/hp-reveals-sprout/ http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/29/hp-reveals-sprout/ "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."

rsync 12y ago
Oh, I thought the lower screen was an e ink display, sort of like simulating a sheet of paper there. I don't like the lower screen with a projector - then the image is obscured by the shadow your hands make...
- lost_name 12y ago
  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.
  - seanp2k2 12y ago
    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.
- columbo 12y ago
  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 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9JXtTj0mzE) I could see some applications taking advantage of this when it comes to working with physical items

unwind 12y ago

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!

josefresco 12y ago
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.
tinha 12y ago
As a SDK developer for Sprout, it is indeed a daring move, we're all very proud :)
- raphman_ 12y ago
  Any reason why there is no information on the projector's resolution anywhere on the website or in the datasheet?
  - tinha 12y ago
    Hmm..It should be there, if not, it will be on the developer guide.
  - kevincrane 12y ago
    It's on the website, under "Closer Look". "1024 x 767 DLP projector"
    - lmm 12y ago
      They couldn't afford to spring for one extra line of pixels to make it a standard resolution?

jnorthrop 12y ago

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.

staz 12y ago

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...

baldfat 12y ago
To me this is the way all pen and paper works. When I write I have a piece of paper on the desk and the screen in front. Seems natural to me.

nutate 12y ago

Radical hardware with a buy now button that doesn't go to kickstarter. Awesome.

baldfat 12y ago

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. HP contact me :)

kubiiii 12y ago

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?

michaelbuckbee 12y ago

Really neat. Reminded me of the D&D downward projecting map setups: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPGPV4-e3JI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPGPV4-e3JI

nathannecro 12y ago

Really neat concept and (it appears) fine execution! Right now, it's a really niche product, but I'm looking forwards to see if this is improved and adopted more widely. Also, the main video doesn't show much. This is much better: http://bcove.me/0mvq74jn http://bcove.me/0mvq74jn

bsimpson 12y ago

I was big into experimental interfaces in around 2006. There was a similar peripheral for the Mac whose name escapes me. (I only ever saw marketing material for it.) It had a sensor to detect the depth and positions of your hands above your desk. Its software would then cast a hand-shaped shadow on your screen, so you could see what you were about to interact with. The UI was like a touchscreen, but you'd abstract the touching away from the displaying for ergonomics. It was a cool concept. Bummed it never went anywhere. Sprout could be interesting, but it would be a lot more interesting if it came from a brand that moved platforms (like Apple). I don't know if HP has the developer mindshare (or sales volume) to have a "revolutionary" product that people get excited about. There are too many other Windows machines (both inside and outside HP) for this to get the attention it deserves.

ryanmclaughlin 12y ago
Pretty sure you're thinking of Leap Motion. https://www.leapmotion.com https://www.leapmotion.com
- bsimpson 12y ago
  Nope. I think the one I'm thinking of had a green website with a photo of a MacBook and a grey tablety thing that detected your hands. This was long before Leap was a thing. I think the tablety-thing was an L shaped touchpad, where the depth sensors were in the | part of the L.
0942v8653 12y ago
It's called Leap Motion. https://leapmotion.com https://leapmotion.com In my opinion it's no better than a touchscreen because you have to wave your hands in the air which is more work than keeping it on a desk. I wouldn't buy it.
- pbreit 12y ago
  I think Leap still has huge potential (mainly commercial) but unfortunately not as a general purpose UI device. In fact, it's much worse than a touchscreen for all 2-D situations (ie, pretty much everything that's being represented on a flat screen).

stevenschmatz 12y ago

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.

mapleoin 12y ago

"Hands. They've always done amazing things..." That's a great beginning for a video parody of some Silicon Valley startups.

atom-morgan 12y ago
Remember Facebook's "Chairs"?

malloreon 12y ago

This is a neat idea but I'll bet in practice it is very tiring to use.

swamp40 12y ago

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/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/14/please-save-hp/

Xoxox 12y ago
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-fusion-3d-ecosystem/ http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/hp-sprout-multi-jet-f...
coldtea 12y ago
>The Aha moment for me was watching the beans spill on the touchpad and getting immediately digitized and put into a presentation. Which is probably just a demo thing, and nothing that users can or will do in real life.
- anigbrowl 12y ago
  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.

_almosnow 12y ago

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.

soylentcola 12y ago
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.
- djrogers 12y ago
  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.
  - soylentcola 12y ago
    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.

dyeje 12y ago

This looks pretty awesome. Looking forward to giving it a whirl.

dvirsky 12y ago

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.

Argorak 12y ago

I'm probably a bit weird in that regard, but the large image immediately reminded me of the Left4Dead cover image.

Throwaway1224 12y ago

Junk.

schtinky 12y ago

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?

VLM 12y ago
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.
michael_h 12y ago
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.
- vxNsr 12y ago
  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.
12y ago

aaronetz 12y ago

Reminds me of the augmented reality sandbox [1] I've played with at a museum [2] and which was really cool. [1] http://idav.ucdavis.edu/~okreylos/ResDev/SARndbox/ http://idav.ucdavis.edu/~okreylos/ResDev/SARndbox/ [2] https://naturalhistory.novascotia.ca/ https://naturalhistory.novascotia.ca/

danielki 12y ago

Looks nice, but the 1-year warranty is a huge dealbreaker. If I'm going to be spending $1900 on a PC, it had better be guaranteed to last longer than that.

VLM 12y ago

Google terms to search for "augmented desk" "InteractiveDESK" This idea is introduced roughly every 4 years at least since the first time I saw it in the early 90s. There has been some limited commercial success. The local mall had a 100 sq ft model for kids to play with in one of the walkways. Balls bounce around and react when people walk into them. Its more or less a kinect with substantial changes in scale and optical path.

Xoxox 12y ago
So True!

bndw 12y ago

After watching the video on their landing page, I can't help but be reminded of the Generic Brand Video on Vimeo[1]. [1] http://vimeo.com/89527215 http://vimeo.com/89527215

LiweiZ 12y ago
Thanks for the video, which led me to the footage service:)

flameingo 12y ago

This looks really cool.(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBnf_lHxPdE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBnf_lHxPdE)

PaulHoule 12y ago

You're looking at low end parts for the price, particularly the inclusion of a "Hybrid HDD". Hybrid HDDs do almost nothing for for Windows, but putting an SSD into a Windows machine makes it dramatically more responsive. If you want people to experience a new thing in computing that is tactile you can't make people wait for a disc to spin up, ever.

aragot 12y ago

I almost thought "Wow, someone finally starts building Apple-level PCs". But the machine still only runs Windows. To a certain crowd of IT profrssionals, Apple has raised the standard to "I need both quality gear and the unix experience (including the command line but not only)". So much that it would make sense that HP starts supporting Ubuntu by default.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

hk__2 12y ago

Side note: “prout” is French for “fart”. For a French speaker, this product’s name hence sounds like “sfart”.

Klinky 12y ago
Seems like no tech name is safe with the French. Just the other day someone was stating the name of "Puer" someone chose for their server app means "to stink" in French. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8513314 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8513314
Narretz 12y ago
Correction: for a French speaker that doesn't know the word "sprout" and / or isn't at least an intermediate English speaker.

krosaen 12y ago

Wii or Virtual Boy? Ambitious in any case, glad HP is trying!

wmeredith 12y ago

Kudos to them for trying something new! This looks great. I can't help but think they would have a little more credibility if the industrial design wasn't a wanna-be iMac. Oy.

crapiola 12y ago

This product must have sounded like a good idea to some clueless but slightly rich tech charlatans. Looking at the product page, a mediocre genius like me can tell: The intro video tells zilch about the product. Tries to sell some grandiose vision about hands. As if they have evolutioned hands for snakes. That's a sore sign that there's not much to the product. "A creativity station. A fully functioning PC. Whatever you want to call it, Sprout can do it. " I want to call it the spaceship voyager on a mission to the planet of the MBAs. "Blending the physical and digital worlds that you live in, Sprout unleashes your creativity like never before." if by that you mean it makes you want to rant creatively, sure.

radnam 12y ago

This reminds me so much about osmo https://www.playosmo.com/ https://www.playosmo.com/ Disclaimer: Not affiliated with the company

BlobbyLaMouche 12y ago
Yes! Disclaimer: I own an Osmo. One thing where Osmo wins for sure is the name. The name appart, sprout is trying to be much more than Osmo. I have to emphasize the "trying" though. Sprout is going in all the directions between the 3D scanning, the touchpad and the projector. Osmo is much more modest with just a camera looking at the table, but this also means they could concentrate on user interactions that really made sense and an incredibly good pattern recognition experience. Anyway if I have the opportunity to play with Sprout I will!

leeber 12y ago

It's kind of cool from the video, but honestly I lost interest half way through. I'm not sure if it solves an existing problem or would appeal to the mass market though. I guess when you have cash that needs to be spent, you do stuff like this? I can't imagine this is the best innovation HP can come up with.

Domenic_S 12y ago

Did the woman in the video search for images and then steal the dolphin one to go with the HP logo?!

tonyedgecombe 12y ago
Good artists copy, great artists steal.

627467 12y ago

About time some serious attempt at blurring the lines between creating in digital and physical worlds. This along side paper and a 3D printer is going to be a fantastic tool in the creator toolbox. Let's see how the dev community reacts to non-Apple/Google new platform.

niels_olson 12y ago

Really cool idea, too bad it comes with an operating system. 1) This should be a sold as a peripheral, not with its own CPU 2) Turn the bottom into a matte finish Cintiq monitor that can be quickly shut off

IkmoIkmo 12y ago

My immediate reaction is that it looks pretty useless apart from being a foray into bringing digital and physical closer together, which may lead to other interesting things. We need springboards like this to find out what works and what doesn't and make something better, but in and of itself it doesn't seem too interesting. Just the first reaction to some of the videos that are mostly bleh marketing. Might have to revise my opinion once I see some more. Looking forward to seeing someone do a hands-on video, or just create something for 30 minutes with a camera looking over his/her shoulder.

anigbrowl 12y ago
I think it looks insanely useful, just wish it wasn't so expensive (and I might make a few tweaks to the hardware - if there aren't cameras embedded in the frame of the vertical screen, which I didn't check yet, then there should be). This is one of the most innovative products I have seen in the last several years.
- IkmoIkmo 12y ago
  Don't mind me by the way, I'm not much of an artist so I don't really fit the immediate target group :P Could you talk a little bit about what kind of things you'd like to use it for and how that either couldn't be done before, or is better than what you could do before. The videos didn't really do it for me.

Raphael 12y ago

You'd think they would write a description of the product. Basic SEO.

fastball 12y ago

Looks cool, but not sure I could get into it without any sort of haptic feedback.

roxtar 12y ago

Reminded me of the original Microsoft surface

matt_morgan 12y ago

Interesting that it's being sold as an all-in-one, where it could easily be a peripheral that works with any computer. It's packaged as signature bold product but they got there incrementally, using (as others have pointed out) an idea that's come around at times before (but in even more niche areas like museums).

jscheel 12y ago

Really impressed with this. I'm glad HP is trying something innovative in the desktop market. As a father of a young girl, I'm really interested in something like this. Could be especially great for her.

swalsh 12y ago

With Tim Cook running Apple, there's a void in the "Well designed, but not cheap prosumer hardware" space. HP seems to want to stab it.

mmanfrin 12y ago
I'm not sure the connection between your two clauses -- are you saying that because Tim Cook is running Apple, Apple no longer produces "well designed, but not cheap prosumer hardware"?
- swalsh 12y ago
  Yes. Steve Jobs was notorious for driving his team to do the impossible, no matter how marginal the utility might seem. He set the bar pretty high for design. All outside indications seem to demonstrate Tim Cook doesn't drive it to the same degree. I think Apple will still try to deliver on those traditions, but especially as the iphone 6 shows, they're not doing a great job at it. Apple seems to lead the way in making things thinner, and following behind in making "new" things. Its a clear void.

state 12y ago

If your target audience is 'makers' then why is this being marketed as a toy? The underlying idea is great, and I'm very much looking forward to someone implementing this correctly — but I'm not interested in buying a giant toy for creating more 'moments' for my 'followers'. I want something for doing actual creative work, and that's the only metric that matters for a product like this anyway. Maybe Bret should give it a try (http://vimeo.com/97903574 http://vimeo.com/97903574).

namuol 12y ago

Finally, the problem of creating those fancy desktop-at-a-coffee-shop splashes is solved! throws away SLR

tlrobinson 12y ago

Neat idea, but I don't necessarily want a whole new computer, just the projector + 3D camera. Someone should hack together an open source version. The hardware should be pretty straightforward: a commodity projector, a couple webcams, and perhaps an Xbox Kinect or similar.

pnathan 12y ago

Huh. This is novel. I don't know what to call it (initially I thought it was another tablet thing). I'm kinda intrigued by where it'll go.

ceeekay 12y ago

Looking at the "apps" section's picture, I can't help but feel like they've created a giant Nintendo DS. I also can't tell if I feel like that's a bad thing.

ceeekay 12y ago

I knew I had seen that first image somewhere... https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bb/Fatboy_Slim_-_Halfway_Between_the_Gutter_and_the_Stars.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bb/Fatboy_Slim_-...

Dharmakirti 12y ago

Loved it! Feels nice to see the pioneering spirit at HP is still alive. A cursory look at the SDK shows that it's mainly WPF and C++ (QT?) which might make it easier to develop apps. Looks interesting.

TheMagicHorsey 12y ago

This is the coolest thing out of HP in a long time. I hope they don't screw it up in the typical HP way through tone-deaf responses to the market. They are going to have to work pretty hard winning over consumers because their PC and device brand has been damaged almost irreparably through decades of selling characterless beige boxes with poor performance, durability, and customer support.

seltzered 12y ago

Are any of the hp Sprout folks from the MS Research 'illumishare' team from a couple years ago? the video reminds me of this demo of kids playing games over skype with a similar system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODx5t53j66M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODx5t53j66M also, an even older demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnL34XwTgag https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnL34XwTgag I'm actually a bit surprised they didn't stress the collaboration features more, guess there's an initial fear of how many people will own the same device.

zan2434 12y ago

is the primary text input supposed to be a virtual touch keyboard?

hammerbrostime 12y ago

Wow, this makes me wish HP didn't make shit hardware.

emmanueloga_ 12y ago

I'm always looking for the next note-taking device, and I got the idea it would be cool to combine a pico projector and a document camera, so I could project an image over my notepad and then just take a picture of it. This way I could, say, annotate web pages/pdfs with a real pen and scan quickly w/o having to rip the page. That's how I found this guy's work I posted a couple days ago [1]. Anyway, turns out HP has done the hard work for me. Now I just need to waste some $2k USD to verify my silly idea... :p 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8502303 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8502303

proffyt 12y ago

For history buffs, Pierre Wellner built a similar system at EuroPARC in 1991 called the Digital Desk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8lCetZ_57g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8lCetZ_57g

georgeoliver 12y ago
Wow, impressive! Did anything build on that do you know?

aridiculous 12y ago

This looks like something Apple should have been working towards for the Mac Pro, geared toward creative professionals.

foomoo 12y ago

The first image on the website [0] made me believe it is some kind of tablet with a big special case, as the picture is taken from an unexpected angle. But hey, first impressions... That being said, this looks like some real innovation and makes for an interesting creative workspace setup. Soon we'll have flexible flexible displays to close the gap between the screen and the projected area (see the moment in the video where she flicks an item from the screen on to the projected area? Quite literally, a gap in interaction). I can imagine this being used in some of the user interface research labs which have been working with similar hand-made setups before. Good move, HP. [0]: http://store.hp.com/wcsstore/hpusstore/Treatment/sprout_meetSprout_1900x603.jpg http://store.hp.com/wcsstore/hpusstore/Treatment/sprout_meet...

oliyoung 12y ago

Looks like a neat concept of something that Apple will commercialise in 3 years

Allysquad 12y ago

I love the fact that when created the advert for sprout they user doesn't actually type the words Ice cream party but it comes up. The user never actually hits the letter P but somehow it magically appears!

pmr_ 12y ago
This might seem like a minor issue but it annoyed me like hell. At that point I knew all I was seeing were the visions of a drunk marketeer anyhow, but at that point I realized that they weren't even bothering with reality.
- Tepix 12y ago
  Same here. I still think it's an interesting concept, however. If they want it to gain traction, they should sell it as a peripheral.

anentropic 12y ago

looks very interesting, shame if its tied to Windows though...

fizgig 12y ago

First thing that popped to mind was projecting on top of a goban so I could get stomped by GnuGo while playing with my nice board and stones. There's something lost in playing Go w/o the tactile nature of a physical board and stones.

tempodox 12y ago

That does actually look somewhat interesting but what is a “20-point touch mat”?