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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! se

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.
  - ecommercematt 12y ago
    Initially, I tried to see how stereotypes about blondes related to what you were saying and then I realized you meant "blind people."
    - anigbrowl 12y ago
      Oops, hehe. In my defense, I am in fact blonde.
  - currysausage 12y ago
    > ??! There are pictures. 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).
    - anigbrowl 12y ago
      I guess I infer things differently from you... 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.
shams93 12y ago
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
wahsd 12y ago
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.
- Kevin_S 12y ago
  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.
mrweasel 12y ago
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.
wfbarks 12y ago
Dude, its called a spork. It was invented by taco bell, and its brilliant.
- djeikyb 12y ago
  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. [0]: https://www.google.com/patents/US147119 https://www.google.com/patents/US147119 [1]: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=spork%2C+foon&year_start=1500&year_end=2020&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cspork%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cfoon%3B%2Cc0 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=spork%2C+foon&...
- richthegeek 12y ago
  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?
  - pmr_ 12y ago
    I'm going on a tangent here. The spork is the preferred tool for eating by many outdoor enthusiasts.
kbart 12y ago
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.
iwatch00 12y ago
Agree, not sure what is the use case.

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.
- ecommercematt 12y ago
  Initially, I tried to see how stereotypes about blondes related to what you were saying and then I realized you meant "blind people."
  - anigbrowl 12y ago
    Oops, hehe. In my defense, I am in fact blonde.
- currysausage 12y ago
  > ??! There are pictures. 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).
  - anigbrowl 12y ago
    I guess I infer things differently from you... 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.

shams93 12y ago

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

wahsd 12y ago

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.

Kevin_S 12y ago
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.

mrweasel 12y ago

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.

wfbarks 12y ago

Dude, its called a spork. It was invented by taco bell, and its brilliant.

djeikyb 12y ago
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. [0]: https://www.google.com/patents/US147119 https://www.google.com/patents/US147119 [1]: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=spork%2C+foon&year_start=1500&year_end=2020&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cspork%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cfoon%3B%2Cc0 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=spork%2C+foon&...
richthegeek 12y ago
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?
- pmr_ 12y ago
  I'm going on a tangent here. The spork is the preferred tool for eating by many outdoor enthusiasts.

kbart 12y ago

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.

iwatch00 12y ago

Agree, not sure what is the use case.