To Answer the Phone, Scratch Your Jeans

The sound of a fingernail raking across a table or a board may be enough to drive most people crazy. But get past that annoyance and it could become a way to answer your phone, silence a call or turn up the volume.

Scratch Input, a computer input technique developed by researchers at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, uses the sound produced when a fingernail is dragged over the surface of any textured material such as wood, fabric or wall paint. The technology was demonstrated at the Siggraph graphics conference this year.

“It’s kind of a crazy idea but a simple one,” says Chris Harrison, one of the researchers on the project. “If you have a cellphone in your pocket and want to silence an incoming call, you don’t have to pull it out of your pocket. You could just drag your fingernail on your jeans.”

As researchers study how people can interact in simpler and more innovative ways with computers and gadgets, going beyond the traditional keyboard, mouse and keypad has become important. Earlier this year, Harrison and his team demonstrated a touchscreen where pop-up buttons and keypads can dynamically appear and disappear. That allows the user to experience the physical feel of buttons on a touchscreen.

Scratch Input is another way to explore how we can interact with devices, says Harrison. Harrison, along with a colleague Julia Schwarz, and his professor Scott Hudson started working on the idea a year ago.  Scratch Input works with almost any kind of surface except glass and a few other materials that are extremely smooth.

“With this we can start to think of every flat surface as an potential input area,” says Daniel Wigdor, user experience architect at Microsoft and curator of the emerging technology demos at Siggraph. “Imagine a cellphone with a mini projector. You can now turn an entire surface into a screen for the projector and use the surface to control it.”

Scratch Input works by isolating and identifying the sound of a fingernail dragging on an area.

“All the sound happening in the environment like people putting coffee cups on the table, cars going by or children screaming, we know what frequencies they are in,” says Harrison.

A fingernail on a surface produces a frequency between 6000 Hz and 13,000 Hz. Compare that to voice, which is typically in the range of 90 Hz to 300 Hz, or noise from a refrigerator compressor or air conditioning hum, which is in the range of 50 Hz or 60 Hz.

“It makes it easy for us to throw away all the other acoustic information and just listen to what your nail sounds like,” says Harrison.

Harrison and his team used that principle to rig up a system for Scratch Input. They attached a modified stethoscope to a microphone that converts the sound into an electrical signal. The signal is amplified and connected to a computer through the audio-input jack.

“If mass produced, this sensor could cost less than a dollar,” says Harrison.

Scratch Input also supports simple gesture recognition. Tracing the letter ‘S,’ for instance produces an acoustic imprint that the system can be trained to identify.  The idea has its limitations. For instance, many letters that are written differently, sound very similar such as M, W, V, L, X or T. Scratch Input cannot accurately distinguish between these gestures. But still Harrison says the system can respond with about 90 percent accuracy.

Another problem is that the system cannot determine the spatial location of the input, says Wigdor. “For instance, with volume control, it can hear your finger spin in the appropriate gesture but the system can’t see it so sometimes it does not have enough information to react.”

Despite the limitations, the technology holds enough promise to make it into the hands of consumers, says Wigdor. “It is exciting because it is so low cost,” he says. “This idea has the potential to go beyond just a research project.”

Check out this video demo of Scratch Input:

Photo: Chris Harrison

The Week In Gadget Reviews: Wired Goes Back to School

It may be early August but we at Wired are already hitting the books. This week we kicked off our two month long Back to School product review extravaganza where we’ll be wrangling gizmos geared for students, teachers, or just the academically minded. Here’s a taste of what debuted this week:

We started off by pointing out the merits of the Kindle DX — a device Jeff Bezos aimed squarely at college students overloaded with insanely heavy, expensive textbooks. (Where was this thing when I was lugging a lumbar shattering org-chem text across campus?)

Wired.com senior editor Dylan Tweney got in touch with his inner art student by reviewing the Olympus Pen EP-1. The first micro four thirds camera from Olympus, the shooter features a dead sexy retro design we hope will carry over into future camera creations.

Our new intern Kelsey Hazlewood found three high tech green backpacks and crammed them full of essential student gear ranging from MacBooks to six packs. Her findings? Let’s just say it was a tight race with the Timbuk2 Swig coming out on top.

And Bryan Gardiner became the Anthony Bourdain of dorm room nuclear cooking with a review of Panasonic’s new induction microwave.

Next week we’ll be hitting core electronics hard. Expect reviews on netbooks, notebooks, transportation, and media players.

Images: Wired.com/ Chud.com

6 Reasons to Jailbreak Your iPhone

Hacking your iPhone to run unofficial, third-party apps may seem unnecessary since Apple hosts its own App Store. But the corporation’s recently enforced prohibitions on some apps, such as the banning of Google Voice, are reviving the incentive for customers to jailbreak their iPhones once again.

Thanks to Cydia, an unauthorized app store open to jailbroken iPhones, consumers can still access some software that Apple won’t allow. Think free text-messaging and cheap international calls thanks to a Google Voice app that Apple banned. Or features that we can’t have yet, such as multimedia messaging and tethering. Here, we round up a list of the most compelling reasons to jailbreak your iPhone.

1. Google Voice

Apple recently rejected and banned Google Voice apps from its App Store. The apps would have augmented the search giant’s new voice service, which enables users to rely on a single phone number to ring all their phones, while also delivering the gift of free text messages, voicemail service and cheap international calls. The move stirred so much controversy that even the Federal Communications Commission is inquiring about the prohibition.

Thankfully in the Cydia store there’s GV Mobile, an unofficial Google Voice app. In light of Apple’s blanket ban of Google Voice apps, GV Mobile is the no. 1 reason to jailbreak your iPhone (if you weren’t one of the lucky few to grab a copy before Apple banned it). Overall the app is really sweet, despite having room to improve in terms of performance (connecting to Google’s server each time you launch the app can be a drag). Your contacts list is nicely integrated into the phone dialer and SMS sender; the overall UI is slick and cool. After a few minutes you’ll be sending free text messages, and maybe even dialing your relatives in Taiwan for once with cheap international VOIP calls. The best part? The app’s free.

2. Unrestricted 3G Privileges

AT&T iPhone owners pay $30 per month for “unlimited” 3G data access. But your access isn’t truly unlimited, thanks to restrictions that Apple imposed on some apps. SlingPlayer, an app that streams television from a Slingbox device, was crippled to work only on a Wi-Fi connection at the request of Apple and AT&T. And the Skype VOIP app only works on Wi-Fi, too, rendering it impractical.

This is where 3G Unrestrictor comes in handy. The $2 app enables jailbroken iPhone users to select any app that they wish to use over 3G, including Skype and SlingPlayer. Also, by default the App Store won’t let you download files larger than 10MB on the 3G network, and 3G Unrestrictor will remove that regulation, too. Free your apps and download away!

3. Tethering

Apple promised the new iPhone 3.0 OS would deliver tethering, but AT&T customers have yet to see that promise fulfilled. AT&T promised tethering would arrive “late summer.” Well, we’re waiting, and it’s not here yet. Some iPhone 3.0 users have figured out a roundabout way to turn on tethering without hacking, but that solution is only temporary.

Guess what? There’s a tethering app in Cydia, too. It’s a $5 app called Tether. The steps on setting up tethering aren’t as simple as Apple’s, but hey, you don’t even have to pay a monthly fee to use the service. The app even includes a feature to set a data cap in case you’re worried about extra charges incurred on your account if AT&T catches you tethering. It’s a little rough around the edges thanks to the network setup taking a few minutes, but we still love it.

4. Overseas Travel

Need to travel? Your iPhone can only go so far thanks to its carrier-tied SIM card, unless you wish to receive bills up the nostril thanks to international roaming costs. Jailbreaking will actually enable you to follow a process to unlock your iPhone to work with other carriers’ SIM cards overseas.

5. Pissing off Apple

Whether you’re a developer who has a beef with Apple, or if you’re a consumer who’s pissed at Apple, or if you’re a kid whose puppy was run over by an employee of Apple, then you may want to exact revenge by jailbreaking your iPhone. That’s because Apple clearly doesn’t like it when users jailbreak their iPhones. The company claims the process is illegal, and goes as far as to say jailbreaking will crash cellphone towers. So far these are empty threats, although buyer beware: Future court decisions, laws or FCC regulations may put teeth into Apple’s claims.

6. Pissing off AT&T

Frustrated with AT&T’s brainless customer service, spotty network reception and passive-aggressive totalitarian rule over the App Store? Jailbreaking for any of the reasons above will piss off AT&T, mostly by enabling your applications to use its 3G network without restriction. Or, if you like, you can take your protest a step further and unlock your jailbroken phone, enabling it to work with with T-Mobile or any other GSM-based carrier. It’s not a tea party, it’s an AT&T party!

So what are you waiting for? We won’t tell you how to jailbreak your phone, but you can find the necessary tools and instructions on iPhone Dev-Team’s blog. We also found YouTube user Rizzo893’s video really helpful, too.

Photo: William Hook/Flickr, Jason-Morrison/Flickr, jorgeq/Flickr

Retro-Style Cassette Tape USB Hub

Unlike pretty much every other cassette tape hack we have covered (and there have been a lot) the Cassette Tape USB Hub is an actual, real, factory made product, and not an old tape with a few electronic gubbins stuffed inside. And why not? After all, USB hubs are almost universally dull (or hideous ‘novelty’ designs).

The hub’s case is an exact copy of the old-style cassette, right down to spinning wheels inside. It’ll even fit inside an old cassette box, if you still have one laying around. The catch is that this hub costs $25, which is a little steep for something likely to spend most of its time tucked behind a monitor, hidden from view.

Product page [Vat 19 via BBG]

See Also:

• Retro Cassette Deck Will Hook Up to Almost Everything
• Cassette
• Cassette Tape Belt Buckles
• Cassette Dock

Tiny USB Card Reader Packs 16GB, Is Smaller Than USB Port

This tiny little plug might look like an ordinary microSD card reader, and it is. The catch? Buffalo’s diminutive device will cost you $160, although for that the company throws in a 16GB microSD card.

That’s actually quite a good deal, and will turn your cellphone into a pocket media center, allowing you to share music just like the generous kids in my town. They “share” their tunes on buses, trains and even in the street, blasting tinnily distorted noise through tiny cellphone speakers. And if its too expensive, you can always opt for a smaller and cheaper 4GB version, for just $36.

These things are becoming so small that we wonder if the full-sized USB plug is too big. Is there any (technical) reason why the side of my MacBook couldn’t have a row of four mini USB ports on the side in the place of the two honking great holes there now? Wouldn’t that be a lot better?

Product page [GeekStuff4U]

Halo: Light-Writing Graffiti Spray-Can

Halo is a beautiful device for spraying light. Shaped like a spray-can, the glass tube has an LED in the cap which shines when pressed. The form factor lets graffiti artists use their existing muscle memory to tag and draw.

Couple this with a camera set at a low shutter speed and you get some great effects, and the caps can be swapped to switch colors. The best part, though, is way you charge it. Inside, designer Aïssa Logerot has put a copper coil and some magnets on a spring. When the lamps finally dim and wink out, you shake the “can”, just like you would if you were mixing paint, and the battery is charged. Ingenious, and sadly not for sale.

Product page [Aïssa Logerot via Geekologie]

Chinese Farmer Builds His Own Flying Machine

“I had this dream from childhood of not needing to climb mountains anymore. I wanted to go to school in my own flying machine.”

This was the childhood dream of Wu Zhongyuan, of China’s Henan province. It is also, quite likely, a childhood dream of most you, dear Gadget Lab readers. Unlike you, though, Zhongyuan actually did something about it. He built his own helicopter.

The device, which likely breaks almost every airspace and safety law simultaneously, is made from steel scaffold, has blades cut from Elm and is powered by an old motorcycle engine. Zhongyuan says that the ‘copter, which took three months and around $1600 to build, can soar to 800 meters (2600 feet). We’re not sure if it can even get airborne, though, as currently the machine is grounded by Chinese authorities.

How did he come up with his ramshackle design? The internet, of course. “I didn’t have a design. The only source for me to get relevant knowledge was surfing the internet via my mobile phone,” he said to news site Ananova. We love it. A personal helicopter is a fantastic project, and we wish Zhongyuan luck getting it off the ground. Of course, we’d never go near the thing. Imagine being half a mile up and when the engine cuts out on you. No thanks.

Farmer’s home-made helicopter [Ananova via DVICE]

Chinese farmer builds a working wooden helicopter [Auto Motto]

US Bank To Allow Check Deposits via iPhone

The USAA bank will soon let you deposit a check with your iPhone. Many banks have iPhone apps that allow online banking, but USAA, from its single branch in San Antonio, will be the first to dispatch with the decidedly old-school check.

Using the application, customers photograph the front and back of the check with the iPhone’s camera. Hit send and the check is whisked off into the clearing system. The paper check itself never needs to go to the bank, and you can just tear it up and toss it away (or, for the more paranoid, file it in a safe place). The service will be appear in an update to the already available iPhone app sometime this week. The application will also steer you to your nearest ATM, show you where the nearest car rental joint is and, weirdly, “record accident details to help you file a claim.”

What surprises us is that people still use checks. In Spain, cash is still king, but more and more people use debit cards that work just like checks, only without the dead trees. I almost never see checks, to the extent that when I do spot one being written, I stare and point. The app is free, and available now.
Product page [USAA via NYT]

Waterproof iPhone Case Thwarts Toilet Tumbles

If only we’d heard of this earlier! Our own Brian Chen killed his iPhone by carelessly tossing a glass of water at it and confounded the mistake by weeping cry-baby tears all over the thing. If he’d been using this inflatable, waterproof iPhone case, though, he’d still have his trusty 3G.

The case lets you use the phone as normal, too. You can plug in some waterproof headphones to a clever slot which routes electricity and not water to the actual jack, you can use both the home and the off button and the camera has a window to peek out of. You can even use the touch-screen through the plastic cover.

A lanyard means you can swim with your iPhone round your neck, an armband is a little more practical for the same thing, and the earbuds also come in the box. A bargain at ¥3,280, or $34. Or you could, you know, wait until you have already dunked your phone and then put it in a box of rice, like Brian. The same rice that manages to stay dry for months even in a humid climate. How did that work out for you, Brian?

Product page [Sanwa via The Giz]

See Also:

• Rest in Rice: My Poor, Dead iPhone (2007 to 2009)
• IPhone Water Sensor Revealed
• iPhone Includes Water Damage Indicator

Gadget Lab Comment of the Week #3

The top comment on Gadget Lab last week was posted by senor_demasiado, on my post about the Zune HD.

“What’s with the smug comments about microsoft?” senor_demasiado asks. That’s a response to my question about what kinds of video you’d want to store on your Zune, then display on your hotel room’s widescreen TV. What kind of video, you ask? Think of the children, he says: Such videos are indispensible for entertaining the wee ones on long trips.

And then there’s always the “tech for tech’s sake” argument:

“Why would you want to plug your Zune into a TV?… I bet 10 years ago, people would ask, “why would someone want to put a video camera on a phone”? The answer is always the same for these questions; Because it doesn’t have one now, or just Because.

Good point, senor_demasiado. Why ask why? New features, in all their purity, are the Gadget Lab’s reason for being. Useful, useless, or just plain awesome, we love writing about them, especially if we can also use them to entertain our kids. So you want to put HDMI out capabilities on a media player? Hell yeah! We’ll find a use for it, somehow.

The comment-of-the-week prize is a Leatherman Freestyle CX (above), one of the smallest tools Leatherman makes. It’s got a pair of pliers and a hard, 154CM stainless steel blade, and that’s about it. It fits nicely in your pocket, feels good in your hand and looks cool. Thanks very much to the Leatherman company for donating these as prizes.

A close runner-up last week was Rob Beschizza’s comment comparing fanny packs to Atlantis: “The problem with fanny packs is the same as the problem with Atlantis: as soon as you make the proposition reasonable, it becomes something else entirely.” Unfortunately, Rob, as the former editor of Gadget Lab and the gadgets editor for BoingBoing — aka “Wired’s paramilitary wing” — has been disqualified from winning. Instead, I am going to send him a consolation prize: the iPhone case I got at the GDGT party last week.

There is one more week to win a prize, so keep those comments coming. And as a reminder, here’s the Gadget Lab comment policy.

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