iPhone deal for Immersion?

Apple Inc is in talks with Immersion Corporation to licence Haptic Technology for its iPhone. Immersion Corporation on Thursday announced that they have appointed former Apple executive Clent Richardson to the position of President and CEO... More

Immersion names former Apple exec as CEO

Immersion Corp. on Thursday announced that they have appointed former Apple executive Clent Richardson to the position of President and CEO. Richardson starts today, and is expected to be appointed to Immersion’s Board of Directors at its next board meeting... More

Develop:Can haptic devices serve games design better than a mouse?

Special guide to the peculiar-looking but innovative devices available to artists, designers and gamers...

... haptic devices - which supply physical feedback and differing input solutions - are fast becoming a viable option for gamers and games developers, specifically artists.... More

Washington Post: Samsung launches touch-screen, haptic cell phone

...There are 22 kinds of vibration in total built into the phone...It's the second new handset launched on Tuesday in South Korea that plays on the sense of touch but the other, LG Electronics' LG-SH240, isn't quite as high-tech. The latter phone has a layer of silicon over the front of the phone to give it a little elasticity and make it feel to users like they're touching human skin... More

Computerworld: Sprint, Samsung announce 'Instinct' to rival iPhone

...One notable feature of the device's touch screen is a haptic feedback capability, where a user feels a slight buzz when a touch is made to an on-screen keypad. During demonstrations, Sprint and Samsung employees said the haptic feedback, also called vibe tones, means that people can use the device while wearing winter gloves, which isn't possible with the iPhone... More

Immersion Research Loaner Program

From: Chris Ullrich
Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2008 4:05 pm

**Editor's note: this email's attachments can be downloaded from:
Fax back form
Solicitation

Gabriel,

Immersion is setting up a research loaner program and is soliciting project proposals. Can you forward this to the Haptics-L list?

The details are found below and in the attachments. This information is also available on our website at
http://www.immersion.com/corporate/haptics/haptic_research_program.php.

Immersion Corporation Haptic Research Program
Mar. 7 2008

Use State of the Art Tactile Touchscreen Technology in Your Research

Immersion is soliciting project proposals from qualified researchers and
students investigating haptic human-computer interaction. We have a limited
number of Samsung i718 SmartPhones with VibeTonz® tactile feedback to loan
for academic research purposes. Both platforms include software and content
development environments (for Windows) and are capable of high fidelity
tactile feedback.

To participate in the program, on or before March 31, 2008, send via fax or
email as noted on the form:

1) A half-page project proposal and

2) A completed and signed Program Agreement form (pdf)

We will review all submissions and contact selected researchers to arrange
for the delivery of loan equipment. Submissions received after March 31,
2008 will be reviewed on a case by case basis and will be subject to
equipment availability. Acceptance of any project proposal is in
Immersion’s sole discretion.

Project proposals in the following areas are of particular interest, but
all ideas are solicited:

Tactile feedback enhanced graphical user interaction
Mobile platform tactile feedback
Tactile messaging
Usability analyses
Quantitative performance studies
Psychophysical effects

About the i718: The Samsung i718 is a quad-band GSM SmartPhone that
features a large resistive touchscreen and runs Windows Mobile 5.0.
Content development is enabled with Immersion’s VibeTonz Studio graphical
authoring tool. Programmatic access to the high fidelity VibeTonz kernel
is provided by Immersion’s VibeTonz SDK.

Thanks

Chris

Chris Ullrich

Director of Applied Research

Immersion Corporation

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...Since the PlayStation 3 has shipped, the system has used what Sony calls a "Sixaxis" game controller. It looks almost identical to the gamepads that Sony makes for the PlayStation 2, nevertheless features internal gyroscoping capabilities so users can tilt the controller up, down, left and right to control the game.

The interactive capabilities of the Sixaxis controller drew criticism from some game reviewers and analysts because the controller lacks the distinctive "rumble" feature that was present in earlier generations of Sony controllers marked as "DualShock" products...Sony initially dismissed rumble as a feature of older game systems that didn't need to be in the PlayStation 3. The company quickly changed its tune after Sony settled with Immersion once and for all in March of 2007. At that time, Sony President Kaz Hirai announced that Immersion and Sony were working on "exciting newly come ways" to incorporate rumble into PlayStation 3 games... More

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Washington Post: Sense of Touch Comes to Computers

Click here for a Slashdot.com discussion on this topic

A controller developed at Carnegie Mellon University allows computer users to manipulate three-dimensional images and explore virtual environments not only through sight and sound, but by using their sense of touch.

The device, expected to be used mainly for research, training and industrial purposes, comes close to the sensitivity of the human hand... More

Haptics job:Research Assistant

Network Architectures for Distributed Haptic Virtual Environments (HAPNet)
School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Ref: 08/100317

How can we send a third sense over the Internet? We are about to enter the ‘second age' of the Internet, where it is being reengineered to deliver time sensitive services such as voice and video in contrast to its previous best effort-only service. However if the Internet is to expand beyond this then it must be able to deliver a greater range of human senses. In this project we will investigate techniques that will allow an additional human sense, haptic touch (or reflected force), to be sent over the Internet.... More

Internet2: Getting the Web Ready for Hyperspeed

From Internet Revolution, Written by Mary E. Shacklett. A master violin teacher in Canada and a student in Atlanta interact in high-quality video as if they were in the same room. A Stanford University medical student practices telesurgery techniques through haptic (touch) applications over a reliable Internet connection, while an expert surgeon from across the country guides him. All of this is enabled by Internet2 , a nonprofit consortium that offers advanced network applications and revolutionary Internet technologies for research and education... More

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Using Flash Lite (TM). More information is here.