One of the many things
I love about old media such as magazines and newspapers is their flexibility.
You can roll 'em up, stick em' in your back pocket, bang 'em around and even
use 'em to swat house flies.
New media tablets, on
the other hand, require almost a custodial reverence when it comes to
ownership. Cases and sleeves are a must for transport and safe keeping, lest it
get scratched or shattered. And you can forget about rolling one up in your
back pocket or swatting house flies. Unless you want gashes in your drywall.
Potentially bridging
this gap is a team from Canada's Queen's University. They're collaborating with
Intel Labs and Plastic Logic to redefine the tablet's form as a flexible,
paper-like touchscreen computer called PaperTab.
But PaperTab's flexible
form isn't its only innovation. Unlike tablets, which switch between apps on a
single display, multiple PaperTabs are designed to be used together. Each tab
acts as a window for separate applications, but they still interact with each
other.
For example, when a
PaperTab is placed beyond reaching distance, it reverts to a thumbnail overview
of the document, like icons on a desktop computer. When the tab is picked back
up or touched, it switches back to a full screen view, like opening a new
window.
Additionally,
PaperTab's interface allows functions simply by tapping tabs together. For
example, a photo can be sent via email simply by tapping a tab of a draft email
together with a tab of a photo. Even cooler, when that email is ready to go, it
can be sent by bending the top corner of the display. Also, placing tabs side
by side can create a larger display surface.
Designers say these
functions emulate the natural handling of multiple sheets of paper. This may
sound like a cluttered step back, but think how long it takes to back track
through a tablet to close out or switch apps as opposed to picking up a piece
of paper that's right in front of you.
"Using several
PaperTabs makes it much easier to work with multiple documents," Roel
Vertegaal, Director of Queen's University's Human Media Lab said on the
university's website. "Within five to ten years, most computers, from
ultra-notebooks to tablets, will look and feel just like these sheets of
printed color paper."
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