News: a transparent computer that allows users to reach "inside" the screen and manipulate content with their hands was unveiled at the TED conference in Los Angeles last week.

Introducing the SpaceTop 3D desktop computer at the TED conference, interaction researcher Jinha Lee explained that enabling humans to physically interact with machines could make computing more intuitive.

"The gap between what the designer thinks and what the computer can do is huge. If you can put your hands inside the computer and handle digital content you can express ideas more completely," he told the BBC.

Working in collaboration with Microsoft and its Kinect technology, Lee developed a system that combines a transparent LCD display with built-in cameras that track gestures and eye movements.

Users place their hands behind the screen to scroll or type just as they would with a normal computer, but they can also raise their hands up to grab and manipulate the virtual 3D elements.

One camera is used to track fingers, recognising gestures like pinching and dragging, while the other camera faces the user and tracks the position of their head to display perspective-corrected 3D graphics.

A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lee is currently carrying out his compulsory military service in South Korea at electronics firm Samsung, where he is developing television interfaces.

Last month Google released a movie preview of what it would be like to wear its voice-controlled Google Glass headset, while earlier this year we reported on an augmented reality iPad app that allows architects to look inside static architectural models – see all technology news.

Images and movie are by Jinha Lee.

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He describes the designs of iconic products as the movie follows the move from analogue to digital, starting with the development of the typewriter into laptop computers in the 1980s through to the recent switch from books to e-readers.

You can also listen to Sudjic talking about classic design in previous movies featuring driving, music and chairs.

Download the Design Museum Collection App »

Here are some excerpts from the app:

Valentine (above)

With its plastic casing and strong handle, the 1969 Valentine typewriter was marketed, by Italian manufacturer’s Olivetti, as a lightweight portable typewriter. While it fulfilled its function competently, Sottsass’ playful design and choice of bright colour, inspired by pop-art, expressed the mood of the time and suggested that the typewriter still had a place in the modern world.

GRiD Compass 1101 (above)

Utilising a clam-shell design, British industrial designer, Bill Moggridge designed what most people consider to be the world’s first laptop. The computer ran its own operating system and included a 320 by 200 pixels screen that, while tiny by today’s standards, was considerable at the time. The high cost of the Compass limited the market and it was mainly used by the United States government.

ThinkPad 701 (above)

ThinkPads used innovative trackpoint buttons instead of a rollerball or mouse to control the cursor. While this added a useful new functionality to laptops, many criticised the use of colour suggesting red should be limited to operations relating to emergencies. The other key design feature of this 1995 design is the ‘butterfly’ keyboard that folds out and expands as the lid is opened. The casing and shape were modelled on a Bento box, the Japanese food container with multiple compartments.

Apple iMac (above)

Founded by two college dropouts in the late 1970s, Apple grew extremely fast in the early years of the computer age and then lost nearly its entire market share to Microsoft, but came back by reinventing the computer. While the all-in-one monitor and computer configuration is an Apple hallmark – dating back to the first Apple
Macintosh in 1984 – it was the launch of the iMac in 1998 that set the benchmark for future computer designs, selling over two million units in its first year.

According to Apple’s Senior Vice President, Industrial Design, Jonathan Ive, ‘The objective was to design a computer for the consumer market that would be simple, easy to use, highly integrated, quiet and small.’ In this typically economical statement, Ive has summarised the winning formula – advanced computer technologies presented in an accessible format.

Ive and his team are more akin to craftspeople than stylists, working through an intense analysis of function and a commitment to using materials truthfully. With the iMac, the idea of translucency emerged from a desire to use plastics in a new, honest way and not as a self-conscious wish to invest the computer with saccharin sweetness. As Ive says, ‘we wanted it to be an unashamadely plastic product. Given our obsession with materials and production processes, we explored different polymers, moulding technologies, colour, texture and levels of opacity. Transluscent materials posed new challenges, we not only needed to design new ways of moulding individual parts but to develop new methods of assembly. We found ourselves caring about the appearance of internal components that had previously had little impact on the product’s appearance.’

The iMac not only transformed computer design but also home offices through its pioneering introduction of colour into the drab world of computing, predominated by greys and beige. When researching new processes, Ive and the Apple team regularly seek advice from outside world of computer design. For the iMac, they consulted a group of confectioners for their strawberry, blueberry, grape, tangerine and lime shades. As Ive noted, ‘Their experience in the science of translucent colour control helped us to understand processes to ensure consistency in high volume.

Pro Mouse (above)

Apple’s Senior Vice President, Industrial Design, Jonathan Ive describes the design process for this step-change in computer interaction design which came out in 2000: ‘we learnt from studies that the button on a mouse creates a target specifically defining how it is held and clicked. This limits the number of ways that users can hold a mouse and consequently limits comfortable use with a variety of hand sizes and methods of use.

By building multiple prototypes we developed the idea of making the entire surface the button. Allowing users to position their hands on the mouse naturally afforded different styles of use. Similarly, by rotating the dial around the optical sensor the user can adjust the force required to activate the click switch.

Analysing surface tension in liquid droplets helped us to develop a pure, essential form. A founding idea, however, can be undermined unless the ultimate implementation is based upon the same assumptions. By sharing the concerns and sensitivities of the original idea, we developed a construction to ultra-sonically weld the simple pure surface into the product assembly.’ Jonathan Ive.

One Laptop Per Child XO-1 (above)

One Laptop Per Child is a non-profit programme created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States. The 2006 child-size laptop brings learning, information and communication to children where education is needed most: in developing countries. The result is an inexpensive and energy-efficient computer. The machine’s reduction in energy use, by 90 percent, is ideal for a device that could be charged by hand-cranked power in rural villages. The laptop features Wi-Fi antenna ‘rabbit ears,’ an energy-efficient LCD digital writing tablet and integrated video camera. Networking capabilities allow children to connect to each other, their school, their teacher and the internet. Every design aspect of the machine serves a dual purpose to achieve a sense of economy and efficiency.

Kindle 3

The Kindle was the first product to suggest that electronic book readers could offer a viable alternative to physical books. Key to the Kindle’s success was the black and white e-ink display that provided a far more realistic representation of print and minimised the screen reflections that plagued other devices. This 2010 version has wireless connectivity that allow users to download content at any time. In 2010, the retailer Amazon announced that in the United States their e-book sales had surpassed sales of paperback books for the first time.

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San Francisco studio fuseproject have unveiled the OLPC XO-3, a tablet computer for the next generation of the One Laptop Per Child project to distribute robust, cheap, self-powered computers for education in the developing world.

Designed in collaboration with One Laptop Per Child founder Nicholas Negroponte, the tablet has a green rubber border and removable cover.

This cover can house a solar cell to charge internal batteries. The power switch, cable ports and speakers are arranged along one edge and there's a rear-facing camera.

The original XO laptop won the Index Awards in 2007 and the Brit Insurance Design of the Year award in 2008. See initial designs for the XO-3 from 2009 in our earlier story and more stories about fuseproject here.

Here are some more details from fuseproject founder Yves Béhar:

“After 6 years of design development with Nicholas Negroponte and the non-profit organization he founded, One Laptop Per Child, I am incredibly excited to share the next generation XO-­‐3 tablet. More than 2.4 million children in 25 countries received the original XO Laptop, and these kids have been our inspiration to create the next generation of this educational tool. One Laptop Per Child is a technology story about how to provide low-­‐cost educational tools to millions of children. For those children, and for us, it is also a creative story about how to design specifically for young students. Every decision made by the OLPC engineering team and the design team at fuse project has been about adapting technology to children’s needs at a cost that makes the tablet affordable for developing countries.

The first impression of the XO-­‐3 is its extreme simplicity. The focus is on the screen, while the surrounding green rubber border provides a safe tactile grip for children’s hands. The back surface has a bumpy texture and integrates a rear-­‐facing camera. The connectors, power switch and speakers are arranged on the bottom edge, facing the user. The XO-­‐3 tablet uses similar ruggedizing strategies as the original XO laptop: rubber protection, anti-­‐scratch grip textures, and robust construction. The XO-­‐3 takes this protection further by creating an elastomer removable cover, which is flipped from screen cover to back cover. The cover’s arced front surface allows access to ports and buttons, and shields them during transportation to further preserve the hardware. Additionally, the solar cover option can house a solar panel combined with internal batteries for outdoor or indoor charging. Our approach has been to minimize complexity, while delivering a high quality, and a heightened touch feel. There is playfulness in the way one can adapt the cover to different needs, while each design detail and material is chosen to deliver maximum value.” Yves Behar, fuseproject founder and OLPC Chief Designer.

About One Laptop per Child

One Laptop per Child is a non-­‐profit organisation whose mission is to provide every child in the world access to new channels of learning, sharing and self-­‐expression.

In partnership with the public and private sectors and non-­‐governmental organisations and supported by comprehensive implementation and pedagogical services, OLPC seeks to provide each child with a rugged, low-­‐cost, low-­‐power connected laptop that empowers individual learning and growth.

About Yves Béhar

is a designer, entrepreneur, and sustainability advocate. He is the founder of fuse project, the San Francisco and New York based design and branding firm he established in 1999. He is also Chief Creative Officer at Jawbone where his products, brand and communications guidance has built the company into a leader in wearable and audio consumer electronics. His collaborations with renowned partners such as Herman Miller, Jawbone, GE, Puma, Canal+, MINI, Samsung, Issey Miyake, Prada and many others have received international acclaim.

Yves Béhar believes that design should be a force for positive social and environmental change. He is well known for his humanitarian work on projects such as the One Laptop Per Child where he serves as chief designer since 2006, and See Better to Learn Better. For each of these he was honored with the INDEX award, making him the only designer to have received the award twice. Béhar's works are included in the permanent collections of museums worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Centre Pompidou and the Art Institute of Chicago. Béharis a frequent speaker on design, sustainability and business topics; he has given talks atTED, the World Economic Forum in Davos, and the Clinton Global Initiative. Béhar is currently the artist trustee of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, has garnered over 200 awards, and was named a Top 25 Visionary by TIME Magazine.

OLPC XO-3 Tablet

Preliminary specifications – under development and subject to change

Processor: Marvell ARMADA 610 ARM SoC
RAM: 512 MB DDR3 DRAM
Flash Storage: 4GB on-board NAND Flash Storage
Networking: Built-in 802.11 b/g WLAN
Audio Output: Built-in stereo speakers
Audio Input: Standard stereo headphone jack
Video Output: 1024x768 full color 4:3 aspect ratio high resolution display
Video Camera: Front-facing VGA resolution webcam
Ports: Standard full-size USB A
Standard mini-USB on-the-go for data or power
Dedicated charging port for DC input
Operating System Support: Linux kernel-based distribution
Android for tablet devices
Power Consumption: Average 2W in normal usage
Battery Life: Approx. 10 hours with 20 Wh battery
Dimensions: 209mm x 164mm x 13mm
Weight: 575g
Environmental: Water and dust resistant when being transported with cover closed
Accessories: Optional covers with integrated solar panel/battery, telecommunications, other features under development

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Industrial designer Bill Moggridge, who designed the world's first laptop computer (above), has won the 2010 Prince Philip Designers Prize.

The annual prize, coordinated by the Design Council and announced last night, honours British designers who have most influenced and shaped daily lives. Top image: GRiD Compass computer, 1982. Above: next-generation GRiD Compass computer, 1984.

Moggridge, who co-founded design agency IDEO in the early 1990s, designed the GRiD Compass computer in 1982, for manufacturer GRiD Systems Corporation. Above: early prototype of the GRiD  Compass computer, shown to potential investors. Below: Bill Moggridge.

Here's some info from the Design Council:

The man who changed the way many of us live and work by designing the world’s first laptop computer -Bill Moggridge RDI - will be named the winner of the 2010 Prince Philip Designers Prize by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh at a ceremony at the Design Council in London this evening, Tuesday 9th November.

GRID Compass computer, 1982

Bill Moggridge was chosen to receive this year’s Prize from a stellar list of globally recognised nominees including avant-garde fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood, creator of the London 2012 Aquatics Centre Zaha Hadid and the creative powerhouse behind Burberry, Christopher Bailey. The Prize is awarded annually to recognise a lifetime contribution to design.

As one of the most pioneering designers of the 20th century, Bill Moggridge has been central to how design makes technology make sense to the people who use it. In the late 1980s, he was a leading force in creating the discipline of interaction design, which has set the terms for how human beings engage with computers. In the early 1990s he co-founded the design agency IDEO, which has arguably become the blueprint for the international, strategic creative agency. Today, he makes a forceful educational contribution as Director of the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

With such an unprecedented line-up of nominees, the judges decided to also award three Special Commendations: to Dame Vivienne Westwood; to graphic designer Neville Brody; and furniture designer John Makepeace.

David Kester, Chief Executive of the Design Council, commented: “The Prince Philip Prize provides a timely reminder that we are a nation of innovative, sometimes maverick thinkers – that’s why the UK continues to be at the forefront of global design. Celebrating those talents is a vital part of inspiring our next generation of world-changing designers, innovators and creatives.”

This year’s nominees include pioneers and provocateurs covering a wide range of disciplines, from architecture to industrial, graphic and fashion design. Between them they provide a snapshot of the creative and commercial strengths of the UK design industry which can be seen on the Design Council’s website at www.designcouncil.org.uk/ppdp.

The Prince Philip Designers Prize, which last year celebrated its 50th anniversary, has been in existence since the early days of the Design Council. It was created by HRH as a response to post-war austerity, and aimed to stimulate and reward elegant solutions to design problems. In its half century, the prestigious award has rewarded the best in design from products and graphics to buildings and feats of engineering, and has put the spotlight on designers for influencing and shaping our daily lives.

Former winners of the Prize include Thomas Heatherwick (2006); the architect Lord Foster of Thamesbank (2004); Habitat founder Sir Terence Conran (2003); Pentagram founder Kenneth Grange (2001) and inventor Sir James Dyson (1997).

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Yves Béhar of San Francisco design studio fuseproject has unveiled plans for the third generation of the One Laptop Per Child project.

The latest version of the affordable computer - which will retail for an estimated $75 and which is called XO-3 - is a table-format device with a semi-flexible plastic screen.

The XO-3 is expected to ship in 2012.

See previous stories about the One Laptop Per Child project on Dezeen:

XOXO laptop (May 2008)
Yves Béhar wins Design of the Year award for One Laptop Per Child Project (March 2008)
One Laptop Per Child Charity Auction (December 2007)

Here's some info from fuseproject:

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Two years ago, around this time of year the One Laptop Per Child XO laptop was launched with Nicholas Negroponte.  Now more than one million laptops have been distributed to children around the world to help further the mission of providing education and access to information for all... like in Uruguay where every public school child between 6 and 12 years old has one.

While the distribution of OLPC XO continues, today we and OLPC are presenting the XO-3 (http://www.fuseproject.com/#blogEntry79). Our new design features an all plastic tablet screen which is semi-flexible and extremely durable (compared to current glass screens which crack upon impact), and just like the original XO, the display can be optimized in both transmissive and reflective modes for indoor and outdoor lighting conditions.  The XO-3 supports many use scenarios to fulfill kids’ learning needs: from horizontal book mode to portrait reading mode, to multi-touch, so many hands can play and learn together on the same screen, to a full-touch keyboard and a back facing camera.

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