Podcast: The Invisible UI : Natural User Interfaces with Josh Blake

Josh Blake of Infostrat joins Pixel8 to discuss NUI development in .NET. Josh is the author of the upcoming book Multitouch on Windows from Manning. Reaching far beyond theory and the niche market of Microsoft Surface, NUI development is now possible with Silverlight and WPF development on Windows 7 and Windows 7 Mobile devices.

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The Natural User Interface (NUI) was a prominent force at MIX10. What is NUI? Wikipedia defines it as:

Natural user interface, or NUI, is the common parlance used by designers and developers of computer interfaces to refer to a user interface that is effectively invisible, or becomes invisible with successive learned interactions, to its users. The word natural is used because most computer interfaces use artificial control devices whose operation has to be learned. A NUI relies on a user being able to carry out relatively natural motions, movements or gestures that they quickly discover control the computer application or manipulate the on-screen content. The most descriptive identifier of a NUI is the lack of a physical keyboard and/or mouse.

In our interview Josh demystifies what NUI is, makes a distinction between gestures and manipulations, and talks about what is possible today for NUI development.

For more from Josh make sure to check out his book:

and watch his MIX Presentation:

Developing Natural User Interfaces with Microsoft Silverlight and WPF 4 Touch

Resources Mentioned in the Show

Check out the following videos that show the roots and future of NUI development:

Jeff Han's Multi-Touch TED Presentation

Microsoft Surface

Project Natal

MIX10 Day 2 Keynote