This tool is unsupported by HP, so use it at your own risk. It did receive some testing, both by HP and a few customers, so I have reason to believe it will work properly for you. Also, in order to use it, you have to accept the license agreement that is displayed when you first run it.

Why write a blog post about it? I want to give a little detail on what it does in case things don’t go as smoothly as they’re supposed to.

The tool basically does these things in order:

• Check that all prerequisites for TouchSmart 4 are fulfilled, including hardware checks
• Installs the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 if needed (a few hosted apps need this)
• Downloads all officially published softpaqs from the HP support website
• Installs the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 if needed (the TouchSmart “shell” needs this)
• Installs all downloaded HP TouchSmart 4.0 software components

Should Windows indicate that a reboot is needed “right off the bat”, clicking a corresponding button in the tool will make sure that the tool is automatically restarted after the reboot. The tool will also automatically restart after potentially installing .NET 3.5 SP1 and .NET 4.0. No reboot is necessary after the remainder of the software has finished installing. If User Account Control is enabled on your system, the tool will prompt for permission to run each time it is launched.

Here is a sequence of screenshots that show the tool in action (captions beneath pictures):

Installing .NET 4.0

Installing the TouchSmart 4.0 “shell”

Preparing to install other softpaqs

Removing older versions of Music/Photo/Video apps

Installing softpaqs

Install progress after third softpaq install

Hosted app registration happening during install

Once all software is installed, the tool gives you an opportunity to burn the downloaded file to a DVD, along with the upgrade tool itself. This will speed up install on other systems a little, since installing from DVD may be faster than downloading from the Internet. Most people probably don’t need this DVD, but it may come in handy, should you want to rerun the upgrade in the future (after a system restore, for example.)

All software finished installing

After clicking the button to prepare a DVD

Windows Explorer window opened with files ready to burn to DVD

Notification that files are ready to be burned to DVD using the Windows Explorer window

The only thing I’ve seen go somewhat awry from time to time is that the download of a softpaq may get to a 100%, seemingly, but not finish. I think this might be caused by the server(s) that hosts the downloads, but I’m not sure. Since the tool is written to perform its operations to full completion at each step before going to the next, it may get stuck and not allow you to close it in this situation. Should that happen, you can hold down the Ctrl key on the keyboard while clicking the red button with the little “x” in the upper right corner to close the tool. This will terminate the incomplete download and delete the partially downloaded file. When you run the tool again, the downloads will resume with the not completed download first, and hopefully complete the downloads this time around.

Depending on your Internet connection speed, downloading an installing everything can take several hours, so it’s best to do this when you have that kind of time available.

I hope this tool is useful for some of you.

TouchSmart 1, aka SmartCenter, aka LaunchPad (January 2007)

The first version of TouchSmart was not called that. It was named SmartCenter and shipped with the very first modern all-in-one touch-enabled PC, the HP TouchSmart IQ770.

This machine was one of the so-called “Dream PCs” for Microsoft’s introduction of Windows Vista in January of 2007. I’ve written about this version of SmartCenter before, so I won’t repeat much of that here.

Touch-first [+Win8]

Of course, the main point of even embarking on a project such as the SmartCenter software was that Windows wasn’t even remotely ready for touch interactions. Every app on the Windows Desktop requires the precision that the mouse pointer provides. Fingers and touch can’t hit the tiny controls accurately enough. So SmartCenter was designed with that in mind, and as a result had large targets all throughout its user interface. Here are some sample screenshots:

Note that all buttons, checkboxes, radio buttons, scrollbars, etc. are large enough to be easily tapped with a finger. Note also that, for example, the on-screen keyboard that is used for entering a ZIP code in the Weather app defaults to the correct layout, i.e. the numeric one.

Live app data in shortcuts [+Win8]

This idea wasn’t really all that new, of course. Snippets of live app data displayed in a mini-view of sorts had been introduced with Windows Sidebar gadgets and other widget-like UIs on other operating systems, but SmartCenter was the first to use live data as part of the shortcut that launches an app. You could say the shortcuts were more like mini-versions of the full app. Live data is of course hard to demo with screenshots, so here is a small video clip of the SmartCenter home screen (or start screen, if you will), showing shortcuts that update their information as time passes:

This major version of the SmartCenter software was delivered with four total releases: 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, and 1.4. Towards the final delivery of version 1.0, it became clear that a standardized way of getting the live information from the apps was needed. This became a major area of investigation and investment for the next major version of the software.

TouchSmart 2 (June 2008)

The second generation of TouchSmart software, 2.x, was introduced with IQ500/IQ800 series hardware. These two hardware models marked the beginning of the monitor-like appearance of the TouchSmart PCs. The IQ770 was a “multi-volume” chassis – these new models had a “single volume” design, supported by the “easel” style feet that were used in the follow-on generation as well.

The 2.x series of software was released in three versions: 2.0, 2.5 and 2.8.

Fixed layouts for apps [+Win8]

With SmartCenter 2.0, we introduced the concept of fixed sized layouts for the TouchSmart apps. We initially picked three: small, medium and large. You can see two of the three illustrated by this screenshot:

The Tutorials, Canvas and Calendar apps are shown in medium size, while the remaining apps are shown in small size. By tapping on an app, you would go to the large size:

This layout is purposely not called full screen, since there is a reserved area at the top of the screen for navigation, app name/time and music playback controls.

Tiles concept [+Win8]

In order to make it clear that the app representations in SmartCenter were not just icons, we decided to call them tiles, or rather “live tiles.” This term was used in the developer documentation that was produced to help other people plug their apps into SmartCenter, and so we had “small tiles,” “medium tiles” and “large tiles.” For each tile size we gave guidance about how to use it appropriately. We introduced the term “layouts” to suggest that each tile size should use a different layout of basically the same content or information. As you notice from the screenshots above, when the Weather tile is small, it shows only basic information. In the large tile, the information is more full-featured and also provides access to settings for the Weather app. The medium tile for Weather looks like this:

As you can see, this layout for Weather includes only the current conditions and the forecast for the day.

With TouchSmart 2.0, a big investment was made to produce media consumption applications: Music, Video and Photo (often shortened to “MVP”) as well as a WebCam and DVD app. The screenshot above shows other apps that were published later (Netflix and Recipe Box, for example), but that just goes to show that following development guidelines has benefits: newer apps can work with older SmartCenter versions…

Other changes from the 1.0 version include the top and bottom row of “tile scrollers” and the music playback control set (aka. “media plate”) that I already mentioned. The tile scrollers had two different behaviors, depending on how full they were. If enough tiles were present, the scroller would become an infinitely looping container. If not enough tiles were present, it would have “snap-to” endpoints.

The TouchSmart 2.0 software was unveiled at a big press event in Berlin, Germany. Several of my colleagues were invited to attend to make sure everything went smoothly from a technical perspective. The most nerve-wracking part was that the TouchSmart IQ500 was to come out of a pedestal on stage after sitting inside said pedestal for an extended period of time before its unveiling. People were not sure the thermals were designed to handle as little exchange of air as this posed. Here’s a video from the introduction to give you a better idea of what I’m talking about (skip towards 1:18 or so to see the pedestal and the TouchSmart lifting out of it):

As you can see, everything worked out pretty well. This was the biggest introduction ever made for a TouchSmart PC line. No event after that had that much effort put into it.

TouchSmart 3 (October 2009)

With the third generation of SmartCenter, we piggybacked onto the 600/300 series of hardware. The enclosures still used the easel stand design with three feet for support, and the exterior was tweaked a bit along with the screen aspect ratio (now 16:9 instead of 16:10).

Generally, though the concept was largely the same, except for the software. A big investment was made to produce more apps for the TouchSmart software suite, and this brought us apps like Canvas, Twitter, Hulu, Live TV, Link, Movie Store, Recipe Box and a bunch of others. The TouchSmart software development guidelines were augmented with more of a proper SDK with app samples, installer samples and more guidance.

New layout

SmartCenter 3.0 introduced another layout that we called wide-interactive. You see, in SmartCenter 2.x there was no way to interact with the medium sized tiles in the upper tile scroller (except for in the browser, but that’s a small detail). In this version we wanted to provide interaction with the app in the upper scroller. In order to do that properly we needed a bigger size tile and a new layout to have enough space for interaction to make sense. Here’s a screenshot of 3.0 (running on a 16:10 screen, not the aspect ratio it was designed for – so circular elements are “squished”):

In SmartCenter 3.0 the touch scrollers no longer “looped” infinitely, but each had a “snap to” end regardless of how many tiles were present; each wide-interactive tile was given a colored title bar to add a little splash of variety and visual interest. In addition, the “media plate” and other control elements on the home screen were redesigned to appear a bit lighter than before. Also, standard button glyphs were introduced for closing and minimizing SmartCenter. Oh, and the clock was moved around and given a day of the week display. Phew – at least the Personalize button stayed almost in place…

The final big change was that tiles in the bottom scroller no longer used the small layout. They were simply icons to launch the app into large layout directly. This was done to improve performance and load less stuff at the startup of SmartCenter.

TouchSmart 4 (September 2010)

Okay, so here we are, almost at the last chapter of this brief history (which is turning out not so brief after all…) TouchSmart 4.0 was introduced with the TouchSmart 310 (and 610) series of hardware. These departed from the easel-type stand and went to a single-foot design (I know there’s a better term for it, I just can’t think of it at the moment).

TouchSmart 4 didn’t see much investment in new apps, but focused on new capabilities provided by the SmartCenter framework.

Infinite Canvas [+Win8, sort of, on the Metro Start screen]

A major goal of the SmartCenter framework software had been to provide an almost limitless space for apps to live in. With SmartCenter 4.0 that goal was finally realized. Not only did the framework provide for an infinitely expanding space for hosted apps to live in, it also did away with the upper tile scroller and let the apps be positioned freely on the canvas. This is what TouchSmart 4.0 looks like after initial startup:

And once again, things were moved around on screen: The clock from lower left to lower right (and it was given a function: click to show a mini-calendar), personalize from lower right to lower left (and the word personalize removed). The “media plate” music playback controls were removed and put into the music app instead. The volume control was separated out from the media plate and put in the upper left. The bottom carousel was redesigned and had the infinite looping re-introduced (to allow for a bit of visual and interactive playfulness). Tapping a tile launches the corresponding app:

Apps can be moved around freely and the carousel shows a colored highlight for each running app:

If you look at the above shot closely, you’ll notice the Weather app in what looks like another layout. What’s happening there is not a new layout, though. It’s simply the wide-interactive layout, shrunk down to an “inactive” size. Thus we called it “shrunk layout” or “shrunk view”.

The button next to personalize in the lower left can be used if the app you’re looking for in the carousel is hard to find: QuickLaunch is sorted alphabetically:

Parallax background [+Win8, sort of, on the Metro Start screen]

Scrolling the canvas (or panning it, if you prefer) is done by grabbing empty space (with mouse or touch) and moving from side to side. To add a little visual interest to this, and to demonstrate the departure from the 3.0 tile scrollers, we added a parallax effect to the background to give you the illusion of looking into the distance on your screen. Several sets of parallax backgrounds were developed for variety’s sake, to be picked in the personalize area.

Magnets

Another major feature of SmartCenter 4.0 was the introduction of something we called “magnets”. These represent active content that originally came either from an app or from SmartCenter itself (in the case of Graffiti magnets). Magnets eliminate the need to start an app when you want to enjoy a favorite piece of content, be it a photo, video or some music you want to keep handy for quick enjoyment. Here are a few magnets placed on the canvas (they can be “pinned” so they always stay visible or “unpinned” to scroll with the canvas):

Here’s what it looks like after panning a bit (while playing the fireplace video):

You can see the pinned magnets haven’t moved and the background looks slightly different (the islands have moved at different paces to give the illusion of depth as they’re moving).

Okay, let’s see what it looks like in action:

TouchSmart 5 (September 2011)

And that brings us to the latest generation of SmartCenter (as of this date), i.e. 5.0. This version of the TouchSmart framework software was brought to market with the just recently introduced 520/420/320 series of TouchSmart PCs. The exterior of the machines has been updated once more to keep up with design trends, but otherwise the single-volume enclosure is still the chosen form.

Integration of Windows apps, desktop icons

The biggest change in SmartCenter 5.0 regards the blending of the two environments that were previously separated: SmartCenter and the Windows Desktop. This means you no longer need to exit the SmartCenter environment when you want to run Windows apps. Here’s a screenshot of SmartCenter 5.0:

Note that the Windows 7 taskbar is fully visible and that you can use it for launching apps and seeing what apps are running. The SmartCenter app carousel now has the icon highlight turned on permanently and only shows a short animated starburst as an app is launched. You also see all your desktop icons represented on the SmartCenter canvas. As you can see, the magnets overlap the desktop icons, which can be a bit of a clutter issue. No worries, you can turn off the desktop icons via Settings, if you don’t like them on the canvas. Or you can rearrange your magnets so they occupy different space:

In general, SmartCenter 5.0 attempts to bring the touch-first environment of past generations together with the traditional, mouse-centric desktop. That’s a value-proposition you don’t have in Windows 8, which is most likely not available until sometime in late 2012 anyway…

Automatic panning/scrolling

One additional thing SmartCenter 5.0 does is automatic panning of the canvas/desktop whenever an app is launched. This removes the need for you to have to rearrange app windows frequently when you want to switch from one app to another. The canvas pans automatically to make more room for every app you start. To return to an app, you just click on it in the taskbar or the app carousel. Another video might explain it a bit better:

This behavior can be turned off in Settings as well, in case it’s not useful to you. There are many, many areas that I haven’t touched on in this post, such as all the personalization and customization aspects that SmartCenter contains and how they changed over time. Or the fact that you can make your own parallax backgrounds (not documented anywhere, unfortunately, but pretty easy to figure out for enterprising souls). Or the easter eggs, oh yes…

Let me make some general remarks about the last four generations of SmartCenter: Any apps written to observe the guidelines of SmartCenter 2.0 are able to run on SmartCenter 2.0 through 5.0. A nice compatibility feature. Of course, older versions of apps needed updates as new SmartCenter functionality was introduced (or removed, as with the media plate removal in 4.0), but as you’ve seen, the Netflix app (which was published with SmartCenter 3.0) runs just fine in SmartCenter 2.0 and 5.0 as well. What’s more, if you know what you’re doing, you can have all the versions of SmartCenter 2.0 – 5.0 running on the same system. That’s how I was able to collect screenshots and videos for this post. Oh, and the technology underlying all these versions of SmartCenter is Microsoft’s Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), 3.0, 3.5, and 4.0. The various apps were written in anything from compiled-to-native-code-Python to WPF to Adobe Flash. The software development process used since about SmartCenter 2.5 is anchored in Scrum, an Agile software development framework.

This concludes my brief history of the TouchSmart software. As you have seen, Windows 8 definitely picked up a lot of the features that the SmartCenter framework pioneered: Live tiles, fixed layout sizes for apps, parallax scrolling with an expandable space and touch-first design. Until Windows 8 is available, the TouchSmart 5.0 software suite is most likely the best alternative for touch – combined with new thinking on how to add something more to the the desktop environment – that you’ll find on an all-in-one PC anywhere.

Engadget: http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/07/hps-touchsmart-610-and-9300-all-in-ones-tilt-and-twirl-on-out/

CNet: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20030815-17.html

Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/technologybrierdudleysblog/2014154942_hp_unveils_reclining_touch_pc.html

ZDNet: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/computers/hp-announces-new-touchsmart-all-in-ones/5027

FT.com: http://blogs.ft.com/fttechhub/2011/02/the-reclining-hp-touchsmart-610-video-review/

PCMag.com: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2379438,00.asp

TFTS: http://nexus404.com/Blog/2011/02/07/hp-shows-off-new-line-of-touchsmart-pcs-hp-touchsmart-610-and-9300-emerge-offer-high-power-in-a-high-concept/

AllBusiness.com: http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/company-structures-ownership/15479504-1.html

Yahoo: http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_technews/20110207/tc_yblog_technews/hps-unveils-new-sliding-touchscreen-pcs

ChipChick: http://www.chipchick.com/2011/02/hp-touchsmart-610.html

Windows7News: http://www.windows7news.com/2011/02/07/hp-launches-touchscreen-desktop-market/

VentureBeat: http://venturebeat.com/2011/02/07/hp-designs-a-cool-reclining-touchscreen-display-for-star-trek-style-experience/

GamesBeat: http://venturebeat.com/2011/02/07/now-this-is-the-way-to-play-touchscreen-games-video/

TrustedReviews.com: http://www.trustedreviews.com/pcs/news/2011/02/07/HP-Announces-Two-New-TouchSmart-All-In-One-PCs/p1

TGDaily: http://www.tgdaily.com/hardware-features/53980-hp-touts-uber-cool-swivel-pcs

EWeek: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/HP-Spruces-Up-Image-with-New-TouchScreen-Desktop-PCs-883622/

EWeek slideshow: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Latest-HP-PC-Lineup-Goes-for-Cool-with-Colorful-New-TouchScreens-182412/

Yeah, vanity post.

Only a little vanity post; a collection of links to stories and other potentially interesting tidbits.

These were some of the first mentions of the HP TouchSmart 310 with HP TouchSmart 4.0 software, unveiled on September 20, 2010.

Most of these have no real reviews yet, they just “wordsmith” the press release or other people’s “wordsmithing”. But that won’t stop me from highlighting “good stuff”.

CNet: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20016921-1.html

The new case is graceful enough, and the $699 starting price for its low-end AMD CPU and 20-inch display is fair, but the biggest news for this new all-in-one may lie in its software. [My emphasis]

First, HP has tweaked the main TouchSmart software interface to streamline the way you access and organize media and applications using touch. In addition to organizing applications in a carousel layout, now you can also "pin" apps and individual media files to a more dynamic background featuring various parallax-animated environments. HP says this design lets you organize your touch software in a more natural manner, akin to how you might organize a desk.

In addition to the new background, HP has also updated the specific touch applications to the TouchSmart suite, most impressively with a new Marvel Comics streaming service, from which you can buy touch versions of more than 8,000 titles from the Marvel library. That number dwarfs the 500 Marvel titles available from Apple’s iPad application. The Marvel app and the entire TouchSmart suite, dubbed TouchSmart 4.0, will also be available for download by owners of current TouchSmart all-in-ones.

Hot Hardware: http://hothardware.com/News/HP-Debuts-Omni-100-And-TouchSmart-310-AIO-PCs-Along-With-New-tm2-Notebook/

ZDNet “The Toy Box”: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/gadgetreviews/hp-rolls-out-omni-100-touchsmart-310-all-in-one-desktops-20-hd-widescreens/18143

VentureBeat: http://venturebeat.com/2010/09/20/hp-launches-fancy-touch-based-desktops-and-an-app-store-for-touch-apps/

The latest software transforms a user’s boring Windows desktop into a “magic canvas,” which appears to be an overlay on top of the computer screen. You swipe your hand across the display to move the transparent overlay. You can drag applications, music, photos, videos and other web content directly onto the overlay. HP refers to these objects as “magnets” since they are just like the magnets you put on your refrigerator with notes attached to them. You can pick multilayered wallpapers to bring the illusion of 3D depth perception to a screen. You can also browse through material via the carousel at the bottom of the screen — all with the touch of a finger.

You can use existing TouchSmart apps such as Twitter, Hulu, Netflix, Recipe Box and the HP Music Store powered by Rhapsody. All of those apps can be started and used via finger taps on the touchscreen. You can use the webcam to film a personalized video message and post it directly to your friend’s Facebook wall.

The HP TouchSmart Apps Center has a small collection of apps available now. You can access them via a TouchSmart Carousel. Some of the apps contain a lot of content, such as the Marvel Comics app and the Cartoon Network app. The Marvel app gives you access to more than 8,000 comics. You can tap on them and read them page by page on a a beautiful high-definition display. The Cartoon Network app offers news updates on shows and characters.

PC Magazine: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2369352,00.asp

The TouchSmart interface is much more advanced than the competition, including Sony, MSI, and Gateway.

TG Daily: http://www.tgdaily.com/hardware-brief/51618-hp-launches-new-much-cheaper-touchsmart

HP has rebuilt its TouchSmart software for the 310 model, making it easier to organize and play back media from the touchscreen, as well as adding enhanced everyday computer applications as well. When the first TouchSmart computer debuted, its touchscreen technology was more of a novelty than anything else. Since then, gadgets like the iPad have made touch more relevant and important than ever, and have shown everyone that it can be a powerful computing tool.

Also added with the new TouchSmart announcement is a deal between HP and Disney to offer digital Marvel comics. TouchSmart users will now be able to stream special versions of classic comics, and then literally thumb through them with on-screen controls. More than 8,000 Marvel titles are available, which HP says is the most extensive digital collection ever offered from any content partner.

HP is also launching a new "app store" interface for touchscreen programs and games, making it easier for developers and consumers to take advantage of the PC’s touch capabilities.

Existing TouchSmart users will also have access to this and the other enhancements being made for the 310, with the release of a sweeping software upgrade. TouchSmart 4.0 will be downloadable for anyone who owns a legacy TouchSmart computer from HP.

Softpedia: http://news.softpedia.com/news/HP-Releases-Three-New-TouchSmart-and-Omnio-PCs-157124.shtml

TechConnect: http://www.tcmagazine.com/tcm/news/hardware/30503/hp-intros-touchsmart-310-and-omni-100-all-one-pcs

Geeky Gadgets: http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/new-hp-touchsmart-310-only-699-20-09-2010/

Waleg: http://www.waleg.com/techgadgets/archives/020976.html

Electronista: http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/09/20/hp.intros.omni.100.touchsmart.310.all.in.one.pcs/

Digital Trends: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/hp-touchsmart-310-pc-offers-improved-touch-based-software/

IC Tech News: http://ic-technews.com/laptop/1493-hp-touchsmart-310-priced-at-price-just-699-a-complete-software-redesign

Chip Chick: http://www.chipchick.com/2010/09/hp-touchsmart-apps-center.html

Product Reviews: http://www.product-reviews.net/2010/09/20/new-hp-touchsmart-310-review-specs-and-release-date/

Financial Times: http://blogs.ft.com/techblog/2010/09/touchsmart/

Engadget: http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/20/hp-announces-touchsmart-310-and-omni100-all-in-one-pcs/ [Love all the trolling and spewing of prejudices on this one…]

SlashGear: http://www.slashgear.com/hp-touchsmart-310-omni100-and-touchsmart-tm2-get-official-20103191/

[Update]

GottaBeMobile: http://www.gottabemobile.com/2010/09/22/hp-touchsmart-software-gets-more-touchable/

The Touchsmart’s UI is much more fluid and touch applications are no longer required to run in full screen, offering a little breathing room.The Touchsmart’s UI is much more fluid and touch applications are no longer required to run in full screen, offering a little breathing room.

[…]

The new revision of the software looks like a big improvement compared to what’s on my TouchSmart 600xt, which my wife and I use as our bedroom PC.

eWeek (with Slideshow): http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/HP-Omni-TouchSmart-310-TouchSmart-tm2-Unveiled-175093/

Tom’s Hardware: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/TouchSmart-Omni-HP-All-in-Ones-AIO-touchscreen,11332.html

DesktopReview: http://www.desktopreview.com/default.asp?newsID=1222&Review=HP+TouchSmart+310+Multitouch+all-in-one+First+Look

HP has what appears to be an ingenious solution. After a program is launched, a couple of fingers swivelling across the screen automatically shrink the application into a cube and paste it onto the TouchSmart’s background. The background itself can then be scrolled through, just by touching it anywhere on the screen.

One really cool aspect of engineering the software like this is the parallax effect that HP added to the wallpaper. As you scroll through the desktop, items in the foreground move at a different rate relative to items in the background.

While we didn’t see it demonstrated, an HP rep also mentioned that the TouchSmart will ship with software to generate these movable backgrounds with pictures that customers take. The effect won’t be as strong as the ones included by HP, but being able to customize it even that much is a nice bonus.

Windows Experience Blog: http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/windowsexperience/archive/2010/09/21/hp-updates-their-touchsmart-software-amp-all-in-one-pc-lineup.aspx

To couple the new hardware, HP is revving their TouchSmart software to offer a number of new capabilities.  They’re saying that with it, the desktop transforms into a “Magic Canvas” where users can easily drag apps, and content – even web content – directly onto the desktop.  There’s also a new multi-layer wallpaper that gives the machine a lot of depth.  I haven’t had a chance to work with these new features directly, but I have seen a demo and it looks really nice.

[/Update]

A little promo video of the new TouchSmart 4.0 software:

Product Marketing Manager Ken Bosley presenting the TouchSmart 4.0 software on YouTube:

The HP Video channel with tutorials:

http://h30429.www3.hp.com/?fr_chl=ce319b479b9d330ec6ef5a60bd25d2567c423f97&rf=bm

For developers:

TouchSmart 4.0 SDK: http://www.touchsmartdevzone.com/download/3369/HP-TouchSmart-SDK-4.0-English/

And I may have some details to add myself if and when I find the time…

If you see me at PDC, say hi, and I may be able to hand you one of these puppies. I only have a limited supply, though. 15 to be precise.

Check out the pictures:

Front of the card

Back of the card

Back of the card with USB memory stick flipped open/out

Front of the card with USB memory stick flipped open/out

Today HP is announcing a new Software Development Kit for helping you write apps that play well in the HP TouchSmart “shell” environment. The new SDK still contains the general guidelines that outline both what makes a good app that’s optimized for touch interaction and the general rules you have to play by in order to “fit” into the HP TouchSmart shell.

But this time around there’s more: For the first time there is also documentation for a WPF library that you can use to more quickly write an app that heeds all of the rules that need to be followed. This library has actually existed for a few releases already, but it was not documented until now (for HP TouchSmart 3.0).

There are also two sample applications. One that demonstrates the basics of the WPF library (and that shows you what the shell does to the apps on a pretty detailed level – it’s great for seeing what registered messages are sent to the app, how the app gets sized, etc.) and one that’s a little game. To round out things, there’s some skeleton sample app code as well, so you can get started quickly with your app idea.

Here are a few screenshots of the two sample apps:

“Hello world” Wide-interactive tile

“Hello world” Large tile

Notification with CircleX icon

Notification with CircleCheck icon

“Hello Mole” Wide-interactive tile

The documentation is provided in two forms: PDF for easy printing and reading offline as well as in Windows Help format for easy searching and looking at class library details.

You’ll notice that most of this only applies to WPF development. If you’re not using WPF yet (why aren’t you? – it’s a great platform), the general guidelines still apply and work. The shell is actually technology agnostic, since all it cares about, really, is the window (handle) your app produces. As long as your technology stack produces a Win32 window, you can “play”. The essence of that is something I’ve talked about before.

So where can you get this newfangled contraption? Head right over to http://www.touchsmartdevzone.com/download/file/2074-27 to start downloading. There’s still a license agreement in the installer (to make the lawyers happy), but I believe you can now download the thing without having to consent to the agreement first.

(Update 2010-02-05: The “shell” has been updated from 3.0.32.0 to 3.0.35.0 on HP’s support site. I’ve updated the link here as well)

I can’t get into every detail of the upgrade process (how to install Windows 7, drivers, etc.), but I thought I would list the HP TouchSmart software applications that are currently available for download and suggest a good order of installation to you. This is all just interim, personal information until something official is made available.

So what’s currently up there on the HP support site? Here’s the list (as of the time of this post) in the order that would be good to follow when installing (again, this may differ from whatever official guidance may come out later; it’s my personal take on it as of right now):

• HP TouchSmart 3.0 itself (the “shell”/the “foundation”), called the HP TouchSmart Application Update 3.0.35.0 (15 MB)
• Music/Photo/Video 3.0.2.3228 (158 MB)
• Notes 3.0.3462.28879 (19 MB)
• Calendar 3.0.3476.32189 (6 MB)
• RSS 3.00.0006 (5 MB)
• Browser 3.00.0008 (3 MB)
• Clock 3.0.3572.25998 (2 MB)
• DVD 3.0.1.3123, called HP MediaSmart DVD (not sure why) (64 MB)
• Weather 3.00.0001 (3 MB)
• Webcam 3.0.1.1903 (61 MB)
• Netflix 1.0.29.0 (4 MB)
• Hulu 0.9.7 (4 MB)
• Twitter 1.0.3541.23899 (6 MB) (new 2009-11-05)
• Live TV 3.00.1924 (46 MB)

Note that the Live TV application only works with a certain set of TV tuner models. I snagged the links in this post (which may get outdated over time) from the updates page for the IQ527. Since your model may be different, the Live TV app may not work for you. That’s partly why it’s listed last.

So there it is, a refresh to work with Windows 7 for all the original applications that came with the IQ500/800, plus three new ones (Netflix, Hulu and Live TV.) A total of 390 MB of new software. All for just the cost of download bandwidth and your time to install everything.

Direct interaction / tile size: The biggest change is that the top row of tiles is much bigger and wider in 3.0. This enables direct interaction with the content of the tiles, something the 2.x software didn’t allow for most tiles. This means that you can no longer scroll the top row of tiles by just touching them anywhere and then moving your finger. To scroll you have to use either the colored bar at the top of the tile or the semi-transparent border around the tile.

Resource usage: In order to let you better manage resource usage while running the TouchSmart software, tiles that are placed in the bottom row no longer present any live data as they did in 2.x. So if you find little use for all but two tiles, for example, put the ones you don’t use much in the lower row. That way only two apps have to run (each tile corresponds to an app) and the computer will have more resources available for other tasks.

Tile states: TouchSmart 3.0 still has the concept of two app states: the state a tile is in when it’s in the top row (called “wide-interactive”) and the state it’s in when you “launch” it (called “large”). The difference is more academic in 3.0, since you can now interact with tiles whether they’re wide-interactive or large. In 2.x you could only interact with “large” tiles. To “launch” a tile to the large state, you tap on the colored bar or the semi-transparent border around the tile. Tiles in the large state have access to more screen area, and thus may present more functionality in that state than they do in the wide-interactive state (Canvas is a good example of this.)

Speedy scrolling / “throwing”: One of the more fun interactions in TouchSmart 2.x was the ability to “throw” tiles, giving them momentum with a quick flick of your finger, and letting them spin until they came to rest. You could do this in the top row and the bottom row. TouchSmart 3.0 still lets you “throw” tiles, but now there is a beginning and an end to the row; things no longer just spin. That should make it a little easier to find a tile you may be looking for. Also, a “throw” will now take you to the next “set” of tiles and will always center on a tile. If you’re about to go past the end of the row, a snap-back effect will indicate that there are no more tiles in that direction. This snap-back effect is most pronounced in the lower row, since a “throw” there will take you “further”. None of the tutorial videos actually show these “throw” effects, so play around a bit to experience them for yourself. I think they’re fun, anyway.

More apps, more features: TouchSmart 3.0 introduces a whole bunch of new apps: Canvas, Link, Live TV, Netflix, Recipe Box, Twitter and Hulu. You can read much more about these on the HP TouchSmart product page.

Also, the “main” apps (Music/Photo/Video) have been improved substantially, allowing for home network discovery of media files (support for USB/network/Media Server locations) as well as providing access to Pandora and Rhapsody Internet music services.

Personalization: An area that got a major overhaul in the “Shell” application (branded “HP TouchSmart” proper, but really named SmartCenter by the developers) is Personalization. The introduction of the colored bar at the top of each wide-interactive tile enabled bringing in lots more “color”. Let’s take a more in-depth look at the personalization screens:

On this screen (Manage My Tiles) you can pick a tile to customize in the list on the right (hitting a letter on the keyboard takes you around the list quickly). Then you can choose a color for the tile’s bar on the left, using the various buttons or the rainbow color picker (with an optional RGB color input field for access to all colors). You can also delete a tile. If you do that, and the tile was one of the TouchSmart apps, you can get it back via the Create Tile button (pick the button called HP TouchSmart Program).

You can create a new tile using the Create Tile button:

Creating a Windows Program tile looks like this:

You can choose from a list of programs found on your computer (the list is filtered a bit to suppress irrelevant programs) or use the Advanced button to define everything “by hand”:

Here you can name the tile, type in the full path to the executable (exe) and define any command line arguments in the Parameters box. You can also pick an icon (if the exe has a suitable icon you can use it, or you can pick from a list of icons provided by HP TouchSmart.) If you find the list of icons too limiting, you can place icon files of your liking (best to use 256*256 PNG files with transparency) in the folder %LocalAppData%\Hewlett-Packard\TouchSmart\SmartCenter 2.0\Icons and they should get added to the list [This is for all you fellow geeks out there.]

Creating a Website tile is quite similar, except here the list is made up of Favorites from Internet Explorer:

Typing in your own URL (aka website address) also works.

Tapping the Delete button for a tile just brings up a confirmation screen:

If you delete a TouchSmart Program tile, you can recover it later via the Create Tile button by choosing the HP TouchSmart Program button as mentioned above. That will look a little like this:

TouchSmart 3.0 comes with a lot more choices of background pictures as well. You can select one from the Choose Background screen in Personalize (see the three buttons towards the top: Manage My Tiles, Choose Background and – on the far right – About):

You may not have all of these since my screenshots are from a custom install on a test machine. To add your own background pictures to this selection screen, just copy some pictures to the “HP TouchSmart” folder in the Public Pictures folder of Windows 7. Sadly, the ones I managed to get included in 2.x are now gone

The last area of Personalize is the venerable “About” screen. Here you’ll find the version number of the SmartCenter program itself as well as a “build” number (in parentheses, here you see “build” 32):

I hope you enjoyed this little guided tour around the TouchSmart 3.0 “shell” and learned something new in the process!

If you’re a developer and want to know how you can add your own apps to the 3.0 “shell”, stay tuned. More information on that will be coming out soon.

P.S.: Here’s a list of direct links to some more TouchSmart 3.0 tutorial videos:

General
Canvas
Demo
Recipe Box: Overview
Recipe Box: Headset
Recipe Box: Add a recipe
Recipe Box: Voice control
Recipe Box: Troubleshooting
Touch Tips
Live TV: Setup
Live TV: Watch and Record
Video: Make Videos

HP TouchSmart 600 Desktop reviews – CNET Reviews

HP ushers in third wave of TouchSmart desktop all-in-ones  Windows 7 Insider – CNET Reviews

HP TouchSmart tx2, 300, 600 and 9100 get Windows 7 multitouch – SlashGear

HP TouchSmart 600 Desktop Review – PC World

HP TouchSmart 600-1055 PC – At A Glance – Reviews by PC Magazine

HP TouchSmart 600 Review Multitouch Multimedia Mogul – Hp touchsmart 600 review – Gizmodo

Video Demos of New HP TouchSmart Apps, Touch Interface  GottaBeMobile.com

HP TouchSmart 300 and 600 bump the software to the next level, tx2 comes along for the ride

HP TouchSmart 300 and HP TouchSmart 600 Do Twitter and Hulu Out of the Box

HP Adds A Touch Of Genius To The Touchsmart  Voxy.co.nz

HP’s Touchsmart A PC, maybe, but cooler as a TV  Between the Lines  ZDNet.com

HP revamps TouchSmart PCs with Windows 7; starts $899; will you ditch your desktop PC, HDTV The

New HP TouchSmart PCs get touch-enabled Hulu, Netflix and Twitter

PCMag.com:

This third-generation TouchSmart PC is boosted by Windows 7′s gesture support, but HP’s custom multitouch software is even more impressive.

But as with the earlier models, on the TouchSmart 600 it’s HP’s custom software that really shines. Version 3.0 is a significant upgrade, offering touch-friendly versions of Hulu, Netflix, Twitter […]

And the HP apps now multitask, letting you hop back and forth by sliding them around with a fingertip. The interface is responsive, and is the benchmark for upcoming Windows 7 all-in-one PCs from Acer, Asus, Dell, Gateway, and MSI.

 Engadget:

[…], but more important is what HP is doing with its own TouchSmart application. It’s added panes for Hulu, Netflix, Twitter and an HP Music Store powered by Rhapsody, which work in nicely with the rest of the touch-friendly apps onboard and a bit of underlying Microsoft technology keeping things humming — like a nice big handwriting pane for quick Rhapsody searches. There’s also a voice controlled recipe app that can capture recipes from popular recipe sites and read them out loud to you, and the photo app can hook up with a phone over Bluetooth and pull off photos.

Gizmodo:

But to really take advantage of the system, you’ll want to use the TouchSmart interface and the wonderful, custom apps.

The one downfall here is that HP has designed TouchSmart to run all of the bundled apps at once. You’re truly multitasking, and that means stacking HDTV, Hulu, Netflix, photo editing, a browser, Twitter, and even more video playback. The system generally handles itself admirably, but the TV tuning definitely tips the scales on occasion (just watch the video for interface stutters). If I were to use the system as my DVR on a regular basis, I’d probably cut down the fat on HP’s apps and buy myself some resources.

I want to love the TouchSmart 600, but I just really, really like it a lot. The functionality is all there; no one can question the full media suite of apps, like Netflix, Hulu, and Twitter, let alone the full Windows 7 OS sitting right behind HP’s optional software. It’s the light performance hiccups coupled with a less than 100% touch interface that stop me from screaming at the top of my lungs, "YOU SHOULD BUY THIS RIGHT NOW OR GIVE UP ON LIFE COMPLETELY."

CNet.com:

While HP has clearly borrowed from Sony in its wall-mounting and video input capabilities, the software designed for its touch interface is unique and just as compelling.

As promising as we find HP’s new touch programs, Recipe Box in particular, we found the touch interface unresponsive at times, and the main touch software carousel can be slow to load.

Neither Sony nor Gateway have put as much effort into their respective touch software as HP has.

You might also appreciate the numerous video tutorials included with the system to help you navigate the new touch software.

Howtohackstuff.com:

HP continues to put its TouchSmart user interface on top of Windows 7 and it is one of the best I have seen. The new stuff comes in the way of applications; there are now loads of new third party applications, including Hulu, Twitter and Netflix. The interface is as smooth as a baby’s bottom and the main set of tiles fan across the screen and you can easily flick to toggle them. Again, check out the full review of the TouchSmart 600 to get a glimpse of how it really works. HP may just have a method to its touch madness.

Laptopmag.com:

Not only is the touch interface on the refreshed tx2 much better than anything else we’ve used on a notebook, HP is adding cool new apps like Twitter and Hulu, with more to come.

What makes the “new” tx2 stand out is what it does with touch.

Unlike the very limited MediaSmart software HP bundled previously, this machine has HP’s full TouchSmart treatment, which means it has the same slick tile interface and nearly all the same applications. These include photos, music, weather, notes, games, a touch-friendly Web browser, and more. Just like on the desktop, you can move smaller menu items to the main menu by dragging the tiles up, or vice versa.

ChipChick.com:

HP has released two new TouchSmart All-in-one PCs and these latest models come preloaded with an  impressive, and very much improved upon set of built-for-touch applications.

GottaBeMobile.com:

HP’s new all-in-one TouchSmart PCs come with an improved touch interface and some new apps. I really like Recipe Box, an application that organizes all of your online recipes. The application can be controlled with your fingers or through a Bluetooth headset. I rarely cook, but I’d probably be willing to spend more time in the kitchen if I had something like this.

The new TouchSmart PCs have a touch interface that’s a lot more lively than previous versions.

The new TouchSmart PCs come with touch applications for Hulu, Netflix and Twitter. Consumers may have fun with these applications, but I found the business applications HP had on display much more compelling.

Edit [adding more stuff just because]:

CrunchGear:

I will hand it to HP and Sony: their interfaces are gorgeous. The HP interface I saw last week has a number of simple tools – a recipe box, for example, that can take recipes from the web and import them into a private database – as well as the standard stretch’n’drag photo and note-taking applications that make touch actually compelling.

I’m sure there will be more, and there will be more criticism too. Developing software is always about trade-offs, and sometimes customers want other trade-offs to be made; that’s why software is never “done”.

But these first few reviews make me feel it was worth the time, working on the TouchSmart software. And yes, the “shell” that hosts all the various applications is still written in WPF. WPF rocks!

• Create a Windows app using any technology you please (C++, MFC, VB, WPF, Flash, Air, whatever)
• Do not use DirectX exclusive mode
• Make sure the app produces one Win32 window (and only one window) and does this quickly
• Make sure the window has no “chrome” whatsoever (no borders, resize grips, close/minimize/maximize buttons, system menu, etc.)
• Make sure the window can still be resized by WM_SIZE and moved by WM_MOVE messages (and make sure it does so very responsively)
• Make sure the window content is touch friendly

That’s it. If you know how to produce a program that does the above, you’re all set. No need to learn any interfaces, new programming models, technologies, nothing. I’ve actually had partial success at getting apps designed for Windows 1.0 to run inside the HP TouchSmart environment.

Now, if you want to improve on things, here are some more things you could do:

• Make sure you have a black background for your window
• Support the three “layouts”/sizes that HP TouchSmart uses as the user interacts with the UI (small, medium, large)
• Take into account that the user can only interact with your window in large layout/size
• Present something useful/informative in small and medium layout/size
• Provide a beautiful, large icon

And to make it really great:

• Use the notification mechanism that the environment provides (if your app needs to notify the user of anything)
• Use the mechanism for launching IE that the environment provides (if your app needs to put the user in a full web browser experience)

Finally, use the RegisterSmartCenterApp.exe registration mechanism (described in the document linked to above) in the package you deliver for installing your app. You need to do that so program you’ve developed can be integrated into the HP TouchSmart UI.

If you’ve climbed the WPF cliff, the latest version of the HP TouchSmart software (2.8) includes a library that you can use for even closer integration. Leave a comment if you’d like more information about that. I don’t consider that part of the “nutshell”, since it ends up binding you to a specific technology stack.

If the user account you’ve created contains the ampersand character (aka. “and” symbol: &), the Notes application can’t save the “sticky” note kind. To-Do list notes are not affected by this problem.

The symptom is that you draw on the sticky note and then tap the Done button. Now the Done button will gray out, but the note won’t be saved and the creation surface won’t disappear. Only a tap on the Cancel button will make the creation surface go away (and without saving the note).

A workaround, if you want to use that Note feature, is to create a new user account that does not contain the ampersand (&) symbol. Renaming the user account is not enough, since the initial creation sets up certain things that can’t be changed later on. (After creating the new account, most of the user data needs to be copied from the old account to the new account so documents, pictures, etc. are available under the new account. For example everything from “c:\users\old&problem” needs to go to “c:\users\new-no-problem”.)

Until a proper fix can be developed and published, this is the only known workaround, unfortunately.

I thought I would give a few more details on this update, mostly for developers and other technically minded people.

• The shell is now DPI/screen resolution independent, in other words it should display correctly no matter what DPI and resolution the computer uses.
• Memory usage has been reduced by eliminating two previously needed processes.
• The minimize command line argument now also minimizes a hosted application in large layout.
• In Personalize, an option is now available to pick a background image.

This version reports itself as 2.5.3238.28760 and as version 2.5.312 in Add/Remove Programs.

I’ve included a few photos in the pack that I managed to have included in the Spring 2009 software for the HP TouchSmart PC. They’re in the Personalize – Background area, should you be interested in finding them. Here’s one you may recognize:

While I didn’t put this one in the Theme Pack, I did pick a similar shot of downtown Seattle. Come to think of it, maybe this post will be inspiration for doing a “picture of the day” type of thing. Hmm. Been wanting to do that for a while.

All I can do now is hope the size of the pack (12 MB or so) won’t blow my bandwidth allowance…

Crayon Physics Deluxe from Petri Purho on Vimeo

Go get it at www.crayonphysics.com.

Perfect for the HP TouchSmart PC, by the way!

1. Close down the HP TouchSmart software completely. You may have to go to Personalize – TouchSmart Settings first and uncheck the QuickLaunch option to ensure everything closes down completely. If the QuickLaunch option is checked, the Close button behaves more like a standby function in that it hides the HP TouchSmart UI but keeps things running in the background for faster re-opening.

2. Start Windows Explorer, for example by using the Win+E keyboard hotkey combination, or by using the Vista Start Menu to open the Documents folder.

3. Type %LocalAppData% into the address bar:

(4.) and then press Enter on the keyboard.

5. Now navigate into the Hewlett-Packard folder:

6. Now navigate into the Weather.exe_Url_* folder (the cryptic letters after the _Url_ part will be different on every system, on my system it looks like above):

7. If you have two folders as shown above (particular folder names are not that important), delete the one with the smaller version number. In the above example it would be the 1.0.3106.17497 folder. Alternatively you can rename it to start with anything but a digit.

From now on any setting changes you make in the Weather tile should be remembered properly.

http://www.dotnetrocks.com/default.aspx?showNum=399

The parts for developers are mostly in the first 15 minutes. I have some PDF slides that might illustrate things for people who are just looking for a quick visual and not a whole lot of depth. If you’re interested, let me know and I’ll post them here.

This is something we addressed with what we called a “Touch Optimizer” on the IQ770 (our first TouchSmart series). On the IQ500 series we initially left this program out of the factory configuration (the reasons would bore you, trust me.) Now we’ve brought it back as an update that you can get at the HP Support website: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=pv-66423-1&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&os=2100&product=3752240

This utility will increase several “non-client metrics”, as they’re called in Windows developer lingo, to sizes that make things easier to hit with your finger. If I remember correctly, the tool increases scrollbar, close/minimize/maximize buttons and taskbar quicklaunch icon sizes. It also turns on single click for desktop icons so you don’t have to double-tap to launch programs from the desktop anymore.

Until Windows 7 arrives with better integrated touch in the whole OS, try this tool and see if it doesn’t get you 60% of the way there. Maybe even 80%.