Multitouch on Windows book update

Here is a quick update about the progress of my book, Multitouch on Windows. The MEAP (Manning Early Access Program -- pre-order access to the eBook) now includes chapters 1-2 and 4-7. You can get access the MEAP by pre-ordering either the eBook or print+eBook. (Disclosure: that link is affiliate and sends me a few extra dollars if you buy through it.) You can also download the source code samples from the book page at that link.

I'm currently working on chapter 8 about the WPF manipulations API. This is a key chapter so I'm giving it some extra love and care. I'm also balancing out work and family life. It is a challenge sometimes but this stuff motivates me so I push through. I'm also motivated by the comments, feedback, and successes of my readers. If you're doing something cool with multi-touch let me know!

Since I'm closing in on half-way through the book, I posted some survey questions for readers on the Manning forums. I basically need to know how important Silverlight and Surface content is to readers so I know how much effort to put into various areas. I'm also trying to build the case for the book to be printed in color (the eBook is already in color) so the more responses the better case I can present to Manning. Please take a few minutes and answer these four questions, even if you haven't read the book yet:

Multitouch on Windows reader survey

If you don't want to post the answers on that forum or don't want to make an account, you can always just email me directly: joshblake at gmail dotcom. Thank you to those of you who have already answered the survey.

Microsoft Surface and Magical Object Interaction

Work at InfoStrat has been really exciting recently. We are getting more and more multi-touch projects for both Surface and Windows 7. We've created some really interesting interfaces and applications and soon we'll be able to share more.

For now, I can share this video. We built a suite of Microsoft Surface applications for a well-known museum. These are designed to be used by young children. During user testing we found that it works great for them and also does pretty well at bringing out the inner child from people of all ages. I'll post more details on the findings of our user testing in a future post.

The theme of the applications was "light" and we designed them to really take advantage of the unique capabilities of Surface: bringing people together socially and physical object interaction.



Let me know what you think!

By the way, if you're interested in working for InfoStrat and you know WPF, we're hiring! Take a look at our job posting for WPF experts as well as Microsoft CRM and Microsoft SharePoint experts.