Google acquires BumpTop, possibly bringing features to Android

By on May 3, 2010 at 1:38 PM
General May 3, 2010

google-bumptopGoogle is certainly making good on their promise to again start acquiring companies on a pretty quick pace. Latest on the list is BumpTop, a multitouch 3D interface for the computer desktop. Chatter around the web has suggested Google might use some of BumpTop’s IP to give Android a makeover, possibly even making a 3D environment. Then, of course, there’s the fantastic multitouch implementation BumpTop has integrated into their UI and it’s pretty impressive. BumpTop raised $1.65 million in funding in 2007 and the rumored selling price is said to be $35-$40 million. Check out the video of it in action after the break!

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29 Comments

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  • Anonymous

    inb4 Steve Jobs sues for 3D tech.

  • MikeD

    Looks interesting. I think this has been shown a few years back. Looking forward to seeing how its applied in the future.

    • MikeD

      Okay, I now remember what I saw that was similar.

      its called “Project Looking Glass” Sun was behind it. http://tinyurl.com/c6l7jo

      I wonder if these are the same technology?

  • TypicalAndroidFanboyDBAG

    This is going to add to the demise of Apple just like their poor ipad sales already have. SCREW APPLE!!!!

    • crazylegs

      nope, just a typical DBAG.

    • JAGAK

      @TypicalAndroidFanboyDBAG yea… 1 million ipads sold in the first month is really poor. How dumb do you have to be to post this kind of unfounded crap, oh wait, I just read your handle, nevermind.

      @user spare us your diatribe and quit crying & whats with the 20 questions? If you’re that curious go download it and try it then maybe you can post something useful.

      Been using BumpTop for a few months now on a 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2GB MacBook and its clunky as hell. Keyboard shortcuts take forever to respond unless you click Finder first which IMO defeats the whole purpose of shortcuts and in general it seem to slow things down. That said the app itself is awesome in graphic design and features, I hope Google guys and gals work their magic and make it run more smoothly for everything and don’t drop dev for other operating systems in favor of chrome OS. Google’s Mac based dev seriously lags behind other OS for the Chrome browser, I’d hate to see a buyout stifle the dev of a potentially useful app.

  • NuShrike

    Fails to solve any of the real issues on the desktop. Everything done could be as an overlay plug-in for a normal desktop so fails to justify why it has to be 3D.

    Says everything gets more organized yet fails to demonstrate how this all works while there’s app windows on the screen at the SAME time. Current desktop has hide-all windows too.

    Walls = Screens/Desktops
    Piling = folders; just takes you longer to see all the items because you have to linear-time flip through them
    flipping through a pile = same as the iPad-like interface or just opening the folder
    Pile by type = sort by type
    flash-drive pops up on center of screen = well in the real-world there’s windows in the middle of the screen because we’re actually running apps which is why it either shows up on the side (Mac) or in a different file-system browser (Windows)
    misses opportunity to pile apps into groups into the taskbar = real game changer

    • DK

      The point is to break away from the conventional “rigid” desktop setup / appearance. I agree with what you’re saying in terms of functionality, but this is a different way of looking at the desktop’s presentation.

      That said, it looks like shoe box or a cubicle to me.

      • NuShrike

        And I agree with you that it’s a different way to look at it.

        But what I don’t get is just about everybody has done these cute desktop reimaginings for years.. especially KDE with their 3D desktop, but I’m still not seeing any new UX that progresses the old problems.

        I enjoy all the negative marks considering I also work professionally in UX. If I don’t know what I’m talking about.. those negs really speak volumes about themselves.

      • JAGAK

        Riddle me this man, if you work “professionally” in UX then why aren’t you working on something that “progresses the old problems”. Whatever the hell that even means, seriously progression of problems?… That sounds like a bad thing to me but hey I guess everyone makes a living somehow. The negs on your comments I reckon aren’t necessarily because people think you’re wrong or don’t know what you’re talking about, it probably has more to do with the fact that you come across as a jackass with your overuse of “fail” endless complaints and useless information.

  • NoFan

    umm the Ipad has had great sales….any way I hate apple but I would like to see this 3D UI on a Android device or computer. Sounds good…just hope someone doesn’t sue

  • Barack Obama.

    This thing is awesome!!! why is this the first time im seeing it.

    • StevenGlansburg

      because you are still busy giving speeches on ‘change’ despite the election being over for almost 2 years now…

    • block Pajama

      Wait, i remember why now, i don’t get Wi-Fi out in the gardens while i’m drinking my beers with the local hommies……

  • Bdizzah

    Maybe not for android, but for chrome OS?

    • DK

      Bingo! Hope it comes true on a chrome os tablet!

  • Matt

    Anyone else thinking chrome os ?

  • http://www.poker-casino-online.fr Ben

    I think that we can expect that this project may become open source soon and team will work on something new/something for current Google’s project. I’m not 100% sure but look what happened to other projects acquired by Google in last few months.

  • EraserXIV

    in its current form it is useless. google has a lot of work to do on this one.

  • Hi-Fi

    Now why did i think of that!?

  • your mom

    does anyone know if it will be on android phones or computers?

  • http://leifandersen.net Leif Andersen

    Wow, I didn’t even think of that. When I saw that video, I thought it would be a useless piece of technology (aka, the desktop my computer is on is a mess, now I can make my digital desktop one too), but for a small touchscreen like device such as that, that seems really powerful.

  • Fury

    Im guessing Google may have picked them up for patents that they can apply to other (existing projects based on similar 3d tech or presentation. Remember patents that keep you out of apples clutches are pretty valuable too. Just a guess though.

  • Sir Trashcan

    Looks amazing! Google will make huge leap with this acquisition.

    Nokia Symbian will look archaic. Nokia is only using antique-spartan OSs where as iPhone is leading the innovation and Android is showing some great new innovations also.

    • Tochi

      Symbian may look archaic to you but it will still be much more functional to over 100 million outside of the USA. There is more to it than eye candy.

      • Dale McNamee

        Tochi,

        You make a great point ! The 100 million world wide users of Symbian value stability,functionality,and an efficient OS over “eye candy” any day.

    • user

      I think the problem here is people think that these shiny new operating systems that require these huge touch-screen, battery-hogging displays will actually make the bulk of handset sales.

      People also like to think of one operating system “taking over” and becoming dominant and ‘one-size-fits-all’ rather than thinking of their own needs and the strengths and weaknesses of every device and their own needs and priorities.

      Hey, it makes for more enjoyable headlines.

      Sure, smartphone sales are growing but there are far more phones out there with 320×240 resolution (or less) displays.

      Symbian was originally designed to run on lower resolution devices and still does that extremely well.

      Name me one operating system that has a usable touch implementation in a 320×240 pixel display (or less) for example. The bulk of handsets sold are precisely this, and will continue to be precisely this for many, many years.

      Symbian’s minimalist, space-efficient interface (and software support) still has a lot of life left in it with these smartphone devices.

      • Dale McNamee

        User,

        You,like Tochi,make an excellent point ! I wonder how many of the ” fanboys” with the ” latest and greatest” smartphones actually like having to frequently re-charge those phones ?

        Also,these same ones get readily bored after the thrill wears off and they look for the next ” latest and greatest “.

        You mentioned ” needs and priorities ” of the user,and the rest of the world doesn’t desire or want the “toys” that we have,since price and availability of services and phones are issues in many countries.

        I like Symbian because of their “minimalist” approach as well as the stability of the OS. And there are many different iterations of the OS to cover the phones from basic to high end.

        I don’t desire to watch TV and movies or to play games on my smartphone. I use it as it was designed to be : a phone and an alternative to a laptop/netbook.

  • user

    1) What I want to know is what happens if I insert my memory stick (Kingston, in the video) and I have a messy desk. Will I even see it there? Why can’t I separate things away from the 3D desktop?

    2) The intro talks about rigid folders, but they still need to be made here, don’t they? Would you “browse for a file” by being presented with your 3D desktop? How do I get details like when it was modified, the file’s size, etc? This is a different way of working things, but not the best in many situations.

    3) Scrolling through things is really no different than using thumbnail views and scrolling in a window through documents or photos with a mouse. Nothing new here.

    4) How is using a gesture (accidentally or not), not confusing here and just as hard to learn as ‘folders’? People have a hard enough time with the mouse, especially new users. Unless the screen is touch-enabled, these things are far less useful. Maybe that’s where Google has its interests.

    5) We can pile things into a grid with regular windows. This merely has more 3D polish. Flipping through it like a deck of cards is easily implemented but how is that “view one at a time” deck of cards view better than having more than one show at the same time, making use of more of the screen so you can more quickly find what you want? The animation of going through things does give some level of comfort with its emulation of real-world activity, though. But again nothing new.

    6) Gestures to go left and right are pretty good (by actually clicking on the files themselves – in windows this would just move the icon of the file). Still, things like that already exist with 4-way mouse wheels (up, down, left, right) with scroll bars, though we aren’t actually touching the photos (for instance) themselves, which is nice here but easily implementable in Windows interfaces right now. Much better implemented on touch interfaces, in my opinion.

    7) We can already drag or toss documents onto a USB key with Windows, just not on a single 3d interface. I fail to see how rotating to go to different walls is any easier than opening up a window (especially to a new user).

    8) Keyword filtering of the desktop is OK, but does it still filter using other attributes (size, date, etc?)

    9) I think that will be just as confusing for people to learn or inadvertently enable some of the settings here. All these things are nice but nobody talks about how they increase complexity and assume natural dexterity with many things.

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