Intel Reveals More Haswell Details

The new touch ultrabooks will now recognize your face and track your hands

Kirk Skaugen, a long time Intel evangelist, has revealed more details about the company’s upcoming Haswell ultrabooks, focusing on touch interfaces.

Intel is really excited about touch and Windows 8, and touch systems will cost just $100 more than regular ultrabooks, Skaugen told TechEye at this year’s Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco.

We have previously written about the technical specifications of the Haswell platform.

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All across the world people have been immersed in the Windows 8 experience. A recent survey of 200,000 computer users found that 90 percent think touch is great. People want keyboards and touch. And Intel is there to deliver.

In addition to promoting touch interfaces, the company plans to eliminate wires completely for PCs. It is promoting charging stuff wirelessly, claiming it will work at roughly the same rate as a USB. Skaugen said that it is certifying systems that use Intel-Nuance enabled machines.

Dell is the first to be certified and Intel has white box reference designs. Intel will bring SDKs for finger tracking, sound, facial recognition and voice recognition. A PC will recognise every movement of the hands, including finger joints. You can walk up to your PC and auto-enter your password.

Skaugen said that when he’s on a plane he gives his iPad to his five year old to play Angry Birds and his kid sends emails to his CEO. With facial recognition that will never happen.

Intel will have over 240 designs of Ultrabooks using Ivy Bridge platform next year.

For more on this, and other news from Intel’s IDF event, visit TechEye.

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