Getting Started with Sprout by HP

From Makezine:

HP’s Blended Reality

We’ve been using the clunky mouse and keyboard in front of a display for more than 30 years. Despite this fact, most computer manufacturers are content to focus on making computers faster and smaller, rather than addressing the elephant in the room. The desktop computer is long overdue for a redesign, one that enables us to rethink the way we do work. We need to bring the ease of interacting with people and objects in the physical world into the digital world. This is the heart of the vision HP calls “Blended Reality.”
HP’s Blended Reality is an innovative approach to the way we interact with computers. It’s a way to merge the physical world that we live in with the digital world that we work in. With new ways to bring physical objects into the digital workspace, HP’s Sprout is poised to change the way that we interact with computers and each other.

Futuristic Hardware

The HP Sprout is far from your average desktop PC. Sitting atop the 23-inch LCD touchscreen is a device HP calls the “Illuminator,” containing a 3D scanner, a DLP projector, and several high-resolution cameras to capture images, depth, and more. The image of a digital workspace is projected from the Illuminator down onto an integrated Touch Mat. This turns the Touch Mat into a second display that is touch-sensitive and able to track up to 20 independent points at once. This unique combination of integrated hardware sets the Sprout apart from other desktop PCs and gives us a glimpse into HP’s vision for a new, immersive computing platform.

Innovative Software

Of course, hardware is only as good as its software, and the Sprout doesn’t disappoint. The Sprout runs on Windows 8.1, making it every bit as powerful as your average desktop computer, but the included Workspace software platform is the environment where HP’s vision of Blended Reality begins. From here, you can launch apps to scan documents, take photos, capture 3D objects, and collaborate on projects with remote friends or co-workers.

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