Meet Sprout by HP

Since I started my blog – 6 years ago this month, I have had many amazing opportunities come my way. I have written about many of them and feel fortunate to be able to make a living by writing about my passions and things that inspire creativity and style.

Last week, I got to be part of the coolest opportunity yet.  It all started with an email asking me if I would like to go to offices of Martha Stewart MSLO to try out some new technology.  That was all I was told since the product was under wraps. Of course I went and was one of the first people outside of HP to be able to play and create on a new computer. I created three projects in a few hours and then went home.  I had to be a little secretive and I could not say much, but now I can spill the beans and show you what I have been up to.

I returned to NYC a few days later to attend the launch party of the computer.

I use the word “computer,” but it is not just any computer, but a computer that belongs in a whole new category of computers. The launch event was early the next morning.

It was complete with breakfast and meeting lots of new people all waiting for the unveiling of…

Look a little different from a normal desktop?   That’s because it is!  Sprout by HP is a desktop computer like no other.  It brings intuitive creation together with technology. Your creations come to life on a vivid 23″ HD touch screen with apps that blend the physical and digital creating a whole new computer category called “Blended Reality”.

Ron Coughlin the Senior VP & General Manager of HP’s Consumer PC and Global Business with inventor Brad Short

It is the genius invention of Brad Short (on the right).

What makes Sprout by HP different? Hands! Our hands can do amazing things, but technology has traditionally limited us to clicks and taps. Sprout by HP changes that by breaking down the barriers between the digital and physical world and inviting you, once again, to use your hands to create.

Multiple tools are integrated into one device:  Projector, Keyboard and Mouse, Scanner, Canvas with touch, and 3D Camera.

Sprout captures 3D objects instantly so that you can get creative with them. It is a full-powered PC when you need it, but a creative playground only limited by your  imagination.

After the unveiling ceremonies, everyone at the event got to play and see how Sprout works with different applications.

Reimagine Creating…

The HP Workspace is the Sprout by HP signature app. It allows you to grab objects from the physical world around you, capture them in a digital form, and manipulate them in a digital environment with the touch of your hands.

Erin Furey, Martha Stewart Living

The Sprout by HP Illuminator scans 3D objects and they open on the monitor. You then simply swipe the image on the monitor screen to the canvas with Touch Mat. It is where the keyboard and all the tools are located for the computer, too.  The tool symbols and keyboard light up right on the Mat… it is super COOL!!!!  Once your image has been swiped down to the Mat, you don’t just see your image(s), you can touch, move, manipulate and then share them.

Here is a short video that will show you just how cool it is using the basic application.

Amazing, right?  I want to go out and buy one right now. Imagine the possibilities. The best thing – it is so intuitive. I learned how to use it in less than half an hour. It is not complicated like Photoshop  – no frustrating or impossible learning curve to use it.  Sprout makes the digital creating process easy and downright FUN!

At the event I got to play with a few of the apps. Each one was amazing, but I was truly blown away by the real-time creating and sharing app that allows two users a world away to create on the same image.

You can create, share, and make something with another user around the world in real-time as though there was no distance between you. Users can collaborate seamlessly and simultaneously interact with and manipulate content on the HP Touch Mat whether across the room or miles away via HP MyRoom for real-time collaboration. Pretty darn cool!

Gamers get to be more fully engaged in the action.

Your refrigerator door will never be the same. Kids of all ages will love the Crayola Draw and Sing app.   Everything is done with your hands.  There is a stylus that you can use also if your creation needs it.

Want to create with paint?  No problem – using a tray on the Touch Mat, your creation comes to life right in front of you and will be saved right to the computer.

Creating does not have to be all visual.  The Piano Time app lets you create and or play a musical score.

In the photo above, a piece of fruit was scanned.  The artist simply duplicated the banana image with a click and then created the letter “B” using different sizes of the banana image.

The Martha Stewart CraftStudio app can help you make cards, invitations, scrapbooks, posters and anything you can dream up.

Make objects larger or smaller, upside down or angled, or copy and paste simply with your hands. Nothing complicated – all intuitive.

If you want to check Sprout by HP out, you can play and see it in action at Best Buy, The Microsoft Store, HP, B&H, and on HSN. It will be available in mid November.

To read more about Sprout, follow along at: #SproutByHp

It truly is an amazing tool. One that truly knows no boundaries and will fuel your creativity every step of the way.

Stay tuned… next Monday I will show you what I created.

Albert Einstein once said…

I could not agree with him more.  Sprout’s technology is an idea whose time has come.

Creating on a computer will never be the same.