(iTers News) - Back in 2009 when Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer declared “ I am a PC”, he was talking about a PC that can feel, listen, and see, and act like human, presaging a groundbreaking revolution in the UI, or use interface- the way that people interact with a PC.

His insight proves right. One day before CES2012 kicks off on Jan. 10, 2012, similar lines to Steve’s are being echoed across show floors and press conferences.

At a press conference held on Jan.9, Yoon, Boo Keun president with Samsung Electronics Consumer Electronics Division was talking about a smart TV that “can understand you and your family”.

Unwrapping a new breed of notebook PCs that’s called as ultrabooks, Mooly Eden, Intel vice-president and general manager, PC Client Group took a flashback to the time when Intel and its PC OEM and ODM partners got to work to specify hardware and software features for ultrabooks. “We have worked hard to make the ultrabooks that interact as we speak,” said he at a CES press conference held today.

Shawn DuBravac, chief economist with CEA, pinpointed technology breakthroughs in the UI of IT gadgets as one of what are to trend out as a new wave of growth catalyst in 2012, saying “The year 2012 is the year of UI.”

True enough, the year 2012 will mark the milestone one that will witness a new groundbreaking voice and finger touch-activated UI get designed in the PC since graphics and on-screen icon-driven Windows OS replaced text-based and command-driven MS DOS in early 1990s.

And, the industry expects the debut would not only revitalize long-dormant PC replacement demand, but also resuscitate the rapidly fading PC industry in the same way that the shift from MS-DOS to Windows opened up the PC era.

2012; the Year of UI

Leading the shift in the UI is Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. that had reigned supreme over the PC industry for the past 30 years, but are losing growth momentums to new players in mobile and tablet PC arenas like ARM Holding and Google Android The so-called Wintel duo has worked together with PC OEM partners to design reference platforms for ultrabook that are running MS Windows 8 and Intel’s 3^rd generation Quad core processor.

The processor is fabricated with a 20nm geometry technology and is built around 4 cores and one graphics core as well as L3 cache memory. Due out in the spring time of 2012 in a variety of screen sizes from 10 inches to 15 inches, ultrabooks feature multiple innovative new UIs, not to mention a traditional keyboard. For example, users can tap a projected capacitive multi-touch screen to input data, or open files, and scroll and zoom on-screen icons and objects to move around them.

Touch UI was a compelling feature of Windows 7, but what make differences with Windows 8 are bigger onscreen tiles and icons. And, Intel will support it with a more powerful CPU.

“So far, touch UI has been wholly dedicated to smartphones and tablet PCs. But, we don’t let that multi-touch feature skip ultrabook. Touch UI and keyboard are main and UIs of ultrabook,” said, Intel’ Eden.

The touch UI is not the only a new way that people interact with ultrabooks. Ultrabooks come complete with an array of cameras and tiny microphones in the same way that Microsoft’s Kinect was built. As with the case, as Intel Eden put it, they can interact with a command of voice and motion gestures, letting users not only to activate and launch applications with their voice, but also to play games like sling shooting game with a gesture of hands.

“ Hi ! PC”

The voice-recognition technology was invented by Nuance Communications and is powered by Nuance’s Dragon voice recognition technology.

According to Intel’s Eden, it will support nine different languages, include English, Chinese, Japanese, French, Germany, Italy, Portuguese, etc. The UI innovation of ultrabook doesn’t stop there.

As they are built with a flurry of MEMS gyroscope and accelerometer sensors, users can hold it with two hands, and steer left to right and up to down, and often rotate in the same way that they play with smartphones and tablet PCs to play games like virtual car racing. The ultrabook can even authenticate users’ credit card using what’s trademarked as OneTap algorithm to secure e-commerce.

Jen Hsun Huang, CEO with Nvidia Corp. is champing multi-touch UI, saying that touch UI is the cause of mobile computing revolution, and a center of tablet revolution. At a press conference held today, he unveiled a Quad-core new Tegra 3 CPU architecture to support multi-touch screens. Unlike other CPU, the Tegra is built around quad, or four ARM Cortex A9 cores as well one more variable symmetric multi-processing (SMP) processor.

In what’s trademarked DirectTouch technology, the fifth core will work as touch microcontroller, operating at far higher clock speed of several hundred MHz than normal touch MCUs, allowing touch screen to repose many times as fast as the best of MCUs ever available without compromising battery life, according to him. As computing power has been moving beyond PCs and going into everything from smartphoens to tablet PCs even to smart TVs and smart cars to game consoles, revolutionary changes are also shaping up in the way that people interact with these smart devices. Cases in point are smart TVs. Samsung Electronics today showcased voice and motion-gesture-activated as well as facial-recognized smart TVs. Its backyard archrival LG Electronics took the wrap off a new line of 3D Cinema smart TV that comes with a voice-activated Magic Remocon, which allows users to surf and search through millions of Wed pages just with a voice command. Built with a 3D camera, LG’s smart TV also can read users’ motion to enable them to play games and exercise.

Power of multi cores

“Our voice activation and 3D motion-detection UIs are the most natural user interface ever, “ said LG CTO Scott Ahn.

The progressively stronger computing power and rapid evolution of tiny sensor technology have combined to drive the UI revolution.

Look deeper into the high-end smart TV line-ups from Samsung and LG, and you can be surprised to find that all of them are built around powerful dual core CPUs –as powerful as those of a PC.

Samsungs premium smart TV line-ups are powered by its indigenous 1.2GHz ARM Cortex A9 dual core CPU, while LG built its L9 chipset, the brain of LG upscale smart TV line-up, around a dual core ARM processor and a quad core graphics processor.

Rapid evolutions in MEMS technology and image sensing algorithm also helped, too, as they got sensitive enough to detect even feeble signals using built-in amplifying and filtering technologies.

Opening up new opportunities

The fast and wide spread of new and innovative UI has favorable implications for all players in the IT manufacturing eco-system. It will not only provide a launching pad for Intel and Microsoft to regain consumer attention and growth momentum, but also open up new market opportunities other peripheral and raw material makers.

The lists of the potential beneficiaries are too long to name all. (see our eco map)  Just name a few, touch controller chip makers like Cypress Semiconductor, Atmel, Broadcom Corp., Synaptics, E-Lan of Taiwan, and Core River of Korea will benefit, while Japanese ITO film and glass makers like Asahi Kasei and Toppan Printing will emerge sure-winners.

The likes of MEMS chip makers –Bosch Sensortec, Knowles Electronics, Freescale Semiconductor STMicroelectronics,, and MEMS Tech. Bhd- will likely top the lists.