Wiimote meets enterprise, unproductivity ensues

Oh the suits, how we love 'em. Spreadsheets, meetings, PowerPoint -- doesn't get much more exciting than that. Or does it? A few enterprise types at Colgate-Palmolive gathered after-hours and managed to get a Wiimote up and running with a custom Ruby on Rails / Script.aculo.us / database-thingy, allowing for much more immersive data manipulation. Unfortunately, all that's really going on is the Wiimote is interfacing with the computer as a substitute mouse, pushing around some oversized buttons. Not quite the beautiful melding of gaming and office work we had envisioned, but we congratulate these guys for trying -- now back to work, we need new cover sheets on those TPS reports!

[Andrew @ Feb 26th 2007 10:58PM]

An interesting feature could be a inexpensive replacement for a slide show clicker. I would use a Wiimote for a PowerPoint presentation rather than using a regular mouse or one of the expensive specialty air mice.

[tiuk @ Feb 27th 2007 12:39AM]

I agree, next time I have to do a presentation I'll most likely use a Wii remote.

[Andrew Cornuelle @ Feb 26th 2007 11:41PM]

Did you get that memo?

[dave @ Feb 26th 2007 11:50PM]

So this is like a poke in the eye for those of us (read: me) who are fruitlessly searching for a Wii to use it for its intended purpose.

[Brennan @ Feb 27th 2007 12:44AM]

how do hackers hack the Wii remote n control it to do whatever they want?

what software do ppl use to do this? I want to try it, it's not fair :-(.

sry if i sound noobish, im just curious.

[brandon @ Feb 27th 2007 1:43AM]

Brennan, use the program BlueSoleil for your BlueTooth program (you'll need some kind of Bluetooth, buy a USB dongle if you don't have anything) and GlovePIE. Then search for GlovePIE scripts on wiili.org. Don't worry, it's very easy once you get your Wiimote to connect. You also need drivers, also on wiili.org.

[tchiseen @ Feb 27th 2007 3:57AM]

lol really hard @ the coversheet comment. nice.

[LD @ Feb 27th 2007 7:35AM]

Nintendo has been sued for patent infringement with their Wiimote...because it is essentially nothing more than a presentation mouse/clicker that has been around for years.

[Dennis Howlett @ Feb 27th 2007 2:49PM]

Philip - an excellent demonstration of cluelessness in the enterprise space. What's got people excited about this is the way consumer has met enterprise in a novel way. It's called putting 'fun' into the enterprise but with a purpose. These guys did this all on their own time and acknowledge they're not sure about commercial use. So what? someone else will come along and make it better. Thats' what being part of a community is about. Isn't it?

Now if you want to riff on that then fine. But then you quickly fall into Bob Sutton's A**hole category. Otherwise you're just being plain unfair.

[Adam Collings @ Feb 27th 2007 3:04PM]

I'm gonna have to ask you to move your desk down to storage B.