Fingercams / brain scanners to make mice and multitouch displays seem archaic

Oh sure, we've known that mice were going the way of the Dodo for eons now, but a nice compilation over at Wired details just how close we are to relying on brain scanners and fingercams (among other unorthodox input methods) to do everything from play games to flip through photo albums. For instance, at Drexel University's RePlay Lab, students are currently "trying to measure the level of neurotransmitters in a subject's brain to create games where mere thought controls gameplay." Another example of how fingers are better used away from the left / right click is FingerSight, a technology that would enable cursor inputs to be, um, inputted by simply waving one's hand around. Unfortunately, the reality of all of this fantastic research is that we're still years away from pushing the fabled keyboard / mouse combo aside, but you aren't apt to find any FPS fanatics kvetching about that.

[asksiva @ Sep 2nd 2008 6:56AM]

Cool. If you were anything like me, you'd be hoping it soon come to a local store near you!

[jay.viz @ Sep 2nd 2008 11:13AM]

http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/ocz_peripherals/nia-neural_impulse_actuator
http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&q=ocz%20nia&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wf
Wish granted.
Crappy wish, I hope you still have at least 2 left.

[andrew @ Sep 2nd 2008 7:09AM]

Lol. The relevant post to this article are touch ones. This doesn't require such, it's in a wee league of it's own. But then to utilise this properly you would have to focus your attention quite a bit for it to work in a FPS for instance. What if your mom calls you, you cant concentrate on what you are doing and reply to her at the same time which means you will get Pwned

[Platinum_Skeet @ Sep 2nd 2008 4:45PM]

So this input technology will still be obsolete compared to the mouse and keyboard?


NOOOOOOOOO!!!!

[ridahgadgetguy @ Sep 2nd 2008 7:20AM]

i love that expression on his face :P :P

[Atanas Boev @ Sep 2nd 2008 7:26AM]

LOL. He seems to be trying click-and-hold :)

[Atanas Boev @ Sep 2nd 2008 7:23AM]

It amazes me what people invent, just to be able to shuffle through their photoalbums.

Multitouch, gesture recognition, Surface, brain electrodes - and [Steve's voice on] BOOM, now you can shuffle through your photos [Steve's voice off].

[Blank @ Sep 2nd 2008 7:31AM]

Seen this a few times, its a clever idea, not too sure its a good one.

Sitting at your PC, girlfriend walks by.. your there clicking & tapping away, yes were actually doing something!
or
Sitting at your PC, staring at it mindlessly, girlfriend thinks what the hell am i doing with that.

Mice/Keyboards make up the computers look, a brain scanner is just too sad to bother with/

[rita hainsworth @ Sep 2nd 2008 8:22AM]

Wasn't he in Bring It On?

[undead ichi @ Sep 2nd 2008 9:07AM]

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/5274390/OCZ-NIA-Neural-Impulse-Actuator/Product.html

ocz have released one already

[Dan Z @ Sep 2nd 2008 10:04AM]

They are using an Office 2007 like interface for that. Pretty nifty looking imo

[Rick @ Sep 2nd 2008 10:55AM]

My brain hurts just thinking of this.

[phanbouy @ Sep 2nd 2008 1:48PM]

i think i see what you did there

[Stiv @ Sep 2nd 2008 11:02AM]

I hate it when I sit down at a PC and the mouse is there - easy to use and ready to go. I'd much rather have something I have to strap on my head and adjust. It looks good, too!

In all honesty, if I could sit down and think, "Open Word, start a new document in my usual folder and call it 'Super Strong Bad Fan Fiction" this would be useful. That's not the case, however, Contraptions like this are little more than biofeedback devices and as such are tedious and unintuitive to use.

Of course, even if I could sit down and think about what I want the PC to do, I'd still have to suffer through Adobe, Flash and Java updates.

"Open Word... okay, you updated Java, great. Open Word and... no I don't want to restart right now. Open Word and... no, I don't want to renew Norton 360 right now. Open Word and... no really I don't want to renew. Open Word and... yeah great, you hid my inactive icons and no I don't want to run the desktop cleanup wizard. Open Word and sit on my middle finger and spin you popup having POS!"

[karel7 @ Sep 2nd 2008 11:04AM]

Oh god... Not this story again...!!

Didn't we have this conversation, back when some guy from some corporation said the mouse was going extinct in a few years? (http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/21/gartner-analyst-says-the-mouse-will-be-on-the-outs-within-five-y/). And since then we have seen literally tens of gadgets like these set to hit the market!...

Just goes to show that NOBODY who's anybody in this business read or gives a crap about what consumers want! They don't even go to the trouble of reading what the readers of specialized media have to say.

[maveric101 @ Sep 2nd 2008 11:16AM]

does this mean i would have to lift my hand off the desk? i'm too lazy for that.

[Wwhat @ Sep 2nd 2008 12:02PM]

You simply can't get much coherent data from the surface of your head without a half a million dollar scanner, or liquid nitrogen cooled SQUID who also cost a pretty penny, so for that reason alone this will never be usable, let alone that even if they could get precise data it' would be stupid and annoying and not practical.

[dukemang @ Sep 2nd 2008 1:39PM]

I get tired using a computer as it is and most of my body is not moving. Having to wave my arms around or think to move the cursor while trying to code is just an excuse to by more Excedrin. When are they going to come up with an interface system that is an real improvement instead of just, "hey, with an old pager, a rubber band, a laptop and a pile of dung we could build a new way to shuffle photos...because we have nothing better to do with this government grant."

[phanbouy @ Sep 2nd 2008 1:48PM]

hey man! leave MacGuyver outta this!