Gesture Control
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Minority Report UI designer demos his tech at TED (video)
In February 2010, the man who built the technology of Minority Report twice -- once for the movie, and once in real life -- spoke at TED about the future of user interface design. Yesterday, TED posted John Underkoffler's entire fifteen-minute video presentation -- a copy of which you'll find right after the break. Get a curated glimpse into his company's tech in the following demo, and hear from the man himself when the gloves might come off. And if that doesn't satisfy your appetite, read an in-depth interview with Underkoffler at our more coverage link.
Microsoft Research toys with the cosmos... using forefinger and thumb (video)
We've always been suckers for Minority Report tech, and Microsoft Research's latest attempt is not to be missed. Thought pinch-to-zoom was quaint? Try pinching the sky in this geodesic dome. Though the cardboard-and-paper-clip structure isn't all that (unless you're the arts and crafts type), the inside houses a projectiondesign DLP unit with a custom infrared camera system that can turn simple hand gestures into virtual interstellar travel, 360-degree video teleconferencing and more. You'll find a pair of videos demonstrating the concept after the break, but try not to get too attached -- if you're anything like us, your poor heart can't handle another Courier axing.
Toshiba AirSwing UI puts you on the screen with your data
We've seen a Minority Report-esque interface or two hundred by this point, but Toshiba's AirSwing really caught our attention. Using little more than a webcam and some software, this bad boy places a semi-transparent image of the operator on the display -- all the easier to maneuver through the menus. And according to Toshiba, that software only utilizes about three percent of a 400MHz ARM 11 CPU -- meaning that you have plenty of processor left for running your pre-crime diagnostics. There is no telling when something like this might become commercially available, but the company plans to bundle it in commercial displays for malls and the like. Video after the break.
MIT researchers develop the most fabulous gesture control technique yet
When looking for a cheap, reliable way to track gestures, Robert Wang and Jovan Popovic of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory came upon this notion: why not paint the operator's hands (or better yet, his Lycra gloves) in a manner that will allow the computer to differentiate between different parts of the hand, and differentiate between the hand and the background? Starting with something that Howie Mandel might have worn in the 80s, the researchers are able to use a simple webcam to track the hands' locations and gestures -- with relatively little lag. The glove itself is split into twenty patches made up of ten different colors, and while there's no telling when this technology will be available for consumers, something tells us that when it does become available it'll be very hard not to notice. Video after the break. Update: Just received a nice letter from Rob Wang, who points out that his website is the place to see more videos, get more info, and -- if you're lucky -- one day download the APIs so you can try it yourself. What are you waiting for?
flOw wireless speaker concept flips jams based on your handling
She's but a concept at the moment, but David Boyce's flOw mockup certainly has legs. The five-speaker set can be arranged in a fanciful iPod docking station for in-home use, and on a whim, any of the speaker balls can be grabbed and taken elsewhere, all while the music follows via a touch of wireless magic. But that's hardly the kicker -- each ball has integrated gesture sensors and accelerometers, enabling the user to quiet the volume by turning it over or switch from "Smooth Operator" to "Master of Puppets" by simply jostling the speaker with an intense level of force. Talk about revolutionizing a played market sector. [Thanks, Paul]
MIT tech makes gesture controls cheaper, more colorful
Sit down, Natal. Move over, Move. MIT researchers have unveiled a new breakthrough in gesture control technology: Multi-colored spandex gloves. Created by researchers Robert Wang and Jovan Popović, the gloves require nothing more than a standard webcam and special software and contain no electronic components whatsoever. The software simply recognizes various colors and shapes printed on the gloves and translates the image into an accurate 3D representation of the hand. Rather than translate the hand position data on the fly, the software actually identifies the image it sees and checks it against a database of hand position images. Upon finding a match in the database, the program displays the corresponding 3D image. The only apparent downside is that the program requires several hundred megabytes of memory to run, though Wang notes that the amount of standard computer RAM is continually increasing, with most current computers including 4GB. Wang cites video games as one of the most obvious applications for the technology, which would allow gamers to easily manipulate objects within a game world. Of course, every console maker has its own motion control solution, at least in the offing, but the gloves have an advantage: They should cost "about a dollar" to manufacture. The only thing the technology seems to be lacking is a punchy marketing name ... Cue Joystiq Publishing to the rescue: "The Amazing Technicolor Dreamgloves!" Give us a call, MIT, and we'll get these babies off the ground. The rest of you can see the gloves in action after the break. [Via GamePolitics]
Evoluce 47-inch HD multitouch display gets off-screen gesture control
Evoluce, the manufacturers of that mammoth 47-inch full HD touchscreen, are out of control! Apparently, they've decided that unlimited simultaneous touch inputs (and thus unlimited simultaneous phalanges) was not enough, so they've gone an' added gesture support -- up to half a meter from the device. Apparently this bad boy supports Windows 7, although if you want your interface du jour to put the "unlimited" in "multitouch" you'll most likely have to roll your own. Interested? Wealthy? Check out some righteous video and PR after the break.
Kogan's latest fantasy product? An IPTV with Chrome browser, WiFi & gaming
The always optimistic Kogan isn't just aiming at tablets, it's posted a video showing off a new IPTV that could do what the big boys won't when (if) it ships later this year. These Chinese built HDTVs feature WiFi and video on-demand widgets similar to what everyone else is doing, but things start to get interesting in this YouTube video (embedded after the break) around the 1:05 mark when he pulls up a Chrome browser window and navigates the internet easily using the remote, as well as testing out some gesture controlled games and a Bluetooth keyboard. More than a few no-name builders had displays with similar capabilities up and running at CES so it's easy to see someone shipping one or two of these but with Kogan's track record (what happened to those OLED TVs?) it's difficult to disguise our doubt it will be among them. True believers are invited to post suggestions for other features on the company blog -- we're thinking a dedicated Engadget Show channel is just what the doctor ordered.
iPad apps: defining experiences from the first wave
There are now over 1,348 approved apps for the iPad. That's on top of the 150,000 iPad-compatible iPhone programs already available in the App Store. When Apple's tablet PC launches, just hours from now, it will have a software library greater than that of any handheld in history -- not counting the occasional UMPC. That said, the vast majority of even those 1,348 iPad apps are not original. They were designed for the iPhone, a device with a comparatively pokey processor and a tiny screen, and most have just been tweaked slightly, upped in price and given an "HD" suffix -- as if that somehow justified the increased cost. Besides, we've seen the amazing potential programs have on iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and webOS when given access to a touchscreen, always-on data connection, GPS, cloud storage and WiFi -- but where are the apps that truly define iPad? What will take advantage of its extra headroom, new UI paradigms and multitouch real estate? Caught between netbook and smartphone, what does the iPad do that the iPhone cannot? After spending hours digging through the web and new iPad section of the App Store, we believe we have a number of reasonably compelling answers. Update: Now includes Wormhole Remote, TweetDeck, SkyGrid, Touchgrind HD, GoToMeeting, SplitBrowser, iDisplay, Geometry Wars and Drawing Pad.
AiLive shows off its LiveMove 2 software for building MotionPlus and PlayStation Move gestures
If you've been following closely, there are really two sorts of input available to the PlayStation Move. The one that gets the most love and screen time is the camera-based, 3D meatspace tracking that the PlayStation Eye performs in conjunction with the fancy colored ball at the end of the PlayStation Move wand, but most of the actual gameplay we've seen is in truth much more similar to the Wii's MotionPlus than Sony might want to let on. The MotionPlus and PS Move have very similar configurations of gyroscopes and accelerometers, and actually use the same software from AiLive (co-creators of MotionPlus) for developing the gesture recognition that goes into games. We actually got to see the LiveMove 2 development environment in action, and it's pretty impressive: basically you tell a computer what gesture you want to perform (like "fist pump," for instance) and then perform a bunch of examples of that movement. LiveMove then figures out the range of allowable movement, and in playback mode shows you whether you're hitting the mark. AiLive showed us gestures as complicated as a Graffiti (of Palm OS yore) handwriting recognition in the air, built with just a few example movements from people back at their offices. So, this is great news for developers dealing with the significant complication of all these sensors, but at the same time we can't help but be a little disappointed. LiveMove 2 doesn't even use the PlayStation Eye, and as we mentioned in our hands-on impressions of PlayStation Move, we could really sense that a lot of our in-game actions were built from predefined gestures, not us interacting with the 3D environment in any "real" or physics-based way. It's great tech either way, but hopefully that's something that can be improved upon by launch or soon after. Check out a demo of LiveMove in action after the break.
Fujitsu's Air Command Plus guides PowerPoint, not B-52s (video)
Multitouch is great and all, but what if you can't reach the screen? What if you could touch without touching? That's the idea behind Fujitsu's Air Command Plus, a device that promises a Minority Report-like experience but, after watching the video below, it sure seems like pretty standard gesture control. You can browse through pictures by flicking left or right, adjust a volume dial by rotating, and navigate PowerPoint slides as if you were a master of the black arts. But there's nothing metaphysical about it, and it's destined to get a lot more real in March when Fujitsu is actually pledging to ship the thing. Eat your heart out, Tom Cruise. [Thanks, Hanco]
Project Natal makes a Smallville cameo, does not guarantee ability to fly*
We didn't get any more details about Microsoft's Project Natal add-on for Xbox 360 from the X10 event, but tonight Smallville viewers got to watch someone else whipping their arms and legs around trying to catch imaginary balls flying out of their TV screen. Short of some actual time gesticulating wildly in front of that motion sensing cam this is the closest thing we've got to actually using it, but as the clip (embedded after the break) shows, girls are likely to be more impressed by someone that can fly. %Gallery-85394%
Gesture Cube, the magical, intuitive, theoretical 3D interface (video)
You know how it is -- another day, another "magical" and "intuitive" input device -- not unlike Immersion's Cubtile, which we first saw about a year ago. This time around the culprit is Gesture Cube, the heathen spawn of Ident's "GestIC" electric field sensing technology (for 3D spatial movement tracking) and a couple German design studios. GestIC detects movements and distances in 3D space, enabling touch free gesture control. If this sounds good to you, wait until you see the YouTube demonstration, complete with all sorts of "magical" and "intuitive" interface ideas! It will really make you with you were a designer living in Germany, starring in YouTube videos for "magical" and "intuitive" design firms. We don't know how much of a hurry we are to see this implemented in our fave hardware, but who knows? Maybe we'll come around eventually -- after all, Grippity did wonders for our words-per-minute. Video after the break. %Gallery-84686%
LG Magic Motion gesture control HDTV remote hands-on
Packed in with LG's new top of the line LCD, the 3D capable, LED backlit LE9500 is a new RF remote that users wave, Wii-style, to operate the onscreen menus. There's also a standard IR remote for universal remote compatibility and the very necessary lazy bastards who don't want to lift their arms to change the channel compatibility. Check out a quick demo from the CES show floor after the break. %Gallery-82618%
GestureTek brings Eyemo gesture control to Android, Momo tracking engine for Windows Mobile
GestureTek was showing off some of its gesture-based options for controlling your TV at last year's CES, and it's now back again with a few more slightly interesting pieces of software. That includes a version of its Eyemo software for Android, which is already available for range of other platforms, and lets developers take advantage of a phone's camera to add gesture control options to various applications -- although that only involves gesturing with the device itself, not your hands. The company's recently announced Momo software for Windows Mobile takes things one step further than that, however, and will indeed apparently let you control a game or other application with hand or body gestures -- although that'll likely work best on a device with a front-facing camera.
Intel crams 48 cores onto stamp-sized processor, wants to do what Cell did
Just when we thought Intel's yet-to-release six-core Core i9 would be the future, the silicon giant drops the bomb yet again with more multi-core madness -- the experimental 48-core Single-chip Cloud Computer (SCC), a.k.a. Rock Creek. While it looks like Intel still has a long way from their 80-core target in 2011, this bad boy packs an impressive 1.3 billion transistors on a 45nm fabrication, but sucks up just 125 watts which is a far cry from Core i9's 130 watts. Intel's stated that their main goal is to use SCC's parallel computation -- a field where high clock speed isn't necessary -- to enhance gesture control. Sounds familiar? Yes, it was Toshiba's SpursEngine, but there's no harm in having a new contender for the challenge. You go, girl!
Canesta gesture controlled TV frees us from the tyranny of the remote
See the look of euphoric bliss on this man's face? He's calm and relaxed because he is using Canesta's new gesture TV control technology. No longer does this cat have to scroll through hundreds upon hundreds of channels on a standard channel listing. Au contraire, today he's using his right hand to wave through a cover view-esque selection of stations, and boy does he make it look easy. The heart of this bad boy is a low-cost 3-D chip that uses a single CMOS sensor to output a continuous stream of depth maps that can be interpreted by as specific gestures, obstacles, faces, or individuals, depending upon the application. Although the current demo might be especially appealing to you and your couch-potato brethren, the company has big plans for this device in the realms of security, robotics, medical devices, and more. But first, it will have to tear itself away from the couch, Video after the break.
Filco's SmartTrack Neo multi-touch trackpad gives PCs the 2-fingered salute
It sure took awhile but you're looking at one of, if not the first external USB trackpads with multi-touch gesture support. The $50 (¥4,980) SmartTrack Neo model FTP500UB rocks USB 1.1 and XP / Vista drivers to bring your legacy laptop up to fighting specs with fancy modern rigs. A two-handed mouse the size of a brick -- really, how can you resist?[Via Akihabara News]
Gesture controls the next big thing in TV, says guy selling gesture control tech
Invoking examples like the iPhone, Wii and Minority Report, Canesta CEO Jim Spare is highly optimistic about the future of 3D gesture control, especially when it comes to new TVs. The company's chips powered Hitachi's gesture controlled CES demo, and plans more demos at the TV of the Future conference this week. The hand flailing demos we've seen haven't always impressed, but so far there's certainly one person who believes in the prospects of the company's low-cost 3D sensing chips. We admit, no matter how silly it looks, the idea of no longer having a remote to lose is at least a bit intriguing.
Video: Hands flailing wildly with Toshiba Spatial Motion Interface
Given a year to work on its gesture control technology, Toshiba has upgraded from the simple implementation of 2008 to a new 3D interface that rotates and zooms photos and videos with a flick of the arm. Useful? We're not completely sold. Still ridiculous to use, or watch someone else try? Of course, video's after the break.
