The 2002 film adaption of Philip K. Dick’s Minority Report presented a very impressive concept of gesture based computing. I remember seeing the film in the theater and being blown away by the system Tom Cruise uses to track down criminals. In 2006, Jeff Han’s Perceptive Pixel released an impressive multi-touch computing system controlled by a giant wall mounted display that seemed to be the first big step towards this type of futuristic computing. Han’s system made its primetime debut as CNN’s “Magic Wall” which was used all throughout Election 2008 overage by John King to display polling results.

The Perceptive Pixel device works much like an iPhone, utilizing a touchscreen that recognizes multi-touch gestures. Although this technology is fairly new and exciting, it doesn’t completely immerse the user in the computing experience. Enter Oblong Industries g-speak spatial operating system. From their site:

The SOE’s combination of gestural i/o, recombinant networking, and real-world pixels brings the first major step in computer interface since 1984; starting today, g-speak will fundamentally change the way people use machines at work, in the living room, in conference rooms, in vehicles.

To fully understand how incredible and immersive this system is, you NEED to watch the video:

It’s exciting to see the transition towards a more fluid and natural way of controlling computers and I think it’s a very safe bet to say that we will see the demise of the keyboard and mouse in our lifetime.

[Via Engadget]

No related posts.