The future of technology. The one that would make the mouse obsolete.

[Blackberryroid]

I went to the App store and found this app called "Flutter". It's free and what it does is revolutionary. It will change the way we think of as computing - forever. All you have to do is raise your hand up to the camera and it recognizes that gesture. When it recognizes your hand, it will pause/play the song on iTunes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQnvmb9KiRA

If Apple made this technology deeply integrated with OS X along with Siri, we might not need a keyboard and a mouse anymore.

I know some iPhone 4S owners who never use Siri. I am not one of them. It takes some mental adjustment to grow accustomed to issuing vocal commands to your phone. But now that I’ve mastered the habit, it’s both instinctual and quicker to tell my phone to schedule a reminder, set a timer, or send an iMessage than to make it happen with my fingers.

I imagine getting accustomed to using Siri on the Mac would take some time, too. I’m willing to put in the effort, though, because I already see how much time it saves on my iPhone, and how much joy the service brings. All I need now is for Apple to add the functionality in Mountain Lion.

What do you think?

 

[GoCubsGo]

There will be a time (think XBox Kinect) but it is a long way off. Remember years ago someone screamed standard CDs won't exist and will be replaced by BR? It will eventually all happen, that's the wonder of technology. Not now though, not anytime soon I would imagine.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

The keyboard and mouse are still the best input methods currently for using a personal computer (yeah, PC is not short for Windows, it is short for political correctness or something else), as they are not as tiring as touching a screen all the time or waving your hands around to control your Mac, as that consumes much more energy than resting your hands on a keyboard or mouse and your arms on the table (if you choose to use a table to use your computer with).
It is a nice development, it has been for years, Flutter is not the first, I have seen hand gesture control captured via an iSight in 2007 and have tried it for some minutes. It is a gimmick, nothing more for now.

PS: Imagine editing a video or photo without keyboard and mouse. The alternative input method has to be pretty advanced to do that. If I want to apply a colour correction on a photo, I press a keyboard shortcut and open the appropriate tool. I use my mouse to edit the parameters (often more than one or two). Doing that with voice and hand signs takes much longer than a simple keystroke and some adjustments via mouse or keyboard. But then again, a gimmick is a gimmick. Gladly Apple doesn't fall for such that often.

 

[Blackberryroid]

There will be a time (think XBox Kinect) but it is a long way off. Remember years ago someone screamed standard CDs won't exist and will be replaced by BR? It will eventually all happen, that's the wonder of technology. Not now though, not anytime soon I would imagine.

The XBOX needed a TV. It's a wonderful technology. But judging by the size of the sensor, that thing wouldn't fit on a Mac. But this app made it possible. And it's on computers. I WANT this feature on a new Mac. It is so revolutionary and game changing.

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The keyboard and mouse are still the best input methods, as they are not as tiring as touching a screen all the time or waving your hands around to control your Mac, as that consumes much more energy than resting your hands on a keyboard or mouse and your arms on the table (if you choose to use a table to use your computer with).
It is a nice development, it has been for years, Flutter is not the first, I have seen hand gesture control captured via an iSight in 2007 and have tried it for some minutes. It is a gimmick, nothing more for now.

PS: Imagine editing a video or photo without keyboard and mouse. The alternative input method has to be pretty advanced to do that. If I want to apply a colour correction on a photo, I press a keyboard shortcut and open the appropriate tool. I use my mouse to edit the parameters (often more than one or two). Doing that with voice and hand signs takes much longer than a simple keystroke and some adjustments via mouse or keyboard. But then again, a gimmick is a gimmick. Gladly Apple doesn't fall for such that often.

I was talking about consumer technology. The mouse and keyboard will stay for pros.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

The XBOX needed a TV. It's a wonderful technology. But judging by the size of the sensor, that thing wouldn't fit on a Mac. But this app made it possible. And it's on computers. I WANT this feature on a new Mac. It is so revolutionary and game changing.

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I was talking about consumer technology. The mouse and keyboard will stay for pros.

It really is not game changing, it has been done five years ago and didn't evolve further. Maybe it does this time.

And yes, those technologies are always for consumers, who have the time to wave their hands at a computer (they can rest longer, thus they don't feel the pain) and talking to it.

Maybe I am too old to see such technology as advancement, or have seen too many fads, that were considered revolutionary.

And I am also a consumer, and while my imagination is often lacking, but not always, I cannot see that many people interacting with a computer like this. Maybe it will come one day, especially speech control, like we see with all those documentaries about future living (Star Trek and its sequels, Minority Report), but as of now or the next 20 years, it is still unfeasible.

PS: The advantage of such technology is probably greater upper arm strength or a new illness.

 

[Blackberryroid]

Flutter is not the first, I have seen hand gesture control captured via an iSight in 2007 and have tried it for some minutes. It is a gimmick, nothing more for now..

Where is the one on 2007? And Voice control, too, has been around since 1998 (I saw that in old Mac ads). It was only last year when Apple vastly improved the voice control technology through Siri. I strongly believe that the same will happen here.

 

[ChristianVirtual]

Right now I lay in my bed, the Apple TV is playing some songs via TV. No light on. Soon I hope to sleep in. Don't think that gesture recognition would work well now. You would also need to add night vision capabilities together with gestures in such situations.

Not saying I wouldn't like gestures as alternative input; but replace keyboard / mouse is still a long way.

I couldn't find but sometime this year there was a little box announced to connect to Mac for gesture recognition they way you described. Can't remember the name ... Was a box size of an iPhone

And Siri need also a bit more "brain"

 

[Blackberryroid]

Right now I lay in my bed, the Apple TV is playing some songs via TV. No light on. Soon I hope to sleep in. Don't think that gesture recognition would work well now. You would also need to add night vision capabilities together with gestures in such situations.

Not saying I wouldn't like gestures as alternative input; but replace keyboard / mouse is still a long way.

I couldn't find but sometime this year there was a little box announced to connect to Mac for gesture recognition they way you described. Can't remember the name ... Was a box size of an iPhone

And Siri need also a bit more "brain"

Siri will improve. It's still in beta. But Siri can work. Apple could also add thermal sensor to detect hand gestures. I don't know how Microsoft pulled it off, but if they can do it, Apple surely can.

 

[ChristianVirtual]

Siri will improve. It's still in beta.

Sure she will improve. Sometimes she impress me; most of the time I need to repeat myself.
But then again in an open office I don't really would like to listen to every colleague talking to its computer. It's awful today already.

Same again in the bed room: I watch MacRumors and my wife sleeps; me talking some threads will quite disturb my better half.

Complementary input: yes, anytime.
Replace: not sure.

 

[Blackberryroid]

Complementary input: yes, anytime.
Replace: not sure.

Complementary input it is. The gestures are a must have.

 

[latestmonkey]

Complementary input it is. The gestures are a must have.

I think I'll do ok without it.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

The gestures are a must have.

For you maybe. I get it, it looks cooler to wave your hands instead of pressing the F7 to F9 or F7 to F12 keys.

 

[nontroppo]

Leap Motion is going to be doing this, they have very good algorithms and want to stay independent:

http://leapmotion.com/

They claim to be able to track individual fingers down to 1/100th of a mm (200x greater than any previous technology so they say), measured through a 8cubic feet space in front of the device. That means multi-finger gestures in 3 dimensions. This is much more than old-school gimmick hand gestures via webcam — how useable this is we'll have to see, but at $70 if it works it will be a steal.

 

[boy-better-know]

Not accurate enough, imagine editing a word document.
Tired arms, would rather have my hand resting on a desk using a mouse if I was using a computer for more than 3 minutes.
Motion gaming is universally hated by gamers, so whilst it looks cool and high tech, the logistics of motion sensing just isn't so great, if you ask me.

 

[mzjin]

I went to the App store and found this app called "Flutter". It's free and what it does is revolutionary. It will change the way we think of as computing - forever. All you have to do is raise your hand up to the camera and it recognizes that gesture. When it recognizes your hand, it will pause/play the song on iTunes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQnvmb9KiRA

If Apple made this technology deeply integrated with OS X along with Siri, we might not need a keyboard and a mouse anymore.

I know some iPhone 4S owners who never use Siri. I am not one of them. It takes some mental adjustment to grow accustomed to issuing vocal commands to your phone. But now that I’ve mastered the habit, it’s both instinctual and quicker to tell my phone to schedule a reminder, set a timer, or send an iMessage than to make it happen with my fingers.

I imagine getting accustomed to using Siri on the Mac would take some time, too. I’m willing to put in the effort, though, because I already see how much time it saves on my iPhone, and how much joy the service brings. All I need now is for Apple to add the functionality in Mountain Lion.

Image
Image

What do you think?

Not going to happen, it's much more likely for an optical touch pad that can detect a 3D spatial transitions than using a camera that requires you to raise your arm up all the time.

 

[ronjon10]

I don't think any of these solutions are game changers. I do think they are an early step towards the next game changing computer interface.

As others have said here, for the right application, these interfaces are great, for getting real work done, no way. No one is going to be waving their hands and arms around for hours working on term paper or contract. OTOH, this technology could be fabulous for golf swing analysis.

 

[Dangerous Theory]

I went to the App store and found this app called "Flutter". It's free and what it does is revolutionary. It will change the way we think of as computing - forever.

Nice try Flutter rep.

 

[Barna Biro]

At most it will be an alternative to some trackpad functions but replacing the mouse? Yeah right, good luck selecting text, clicking on small elements or playing games... It could also get quite tiring after some time...

 

[NutsNGum]

Two words: Gorilla Arm.

 

[Blackberryroid]

Nice try Flutter rep.

I'm not. It really is revolutionary. It's amazing.

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Leap Motion is going to be doing this, they have very good algorithms and want to stay independent:

http://leapmotion.com/

They claim to be able to track individual fingers down to 1/100th of a mm (200x greater than any previous technology so they say), measured through a 8cubic feet space in front of the device. That means multi-finger gestures in 3 dimensions. This is much more than old-school gimmick hand gestures via webcam — how useable this is we'll have to see, but at if it works it will be a steal.

It needs an additional sensor. The iSight camera should be perfect, like the one on Flutter.

 

[thermodynamic]

I went to the App store and found this app called "Flutter". It's free and what it does is revolutionary. It will change the way we think of as computing - forever. All you have to do is raise your hand up to the camera and it recognizes that gesture. When it recognizes your hand, it will pause/play the song on iTunes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQnvmb9KiRA

If Apple made this technology deeply integrated with OS X along with Siri, we might not need a keyboard and a mouse anymore.

I know some iPhone 4S owners who never use Siri. I am not one of them. It takes some mental adjustment to grow accustomed to issuing vocal commands to your phone. But now that I’ve mastered the habit, it’s both instinctual and quicker to tell my phone to schedule a reminder, set a timer, or send an iMessage than to make it happen with my fingers.

I imagine getting accustomed to using Siri on the Mac would take some time, too. I’m willing to put in the effort, though, because I already see how much time it saves on my iPhone, and how much joy the service brings. All I need now is for Apple to add the functionality in Mountain Lion.

Image
Image

What do you think?

Microsoft should sue, if they have a patent on it - since the XBox pretty much does that already... not quite the same venue, but I'll stick to keyboards, mice, and touch tablets (Wacom) to do real work on.

Never cared for Siri, or anything that preceded it for any other platform... given that the app compresses data and sends it to some server farm, I don't care to use it...

Oh, if everybody in an office used what you mention, you can imagine the bloodbath - one person saying something or doing a gesture could wreak havoc on coworkers... who needs to think any of this when existing voice-enabled technologies aren't keyed to voice patterns* and a coworker says anything within range of the microphone... all this is begging for trouble, but some people seem to consciously ask for it...

* I am a student and have no money so feel free to take that idea and patent it, too

 

[Blackberryroid]

Microsoft should sue, if they have a patent on it - since the XBox pretty much does that already... not quite the same venue, but I'll stick to keyboards, mice, and touch tablets (Wacom) to do real work on.

Never cared for Siri, or anything that preceded it for any other platform... given that the app compresses data and sends it to some server farm, I don't care to use it...

Oh, if everybody in an office used what you mention, you can imagine the bloodbath - one person saying something or doing a gesture could wreak havoc on coworkers... who needs to think any of this when existing voice-enabled technologies aren't keyed to voice patterns* and a coworker says anything within range of the microphone... all this is begging for trouble, but some people seem to consciously ask for it...

* I am a student and have no money so feel free to take that idea and patent it, too

Microsoft did it with the Kinect Sensor, which has 4 different types of sensor + Camera.

This one only has a camera. It doesn't use Kinect's technology.

 

[Blackberryroid]

The leap motion.

I don't think people are grasping what this could do or how it could be used.

Imagine one of these embedded where the current trackpad on mac laptops are.

Now place your hands as if you were using the trackpad. Perhaps the palm of you hand is resting on the edge of the computer, perhaps slightly to the side, perhaps on a table or palm rest right in front of your laptop.

Notice, your arm is completely supported. Now raise your fingers from the trackpad an inch or so. That's the position most people rest their fingers in when they don't want to touch the trackpad, right? Just hovering over the trackpad?

Ok, that's the position you'll use a leap motion in. Same basic position you use a trackpad in, but now you get one extra dimension, and you never need to touch the device.

Kinect is a low resolution device. That's why you need big arm swings to register movement on a kinect. Check out the video for this thing though. It looks incredibly accurate and it picks up very small moves. You won't be waving your arms around, you'll be wiggling your finger(s) around. You won't need to point to a physical location on the screen, you'll have an abstraction of the screen near your keyboard, the same way trackpads now abstract the screen onto a few square inches.

In fact, they could build this thing 'under' the keyboard, eliminate the trackpad entirely. Want to control it? Just lift your right index finger from its position on the keys, pointed to the screen and wiggle it left right, up down.

In a way, it returns us to the IBM trackpoint days, where you could use the mouse without leaving the home row, but with more flexibility, a larger 'canvas', multitouch, and 3 dimensions. We shouldn't need to take our hands off their position above the keys to use this, so it makes it better than current trackpads/mice.

 

[chisasba]

Personally I'd rather move my fingers and inch or so and do whatever I'm trying to do..a little easier than waving my hand around. And then your privacy goes down a bit. I don't use Siri for that reason.
Until I can just think what I want to do and it's done..don't plan on having the current set up go anywhere.