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There's also the potential to use a wii with a VGA projector.

http://johnnylee.net/projects/...

Put the wiimote on the podium facing the screen, so the wiimote's sensor can detect your laser pointer. Then point at the screen where you want to draw.

It's a wiii homebrew, so you need a hacked wii--- but otherwise, this looks pretty damned low cost.

Use a Wiimote to detect the baton's position. Then connect the position data to an electrical discharge device that the blind person can feel and thereby sense the position of the baton. I'm thinking a rectal cattle prod or something like that.

Of course you'd turn the power down to a low stun setting. Wouldn't you?

Or they could just use a Wiimote ala Johnny Lee: http://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/

I guess the only thing new here is that the camera is used for tracking. This was done with a Wii remtote year+ ago.

Go down to Head Tracking for Desktop VR Displays using the Wii Remote http://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/

Video for the impatient http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw

Anything done on an Apple product is new and innovating....

Actually....no.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw
(Mind you. You would look pretty stupid with a wiimote taped to the side of your head!)

I imagine most devices with a front facing camera can do this.

There is also this: http://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/

Curb you enthusiasm fanbois nothing to see move along.

Hey! I'm just going through a teacher's program right now, and I've been looking for resources to use with smartboard. First of all, if you don't have a smartboard go here:
http://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/

Then try out:
Algodoo (costs about 25 euros): Great physics simulator. I would say it would be useful even for university students. You can, however, adjust the difficulty level. It's good for kinematics, some optics, buoyancy, some fluid dynamics and a few other things. I started off with making a piston pump system.
http://www.algodoo.com/wiki/Home

Crayon physics: Great for intuitively exploring some physics concepts. It costs about 20 bucks. It's similar to above but it's closer to a game. There are a series of challenges that you accomplish (try to move a ball to a star, overcoming a series of obstacles. Learn some physics concepts through osmosis.
http://www.crayonphysics.com/

Celestia: Great freeware for exploring our galaxy (and neighboring galaxies). It implements astronomy knowledge into a space simulator. It allows to you to visit out solar system and beyond. As humanity discovers more, you can update the planet (i.e. with new exoplanets). This one is super cool, a little like Eve Online but IRL. You can also install Star Trek universe updates if you are a trekkie, as well as Star Wars.
http://www.shatters.net/celestia/

Ok that's the coolest stuff. There are other things out there but they aren't as impressive. ScaleoftheUniverse is neat, but limited in classroom utility: http://www.scaleoftheuniverse.com/

I've been envisioning a variation of standard first/third person shooter game that would be played with the standard controller but have Kinect support for altering the player's view based on their movements.

Can you imagine leaning to one side to look around a wall? Or ducking to get cover? I think something like this is needed to sell this thing to the gamers. Developers need to accentuate the existing controller interface and not try to replace it with flailing.

I only hope that Microsoft brought Johnny Chung Lee on board with the intension to do such a project. I'd be disappointed if he was just hired to help with Kinect Adventure or something.

Well, the guy who made that *is* working for Microsoft now. Check his homepage: http://johnnylee.net/

Yeah, I want one too! :) As for the speed, I'd guess it's because they're using an IR webcam and software tracking, so you'd have 200+ms latency for frame capture and then another 100+ms for processing. You could probably build a much faster FTIR multitouch system from a wiimote (those things are goddamn amazing for the price; they're basically a high rez IR camera with a hardware multipoint tracking system, plus the accelerometer and bluetooth). Check out Johnny Chung Lee's Wii hacks page.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw

http://johnnylee.net/

This is the perfect application for head tracking virtual 3d.

The EM trackers I had a chance to try in a virtual cave were fickle things. They were hard to calibrate and even weak external fields made the setup unusable. Unless there was some kind of breakthrough, tracking IRLEDs is probably more cheap and robust. If you don't know it already, be sure to check out Chung Lee's headtracking demo.

If you're already going to be wearing a funny headset, why not combine it with Johnny Lee Chung's head tracking technology and make the ULTIMATE gaming device (assuming the tech works...)

Well, TV's have already hit the 1080p pinnacle, Blu-Ray won the format wars, and the whole HD-media-over-wireless... Yeah, well, I've yet to hear about it panning out in a cost-effective form while retaining decent quality along with the tech being over a year or two old now, so I guess the media covering home theater needs something to tout as the Next Big Thing (TM). Until viable high-quality, consumer holographic displays show up along with a viable need/demand in the mainstream market, this is the most interesting thing I've seen in regards to 3d type stuff. And even that is old by internet standards.

To be honest, I've not watched any "new" 3d movies. I've heard that it looks really nice, but then you also need to wear the glasses--srsly, I already wear specs. Hate them, don't want another pair. As far as in home theaters, do you need a special tv that can display it? Or does the movie have to be specially formatted for 3d? Either way, it sounds like paying at least a small (per movie) to large (for a special tv) amount extra over the non-3d version. Until I watch such a film and find myself in need of a fresh pair of pants and my ambulatory extremity undergarments expelled from my personage via sheer amazement, I remain skeptical.

until then you could try using a 1080p projector/big screen TV and touchscreen solution from here

They seem to use Gray code sequences (only one bit differs between to neighbouring codes). Johnny Chung Lee (the Wiimote Whiteboard guy) already demonstrated the use of structured light and optical fibers in his thesis. He used it to rapidly locate projection surfaces.

http://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/ There are several similar projects using the Nintendo Wii controller and IR LEDs

Given my complete lack of knowledge about that problem domain, it sounds like you hardly need the projector. In which case a DYI tabletop would run more like fifty bucks. :)

Or, if you don't need a surface at all, there are lots of ways to (ab)use a Wiimote.

My wife built one of these "smartboard" like projects with a wii remote and a single infrared LED as per here. Not exactly multitouch, but it works pretty well; calibrates quickly and you can write on a projected image anywhere. It uses the IR camera over bluetooth on the wii remote to track the LED "pen", and emulates a mouse for windows XP.

I'll be watching for a Linux version of the software. It would be pretty sweet to run presentations off my Linux netbook and be able to draw on a regular projected screen.

Yep, iTunes lets you put music on your iPod as a one-way deal - you can't pull them back off without third party software. (Whether they're popular or not, I can't say. I got one after a disk crash - only way to get my music back out - but that didn't involve anything DRM'd.)

So far as I recall, you can only place iTunes Fairplay'd music on an iPod you _sync_ to - you can sync with an iPod (and only one) - or you can not sync, but transfer music to - and remove from - an iPod manually.

Maybe merit in what you say - it's DRM'd on your desktop, but strips DRM on the way to the iPod. That's going to lock out working with sync'd iPods - the music with syncing has to be on your desktop. Also, I know very little about the internals of an iPod - I don't have idea what would happen with music copied in from iTunes next to music copied in from a third party app - maybe it's all good, I don't know.

So, yes you have the food chain correct. Your idea that this is their scheme - allow a roundabout method to circumvent DRM and allow free music copying - while not impossible - seems to require more thinking that these guys seem capable of to me. After reading the Register article cited elsewhere in this thread, the only thing I'd give them credit for cranially is associated with venture capital.

Thieves and scammers "think", too, but that doesn't make them a Johnny Lee ( http://johnnylee.net/ )