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Some of the Weirder Ideas From CHI 2009

Posted by timothy on from the electrooculography-for-100-points-alex dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Technology Review has a roundup of some of the weirder ideas on show at last week's Computer-Human Interaction conference in Boston. They include a trackball that heats up as you roll over different parts of an image, a pair of goggles that track eye movements using electrooculography, and a miniature robot with a cellphone for its head."

9 of 43 comments (clear)

  1. Cell phone for a head? by homey+of+my+owney · · Score: 2, Funny

    I know that guy!

  2. Memory matches... by clone53421 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Officially dubbed "Stupidest Idea Ever".

    And no, I'm not going to explain. You'll just have to RTFA. :p

    --
    Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
    1. Re:Memory matches... by Chabil+Ha' · · Score: 2, Funny

      What makes it the stupidest idea ever is the whole reason things have gone digital: cost. Just because storage media costs five one hundredths of a cent to store a single photo doesn't mean that the photo (or the memory) itself is meaningless. It's like we took a time warp to the 60s with 2009 technology, passed around the 'peace pipe', started living at a communal with digital cameras, and started farting out crazy ideas like this. Wake me up when the trip is over!

      --
      We're all hypocrites. We all have hidden parts, it's the contrast between them that make us more a hypocrite than others
  3. Come again? by hansamurai · · Score: 4, Funny

    ball that heats up as you roll over different parts of an image

    There's a joke in there somewhere.

    --
    Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
    1. Re:Come again? by verbalcontract · · Score: 2, Funny

      ball that heats up as you roll over different parts of an image

      There's a joke in there somewhere.

      Hmm... yes... If only the word "ball" were a euphemism for a part of the body that would be aroused by certain types of images.

      And if only computers were known for easily being able to access those types of images.

      And if only this story were to come across a large body of individuals who both possess this part of the body, and who frequently used computers to download arousing images, and have a certain je ne sais quoi for pointing such a collation.

      Mmm... but I guess that could never be.

  4. Re:Tracking Eye Movements by djupedal · · Score: 3, Funny

    > "...I don't want to walk around looking like a hobby shop exploded in my face."

    Would you settle for appearing as if you fell through the front window of a Radio Shack @ the mall? I'm sure I have some gift cards around here somewhere...

  5. Re:Tracking Eye Movements by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    You might want to look at opengazer

    http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/opengazer/

    For a while development had been abandoned but that disclaimer has now disappeared from the website so I imagine someone is working on it.

    The same people created the dasher text input system which is really worth having a look at as an example of innovative input methods.

    http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/

  6. my idea was rejected by Em+Emalb · · Score: 5, Funny

    I tried to enter a device in this event, but they wouldn't let me.

    My idea was (and the prototype worked pretty well) to create a metal leg from the knee down the bolted under the user's desk and USB cables to connect to the computer. When the user did something stupid, fell for a phishing scam, responded in earnest to a 419 scam, downloaded a virus off a website, etc, the foot's lever action kicked in and kicked the user square in the giblets.

    My test run of 16 users in Topeka had "smashing" (and painful) results.

    Sadly, they decided not to let me enter. There is a silver lining though, as there is a small-ish "kick me in the jimmy while I'm watching donkey porn" fetish market out there that is in love with my product.

    --
    Sent from your iPad.
  7. Pair eye tracking with contacts? by EchaniDrgn · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Has anyone tried to pair some of these eye tracking softwares with contacts? I know it might be a bit more niche since not all us geeks wear Glasses/Contacts, but if you can get over the touching your eyes part I'm sure "blank" contacts could be made. Would be interesting to have a pair of glasses with small cameras that just tracked the marks on the contacts. I know my current contacts have marks on the outer edge of the contact with the makers name, perhaps this could even be made with some sort of non-visible spectrum reflective material. Then there's the problem of what light wouldn't cause eye damage being shone into the eye at that range.

    Maybe someone will steal this Idea. :-)