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Control Your Apps Without Your Finger
VincenzoRomano writes "You won't need to swipe your fingers over smallish touch screens. You'll move your arms, hands and fingers (or whatever else applies) in the air or shake the handset. The phone camera(s), the G-sensor, the compass and so on will be used by a software to understand the gestures and to translate them into control commands. This breakthrough comes from a company called GestureTek, a non-startup company in this field." I love the idea of my screen no longer being smudged. I hate the idea of people doing this on a bus.
I love the idea of my screen no longer being smudged.
Oh no! You have to spend all of 3 seconds to wipe off your screen occasionally.
(Gets bag of popcorn, sits on park bench)
This ought to be amusing.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Why would anyone think it would be easier to control a device with big unwieldy arms instead of small light dexterous fingers? Also, I have 2 arms and 10 fingers, seems like I could get a lot more done with the fingers.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
I thought this was 2010. Where's my mind control? Fail.
Elaine dancing?
Showing middle finger to open an app on iPhone (There should be already one) on the bus and suddenly I am arrested for obscene gesture. Stop this nonsense now
I'm willing to bet that using such a device will require more effort to use than say a trackball or mouse.
Trackball - move your fingers
Mouse - move your hand
Touch screen / gesture thing - move your arm
Motion based gaming thing - move everything
Sure all these gesture things are great for games and helping fatties lose weight but for ordinary folk who actually need to use it for a large part of their day it will just cause gorilla arm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorilla_arm#Gorilla_Arm
"You won't need to swipe your fingers over smallish touch (areas). You'll move your arms, hands and fingers (or whatever else applies) in the air or will shake the handset. The phone camera(s), the G-sensor, the compass and so on will be used by a software to understand the gestures and to translate them into control commands. This breakthrough comes from a company called GestureTek, a non-startup company in this field."
I thought you only needed a finger to activate the G-sensor. I wonder if this new technology will worth with other body parts, such as tongues. I think it's wonderful that by interfacing with the G-Sensor, you can get your entire phone to vibrate wildly.
I've got a brand new, incredibly innovative input method for your touchphone! Simply put the phone in your back pocket, and sit on it. Then my revolutionary new AssSwiper (TM) will translate certain butt movements into commands on your phone. Want to skip that song? Just shift your weight back and forth a few times. You'll never use your phone the same way again!
And when I commit the crime of the millenium and want to hear news reports about myself I'll be waving my hands frantically around it.....at least until my girlfriend gets sick of it and chucks a pencil through the on/off space.
What, pray tell, does that mean? They had to start up at some point. Or do they just mean "we're on the up and up, honest, guvnor, we're not some fly by night outfit, nosiree, we've been around ages"? In which case calling attention to it has a shade of "the lady doth protest too much".
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Once the software is enabled, users can shake, rock or roll their phone to play games, answer calls, shuffle playlists, navigate maps, scroll, pan, zoom, turn pages and even browse the web – all without pressing a button or touching the screen.
Wow, that is possibly the most idiotic idea for interface design I have ever read. It looks like this makes it incredibly easy to roll your phone and accidentally call your boss.
Also, if I am reading something I don't want to take my eyes off it while my device "rocks and rolls" to turn the page.
All in all, this is definitely not well thought out. Gesture technology was cool when touchscreens sucked, but now that touchscreens are good, gestures are good addons (Such as the rotate on the iphone, still even that is sometimes annoying).
I hope this is integrated into many other applications, because there are several that I would like to flip a certain gesture.
Imagine a group of people watching a soccer(football) match at your place:
[Announcer]: And Barcelona scores a GOOOOAL!
[You]: WTF? *Gives middle finger*
[Computer]: Loading favorites. *Goatse.cx appears*
[Everyone looks at you and starts to leave]
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
ultimate input device for tubby fingers - a dialing wand.
Where is the consideration for people with a few extra pounds?
Doesn't Nintendo have prior art in the Wiimote?
All ideas^H^H^H^H^Hprocesses in this post are Patent Pending. (as well as the process of patenting all postings)
From the article: "...shake the handset..." So we really have gone back to the etch-a-sketch? (FWIW, about 10 years ago, when a friend of mine was promoted [demoted?] to a management position, I bought him a new "management laptop" aka an Etch-a-Sketch.)
linquendum tondere
And the YMCA dance will be used to control apps now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y.M.C.A._(song)#Origin_of_hand_movement_and_dance
Great. Now on top of blue tooth making people looking they they talk to themselves. We will have people having seizures. This seems like too much effort all around. I can only imagine my phone calling grandma at 2 am since I left the phone on the table and wanted to get a snack to eat. How about track my eye movements? But even then if I look away it would have problems.
"Cowardice in a race, as in an individual, is the unpardonable sin." --Teddy Roosevelt
You mean you have to use your hands? That's like a baby's toy!
"Be prepared, son. That's my motto. Be prepared." --Joe Hallenbeck
Properly placed physical buttons and dials are, by far, the best control scheme for digital cameras. You need that physical feedback in order to know what you're pressing when you're taking photos. I'd rather keep my eyes on the subject instead of having to look down at the camera constantly to see what I'm doing. In cars it's even more important that your eyes stay focus on the road and aren't distracted by touch screens and whatnot.
Tablet PCs are far more logical. And for desktops, I'm not sure why no one has developed a PC where the display sits closer to the user, inclined like a drafting table. You look down on it like reading a book, and it's far more comfortable to interact with the touch screen since it's no different than moving around stuff on the desk.
The only viable use for gesture controls is computers and gaming consoles. And even then the value is dubious outside of games. It's impractical and exhausting. Imagine trying to keep your arms elevated for any length of time and manipulating items on screen with precision. This is all a stupid fad derived from recent sci fi movies. Technology may reach a point when we we'll get tactile feedback in mid-air making this sort of thing viable, but we're not there yet. And by the time we get to that point we will probably be able to effectively interact with computers using thought.
I'm waiting for the "Mime" HID driver. You pretend to open a file and guess what happens to the file? Pretend to crumple up some paper and guess what happens to the file? I leave other gestures to the imagination.
prior art indeed, funny to see the same things reinvented again and again over the decades. Having worked in CADD/CAM since 70s, seen at trade shows all manner of gesture sensors, 3D viewing systems, gloves and other body position transducers...
touchscreens get absolutely disgusting after a day's use. Looks like I rubbed a pepperoni pizza all over it and this is with clean hands. Humans are oily, disgusting meat sacks. Developing a smudge-phobia where once I had none.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
prior art indeed, funny to see the same things reinvented again and again over the decades.
How can the Wii be prior art to patents that were filed before it existed?
fixed that.
What's this on your shirt...
Hey, look over there...
The technology may mean the end to rude people, if it's not impolitic of a person to point that out.
There is nothing to FEAR but NOTHING itself; and I fear there is a whole lot of nothing going on. --scorpivs
Raise your hand if you have ever had a hair or bit of dust get stuck to your optical mouse's sensor...
I've seen some people furiously shake their iPhone, on purpose. When asked what they're doing, they say that shaking makes the App do a "refresh", only it doesn't always register the command, so they have to do it again. You know what I do to make an app refresh it's content? I hit the refresh button with my finger, which has benefits including, but not limited to: not looking like a fool, not accidentally launching my phone across the room, not requiring an order of magnitude more energy to perform, and oh, did I mention not looking like a fool?
Kinda like a theramin. Or one of those games where you maneuver a marble around on a board and try to keep it out of the holes.
Please, people, the idea is to make better interfaces.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
A new control device will be unveiled...called a STYLUS!
I picture someone perched over their iphone like saroman with his fingers all contorted gesturing the palatir in his tower.
I thought newest research shows it doesn't exist? Oh, wait...
*waves hand* These aren't the droids your looking for.
If someone walked down the street talking to themselves and waving their arms around, everyone else would give them a wide berth and think they had something wrong with them...
I like buttons.
I like direct control.
I don't want to have to perform a fucking rain dance to appease the Apple gods (and let's face it - this is all because of Apple) to try and get my device to do a simple task.
I might as well try to arrange marshmallows while wearing boxing gloves.
Fuck this shit.
Touch screen, multitouch, gestures, accelerometers!
Shitty keyboard, no keyboard, fewer buttons, gimmicky unreliable shit!
You ever have a friend around while you're writing on physical paper? He invariably knocks your hand or grabs the paper in order to mess you up (as he SHOULD).
You ever have a friend around while you're typing or mousing? He invariably mashes the keys, grabs the mouse and starts clicking, etc. in order to mess you up (as he SHOULD).
You ever have a friend around while you're ordering from a touch screen at Jack in the Box or something? He invariably taps the screen frantically in an attempt to mess up your order and make you buy 30 "tacos" (as he SHOULD).
You ever have a friend around while you've got arms? He invariably grabs them and uses them to hit you while asking why you're hitting yourself (as he SHOULD).
You ever have a friend around while you're trying to do something delicate, like build a house of cards? He invariably stomps and tromps until it all comes tumbling down (as he SHOULD).
You ever have a friend around while you're on the phone? He invariably dances around to distract you, makes loud sexual noises or silly voices, and if it's a land line picks up another handset to mash the keypad, listen in, or breathe heavily (as he SHOULD).
I just don't like the idea of a new tech device that enables more ass hattery. Now all you'll have to do is wave your hands about, make some noise, or give a little shake. Will this shit erase everything after a few good shakes like an etch-a-sketch? Knowing the shitty gimmicky features they tack on, it'll be an option on several devices.
Oh well. Plebes, buy your retarded devices with shitty interfaces. I will make your life hell. Me? You'll at least have to pry my devices from my hands before you can interrupt me.
or shake the handset
Works on my Blackberry like a charm, every time I throw it against the wall.
End anonymous moderation and posting on
The g-sensor is a myth.
Utilizing the synergization of benchmark e-solutions to pre-workaround action items!
I never understood why this hasn't been implemented on laptops with integrated webcams. More than three years ago, one guy used the Sudden Movement Sensor in his Apple MacBook to create a SmackBook. He'd slap the MacBook on the keyboard to undo, go back etc. Later he implemented a less violent version using the integrated webcam. Check out this video on YouTube where he waves his left hand (at 0:27 in the movie) to go to another desktop.
I love it, but have not seen it implemented yet.
8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
... Face Gestures.
Opera Face Gestures
So, to de-friend someone on Facebook or Twitter, all you'll have to do is to flip the bird to your cell phone or computer? Sounds like a WIN to me! ;-)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
"For years radios had been operated by means of pressing buttons and turning dials; then as the technology became more sophisticated the controls were made touch-sensitive -- you merely had to brush the panels with your fingers; now all you had to do was wave your hand in the general direction of the components and hope. It saved a lot of muscular expenditure, of course, but meant that you had to sit infuriatingly still if you wanted to keep listening to the same program."
They said one day we'd be so high level we'd communicate our requests in interpretive dance. I figured saying "No way you'll get people to do that" was as safe as "640k will be enough for anyone". Ok, so you got me. Point an laugh. It's for sure what I'll do. I was thinking by now the backlash would have started. Sure, grind away the last few nanometers of the learning curve by shoving usefulness into the dirt and stepping on it. At some point, people will realize learning touch type wasn't such a bad idea because while it didn't work crazy good out of the box, it's way fast. Morse code with two switches beats T9. It's going to be a while until we beat the human brain for processing, so how about we use what we have?
Phone as 3d pointing device
This one recognize some simple gestures with phone
And both could be downloaded for Symbian OS 9.*. It seems I did mistake with choice of platform - Symbian OS is in decline now. But if you still keep old Symbian S60 3rd ed around you can download and try. Those demos use markers, but markerless approach also viable.
This will be so much more entertaining to watch than all the sad, tired commuters on the bus I see every day. It will be like weird interpretive hand dances going on all the time, with people occasionally getting frustrated and swinging their fingers faster and faster. Someone will be touching their screen, and the person next to them will develop a smug look on their face, and you know they're thinking "Freakin newbies".
Some women have a very sensitive G-sensor, the G-spot. Although some argue that it does not exist.......
I can do that now, it's called a penis.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Because Nintendo invented the tech *before* installing it in the Wii? For example: US Patent 6213872 - Pedometer with game mode, filed in '98
Anyway, looks like these guys might have the scoop on using a camera to do what other people are using accelerometers to do. However, optical mice do the same thing in 2D. 3D is a neat trick if it really works on affordable hardware.
All ideas^H^H^H^H^Hprocesses in this post are Patent Pending. (as well as the process of patenting all postings)
Unless you somehow have no natural oils in the skin/hair of your face/ears, you're going to have to wipe your screen occasionally; if you're female in a culture where cell phones are common, there's a good chance makeup causes similar problems. This happens to the tiny screen on my (effectively) antique brick phone, so there's no way it won't happen to the much larger screens on touch phones. This gesture technology might be interesting, but not because of smudges.
- T
makes me wonder what happens if you move it too close to a G-spot...
I am not really here right now.
Sorry but mods are wrong.
Arrested yes, charged no... PAID well yes.. matter of fact he was $50,000 thank you very much.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1923125,00.html
"(I) have this unfortunate condition that causes me not to believe a single thing any politician says when a mic's on.
Not all of the laws have been struck down yet. So, yes, you can be arrested. Which can be terribly inconvenient, even if the law will probably be overturned and along with it any charges.
Boss: "Why were you late to work, Bob?"
Bob: "I was arrested for swearing at a cop."
Boss: "Here, let me help you pack."
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
Ironically, the technology being announced has absolutely nothing to do with waving arms or using hands or even fingers to make gestures.
The "eyemo" technology enabled for Android uses the camera to detect movement of the phone. Yes, to move your phone you'll probably hold it in your hand and move it around a little, for those who love to nit-pick.
The arm waving apparently originated wholly in the mind of the original poster.
This was the device input method of choice in Tad William's Otherland series.
I can't get a mouse or touchpad to work reliably. This should be far:
* Better
* Worse
* Input not understood. Please turn off device and restart.
Phones already control software through the accelerometer data- namely switching between portrait and landscape when you turn the phone sideways.
Besides, I like the idea, but the reason you want it is finger smudging? Wash your hands and stop picking your nose.