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USC Researchers Demonstrate Real-Life Gmail Motion

Posted by timothy on from the when-reality-trumps dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In this tongue-in-cheek video, researchers at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies take playful jabs at Google as they demonstrate their software controlling Gmail with a Microsoft Kinect sensor. The gesture controls are strikingly similar to those jokingly suggested by Google in their fictional Gmail Motion application, posted as an April Fools' day prank. The researchers have made their software available for free on their website."

14 of 32 comments (clear)

  1. Who didn't see this coming? by devincook · · Score: 3, Funny

    Seriously... anytime anyone posts a good idea (even slightly outlandish) on the internet with no implementation, it gets implemented. How awesome would a combination hooker and blackjack machine be? Have at it, internet.

    1. Re:Who didn't see this coming? by Fuzzums · · Score: 1

      ...that brings cold beer.

      --
      Privacy is terrorism.
    2. Re:Who didn't see this coming? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I was surprised Google themselves didn't do this. Remember: always take your jokes to the next level.

    3. Re:Who didn't see this coming? by orkysoft · · Score: 2

      In fact, forget about the hooker and blackjack!

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      I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
    4. Re:Who didn't see this coming? by Fuzzums · · Score: 1

      Walk-ing fridge : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOvoO6eQDms

      --
      Privacy is terrorism.
    5. Re:Who didn't see this coming? by Ihmhi · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's great, isn't it? It's speech recognition software for people who use sign language.

      --
      Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
    6. Re:Who didn't see this coming? by orkysoft · · Score: 1

      Men With Talent: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58-9Ae9cvDI, for the furriners :-)

      --

      I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
    7. Re:Who didn't see this coming? by JustOK · · Score: 1

      that's what SHE said.

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      rewriting history since 2109
    8. Re:Who didn't see this coming? by anton_kg · · Score: 1

      The really cool thing is that there is only one sign language. May be we should all learn it and it won't be any language barrier anymore. If you know what I mean. Then we would need a software which would convert all languages to one - sing language.

  2. Potential by gmuslera · · Score: 1

    If well could be risky to use that in normal environments (like with voice commands, the computer have no way to tell that what you did or said was for it or for someone else in reach), have some potential for not so normal environments or uses. And that it is flexible enough to emulate gmail joke in little time mean that it could be ready for special uses.

  3. Congratulations to the USC Team by jacksonyee · · Score: 1

    After the tragedy/comedy combination that was April Fool's Day, it's nice to see someone taking a joke and turning it into someone useful. As a poster mentioned earlier yesterday, it would be quite nice to give Outlook the finger and have a sad face or a pouting puppy popup on your computer. That would take a large amount of the users' and tech support's rage out.

    I am by no means in favor of a Minority Report-style interface for everyday computing, but it would be useful in certain situations. To release this software in a day is something that I would have expected only from the collegiate level, particularly from MIT, Carnegie Mellon, or Berkley. Keep the good work up, USC.

  4. Re:wow... by m.ducharme · · Score: 1

    [Droopy Dog Voice] Yes. [/Droopy Dog Voice]

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    Rule of Slashdot #0: You and people like you are not representative of the larger population. - A.C.
  5. Dancing Easter Egg by daboochmeister · · Score: 1

    I hear if you do a whole zumba routine in front of it, it emails a death threat to Jillian Michaels.

    --
    "Ahh! I see you're in that indeterminate Schrodinger state where - oh, uh ... never mind." Dave Bucci
  6. Text entry by qvatch · · Score: 1

    Text entry should be semaphore. It would be most fitting.