Could it really be possible that the venerable computer mouse may soon be a relic? Well yes, we all knew it was always going to be that way what with voice activation such as SIRI and gesture control such as through the Kinect but did we realise that things are moving evenmore quickly than we thought. Enter LEAP Motion, a small iPod like interface that sits in front of your screen and interprets hand and finger gestures to interact with objects on your screen. The LEAP uses infra-red technology to interpret actions. Best yet, the projected entry price for the interface will be around $US70.
Already reviews are appearing such as one from Wired Magazine which suggests “Why the LEAP is the best gesture-control system we’ve ever tested“. Despite an otherwise favourable review Wired still doesn’t see LEAP replacing the mouse just yet.
Just as it appears that the day of the mouse is numbered comes news too that the traditional QWERTY keyboard may also follow the same way though not perhaps in the way most expect. Margo Pierce writing in theJOURNAL posts about Typing in the Age of iPads and in particular SnapKeys. Here’s the SnapKey promo…..
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: | interface, mouse
My personal thoughts on Windows 8 are quite negative and I am not a fan of the direction Microsoft is taking. The Release Preview feels as if Microsoft has ignored most of the negative feedback and keeps pushing for their vision. The improved desktop elements such as explorer & task manager are a great improvement however for a home or work desktop, the metro start-screen IMO is not suitable. My reason for this is the lack of customizatiion it has. Users such as me have become familiar with tfhe start menu and have watched it evolve for years. Tablets should ude metro, desktops should use the typical start menu.