

Oblong has built the future of computing - pspeter3
http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/23/oblong-mezzanine/

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staunch
It says so much about TechCrunch that they're so easily impressed by flashy
crap like this. The same kind of fawning occurred over that stupid site Qwiki
that reads Wikipedia to you using text-to-speech while showing a Flickr
slideshow.

Just because something would look cool in a movie doesn't mean it
"revolutionary" in the real world.

Imagine a tech blog written by technologists...

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51Cards
I still don't see gesture based control as the 'future of computing'. I think
it can have wide applications in gaming (already does) and as this shows,
presentation, or perhaps short interactions with a home control system as you
walk through rooms. But as a replacement for general computer interaction I
can't see it and the simple reason is: "We humans are inherently lazy and ill
designed for this". Our shoulders get tired, our arms go numb, some of us do
opt to stand but most of us like to sit. There is a reason that our primary
input methods to date have evolved around comfortable positions with minimal
amounts of movement or muscle strain and I believe the future will be the
same.

Don't get me wrong, this is a VERY slick demo, kudos to the team, but as 'the
future of computing', not so much. It will definitely have its uses but really
I still believe that only some form of perhaps thought control, or other
unimagined technique that allows us to maintain an non-fatiguing position will
truly be the next paradigm shift. We're lazy that way.

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snorkel
Just like installing 8 steering wheels in a car would give all passengers the
opportunity to participate in a collaborative driving experience. just what
the world needs.

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giberson
Interestingly, I've seen this video--3 years ago and yet this technology has
yet to gain any significant traction. Sorry, but this is not the "near" future
of computing. The primary reason being that "gesture" based interaction is too
complicated. You can't expect the user to remember the gestures and be able to
operate the device no matter how intuitive you make it. Primarily, because
gestures are not universal. They are cultural, and even geographical. For
example, think of the "come here" gesture. Comparing "come here" between the
Japanese and English version and you have to very different motions. Even if
you compare the gesture between two different people of the same culture,
you're going to get varied emphasis on parts of the motion.

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gambler
Funny thing is, people invest so much time and effort into clunky "natural"
UIs, yet don't want to expand the quality of good old keyboard and mouse
interfaces. There are so many things possible that aren't being done! Heck,
even some useful things that _are_ being done aren't very wide-spread.

Here is one simple example. Most apps today have tons of keyboard shortcuts.
How about showing a list of possible shortcuts when I press Ctrl? I press
Ctrl, the list appears. If I press Ctrl + A, the window is filtered down to
show only shortcuts starting with A. When a shortcut is completed or when Ctr
is released, the window disappears. Simple, yet it would enable people to
learn shortcuts without disrupting their workflow. The list can contain a
shortcut for permanently disabling this functionality, so anyone who doesn't
like it could instantly get rid of it. Isn't this "natural"?

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calebmpeterson
more examples/ideas please...I'm a UI dev and am always looking for fresh
ideas. Your Ctrl key idea is going in my list for sure!

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gambler
If you're interested in PC interfaces, computer games can be pretty inspiring
because of their UI diversity. Some have really good ideas, others have
obvious issues one can learn from.

It's difficult to discuss things like this without more context.

Hm... Draggable checkboxes. Let's say you have several checkboxes arranged in
one column. The user points cursor at the first one, presses left mouse button
and then drags the cursor across other checkboxes. When the pointer crosses a
checkbox, the latter acquires the same state as the first checkbox clicked.
The benefits over the typical solution (extra 'select them all' box) is that
the user can skip one or several options by swaying the pointer, while
maintaining the ability to easily select multiple things in a row.

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bradleyland
The urge to crap on this is so, so strong. Fortunately, I powered through and
read the whole thing. As it turns out, they've actually sold some of this
technology.

"With just the partnerships they have in place, Oblong is already cash-flow
positive (and have been since last year). They haven’t raised money since the
$8.8 million Series A in 2007."

Cash-flow positive? Hrm. I'm assuming that means profitable? Maybe not, but
it's something. They've actually sold and installed this at some customer
locations. That's pretty amazing. I'm curious what it's used for.

When I saw who it was, I immediately thought, "Oh no, not this crap again,"
but there is some new stuff here:

* The company is "cash-flow positive" (as mentioned above)

* They have an actual product, Mezzanine, that has sold to actual customers

* They have a software SDK that will (presumably) allow mere mortals to build actual apps for the thing; and there is also an app server

* It doesn't rely on the cumbersome gloves any more; it works with "wands" and iPhones/iPads

In addition to all this, it seems that Underkoffler has a somewhat realistic
expectation of the time scale involved here: 3-years-ish.

"'All of us who read TechCrunch have a reasonably large amount of screens we
use, so we need to get there,' he continues. At the same time, 'we’re not
nearly finished,' Underkoffler adds. 'It’s fair to say it will be about three
years until this is fully into consumer electronics devices,' he continues,
noting that the biggest inhibitor is simply cost and bringing it down to a
reasonable level for consumers."

Although I disagree with him about the biggest inhibitor. I think the biggest
inhibitor is going to be finding actual uses for the thing. I'm trying to
understand how this would fit in my anything I do during the day. Rotating 3D
models in real time using a wandy-thing-ma-bob looks cool in demo, but it's
serious "naval contemplation" type stuff in the real world.

Right now, I'm sitting here typing text in to a pretty plain looking website,
and I'm really, really in to it. I could be doing other things, but this is
what I choose to do. Why? Because the hope that I feel -- the hope that
someone will read what I've said and respond to it -- isn't closely tied to
the amount of wizardry used in the interface.

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huckfinnaafb
I've feel like I've seen these demos a dozen times in the past decade.

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ignifero
a lot of people feel the same

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RayVR
techcrunch is such a fucking joke.

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ignifero
The ultimate control device is a brain-machine interface, and some products
are already getting close. I don't see the reason why people would invest
their time developing something else at this point in time.

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cyrus_
Non-invasive BCIs will never be able to extract enough information to replace
conventional interface elements. Its a basic physics thing (inverse problem
and all that.)

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ignifero
Agreed, but what about invasive or partially invasive electrodes? Technology
is advancing fast and at a point it may be as trivial as nose piercing.

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beatpanda
Yeah, but how many people have nose piercings? I won't ever put something in
my body to control a computer, but I really like the few gestures I can do on
my mac trackpad. I would much rather have gestures.

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ignifero
never say never

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beatpanda
normally I'd agree with you, but this is a bright line for me.

