gestural

With watches, glasses, and clothing that can double as tech devices, it seems like wearable inventions are only going to continue to proliferate.

How about wearable technology that can read a person's muscle movement and then use that data to control other devices?

This is something that Thalmic Labs has been working on for the past year. The company explained the project in detail in a video released Wednesday.

Dubbed the MYO, this one-size-fits-all armband is a remote control of sorts. When worn on the body, it instantaneously reads the electrical activity of the muscles to track the movement … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Order a slice of 'za from Da Hut with your Xbox.

- Is it possible to lose weight playing video games?

- Has anyone ever taken a good photo of a live band?

- Michael Bay apologizes for Armageddon.

Bathroom break video: Dodgeball: White Goodman's necklace does magic.… Read more

There are many gestural interfaces under development, but our fingers remain one of the most useful tools we have. Fujitsu's FingerLink lets your fingers control a scanner and projector for printed information, acting as a bridge between digital and analog tech.

The prototype uses off-the-shelf cameras and projectors. Fujitsu's image-processing software links the two.

It can accurately detect where your fingers are as you touch or swipe any printed matter, letting you copy text or images and project them elsewhere. The size of projected images can similarly be adjusted with a fingertip. … Read more

Leap Motion has struck a deal with Hewlett-Packard to bundle and embed its 3D motion control technology in some of the computer giant's devices.

The San Francisco startup's gesture-control system measures users' movements to an accuracy of a hundredth of a millimeter. It plans to release the technology in mid-May, charging $80 for a small thumb drive-size device that plugs into a computer's USB port.

Already, Leap Motion had cemented deals to bundle its controller with Asus PCs, and to sell it in Best Buy stores and at Bestbuy.com, as well as on its own Web … Read more

Incredimail is an elegant way to manage your e-mail on the iPad. You start by signing in to your e-mail accounts and Incredimail gives you a brief tutorial to show you the major features of the app. The app has full IMAP support so you can add your Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, or any other IMAP accounts. A menu button in the upper left lets you quickly switch accounts, and you can also filter by categories within an inbox to look at starred messages, drafts, sent messages, and other mail you have assigned filters.

The beauty of Incredimail is all about … Read more

Leap Motion, which has developed an innovative motion-control system that's accurate to the hundredth of a millimeter, said today that it will begin shipping its controller on May 13.

The controller, which gives users the ability to control what's on their computers with touch-free pinch-to-zoom gestures, will sell for $80 -- though customers who have already pre-ordered it will pay $70 -- and will ship to pre-order customers on May 13, and be available to everyone else on May 19.

The device will be available in the U.S. only through Leap Motion's Web site, and at … Read more

From "Minority Report" to the Kinect, we've been on a tech quest for touchless gesture control that frees us from the shackles of mice and old-style controllers. We want to get in on the action and use movement to command our digital devices.

Myo from Thalmic Labs takes that gesture-control desire and builds it into an armband you wear on your forearm.

The Myo uses a combination of motion sensors and muscle activity sensors to track gestures. When you snap your fingers, wave your hand, or point your finger, it translates that movement into a gesture based on the muscles used. An ARM processor and rechargeable batteries power the armband, which communicates with devices using Bluetooth low energy. … Read more

Samsung's tidy, new $1,099 Series 7 all-in-one mirrors others in its price range, offering a relatively frictionless entry point for those interested in a touch screen, Windows 8-based PC. A poorly implemented gesture control scheme is a minor sticking point, but given the price of this system, Samsung isn't asking much of a a premium for gesture input.

Among other 23-inch Windows 8 all-in-ones, the Samsung Series 7 is one of the most affordable, without sacrificing too much in terms of its core features. Other all-in-ones offer some more intriguing features if you're willing to spend … Read more

Thanks to smartphones, tablets, and Windows 8, touching and swiping are commonplace ways to interact with TVs, computers, and mobile devices. But what if you want to do the same without touching the screen at all?

That's exactly the experience EyeSight Technologies, an Israel-based company that focuses on digital interaction, announced today that it's found a way to provide with its new fingertip tracking technology. The company calls this the "world's first commercial gesture technology to allow users to control digital devices with a fingertip" -- remotely, that is.… Read more