[tabi] Re: Fw: [VICUG-L] [Disabilities Network of NYC] NYT Giving Electronic Commands With Body Language
- From: "Chip Orange" <Corange@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:48:04 -0500
Yes, I agree, this isn't trouble for blind people, it could be great for
blind people!! no more working your way through onscreen menus to find
the command you need (which you can't do), now you just learn a set of
gestures and it may just work!
I've heard several tech companies say 2010 is going to be the year of
"speech", both in and out of devices", and so gestures along with speech
feedback would be a great combo for us; and maybe we'll end up just
speaking both ways; maybe gestures won't even be needed.
------------------------------
Chip Orange
Database Administrator
Florida Public Service Commission
Chip.Orange@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(850) 413-6314
(Any opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not
necessarily reflect those of the Florida Public Service Commission.)
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tabi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:tabi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Lynn Evans
> Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 9:01 AM
> To: tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [tabi] Re: Fw: [VICUG-L] [Disabilities Network of
> NYC] NYT Giving Electronic Commands With Body Language
>
> For me making had gestures standing in front of my TV set or
> any other
> electrical appliance for that matter that I can't get to work
> wold be so
> easy.
>
> thumbs down
> clinched fist
> *:(#!
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Lynn Evans" <evans-lynn@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 12:05 AM
> Subject: [tabi] Fw: [VICUG-L] [Disabilities Network of NYC]
> NYT Giving
> Electronic Commands With Body Language
>
>
> > FYI
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Rachel" <rachel720@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > To: <VICUG-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 11:22 PM
> > Subject: [VICUG-L] [Disabilities Network of NYC] NYT Giving
> Electronic
> > Commands With Body Language
> >
> >
> >> This sounds like it might mean trouble for blind people.
> >> Rachel
> >> Giving Electronic Commands With Body Language
> >> By ASHLEE VANCE NYT January 12, 2010
> >>
> >> LAS VEGAS - The technology industry is going retro -
> moving away from
> >> remote controls, mice and joysticks to something that
> arrives without
> >> batteries, wires or a user manual.
> >>
> >> It's called a hand.
> >>
> >> In the coming months, the likes of Microsoft, Hitachi and
> major PC makers
> >> will begin selling devices that will allow people to flip
> channels on the
> >> TV or move documents on a computer monitor with simple
> hand gestures. The
> >> technology, one of the most significant changes to human-device
> >> interfaces since the mouse appeared next to computers in
> the early 1980s,
> >> was being shown in private sessions during the immense Consumer
> >> Electronics Show here last week. Past attempts at similar
> technology have
> >> proved clunky and disappointing. In contrast, the latest crop of
> >> gesture-powered devices arrives with a refreshing
> surprise: they actually
> >> work.
> >>
> >> "Everything is finally moving in the right direction,"
> said Vincent John
> >> Vincent, the co-founder of GestureTek, a company that
> makes software for
> >> gesture devices.
> >>
> >> Manipulating the screen with the flick of the wrist will
> remind many
> >> people of the 2002 film "Minority Report" in which Tom
> Cruise moves
> >> images and documents around on futuristic computer screens
> with a few
> >> sweeping gestures. The real-life technology will call for
> similar flair
> >> and some subtlety. Stand in front of a TV armed with a
> gesture technology
> >> camera, and you can turn on the set with a soft punch into
> the air.
> >> Flipping through channels requires a twist of the hand,
> and raising the
> >> volume occurs with an upward pat. If there is a photo on
> the screen, you
> >> can enlarge it by holding your hands in the air and
> spreading them apart
> >> and shrink it by bringing your hands back together as you
> would do with
> >> your fingers on a cellphone touch screen.
> >>
> >> The gesture revolution will go mainstream later this year
> when Microsoft
> >> releases a new video game system known at this time as
> Project Natal. The
> >> gaming system is Microsoft's attempt to one-up Nintendo's Wii.
> >>
> >> Where the Wii requires hypersensitive hand-held
> controllers to translate
> >> body motions into on-screen action, Microsoft's Natal will require
> >> nothing more than the human body. Microsoft has
> demonstrated games like
> >> dodge ball where people can jump, hurl balls at opponents
> and dart out of
> >> the way of incoming balls using natural motions. Other
> games have people
> >> contorting to fit through different shapes and performing
> skateboard
> >> tricks.
> >>
> >> Just as Microsoft's gaming system hits the market, so
> should TVs from
> >> Hitachi in Japan that will let people turn on their
> screens, scan through
> >> channels and change the volume on their sets with simple
> hand motions.
> >> Laptops and other computers should also arrive later this
> year with
> >> built-in cameras that can pick up similar gestures. Such
> technology could
> >> make today's touch-screen tools obsolete as people use gestures to
> >> control, for instance, the playback or fast-forward of a DVD.
> >>
> >> To bring these gesture functions to life, device makers
> needed to conquer
> >> what amounts to one of computer science's grand
> challenges. Electronics
> >> had to see the world around them in fine detail through
> tiny digital
> >> cameras. Such a task meant giving a TV, for example, a way
> to identify
> >> people sitting on a couch and to recognize a certain hand
> wave as a
> >> command and not a scratching of the nose.
> >>
> >> Little things like the sun, room lights and people's
> annoying habit of
> >> doing the unexpected stood as just some of the obstacles
> companies had to
> >> overcome.
> >>
> >> GestureTek, with offices in Silicon Valley and Ottawa, has spent a
> >> quarter-century trying to perfect its technology and has
> enjoyed some
> >> success. It helps TV weather people, museums and hotels
> create huge
> >> interactive displays.
> >>
> >> This past work, however, has relied on limited, standard
> cameras that
> >> perceive the world in two dimensions. The major
> breakthrough with the
> >> latest gesture technology comes through the use of cameras
> that see the
> >> world in three dimensions, adding that crucial layer of
> depth perception
> >> that helps a computer or TV recognize when someone tilts
> their hand
> >> forward or nods their head.
> >>
> >> Canesta, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., has spent 11 years
> developing chips
> >> to power these types of 3-D cameras. In the early days,
> its products were
> >> much larger than an entire desktop computer. Today, the
> chip takes up
> >> less space than a fingernail. "We always had this grand
> vision of being
> >> able to control electronics devices from a distance," said
> Cyrus Bamji,
> >> the chief technology officer at Canesta. Competition in
> the gesture field
> >> has turned fierce as a result of the sudden interest in
> the technology.
> >> In particular, Canesta and PrimeSense, a Tel Aviv
> start-up, have fought
> >> to supply the 3-D chips in Microsoft's Natal gaming system.
> >>
> >> At last week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas,
> executives and
> >> engineers from Canesta and GestureTek were encamped in
> suites at the
> >> Hilton near the main conference show floor as they
> shuttled executives
> >> from Asian electronics makers in and out of their rooms
> for secretive
> >> meetings.
> >>
> >> Similarly, PrimeSense held invitation-only sessions at its tiny,
> >> walled-off booth and forbade any photos or videos of its products.
> >>
> >> In one demonstration, a camera using the PrimeSense chip could
> >> distinguish among multiple people sitting on a couch and
> even tell the
> >> difference between a person's jacket, shirt and
> under-shirt. And with
> >> such technology it's impossible, try as you might, to lose
> your remote
> >> control.
> >>
> >> VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
> >> Archived on the World Wide Web at
> >> http://listserv.icors.org/archives/vicug-l.html
> >> Signoff: vicug-l-unsubscribe-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >> Subscribe: vicug-l-subscribe-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >
> > Check out the TABI resource web page at
> > http://acorange.home.comcast.net/TABI
> > and please make suggestions for new material.
> >
> >
> >
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>
> Check out the TABI resource web page at
> http://acorange.home.comcast.net/TABI
> and please make suggestions for new material.
>
>
>
> if you'd like to unsubscribe you can do so through the
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Check out the TABI resource web page at http://acorange.home.comcast.net/TABI
and please make suggestions for new material.
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