Monday 25 February 2013

autodidactic or natural interface

A team from the University of Karlsruhe has been awarded an honourarium from an internet giant for having developed an “air-writing” system to make using touch-screens easier and more intuitive.

The input device is a glove—with hopes of reducing the apparel, the tether to a wrist-band later, and seems quite promising. The idea that we could reify our gestures makes pashas of us all, clapping to summon a servant to feed us grapes. I don’t know about integrating the ability to shout demands into everything, since words are a form of communication and not just a one way street and characters are made of a lot of errant gesture, not all of which are appropriate to realize right away or with the help of an over-zealous assistant. I do like the idea, however, that one could write on a make-believe tablet or make a telephone call by pantomime.