G-speak


(Vimeo link)

Take a look at the G-speak spatial operating environment by Oblong.
Some of the SOE's core ideas are already familiar from the film Minority Report, whose characters performed forensic analysis using massive, gesturally driven displays. The similarity is no coincidence: one of Oblong's founders served as science advisor to Minority Report and based the design of those scenes directly on his earlier work at MIT.

It sure looks cool, but personally I don't understand the advantages of this system over typing or using a mouse. Link -Thanks, carfeimao!

I can think of one major advantage (and it's the same as with the Wii, like Christophe said): You're up and actually moving instead of just sitting like a lump and wiggling your fingers all day.

Plus the organization appears to be more intuitive, like having all your papers and files out in front of you and in open, labeled drawers instead of having to tell someone to go in the other room and fetch the fourth paper in drawer seven, file five (or whatever) whenever you want to see a picture or open a document.
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Agreed. It's looks cool, but no advantages over keyboard/mouse/touchscreen (i.e. it's a gimmick).

Also, 'G-speak' sounds like something that converts English to Ebonics.
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I've never felt that non-touch movements are better than touch-movements. Sure, they might be better than a joystick, but absolutely not better than a touch screen, IMO. I think the physical connection you have to a touch screen is wonderful and enables you to do precise actions, especially with a pencil. I can't imagine anyone doing precise work by waving their arms around in the air. As said, sure looks cool, but not very useful except for casual puzzle games.
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Its advantage is that by using this system for only 10 minutes a day you will be able to develop arms and shoulders comparable to those of the California's Governor (a.k.a The Terminator) at his prime!
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mikos has it right.

while you watch this video, put your arms out in front of you and just kind of loosely mimic what you see the people in the video doing. notice that burning sensation in your arm muscles?

multitouch surfaces located on the same plane where your keyboard is now are much more likely for normal users than something like this.
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This reminds me of when my family first got a Tandy computer back in the early eighties. It did absolutely nothing useful, but my dad thought it was the coolest thing ever. He kept insisting we could 'do our taxes with it!' which he has never actually done with a computer, even now. It's funny to watch them play with the thing, though: 'Look at me! I'm moving this picture! I can sort letters! I can draw a sloppy-looking box with my HANDS! Whee!'
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I think we are going to look back on Minority Report and really see it as a movie that was ahead of its time. (except for the whole pre-crime thing)

I don't think anyone will doubt the coolness factor of these screens, but right now I don't think it's anymore than a novelty.

That said, I hope someday to see a system like this develop that has a real use in our society.
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I think the major advantage, other than beating obesity, is that it allows you to work in a third dimension more easily than the mouse and keyboard interface does. At least, that's what it looks like. When the man draws the spiral and then zooms out and turns the spiral, I think that's what it was trying to demonstrate. Whereas with the standard interface, you have to change layers and generate a bunch of stuff to work on more than one plane. Correct me if I'm wrong; I don't have much experience with 3-D graphic generating.
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As a graphic designer, I can say that this would be extremely useful during meetings for team projects. Throw the latest pieces up on the wall for everyone to see and interact with, bring it down to the work screen in front of you to make changes, everyone can get a hands-on feel for the pieces. Not to mention it would definitely wow clients.
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I wish to God people would quit trying to invent things to replace the keyboard and mouse. They, along with my graphic tablet and stylus have served me quite well for decades and will continue to do so.

I'm a graphic designer and if I had to stand up at my desk all day and wave my arms around like a symphony conductor, I'd be worn out after 10 minutes and have to go lay down.

Same goes for voice navigation too. I don't want to talk to anyone in my office while I'm working, so why the hell do people think I want to talk to my freakin' computer?
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@ Byrd Brain

Hahaha! :D

I would love to have this sort of system implemented in say large scale lecture rooms so the professor can manipulate objects and text on the fly as they walk around. Or even better would be if they added this for industrial purposes. All in all it's a neat idea worthy of being looked further into for potential uses.
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@ Miss Cellania

I think possible uses could be attributed to say the video game industry for interactive games. Like the Wii controller but much more complex. Then there are the potential uses in say the art world where people can interact with the displays or art pieces.
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