Gizmodo: Minority Report

NEC's Minority Report-Style Display Tailors Adverts For You (Verdict: Frankenads)

Kit Eaton — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:45:00 EDT

It may be tired to bring up Minority Report, but remember the scenes in the movie where our hero gets bothered by interactive targeted advertising wherever he goes? Thanks to dear ol' NEC, this nightmare of advert pestering may really be in our future: its new ad display panel watches its watchers with a camera, then tailors the adverts to the audience. The 50-inch plasma's camera and software doesn't quite go so far as identifying specific people, but it does guess at age and sex and then offers you the chance to grab data on the products wirelessly to a cellphone. It'll be demoed at Fuji Television's festival in Tokyo: go along and see how irritating (or not) the future of advertising may be, if you're interested. [Times of India via Dvice]

Microsoft Wearable Mouse Patent Should Be Named "The Surf N' Jerk"

Benny Goldman — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:13:01 EDT

Microsoft continues their quest to bring Minority Report to life with a recently published patent for a wearable mouse from 2006. Now you too can wave your hands around like Tom Cruise—jumping optional—to control the cursor on your computer screen. The mouse is placed around the palm and activated by making a fist. The cursor moves based on a gyroscope inside which tracks the X and Y coordinates of your hand, much like a Wiimote. The handheld style opens our eyes to some interesting possibilities.

Right and left mouse buttons are placed on the side in a thumb-accessible position, and the design is unobtrusive enough to allow for easy typing when it's on. We'd love to get a hand-on with the mouse if it ever comes out. It looks great and the ability to surf the internet without keeping our hand close to the computer is very conducive to our leisure time activities. [patent via istartedsomething]

Wiimote Hack Converts TV into Touchless Microsoft Surface

Jesus Diaz — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 09:50:44 EST

This user interface project allows you to control objects on a display using gestures, working like Microsoft's Surface but without touching the screen at all. Inspired by Johnny Chung Lee's work, the system requires you to wear Minority Report-style gloves equipped with infrared emitters on your fingertips. A Wiimote on top of the display keeps track of these IR LEDs, while the software can read the motion down to two-finger pinching gestures for image zooming. Hopefuly, using it won't convert you into a sofa-jumping, grinning-crazy, Scientology-member maniac. [Oh Gizmo]

Orange Shows Off Gesture Based Interaction Screen, Touch Screens Look On in Horror

Haroon Malik — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 10:10:00 EST

Orange has unveiled a gesture based interaction screen that has been produced by a UK agency on their behalf. The agency, known as The Alternative, said it was the first time such a display had been on show to the general public. The purpose of the technology is mainly as an advertising opportunity for Orange, but selecting your favorite music clips have never been so fun. Check out the clip to see what all the fuss is about.

The futuristic device makes the touch UI revolution look like something from the era of the Flinstones. The gesture controls work by implementing a large projection screen and a "highly advanced piece of motion capture technology." What exactly is going on behind the scenes is not clear, but you can be assured I shall be going along for a hands-on waiving session soon. With tiny projectors in the making, it can't be too long before the gesture controlled iPhone comes out. Steve, that would be the best keynote, ever...you can't stop us from dreaming. [New Launches]

Eyes-on With Lumus Minority Report Projection Glasses

Jason Chen — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 19:09:52 EST

The Pitch: Glasses that project a transparent virtual interface directly into your eyes, essentially bringing to life all heads-up user interface designs from every Sci-Fi show ever.

The Catch: It's not a real product yet (just a reference design), and it needs some kind of other gadget (phone, PDA, computer) to plug into to drive the display. Cool, but too far in the future. [Thanks to Sarah Meyers]

Minority Report Touch Interface for Real

Matt Buchanan — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 08:00:00 EST

The iPhone's new touch interface might be nice, but it's nowhere near as involved as the future UI envisioned in Minority Report, where Tom Cruise could drag objects across the screen and manipulate them in all kinds of ways, or "push" them aside to bring up something new. Jeff Han, a research scientist at NYU's Courant Institute, has come up with such an interface, which responds not only to touch and gestures, but to varying degrees of pressure. He flips photos across the screen, zooms in, throws them away, and calls up new ones, among a variety of other cool uses of the interface. It looks startlingly responsive and natural, far more so than a standard PC setup. It's hard to describe here how intense and possibly revolutionary the setup is, so you really need to check out the video and article for yourself. With any luck, his new company Perceptive Pixel will be bringing it to our eager fingertips before too long – Matt Buchanan

Video [Fast Company's FastTV]
Can't Touch This[Fast Company]

E306 Clips: Xbox 360 Gesture Recognition

Jason Chen — Wed, 10 May 2006 19:50:48 EDT

GestPoint has some cool gesture recognition going on with two of the upcoming Xbox 360 Eye-Toy cameras. Using two instead of one, they can detect motion in 3d space, in a sort of Wii-controller like fashion. Using your finger or other body part, you can direct a sword or other objects on the screen up, down, left, right, in, and out. The fun part is the in and out.

This can also be used in public terminals as a replacement for a mouse. Minority Report-like screens can be had in your own living room.

Minority Report Screen at ORD

Charlie White — Thu, 04 May 2006 11:54:31 EDT

If you're passing through terminal 3 at Chicago O'Hare Airport (ORD), take a look the Accenture Interactive Network screen, a 10x7-foot monster that reminds us of Tom Cruise's computer symphony in Minority Report. The touchscreen tech lets you move windows around with your hands, giving you access to the latest weather, news, and video clips.

Accenture plans to expand the idea to other venues beyond airports, too, delivering info, entertainment, and of course, advertising. No word on whether the displays will be shouting out personalized ads at you, pleading with you to try on some khakis at the Gap.

Accenture Gets Inspiration From 'Minority Report' [Advertising Age]