In my last blog I wrote about how the last year was all about touch technology and how iphone and mobile companies made touch technology a commercial product easily available to everybody. In the same blog a question was asked – “What’s going to be the next electronic gibbon?”

I can’t predict about what will be the next big thing. But what I can say is “Motion control sensors” and gadgets based on this will definitely be the talk of the town. Remember the movie Minority Report by Steven Speilberg, yes you are right I am talking about the technology which was shown. Now its not the precognition, premonition or predicting the future but the motion control sensors based computing device which Tom Cruise uses. Still not clear? Okay to give a brief idea about what am I talking let’s have a look at this video which describes the potential of motion control sensors.

Now what you have seen and heard is a tiny bit from the plethora of what motion control sensors can do. Let’s start visualizing how it affects our daily life and how some of the gadgets makers have already started adopting it commercially. Earlier motion capture technology was made available on a commercial platform to capture animate athlete, martial artists, and other in-game characters in video games as early as 1995. Later on this was being used in movies to capture CG effects, in some cases replacing traditional cel animation, and for completely computer-generated creatures, such as Jar Jar Binks, Gollum, The Mummy, King Kong, and the Na’vi from the film Avatar.

Along with this Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality also allowed users to interact with digital content in real-time. This became  help for training simulations, visual perception tests, or performing a virtual walk-throughs in a 3D environment. Motion capture technology is frequently used in digital puppetry systems to drive computer generated characters in real-time.

Gait analysis is the major application of motion capture in clinical medicine. Techniques allow clinicians to evaluate human motion across several biometric factors, often while streaming this information live into analytical software.

All of this started in the last decade itself, but recently this technology has started to be made available commercially at a cheaper price for normal users to use. First of it to start was nintendo based wii console with the help of the wiimote (or wii remote) controllers of course in the gaming world. The next to follow are Microsoft project Natal and PS3 motion controllers, which has taken the motion controllers to the next level alteast in the world of gaming. Everything is not possible at one go but soon you will start finding more and more gadgets already start using it and bringing it on the plate of the consumers.

Even though Sony PS3 motion controller (Eye) is more closer to what I will choose for gaming purpose because of its two button controller more near to my current controller. But having said that Project Natal from Microsoft is more near to what consumer (which not only includes gamers but non gamers too) actually wants. Try imagining impersonating yourself into an animated world, to be able to try out new dress virtually or let say to try out new hair style virtually wouldn’t that be cool? I especially don’t like having a bad hair cut as it would be stuck with you for a month better is animated or my virtual world.

After touch I believe its motion. What is your thoughts about this?

Related articles

• Art of motion control (ubergizmo.com)
• CyberGlove Systems LLC Introduces Revolutionary iliGHT™ MultiTouch Interactive Table (prweb.com)
• Mobiles offer new view of reality (innovationtoronto.com)
• Augmented reality rig that turns you into a character in a third-person game (boingboing.net)

Image via Wikipedia

The year 2009 saw all the latest gadgets coming up with their touch screen model. This year the mantra was “Go touch”. Ever since Apple introduced their first ever iphone with touch screen capabilities, the gadget industry seems to be awed and all over with this technology. You can now find touch capability in almost all the gadgets.

All the phone companies tried to reproduce the success of the iphone with their own set of touch screen mobiles. In year 2009 literally all the mobiles companies have a touch screen mobile of their own. The bigger companies who had launched their first version of touch screen phones last year have tried to improve their technology and come up with a better one. Touch screen phones have now become a synonymous to smartphones now a days. This touch technology has revolutionized the way mobile computing and devices worked.

Not only have the mobile companies come up with a touch screen devices but other computing devices companies have also joined the touch screen bandwagon. The desktop and laptop companies too have started building up touch capable products for e.g. touch screen monitors, all in one touch desktops, touch mouce(might mouse from apple). I will not add tablets to this because the tablet pc have not completely become touch capable or should i say multi-touch capable. The market is now warming up with its speculation on apple itablet or islate as the rumours say. Archos have already announced its 9″ multi-touch capable tablet laptop next year, not to forget the Crunchpad which is now known as JooJoo. If we consider the multi touch capabilites than this year also belongs to the improvement in apples laptops line up for multi touch trackpads.

GPS, photo frames, multi functional remote controls all have a bit of touch screen capability now a days. Why to leave aside e-book readers, first of all sony e-readers came up with touch screen version now Barnes & noble are enjoying the market share of its success with dual screen – touch enabled nook.

Not only has the touch technology stirred up the gadget industry but also the software industry. The war of iphone O.S. and the android O.S ( remember the great ads of iphone vs droid ads).  Similary there is another software gaints which have also geared up with their latest Operating sytems which are enable to handle multi-touch or gestures. Windows 7 and Snow leopard form Mac both have improved multi-touch handling capabilities.

Related articles you might be interested in

• Crunchpad Lives, and So Does the Ambiguous Price Tag: $300 to $400 [Crunchpad] (gizmodo.com)
• Apple Tablet Demo Coming in January; Devs Already Building Apps [Rumor] (gizmodo.com)
• Android eats iPhone market share in five years (macworld.com)

The war of e-book Reader has begun again. This christmas Barnes and Noble has come up with their own ebook reader. Here is a small video where in David Pogue compares the Nook e-book reader from Barnes & Noble to Amazon’s Kindle.

Here is another video of comparison of all the different ebook readers available in the market.

The latest news from google has confirmed that they are going to launch a new google phone called as “Nexus One”. Currently this phone is in the final phase of testing (dogfooding). They have given unlocked phones to all the googlers i.e. their employees who have been asked not to twitter or share information about it. But that has not stopped the googlers from tweeting how awesome that product its.

Here are some more information about it

• Its built on Andriod 2.1 software
• HTC has team up to provide the hardware i.e. the mobile handset
• Reports say that google is going to sell this phone in an unlocked version. Along with this they have also partnered up with T mobile for the contract phones.
• The important detail the launch date for google nexus one phone is expected to be Jan 2010.

Its another opportunity for google after there G1 phone lost the market share to iphone.

The recent launch of Motorolla Droid has already given a boost to the Android Market share. This latest google phone Nexus one should definitely heat up the war between the touch screen smart phones.

Related articles

• Nexus One Google Phone Could Arrive on T-Mobile January 5th [Googe] (gizmodo.com)
• Nexus One Very Fast And Thin (Specs) (mwd.com)

You might have heard a lot about Wireless network. Here are 9 reasons why you should set up a wireless network. Let me know if it convices you

1. Share an Internet connection: Does your family fight over time on the one Internet-enabled computer? A wireless network will bring harmony into your home–everyone can be connected at the same time, anywhere in the house, and you won’t have to contend with any inconvenient or unsightly wiring.
2. Share files and folders: You have three PCs in the house. Now, instead of passing around CDs, flash drives, and floppies, everyone can access the same photo and music files over the network. You can even set up permissions to keep prying eyes out of sensitive financial and legal information.
3. Stream music to your stereo: Doesn’t it seem like a waste to have all those MP3 files on your hard drive but to be able to listen to them only through your desktop’s tinny speakers? With just a few components, you can wirelessly stream all that music to your stereo and hear your favorite tunes through real speakers.
4. multi-player games – Many popular home computer games support LAN mode where friends and family can play together, if they have their computers networked.
5. Internet telephone service – So-called Voice over IP (VoIP) services allow you to make and receive phone calls through your home network across the Internet, saving you money.
6. home entertainment – Newer home entertainment products such as digital video recorders (DVRs) and video game consoles now support either wired or wireless home networking. Having these products integrated into your network enables online Internet gaming, video sharing and other advanced features.
7. printer / peripheral sharing – Once a home network is in place, it’s easy to then set up all of the computers to share a single printer. No longer will you need to bounce from one system or another just to print out an email message. Other computer peripherals can be shared similarly such as network scanners, Web cams, and CD burners.
8. Computer mobility. Notebook computers and other portable devices are much affordable than they were a few years ago. With a mobile computer and wireless home network, you aren’t chained to a network cord and can work on the couch, on your porch, or wherever in the house is most convenient at the moment.
9. Wireless Set up: As the name itself suggest that you will be wireless(not completely) but enough to keep your place less cluttered.

Related articles

• How Wifi Works [Howstuffworks.com]
• How to set up wireless network in windows [microsoft.com]
• How to set up wireless network for mac [ehow.com]
• Tips to secure Wireless network [practicallynetworked.com]