Frankly the title is wrong. It’s much bigger than that.
Do you remember watching Minority Report and getting completely excited about what could be possible in future user interfaces? Microsoft has invested heavily in different ways to interact with the pc, Project Natal which was recently renamed to Kinect is set to be released in October and cost only a mind-blowing $150 USF. It’s going to allow you to control your entire home media center experience, not just play video games.
Recently I ran into a presentation by John Underkoffler at TED. It was an amazing demonstration of the real Minority Report Interface that he created for the movie all of us loved. Watch the TED presentation below, but before you do try and put the video into its true context. It’s not about the gloves or being able to wave your hands in the air to make things happen. To me what makes this type of research and technology so incredible and “beautiful” is how the pc is now able to learn about its environment, where it is, where objects are, and help us in the real world.
Traditionally when you interact with a personal computer, you have to sit in front of a screen in order to use it. Even new advancements like the iPad or iPhone are really just new form factors to a personal computer. They are truly revolutionary devices for sure, and I love my iPad, but they all are not truly leaps forward in shifting a key concept.
I interact with my computer by using its user interface.
What is about to happen in our lifetime, in fact, in the next few years…
The computer interacts with me, my real world objects, and my space.
To be sure there will always be the need for both types of experiences, but I am making a bet that this substantial shift in the way the technology interacts with us is about to usher in a whole new era of innovations that will make the videos on this article seem boring within the next 5 years.
At the end of the video Bill Gates asks a great question “When is this coming?”. And that has always been the hardest part for technology, software, and innovation. Great ideas are great, but only if you can make them reality. Bill Gates understands this better than anyone, and is one of the best minds on our planet at making things that are “cool”, actually mainstream.
Microsoft Kinect is coming in October. A revolutionary game changing device priced at $150 USF. Anybody will be able to go to their favorite electronics store and get one. Get ready for your world to change. Get ready for Microsoft to learn an incredible amount about how humans work and move and want to their computers to interact with them. It really has very little to do with games when you take the blinders off.
Also get ready to never again get a phone call asking you how to use the remote.
