14 DAY TRIAL // Computer makers have gone from keyboards and mice to touchscreens and, now, they are dabbling in other forms of machine-human interaction, especially motion control.
There are three things that people have always wanted to see their devices respond to: their voices, their movements and their very thoughts.
Nowadays, there are means of implementing the first two types of functionality, and even the third, but the technologies aren't perfect by any stretch of the imagination.
Nonetheless, research goes on and Leap Motion seems to have scored quite big on the motion control front.
Microsoft's Kinect is what people are most likely to think about when the subject of computer and game console movement tracking comes up.
Kinect is in trouble now though: Leap Motion's new device claims to be 200 times more accurate.
The Leap device is a very small item that plugs inside a PC's or laptop's USB port and tracks all ten fingers at once, to within 1/100 of a millimeter.
In other words, manipulating 3D objects from afar (computer-aided design) is just as easy to accomplish as Pinch-to-zoom actions, and even playing games.
Buyers can set up custom sensitivity settings and gestures or use Leap-compatible applications, including an app discovery platform that distributes them among developers.
What's more, Leap Motion made it possible to chain two or more Leap devices together, leading to a larger workspace.
Unfortunately, the details of how the technology came to be, and how it works, have been left under wraps, although the price, at least, has been disclosed: $69.99 (54.70 Euro). Go here to pre-order, but keep in mind that shipments will not commence until this winter. In the meantime, watch the introductory video below.
"Breakthroughs in technology come in all sizes, but often the very biggest disruptors come in very small packages: the computer chip, the mouse, the smartphone and now the Leap. Roughly the size of your pinky finger, I believe the Leap is the future of how people will interact with their devices," said technology visionary Bill Warner, founder of Avid Technology and a Leap Motion investor.
