The world’s been pining for gesture-controlled interfaces for a desktop ever since Minority Report brought it into public consciousness. In fairness to the gadget inventors of the world, we’ve received a variety of devices that allow for this type of control, most notably the Wii and Kinect, which kick-started a whole hacking scene and has seen the device used in everything from music videos to robotics. However, this is a big leap forward.Following on the heels of the Kinect is a new gesture-controlled system called Leap Motion, but instead of being used for virtually waving around a light saber, the Leap system will be used to control your computer.The device is a sleek rectangular box which sits in front of your computer and plugs into a USB port. You load up their software, calibrate, and you’re all set to wave your arm in a variety of movements. Mimic writing with your hand, flick upwards to scroll through a web page, use a reverse-pinch movement to zoom in, or shoot virtual forms by making a gun shape with your hand. Yeah, that last one’s the best.The San Francisco startup responsible for the device say it’s, “more accurate than a mouse, as reliable as a keyboard and more sensitive than a touchscreen,” and can “distinguish your individual fingers and track your movements down to a 1/100th of a millimeter.” Those specs sound insane, and it’s all yours for $70.00, so you don’t have to sell your Kinect to get one.With nearly three million views since the video was uploaded on Monday, the device looks like it might be quite popular. And, as Bruce Sterling notes, it’ll be interesting to see the hacks that come from it once the coders and technologists get their hands on it.[via Beyond the Beyond]@stewart23rd
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