8pen + Leap Motion

[alexhawdon]

Reminds me of Palm's 'Graffiti', both in execution and scope: it's a stop-gap solution, possibly to a problem that no longer exists.

IMO, their three suggested use-cases are quite flimsy.

"...enable surgeons to take notes during an operation without removing their gloves" - They already can, it's called dictation which is subsequently transcribed by a medical secretary whose time is far less expensive.

"check recipes while cooking without spilling flour on the keyboard" - touchless navigation of a pre-chosen recipe, maybe. Actually stopping cooking to search for a recipe/technique that you're unsure about? I would rather quickly wash my hands and use a more traditional input method to find what I want.

"search for TV programs without leaving their couch" - Given the range of the Leap device this really doesn't make sense - are they envisaging a wireless version you take with you to the couch/coffee table. Some sort of device that can 'remotely control' your television...

I still think Leap Motion is great technology, but still missing a decent application.

[djkz]

I believe the best application for this will be virtual reality headsets - such as Oculus Rift, where you can have virtual screens but having a keyboard would not be practical.

[sailfast]

Agreed - and if they can't already they will likely just move to commercial dictation that transcribes accurately automatically. I'll use my leap motion to kick-off Dragon, Google, or another app to try their hand at voice recognition. Pretty sure I'd rather just type a transcript myself than learn a new symbol language.

[borplk]

I wish I could say something positive but unfortunately in my opinion this too falls under the new and emerging category of kickstarter-type-half-assed-product-with-a-fancy-video-that-over-promises. I hope I'm proven wrong.

[oulipo]

There is also technology to use with gamepad http://8pen.com/joysticks#video

[oulipo]

Right now the LeapMotion might not be the device that enables couch-typing, but the 8pen technology makes it possible for other devices, like Kinect

[halostatue]

I already check my recipes without spilling flour on the keyboard, by using my iPhone, iPad, or Nexus 7 with a cloud-based cookbook (Paprika).

[icebraining]

Yeah, and I'd say the recipe navigation (and similar use cases) is better served by a voice interface.

[lnanek2]

Seems pretty lousy. No one wants to hold their arm up in the air tracing out full letters of each word like that. It will get tired.

They don't even let the demo guy keep his elbow on the table, something you should generally do for any gesture input mechanism you are writing that takes a while, even if it means they will just be using a short arc of space.

There are great uses for gesture tracking techniques. Heck, countless people love the various games out there that use motion control, and there's even more industrial use for 3D stuff and posing characters. This is not a great use.

[robertfw]

When alternative text input comes up I always feel compelled to share Dasher[1]. Dasher is designed with accessible computing in mind, and can be driven using a wide variety of input method.

The project appears to be abandoned - so no leap support - though the leap would be an excellent fit for the interface, minus the gorilla arm problem.

[1] http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/

[Zecc]

I remember Dasher. It's amazing the first few times you try it. I wish I could use it on my phone.

Edit: apparently they have an Android version now.

[JamesCRR]

Macbook Wheel is much easier to use. http://www.theonion.com/video/apple-introduces-revolutionary...

[Dirlewanger]

This is going nowhere. It looks like there's too much overhead to get anywhere near as proficient as the guy in the video.

Leap Motion in general is awesome technology, but it's going to remain grounded without a practical application.

[involans]

I use the 8pen android keyboard. It takes a bit of time to get used to, but not more than a couple of days. For short strings of text, the learning curve is fine.

[neona]

8pen is neat, but i'm still not entirely convinced it can be that fast an input method. I've started using it semi-recently (last month or so), as it seemed better than using a touchscreen keyboard (swype is an okay solution, but I prefer to avoid imprecise input when possible).

I'm getting faster, but it seems that I will need to dedicate a fair bit more time to it before it will be that practical as an input method.

I really wish companies would just continue making nice phones with hard keyboards, would make my life easier. :(

[edgeman27]

I think the promotional video should show something a little more useful than air-writing. One could have typed (or spoken) the same text in a fraction of the time. How about drawing or painting?

[apendleton]

It's a promotion for the text input technology (8pen), not the LeapMotion.

[sremani]

It may very well have its applications but voice would be a better interaction than swinging the finger in the air to get the word.

[eterpstra]

Why is the guy in the video writing stuff by waving his finger around to make cryptic symbols when there is a perfectly good keyboard only inches away!

Seriously though, I agree there are practical uses for this - such as TV input or some sort of touchless kiosk (in a hospital maybe?). The video just did a poor job of showing what's what.

[oulipo]

Or in game consoles http://8pen.com/joysticks#video

[fridek]

Looks significantly slower and RSI must be terrible. I would prefer to draw shapes on flat surface with my wrists resting.

[linux_devil]

I can write on keyboard , why should I wave my fingers? Need more practical application. It's really fast .

[jaxbot]

What if we embraced ASL? (random thought)

[jamesbritt]

Aside from a lack of range, I doubt the Leap can handle it. From my experience it routinely treats fingers held together as a single "pointable" instance. There will be a good number of ASL conditions it won't recognize.

[oulipo]

This would be a neat way to search for television programs from the couch, or to write notes during surgery without having to remove gloves, or to search for recipes with the hands full of flour :)

There are definitely many applications for that technology!

[koalaman]

How is writing 10 wpm by waving your finger in the air a good thing?

[tjr]

I type much slower on my phone than on a keyboard, but it's clearly still useful.

I have a music recording studio set up at home. I can imagine some scenarios where it might be easier for me to wave my hand for some brief computer interaction than to reposition myself for regular keyboard-typing and mouse-moving.

But, shrug, in any event, I think it's neat to see LeapMotion technology being brought to more applications. Maybe some of them will prove silly, but at least people are trying to figure out how to use it, which is more than I can say for myself thus far...

[kohanz]

Interesting idea, but not impressed that even in the teaser video there is a visible typo made ("Thouchless") in the single sentence.

[jaredstenquist]

My wrist is throbbing after watching this video.

"Write slower than ever and guarantee RSI. All for 3 easy payments of $19.95!"

[awestley]

I love cool tech as much as the next guy but that looks stupid. It takes way too long to write anything and it looks like a lot of work.

[rabu81]

Pure awesomeness!

[nailer]

"This video is private."