Wednesday, July 24, 2013

The Future Has Arrived: Leap Motion

It was only a little over a decade ago that I went to the theater to see Minority Report with Tom Cruise and my jaw went slack over the computer UI of the future, based on gestures:


More recently, the theme returned in the Iron Man series:


Yesterday, the future arrived on my doorstep in the form of a small square box from Leap Motion Inc.



Although it's very clearly a cutting edge technology and the practical uses beyond novelty and games remains to be seen.... it's about the coolest thing I've played with in a while!  Sure, it has a few idiosyncrasies and takes a few moments to get acclimated to, but it is totally intuitive, it works, and it doesn't cost a ton (~$80).  I'm hoping the developer nation follows soon with some apps that take advantage of this advance, but until then, I'm going to enjoy being Tony Stark Jr.

Check it out: