“G-Speak” Consigns the Mouse to History

Apologies for the shortage of posts recently. We are now back with a vengeance from our recent EMEA digital summit so be prepared for some reading!

First up is an interesting technology development. The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed how characters in "Minority Report" and the latest "James Bond" films use their hands to manipulate the interface on projected screens. By pointing and gesturing at the screens, the characters use their hands to control their way around the programs after slipping on special gloves, doing away with the need for the mouse.

Now a Los Angeles based company called Oblong Industries has made this futuristic vision a reality by creating “G-Speak,” potentially changing forever the way we navigate our way around our computer.

G-Speak allows the user to select an object on the screen simply by pointing. By bringing your hands closer together or moving your hands to one side, the object can be placed in a different position or on a different screen. The real interacts with the virtual in what Oblong is coining the “spatial operating environment.”

“Human hands are the most sophisticated manipulating tools in the world,” said John Underkoffler, chief scientist at Oblong Industries, the Los Angeles-based company that has created the technology. “The idea is to drop the mouse and let hands do what they’re fully capable of. That is to describe and push, poke and pull and manipulate the world.”

The aim is to make the technology accessible for all, with the cost of up to £40, and is already supplying some universities. Oblong hopes that the technology will be ready for the wider public in about two years.

- Sam