This is the real life version of Minority Report style user interface – a multi-touch sensor screen. Usually touch screens are only able to work with one point of contact at a time, but this can work with multiple points simultaneously – and thus instead of having to direct all our motion into one point (like controlling a mouse pointer), we can use all our fingers at one go.
This might not seem like much – you might think “oh yeah, so now you’ve got 10 mouse pointers!” – but freeing up the hands from a interfacing tool (like a mouse pointer, a stylus etc) gives a whole lot more intuitive and intimate interaction with the software – like how the Wiimote would open a whole new dimension of playing games.
Most of the video to me is just snazzy effect, but at around 2:40, Jeff Han demonstrated the light table application, which I think is fantastic. When you have a lot of things, you need to sort out the mess, and quickly switch between stuff – that’s where this product really shines.
Plus, now that we’re already so sedentary, it does no harm to have an interface that may help us shave an ounce off our flabby arms!
