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PowerBook As A New Kind Of Human Interface Device 276
An anonymous reader writes "As covered earlier on Slashdot, Amit Singh had shown how to access and use the motion sensor feature in the late model PowerBooks for innovative things, which created quite a buzz in the Mac community. In an ingenius new article, Singh has taken the idea all the way and released software which lets you use a PowerBook with a motion sensor as a general purpose input device which works with existing apps. IMHO the coolest use of this is for playing games: be sure to check out the video footage in the article. For instance, in a car racing game, you steer by tilting the PowerBook left and right, go faster by tilting it forward, brake by tilting it backwards! You can also scroll in apps. Google Map scrolling with my PowerBook feels like flying in an aiprlane over the terrain. I must say you have to try this in real life to appreciate the experience ... go to the Apple store or something if you don't have the hardware ;-) Before this my girlfriend (who uses a Dell notebook) has never called anything computer related "jawdropping"! Wouldn't it be nice to have a gaming motion sensor be standard issue in all future laptops?"
More from Amit Singh (Score:5, Informative)
And be sure to check out his other articles [kernelthread.com], particularly What is Mac OS X? [kernelthread.com] . They're all well written, comprehensive on their respective topics, and generally excellent.
Re:More from Amit Singh (Score:4, Informative)
Re:More from Amit Singh (Score:2, Insightful)
In other news... (Score:5, Funny)
daveschroeder discovered to be the username for Amit Singh at Slashdot.org
Except... (Score:3, Informative)
Apologies for the munged link in my initial post.
Fake Article (Score:4, Funny)
"Before this my girlfriend (who uses a Dell notebook) has never called anything computer related "jawdropping"! "
Re:Fake Article (Score:2, Insightful)
you've gotten us again with your clever insight into SlashDot and nerd culture.
Oh how I wish I could ignore any post referencing a "meme".
Re:Fake Article (Score:2)
Oh how I wish I could ignore any post referencing a "meme"
Or posts that hit close to home?
Re:Fake Article (Score:2)
Maybe now she can call it "computer dropping", when somebody's hands slip as they're waving their Powerbook through three dimensions and a $2500 piece of equipment falls to the floor and gets ruined!
Come on, they're called LAPtops for a reason.
Except... (Score:2)
Except these days, manufacturers have taken to calling them notebook computers, mostly because the "must have more power" crowd keep par-boiling their privates.
Re:Except... (Score:3, Funny)
New Interaction (Score:5, Funny)
and Apples new Powerbook tagline:
"Shake it Like A Polaroid Picture"
or
"Do the Powerbook Shuffle"
Re:New Interaction (Score:5, Funny)
Re:New Interaction (Score:2)
Re:New Interaction (Score:2)
pr0n applications... (Score:2)
zing!
Thinkpads hmmmm (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Thinkpads hmmmm (Score:4, Informative)
Why discredit an innovative idea? (Score:5, Insightful)
So where are the Windows apps that make use of this sensor?
Apple doesn't even deserve credit for this one as they include the sensor for the same reason everyone else does. Apple does deserve a little credit for making the output of this sesnor accessible to the programmer, and then the guy that developed the initial software to make use of it deserves the lions share of the credit for saying "hey, what if I did this!".
In your rush to discredit Apple, you were a bit too hasty in dismissing the accomplishments of the programmer as well.
Re:Why discredit an innovative idea? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Why discredit an innovative idea? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Why discredit an innovative idea? (Score:3, Insightful)
Can't think of much else that isn't gimmicky.
Camera sensors? (Score:2)
I wouldn't think it would make as much sense to build programs around tilt/shift sensors in the PS2 since few consoles are in a position to be easily picked up and shifted around...
Re:Camera sensors? (Score:2)
BUT, there's a bunch of games for cellphones that use the camera for motin-track input, so that you need to track the phone around the room to move your crosshair for example.
Of Mice and Men (Score:2)
Sincerely,
Lenny
I've really gotta wonder.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Many times HD asleep anyway (Score:5, Insightful)
In short, don't worry about the HD... slippery fingers might be a bit more of a concern but just be careful to do this above your lap, not held high in the air like a trophy.
Re:Many times HD asleep anyway (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Many times HD asleep anyway (Score:2)
They could just as well take it away again and see a drop in failed hardware.
The sky is falling!!!! (Score:2)
"drop in failed hardware" i
Solution: keyboard (Score:3, Insightful)
The solution to this is to market a keyboard with the same capabilities. This keyboard could be plugged into the Powerbook, at which point it would disable the Powerbook's internal "shake controller". Then you could rag on the keyboard without worrying about shaking up the Powerbook. It makes it less portable, of course...
Re:Solution: keyboard (Score:2)
Re:Solution: keyboard (Score:2)
. . . back. Check out this link, that might help someone track down the mfgr. Another option might be to disassemble one of those anti-theft motion detector PC cards. like [azonano.com] this one [rcsnet.com]
Re:I've really gotta wonder.... (Score:2)
Re:I've really gotta wonder.... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I've really gotta wonder.... (Score:3)
Any other Tablet PC users hav
Re:I've really gotta wonder.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I've really gotta wonder.... (Score:2)
Thanks for making me feel like an idiot. Not that it is very hard to do. =)
Re:I've really gotta wonder.... (Score:2)
These applications are just hacks, and have no usefulness, really. I'm sure in due time someone will figure out how to use the motion sensor for input for the disabled, though.
Shouldn't hurt the HD (Score:3, Informative)
Most Hard drives are rated for physical crashes in the hundreds of Gs of force. Tilting a laptop probably won't even cause 1G. Even dropping a laptop off a desk while it's in use won't nessicarily damage the drive, and I'd say most certainly won't damage the drive if the heads are locked (like if it's off). I'd be more concerned about the screen durring an accidental drop, but ti
Re:I've really gotta wonder.... (Score:2, Funny)
umm, a little thing called relativity will keep that from happening. You remain relative in position to the airplane, as does the laptop. Unless you are modding your motion sensor with a mercury switch.
Re:I've really gotta wonder.... (Score:2)
In addition, during this file transfer, Safari will not work. And everything else will grind to a halt. Even Pages will straining to keep up if you want to type anything.
I had one of those YEARS ago. (Score:2)
Re:I had one of those YEARS ago. (Score:2)
Innovative, but not necessarily good (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Innovative, but not necessarily good (Score:2)
Re:Innovative, but not necessarily good (Score:2)
Now, I can't find info on how it exactly works, but I figure it stops the heads until shaking stops (someone care to elaborate?)...Thinkpads have a cool feature on Windows that shows how you're tilting the laptop and when the HDD is stopped.
Re:Innovative, but not necessarily good (Score:3, Insightful)
If you want to jog with an iPod, do it with an iPod Shuffle.
Jawdropping? (Score:5, Funny)
Umm, actually, she was just yawning.
racing game appliations (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:racing game appliations (Score:2, Informative)
First we put the computer in the joystick... (Score:2, Insightful)
Somewhere in the future as AI/Expert software spreads, "Will you stop freaking shaking me like that and get a gyro mouse already?! I'm getting nauseous and feel like I need to take a hex dump. I think I'm going to reformat..."
What the hell is the big deal? (Score:4, Insightful)
There's some projects out there to hack one of these into some earlier palmpilots directly onto the bus, a nifty hack. Oh, wait, starting to get that feeling..
http://slashdot.org/articles/00/03/30/1546247.s
Sigh. I have a powerbook and like it, but new kind of HID? Please.
Call me when they have a camera in there like the Sony vaio picturebook used to, and you can wave your arms at it and such. Then it might be a new interface device.
Re:What the hell is the big deal? (Score:2)
I think you mean "consumer level GPS". For engineering much more fine grained GPS is available. By engineering, I'm referring to bridge building and like endeavors.
or how about theft alarms. Set you laptop to sound an alarm if it is moved out of a certain area without the pass code.
You might already be aware that this is currently available.
or how about for automatic screen orientati
Wouldn't it be nice to have a gaming motion sensor (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't get me wrong, this is a cool hack, but a 17" powerbook weighs over 3 kilograms.
You know how your Xbox controller was a bit big? Well, it wasn't that big.
Re:Wouldn't it be nice to have a gaming motion sen (Score:5, Funny)
Better killing weapons available (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Better killing weapons available (Score:2)
feeble nerds (Score:3, Funny)
God forbid us feeble nerds be subjected to the lifting of a small amount of weight.
Re:Wouldn't it be nice to have a gaming motion sen (Score:2)
I don't think it's unusual to find holding things out in front of you tiring. Most people's arms will get tired if they hold them out in front of themselves for any length of time - it's not a fitness issue.
Re:Wouldn't it be nice to have a gaming motion sen (Score:3, Insightful)
My favorite application for this would be (Score:5, Funny)
I mean, wouldn't that just be common sense?
Obligatory Futurama reference (Score:5, Funny)
Kif turns the Etch-a-Sketch upside-down and shakes it.
Re:Obligatory Futurama reference (Score:2)
Motion sensor on a laptop? (Score:2, Funny)
Too Inconvinient (Score:2)
As it is, I hate lifting my hands off the keyboard. To think that I'd actually have to take my hands off the keyboard, lift my laptop, and hover it around is absurd.
Another application (Score:2, Insightful)
Laptops are big...Mice are small (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Laptops are big...Mice are small (Score:3, Informative)
nahh .. (Score:4, Funny)
I don't get it (Score:3, Insightful)
Marble demo (Score:3, Interesting)
Tilt maze (Score:2, Interesting)
Damn things have gotting expensive & complicated but havnt realy changed at all...!
It really works! (Score:5, Funny)
I tried it with John Madden's NFL Football. I threw a Hail Mary pass; a perfect, aim-for-the-end-zone spiral. My Powerbook sailed out the window of my 10th floor San Francisco apartment and I haven't seen it since.
I wonder if the pass was complete?
Re:It really works! (Score:3, Funny)
And btw thank you, my beloved anonymous powerbook thrower. It did hurt, but what a good surprise it was after the surgery when doc showed me what brought me at the hospital !
I haven't cleaned the blood and brain parts sticked on it yet so i can make that "bloody powerbook" joke , so funny !
Oh and those videos with horses are lots of fun but you should check out the women sections once in a while, dude.
Also See: (Score:5, Informative)
This is really cool from a UI perspective, but not entirely new. A couple years ago people were doing interesting things with tilt sensors for Palm devices [harbaum.org]. Also see: Nintendo's new WarioWare game [gamespot.com] for GameBoy advance, which has a rotational sensor built-in to the cartridge. Also, Sony has done research in this area [sony.co.jp] as well.
~jeff
Last name is Singh? (Score:2, Funny)
KHAAAAN!!!
Ahem...
Safer to have this in your keyboard or mouse (Score:2, Insightful)
Still, an input device like this would be cool, but I'd rather have it integrated in my (separate) keyboard or mouse.
music applications (Score:5, Interesting)
Minolta cameras (Score:2)
It also automatically turns on when you raise the camera to your eye.
This has been done before (sort of)... (Score:3, Interesting)
Nifty toy? (Score:2, Interesting)
New innovation in the gaming market?
Not really.
Nintendo has made cartages [nintendo.com] for thier handheld systems that utilize tilt sensors. I'm sure other companies have them as well.
If you want to be really critical, we've had tilt games forever. You know, those cheapy plastic maze games where you roll the little steel ball thur. That is all I've ever seen these sensors lend themseves to, just digital versions of these games. The killer app for this tech is still waiting to be found. I guess hard drive protecti
Nokia 3220 (Score:5, Interesting)
PowerWindows (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:PowerWindows (Score:2)
Unfortunately, judging from the demo movie, it wouldn't be *that* convincing- the window response lagged behind the motion by a fraction of a second, and the motion sensor can only handle angles less than 90 degrees.
The coolest thing I've ever seen... (Score:4, Interesting)
It worked perfectly. Just what VR should be. Better than the those big, clunky, slow things at the mall; probably as good as what was imagined by Gibson. Better than what was shown in that crappy movie with Michael Douglas and Demi Moore, based on the equally crappy Crichton book. Perfect, perfect, perfect--very fast, no delay at all, nothing unnatural about it. Just turn your head, look up, and that's what you see. Exactly what you would expect.
My question is this: it's six and a half years later. Gear like this should be a few hundred bucks now. Why isn't it everywhere? Sony quit making the glasstrons, and this place [vrealities.com] has gyros be they seem like they cost a lot more than they should. I don't know a gamer who wouldn't love a setup like this. Gamers have spent a zillion dollars on video cards and controllers in the last decade. Stuff like this seems like it would have a huge market, and capitalism--more than nature itself--abhors a vacuum.
Not that new at all. (Score:2, Insightful)
New applications (Score:3, Insightful)
Also, from the original submitter's story:
Wouldn't it be nice to have a gaming motion sensor be standard issue in all future laptops?"
I think that Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft have more to gain by making game controllers that use this technology. A lot of people, me included, don't like the tiny joysticks or pads on standard controllers. A controller using this technology would be much more natural. In fact, I'm postive that it will end up being used pretty soon.
Apple, or Amit Singh would be crazy not to patent the idea.
don't drop it! (Score:2)
Somehow it seems the head prevention mechanism would be most desirable when you're picking your laptop up and swinging it around!
Re:Tasty Asstreats (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Tasty Asstreats (Score:2)
My guess is that he's using encryption. Maybe a spy, maybe a terrorist. Any crypto geeks wanna test my hypothesis?
One benefit (Score:5, Funny)
Re:One benefit (Score:2)
Re:YAWN (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:YAWN (Score:5, Funny)
Actually, tilting the laptop didn't annoy my neighbors nearly as much as the airplane sounds I made, or when I'd headbutt the guy sitting next to me when I'd tilt my head along with the laptop.
The stewardess took my laptop away half way through the trip. Something about homeland security...
Re:"New" ? (Score:2)
Re:now if the motion sensor worked with pr0n.. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Complete Crap (Score:5, Insightful)
Wow this is perhaps the most genius post ever, why didn't we think of just doing it properly first instead of spending decades improving technology step by step???
Surely your revelation will usher in a new era of computing. Hell before this we hadn't even been thinking thanks fsterman, thanks.
WARNING: Comment may include sarcasm in reply to a horribly naive and foolish post.
Re:Innovation (Score:2)
Oh, and BTW, much as I like to toot the Apple horn, this isn't an Apple innovation. They've been in IBM Thinkpads for a while. (It's a little ironic that Amit uses a 17" Powerbook because he works as a researcher for IBM.)
Re:Apple recommends... (Score:2)