I want the computer from Minority Report

“Remember, remember the Fifth of November?”

Oops. Wrong movie. I meant this one:

Fun movie. And a really cool computer UI:

So how close is this to reality? Maybe we’re almost there (but even if we don't NEED the ravin’ glow-finger gloves, we might still WANT them).

Nintendo started the popularization of motion control with the Wii-mote. Sony has jumped on the bandwagon as well with its karaoke-mic-styled PlayStation Move controller. And Microsoft of all people took the next step with its Kinect system of full-body optical recognition. For almost a year, this system has been available for Windows 7 computers (see http://bit.ly/tIg1U0 for the M$ vision for Kinect).

 A couple of other recent developments raise some interesting possibilities. One company (http://on.mktw.net/Jh6918) is claiming to have developed a system that will track all 10 fingers with pinpoint accuracy. Soon, all the techniques that the iPhone has taught us could be available in thin-air.

An odder approach to this is to put a sensor onto a person’s shoes so that all of your hand gestures can be captured and used to control a smartphone in your pocket – as they call it, “eyes-free interaction.” (http://cnet.co/Je1JJs)

“How ‘bout the power to kill a yak, from 200 yards away … with mind bullets! That’s telekinesis, Kyle!”

Of course, all of this optical recognition technology is nice, but it will be obsolete once we can simply control our devices with our minds. Some, like Peter Bentley, worry that we will go beyond just using mind control to help people with injuries like quadriplegia and start putting it into daily use (http://huff.to/LjYww4). While he may be right about the current state of technology (I don’t think I’d like a buggy computer chip surgically implanted in my brain), as things advance even farther, popular demand may trump all of these concerns. And then we might truly see Homo cyborgis.