NetGenEd 2011

The basic idea is to immerse a user inside an imaginary, computer-generated "virtual world." Although many different technologies can be used to achieve this effect, they all share a common result: the user is cut off from any view of the real world outside. Much less attention has been paid to the field of Augmented Reality, although its potential is at least as great as that of Virtual Environments. In Augmented Reality, the user can see the real world around him, with computer graphics superimposed or composited with the real world. Instead of replacing the real world, we supplement it. Ideally, it would seem to the user that the real and virtual objects coexisted.

Elliptic labs is known for its clever, gesture-based touch-free controls for computing. Then the iPad came along like a techno-gift for the team, and they're due to show a prototype dock for iPads at CES that is a sci-fi dream come true.Gesture-controls, even if they're achieved via clever hacks, have hit the news recently because of Microsoft's fascinating Kinect toy for Xbox 360, but the core tech ideas behind Kinect are far from new. Elliptic Labs, a Norwegian company that specializes in advanced ultrasound sensor tech, has been developing clever touch-free gesture controls for tablet computing purposes for a while. Back in September at the IFA show the labs demonstrated their development platform--shown in action in the video below:

Let me start by declaring that we, as human beings DO NOT have the ability to communicate with computers. Ever since the modern user interface based the WIMP system of Xerox Corp. came about people have found ways to use applications design around tasks and features. There are programmers and there are users. Computers work digitally, and humans cannot easily translate information to store and instruct computers. This has been a limitation and will be, for a long time. Several companies have tried to get out of this cycle by introducing newer touch and gesture based user interface which hold little value beyond novelty. These have been shown in several movies (including Iron Man 2 – where Tony Shark check’s out pictures of the Black Widow online on his table-top display) However, I’m glad that companies are taking this seriously after the touch interface of the iPhone sparked of a UI craze that has picked up quite a pace. One experimental entrant is the MS Surface. This is a table size computer with the screen facing up and is multi-touch capable. Several great instances of object recognition and collaboration of devices and people have been demonstrated on this device, but it hasn’t been taken seriously as yet (which is probably a cost factor for now)

Augmented reality (AR) is a term for a live direct or an indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input, such as sound or graphics.

Augmented reality (AR) is a term for a live direct or an indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input, such as sound or graphics. It is related to a more general concept called mediated reality, in which a view of reality is modified (possibly even diminished rather than augmented) by a computer. As a result, the technology functions by enhancing one’s current perception of reality. By contrast, virtual reality replaces the real-world with a simulated one.

AR has become common in sports telecasting. The yellow "first down" line seen in television broadcasts of American football games shows the line the offensive team must cross to receive a first down using the 1st & Ten system. The real-world elements are the football field and players, and the virtual element is the yellow line, which augment the image in real time. Similarly, in ice hockey an AR colored trail shows location and direction of the puck. Sections of Rugby fields and cricket pitches display sponsored images.

Thank heaven there are engineers hard at work making sure we can live without them.

it up and hold it in the palm of your hand to answer the call. Goodbye, talk button.

The Cube is a turnkey, ‘plug and play’ interactive display unit that transforms any space of any size into a gesture-based interactive entertainment and advertising experience.  Just put The Cube on the floor or a table, or against a wall, and it instantly creates an engaging 5' x 4' (aprox.) foot interactive display that visitors can control with simple motions.  Well-suited for small spaces and for traveling promotions, The Cube gives customers access to GestureTek’s full library of over 70 eye-catching special effects and games.  Applications can be projected onto any surface, immediately transforming the surface into an interactive entertainment medium for the enjoyment of visitors.

Games often have a fantasy element that engages players in a learning activity through narrative or storylines. Educational video games can be motivating to children and allow them to develop an awareness to consequentiality.[1] Children are allowed to express themselves as individuals while learning and engaging in social issues. Today's games are more social, with most teens playing games with others at least some of the time and can incorporate many aspects of civic and political life.[2] Students that participate in educational video games can offer deeper, more meaningful insights in all academic areas. The success of game-based learning strategies owes to active participation and interaction being at the center of the experience, and signals that current educational methods are not engaging students enough. Experience with and affinity for games as learning tools is an increasingly universal characteristic among those entering higher education and the workforce

is a branch of serious games that deals with applications that have defined learning outcomes. Generally they are designed in order to balance the subject matter with the gameplay and the ability of the player to retain and apply said subject matter to the real world.

interact with the set-top box without navigating a dozen different buttons on complicated controllers.

What caught and held my attention was the device's gestural user interface

1. Ascolta - Ping the Router. A web-based game for learning computer network engineering skills. 2. think3 - Time Mechanic. The company's second, web-based, game for learning to use their CAD software 3. Imparta - Sales Co-Pilot. The company's sequel to Strategy Co-Pilot 4.Learnetix - Zwolf. A game for technical learning. In German. 5. Institute for Creative Technologies, USC (ICT) - Full Spectrum Command - A company-level training game for Army Captains 6. Institute for Creative Technologies, USC (ICT) - Full Spectrum Warrior - A Squad-level Training Game for the Army. On X-Box. 7. MIT - Supercharged! - A game for understanding counter-intuitive physics concepts 8. MIT - Environmental Detective - A game for determining the source of a water contamination problem. On Pocket PC 9. Carnegie Mellon - BioHazard - a game about dealing with a bioterror attack. 10. Will Interactive - Think Like a Commander - Army training game. 11. MAK - Marine Air-Ground Task Force -MAGTF XXI - Marines training game 12 MAK - Battle Command 2010-BC2010 -Army training game 13. SimuLearm - Virtual Leader - A game about driving one's agenda through a variety of meetings at different levels

After about six months of research and programming for his master's thesis, Georg Hackenberg at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology has managed to create what he and his colleagues are calling a 3-D noncontact gesture-based computer interface. "A special image analysis algorithm filters out the positions of the hands and fingers," Hackenberg said. "This is achieved in real-time through the use of intelligent filtering of the incoming data. The raw data can be viewed as a kind of 3-D mountain landscape, with the peak regions representing the hands or fingers." Hackenberg, who is based at the institute just outside of Bonn, said that the system is a prototype technology demo and is essentially an advanced infrared sensor on a tripod attached to a desktop computer. A 3-D wireframe displayed on the monitor serves as the desktop for the system. When someone is standing in front of the system, the infrared sensor picks up the movements of their hands, interpreting them into commands.