Ben sent me a link to this video a few days ago, and I finally got around to watching it now — it was totally worth it.
Things start to get really interesting at about the 4:30 mark, when it’s demonstrated how to dial a phone with your hand. You’ll know what I mean when you get there.
After that, there is even more cool stuff; a lot of it is conceptual, but you can tell that there is the beginning of a new paradigm of interacting with the world.
Currently, the tool that they’re using is cobbled together with off-the-shelf parts, and it both ungainly and downright ugly, but imagine when it can be built into the side of your sunglasses. Or your contact lens.
Yeah, the phone thing is kind of cool, but WHY? Why does it seem like all these new technologies are out to make us lazier and lazier?
Now you don’t have to carry a phone. Or a calculator. Or a watch. Maybe you can watch YouTube videos on the palm of your hand. Maybe you can control your ipod (which you don’t have to carry anymore) just by twirling a finger.
And what about the parts where you can go shoping and have information appear about the goods you’re looking at?
Who carries a calculator? Why would you want to watch a video on your hand, or a wall for that matter, when you can have a clear picture on your phone or ipod? These things don’t matter!
It’s just lazy.
… but cool!!
Frankly, I think the applications that we haven’t even thought of are the ones that will be the most interesting.