Latest I heard, infrared technology is leaking into other mediums besides videogame consoles. Say it isn’t so. According to an article in The New York Times, “New Technology in User Interaction”, there are electronic companies that intend to develop and release devices that will allow a person to control technologies such as a television and a computer via a simple hand or body gesture.
Here are the specs in a nutshell: From the screen, either television or computer, infrared light shines onto a person and then from the person, the light is reflected to a sensor. A computer chip on the screen is able to detect the various distances of light (from person to sensor) that not only determines the person’s location on a three-dimensional map, but also interprets various movements of a person’s body and performs whatever task is associated with those specific movements.
In even simpler terms, you move and something happens.
So is the wave of a hand really that much easier than the click of a button to change a channel? I don’t think so. The invention of the remote control was a remarkable innovation that truly made watching television easier. Instead of getting up off the couch to turn a knob, the power to change channels was at the luxury of a person’s seat.
But this, making of movements to act as the remote control… I don’t think this idea saves time, effort, or is any more efficient than the old way of changing a channel or opening up a computer document.
I just hope this isn’t a big ploy to try and get us all “more active”. I can just imagine the hundreds of infomercials that would come out, talking about the lives of people who “lost up to 5 pounds in one week while watching television”.
Sorry, but I’m simply not sold on this idea, at all.
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