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G-Speak could bring 'Minority Report' tech soon

With gesture control the next big thing in the interface race, sneeze and you might just reboot the entire server system. That scenario may not be too far off, since Oblong Industries, the guys behind the technological whizbang "Minority Report," is behind this. Company co-founder John Underkoffler has unveiled what's been coined G-Speak.

It all sounds rather similar to MIT's Sixth Sense device, though G-Speak takes on a more spatial operating environment (SOE) that lets users manipulate the space around to move 3D objects or zoom in and out. Think Tom Cruise's character using the interactive wall in the sci-fi flick.

To crunch down the technobabble, the gesture technology tracks hand movements using special displays and surfaces that can work with videos and images. Like Cruise in "MR," you'll need to don a pair of special gloves to act as "conductors" to do your thang.

With augmented reality, multitouch, and motion control already in the picture, it won't be too long before gesture-based interfaces take us to a whole new mouse-less realm. If Underkoffler is to be believed, G-Speak should be ready for consumer use in the next five years. Check in on the two following videos for a glimpse at the future. … Read more

Ooh, ahh: Weather Underground goes full-screen

Weather service Weather Underground has a new trick up its sleeve: it can now show you the weather on a full-screen Google Map. The company is aptly calling it Fullscreenweather.com.

Fullscreenweather works just like Google Maps, meaning you can use your mouse wheel to zoom in and out, as well as use it to drag around the surface. It also includes quick toggles to change the terrain type, as well as what weather layer you're looking at--like temperature, precipitation, and cloud cover.

The company says it's been designed especially for touch-screen devices, including the Apple's upcoming … Read more

Ineffective chat capture

Chat-Security Screen Report is a potentially useful application that allows people to take screenshots of chat activity, ostensibly to record inappropriate or illegal activity. Although we like this idea in theory, its execution leaves something to be desired.

For starters, the program's interface makes little sense, and even getting the main screen open can be a bit of a chore. Sometimes the program appears as an annoying flashing camera hovering over the system tray. But sometimes it doesn't. A normal icon in the system tray also gives people access to the program's main screen, which contains several … Read more

A red herring

Investigator Report claims that it is "quickly becoming the standard" when it comes to software for private investigators. Although the program seems to have a lot of useful features, we find this a little hard to believe, given its clunky interface.

We were turned off by the program almost immediately when we opened it and the creepy Microsoft Sam text-to-speech voice announced, "Investigator Report." From there, it only got worse; the program announces the name of each module as it's opened, and there doesn't seem to be any way to turn this annoying and … Read more

Study: The road ahead for electric cars

While hybrid and all-electric cars are about five years away from becoming commonplace, 2010 will be a crucial year in determining how an electric car is designed, built, fueled, and used, according to a paper released Thursday by Pike Research.

The auto industry is already headed toward official decisions on technology and standards, and still to come is a natural market evolution determining industry leaders.

The most interesting part of the report is how Pike Research analysts see driver habits and electric cars evolving.

Currently, the report said, many automakers, like General Motors with its Chevy Volt, are following a … Read more

Study: You'll wolf down 34GB of data today

Got a case of information overload? You're not alone.

A study released Wednesday from the University of California, San Diego, reports that the average American consumes a whopping 34GB of data and 100,000 words of information per day.

Over the course of 2008, Americans as a group gobbled up 3.6 zettabytes of data. (In case you missed the definition of "zettabyte" in your daily data binging, that's a million million gigabytes.) For all you visual learners out there, the researchers helpfully point out that 3.6 zettabytes is equal to the "information in … Read more

Get smart to avoid crashes

You can't predict every hard-drive failure. But when a drive goes down because certain hardware components are slowly degrading, then S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) can help warn you of an impending crash, so you have time to run a last-minute backup. Mac OS X already uses S.M.A.R.T. to track the health of drives, but it only runs a check whenever you use Disk Utility to verify a disk. SMARTReporter is a free, open-source tool that checks the S.M.A.R.T. status of drives hourly (by default, or … Read more

Reminder minder

AllNotes Personal Organizer provides a simple set of tools for keeping track of a date and staying on top of events. The program's bare-bones simplicity and easy navigation make this a great choice for basic reminders.

We enjoyed the program's simple interface. It buries itself in your task bar and only has a few, easy-to-understand command options. Nothing about it left us with questions about how to operate this software. With a few simple clicks, we were able to enter dates and times, write ourselves a quick note, set an alarm, or post a note or event on … Read more

Internet danger meter

Web of Trust (WOT) for Firefox provides users with a simple meter for gauging a Web site's danger level. With easy to read warnings, this program only leaves one thing to chance with your safety.

The program does not have anything to offer on your computer's desktop because it embeds itself into your Firefox browser for quick access. Depending on the Web site you visit, the program's icon turns red, yellow, or green to illustrate the danger level. Clicking on the icon displays a chart showcasing Trustworthiness, Vendor Reliability, Privacy, and Child Safety. The warnings are intuitive … Read more