In a bustling tent set up in a parking lot here at the South By Southwest Interactive Festival, people are pointing their hands and gesturing with chopsticks as they guide various actions on a dozen computer screens.
Some of the sharpest minds in technology have gathered in Austin, Texas, to ponder the ever-connected nature of the modern world. A big theme this year focuses on how to create more seamless interactions between people and technology, finding ways to control devices that go beyond mice, trackpads and touchscreens.
That’s where the Leap Motion, a computer controller, comes in. It’s the gadget’s first public appearance. On display are popular games such as the fruit-chopping “Fruit Ninja,” and a more challenging one involving a maze. One man paints a picture by moving his fingers a few inches from a computer screen.
Greg Dziem, who works in data management in Austin, is using the controller to play the maze game. “It’s pretty sensitive,” he says. “You have to go slow. You have to be calm, steady.”
The best-known motion controller to date has been Microsoft Corp.’s Kinect, which is used primarily for video games. People stand at least six feet from the device, which is usually mounted on or near a TV set. Cameras in the Kinect track users’ movements and transmit them to the computer. But while Kinect is meant for living rooms and dancing games, Leap Motion is designed for people to use while seated and moving their hands just a few inches from the screens of laptops and personal computers.
“The technology was born out of the deep frustration of interacting with computers,” says CEO and co-founder Michael Buckwald. While computers are “vastly different” than they were 30 years ago, he says, the way people interact with them hasn’t really evolved.
Leap hopes to change that, allowing people to use natural hand movements to control games, complete office tasks, paint, create 3-D objects, and edit music and video. Leap’s creators don’t like to use the word “gesture” because that implies a set of pre-determined hand movements to control the screen. Instead, they like to think of their technology as more seamless than that.
Buckwald talks about the barrier that exists between computers and their users and says the best way to get rid of it is to harness “people’s natural ability to interact” with the machine.
“Every day we reach out and grab things,” he says. “It’s very natural, but very complicated. We want people to reach into the computer.”
Using Leap may take a little getting used to, if only because people who are accustomed to touchscreens may be tempted to poke at the monitor instead of sweeping and flicking their hands a few inches away from it.
In a demonstration, Leap’s vice president of product marketing, Michael Zagorsek, showed off a yet-to-be named photo application that lets people browse through the photos on their computer using Leap. In another app, users can strum on-screen strings to make music. A demo-only program designed to show Leap’s properties lets users mold a piece of virtual clay using their hands and a chopstick. There was no noticeable lag between the off-screen action and the on-screen movement.
The device itself is a bit longer and narrower than a matchbox. It works using three infrared LED lights and two cameras to track users’ hands. It plugs into a PC or a Mac and sits between the user and the keyboard.
The controllers will cost $80 and will be sold in Best Buy stores beginning on May 19. Leap will have an app store, called Airspace, with free and paid apps available in areas that range from gaming to 3-D modeling to travel to business and finance.
Ben Edwards and Guy Hobbs Set To Return To FCB London As Exec Creative Directors
Multi-award-winning senior creatives Ben Edwards and Guy Hobbs are rejoining FCB London as executive creative directors. They will assume their appointments in February 2025. The duo will report into chief creative officer Owen Lee, and partner closely with ECD Kyle Harman-Turner. Edwards and Hobbs will work across the entire portfolio of the agency’s client roster including Skoda, Andrex, Intuit Quickbooks, and new client, global confectionery brand Perfetti Van Melle for which FCB London has just been awarded lead agency for creative and strategic responsibilities for a portfolio of its gum brands. The appointment of Edwards and Hobbs follows a remarkable year for FCB London which has secured a raft of new business wins not only for Perfetti Van Melle but also Kellanova’s advantage brands including Pringles--as well as launching a number of celebrated campaigns including “Get Comfortable” for Kimberly-Clark’s Andrex. The creative duo join from Wonderhood Studios where they have been ECDs for nearly three years working with Three, Coral, and premium car brand Ineos Grenadier, among others. Prior to this they had a three-year stint at BBH firstly as sr. creatives, then associate creative directors, working across brands such as Tesco, Samsung, and Barclays. Edwards and Hobbs first teamed up eight years ago while at FCB London. During their time, they produced an array of award-winning work, including the acclaimed “This Girl Can” campaign for Sport England and “Pay it Forward” for The Big Issue, which won a host of awards including a Grand Prix at Eurobest; Gold, Silver, and Bronze Awards at Cannes Lions; and a Gold Pencil at The One Show. FCB London CCO Lee said, “Everybody loves a boomerang. We’ve been wanting to tempt Ben... Read More