So far the world has known the first two the most. But now two companies are challenging this paradigm.  Apple with the touch screen and Microsoft with its revolutionary concept – the Kinect. While Apple has chosen touch as its bet Microsoft went bold and set new grounds for human-computer interaction.

What both of these have in common?  They use the human body as the ultimate (for now) controller.

As I’ve said earlier – my bet is on motion detection and processing. Earlier experiments involved Camspace, an interesting technology that would enable web users to play games using the camera. Wii is another successful technology that set the standard for gaming a few years ago.

While these are fine examples of technology I expect the world to ask for, and receive, more intelligent technology, technology that understands and reacts.

Ultimately, we will probably have technology able to interpret thought not farther than 10 years in the future.

The text goes:

“We don’t make pretty or perfect things. We make things that work. Reserve your place for the biggest romanian adventure in the last century”.

Reminds me of our Guru Togu Campaign we ran a couple of years ago in Romania. The gypsy fortune teller asking for money was our second choice.

We ran a a couple of “amateur-like” videos asking local bloggers to embark on a journey through the stars, our guru promising great enlightnement or destruction for the infidels. We got a healthy 15 000 views on the clips before we launched our new website (that was what the campaign was about).

We kept some of the elements (the rocket and space stuff) on our new website. Oh, the memories…

Remember Guru Togu ?

But is this as good as it gets? Probably not. Enter motion detection and processing.

1. Motion detection and processing

Imagine having a huge screen in front of you. How would you interact with it? With a remote? Pressing buttons? Why not waving your hands around?

Funny? Maybe. Easy to use? For sure. We use gestures to communicate. Actually nonverbal communication amounts to almost 60% of meaning. And most of nonverbal communication is based on gestures. So why not really talk to computers?

About 3 years ago I was building a team focused on the study of video interaction based solely on gestures. The project was meant to run on Flash platforms and later used on mobile phones as a revolutionary way of interaction with mobile devices. Remember – that was previous to the iPhone. The project got canned due to lack of finance and I moved on.

This year I was thrilled when CamSpace launched. The technology is simply amazing not only by what it does but by what it can do. Imagine interacting with any device without keyboard, mouse or even touch. Here’s a quick demo:

I expect this kind of interactive processing mainstream in the next 5-10 years, used in entertainment, advertising, communication and even home appliances.

2. Brain to computer control

Throughout the centuries mankind has learned to control animals, tools and the world around it with physical gestures. Means of control got restricted to push, pull, touch etc. The time has come to redefine that.

Scientists and technology companies are working on developing brain-to-computer interfaces. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we are working on the mind-reading computer. Better yet – the device that lets us communicate to computers in a way we could not before.

What you have there is one way we can use this. This man was paralyzed from the neck down. He managed to get 90% of the tasks he was supposed to correctly. Using only his brain. This kind of technology can offer paralyzed people, people that are trapped in their bodies the freedom they’ve once lost.

But it can do much more. Using it we can one day achieve instant connectivity to anyone on the planet. We can drive complicated machines without any prior training. We can communicate like never before with computers and humans and much more…

…But that will take time. My bet is the close future belongs to touch. And for those embracing this new interaction method – here are a few tips on designing touch user interfaces.

For the next week you will be driving a remote controlled car in our Bucharest office. You only get a chance to drive it for 2 minutes than you will wait your turn again.

There has been some electronics, server side, video, flash programming there but the main idea is that you will get a chance to have some fun with us.