Cellphone as Virtual Mouse, Keyboard 186
stab writes "Check this out! High Energy Magic have announced a public beta of software to let you use your camera-phone as a physical mouse by just pointing and clicking and rotating it in the air. Some very cool videos available: check out the volume control and flight booking ones in particular! The tags used are really robust - they did a wastebasket torture test for a bit of fun as well :-)"
Wow (Score:1, Interesting)
Videos? (Score:5, Funny)
Heh. Not anymore, they aren't.
Re:Videos? (Score:1)
Wow... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Wow... (Score:1, Insightful)
Freaking engineers!
Re:Wow... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Wow... (Score:3, Insightful)
Interesting point, but by the same token -- Why use your cellphone as a mouse? I can't think of any reason save powerpoint presentations or something, but for that you don't really need a mouse.. Flying is faster than cars and boats, the cameraphone.. well, I'd rather carry my little phone and my N
Re:Wow... (Score:3, Insightful)
As the OP notes, the primary use would be to create interactive displays and signs in places where there typically is no mouse, or it would be inadvisable to place a mouse (or other pointing device).
The idea is to enable people to use a device that many of them already carry with them to interact with these displays, rather than building some possibly expensive or damage prone method of interaction into the display itself.
Re:Wow... (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Wow... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Wow... (Score:2)
It's funny that you should mention this. My boss was telling me about a month ago when his friend had his camera phone for a while, he saw some guy commiting something, I forget the details, anyhow, he whipped out his camera phone and snapped a couple shots good enough to make out his face, he showed the police when they arrived and it helped to catch the guy. Very useful (as I mentioned before) but hardly necessary or a
Re:Wow... (Score:5, Interesting)
This kind of statement about the lack of a use for a camera phone tends to tell me something about the person that says it.
1. They're not very creative. I use a camera-phone all the time for stuff I'd never use a camera for. For example, I take pictures of sales displays to compare the product on the internet when I get home and I take pictures of the sign that reminds me where I parked my car at the airport. Instant notes with no effort. I also have a cool game that lets me move around by moving my phone around. If you were more creative, you would have thought of a few more uses too.
2. They're not very spontaneous. I take pictures of my friends, family and important events far more often than I ever would if I had to carry around a full-size camera all the time. If you were interested in this kind of spontaneity then I'm sure you would see the use of a camera phone.
3. They're self-centered. People who don't want a camera phone personally, and seem to be dumbfounded by those that do, tend to be some of the most self-centered people I know. Lots of people have camera phones and lots of people like them. You may not desire or need one, but are you able to learn from and empathize with those that do? If you were interested in the thoughts and feelings of the people around you, you might have asked one of them why they bought a camera phone and realize that not everyone has the same needs and desires that you do.
Believe it or not, I'm not trying to slam you here. I'm just reporting my personal observations of people who've talked like you have about these devices. Camera phones are interesting because they're very popular, but there's a significant backlash. That backlash crowd, in my opinion, is really more alike than most people realize.
TW
Re:Wow... (Score:2, Insightful)
are uncreative, non-spontaneous, self-centered assholes? Whereas
your camera phone imparts creativity, spontaneity, and a greater
appreciation for your fellow man? Wonder of wonders! Maybe
this new phone will come with a feature that makes you less of
a jerk, too!
Re:Wow... (Score:2)
Then I got one for free. And once I had one, I changed my mind. For times when I don't have my good camera (Olympus C-50) with me, its nice to be able to just take that quick shot.
I think most of the people who are so heavily anti cameraphone, simply haven't used one and therefore haven't thought about the uses.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Wow... (Score:2)
Sometimes, we got to admit, they Have their use... [mobilesasses.com]
Correct URL (Score:2)
This is the right URL [mobileasses.com]. Sorry about that...
Here's an idea: (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Here's an idea: (Score:1)
I don't understand... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I don't understand... (Score:5, Insightful)
That's not how they make money... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I don't understand... (Score:3)
I have a couple friends who work as Spring salespeople and they say that the last thing that people ask about it the actual phone quality itself. They want to know about games, planners, cameras and all the other toys, but the actual phone part is last, if even touched upon at all.
Re:I don't understand... (Score:3, Insightful)
I think the issue here is that the people *assume* that the phone just works. Quality of service is usually attributed to the provider.
Now that we got that out of the way, once people take reliability for granted they look at optional things, such as camera, organizer, phone book, etc.. nothing wrong with it, just how the mentality works.
Re:I don't understand... (Score:4, Interesting)
Didn't Motorola CEO get kicked out because that's precisely what he was saying ("concentrate on quality that's obviously suffering right now, and not race for features")?
I think in the current market there is always race for features. More, more more and more. Until some complaint gets too loud and bites the company in the ass. Then fixing it becomes a future as well ("Our dialer is now better than ever").
I found it interesting how Microsoft acted back in the day. They bloated their software with features, many many features, to beat the feature list of the competitor. Well, so what that it crashed constantly, so what that it didn't do the job that well. (sarcasm). For some reason, it's still around...
Re:I don't understand... (Score:2)
Re:I don't understand... (Score:2)
Re:I don't understand... (Score:2, Insightful)
Reception. I understand that this is a combination of the network and the phone, but I'm not seeing many companies really making the effort to examine coverage, make investments in infrastructure upgrades. I think the phones may not have much more they can do on reception, save for a breakthrough in antenna design (the PLL for example).
The second is of course battery life. Th
Re:I don't understand... (Score:1)
something is better than nothing (Score:2)
There's nothing to stop a "specialist" or enthusiast from getting a better outboard camera, etc. Especially with Bluetooth, we
OMFG CONVERGENCE IS TEH SUX!!!!111 (Score:3, Interesting)
Like what? What device, specifically, will perform the task these guys are describing? Are you going to build a completely new device with a camera, mouse buttons, and wireless connectivity for people to carry around so they can use these interactive installations?
Doesn't it make more sense just to install some software, which is practically free, on a device which already ha
How quickly is this all done? (Score:4, Insightful)
Sorry but first off, I don't want a camera phone. Second, Will this all run within my 2 second attention span? Most likely just targeted ads anyways. Not to mention what this would do to the phone's battery life.
Re:How quickly is this all done? (Score:5, Insightful)
You're probably posting from the US. In Europe, it's almost impossible to buy a cellphone without a camera these days. You're correct in that I dont particularly want to take pictures with the crappy camera - so why not use it for something useful?
Will this all run within my 2 second attention span?
Pretty much
Not to mention what this would do to the phone's battery life.
Actually, it's not too bad
Mirror for some of the videos (Score:5, Informative)
Please Mod Up The Parent -- Good & Fast Mirror (Score:1)
Re:Mirror for some of the videos (Score:2)
and the need for this is...? (Score:1, Insightful)
But this trend of incorporating everything into one device is annoying.
Re:and the need for this is...? (Score:5, Funny)
That's the same line the Mormons use to justify polygamy.
I must be tired. (Score:2)
As cool as it is for a proof of concept, the idea is mice.
New Policy (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:New Policy (Score:5, Funny)
Since when has reading the article been a requirement to post authoritatively on Slashdot about it?
Re:New Policy (Score:1, Funny)
The same way we have discussions when no one's read TFA regardless of availability?
Re:New Policy (Score:2, Funny)
You think that's odd. (Score:2)
ideas (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:ideas (Score:3, Informative)
Re:ideas (Score:1)
Re:ideas (Score:1, Funny)
You can't install all this on a cell phone. Because, if you do, you can't call it a cell phone, you'd have to call it EMACS.
SSH on Symbian OS (Score:3, Informative)
Why you would want to put a webserver on your phone is beyond me though, the bandwidth technology is still a long way from usable for this kind of thing. Maybe in the future though, but still... what do you want to serve? A live stream from your phone that sitting
Re:SSH on Symbian OS (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:ideas (Score:2)
Google Cache (Score:3, Informative)
Never really trusted them .... (Score:2)
Re:Never really trusted them .... (Score:2)
Re:Never really trusted them .... (Score:1, Offtopic)
Gyroscopic mouse technology - patented (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Gyroscopic mouse technology - patented (Score:2)
It would, I imagine, track the motion of the images captured by the camera to calculate relative motion -- sort of like the way an optical mouse works, but with less precision.
Pretty clever stuff -- this could either be the Killer App for Bluetooth, or the biggest nuisance ever, once anyone nearby
Re:Gyroscopic mouse technology - patented (Score:2)
Re:Gyroscopic mouse technology - patented (Score:2)
Join us next time... (Score:2, Funny)
Actually, this is pretty cool - nice idea. No need to carry around a mouse for your laptop (if you hate the touchpad), just use your cellphone! Simple and smart.
new use for this... (Score:5, Funny)
Whip out the phone, take a pic of the broad. Phone flashes green if she's good, Red if she's not.
That would have saved me uh...i mean...yeah...
Re:new use for this... (Score:1)
Whip out the phone, take a pic of the broad. Phone flashes green if she's good, Red if she's not.
Screw software...get a good and sober friend to judge and textmsg you back if shes ok or not.
Oh wait...software might be a good idea...their scale might accidentally be reversed
Re:new use for this... (Score:5, Funny)
Better use, same idea (Score:2)
Or you could snap the pic and send it here. [slashdot.org]
If it comes back with Salma Hayek, take her home now. Abe Vagoda, run.
What I really miss in cell phones... (Score:4, Funny)
a multimeter...
lots of times I needed a damn multimeter and I looket to the cell phone and imagined it could have a pair of probes...
at least a AC/DC voltmeter up to 300V...
Re:What I really miss in cell phones... (Score:2)
Digital Phonimeters? Hmmm, I can see it now...
If you make yours an Extech, you would have a built-in laser [extech.com]!
If you got a Triplett, you could get a free poster [triplett.com]!
And there's probably already a phone on some Fluke multimeter. Hell, this [fluke.com] one comes with an orgasm.
Might be useful in a museum... (Score:2, Insightful)
If anyone has been to Seattle's Experience Music Project (assuming the outside appearence didn't scare you away), this could be used as a replacement for the MEG devices [emplive.com] that they provide. I could see using this to point at an exhibit and getting bluetooth audio streamed to your phone. Might be useful for museums that don't have Paul Allen's deep pockets.
damn it! (Score:2, Interesting)
then i see some mirrors - im happy again
then i find it wont work with my phone - im pissed.
Anyway, I have two mice (1 USB and 1 PS2), yet neither work (the cursor will not move and clicking has no effect). Windows says the drivers are fine, it's not a virus.. i've been told it might be the motherboar
Re:damn it! (Score:1, Funny)
Re:damn it! (Score:2)
Re:damn it! (Score:1)
Nobody can understand the pain im going through.
Wait a Sec (Score:2, Funny)
Slashvertisement? (Score:4, Informative)
Story is about HighEnergyMagic [highenergymagic.com], for which WHOIS tells me: Story is mirrored at University of Cambridge Systems Research Group [cam.ac.uk], where we find that the page is "© 2004 Anil Madhavapeddy".
Seriously, shouldn't the submitter put some sort of a disclaimer somewhere? Or failing which, at least pay Slashdot to run these "ads", dammit! :)
Re:Slashvertisement? (Score:5, Interesting)
And don't start spouting "open-source this, open-source that" to me
Re:Slashvertisement? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Slashvertisement? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Slashvertisement? (Score:2)
(Always thought the only places you could find Tech Gults were Sunnyvale and Hyderabad...)
Re:Slashvertisement? (Score:2)
Your post reeks of astroturfing (thanks AC, I forgot the right word). Nowhere did you mention your affiliation with the company or the research lab.
See the use of "they" in this sentence: :-)
The tags used are really robust - they did a wastebasket torture test for a bit of fun as well
It would indicate a separation between you, the postor, and the company, HEM, when in fact there is none.
Re:Slashvertisement? (Score:2)
You might think it's clever to post my home address and phone number to
If I've offended, then I apologise.
Re:Slashvertisement? (Score:2)
Seriously, man, drop it. If it was a mistake, apologise (as you finally did in the last sentence), and move on. Bringing up OSS and your home address (how is anyone supposed to know it's your home address? It is public WHOIS knowledge, for Chrissake!) just prolongs the suffering. Seeing the fact that you've been around on the 'net for so long, I'm surprised you haven't
Reminds me of a few things... (Score:2)
This guy [schubart.net] has got a phone that reads qr codes. More info here [denso-wave.com].
CueCat:
nuff said
My CD Player: (blatant self promotion)
Keep the camera still and move the cards. [flatfeetpete.com]
Also I couldn't find any of the guestural/movement stuff you'd associate with a mouse. More like buttons you'd press with the camera.
I'm not sure if it's just because I'm interested, but there seems to be a lot of camera based code reading bits around recently.
Right idea, wrong tool (Score:3, Interesting)
bad... (Score:2, Funny)
Striving to be common.... [blogspot.com]
I don't mind the extra toys... (Score:1, Offtopic)
Doesn't work on P900 (Score:3, Interesting)
Did the submitter read the article? (Score:2)
For what its worth, that sort of thing exists, too. I had a program on my mac, which I can't recall its name, that let me move the mouse, click, and control things like iTunes via bluetooth from the phone. Didn't work well.
Either way, the submitter doesn't seem to have read the article. Which is really weird, given the other comment someone posted that the submitter is the person who WROTE the article.
Did you read the article? (Score:2)
This is not cuecat, and it's not Salling Clicker-- Salling Clicker does none of the motion detection or image processing stuff.
Blindingly obvious (Score:3, Interesting)
What would be totally totally neat would be a dumb-terminal standard using bluetooth so when you walked into say an airport and launched the 'dumb-terminal' app on your phone you would get a screen produced by the airport computer which would be able to tell you exactly where you were (triangulation or bluetooth 'cells') on a visual map. Then you could just tap in the 'customer code' on your ticket and the airport computer would be able to tell you the real time of your flight, delays, where you should go, how much time you had, where you could get discount booze etc etc. the same could work for libraries, train/bus stations, sports-games, malls, towns, tourist attractions, and of course cinemas (where the screen would say "turn your fucking phone off" just before the film started) the protocal could either be like wap/html or pushed by the server, whatever aslong as its a standard, its open, it supports funky graphics, sound and vide and you dont get charged for it.
Re:Blindingly obvious (Score:2)
I check into a convention. The program has descriptions of each of the presentations with one of these barcodes. I use the barcode and my cellphone to get more info about the presentation, and decide I want to attend. Press a button on my cellphone and the convention organizers know I'm going to that session, and my cellphone calendar is updated with that session.
I'm in a museum and want to know more about the exhibit. Wave my phone over the barcode and get more info on
They can't be doin too well (Score:4, Funny)
They've already put their domain up for sale! [highenergymagic.com]
I've been doing this for a year now (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I've been doing this for a year now (Score:2)
Other 2d barcodes could rapidly outpace this (Score:3, Interesting)
But with cameras and processing power on cell phones getting more sophisticated, other 2d barcode like QR Code [denso-wave.com] or semacode [semacode.org] will eventually outpace this technology with their considerably larger data capacity (up to as many as 4000 alphanumeric characters). In fact, semacode is already demonstrated on Series 60 implementations.
The submitter points to an application that uses spotcodes for remote control. In that implmentation, the spotcode translates to a number which the program then uses to send an instruction over Bluetooth.
However, those wishing to skip the tedium of entering URLs from the keypad using Spotcodes should note that BangoSpot [bango.net] (using the Spotcode technology) almost certainly uses a middleware server which performs a Spotcode number-to-URL lookup. So someone will know that you're using the Spotcodes. It's sort of like the CueCat but the implementation _requires_ them to know what you're looking up in order to provide a WAP URL.
It's an interesting approach, but I wonder how fast cellular carriers can adopt Spotcode-to-URL servers in their network before phone technology ends up leapfrogging and reading and entering sophisticated 2d barcode data directly into a phone browser.
seriously... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Astroturf... (Score:1)
Re:Astroturf... (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Astroturf... (Score:1)
Re:Cellphone as virtual mouse and keyboard (Score:2)
The idea is that you interact with local interfaces with low-latency (comms over Bluetooth, fast and free), and when/if you want to buy something, you can just go online and pay via your phone bill without having to whip out credit card numbers etc.
Re:Cellphone as virtual mouse and keyboard (Score:2)
The idea is that you interact with local interfaces with low-latency (comms over Bluetooth, fast and free), and when/if you want to buy something, you can just go online and pay via your phone bill without having to whip out credit card numbers etc.
OK, I see the cellphone in there - instead of pulling out my credit card number, I pull out some phone number I guess. But I still don't see a mouse and keyboar
Re:Cellphone as virtual mouse and keyboard (Score:2)
Is there a claim that it could act as a keyboard? I didn't see it...
Anyway. Imagine a glyph which represents the volume control for your computer. Aim the phone at the glyph, then hold down the 'activate' button, and twist. The phone measures how much rotation you apply, and changes the volume accordin