Wii fans — brace yourselves as your beloved Wiimote goes mainstream. Or maybe not…
Philips is set to unveil the uWand, a TV (and PC) remote looks a little (and works a lot) like your Wii Remote’s cousin.
According to Rapid TV News editorial director Chris Forrester, Philips will demonstrate its uWand remote control for both TV and PC platforms for the first time at IBC2009 in mid-September. Philips began working on the concepts and technology behind uWand in 1999 and formally announced its development in 2006.
uWand is a remote control shaped handheld direct pointer, that also delivers 3D capabilities, with the same intuitiveness as a multi-touch screen. A special camera embedded in the uWand allows users directly interact with TV or PC by pointing, clicking and making fluid 3D gestures (part computer mouse, part Wii Remote, part couch potato).
This reminds us a little PrimeSense technology (noted in an earlier post) whose 3D sensing system allows you to control your TV through physical gestures. uWand isn’t nearly as creepy as the Prime Sensor because it’s doesn’t “watch” the people controlling it; it “watches” the device it’s controlling.
While the demonstration at IBC will be limited to TV and PC applications, Philips claims that the uWand could control almost anything, including set-top boxes, media players, game consoles, lighting systems, digital photo frames, et cetera.
Reportedly, Philips already has commercial deals in place with device manufacturers and technology providers. Like most of the new control systems we see, its developers claim that there are applications in fields like medicine and education. The real issue as we see it is lack of compatibility with all the devices you already own. Will the uWand pan out? We’ll be watching…
Video: EETimes
The Prime Sensor was honored as Best New Product Idea at CableLabs Summer Conference this week. Made by Tel Aviv startup Prime Sense, the Prime Sensor is a 3-D sensing system that lets you control your TV or set-top box with a flick of your hand – literally – in mid-air.
Instead of a remote, viewers can perform common actions (like changing channels) through physical gestures. It’s pretty advanced though; you even type on a virtual keyboard. And you thought The Clapper was cool…
In a post for Light Reading’s Cable Digital News, editor Jeff Baumgartner explained that, “The camera, powered by Prime Sense’s chip, projects an infrared (IR) field into the room to help determine what’s in front of the camera, going as far as identifying which ‘users’ are sitting in front of the TV, based on their thermal images.” He and others are a little concerned about the privacy questions raised by technology like this.
So are 3D sensing technologies the wave of the future? Companies like Prime Sense, Canesta, EDGE 3 Technologies, GestureTek, Softkinetic and others think so. According to Multichannel News editor Todd Spangler, Prime Sense has customers in the pipeline, has distributed 1,000 software-development kits to CE manufacturers, and expects to be shipping in volume as early as Q4 of this year.
Bottom line: control innovations like the Prime Sensor are extremely cool, albeit slightly creepy. Maybe we’re just paranoid but… Big Brother’s probably not watching all your movements yet. With technologies like this floating around in the pipeline, what could happen when a majority of televisions are connected to the internet? Suddenly a 3D camera pointed at your living room or bedroom loses its appeal. Maybe remotes aren’t that bad after all.
*We almost forgot to mention that the Prime Sensor has potential gaming applications as well. Imagine playing without a controller! Someday we’ll regale the youth with stories about the Wii, the NES Power Pad, sore thumbs from an afternoon spent trying to beat the game…