D7 Tech Demo: Canesta
Say goodbye and good riddance to your clunky and obsolete remote control. At least, that’s what Canesta, a San Jose-based company specializing in 3-D “natural interfaces,” would like to see happen. Today the company will demonstrate a new technology that allows a person to use gestures to control TV functions–everything from changing channels to navigating more complex menus.
Demo Highlights
Live Blog
- Intro: Walt and Kara welcome Canesta, Hitachi (HIT) and GestureTek. That’s a lot of companies.
- Jim Spare, CEO of Canesta: A la “Minority Report,” you can use gestures to control your TV and other devices (in the future; today it’s just TV). We’ve developed a new kind of 3-D camera that’s built in to the TV.
- Walt: Software? Jim: GestureTek has been on top of that.
- Demo guy Jason waves his hand, and like magic, the menu responds. Kara: How does it focus on one person? Jim: The camera/sensor technology can track a person. Walt: So it’s a new way to fight over the remote.
- They now turn the volume up and down. Then Jason brings up the menu. The gesture for that looks like a hand making a swimming motion.
- Kara: What other gestures? Jim talks about several fundamental ones. Waving “hi” changes services on the menu. A forward push, “pushes” the button on screen. Some other easy gesture for the volume control.
- Walt: When does it get to the U.S.? GestureTek: Maaaybe 2010; we can’t say yet.
- Walt and Kara: Well thank you for stopping by.
- Stay tuned for upcoming D7 acts like the Huffington Post’s Arianna Huffington and the Washington Post’s Katharine Weymouth–after the break!
Canesta Demo Photos
