Scott Saponas showcased his project on muscle-computer interfaces using a customized Guitar Hero application.

Microsoft’s Project Natal, the gesture-recognition technology shown off at E3, is now coming to the office to boost productivity.  In a demonstration to CNET, Microsoft showed off a futuristic desktop solution that transforms the entire office into a collection of displays and input devices.
The hardware is in the later stages of development, but it remains to be seen what applications will be most efficient in this gesture control environment.  The massive displays allow for multiple work spaces, like notes or photos, but we wonder how such a complex control center will work in the everyday office.  The potential for the [...]

Engineers at Duke University are developing a new way to enter information into mobile devices. Rather than typing on a keyboard, they have created a way to “air-write” short notes. Using a phone’s  built-in accelerometer, their application registers a user’s mid-air writing and translates the gestures into text on screen. There are still details to be worked out so that the application functions smoothly, and it’s questionable how useful it may be,  but it’s at the very least an interesting concept.
[via Switched]

The Denso Corporation has created an electric ring named Yubi-nya that can be used as a remote control. Wearers of the ring can operate devices and control remote processes by just pressing two fingers together. The ring produces a weak electric current that is conducted outwards through the user’s index finger. When the tips of the finger and the thumb are brought together, the current travels back around through the hand to the ring and activates  a radio signal that’s sent out to a remote device.
Denso has demonstrated the device as a control for opening and closing the door of [...]