Hasta La Gadget!

Could gesture recognition become the successor to touchscreen? And if it does, what would it be like to use it to interact with our gadgets.

A prototype design shows a cube-shaped device that can be used to access music, look up recipes and flick through photos.

The idea called Gesture Cube senses hand movements made close to the screen and translates them into commands for the device.  It’s an user interface idea for the next generation of digital devices, says German company Ident, whose technology powers the device.

The cube has sensors that detect the approach of a hand and transmit the coordinates to the electronics. Functions such as pulling up the playlist or activating the browser can then be assigned to the co-ordinates. Finally, touching a switch or button finally activates the task.

For now, the idea is the concept stage. But with the interest in gesture recognition, it’s to see that this idea could find a way into real world devices soon.

Check out the video to see the Gesture Cube concept at work.

Photos: Gesture Cube

[via GizmoWatch]

Like other substance addicts, tech-crazed geeks live in a state of denial. Let’s face it, if you’re reading Gizmodo, you’re probably addicted to technology to some degree. But just how addicted are you? Take this simple test to find out.

Answer each of the 50 questions below and give yourself one point per question you answer “yes” to. At the end, score yourself. Be honest, this is just for your own benefit… until you report your shocking score in comments, that is.

1. Do you eat most of your meals while at the computer or in front of the television?

2. Do you sometimes bring your laptop when you sit on the toilet?

3. Do you check your feeds more than 1x per hour?

4. Do you make a nervous habit out of refreshing your inbox over and over, just in case someone emailed you in the last 45 seconds?

5. Can you not remember the last time you didn’t check online reviews before eating at a new restaurant?

6. Do you freak out if you’re in a car and there’s no GPS?

7. Does the verb “tweet” come up regularly in your real-life conversations?

8. Have you ever changed vacation plans based on wi-fi availability?

9. Are there more than two portable electronic devices within reach right now?

10. If your house were on fire, would you run in to rescue your laptop?

11. Are you closer with some online-only friends than people you actually see in real life?

12. Are you pretty sure you’d have killed yourself if you lived in the days before Internet?

13. Do you buy things online that you could easily drive across town to get in person?

14. Do “electronics” have their own category in your monthly budget?

15. Are you a member of any sort of online “guild?”

16. Do you answer questions in support forums when you’re bored?

17. Do you bring your smartphone with you to church?

18. Do you own 3 or more video gaming systems? (Oh come on, portables count.)

19. Do you have multiple t-shirts with references to Internet memes, linux, or webcomics?

20. Do you know what the word “meme” means, for that matter?

21. Has your significant other (or mom, if applicable) ever banned you from your smartphone?

22. Do you spend more time on Facebook than you do in the presence of actual people?

23. Are you currently in a virtual relationship? (WOW, Second Life, etc)

24. Do you have 3 or more active social media accounts?

25. When something happens in your life, is your first thought usually “How can I fit this into 140 characters?”

26. Do you need multiple wall outlets to charge all your stuff at night?

27. When you sit down in a coffeeshop, do you tend to position yourself close to a power outlet “just in case”?

28. Do you generally spend most of your day looking at a computer screen and then go home… only to look at a computer screen for the rest of the night?

29. Have phrases like “BRB” and “ROFL” worked their way into your real vocabulary?

30. Do you often skip meals because you’ve lost track of time in front of the computer?

31. Do you call people by their screen names when you see them in real life?

32. Do you have more than five tabs open in your browser right now?

33. Are there more than three screens of some kind in the room you’re in right now?

34. Are there more computers in your house than there are people?

35. Do you tweet or read blogs while watching movies at home?

36. Do you put your phone on vibrate at the movie theater rather than turn it off, even though you’re not expecting anything important?

37. Have you ever turned down a romantic encounter in order to play video games?

38. Does your Internet usage cut into the time you should be spending on personal hygiene?

39. When you see the last names Cerf, Otellini, Ballmer and Berners-Lee, do you know who is being mentioned?

40. Do you ever leave your laptop open in social settings, even though you aren’t actually doing anything on it?

41. Have you ever had a dream where you were surfing the Internet?

42. Can you type text messages faster than you can handwrite the same words?

43. Have you ever left an event or date early so you could get online?

44. Would you classify yourself as an “expert” multitasker?

45. Can you read machine code?

46. Do you regularly have to put blocks of ice, portable fans, or frozen packages of hash browns on or near your computer to keep it cool?

47. Do you have carpal tunnel syndrome?

48. Do you keep multiple webcams around your house?

49. Are you up on the computer past 3am at least once a week?

50. Did you make it all the way to the end of this quiz?

Scores:

0-1: Clean as a Whistle – You are either 95 years old, or you lie compulsively to make yourself feel better about your internet addiction. Sorry to call you out like that.

2-9: Social Drinker – You’re not great with technology, but dabble. You probably play sports and actually have a significant other. Either that or you’ve recently been released from Internet rehab and haven’t slipped back to the old ways yet.

10-19: Coffee Fiend – You’re about as plugged in as the next person—but you gotta have your daily fix. Let’s face it, gadgets are everywhere nowadays, right? That’s what you tell yourself at least, but what you don’t know is everyone calls you “nerd breath” behind your back.

20-29: Chainsmoker – You recognize that you’re a little too plugged in, and you’re trying to quit. Your tech addictions are starting to ruin your social interactions, between signing out of the real world every 10 seconds and stinking up the room when you enter. Take this as your cue to shower.

30-39: Pothead – You’re addicted, but you have no desire to quit. There’s a box of Ho Hos on the desk, and you had to brush Cheeto dust off the keyboard to log into your computer, which you keep password protected with heavy encryption. You hurried through this quiz because your guild is waiting for you in the other window. You really should consider counseling.

40-49: Crackhead – You get all shaky when you think about technology, always searching for your next fix. You’ve considered constructing a biotech bathtub for your body to lie in, so you can plug your consciousness permanently into the Internet. Family members are planning to stage an intervention and check you into a clinic. You look forward to the shock therapy.

50: Permafried – There’s no higher brain activity going on anymore. Doctors should prescribe you video games and/or marijuana for medicinal purposes. Just to keep you from flat lining.

Based in New York City, Shane Snow is a graduate student in Digital Media at Columbia University and founder of Scordit.com. He’s fascinated with all things geeky, particularly social media and shiny gadgets he’ll never afford.

Remember those rumors back in the day that Dell’s Android-powered Streak MID — the device that would later be revealed as the Mini 5 — would be manufactured by Qisda? Well, we’ve got some pretty solid proof of that now that it’s hit the FCC under Qisda’s name. What you see on the left is the label submitted in today’s filing for a device called the Qisda M01M; on the right, you have a shot from that pictorial of a device in Shenzhen of the same name. Look pretty much identical? Yeah, we’ve definitely got the Mini 5 here, and it’s described in the RF test reports as a “mobile internet device” with support for WiFi plus full HSPA on WCDMA bands II and V (that’s the coverage needed by AT&T, Rogers, Bell, and Telus, by the way) plus EDGE on the same frequencies. We’re sure that this version’s got a few more bands for user outside North America, too, but seeing how the FCC generally doesn’t care about them, Qisda’s gone light on the details. Anyhow, this works out nicely for a release later this year, doesn’t it?

Dell Mini 5 earns FCC approval, AT&T 3G coverage assured originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We give you a video tour of Firefox 1.0–first seen on Nokia–and talk mobile add-ons. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10448255-12.html” class=”origPostedBlog”The Download Blog/a/p

Now that Apple has chosen the famously awkward name “iPad” for its tablet, the most obvious candidate “iTablet” is up for grabs. Sure enough, a UK company is leaping at the opportunity.

X2 is happy to announce it’s “hot on the heels of Apple’s latest product launch” with the iTablet, which will run Windows 7 and Linux. The iTablet will ship April in two screen sizes — 10.2 inches and 10.7 inches — with a 1,024-by-768 resolution TFT touchscreen (multitouch optional).

Other specs sound like the guts of a netbook: a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, up to 250GB hard drive capacity, built-in stereo speakers, three USB ports, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, HDMI output, a 1.3-megapixel webcam and 3G connectivity.

It’s good to see competition for the iPad (I did, after all, predict 2010 would be the year of the tablet), but it’s hard to draw positive impressions from a company whose website is practically impossible to navigate. No details on price have been announced.

See Also:

• Why 2010 Will Be the Year of the Tablet
• What the iPad Means for the Future of Computing
• Hands-On With the Apple iPad

X2 via [Pocket Lint]