Hasta La Gadget!

It’s been in so many movies and TV shows that you probably think it already exists, but open-air hand-gestured controlled TVs are a thing of the future–the near future that is. Canesta, the “pioneer in low-cost, single-chip based 3D sensors,” announced today at CES that it has collaborated with Hitachi to create the first prototype of a TV that can be controlled by just the wave of a hand–no remote needed!

The prototype uses Canesta’s 3D sensor for gesture recognition. Visitors at the Hitachi booth at CES will be able to control the TV up to 3 meters away with just their hand gestures. For example, you can turn on the TV with a rapid wave, and change the channel with a circular motion. The new technology can also tell the difference between gestures using one hand and gestures with two hands.

Anyone old enough to remember Dick Tracy will appreciate LG’s new cellular watch, a 3G-enabled mobile phone that comes with a 1.4-inch touchscreen, text-to-speech capability, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios, and a music player. It also features built-in video conferencing, which many people don’t use today but could take off with a novel product like this one.

The unfortunately-named LG-GD910 is 0.6-inches thick, water resistant, and works over 3G HSDPA 7.2 data networks. There’s no mobile TV on board—but with voice and video calling, who needs it, really. LG announced the phone on Sunday but will debut it in person at CES next week; stay tuned. (Via eWEEK)