OrientationWho needs a computer mouse when you have your hands? The much-anticipated Leap Motion, which brings gesture control to Mac and Windows computers, started shipping this week, ABC News Reports. Much like Kinect for Xbox, Leap Motion (sold for $79.99) enables users to control their computer screens using waves, pokes, reaches, and grabs.
After plugging in the small motion-sensing box, users need to download or buy specific apps from Leap’s Airspace Store. Many of the 75 apps currently available are games like Fruit Ninja and Cut the Rope. And, although reviewers say the navigation technology is mostly precise, there are still some bugs that need to be worked out. Leap Motion is not about to replace the mouse that we have relied on for the past 30 years.
But it certainly has great potential, particularly in education. One app, for instance, gives you the chance to learn about a frog’s heart as if it were in your hand. Another lets you mold a piece of virtual clay. Leap Motion could also be “a ticking time bomb of innovation,” Darrell Etherington at TechCrunch writes. “What they’re offering is an entirely new paradigm for thinking about digital interaction. That means it’ll take time before developers wrap their head around what kind of software experience fits this mould.”