mathoda.com

For a few hundred dollars the Apple iPhone provides a multi-touch display you can control by touch and the Nintendo Wii allows you to control video games from a distance by gesturing with a wand like remote control. What if you could combine the multi touch gestures of the iPhone with the midair gestures of the Wii for $39.99?

Sure, Steven Spielberg showed such a device in the movie Minority Report (see video), but researcher Johnny Lee has created a super cheap system that works by buying the Nintendo Wii’s remote and using it’s infrared light sensing abilities:

He’s also used the Wii remote to make a low cost multi-point whiteboard and a head tracking virtual reality display, all of which you can see demonstrated in his speech at TED :

You can examine a variety of his hacks, and download free software to make your own input devices, at his website. Mr. Lee has also developed a number of other interesting projects, including a $14 steady cam and a novel way to win a paintball match.

David Gallo shows amazing pictures of luminescent and camouflaging sea creatures:

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/206

If you feel instinctively that humanity has been getting more violent all the time, and you feel acutely that modern society is a horror as a result, you should watch Steven Pinker’s presentation at TED, where he provides evidence that human progress has led to diminishing violence over time.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/163