NUI: Natural User Interface

English: The Microsoft Kinect peripheral for the Xbox 360. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The NUI will be a bigger departure than the GUI, Graphical User Interface, was. This is a big one. Microsoft has some advantages here. But it will not be any one company thing. This will be a tectonic shift.

Intel Says Laptops and Tablets with 3-D Vision Are Coming Soon

Laptops with 3-D sensors in place of conventional webcams will go on sale before the end of this year ...... Partners already working with Intel include Microsoft’s Skype unit, the movie and gaming studio Dreamworks, and the 3-D design company Autodesk ....... a startup called Volumental, lets you snap a 3-D photo of your foot to get an accurate shoe size measurement—something that could help with online shopping. ..... data from a tablet’s 3-D sensor can be used to build very accurate augmented reality games, where a virtual character viewed on a device’s screen integrates into the real environment. In one demo, a flying robot appeared on-screen and selected a landing spot on top of a box on a cluttered table. As the tablet showing the character was moved, it stayed perched on the tabletop, and even disappeared behind occluding objects. ...... the front-facing 3-D sensors can be used to recognize gestures to play games on a laptop, or take control of some features of Windows. ...... reminiscent of Microsoft’s Kinect sensor for its Xbox gaming console, which introduced gamers to depth sensing and gesture control in 2010. Microsoft launched a version of Kinect aimed at Windows PCs in 2012, and significantly upgraded its depth-sensing technology in 2013, but Kinect devices are too large to fit inside a laptop or tablet.

Related articles

• Dell's new tablet is world's thinnest, but that's not its coolest feature
• Swedish startup scores $3M to make custom clothing nothing special
• Apple iPad: 'Intel Outside'
• Intel's RealSense camera: seeing the world like a human
• IDF 2014 PC Mega Session: 2-in-1s to Rule Mobile, Wireless Everything Coming Soon
• Microsoft showcases new Kinect-centric projects at its TechFest research fair
• Meet the world's thinnest tablet: the Dell Venue 8 7000
• The irony: Microsoft makes depth-tracking phone while ignoring Kinect
• What a Standalone $150 Xbox One Kinect Means for Microsoft
• Leaked Video Shows Kinect-Controlled Gears of War Strategy Game

The Natural User Interface And The Differently Abled

English: NASA StarChild image of Stephen Hawking. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I think the Natural User Interface, of which the touch is just the beginning and gesture is the next big step, though not the final step, not by a long shot, is a big gift for all of us, but it might be extra promising for the differently abled. Senior homes can make use of drones and robots. Voice commands would cut language barriers. The Internet is not meant for English only, and should not dump you into your particular language silo. You communicate, let the Internet translate.

The keyboard, if you think about it, does feel unnatural.

The ultimate is being able to command your computing environment with your eye movements, Stephen Hawking style.

At some level we are all differently. A lot of start wearing glasses early on. As soon as you put one on, you have gently stepped into the differently abled zone. Smart, robotic limbs are not a challenge anymore. They are not innovation challenges, they are simply now scaling challenges.

Your brain is one of the last parts of your body to give up on you. Which means the NUI taken to its logical conclusion will allow us to raise the retirement age. And since retirement is voluntary anyways, a lot of us could hope to live long productive lives through NUI.

Education remains the great unsolved mystery of our knowledge age, ironically. The industrial era education engines/structures don't recognize concepts like people learn at their own paces with their own styles. That individualization is now possible. But there are old institutional structures that get in the way.

There are enormous implications on education and health because a knowledge economy puts a major, unprecedented emphasis on human capital. Human capital is a concept much bigger than human rights because it takes human rights for granted.

Related articles

• Differently Abled by Design
• Differently abled
• Job portal for differently abled launched
• Donations to differently-abled groups
• A Jewish approach to 'differently abled'

Snapchat's Year

Image via CrunchBase

Last year it was Highlight's year to shine at SXSW. This year I think that honor goes to Snapchat.

Twitter had its year. It was Twitter that put SXSW on the tech map. One year FourSquare stole the show.

Next year I think we will see a new paradigm emerge. That new paradigm is the NUI, the Natural User Interface. It will be like moving from 2D to 3D. All apps will need to be overhauled. New possibilities will emerge.

The Snapchat Lawsuit, Or How To Lose Your Best Friend Over $70 Million
Bill Gates at SXSWedu: The future of education is data

Related articles

• Snapchat Founders Sued By Fellow Stanford Student Who Says They Stole His Idea
• If you don't "get" why Snapchat is growing so fast, read this
• Iterations: SnapChat's Success Challenges Many Silicon Valley Assumptions
• 60 Million Photos Are Disappearing Daily On Snapchat, A $70 Million App Built By Stanford Frat Brothers
• 60 Million Photos Are Disappearing Daily On Snapchat, A $70 Million App Built By Stanford Frat Brothers
• Snapchat Founders Sued By Fellow Stanford Student Who Says They Stole His Idea
• Snapchat Raises $13.5M Series A
• Is Facebook Losing Its Cool? Some Teens Think So
• "Did She Laugh At My Sext?" Or Why Poke And Snapchat Need A Like Button
• The Brilliant Way Snapchat Could Rake In Big Ad Dollars And Transform E-Commerce

Google Going High End

Image via CrunchBase

That used to be Apple's territory. Past tense.



The Chromebook Pixel, for what’s next

1500 dollars for a laptop.

I think this is a hint at at the X phone. There is going to be a wow factor to it. It is going to bend, for one.

Why Google Made Its Own High-End Laptop, the Chromebook Pixel

the Chromebook Pixel, a laptop that it designed and built itself ..... Unlike prior Chromebooks, whose main draw was their value, this one is built to compete with the top end of the market...... The three biggest appeals of the Pixel will likely be its touchscreen and high-density display, its elegant design, and the fact that it’s a Web-based device. .... The focus on detail and design is unheard of for a Google product. Where the company had tiptoed into hardware before, it’s striding in wholeheartedly now. .... The smooth device’s hinge gives “the feeling of a luxury car door opening and closing” .... The touchpad is made of glass, and has been tuned with a laser to have a maximally grippy surface. There are three microphones, with an additional one set below the keyboard so typing noises can be canceled out. ..... “tuning the force function of the mechanical keys to be more responsive.” ...... the Pixel is similar to Google’s Nexus device line ..... Google isn’t even naming the Taiwan-based OEM it is working with for the Pixel. ..... this is very much a first-generation device. Some of the Pixel’s hardware capabilities — like the third microphone, and gestures on the touchscreen — aren’t even supported by Google’s own services yet. .... The Pixel brings Google back to the perpetual question of why Google is building two operating systems, Chrome and Android, that are converging on each other. ..... once you build a touchscreen laptop, the lines blur

This is Google beating everyone on hardware. That also used to be Apple territory. Past tense.

Great design, used to be Apple territory.

But this still is not the hardware for NUI, the fast impending Natural User Interface, the next big paradigm shift after touch.

Related articles

• High-End Touchscreen Chromebook Launched by Google
• Why Google Made Its Own High-End Laptop, the Chromebook Pixel
• Google Chromebook Pixel Laptop: a $1,300 Web Browser!
• Google's Chromebook Pixel touchscreen laptop 'not for everyone'
• Google Enters High-End Laptop Market With Chromebook Pixel
• Google announces Chromebook Pixel
• Google lifts the lid on its first touchscreen laptop
• Google's Chromebook Pixel Hits The Market
• Google's Chomebook Pixel: The Chromebook Goes High-End
• Google Unveils Touch-Enabled Screens for Chromebook Computers - Bloomberg

What After Mobile?

Image via CrunchBase

Fred Wilson: Putting 2012 To Bed

My venture investing career has three phases all roughly 6-8 years long. The first, at Euclid, was software to internet. The second, at Flatiron was internet to bubble. And the third, at USV, has been web 2 to mobile. I have always used a new firm to denote a new investment phase for me. Throw away the old. Start with the new.

One way to look at mobile is that it is the touch interface, successor to the GUI, Graphical User Interface. When you come from that angle, the question what after mobile has an easy answer.

Natural User Interface, NUI, with all its software and hardware implications.

Related articles

• The next demarcation year: Putting 2012 to bed, by @FredWilson
• Platform Agnostic Is The Way To Go
• FRED WILSON: 2012 Was A 'Sh***y Year For Me'
• Sad VC: Fred Wilson waves "shitty 2012″ goodbye, hints at "new phase" for startups
• Putting 2012 To Bed
• FRED WILSON: 2012 Was A 'Sh***y Year For Me'
• Responsive web design
• Mobile UI and Usability Guide
• Putting 2012 To Bed
• imabonehead: Go mobile | Ubuntu App Developer