IK Multimedia brings spatial gesture controls to iOS with 'iRing'

IK Multimedia brings spatial gesture controls to iOS with 'iRing' (via AppleInsider).

It is using front-facing camera and special "ring" with easy to detect pictogram.
Far from groundbreaking but smart.

New 'Sensus' case adds pressure-sensitive touchpads to Apple's iPhone

AppleInsider reports that New 'Sensus' case adds pressure-sensitive touchpads to Apple's iPhone.

"The Sensus case uses a proprietary new touch detecton system that parent company Canopy calls Variable Pressure Technology. Canopy's technology differs from traditional capacitive and resistive touch sensors, the company says, because it combines both touch detection and force detection into a single, rubber-like surface. "

OnTheGo raises $700k seed round to work on gestures for smart glasses

TechCruch reports:

OnTheGo Platforms believes the current smart glasses experience on devices like Google Glass is fundamentally broken. Users shouldn’t have to use a touchpad to interact with the device. Instead, OnTheGo’s vision, as it’s CEO Ryan Fink explained today, is to use the glasses’ front-facing camera to recognize gestures so people can “interact naturally with smart glasses.”

Introducing OnTheGo Platforms from OnTheGo Platforms on Vimeo.

The video from the article shows some nice demos using Google Glass. While using camera for gesture recognition is not a new idea, usually the camera us facing the user. The camera embedded in the glass gives a different perspective and allows to introduce a whole different set of gestures.

Apple patents accurate touch and hover panel, embedded heart rate monitor

Appleisider, our reliable Apple watchdog reports that Apple patents accurate touch and hover panel, embedded heart rate monitor.

The hovering part is described as:

A number of modern computing devices, like Apple's iPhone and iPad, incorporate touch-sensitive panels that enhance and define the user experience by affording unprecedented GUI manipulation and control. Some systems also incorporate what is known as "hover" controls, which allow users to interface with a device without actually touching it. 
Using specialized internal components, these touch sensitive devices can recognize an object hovering above a display panel, like a user's finger or stylus. Once a hover event has been detected, the device may process it as a touch event, handling subsequent actions according to the general rules of traditional touch input. For example, if a hover event occurs over a specific app, that app may be opened.

This capability is not new. Modern mobile phones equipped with proximity-sensitive touch screens include Samsung Galaxy S4 and Sony Xperia. Sony calls this feature “Floating Touch” while Samsung calls it “AirView.” This patent shows that Apple is considering incorporating this feature into their devices.

A team of researches from CMU which I was part of recently submitted a paper on a system implementing passive user authentication using proximity information. I will add the link to the paper to this post once it is published.

Augmented Reality For Glass » Gesture Interaction with Glass

Folks from Hit Lab NZ in New Zeland started to experiment with using Google Glass for gesture recognition. From brief description in Augmented Reality For Glass » Gesture Interaction with Glass I understand they execute Computer Vision algorithms on PC and using Glass as a camera and display.

This is consistent with slow frame rates I've seen when running simple OpenCV demos on the glass. However this is still very exiting and important as a prototype exploring new gesture interaction scenarios using this novel device.

Apple patents tech for making curved touch surfaces, displays

Apple patents tech for making curved touch surfaces, displays:

"The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday awarded Apple a patent that describes a method for efficiently manufacturing curved touch surfaces, suggesting the company may be experimenting with curved iOS device displays."

Apple, PrimeSense And Perceptive Computing Or: Why Your Phone Will See In 3D | TechCrunch

Apple, PrimeSense And Perceptive Computing Or: Why Your Phone Will See In 3D | TechCrunch:

Quote:

"To enable something called ‘intent-based computing'. Through a combination of voice, facial recognition, gesture recognition and awareness of signals like depth and 3D space, perceptive computing will allow us to interact with computers in a way"