LONDON: The computer technology shown in science fiction like ‘Minority Report’ and James Bond flicks are drawing closer to reality, with a Los Angeles-based company designing a system that can consign the mouse to history. John Underkoffler, chief scientist at Oblong Industries that has created the technology, says that the new technology called G-Speak may fundamentally change the way we interact with computers. He says that rather than having to use one hand to control a mouse, a user can communicate with a PC intuitively by “slipping on special gloves” and “using both hands”. “Human hands are the most sophisticated manipulating tools in the world,” Times Online quoted him as saying. “The idea is to drop the mouse and let hands do what they’re fully capable of. That is to describe and push, poke and pull and manipulate the world,” he added. G-Speak allows selection of objects on screen through pointing. When the user brings his hands closer to his body, the object seems to have come closer and appears larger. Pushing the hands to one side moves the object to a different screen. Underkoffler reveals that things on screen are interacted with as if they were real.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...
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