We’ve all tried to use the force. We
mostly just looked silly, but soon new technology will let us all feel like
Jedi (at least where controlling the TV is concerned.) Ok, admittedly, this is
less exciting than choking incompetent underlings or convincing cops that “these
are not the joints you’re looking for.” It’s still pretty sweet. If you don’t
believe me, imagine this:
You’re loaded down with your favorite snacks, and a
delicious beverage (and if you’re me, probably a plethora of electronic devices
because I have no attention span). You flop into the recliner. You swivel to
attain the optimum viewing angle (in my case this involves securing the
recliner with a bungee cord because mine is poorly balanced). You stretch, slide,
and shift into the perfect position. You are now ready for some quality TV
viewing, but alas, the remote is just out of reach. You try to use the force,
but the remote just keeps sitting there (presumably mocking you). You’ll have
to get up, surrendering your comfortable position (perhaps even risking forfeiture
of the much coveted recliner, depending upon your house rules concerning seat
reservation.)
Okay, fine. It’s a minor inconvenience,
but protecting us from minor inconveniences is what consumer technology is all
about. This year, the focus for TV’s seems to have been remote-free options for
changing channels, etc. One option uses a video interface (not unlike Xbox
Kinect) to respond to hand gestures. While you may not be able to stretch out
your hand, clear your mind, and bring the remote to your hand, you’ll be able
to make gestures at your television to change channels, increase the volume and
crush the throats of reality TV stars (Ok, none of the manufacturers have perfected
that last feature yet).
The other common option (likely to
be used in conjunction with the other) is voice command. That sort of technology
has been around for a while. It’s steadily improving, but so far it’s almost
always a disappointment. My laptop came with a voice control interface, but it’s
only effective when my face is closer to the mic than it would be if I was
typing. The other downside is that for voice recognition to work, you need to
be in a room free of background noise. A friend of mine frequently tries to use
the voice-to-text function on his phone in crowded bars while drunk. The texts
are always amusing, but never make any sense. To get the best out of any sort
of voice recognition thing, you need quiet. You’d definitely want to turn off
the TV before . . . oh, yeah. I see the problem here.
In all fairness, they might have
solutions to that problem (it might be able to recognize and ignore the sound
it’s producing or something). It also allows for effective control from a wider
area (you don’t have to sit directly in front of the camera). More importantly,
it gives me a great excuse to shout at inanimate objects, which I thoroughly
enjoy (and it’s much more satisfying when the object does as it’s told). Voice
command has the potential to be nearly as effective as my plan to keep a
trained Ewok in my entertainment center and just yell at it to control my TV
(added advantage: it could also change DVDs/games, and fetch snacks).
The final option is even more
impressive. It’ll make reaching out toward the TV in serene, Jedi-like concentration
seem old-fashioned. This new technology will allow you to control your TV
without lifting a finger; literally. Don’t get too excited, it’s not a direct
brain-computer interface, which would be insanely awesome (Think BrainPal from Old Man’s War by John Scalzi). It’s
actually a sensor that tracks eye movement. These sensors, once calibrated to
the user, can tell when you look down and open a menu, much like when you move
your curser to the bottom of the computer screen to make the start menu appear.
You click by blinking.
While all these technologies may
seem insignificant when the only problem they solve is saving me from having to
get off my ass to find the remote, they have the potential to do amazing things
in other areas. Video control interfaces have been used in operating rooms so
that surgeons can scroll through medical data without touching anything. The
ocular sensor technology has been used to help quadriplegics use computers, but
apparently the company (Tobii) realized that there are far more lazy people
than quadriplegics. And that’s really why we’re seeing new technologies used
for something as trivial as controlling the TV. It’s a good way to test the
technology, while making enough money to continue developing it. With any luck,
the next version will offer the option to choke inept underlings (or at least
the voice recognition might work properly).
