Waterproof, Wireless and        Wearable: The Nod Bluetooth    Gesture-Control Ring

As I walked out of the movie Ironman back in 2008, I was convinced that in the near future we would not be interacting with technology by making hand gestures or using our brainwaves. It was just not possible. Turns out I was wrong (about the hand gestures part at least !

But here we are, its 2014 and we’re now seeing hand-gesture devices popping up all over the place, from it being used to interact with games to helping us burn fat and look awesome, hand-gesture gadgets and gizmos have become the new cool way of interacting with technology.

As technology and the internet mature, developers are finding new ways to up the ante when it comes to providing cutting edge solutions to the masses. One such gizmo according to the latest information technology news is the Nod Bluetooth gesture-controlled ring.

What is it?

If rings are your thing, then the Nod is probably what you’ve always been looking for. What if I told you that you could now control your Smartphone, Tablet, Mac and Windows PC and even your thermostat (we’re talking about the hi-tech thermostats here!) by flicking, pointing or tapping the air with your fingers. Yes, your heard me right! The Nod Bluetooth Gesture-Controlled ring allows users to interact with their tech from up to thirty feet.

This slick little Wi-Fi-enabled ring slips on your finger and according to the latest information technology news ,has all the bells and whistles, one could possibly hope for. The Nod Bluetooth Gesture-controlled ring comes fully loaded with sensors, like the gyroscope, thermometer, a nine-axis accelerometer, compass and even capacitive touch. And that’s not all; its open platform is programmed to control a laundry list of devices, from smart light bulbs to cameras, Google Glass and even TVs. The following are some of the benefits of using the Nod.

Handling the Keyboard

We all know how annoying it is to wrestle with the TV remote control in order to navigate the onscreen keyboard. Keeping that annoying thought in mind, the developers of Nod decided to hook it in to the standard touch interface of the TV allowing the user to search for their favorite shows with is simple swipe instead of having to use the D-pad on the remote. Using simple gestures with the ring, users can type the names of their favorite TV shows, movies, news channels or sporting events in order to search for the shows, truly bringing the world to your fingertips.

Nod Makes Things More Interesting

Since the ring is ultimately an input device, apart from using it to control smart appliances throughout your home, it can also be used to control everything from swiping through PDF documents on your tablet to controlling presentation slides at the office. You can even use it to adjust the brightness of the smart light bulbs around your home or to open or close the garage door. Right now there’s nothing stopping the possibilities of using this new and interesting gestural technology.

Since the past couple of years have seen many TV manufacturers introducing TVs which have either voice or facial recognition technology, or both, which have gotten a somewhat lukewarm response from consumers, it will be interesting to see how this new technology is able to captivate an audience whose constantly seeking more control over the technology they use.

      MobileLife: Bringing Gesture    

   Control to Your Android Phone 

  Without Paying a Premium

If 2012 was all about Android phones trying to outdo each other with higher specifications and bigger screen sizes and camera megapixel, the trend so far in 2013 is that smartphone makers are trying to pack in that extra software feature as they try to distinguish themselves in what is already an overcrowded market. Bloatware, some of us call it.

Most of the phones launched this year have tried to highlight gesture based software enhancements. There is the Samsung Galaxy S4 which among other things pauses a video when you look away, the Moto X that is always listening to you and can launch the camera app in an instant and the Micromax Canvas 4 which has a feature which lets you blow to unlock the phone. Lava introduced the Lava Iris 504q which it touted has the first Indian gesture based phone.

While these phone makers will have you thinking that these are unique features, there are a number of third-party apps which bring the same functionality to most Android phones. We take a look at a few of them which will have you waving and using gestures to control your smartphone.

Note: Some of these apps may require a certain minimum hardware requirement and so check compatibility before you download the app. Also you may not be able to load multiple apps together since most use the same gestures.

Wave your hands to answer a call or unlock your phone

If you’re driving or your hands are dirty from eating some delicious, trying to answer a call is probably not the best idea. Air Call Accept allows you to easily answer or reject a phone call by just waving your hand over the screen. You can also answer a call by just placing it next to your ear.

Magic Unlock is an app which allows you to unlock your screen by hovering your hands above it so that you can easily check if you have received any notifications etc.

Air Swiper

Air Swiper is one of the most feature rich apps in this set. This application allows you to work more effectively and faster with your phone. It has a number of features including unlocking and locking the device, controlling SMSes and sound controls. You can also turn Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on or off with simple motions.

Hovering Controls

This app allows you to do a whole lot without touching the screen. Hovering Controls costs $1.34 and and you can set it up to launch predetermined apps by hovering over the sensor, swiping once, or swiping twice. Some of the things you can do with this app include silencing an alarm, controlling media playback like videos or photos with just gestures. The app has two modes. The Target mode which opens a pre-determined app with a set gesture and the carousel mode, which allows you to select from a set list of apps.

Open an app with just a flick of your wrist

Twisty Launcher makes opening any app fun. All you need to do is hold your phone in your hand and flick to the left twice to open a pre-determined app. You can use this app to quickly launch the camera so you don’t miss a beautiful moment or to quickly open up the call app. The app looks for the motion in the background so you can perform the gesture from inside any app. The app allows you to configure three apps for three different gestures. This app definitely looks like it was inspired by the camera opening motion of the Moto X.

Scribble to open any app

Google Gesture Search is an app that has been around for some time and even though it requires you to actually touch the screen it is a really useful app. The app allows users to quickly access contacts, applications, settings, music and bookmarks on your Android device by just drawing letters or numbers on the screen. The app is self learning and becomes more useful the more you use it.

Trigger Limited

This app is a highly personalized Gesture Launcher. The free ad-supported version of Trigger Limited allows up to a maximum of six gestures which can be customized. A trigger icon remains on top of every app which opens a gesture field for you to draw pre-created gestures which will open the respective app. Pulling the Trigger in a particular directions will activate a pre-set action.

Always present app drawer

This is a side launcher that is always present so that you can easily open any app and easily helps you to save time. The side launcher was a key feature when the original Samsung Galaxy Note launched. Using Swapps a user will have a full app drawer which can be swiped out at any time and then a user can easily switch to another app. A great part about this app is that it allows you to customize the swipe area.

Blow to Unlock

If you thought this feature was reserved for just the Canvas 4, you are highly mistaken. The very same app is present in the Play Store has miUnlock. The app allows you to unlock the phone by blowing on the screen. It also allows you to unlock the phone by shaking it. While this app is great for fun and to show off it does not really serve any security purpose.

I am sure you going to be trying out these cool apps. Which one appeals to you the most and why? Do leave a quick review in the comments. Do you know of more such apps? Do share with me.

8 Gesture Icon Sets for Designing Multi-touch interfaces

  8 Gesture Icon Sets for 

Designing Multi-Touch Interface

Common web application icons are everywhere in the internet. Since multi-touch device / mobile application development are getting popular, the general icons cannot fulfill all your needs such as design a professional tour guide for your mobile apps.

Gesture icons are created to aid in the design, development, implementation and promotion of multi-touch interfaces. It is based on common touchscreen interactions such as Tap, Double Tap, Drag, Slide, Hold/Pres, Swipe, Rotate, Press and Drag, Pinch, Spread.

Using Gesture icons is a wise way to guide your users through your applications. With the help of a nice set of gesture icons, you can design a professional tour guide for your applications easily. However, it is difficult to look for a high quality set of gesture icons on the internet. To save your time, The Design Inspiration has collected 8 sets of wonderful gesture icons around the internet.

Touch Gesture Icons

Touch Gesture Icons includes 30 most popular gesture icons for multi-touch devices. This icon set contains five different sizes such as 48px, 64px, 128px, 256px and 512px in PSD and EPS vector files. You can use the royalty-free icons for any personal, commercial projects.

Gesture Reference Guide

The Touch Gesture Reference Guide is a unique set of resources for software designers and developers working on touch-based user interfaces.

Gesturecons

Vector based icons created to aid in the design, development, implementation and promotion of multi-touch interfaces.

IxD Gestures

Download this set of gesture icons for interaction design. It includes icons for touchscreen interaction, free gestures and mobile phone gestures.

Cue

Cue is intended to be a foundational set of icons to build a standard visual language of touch-based interactions. Each gesture is distilled to its core action to exhibit a more figurative, iconic aesthetic.

Open Source Gesture Library

GestureWorks® comes complete with an Open Source Gesture Library that includes definitions for scores of pre-built gestures and possibilities for virtually any number of gestures. The number of pre-built gestures and the extensible GestureML make it easy to “future proof” your application.

Multi-Touch Gesture Icons

A set of gesture icons designed for training page. Each file is 300x350px at 150dpi. You will also see that there’s a second solid colour set too, again totally free.

Gesturcons

An icon language to describe natural user interface gestures.