[arrogant]

http://kotaku.com/#!5541044/looksleys-line-up-micro+review-b...

Looks like it did come out in the US, although from the review it looks like we might not have heard about it because the effect just didn't work well enough.

Maybe this implementation will deliver? It looks fairly promising, and the effect looks like it might be more pronounced on the (compared to the DSi) large screen of the iPad. Of course, I'd like to pass judgement on it personally, so here's hoping for a demo we can hold in our hands soon.

[kenjackson]

This seems like a big deal even if it didn't work in the previous attempts. In part because I feel like it eventually will work.

I'm excited and impressed by it. Although I do get a little disappointment that I didn't think of it. What the heck is my brain doing in my free time?!

[jodrellblank]

What the heck is my brain doing in my free time?!

If you're bored... people ask for a touch sensitive rear surface - how about using the rear camera for gesture control?

Wave your finger in front of it to scroll, that kind of thing.

Also, some acoustic gesture recognition would be good to pick up one/two/three fingernail taps on the back.

[kenjackson]

Apple's already patented it. I don't want to get sued into oblivion. :-)

http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/iphone-control-through-c...

[jodrellblank]

That's annoying, but it only seems to cover tap detection by accelerometer where I was thinking of tap detection by audio click, which definitely seems plausible from a quick test of the sound recorder.

Also it only covers finger swipe detection/direction determining, where I was also imagining gestures from holding fingers a few centimeters away, such as scissoring two fingers, thumb/finger flick, two finger scroll movement, two fingertips touching, etc. A quick test with the iPhone camera suggests that might have to be too carefully positioned to be practical, but should be possible at some level.

[jurjenh]

I'm excited and impressed by it mainly because I did think of it and started implementing it, thinking to develop it as a desktop interface, or possibly a cad program interface. Lots of linear algebra involved...

However, I stopped mainly because at the time (about 3-4 years ago) my webcam and opencv introduced a delay that was unacceptable and caused visual jarring in a small application (I think I was using a window of 320x240 or so).

I've also seen a demo done in flash by MrDoob of Three.js fame (IIRC), so it's been done by several people. I haven't really seen a useful implementation yet, so this is getting more interesting with these smaller, higher spec integrated devices...