Pinch My Mac

The other day I opened my Macbook Pro and noticed a bunch of fingerprints on the screen.  I turned to my wife and asked if she knew why I have fingerprints on my computer screen.  She was surprised and immediately grabbed some wipes (she hates smudges more than I do).  I went about my work and didn't think about it again - until yesterday.  Each week we do a family dinner with the kids, their significant others and my in-laws.  After dinner yesterday, I notice that my father-in-law is doing some web surfing on the Macbook Pro.  He gets to a web site with some pictures of cars (he's a big car guy) and then he does something I found strange.  He starts "pinching" the screen on the Macbook.  I asked him why he was doing that and he told me he's trying to make the picture bigger like he does on his iPhone.  Ahhhh-- now I know where those fingerprints came from!

What I learned from this experience is tablets and smartphones have changed the way we interact with technology.  My 71 year-old father-in-law found it intuitive to pinch a picture on a screen to change the size.  This method worked on his iPhone so it should work on a computer too.  Right?  

The New Media Consortium (NMC) published their 2012 New Horizon Report back in February.  You can find a copy on the NMC Wiki.  The report discusses gesture-based technology (like pinching a screen) and how it's enabling students to learn by doing.  What a great concept!  One of the cool technologies talked about in the report:

Zero Touch
go.nmc.org/xpsge
Researchers at Texas A&M University have developed a multi-touch system from infrared sensors that allows precision free-air interaction. Users reach into a frame lined with sensors, and can use their hands, elbows, arms, head, or any object, such as a pen, to create compositions on their computer screens. 

Here's a picture of a young girl using the Zero Touch (from the Interface Ecology Facebook page).

I think gesture-based technology has already changed the way we interact with computers and the days of mice and keyboards may be numbered!

Forces:
Technological - advances in touch screen technology are changing the way we interact with computers.  The iPad and iPhone in particular have made swiping and pinching of screens a common practice.

Global - smart phones, tablets and other devices that use touch screens are used across the globe.  The days of localized keyboards may be numbered.

Purpose of this Blog

Hello Blogosphere!  This is my first attempt at blogging so please be kind as I learn the dos and don'ts of this medium.

The purpose of this blog is to explore the future -  aka futuring.  More specifically, this blog will explore futuring as it relates to Information Technology. I am a geek after all.  There may be some discussion of futuring as it relates to motorcycles as that's my other passion.

Interestingly (at least to me), my new motorcycle is a 2012 Victory Vision.  I love it when these strange coincidences happen!