When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend
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Firm puts electronic eyes in 3D gaming
A COMPANY CALLED Prime Sense has wrapped up its second round of funding, bagging a whopping $20.4 million from the American venture capitalist firm, Canaan Partners.
The cash is a huge boost to the firm which had already managed to raise $9 million from Gemini and Genesis partners in its first round of funding.
Prime Sense's technology has created a device that lets computers see the world around them in three dimensions, deriving spatial understanding of their surroundings in the same way as humans do with their eyes.
The device has a tiny optical sensor, which it uses to see the person using it (in the context of his/her surroundings) and also possesses a digital component which acts as its "brain", which can learn from, as well as understand, the various actions of those using it.
Prime Sense's little interactive device can see, track and react to a person’s movements without them having to don any sort of wearable equipment or having to clutch clunky remote controls. The device is also platform independent and plug-and play. Seeing it in use, the device looks something akin to the technology used by Tom Cruise in Minority report, but the company says that the main use for the sensors will be in the consumer electronic sector, especially in gaming, and in the control of home digital devices like dvd players, air-conditioners, computers, stereos etc, using hand gestures and not remote controls.
The Israeli company has also hinted that it would market its sensor to the automotive industry as well as to firms dealing with security and surveillance.
Aviad Maizels, Prime Sense’s president noted that the popularity of devices like the Wii and the Iphone had created a new need for products like the Prime Sense sensor, and said “We are the next generation when it comes to these devices because our technology means that a person won’t have to hold anything for his electronics to understand his movements”.
Maizels admits that Prime Sense has competitors in the field, such as 3DV Systems and Canesta, who measure the light reflected from objects in order to gage their relative positions, but notes that “their technology is very expensive”, compared to Prime Sense’s offering. µ
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When it can read lips like Hal 9000 let us know. Sounds like alot of hype. Maybe it will be able to tell if your face is facing the sensor (after ALOT of training input), and maybe not quite so consistantly (which would render it not quite so useful...). How much training will YOU need to 'look just so' so the thing will be able to interpret a well trained facial gesture.
How many different (discernable) gesture would it reliably/99.9% interpret??

Graphics (2D not this 3D they hint) is somewhat harder than sound (VR) interpretation and with the sound you can do things with a mike to cut out extraneous sound input.

[Off-topic semi-rant]
A lot of people think there will come a time where computers suddenly become more intelligent than people. I doubt this is true.

Why? Because, even though technology advances at a breakneck pace, the main reason we improve it is so that we can integrate it into our lives. When implants are invented that can interact with the brain, are we going to voluntarily do what they say? Of course not! We are going to install them and use them to improve our lives, and our intelligence.

Technology isn´t separate from humanity, it IS humanity. It´s just another form of evolution.