Category: Gizmos N' Gadgets

No, I’m not talking about Bruce Willis or Haley Osment in that 1999 flick with that awesome twist at the end (Yeah, I loved it). I’m talking about the brainchild of Pranav Mistry, Dr. Pattie Maes, and Liyan Chang in the Fluid Interfaces Group over at the MIT Media Lab. Just so you can be on the same page as me, here’s the video I saw back in March.

Cool, right? Now, let’s go over that again. The SixthSense prototype is comprised of a pocket projector, a mirror,  a camera, and a mobile computing device placed in the wearer’s pocket (Still needs an iPod or at the very least a Pandora app. if you ask me) all for $350. That seems like a bargain, right? Think again. Although retail price will most likely go down when its finally put into production, carriers will inflate the price right back up to something in the ball park of $600/year ($50/month) for a data plan. However, that’s only if SixthSense chooses to keep the phone. If they don’t, then this device is just going to be a thousand times cooler than the iTouch.



Nonetheless, being able to use any surface and have the camera track any hand gesture I make and understand it is pretty remarkable. Draw an “@” symbol, have my email pop up. Frame my hands like a gestural camera, “CLICK!”, picture taken. Trace a circle on my wrist, 5:15PM. Here’s another video which takes you on a “day-in-the-life” with SixthSense.

But there are some features that seem absolutely incredible but I just don’t think they’ll happen. For example, the newspaper. No newspaper is going to free up that much space to make a projection screen for videos. They hold their column-width very dearly. If you’ve ever placed an Ad in one, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Plus in this recession, newspapers have been hurt pretty badly. Who knows where the whole industry is heading. All I know is that I’d much rather have my SixthSense project my reader with all my favorite RSS feeds and show me relevant videos to those topics!



Another feature is the projection of information about people on the people themselves! Frankly, that’s just rude. At least allow me to sneakily take a picture and then ask about them later. I mean, imagine if I ever came across the kid from “Greatest Freak Out Ever” (If you haven’t seen the video, YouTube it yourself. I refuse to further his humiliation by sharing the video.) I wouldn’t want that video to just pop up and start playing! Utterly embarrassing.



In the end, it’s a great idea and a great product. If this actually makes it into production within the next 5-7 years, it will most definitely revolutionize the way we interact with our surroundings. That said, byte it iTouch.



If you decide you want to know more about SixthSense and the team (Pranav, Pattie, and Liyan) then here are a few links to explore.
SixthSense Project
Pranav Mistry’s Website
Dr. Pattie Mae’s MIT Bio
Liyan Chang’s Website