Now You Can Control Any Win 8 Kit With Your Eyes

iComp writes "It's all gestures and eyeball-tracking at CES this year, with Tobii releasing a USB peripheral that adds control-by-sight to any Windows PC and Lenovo upgrading its Yoga to finger-watching. Tobii demonstrated its eyeball-tracking technology at CES last year, but this time it is announcing a 5,000 unit production run of a USB bar which can be stuck to the bottom of the monitor of any Windows 8 PC to start tracking eyeballs. Lenovo isn't even waiting that long. Although it is only tracking fingers, it's adding the capability to existing Yoga laptops courtesy of eyeSight Tech."

Really?

[nospam007]

The question is:

Can this tech detect the shifty eyes of Win8 users searching for the Start-Button and display one?

+1

[Anonymous Coward]

indeed.

Re:

[steelfood]

It's just a way to force your eyes to stay open after you inadvertently click on a goatse link.

Re:

[aliquis]

It's just a way to force your eyes to stay open after you inadvertently click on a goatse link.

Look away! Look away!

It's following me!

cross-eyed

[slackware 3.6]

How many people are going to end up cross-eyed from trying the pinch-to-zoom feature?

Re:

[Sulphur]

How do you double click the "mouse."

Re:

[SuricouRaven]

Blinks happen all the time unconsciously, in complex and varied patterns. That makes them unsuitable for input.

Winking, though... that could work.

Re:

[stooo]

>> I can't think of any that wouldn't have some serious issues with them.
You can't drag and drop.

Re:

[alexander_686]

From the article, for this model, you still need a button for your finger – so not at eye blinks yet.

Re:

[virgnarus]

Also, woe to us users who will never be able to open up a context menu!

Awesome

[imikem]

So now when I roll my eyes at the latest insult to my intelligence and workflow, Windows 8 will implement something better? Where do I sign up?

Win8 Clippy, the next generation

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey there!

It looks like you're pissed off at the new interface! Can I:

1) Tell you to use it anyway
2) Not tell you about alternatives
3) Not show you how to install a different window manager
4) Offer you a paid upgrade to Win9

Re:

[Sulphur]

Hey there!

It looks like you're pissed off at the new interface! Can I:

1) Tell you to use it anyway
2) Not tell you about alternatives
3) Not show you how to install a different window manager
4) Offer you a paid upgrade to Win9

I like the sound of WinTen.

Re:Linux ?

[dadelbunts]

Just search the forums for 15 hours to watch some dudes argue with each other about the best way to get it working. Then give up because you can only get it to track one eye.

Re:

[Vanderhoth]

I just started thinking how weird this technology will be when I'm walking around the office and every one is rolling one eye around in their head to move the mouse cursor and twitching/blinking their other eye to control the clicking.

I know that's not how it actually works, but it's kind of funny to think about.

BTW, I have not ever and don't know anyone that's spent 15 hours trying to solve a Linux related issue. I'd normally give up after 2 and come back to it at a later date, I've never had to wait m

Re:

[Beardo the Bearded]

It's a kernel problem. It gives an unexpected answer to the magic knock.

stupid

[slashmydots]

When I move my wired mouse, the cursor moves 100% of the time. If this eye tracking stuff is even 99% accurate, it loses the mouse vs eyes contest and aggrivates the user. Touch, motion, eye-tracking, and all other assorted stupidity are all inferior to the controls we have now and are just fancy, futuristic gimmicks.

Re:stupid

[js3]

When I move my wired mouse, the cursor moves 100% of the time. If this eye tracking stuff is even 99% accurate, it loses the mouse vs eyes contest and aggrivates the user. Touch, motion, eye-tracking, and all other assorted stupidity are all inferior to the controls we have now and are just fancy, futuristic gimmicks.

of course its's stupid. Because everyone has 2 arms!

Re:

[slashmydots]

I can click on like 10 things at a time with my 10 fingers. Of course, by the time all those things register correctly and click and drag timeouts engage, I could have clicked on 10 things with my Razer Abyssus mouse. In fact, I've set a few records in twitch style games. I used to have the 3rd place worldwide high score in Delirium, which requires approx 5 flawless clicks per second for over an hour. I would challenge any input device to beating me in a heads up contest and it'd be a joke.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Tablets are good as appliances, but not so much as general computers. They won't be replacing the need for PCs.

Re:

[mcgrew]

I'm sorry, it's my fault. They must have gotten the idea here. [slashdot.org] a year and a half ago.

"Ok, asshole. Let me read up on it." He held his hand out, and a book appeared in it, seemingly, again, out of thin air, assembling itself out of the microscopic networked robots. Almost everything but food and drink was made out of nobots. A protohuman would have thought it magic, rather than technology. Rority read the book -- which was, of course, nothing like the books we protohumans have. Neither paper nor an electroni

Re:

[The High Druid]

I guess you don't remember the days of dismantling your mouse to clean it every so often because it gunked up and failed to respond. Still happens to me occasionally with optical/laser mice when a bit of dirt covers the sensor or gets on the mat and it doesn't quite behave the way I would expect. Eye tracking may not be there yet, but just like mice the tech will develop and it will have it's uses, especially when pretty much every laptop already comes with a built-in camera, it'll (eventually) be an extra

Re:

[sleigher]

What about the glare on my glasses? Or do I have to wear contacts?

Re:

[Herve5]

Exactly.
By the way, that's also the reason I continue using the arrow keys: when I hit a key, it obeys 100% of the time, and with absolutely precise accuracy, faaar beyond these ridiculous mouses -not to speak of trackpads.

Oh

[drolli]

At first i read: you can control windows by your 8 eyes. But then i realized i am not a spider.

Re:

[antdude]

Good. If you were, then I would ask /. staff to ban you. ;)

What about something useful

[drinkypoo]

I understand pupil tracking to be pretty tough, so I'm not overly excited to try doing it on my own. But a useful HUD seems doable, and pupil tracking is what would really make it useful (aside from voice recognition, which is "good enough" already IMO, though clearly there is room for improvement.) Which peripheral should I be looking at for Linux support? I'm sure as shit not building a CarPC around Win8.

Re:

[hawkingradiation]

Some interesting applications

Random ones aka "Facebreast(tm)"
A computer will flawlessly judge competitors to see who has "looked first".
Monitoring aka "Boss Hog(tm)"
Part of a collection of programs which sends employee behavior to a central office for further review.
A collection of programs to extend human functionality aka "Night Hawk(tm)"
Something like you said. A program which will help drivers keep their eyes on the road when driving or the like. Also when flying in planes, for targeting, but

They used to say...

[Anonymous Coward]

...that Windows Me systems would crash if you looked at them funny.

Now Lenovo has turned that into a reality with Windows 8!

Re:

[vlm]

British-like typing detected.

The eye tracking system must have recognized a british scowl on the submitters face and made some assumptions.

Glare of death

[colinrichardday]

What happens if I give Win 8 the glare of death?

Re:

[Bill, Shooter of Bul]

Or if you show the lenovo a one fingered salute.

Eye fatigue

[Djoulihen]

Seeing as rare eye blinking is one of the major causes of eye fatigue when using a screen, I guess that this device wont' make it any better ...

Help for the disabled

[Big Hairy Ian]

I can see this being tremendously useful for people with paralysis or other disabilities and probably at a 10th the cost of current systems

Re:

[SuricouRaven]

I'd suggest you patent it quickly, but I imagine someone already has. Probably a lot of someones.

Re:

[sconeu]

Tobii has been marketing this to that demographic for years. My wife just got a Tobii C15 with EyeGaze to allow her to talk, even though her ALS won't let her move her hands or speak.

Roommate's PC Already Has Something Like This

[sudon't]

That's interesting. My roommate's Windows computer already seems to click on stuff when I'm not even touching the click bar.

But then,

[roc97007]

I'd have to look at it.

It's not completely perfect, but...

[sconeu]

But for those who are disabled, this technology is a godsend.

Tobii has been making these for a while for the AAC (adaptive and augmentive communication) devices. My wife has ALS, and can no longer speak, and cannot move her hands to use a stock text-to-speech app. This thing allows her to talk with me (albeit slowly), and is amazing.

False input

[gmuslera]

What if a gesture is looking from left to right to the screen and someone appears in your right? With voice commands speaking to someone else (or a background conversation) could have easily unintended consequences, even if you are careful, but for your eyes will be worse.

Hopely with it what has been seen could be unseen... i mean, undone.

Reading an article

[jimbolauski]

If this thing works well the word I am trying to read will be covered up by the cursor.

No, you can't

[Pf0tzenpfritz]

You'll still need your foot to kick it into the dumpster.