Hands free selfies. HANDS FREE SELFIES. Can we, just for a moment, have a little think about these words. Imagine, if you will, the moment that this ingenious idea was thought up.

“I love taking photos of myself to showcase my incredible dress sense and array of fun and quirky accessories, and share them with literally TENS of people who care. But if only, IF ONLY, my arm wasn’t poking out the side of the shot. I just can’t get the camera far away enough to truly represent my wicked good style in its entirety. If only there was an app I could download that I could simply gesture at up to 22 feet away to take my photo for me. IF ONLY.”

And so, an idea was born. This, my friends, is the future.

Never again will you have to self-consciously hashtag a photo of yourself on Instagram with “#shamelessselfie” so that you’ve made the joke before anyone else can. With this incredible app, you can pretend someone elsetook that photo of you that just happens to highlight your perfect cupid’s bow and DAMN FINE MAKE UP GAME, babygurl.

Marci wrote some more about how it all works over on xoVain – in short, go and download it because it’s a gamechanger.

It’s safe to say that the handsfree selfies app (actually called CamMe) is going to improve my life significantly — I’m not even being hyperbolic. The amount of SnapChats I’ll now be able to send of me holding my top up and flashing my tits at people is going to rocket. Do you know how hard it is to try and selfie a good tit flash? Almost impossible.

I’d have to say that the app is probably in my Top 5 favourite new inventions of recent years, alongside McDonald’s Caramel Frappes and “Man V Food.”

http://www.xojane.com/tech/hands-free-selfies-and-other-inventions-that-would-improve-my-life

I’ve never loved selfies. Sure, I take them now and then, and I know my best selfie angle (from slightly above, chin tilted a little down), but I’m always annoyed by the shoulder or–worse–entire upper arm that looks disproportionately large because the hand attached to it is holding the iPhone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMsrPokGqVE

“Gesture is not a gimmick. It’s an input mechanism,” PointGrab’s VP of marketing and product, Assaf Gad, told TechHive. “And the best solution will be the one that is unified.” Gesture control is nothing new, but it’s something that no one has been able to get right—yet. Remember the excitement around Nintendo Wii or even the controller-less Kinect? How many Xboxers use the Kinect to navigate the system today?

Microsoft recently unveiled the new Xbox One with an updated Kinect that the company hopes users will adapt beyond their gaming console and compete with PC gesture interfaces like Leap Motion. PointGrab differentiates itself from those interfaces in that it’s purely software-based, so it works with the camera already in your device. Any device that comes with a camera (or can be attached to a camera) can become your virtual marionette.

The software underneath PointGrab’s hood registers individual body movements—right down to the orientation of individual fingers—and translates them as command prompts. For example, placing a finger over pursed lips (the universal signal forshhhhh) can prompt a device to mute, and swiping through the air can register the same as swiping a touchscreen. It can even register the distance and depth of your motions through 3D space.

PointGrab’s camera-based technology has already been utilized by Samsung in their latest generation of smart TVs and in laptops by Acer and Fujitsu. However, the company sees the biggest opportunities in the mobile field. Gad told us that the software can register individual hand motions on an iPhone 5’s front camera up to 22 feet away, and slightly farther on the beefier back camera—farther than either Leap Motion or Kinect.

The company is hoping the tech will be embraced by developers and find its way into apps across the smartphone spectrum. While the company has little interest in creating apps themselves, they did release the selfie-aide app CamMe for free on iOS as a proof-of-concept. CamMe allows users to de-forearm their self portraits by controling their phone’s camera from afar using only hand gestures. The app has been downloaded more than 200,000 times in three months.

The bigger picture

Touchscreens didn’t make the keyboard or touchpad obsolete. Rather, they complimented them. Likewise, as gesture control develops, it won’t replace touchscreens either. “The complete solution will be a combination of touchscreens with touch and also voice control,” said Gad. For example, a gesture UI might register that hand is approaching the screen and pop up a hidden control menu or make certain buttons bigger.

Gad was quick to show off how the new generation of Intel Snapdragon processors will allow gadgets to read hand gestures caught on a back camera and process them for information on the front screen, adding a new dimension to augmented reality. The next generation of technology will feature various UIs working in concert to provide new dimensions of control.

Before Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007, there were already touchscreen UIs aimed at consumers (going as far back as far as the early 1980s), but it took the right mix of hardware and software to make the technology viable for the masses. In the five-plus years since the iPhone exploded the way we interface with the digital world, manufacturers have attempted various takes at alternative touch-free UIs, but they have yet to take off with mass adaptation.

PointGrab is not a flawless interface, but it shows as much promise as sensor-based solutions like Kinect. And if the technology can become more popular with app developers, it will unleash a lot of new ideas and help the industry think further outside the box—literally.

http://www.techhive.com/article/2041675/it-s-polite-to-point-the-coming-of-ubiquitous-gesture-control.html

On Tuesday, the chip maker launched the Intel Capital Experiences and Perceptual Computing Fund, which will use $100 with a focus on technology, over the next two or three years.

Gesture Technology already available

The experts are of the opinion that there are already such technologies available. PointGrab, an Israeli developer, showcased a technology that uses the webcam inbuilt in notebooks to recognize gestures. Assaf Gad, the vice president of marketing and product, told that theWindows 8.1 will have the ability to recognize new gestures, such as hands-free volume controls. “Air drawing” will also be supported by the new version, he added.

Samsung TV’s and PC’s sold by Acer and Fujitsu already use the PointGrab’s technology. Also, a hands-free app for iPhones is also available.

http://www.valuewalk.com/2013/06/devices-with-intel-corporation-intcs-kinect-possible-by-2014/

The smartphone self portrait — the selfie — is a part of today’s modern world, whether you are using it for a social-media profile picture, want to show your friends yourself in an interesting location or having a particularly good time, or are simply experiencing a vain moment without a friend nearby to snap a shot of you.

Most selfies require you to hold out your phone as far as you can reach to snap the shot. If you’d like to lose the outstretched arm and snap your selfies with an iPhone, I encourage you to try out the free, universal CamMe app.

PointGrab takes a software approach

PointGrab is a leading provider of advanced hand gesture recognition software using a standard 2D camera. PointGrab’s user-friendly solutions include next generation technology for hand gesture recognition; enabling TVs, PCs, Smartphones, Tablets, All-in-One devices and more to be operated by a Natural User Interface (NUI) using hand gestures only. Their approach allows implementation of gesture controls in legacy devices without the need for advance hardware such as 3D cameras.

In an exclusive interview with Assaf Gad, PointGrab’s Vice President of Marketing and Product, he indicated their focus in embedding the software in TVs as well as smartphones, tablets, and computers. According to Gad, PointGrab’s software has already been shipping in 20 million devices. In a demo with Windows 8, an Ipad, and an iPhone, Gad was able to navigate various applications, games, and camera functions using simple hand gestures. Follow me on Facebook and check back later to read more about PointGrab’s implementation including video demos.

http://www.examiner.com/article/perceptual-computing-starting-to-become-reality

PointGrab’s technology is built into newer Samsung TVs, and PCs sold by Acer and Fujitsu. A hands-free app using the iPhone’s camera is also available. Gad said that there were no technical limitations to supplying its technology as a free, downloadable app; however, its business model calls for the company to license its technology to PC makers, he said.

So are hands-free gestures actually useful for anything, in an environment where some consider touch to be superfluous? Gad went back to the hands-free navigation through presentation software. “I don’t think we are a replacement for anything,” he said. “We think we are an extension” of existing ways of interacting with the PC.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2040835/notebooks-with-intels-version-of-kinect-due-in-late-2014.html

We’re obsessed with ourselves more than ever — or at least we’re taking more self-portraits than at any point in human history — so what could be better than a free app like CamME? It allows you to take cellphone photos of yourself — hands-free, from a distance, using simple hand signals that tell the camera to activate a timer and fire off a photo. Finally, we’ve eliminated the need to interact with other people to get the perfect Facebook profile pic.

http://www.inlander.com/spokane/article-19363-for-your-considerati.html