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How would you feel about putting your keyboard and mouse in a drawer and using only your hands to control your computer?
Minority Report-style gestures for computers may seem like a way off to some, but in fact that sort of thing is around right now. A pretty cool new accessory called The Leap aims to introduce gesture controls to the PC and Mac user, and it looks pretty awesome.
Created by Leap Motion, The Leap is around the size of a pack of cards and has a distinctly Apple-esque look to it. It replaces the need for a keyboard and mouse in almost every application, allowing you to control movement, draw and type using your hand.
The Leap connects to your Mac or PC – be it laptop or desktop – via USB. It creates a 3D interaction space of 8 cubic feet around it in which it will recognise your hands and the ways in which you move them, allowing you to move the cursor, swipe through web pages and even control your character in games.
The accuracy of The Leap is very fine, being able to detect your individual fingers and track movements down to 1/100th of a millimeter, which seems crazy. Its manufacturer claims that the product is 200 times more accurate than anything else on the market, which includes Microsoft’s Kinect accessory for the Xbox 360.
With support for Windows – including Windows 8 native touch emulation – and Mac, with Linux support on the way, The Leap is well suited to almost any PC user.
With 4 years of development in the bag, The Leap is now finally available to buy for a very reasonable $69.99 at leapmotion.com. You’ll have to act quickly though, as we’re told the first batch is very limited. In the meantime, take a look at what it can do in the video below.
Let us know your thoughts on our comments below or via our @Gadget_Helpline Twitter page or Official Facebook group.
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