“鼠标终结者”问世

    在2002年的科幻片《少数派报告》中，汤姆•克鲁斯仅靠手势即可操作计算机，观众们对此拍手叫绝。这令人神往，可谓窥见了计算机交互技术的未来：摆脱了已有数十年历史的沉闷的鼠标的束缚。从那时起，公众——特别是科技记者——一直在等待现实世界中出现这样的技术。微软（Microsoft）广受欢迎的Kinect控制器已取得长足进步，而定于今年冬季推出，定价70美元的“The Leap”新款外设将更上一层楼。

    Leap Motion公司由迈克尔•巴克瓦尔德和大卫•霍尔茨共同创办，其推出的这款长条状设备通过USB与电脑连接，并发射能识别约一臂之内物体——手臂、手、手指头、钢笔甚至筷子——的红外光。Leap的关键在于它比当前版本的Kinect感应器要精确100倍。Kinect能识别手的动作，而Leap的创造者称该设备能识别最细微的手指颤动，并没有明显延时。如此先进（且价格低廉）的技术具有无限可能，最起码，这意味着快速且超精确的桌面应用导航成为可能。Leap在推出后将与Windows 7、Windows 8以及Mac OS X兼容，能进行基本的系统操作和上网冲浪导航。该公司还将发布一款SDK，对于希望为Leap进行开发的开发者，他们将在遴选之后为其提供Leap感应器。

    巴克瓦尔德和霍尔茨向我大肆炫耀其技术，并让我亲自体验了一把Leap。我们第一个试验品是《水果忍者》（Fruit Ninja），这是一款切割水果的休闲游戏。在传统移动平台上，用户在屏幕上疯狂滑动手指，而各色水果被切成碎屑漫天飞舞，他们对此心满意足。不过如果是Leap，用户可以用一根手指或铅笔、书签之类的东西，将其当做宝剑使劲挥舞。在将感应灵敏度调至最高的情况下，我只需将一个手指头往不同方向挥舞几厘米，就可以完成切割水果动作，手臂其它部分则可以完全不动。屏幕上有一个光标代表我的手指，它移动迅速、反应灵敏而且精度很高，我完全没有感到延时。

    When Tom Cruise swiped and pinched his way through a computer interface in 2002's Minority Report, audience-goers were wowed. Here was a compelling glimpse at the future of the computer interface, one no longer tethered by the dreary, decades-old mouse. Ever since, the public -- especially tech reporters -- has waited for real-world technology to catch up. And while Microsoft's (MSFT) wildly-popular Kinect controller has made great strides, a new $70 peripheral due out this winter called "The Leap," is poised to take things further.

    Co-founded by Michael Buckwald and David Holz, Leap Motion's mini-candy bar-shaped device connects to a computer via USB and emits infrared light that recognizes objects -- arms, hands, fingers, pens, even chopsticks -- within a distance roughly equivalent to arm's-length. The key to Leap is that it's 100 times more accurate than the current version of the Kinect sensor. Whereas the Kinect will recognize hand movements, Leap's creators argue their creation is so fine-tuned, it registers the slightest finger quiver with no perceptible delay. The possibilities for such advanced (and inexpensive) technology could be endless, but at the very least, it means quick and hyper-accurate navigation across desktop applications. When Leap launches, it will already be backwards compatible with Windows 7 and 8 as well as Mac OS X, allowing basic navigation through the operating system and web surfing. The company is also releasing an SDK and giving sensors to select developers who want to develop for the system.

    Buckwald and Hotz showed off their tech and let me get some hands-on time. Our first dive was Fruit Ninja, the casual game where users slice-and-dice fruit. On mobile devices, users swipe their fingers across the screen sending fruit gibs flying about, which is satisfying enough. With the Leap, users use a finger or an item like a pen or marker, waving it around like a sword. With the sensitivity level cranked all the way up, I hacked-and-slashed fruit merely my moving my finger a few centimeters in different directions, all while most of my hand and wrist remained stationary. The onscreen cursor, a representation of my finger, moved smoothly, swiftly, and accurately with no detectable delay.