
The German word for cellphone is "handy." After a demonstration I recently
saw, the name seems less silly. A Canadian company called Gesturetek has invented a technology that lets any
cameraphone act like a joystick. That's right, your hand controls the
movement of a cursor on the screen. The software, Eyemobile, compares successive
views from the camera lens to judge the movement of your hand. That movement
can propel a ball through a maze, as in its TiltaWorld demo, and more may
come soon. It's like an old-fashioned handheld game, only electronic. Now
that's handy. —Lauren Aaronson
Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more.


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