HP's next-gen PCs will have Leap Motion's gesture-based controller

Motion-based controlling is becoming all the rage. HP has announced that its next generation of PCs will have startup Leap Motion's gesture technology. This is a big step forward for the startup, as it is its first embedding deal with a major company.

To build the ecosystem, HP products with Leap Motion integrated in them will have a native build of the hardware's own app marketplace, dubbed AirSpace. At the moment, there isn't much in the way of product list, price or launch date, but the first HP computers with Leap Motion controllers are expected to hit store shelves this summer.

According to the Associated Press, Leap Motion will begin integrating its technology more deeply into HP's products. This means that eventually, tablets and smartphones made by HP will also have the same gesture technology.

“Customers want to go to the next level when creating and interacting with digital content,” said Ron Coughlin, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Consumer PCs at HP. “Leap Motion’s groundbreaking 3-D motion control combined with HP technology and amazing developer apps will create incredible user experiences.”

Coming soon to HP's personal computers

“Our focus at Leap Motion is to fundamentally improve how people interact with their devices, and offer as many ways as possible to achieve that vision,” said Leap Motion co-founder and CEO Michael Buckwald. “The possibilities for innovation are incredible, when you think about what will come from this collaboration between two respected global leaders in their fields – HP, the world’s largest technology company and Leap Motion, creator of the world’s most powerful 3-D motion-control technology.”

Leap's controller uses three infrared LED lights and two cameras to track users' hands. It plugs into a Windows or Mac computer and sits between the user and the keyboard. Leap's bet is that allowing people to use natural hand movements to control what they do on a computer will make the interaction between human and machine more seamless.

Some of the applications of Leap Motion's controller include the ability to browse the web or reading a book by just 'flipping' through pages, drawing, painting and designing, a different way to handle 3D modelling, and even fun things like having motion-control based virtual musical instruments.

If you want to get your hands on a standalone version of the Leap Motion controller, you can pre-order it from the company's website for $79.99, which is roughly Rs 4,319. It's slated to begin shipping on May 13.

Comparisons can be drawn between the Leap Motion and Microsoft's own gesture-based controller, the Kinect. While Leap Motion's controller seems to be the more affordable option, the Kinect is considerably more powerful, since rather than just being for gestures, it's a full-fledged motion controller because of its powerful camera.

Report by : Shunal Doke

The future of flight : Next generation of air travel

An aircraft that resembles a four-point ninja star could go into supersonic mode by simply turning 90 degrees in midair. The unusual "flying wing" concept has won $100,000 in NASA funding to trying becoming a reality for future passenger jet travel.Take a look at the next generation of air travel

	The supersonic, bidirectional flying wing idea comes from a team headed by Ge-Cheng Zha, an aerospace engineer at the University of Miami. He said the fuel-efficient aircraft could reach supersonic speeds without the thunderclap sound produced by a sonic boom — a major factor that previously limited where the supersonic Concorde passenger jet could fly over populated land masses.(LiveScience)
	An aircraft that resembles a four-point ninja star could go into supersonic mode by simply turning 90 degrees in midair. The unusual "flying wing" concept has won $100,000 in NASA funding to trying becoming a reality for future passenger jet travel. (LiveScience)
	An unmanned experimental aircraft known as the Waverider or X-51A designed to fly six times the speed of sound broke apart over the Pacific Ocean seconds into a military test flight due to a faulty control fin.The problem with the fin on the craft was identified in a test flight on Tuesday, 16 seconds after a rocket booster on the remotely monitored craft was ignited to propel it forward, the Air Force said in a statement.Fifteen seconds later, when the X-51A separated from the rocket booster, it lost control due to a "faulty control fin," the statement said. The 31 seconds of flight fell far short of the military's goal for the X-51A to fly for five minutes.The aircraft broke apart immediately and fell into the Pacific Ocean near Point Mugu northwest of Los Angeles, said Daryl Mayer, a spokesman for the 88th Air Base Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio
	Even if the test had been a success, the aircraft would have crashed at the end of the flight in any case and was not considered retrievable.The Waverider was designed to reach speeds of Mach 6 or above, six times the speed of sound and fast enough to zoom from New York to London in less than an hour. The military has its eye on using the Waverider program to develop missiles with non-nuclear explosives that could strike anywhere in the world within an hour, analysts said.The cost of the experimental aircraft, which military officials said was dropped from a B-52 bomber before its rocket booster was ignited, has not been disclosed because many details of the program are classified.
	The aircraft is known as the Waverider because it stays airborne, in part, with lift generated by the shock waves of its own flight. The Boeing Co's Phantom Works division performed design and assembly on the craft.This was the third of four X-51A aircraft built for the military, one of which flew for over three minutes at nearly five times the speed of sound during a 2010 test flight. Take a look at the next generation of air travel.
	DARPA's Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) in an artist's conception. The unmanned hypersonic glider is capable of flying at 20 times the speed of sound. REUTERS/DARPA
	The EADS Atrium aircraft, which will enable space tourists to experience weightlessness briefly outside the earth's atmosphere. The aircraft, about the size of an executive jet, is designed to carry four passengers around 100 kilometres from the earth, where they will be able to experience about three minutes of weightlessness and see the curve of the earth. REUTERS/EADS Atrium/Marc Newson Ltd/NASA
	The Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) is seen above Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey during its first flight, August 7, 2012. The LEMV, like a blimp, is said to be capable of carrying multiple intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance payloads for more than 21 days at altitudes greater than 22,000 feet. REUTERS/U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command
	An artist's rendering of NASA's X-37 Orbital Test Vehicle. REUTERS/NASA
	The Virgin Galactic SpaceShip2 (VSS Enterprise) glides toward Earth on its first test flight after being released from its WhiteKnight2 mothership (VMS Eve) over the Mojave, California area, October 10, 2010. REUTERS/Mark Greenberg-Virgin Galactic
	The Solar Impulse aircraft is pulled out of the hangar for take off at Payerne airport in Switzerland, May 24, 2012. The Solar Impulse HB-SIA prototype aircraft, which has 12,000 solar cells built into its 193 foot wings, will attempt a round-the-world flight in 2014. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
	Former professional Swiss military pilot Yves Rossy, also known as "Fusionman", flies in the sky like a rocketeer in the southern Swiss Alps near Bex, May 14, 2008. Rossy is the first man ever to successfully fly with wings, powered by four engines on his back. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
	An RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft. REUTERS/U.S. Air Force/Bobbi Zapka
	The SpaceEx Falcon Heavy, the world's most powerful rocket. The Falcom Heavy could lift twice as much cargo into orbit as the recently-retired space shuttles. The first launch is slotted for 2013. REUTERS/Courtesy of SpaceEx
	Eurocopter's X3 high-speed hybrid helicopter, which combines forward-facing propeller engines astride two short aircraft wings with overhead rotor blades, during a demonstration in September 2010.
	NASA's X-37 Orbital Test Vehicle in an artist's rendering. REUTERS/NASA
	The MV-22 (Osprey) aircraft arrives for a test flight at the Pentagon landing field in Washington, August 3, 2012. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas