TED Talk: The Future of UI

John Underkoffler is the science adviser who was behind the user interface ideas used in the movie Minority Report. In his TED talk, he shows examples of interfaces made up of real-world objects, providing interaction far different than what we know today. Given the success of the Wii, multi-touch interfaces, and the coming controller-free Project Natal for the Xbox, this shouldn’t seem too far-fetched. How these ideas will be polished and ultimately deployed will depend on many factors, including what hardware manufacturers are willing to support. This is a talk about ideals, so don’t expect to see much of a nod to accessibility for people with mobility impairments, although that will certainly be one of the issues to be addressed before this can see general use.