Have you seen Minority Report (come on, who hasn’t?) and watched as John Anderton went through holographic reports and databases solely with his gloved hands? Touchless technology based on gestures instead of clicks and typing may have been an element from a sci-fi movie in 2002 but it’s no longer science fiction today.

(Image Source: Bit Rebels)

As we make more advancements in tech, design and gesture navigation, this is the time where we can navigate through a computing system without the use of a keyboard, a mouse, or even touching anything. Feast your eyes on these amazing technology that work with motion sensors and gesture technology that probably grew from the seeds that were planted in this amazingly accurate Steven Spielberg movie.

Recommended Reading: 8 Mind-Blowing Gadgets You Can Control Just With Your Brain

1. Tobii Rex

Tobii Rex is an eye-tracking device from Sweden which works with any computer running on Windows 8. The device has a pair of infrared sensors built in that will track the user’s eyes. Users need just place Tobii Rex on the bottom part of the screen and it will capture eye movements, engaging in Gaze Interaction.

(Image Source: tobii)

Basically you use your eyes like you would the mouse cursor. Wherever you are looking, the cursor will appear in the precise spot on screen. To select you can use the touchpad. Although not entirely touchless, at least now you need not move a bulky mouse around. It’s also a great alternative to using the finger on a touch tablet, which blocks off the view of what you want to click or select.

As of now Tobii is not out in the market for consumers yet but you can get an invite to for earlier access to it here.

2. Elliptic Labs

Elliptic Labs allows you to operate your computer without touching it with the Windows 8 Gesture Suite. It uses ultrasound so it works not with cameras but with your audio tools. Ideally, you need 6 speakers and 8 microphones but the dedicated speakers on laptops and a normal micrphone could work too.

The speaker will emit ultrasound which will bounce to microphones so that it could track a user’s hand movements which will be interpreted by the Elliptic Labs software.

This technology is designed to work on the Windows 8 platform and is expected to work on tablets, smartphones and even cars. Elliptic Labs is not out for consumers to buy as the company is focusing on marketing it to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM).

3. Airwriting

Airwriting is a technology that allows you to write text messages or compose emails by writing in the air. Airwriting comes in the form of a glove which recognizes the path your hands and fingers move in as you write. The glove contains sensors that can record hand movements.

What happen is, when the user starts ‘airwriting’, the glove will detect it and send it to the computer via wireless connection. The computer will capture it and decode the movements.

The system is capable of recognizing capital letters and has 8000 vocabulary words. For now, the glove is only a prototype and it’s nowhere near perfect as it still has a 11% error rate. However, the system will self-correct and adapt to the user’s writing style, pushing the error rate down to 3%.

Google has awarded the creator Christoph Amma it’s Google Faculty Research Award (of over $80,000) in hopes that it could help him to developed this system.

4. eyeSight

eyeSight is a gesture techonology which allows you to navigate through your devices by just pointing at it. Much like how you use a remote to navigate your TV, you don’t have to touch the screen.

And get this, the basic requirement for eyeSight to work is to have a basic 2D webcam (even the built-in ones work) and the software. Your screen need not even be one with touch technology.

To navigate, you just move your finger to move the cursor, push your finger (like how you push a button) to click. eyeSight does not only work with laptops and computers but it also works with a lot of other devices such as tablets, televisions and much more. As of now, eyeSight is not for consumers use, but it is now offering software development kits (SDK) for the Windows, Android and Linux platforms.

5. Mauz

Mauz is a third party device that turns your iPhone into a trackpad or mouse. Download the driver into your computer and the app to your iPhone then connect the device to your iPhone via the charger port. Mauz is connected to the computer via Wi-Fi connection. Start navigating through your computer like you would a regular mouse: left click, right click and scroll as normal.

Now comes the fun part, you can use gestures with Mauz too. With the iPhone camera on, move your hands to the left to bring you a page back on your browser and move it right to bring yourself a page forward. If there’s an incoming call or a text message simply intercept it and resume using Mauz right after. Unfortunately, Mauz is not out for consumers to buy just yet.

6. PointGrab

PointGrab is something similar to eyeSight, in that it enables users to navigate on their computer just by pointing at it. PointGrab comes in the form of a software and only needs a 2D webcam. The camera will detect your hand movements and with that you can control your computer. PointGrab works with computers that run on Windows 7 and 8, smartphones, tablets and television.

Fujitsu, Acer and Lenovo has already implemented this technology in their laptops and computers that run on Windows 8. The software comes with the specific laptops and computers and is not by itself available for purchase.

7. Leap Motion

Leap Motion is a motion sensor device that recognizes the user’s fingers with its infrared LEDs and cameras. As it works by recognizing only your fingers, when you hover over it to type on the keyboard, nothing registers. But when you hover your fingers above it, you can navigate your desktop like you would your smartphone or tablet: flick to browse pages or pinch to zoom, etc.

It’s a small USB device that works the moment you connect it to your computer. You don’t need to charge it and it works even with non-touch sensitive screens. Leap Motion works well with gaming and 3D-related sofwares. You can pre-order Leap Motion for $79.99.

8. Myoelectric Armband

Myoelectric armband or MYO armband is a gadget that allows you to control your other bluetooth enabled devices using your finger or your hands. How it works is that, when put on, the armband will detect movements in in your muscle and translate that into gestures that interact with your computer.

By moving your hands up/down it will scroll the page you are browsing in. By waving it, it will slide through pictures in a photo album or switch between applications running in your system. What would this be good for? At the very least, it will be very good for action games. MYO armband is out for pre-order at the price of $149.

9. Microsoft Kinect

Speaking of gaming, Microsoft Kinect is takes gaming with the Xbox to the next stage. It detects and recognizes a user’s body movement and reproduces it within the video game that is being played. It also recognizes the user’s face and voice. With the update Kinect can now read small gesture controls such as pinch to zoom, opening and closing of hands, so you can actually use Microsoft Kinect for other purposes apart from gaming.

Pair it up with NUIA eyeCharm and you have an handy eye-tracking device to work on the computer with. Compared to the Tobii Rex, the eyeCharm is a much cheaper alternative, at only $60. Place the combo below the computer monitor, install its dedicated software and you can start scrolling through web pages just with your eyes. For more information on what you can do with this, check out its KickStarter page. NUIA eyeCharm is waiting release some time in August 2013.

Know of any more touchless technology you want to add to the list? Let us know in the comments.

All these years, websites are restricted to typical fonts such as Arial, Georgia, Times and so on. This is due to the limitations of browsers, which at one time, were only able to deliver fonts from the user’s machine. Fortunately today, the web evolves fast and today’s browsers are supporting webfont embedding.

It is likely that more websites will use better and more beautiful fonts in the future, and many webfont service will pop up. Below, we will take a look at four free options of webfont services and their advantages and disadvantages.

Recommended Reading: A Look Into: Better Typography For Modern Websites

Typekit

Typekit is a popular webfont service and one of the first players in this niche, feature clientele that consist of New York Times and Twitter.

As of 2011, Typekit has been acquired by Adobe. Typekit is actually a paid webfont service, but it also has Free option with, of course, a few limitations.

Pros

• Professional and high-quality fonts — that are probably not found on other service.
• Continuously add more fonts from world-class foundries.
• Fast deliverability via Adobe servers and networks.
• Save much bandwidth, since the fonts are hosted and delivered through Adobe servers.
• SSL Serving.
• Wide cross-browser compatibility.

Cons

• Limited selection of fonts.
• Limited pageviews
• Badge required.
• Limited use of fonts, only 2 per website.

Google Web Font

Google Web Font is a completely free webfont service from Google and probably one of the first initiatives to raise Open Source project for web font embedding.

There are currently around 600 fonts with various font styles to choose from, including Serif, Sans-serif, Script and Hand Writing.

Pros

• Quick and easy to use.
• Open source fonts.
• Desktop fonts are available.
• Font API and documentation are available.
• Fonts are served via Google server.
• Character map.
• Font preview and filter.

Cons

• Dingbat font style is not available. It’s actually quite useful, especially if you prefer displaying icons with font.

Example

  <link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Croissant+One|Merienda' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'>    <style>  h1 {  	font-family: ;  }  p {  	font-family: ;   }  </style>  

Font Squirrel (@font-face)

Font Squirrel has done the hardwork of selecting fonts that are free for commercial and can be embedded on the Web.

In addtion, Font Squirrel also provides @font-face kit for each font, the kit includes stylesheets and fonts in the following formats .eot, .ttf, .woff, and .svg to assure that the font is well delivered across browsers.

Pros

• Fonts are free for commercial use.
• Desktop fonts are available.
• Ability to subset the fonts.
• Style options, Calligraphic, Comic, Dingbat, Retro etc
• Test and Preview font.
• Availability of character map (useful for Dingbat font style).
• Availability of @font-face kit and generator.

Cons

• You have to host the fonts on your own server.
• It could slow down your website performance, particularly if your bandwidth and space are limited.
• Font license are too variable. Make sure the font EULA meets your requirement.

Example

  @font-face {      font-family: 'SansationRegular';      src: url('Sansation_Regular-webfont.eot');      src: url('Sansation_Regular-webfont.eot?#iefix') format('embedded-opentype'),           url('Sansation_Regular-webfont.woff') format('woff'),           url('Sansation_Regular-webfont.ttf') format('truetype'),           url('Sansation_Regular-webfont.svg#SansationRegular') format('svg');      font-weight: normal;      font-style: normal;  }    p {  	font-family: 'SansationRegular';  }  

Edge Web Font

Recently, Adobe introduced new product called Adobe Edge. It holds a few tools and services including a webfont service called Edge Web Font.

Edge Web Font is a free webfont service partnered with Google Web Font and there are currently around 500 fonts we can choose from. But, unlike Google Web Font, which delivers the font with stylesheet, Edge Font requires JavaScript to do so.

Pros

• Completely free and unlimited to use.
• Huge collection of Open Source fonts.
• Powered by the same platform as Typekit.

Cons

• No font previews in the gallery.
• Poor font categorization in the gallery.
• Uses JavaScript to serve the fonts.

Example

  <script src="http://use.edgefonts.net/droid-sans.js"></script>  <style>  p {    font-family: droid-sans, serif;  }  </style>  

Conclusion

There are many services and options but in the end, it is up to web designers to decide which service best fits their website. If the budget allows, probably the premium plan from Typekit could be the best option. Otherwise, the free option might suffice.

Lastly, for your inspiration, here are couple beautiful websites that use webfonts from the services above.

Atlantis

Hampus Olsson

Lacarotte

Simonpan

Boar’s Head

Today smartphones with Android operating system are crowding the smartphone market, and have garnered attention from many people all around the world. From Cupcake to Jellybean, we have seen the overwhelming progress made by Google and the countless efforts contributed by developers that turn android platform into what it is today.

Wallpaper Wednesday with this week’s theme: Android, will showcase a colection of 15 creative and beautiful wallpapers that appreciate the 6 years’ long journey by our favourite green robot.

Read Also: 40 Really Cool Android Home Screens For Your Inspiration

Android Drink Beer. Available in 1920×1082.

Android Entertainment System. Available in various sizes.

Cyanogen Throwback. Available in 1920×1080.

Android Wallpaper. Available in 1920×1200.

EgFox HoneyComb HD Blue 2. Available in 1920×1200.

AIMP. Available in 1440×900.

Android Dark Sparkle. Available in green and black version with various sizes. Download zip.

MJ3NL Available in 1200×1024.

Android Logo. Available in the following size(s): 640×960, 1024×1024, 1920×1536, 2048×1536, 2560×1440, 2560×1600. Download zip.

Android For Touchpad. Available in 2560×1600.

Google Play. Available in the following size(s): 980×800, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1600×900, 1920×1200. Download zip.

Green Android. Available in 1920×1200.

Hipster Android. Available in 1920×1080.

Android Concept. Available in 1920×1080.

Android Pakistan Wallpaper Pack. Available in the following size(s): 640×480, 850×315, 768×1024, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1360×768, 1440×900, 1600×1200, and 1920×1080. Download rar.

Been having it rough lately? Well we might have some good news for some of you. A while back, we ran a second template giveaway, offering responsive eCommerce templates to 6 lucky winners.

To recap, courtesy of TemplateMonster.com, a full range of eCommerce responsive themes from the Magento, Prestashop and Jigoshop platforms were up for grabs and all you had to do was comment in and name the template you want.

Without further ado…

Winner’s List

It was a tough choice, but there can only be six. Here are the winners for:

A free eCommerce theme/template of choice

1. Clive Cleaves
2. Slavi Kb
3. Regina Muller

50% off eCommerce theme/template of choice

1. X4arms
2. Rdm
3. Andy Feliciotti

Congratulations to our winners. If you see your name here, drop us a line here and we’ll hook you up with instructions on how to claim your win. Thanks to the rest of for your participation. We’ll keep the giveaways coming so stay tuned.