For the far-sighted among us, a computer that magically magnifies the print as we lean toward the screen is a dream come true.
Lean & Zoom, a Carnegie Mellon spinoff, has commercialized a simple yet brilliant idea that magnifies user content on the monitor based on the degree of lean. Lean a little, and the screen plumps up print a bit, lean a lot and the screen zooms in to a greater degree with size being directly proportional to the degree of the lean. It not only eases eye strain and assists the vision impaired, but reduces stress on the neck.
The software was created by CMU Ph.D. candidate Chris Harrison, “a whiz kid of computer human interaction,” says Curt Stone, director of the QoLT Foundry, which develops new systems to assist the physically or functionally impaired.
“He is known for coming up with cool technologies that are smack your head simple yet elegant, as in why didn’t I think of that?” says Stone. Maybe you’ll recall Harrison’s success with Skinput, the concept that turned your forearm into a keypad?
Lean & Zoom, several years in development, started with a camera located above the monitor to detect body movement. Two local companies are assisting with a downloadable, integrated version, Pittsburgh Pattern Recognition, a face-tracking firm in the in the Strip District, and True Fit in Cranberry. Possible applications range from workforce efficiency software to navigational systems for cars.
“This is just the beginning,” says Stone who sees the day in the not-so-distant future when you will use your head and eyes to tab the cursor across the page. Tokyo-based partner KDDI Corp. has funded most of the research, including a smart phone application that will be released on Google Android in Japan later this year.
The software is available for download on the company website for $27.99. The company has five part-timers and plans to grow to nine to 12 full-time by the end of the year.
Source: Curt Stone, Lean&Zoom
Writer: Deb Smit
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