Intel Perceptual Computing Challenge Winners

That was the winner? Someone who basically made a Kinect version of a theremin? Yikes. Coolest thing about that video was he had a table made out of legos.

Brings new meaning to the term "Air Guitar".

I can't think of a better illustration of the inefficiency of a gesture-based interface.
From day 1, computing has been all about efficiency. Now there's an attempt to lead us down a different path.

This push towards touch-screen and gesture-based control is indicative of a larger scale mindset that is dumbing down our society.
It's not new, but as it continues, it shows up in more and more obvious ways.
The more ignorant a population is, the easier it is to exploit them, regardless of the goal behind that exploitation.

This is the same mindset that gave us pictorial sandwich instructions for fast food workers and all of the social experimentation that is today's educational system in countries like the US.


Other factors in this particular area:
Microsoft's desire to unify the interface across all platforms, which makes their job more simple and furthers the push for "Microsoft everywhere".
Manufacturers' eagerness to jump on the bandwagon, as it represents "something new" in computing and, by extension, more revenue.
All of those marketing companies and consultants out there that see the whole thing as new/additional revenue streams for themselves.

Nice shirt