Introducing the Vapor Ware Leap for Mac!
It’s always refreshing when talented 3D artists stop making fake iPhone 5 prototypes and turn their attention to something more important – like making fake XBox Kinnect for Mac videos! Check out this pretty sweet video for something called “The Leap”, a little box (too little to actually work, methinks) that basically adds Minority Report/Tony Stark tech to your Mac.
The video is very well done, and the only thing technically wrong with it is that by the time someone could actually make this thing, Apple will have stopped making Macs completely. Oh well. I’d still buy one, even if the only thing shown that I might actually use would be Fruit Ninja.
I’m sorry to be so skeptical that this thing will ever ship, but it’s a testament to how cool it appears to be that I cannot believe the video is real. I mean, Microsoft can’t build something that accurate in 3D at 4 times the size and cost. However, the Leap DOES have a webpage you can (pre-)order one from, and we know how hard those are to get, so maybe it IS real… The unit sells for $69.99, and if any of you are daring enough to actually place an order, please send me a screenshot. And if LeapMotion has any prototypes they want to send our way for review purposes, we are open to blowing you. Thanks.
Way freaking cool…if it works. Knowing my luck, it’s most likely a scam/front to get my credit card information and drain my account of all the pocket lint it currently contains.
Before your copy reader/troll Paul comments…
Doc, I fixed this for you: “…we are open to blowing you.”
Should read: …we are open to blowing your mind.
Tanks Rob, but copy was correct. It looks THAT cool.
– The Doc
Leap Motion, a San Francisco-based company that promises to revolutionize human interaction with computers through motion-control hardware and software, has raised a $12.75 million Series A funding round led by Highland Capital Partners.
The company, which has been operating in “stealth” mode using the name “OcuSpec” since 2010, had previously raised $2.8 million in from Andreessen Horowitz , Founders Fund, and individual investors Brian McClendon, Bill Warner and Max Woon.
“Mathematical breakthroughs made by Leap Motion’s founders have uniquely positioned this company to make the next giant leap forward in computing,” said Andy Miller, general partner at Highland Capital Partners. “This technology will change how we interact with computers on a daily basis.”
Leap Motion’s co-founder and chief technical officer is David Holz, who left the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he had been working to get a doctorate in applied math to start the company. Previously, Holtz was a student researcher at both the NASA Langley Research Center, where he worked on to support missions to Mars, and the Max Planck Institute, where he worked on algorithms for neuroscience.
Co-founder Michael Buckwald is Leap Motion’s CEO. Buckwald was previously the CEO of Zazuba.com, an online booking site for a wide range of services. Before that he worked to distribute computers in Madagascar for One Laptop Per Child.
Well, I went ahead and pre-ordered it, I hope it becomes a reality, it still seems far too good to be true… Will keep you updated if/when it arrives (current estimations are for between December 2012 – February 2013 if I’m not mistaken).
I didnt believe it too, until the guys at engadget visited the company:
http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/25/leap-motion-gesture-control-technology-hands-on/
impressive stuff
This was also reviewed by Wired, so it seems pretty real to me. I pre-ordered one.