Leap Motion Controller review: A touchscreen interface without the touching

Computerworld - Anyone who's ever stood in front of a Kinect-equipped Xbox knows the fun of virtual control, of using your hands to manipulate what you see on the screen without touching anything but air.

The Leap Motion Controller endows your PC with that same air-powered interactivity, allowing you to bypass mouse and keyboard in favor of hand-waving control of apps, games and even various PC operations.

It's a cool concept, and Leap Motion pulls off the execution reasonably well -- for the surprisingly low price of $80. But it definitely raises a few questions, starting with: What would you actually use this thing for? And does it have any practical business value?

Not much larger than an average flash drive, the Leap Motion Controller has a glossy black top with a silver band wrapped around the sides. It's attractive and surprisingly compact, which is good considering it's designed to sit below your monitor (or, if you're using a laptop, in front of the keyboard). A USB 2.0 cable provides both power and connectivity. Leap Motion supplies both short (two feet) and long (five feet) cables to accommodate various computing configurations.

I tested the Leap Motion Controller with a Lenovo IdeaPad U310 Touch laptop and Samsung Series 9 ultrabook. Although the controller itself didn't get in the way, I disliked the look of the USB cable snaking around the side. This thing really begs for a rechargeable battery and wireless connection, which would emulate the somewhat disingenuous promo video where you see only the sensor, not the cable.

But installation couldn't have been much simpler. After loading the Windows client (it's also available for OS X) and plugging in the controller, I raised my hands and instantly saw their movement reflected in the introductory visualizer app. As a regular Kinect user, however, for me the effect was less "Wow!" and more, "Okay, it works."

Even so, when I tried the calibration process, during which you point the top of the controller at a reflective surface (a glossy screen is recommended) and move it around, I found it nearly impossible to achieve the required "pass" score of 80. Eventually I managed it with the IdeaPad, which has a glossy display, but I never hit 80 on the matte-finished display of the Series 9. The sensor still worked as expected, but I couldn't shake the feeling it wasn't operating optimally.

The controller generates a kind of virtual-space bubble in front of your PC, one large enough to accommodate your two hands (though many apps require only one). Imagine a 10-point multitouch interface, like you'd find on a touchscreen, but in three-dimensional space. The sensors track not only the positions of your hands and fingers, but also their movements. Thus you're able to "interact" with onscreen objects without actually touching anything.

Let me just pause right here to note that any business user hoping for a Leap Motion-powered productivity edge will be disappointed. You cannot design industrial components a la Tony Stark in Iron Man, nor can you sift through virtual files like Tom Cruise in Minority Report. We are a long, long way from that.

The Leap Motion Controller runs on apps, and there's already a decent collection of them in the Airspace Store -- about 75 as of this writing. These run the gamut from games to drawing tools to music makers, with a smattering of productivity apps for good measure. Some are free, while others cost a couple of bucks. A few will seem familiar to anyone with a tablet or smartphone, including Cut the Rope and Google Earth.

I started with Cyber Science - Motion, which displays a photorealistic model of a human skull and lets you rotate it, zoom in and out and remove individual pieces -- all through a combination of hand and finger motions. It's really cool, and one could see where a student -- one studying anatomy, anyway -- might find this a helpful educational tool.

Google Earth, on the other hand, proved an exercise in frustration. Unless you maneuver your hand with slow, exacting precision, the globe spins hopelessly out of control. That's because it responds to every single hand movement: toward the screen, away from the screen, up, down, tilted left, tilted right and so on. Without considerable practice, it's impossible to get where you want to go -- or even just take a simple flight across the mountains.

Then there's Touchless, which effectively turns your hand into a mouse. You can click, drag, zoom, scroll and more, all via a couple of fingers mirroring what you'd do on a touchpad or touchscreen. It works, though air taps and drags can be difficult to pull off, and the lack of any tactical feedback makes for agonizingly slow navigation.

A just-announced app, DexType, will create a virtual keyboard for two-fingered air typing. It's a neat concept, and potentially a boon for someone who's physically impaired (although I expect it will be slow compared with a traditional keyboard).

And that's really the key issue here: In what ways is the Leap Motion Controller better than a mouse or touchscreen or keyboard? For the moment, it's not. It's more toy than tool, more science fiction than practical addition.

I do find it impressive that Leap Motion managed to pack so much functionality into such a compact package, especially given the unit's impulse-buy price. But unless you're an app developer, physically challenged computer user or gadget lover, this is one Leap not worth taking -- at least, not quite yet.

Company video demonstrating the Leap Motion Controller.

This article, Leap Motion Controller review: A touchscreen interface without the touching, was originally published at Computerworld.com.

Rick Broida has written about technology for nearly 25 years. He pens the popular Cheapskate blog and writes for Computerworld, PC World, Popular Science and Wired.

Read more about Computer Peripherals in Computerworld's Computer Peripherals Topic Center.

Small and midsize businesses are moving to the cloud to host their communications capabilities. Learn how enterprise-quality phone benefits, online management, conferencing, auto attendant, and ease of use are built into a system that is half the cost of a PBX.

Read now.

View the original article here

Leap Motion Controller review: A touchscreen interface without the touching

Computerworld - Anyone who's ever stood in front of a Kinect-equipped Xbox knows the fun of virtual control, of using your hands to manipulate what you see on the screen without touching anything but air.

The Leap Motion Controller endows your PC with that same air-powered interactivity, allowing you to bypass mouse and keyboard in favor of hand-waving control of apps, games and even various PC operations.

It's a cool concept, and Leap Motion pulls off the execution reasonably well -- for the surprisingly low price of $80. But it definitely raises a few questions, starting with: What would you actually use this thing for? And does it have any practical business value?

Not much larger than an average flash drive, the Leap Motion Controller has a glossy black top with a silver band wrapped around the sides. It's attractive and surprisingly compact, which is good considering it's designed to sit below your monitor (or, if you're using a laptop, in front of the keyboard). A USB 2.0 cable provides both power and connectivity. Leap Motion supplies both short (two feet) and long (five feet) cables to accommodate various computing configurations.

I tested the Leap Motion Controller with a Lenovo IdeaPad U310 Touch laptop and Samsung Series 9 ultrabook. Although the controller itself didn't get in the way, I disliked the look of the USB cable snaking around the side. This thing really begs for a rechargeable battery and wireless connection, which would emulate the somewhat disingenuous promo video where you see only the sensor, not the cable.

But installation couldn't have been much simpler. After loading the Windows client (it's also available for OS X) and plugging in the controller, I raised my hands and instantly saw their movement reflected in the introductory visualizer app. As a regular Kinect user, however, for me the effect was less "Wow!" and more, "Okay, it works."

Even so, when I tried the calibration process, during which you point the top of the controller at a reflective surface (a glossy screen is recommended) and move it around, I found it nearly impossible to achieve the required "pass" score of 80. Eventually I managed it with the IdeaPad, which has a glossy display, but I never hit 80 on the matte-finished display of the Series 9. The sensor still worked as expected, but I couldn't shake the feeling it wasn't operating optimally.

The controller generates a kind of virtual-space bubble in front of your PC, one large enough to accommodate your two hands (though many apps require only one). Imagine a 10-point multitouch interface, like you'd find on a touchscreen, but in three-dimensional space. The sensors track not only the positions of your hands and fingers, but also their movements. Thus you're able to "interact" with onscreen objects without actually touching anything.

Let me just pause right here to note that any business user hoping for a Leap Motion-powered productivity edge will be disappointed. You cannot design industrial components a la Tony Stark in Iron Man, nor can you sift through virtual files like Tom Cruise in Minority Report. We are a long, long way from that.

The Leap Motion Controller runs on apps, and there's already a decent collection of them in the Airspace Store -- about 75 as of this writing. These run the gamut from games to drawing tools to music makers, with a smattering of productivity apps for good measure. Some are free, while others cost a couple of bucks. A few will seem familiar to anyone with a tablet or smartphone, including Cut the Rope and Google Earth.

I started with Cyber Science - Motion, which displays a photorealistic model of a human skull and lets you rotate it, zoom in and out and remove individual pieces -- all through a combination of hand and finger motions. It's really cool, and one could see where a student -- one studying anatomy, anyway -- might find this a helpful educational tool.

Google Earth, on the other hand, proved an exercise in frustration. Unless you maneuver your hand with slow, exacting precision, the globe spins hopelessly out of control. That's because it responds to every single hand movement: toward the screen, away from the screen, up, down, tilted left, tilted right and so on. Without considerable practice, it's impossible to get where you want to go -- or even just take a simple flight across the mountains.

Then there's Touchless, which effectively turns your hand into a mouse. You can click, drag, zoom, scroll and more, all via a couple of fingers mirroring what you'd do on a touchpad or touchscreen. It works, though air taps and drags can be difficult to pull off, and the lack of any tactical feedback makes for agonizingly slow navigation.

A just-announced app, DexType, will create a virtual keyboard for two-fingered air typing. It's a neat concept, and potentially a boon for someone who's physically impaired (although I expect it will be slow compared with a traditional keyboard).

And that's really the key issue here: In what ways is the Leap Motion Controller better than a mouse or touchscreen or keyboard? For the moment, it's not. It's more toy than tool, more science fiction than practical addition.

I do find it impressive that Leap Motion managed to pack so much functionality into such a compact package, especially given the unit's impulse-buy price. But unless you're an app developer, physically challenged computer user or gadget lover, this is one Leap not worth taking -- at least, not quite yet.

Company video demonstrating the Leap Motion Controller.

This article, Leap Motion Controller review: A touchscreen interface without the touching, was originally published at Computerworld.com.

Rick Broida has written about technology for nearly 25 years. He pens the popular Cheapskate blog and writes for Computerworld, PC World, Popular Science and Wired.

Read more about Computer Peripherals in Computerworld's Computer Peripherals Topic Center.

Small and midsize businesses are moving to the cloud to host their communications capabilities. Learn how enterprise-quality phone benefits, online management, conferencing, auto attendant, and ease of use are built into a system that is half the cost of a PBX.

Read now.

View the original article here

Leap Motion Controller review: A touchscreen interface without the touching

Computerworld - Anyone who's ever stood in front of a Kinect-equipped Xbox knows the fun of virtual control, of using your hands to manipulate what you see on the screen without touching anything but air.

The Leap Motion Controller endows your PC with that same air-powered interactivity, allowing you to bypass mouse and keyboard in favor of hand-waving control of apps, games and even various PC operations.

It's a cool concept, and Leap Motion pulls off the execution reasonably well -- for the surprisingly low price of $80. But it definitely raises a few questions, starting with: What would you actually use this thing for? And does it have any practical business value?

Not much larger than an average flash drive, the Leap Motion Controller has a glossy black top with a silver band wrapped around the sides. It's attractive and surprisingly compact, which is good considering it's designed to sit below your monitor (or, if you're using a laptop, in front of the keyboard). A USB 2.0 cable provides both power and connectivity. Leap Motion supplies both short (two feet) and long (five feet) cables to accommodate various computing configurations.

I tested the Leap Motion Controller with a Lenovo IdeaPad U310 Touch laptop and Samsung Series 9 ultrabook. Although the controller itself didn't get in the way, I disliked the look of the USB cable snaking around the side. This thing really begs for a rechargeable battery and wireless connection, which would emulate the somewhat disingenuous promo video where you see only the sensor, not the cable.

But installation couldn't have been much simpler. After loading the Windows client (it's also available for OS X) and plugging in the controller, I raised my hands and instantly saw their movement reflected in the introductory visualizer app. As a regular Kinect user, however, for me the effect was less "Wow!" and more, "Okay, it works."

Even so, when I tried the calibration process, during which you point the top of the controller at a reflective surface (a glossy screen is recommended) and move it around, I found it nearly impossible to achieve the required "pass" score of 80. Eventually I managed it with the IdeaPad, which has a glossy display, but I never hit 80 on the matte-finished display of the Series 9. The sensor still worked as expected, but I couldn't shake the feeling it wasn't operating optimally.

The controller generates a kind of virtual-space bubble in front of your PC, one large enough to accommodate your two hands (though many apps require only one). Imagine a 10-point multitouch interface, like you'd find on a touchscreen, but in three-dimensional space. The sensors track not only the positions of your hands and fingers, but also their movements. Thus you're able to "interact" with onscreen objects without actually touching anything.

Let me just pause right here to note that any business user hoping for a Leap Motion-powered productivity edge will be disappointed. You cannot design industrial components a la Tony Stark in Iron Man, nor can you sift through virtual files like Tom Cruise in Minority Report. We are a long, long way from that.

The Leap Motion Controller runs on apps, and there's already a decent collection of them in the Airspace Store -- about 75 as of this writing. These run the gamut from games to drawing tools to music makers, with a smattering of productivity apps for good measure. Some are free, while others cost a couple of bucks. A few will seem familiar to anyone with a tablet or smartphone, including Cut the Rope and Google Earth.

I started with Cyber Science - Motion, which displays a photorealistic model of a human skull and lets you rotate it, zoom in and out and remove individual pieces -- all through a combination of hand and finger motions. It's really cool, and one could see where a student -- one studying anatomy, anyway -- might find this a helpful educational tool.

Google Earth, on the other hand, proved an exercise in frustration. Unless you maneuver your hand with slow, exacting precision, the globe spins hopelessly out of control. That's because it responds to every single hand movement: toward the screen, away from the screen, up, down, tilted left, tilted right and so on. Without considerable practice, it's impossible to get where you want to go -- or even just take a simple flight across the mountains.

Then there's Touchless, which effectively turns your hand into a mouse. You can click, drag, zoom, scroll and more, all via a couple of fingers mirroring what you'd do on a touchpad or touchscreen. It works, though air taps and drags can be difficult to pull off, and the lack of any tactical feedback makes for agonizingly slow navigation.

A just-announced app, DexType, will create a virtual keyboard for two-fingered air typing. It's a neat concept, and potentially a boon for someone who's physically impaired (although I expect it will be slow compared with a traditional keyboard).

And that's really the key issue here: In what ways is the Leap Motion Controller better than a mouse or touchscreen or keyboard? For the moment, it's not. It's more toy than tool, more science fiction than practical addition.

I do find it impressive that Leap Motion managed to pack so much functionality into such a compact package, especially given the unit's impulse-buy price. But unless you're an app developer, physically challenged computer user or gadget lover, this is one Leap not worth taking -- at least, not quite yet.

Company video demonstrating the Leap Motion Controller.

This article, Leap Motion Controller review: A touchscreen interface without the touching, was originally published at Computerworld.com.

Rick Broida has written about technology for nearly 25 years. He pens the popular Cheapskate blog and writes for Computerworld, PC World, Popular Science and Wired.

Read more about Computer Peripherals in Computerworld's Computer Peripherals Topic Center.

Small and midsize businesses are moving to the cloud to host their communications capabilities. Learn how enterprise-quality phone benefits, online management, conferencing, auto attendant, and ease of use are built into a system that is half the cost of a PBX.

Read now.

View the original article here

COVERGIRL Flamed Out Mascara Review.

I am a HUGE fan of COVERGIRL mascara. I have used just about every one that have, with my latest fave being LashBlast Clump Crusher Mascara. I have been using it daily since I tried it late last year. At night, I use it with another mascara for really bold - look at me - lashes. I almost didn't want to try their latest Flamed Out Mascara because I just love Clump Crusher so much, and didn't really have the need for another. But I've been hearing such good things that I just had to give it a try.

Flamed Out Mascara is very different in a big way - the brush. Just take a look at how different it looks. It is made with a thick nylon and wire brush with a little wedge, or indent in the middle. It was designed this way to more evenly coat lashes and deposit the mascara pigment all over lashes. By doing this, it helps to add a lot more volume to lashes, and helps them curl up and out at the same time.

Flamed Out is available in the following:

Very Black BlazeBlack BlazeBlack/Brown BlazeBrown Blaze

I found that I need a good two coats with Flamed Out Mascara to get my lashes looking how I like them. To apply, I brush up, like normal. For the second coat, I sort of roll the wand up my lashes. This is easy to do because the little indent sort of hugs the lashes. My lashes look great all day while wearing. I experience no flaking, smudging, or clumping.

Will it replace my favorite Clump Crusher mascara? I like Flamed Out a lot and I am more than impressed with it. For an everyday low maintenance, light makeup look, I'll probably use Clump Crusher. But for anything else, it will be Flamed Out for sure. I am also going to try layering both Clump Crusher over Flamed Out for lots of volume when I want a more dramatic look.

COVERGIRL Flamed Out Mascara is available at your favorite drugstore and mass retailer now. It sells for about $5.99.

A press sample of the product featured may have been provided by brand or brand representative for editorial consideration. All opinions are my own. Affiliate links may have also been used in the post. Please see disclosure policy for complete information.

Copyright © 2001 - 2013 Beautiful Makeup Search.

View the original article here

MAC Tropical Taboo Photos & Review.

When I first read about Tropical Taboo, I was super excited. You know I love MAC Summer Collections, and this mid-summer launch is simply beautiful. The Tropical Taboo collection is full of mineralize products that will have you glowing. With shades mostly in the pink and purple range, these beauties are hot, hot, hot.

Rio Mineralize Skinfinish is the perfect bronzer/highlighter shade for me. The bronze and pink shades look gorgeous on my lightly tanned skin, though it is too shimmery for all over my face. Caci loves this one. She has much darker skin than I do, and is obviously much younger and can wear shimmer. She dusts this over her cheekbones, chin, nose and forehead for the perfect and balanced glow.

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Rio

Sweet Samba Mineralize Blush is another one that is gorgeous on a tan. It is a brighter pink, though not too bright even on my skin, mixed with golden bronze. It is definitely more of a blush than it looks in the pan, with a soft hint of golden glow to it when applied.

MAC Mineralize Blush Sweet Samba

The Mineralize Eye Shadows are gorgeous, though heavy on the shimmer as well. I have three of the shadows; Caribbean with shades of pink, Dare to Bare with shades of lavender, cream and gold, and Tropica with shades of light silver blue and purple. They are so pretty, though I don't see myself wearing Caribbean. Too much pink on my eyes just make me look sick. Tropica is beautiful and it really surprised me. It looks great with a light pink highlighter and then this all over my lid. My favorite has to be Dare to Bare, and my daughter and I are fighting over this one. It is the prefect soft wash of creamy gold and lavender that will look great on everyone. I take a large fluffy eye shadow brush and apply it all over, from my brow bone all the way down to my lid.

MAC Mineralize Eye Shadow Caribbean, Dare to Bare, Tropica

For lips, I have Cremesheen Glass in Japanese Spring and Narcissus. They are light and bright lavender respectfully. For these, I like to layer them, with Narcissus (the brighter shade) on first. Line and fill in lips with the Heroine Lip Pencil, and lips will be even brighter and last longer.

MAC Cremesheen Glass Japanese Spring, Narcissus

The only Mineralize Rich Lipstick I received was Lady at Play. While it doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the items from the collection that I received, this color is perfect for me. Described as a cool tangerine, it is more of a pinky orange on me. I love the balm like feel and semi-gloss finish of Mineralize Rich.

MAC Mineralize Rich Lipstick Lady at Play

The full collection:

Mineralize Skinfinish - $30.00

Soft and Gentle - gilded peach bronzeAdored - coral with light beige pearlLust - pale pink with cranberry pearlRio - bronze with bright pink pearlGold Deposit - soft reflective golden bronze

Mineralize Eye Shadow - $21.00

Dare to Bare - light cream with gold pearl (frost)Caribbean - rose with pink and red pearl (frost)Tropica - silver blue with purple (frost)Time to Tango - lavender with silver pearl (frost)Cha-Cha-Cha - deep blue green with green pearl (frost)Bossa Blue - royal blue with brown pearl (frost)

Mineralize Blush - $25.00

Sweet Samba - dark pink with tan pearl (frost)Exotic Ember - orange with bronze pearl (frost)Simmer - burnt rose with peach/gold pearl (frost)

Mineralize Rich Lipstick - $22.00

Luxe Naturale - light beige creamDivine Choice - mid-tone cool pink creamLady at Play - mid-tone cool tangerineGlamour Era - mid-tone warm brown frostMidnight Mambo - intense violet

Cremesheen Glass - $20.00

Calypso Beat - pale neutral peachFever Isle - bright red coralJapanese Spring - pale dirty pinkNarcissus - dirty eggplant

Lip Pencil - $15.00

Hip ‘n’ Happy - dirty blue pinkHave to Have It - soft warm beigeAblaze - bright apricotHeroine - bright purple

In Extreme Dimension Lash - $20.00

Kohl Power Eye Pencil - $16.00

Feline - rich blackOrpheus - intense black with gold pearl

MAC Tropical Taboo Collection is available now at all MAC locations and online at maccosmetics.com.

View the original article here