Wiimote competing with the SHAKE

Over 30 million people around the world have access to Wii Controller. Nintendo Wii Controller, known as Wiimote (Wii Remote), can be used in computer-based applications without the Nintendo Console. Johnny Chung Lee, from Carnegi Mellon University, has already designed and developed tangible interaction techniques using the Wiimote. His demos are available in YouTube website.

This easy-to-use and publicly available device will open up opportunities to use the Wiimote in the interaction with handheld devices, as it communicates via Bluetooth.

Something less wired

No one likes carrying a big bag of wires or being wired to something when you would like to walk around freely. This problem comes to light in intelligent home project when people like to use remote controls or handheld gadgets to control various objects around. One possible solution is using a new pack of sensors, similar to Phidgets, called ZWave. These gadgets use radio to get around being wired problem, however, ZWave is still new enough that there aren't yet many such gadgets on the market in the UK.

Phidgets and Handheld device

UMPC comes with at least two USB ports, which allow users to access non-standard interaction technologies such as Phidgets. Phidgets Interface package comes with varieties of USB kits and analog sensors. For example, Interface Kit 8/8/8 allows to connect up to 8 analog sensors and 8 digital sensors and real 8 digital input. ServoMotor Kit, LCD text and RFID kit are other popular USB kits.

One problem with phidgets in particular is that using USB, they must be within a certain distance of a computer; people who are interested in making their home intelligent using Phidgets, that is a rather awkward constraint. However, there are many interesting applications built using Phidgets (Videos). Students in Computer Science Department, Swansea University of Wales do main part of their coursework for CS-M79 module using Phidgets.