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Will the Computer Mouse Go Away?

technologyreview.com — "A researcher at Stanford has created an alternative to the mouse that allows a person using a computer to click links, highlight text, and scroll simply by looking at the screen and tapping a key on the keyboard. By using standard eye-tracking hardware a doctoral student has developed a novel user interface that is easy to operate."

Who dugg this? Made popular Mar 3, 2007

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  • KraigR, on 10/12/2007, -0/+44hah, i blink too much
  • NoStoppingUs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+36no hands = more por..umm...studying..

    rawr.
  • Arcesius, on 10/12/2007, -1/+33I'm most concerned about what will happen to FPS games.
  • devindotcom, on 10/12/2007, -2/+33Does anyone even WANT the mouse to go away? It's an excellent input device. Other interfaces will be great... for other things where mice are not practical.
  • superal1394, on 10/12/2007, -4/+28this is a problem for people like me who have ADD and constantly flick aroudn the whole screen, typing, and ill look off to my buddy list, read away messages, look off the screen for a few moments, ect.

    this wont go anywhere, the mouse is here to stay
  • wonderchemist, on 10/12/2007, -1/+25"simply by **looking** at the screen and and **tapping*** a key on the keyboard"

    So, I'm guessing this won't work for all the people who have to look at the keyboard to tap a key?
  • alpinestarless, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17If you're blind I wouldn't worry about the mouse problem at the moment :)
  • Sneakernets, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17Mouse? go away? naaah.
  • cankillar, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16I tested something similar at the University of Washington a year ago. When I used it, you sat your chin on a stand and an infrared beam bounced off your eye and a device tracked the reflection. It worked well, the techies said they used it to track where people look on webpages at ads, etc. It was quite cool. You clicked by blinking.
  • kakwakas, on 10/12/2007, -4/+18The nipplemouse? Those things drive me crazy.
  • mikesbaker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12and me with my fing lazy eye. When you speak to me I see you and the floor.
  • Mushaboom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Think about trying to change a picture's settings in Photoshop, you wouldn't be able to see the changes if you are looking at a bar on the right of the screen.
  • Akaji, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Nipplemouse... interesting name. I've always called them eraser mice (since they look like the nub erasers on pencils)
  • mfratt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9This is a feature that I wouldn't mind to be used in conjunction with a mouse, so I can go back when the situation requires it. I would hate to have the mouse constantly following my eyes though.
  • Salgat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I don't want my curser to follow everywhere I look.
  • konig12, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I don't think blind people use a mouse in the first place. Doesn't that require visual feedback?
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Exactly....peopel are always talking about a device that is going to be replaced, but no one comes up with a reason why they sHOULD be replaced. No one is looking to replace their mouse. No matter how good the next concept is, no one will care. Using a mouse is not some huge hardship.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10You'd probably have to use the keyboard for shooting, unless you blinked to shoot, in which case, "spray and pray" would get a whole new meaning.
  • Vladamir, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11this is pretty cool, but wouldn't the infrared light that watches your eye movements give you cataracts from staring at it for so long?
  • JPhilipson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Lets get voice recognition down and then worry about eye tracking...
  • d722002, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10@Vladimir

    Explain to me how you can see infrared, then i'll tell you if you'll get cataracts.
  • RpgActioN, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7"You'd probably have to use the keyboard for shooting, unless you blinked to shoot, in which case, "spray and pray" would get a whole new meaning."

    Sometimes I think they're already closing their eyes anyways.
  • jasonlion54, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9It's called a G-spot, guys. Sheesh. It's right below the G key.
  • justintsmith, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6*blink*

    BOOM HEADSHOT!!!
  • Ayavaron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I always called it a nubbin. They're fun to use.
  • DeFex, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7It certainly would be interesting to try and fly a helicopter in bf2 with that.

    "WTF are you doing n00b!"
  • Insanitation, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6heh my pointer would always be one the pron adds.
  • WasabiBomb, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I work with a mouse all day long. I'd love to not have to worry about developing carpal tunnel/RSI like a lot of my coworkers, ya know?
  • EmperorAwesome, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I remember this one episode of sliders where they had these things you wore on your head, and you blinked to click. I'd really hate to not be in control of my clicking.
  • varaon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Laser vision in the next Superman game? FPS players twitch their mice around so much that their eyes would fall out if they tried using the same techniques!
  • stalefries, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Anyone else think this would be great for FPSs, especially as a sniper? No need to worry about the DPI on your mouse and such, just look and blink (or click, whatever)!
  • KibibyteBrain, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5My laptop has a nipplemouse and a touchpad. I used to whole-heartedly hate the nipplemouse in general until I started using the terminal more and more in Linux as my center of business. Now i love it in Ubuntu because it lets me keep my hands on the keyboard at all times. But I still totally hate the thing when I boot into Vista as it redefines clunky for interacting with full GUIs.
  • KibibyteBrain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The mouse will probably stick around for quite some time as a gaming device as well as for other special applications(CAD). But it has to go on the desktop as it is becoming clunky and most importantly costs millions of years in damages due to RSIs and goodness only knows how much a corresponding fall in productivity. Many companies might want to move away from the mouse to an even less ideal device to avoid RSI expenses.
  • archemedes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4And another thing, you'll probably have to clamp a chin rest onto your computer table just to keep your head still.
  • edto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I believe their will always be a use for the mouse, but we will see touchscreen more commonly used as time progresses since its just more natural for us.
  • M4tt3r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Pictures.
    http://www.technologyreview.com/player/07/03/02Greene/1.aspx
  • Dumbledorito, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I'm so glad Marty Feldman didn't live to see this day.
  • robohoe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Eye hax ftw!
  • mscman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Is it not already?
  • chinaman1472, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2So instead of clicking your mouse, you get to strike keys on the keyboard!
  • kingygk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Great now we can look forward to carpal tunnel of the eye!
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Why am I getting dugg down ? Did I say something wrong ?
  • Lane, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2i honestly dont believe my head and therefore eyes would be still enough for any kind of precision work, be it photoshoping that one nasty little white pixel out of the 1,000,000 that happens to be taking up my screen at one time.
  • chicbicyclist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Some sort of touch screen thing or hand gesture thinggie would probably be more practical than using your eye. I would bet money on the touch screen though. People like tactile things.
  • 1randomnumber, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I love my trackball, requres no room on my desk, plus, in fps or any other application for that matter, if you want to spin around or move to the other side of the screen quickly, just spin the ball and let your fingers off for a bit, and away you go.
  • cracell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1although I'd go pick up something that would make this work on my computer for 50 bucks in a heartbeart....

    How is that going to replace my mouse? I don't think I could draw with my eyes could I...I imagine scriggly lines.

    But like webbrowsers with yours eyes would be very cool. Especially when doing tasks that require your keyboard type stuff.

    oh just occupied with my hands....or like in a game my eyes control where my character looks and my mouse can click on stuff or something....I don't know.
  • zephc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The least P.C. term I've heard for it is the *****/mouse *****/computer *****
  • ellisgl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@cankillar: Why does CueCat come to mind?
  • JudgeDredd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't see that as being especially suited for doing things like photo editing.
  • Atomic1fire, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1what about lighting
    if the camera cant point out your eye then what use is it
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