Elliptic Labs brings Minority Report interface to the iPad

If you liked the Minority Report interface demonstrated on Microsoft's Kinect motion controller, you'll like this one for Apple's iPad. Norwegian company Elliptic Labs is going to demo its touchless user interface for iPads at CES 2011. For now, we'll have to make do with the video embedded below.

"The idea is that you use touchless gestures to operate primary functions of a docked tablet in situations like when you have wet or greasy hands in the kitchen," Elliptic Labs CEO Stian Aldrin told Mobile Magazine. "In general tablets are made for being handheld. When it is docked you are often walking or standing further away, and then using a finger on the screen involves a change of modality. Rather than bending down, leaning forward or picking it up you can use larger movements a little bit further away to do things like volume up or next song without changing modality."

The technology emits an ultrasound field around the device that detects your hand movements and takes them into account. The iPad has a small screen, so standing back and using it without touching it seems a little pointless. Aldrin does, however, mention one use case that makes soem sense: when you're cooking and you're using the iPad to look at a recipe. Can you think of any others?

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EA: microtransactions are more profitable than in-game ads

In an interview with Edge, Electronic Arts revealed that in-game ads aren't as profitable as originally expected. Ben Cousins, EA's general manager of free-to-play operations, told the publication that the mega-publisher "[isn't] getting much from ad revenue at all," and that the in-game advertising model hasn't grown as quickly as people expected it to. Instead, Cousins explained that microtransactions are more profitable.

EA tested both models with its free-to-play cartoony shooter Battlefield Heroes, and while virtual sales exploded, advertisements have been somewhat of a flop. "If you think about how fast the virtual goods business has grown in the last year or so, it's been much quicker and become a much more reliable source of revenue," Cousins said in reference to Farmville, which has been wildly successful thanks to microtransactions.

EA plans to release a new free-to-play Battlefield title called "Battlefield Play4Free" next spring, which will ditch Battlefield Heroes' cartoonish graphics and allow gamers to purchase items and upgrades with real money. Play4Free will scale up to 32 players, support vehicular combat, and include popular maps from Battlefield 2 as well as the classes and factions in Bad Company 2. You can register to become a beta tester on the official site.

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