Posted: June 26, 2008

In another move targeted at human beings’ increasing aversion to any sort of physical activity, Japanese wireless carrier NTT DoCoMo has begun testing a line of “wearable” gadgets which could respond to movements as delicate as eye movement.

Rolling your eyes to turn up the volume of a portable music player and tapping your fingers to turn on a DVD player are among the technologies Japan’s top mobile carrier is testing. In one version, sensors and chips inside headphones detect electrical current produced by movements of the wearer’s eyeballs.

NTT DoCoMo believes wearable control technology will be adapted for mobile devices that download music, play video games and allow users to shop online and keep up with their e-mail.

In a demonstration, researcher Hiroyuki Manabe wore a giant headset covered with wires to show how computer graphic lines in a monitor connected to the headset darted wildly whenever his eyes moved. He turned up the volume on a digital music player by rolling his eyes, and he jerked his eyes twice to the right to fast forward.

The new technology may also enable cell phone cameras to read bar codes used in Japan to get product information, download music and coupons when the user simply looks at the codes, researchers said.

Another iteration of the technology appears in a wristwatch that can detect the wearer’s thumb and forefinger tapping together to work as a remote controller for such gadgets as a DVD player.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure how tapping your fingers is any better or easier than pushing a button on a remote; and controlling all of my music with eye movements just seems like it would give me a giant headache, especially the “jerking” motion mentioned here.

Technology has always straddled the line between style and substance. There are countless gadgets whose main purpose is to entertain or impress, rather than fulfill an actual need, but this technology actually doesn’t seem to do either. It doesn’t streamline or improve a process, and I can’t imagine wearing a giant headset or flitting your eyes around wildly is going to score you many “cool” points. The only truly useful application I can think of is technological access for the disabled, but of course there was no mention of that at the demonstration.

I just hope that if this does come out, I will still have the choice of text-messaging with my fingers instead of my nose.

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