Accelerometers are not new technology since they have been around in several devices. Apple MacBook just to make one well known example.
Since the launch of the iPhone it seems that every mobile phone manufacturer has gone wild with this technology.
You can also find one in the Nokia N95 and Nokia has recently released the Accelerometer SDK that allows developers to use this little piece of hardware in their own application.
As it always happens creative people have started to leverage this technology to develop new applications.
It is the case of NiiMee Mouse and NiiMee Wheel that will transform your Nokia N95 in a mouse for your Personal Computer and in a wheel for your hard core video games need.
As I can read from their web site NiiMee Wheel and NiiMee Mouse have been developed by Asier Arranz.
You may have a look at two video of these applications by clicking here.
Great idea and perfect sample of unconventional innovation.
And so I wonder, what is your opinion about this. Does this have a real future, or does it stay a hack?
IMHO these projects could be embryonic forms of physical computing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_computing) and may fundamentally change the dictionary of interaction design as we currently use.
I definitely think this is the future. A lot of revolutionary things start as a hack and then go mainstream.
As always the power of the mobile phone is that is almost always with you and if it will be able to interact with the physical world more than today it will really open a new era in interaction design.
We probably should start studying this right now if we want to be there.
Btw, thanks for the comment 🙂