An emerging trend in technology this year is -- in the immortal words of television show "Arrested Development" -- "No Touching!"
Yes, a growing number of technology companies seem to be hard at work inventing new ways for us to control our smartphones, tablets, laptops and televisions without having to touch them at all. We're not talking about voice control, like the imaginative Siri app on Apple's iPhone 4S; we're talking about gesture control, the ability of a gadget to "watch" your movements and manipulate the on-screen content based on the motions you make.
Companies large (Microsoft, Sony) and small (Flutter.io, Mark's Think Tank) are innovating in this arena, and the results thus far have dazzled and given great hope for a touchless future.
Below, we've gathered nine of the coolest, most innovative, impressive, downright magical gesture-control technologies that you can either buy or try right now. It's a hodgepodge -- including free smartphone apps that you can download today, and an incredible next-generation arcade game that will run you into the five figures -- but all of them are united by a common thread: The ability to manipulate a gadget's screen without touching the gadget itself and to make your mouth hang open.
In every case, regardless of price, the reaction, I think, should be awe: This is the stuff of sci-fi and concept videos, and you can try it all for yourself. Click through the slideshow (probably with that -- giggle -- computer mouse of yours) and try one of these touchless control applications yourself. Hope your floor is clean, because your jaw's about to smack it:
