Thalmic Labs has announced a $149 armband called MYO that detects motion and muscle movements to allow control of a Mac, PC, or other device using gestures (via The Next Web).



The demo video shows someone scrolling by waving two fingers in the air (mimicking the standard OS X trackpad gesture), snapping fingers to start iTunes playing, rotating a fist to increase the volume, holding up a hand in a 'stop' motion to pause a video, gesturing backwards to rewind a video and snapping fingers to play the video. The demo also illustrates a variety of other uses for the device, from delivering a presentation to controlling a remotely-operated vehicle.

Very cool and impressive. I hope this finds its way into our future soon - Steve Wozniak

Unlike Microsoft Kinect, no camera is required, but the armband approach means it will work only with gestures made with one hand rather than detecting whole-body movements.

MYO, which connects via Bluetooth, claims to work out of the box with Mac and Windows machines with APIs promised for iOS and Android developers.

The MYO is available to pre-order with limited quantities available for a late 2013 launch.