Ever since the Wii debuted nerds everywhere have been hacking the console trying to make it do really cool things. So far several have done some really cool stuff with the Wii remote. These hacks will definitely change the way we interact with virtual environments and computers.

The first Wii hack that is really cool is the Head Tracking for Desktop VR Displays hack by Johnny Chung Lee. He has other hacks but I like this one the best. Basically it turns your TV into a virtual reality display. As you move your head the perspective on the screen changes. Here is a video showing you what I mean.

As far as applying this to real-world I see this affecting video games more than anything. This could give a gamer a more realistic experience. It could also be useful for doing virtual tours. I'm sure there are more applications it would be useful but I can't think of any.

The next one is turning your monitor into a touch sensitive screen like in the movie The Minority Report. Here is a video:

This is really cool. I can see this being a very big deal. Gaming can take advantage of it. Something as simple as card games could use this. You could actually pick up your hand of cards and lay down a card and even shuffle. Gaming environments can become completely interactive as far as picking up and manipulating objects. Drawing applications could use a virtual pencil/pen/paintbrush and you can actually draw. Of course manipulating photos like on the video is a neat feature. Very cool stuff.

The next one has been out for a while and is not a Wii hack although the previous hack is emulating this next piece of cool technology. It is made by Microsoft and is called the Microsoft Surface. It is basically a coffee table with a touch screen but can be used for just more than a touch screen. Here is a video:

This thing has all kinds of possibilities and I would love to have one but it has a hefty price tag. My kids would go ape shit over it. It would be quite a conversation piece as well. People would come to your house just to play with it.

Last but not least some news from Microsoft regarding their next version of Windows currently codenamed Windows 7. They are expecting this OS to be released in the second half of 2009. This just goes to show you that Vista was a bad move on Microsoft's part. Vista is reminding me of the dreaded ME version of Windows. Windows 7 is supposed to be a complete overhaul of the kernel which is way overdue. Rumors of WinFS are emerging as well which was supposed to be part of Vista. A sleeker user interface is also part of Windows 7. 7 will probably be just as visually stunning as Vista and MacOS. Hopefully Windows 7 will be worth upgrading to. I'm happy with XP but you need a change every once in a while.

So there you go, a quick down and dirty technology update. I should do these more often. If you think that is a good idea let me know and maybe I can come up with a weekly schedule or something.