Opera Software has unveiled its newest feature to be included in
Opera 10 — Face Gestures. Opera Face Gestures enable anyone with a
webcam to control their browser moving only their face. Based on the
same architecture as Opera’s Mouse Gestures, the technology grew out
of a collaborative project between Opera and the Norwegian
Intelligence Service (NIS) to create advanced facial-recognition
technology using only JavaScript, HTML and CSS.
“In 2001, we introduced Mouse Gestures in Opera 5.1. At that point we
knew we were on to something,” says Jon von Tetzchner, Opera CEO. “We
already had keyboard shortcuts in the very first version of Opera,
but once we introduced voice control in Opera 8 we had only one input
mechanism left–the face. Opera Face Gestures represent the next
frontier in browser control.”
Opera Face Gestures include more than 45 controls, from opening new
tabs to restoring sessions to navigating through a web page. Opera
Face Gestures are so advanced you can compose and send an entire
e-mail message through Opera’s built-in e-mail client, says von
Tetzchner. Even Mouse Gestures can be triggered with Opera Face
Gestures. To activate Opera Face Gestures simply press the single-key
shortcut F8.
For more information on using Opera Face Gestures, including a video
and list of known gestures, visit
http://labs.opera.com/news/2009/04/01/