The WiiBoard WhiteBoard

October 2, 2009

Video by Gary Olsen

Okay, this is an experiment in how fast yours truly can get a video up on the Web site. I witnessed a spectacular new technology demonstrated by Steve Puls and Jeremy Bushman of our IT Department. I was going to write about it, but my prose would not have done this justice. You have got to see it to believe it. I shot the video at 1:15 PM on Friday, October 2, and I had it on the Web by 3 PM. It took a little while because I wanted to do a little animation to add production value. Without that step I would have had the video on the site within 30 to 45 minutes.

got this email a couple of days ago telling me Steve Puls, our network administrator in IT, was going to do a demo for tech mentors on the topic of the Wii (yes the Nintendo Wii) interface for digital white board technology. It's called "WiiBoard" but don't confuse it with the WiiFit board. It's actually an amalgamation of technologies and vendors that combine to turn a laptop and projector into the most incredible presentation tools ever invented, the digital whiteboard.

This accessory actually takes the Wii remote control, the "WiiMote," as we like to call it, and it interfaces it with the laptop computer and a digital projector using Bluetooth technology. Focus the projector on a whiteboard (which nearly every classroom has unless it's old enough to have a black or green board), aim the WiiMote on a spot in the center of the board, and you're in business.

You use a digital pen technology that makes marks on the board, but also you can open windows, demonstrate software, log on to the Internet, open a drawing program, etc. You have, for $110, something a lot better than a digital whiteboard on which you can turn the entire wall into a computer screen, drawing board, create and manipulate drawings, open multiple applications, and God knows what all.

While on this topic, when I told this story to a friend of mine over the weekend, and he told me there are all sorts of emerging applications involving the unique characteristics of the WiiMote. "Just go on YouTube and do a search on 'WiiMote,' and see what you get. It's amazing." There are do-it-yourself 3D modeling programs, body tracing programs that allow your computer to react to head, hand or body movement, and there's even an application that allows you to interface in a unique way with Google Earth. You gotta see the video. There are also videos demonstrating this interactive whiteboard technology.

Now I am not going to say another word about this technology in this column. Instead, I shot a video of the demo that Steve did, and I am posting it as our first "Bright Ideas" video blog. Click on the frame in the right column above. It's short. Enjoy.

--G.O.