Quote:3dRudder suggests that the use of a 3dRudder device to control videos frees your hands for other tasks such as “snacking, taking notes, or grabbing a soda.” The company could have come up with less vapid examples, but to be honest, all three suggestions lived up to our satisfaction. In fact, we were surprised at the usefulness of the note-taking concept. 3dRudder’s video control extension allows you to control video playback even if the video window isn’t active and your mouse and keyboard are accessing another application.

You can take notes in Word, and if you need to stop the clip, so you don’t miss details while you jot something down, simply rock your feet backwards to pause it without interrupting your typing. When you’ve caught up with your notes, tilt your feet forward to resume playback. You can also rewind or fast forward videos by rocking the 3dRudder to the left or the right or adjust the volume down with a twist to the left and up with a twist to the right.

Having control over video playback while accessing another application truly empowers multitasking. We also see a lot of potential for accessibility. Foot-based web navigation could be a huge benefit to people who lack mobility in their upper limbs, or amputees who are missing an arm altogether. Simple foot-based gestures to control videos are a neat gimmick to a non-disabled person, but could be a major benefit to a disabled person.

3dRudder’s video control extension is just a simple example of what you can do with the 3dRudder WebSocket server and the JavaScript client. We can’t wait to see what other web functions people create for the 3dRudder peripheral.