I got a chance to check out the new Spurs Engine on the Toshiba Qosmio G45. Toshiba explains it as a cross between the Sony PlayStation 3 and the Wii. It lets you control movie playback up to ten feet away with hand gestures.

So for instance, you can pause the movie by holding out your hand in a “stop” motion. Then you can bring up a menu for scene selection and whatnot and move a dot around the screen like you would a mouse. Doing so requires you to hold your arm up and out away from your face, and then use your thumb as a mouse button (you hold your hand like you would were a remote control in it).

Honestly, it was kind of tricky. The cursor seemed too sensitive, and I ended up giving up before mastering it because my arm hurt. I asked if you could adjust the sensitivity, but they couldn’t answer me just yet. But the woman doing the demo seemed to have it down, so it must not be too long of a learning curve. I suppose if we invested in a Qosmio, we’d get it mastered pretty quickly. And either way, it’s very cool technology, and if it means never searching for the remote, count me in.