But really, is the idea of a data analytics vendor teaming up with a company that has developed a revolutionary user interface that made gaming accessible to a whole new audience so ridiculous?  I don’t think so.  I think it would be great if we could develop a user interface that would allow non technical people to interact with data in an intuitive way.  One of the companies in this area is Perceptive Pixel.  I came across them more than a year ago.  I was looking at interesting ways to visualize data when I saw this video of the mind blowing presentation Jeff Hahn did at TED. 

Jeff founded Perceptive Pixel after his TED presentation.  At the end of 2007 I met up with him in his office which is located on what almost feels like a secret floor in the same building Google occupies in Manhattan.  Jeff told me that initially his main customer was the military.  He wasn’t quite sure what they were using the screens for but the ones he was making at the time were literally bullet proof.  He gave a quick demonstration very much like the one shown in this video.

He also let me play around with it.  I instantly felt like Tom Cruise in Minority Report.  Jeff also said he was working on a deal with CNN to use the screens to cover the 2008 election.  A couple of weeks later I saw John King use his magic wand on CNN for the 1^st time.  Like many others, I became hooked to CNN’s election coverage. 

Today’s shortage in technical talent and abundance of data is creating a real need for instruments that can make data more accessible to non technical people.  Statistics and data-mining can find the information nuggets in large quantities of data.  Data visualization can communicate these often complex insights in a non technical way.  Engaging user interfaces that allow people to explore data intuitively can become another powerful tool to make data more accessible.  Maybe SAS and Nintendo really are on to something here … .