We introduce ChairMX, on-chair input technology for novel interactive media consumption experiences through the chair. ChairMX is the end result of an elaborate four-stage research and development process involving a systematic literature review of the extent in which chairs have been used in interactive systems, involvement of potential end users to elicit their preferences for on-chair input, engineering on-chair gesture input recognition technology with wearables, and exploration of application opportunities. By leveraging a ring-like form factor wearable, ChairMX is a readily deployable technology, working for uninstrumented chairs everywhere and enabling a variety of use case scenarios involving interactive media consumption, from the living room to public environments.

We present “fingerhints,” on-finger kinesthetic feedback represented by hyper-extension movements of the index finger, bypassing user agency, for notifications delivery. To this end, we designed a custom-made finger-augmentation device, which leverages mechanical force to deliver fingerhints as programmable hyper-extensions of the index finger. We evaluate fingerhints with 21 participants, and report good usability, low technology creepiness, and moderate to high social acceptability. In a second study with 11 new participants, we evaluate the wearable comfort of our fingerhints device against four commercial finger- and hand-augmentation devices. Finally, we present insights from the experience of one participant, who wore our device for eight hours during their daily life. We discuss the user experience of fingerhints in relation to our participants’ personality traits, finger dexterity levels, and general attitudes toward notifications, and present implications for interactive systems leveraging on-finger kinesthetic feedback for on-body computing.