Designers are ditching the mouse for the Flow controller (opens in new tab)

Amazing lack of proof for the assertion in the title.

That said, dials, and especially jog/shuttle (although this isn't quite one of those), are something that once you've had are annoying to live without. Video editors, music production equipment etc. have them for a reason, and that is you get much more feedback through your fingers making fast but precise changes much more achievable than by other means.

Griffin did this before ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffin_PowerMate ) and there have even been peripherals for good old UNIX workstations like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dial_box .

In other news, the suit is back!

http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html

I would love to see some more compelling use cases because I happen to love big metal knobs, but the examples he showed can already be done using mouse scroll wheels.

I thought "Palette" Kick Starter project was more compelling because it clearly demonstrated specific use cases that would make users more productive in a way not possible with existing input devices.

Use keyboard & mouse shortcuts. Want to change songs on spotify? spend some money on a gaming mouse and set an extra mouse button to skip songs. I use a Vengeance M65 and use my thumb to go to next/previous song. I then have extra middle buttons to pause/un-pause.

leaving your hand on the mouse and using the extra buttons is faster than having to lift your hand from its resting position. The way the demo shows they keep taking their hands off. Is it super sensitive that you can't rest your hand on it?

You are not going to replace a wacom tablet for designers.

I fail to see the benefits of using this over keyboard shortcuts, mouse, and a wacom tablet (many keyboards and tablets also have programmable buttons.) My setup is currently keboard + mouse on a keyboard tray and wacom tablet on the table and I have never felt a need to turn a dial for lack of precision. I guess it's an alternative though?