Kinect For Windows SDK Beta Details

The new Kinect for Windows SDK that will release later this Spring can do a lot more than just control an armchair, Microsoft recently released a few new details on the SDK that will no doubt help boost the Kinect’s currently slim game library.

According to Microsoft “With this SDK, you’ll be able to take advantage of:

• The latest advances in audio processing, which include a four-element microphone array with sophisticated acoustic noise and echo cancellation for crystal clear audio.
• Sound source localization for beamforming, which enables the determination of a sound�s spatial location, enhancing reliability when integrated with the Microsoft speech recognition API.
• Depth data, which provides the distance of an object from the Kinect camera, as well as the raw audio and image data, which together open up opportunities for creating richer natural user interface experiences.
• Highly performant and robust skeletal tracking capabilities for determining the body positions of one or two persons moving within the Kinect field of view.
• Documentation for the APIs and a description of the SDK architecture.
• Sample code that demonstrates how to use the functionality in the SDK.

This SDK is intended for non-commercial use to enable experimentation in the world of natural user interface experiences, with new state-of-the-art features planned for future releases that will continue to provide new ways to experiment.”

 

• Source: Microsoft
• By: kareem@techsual.com

Kinect, Netflix Support Finally Available

So now you don’t even have to go through all the trouble of lifting up a controller and pressing buttons in order to get to and navigate Netflix on your Xbox.

You can expect to be prompted for the update next time you start up Netflix, once downloaded you'll be able to yell at your TV and wave your hands around in order to navigate through  your instant queue and stuff recommended to you by Netflix. The update also will allow users to play, stop, fast forward, rewind and pause video as it’s playing as well.

• Source: PC Mag
• By: Kareem@techsual.com

Microsoft Shows off at MIX 11 With A Kinect Powered Chair

Image VIA crunchgear

Sure there have been tons of Kinect hacks that do things from let you play a very tiring game of Street Fighter to saving doctors thousands of dollars on body mapping hardware, and at MIX 11 Microsoft showed off  an armchair that can be controlled by the Kinect, and could this be the evolution of wheelchairs?

Microsoft, unlike Sony didn’t go out and sue people for getting creative with their hardware, they didn’t mind the open-source drivers that allowed you to hook up your Kinect to your computer and possible play pirated games, most likely because they understand that stealing software isn’t the only thing on every hackers mind and when you let ‘em have at, amazing things happen.

Hell they even decided to go all out and release an SDK for the Kinect to make it easier for people to hack the ish out of the motion-sensing-dual-camera badass little device. They used the upcoming Kinect PC SDK to create the armchair you see in the picture above.  The SDK supports development in Visual Basic, C++, and C#.

According to crunchgear the chair is only a proof of concept, controlled by hand motions and Microsoft will be releasing the source code with the SDK.

• Source: Crunch Gear
• Author: kareem@techsual.com

Kinect Sales Pass 10 Million

Microsoft is saying that their Kinect device has sold more than 10 million units since it’s release Nov 4th 2010.

The device has been used for much more than just playing games though, doctors have used it to help with imaging,  other people have done all sorts of other pretty wild hacks from playing street fighter to holographic projections.

So congrats to Microsoft, keep up the good work on that front ‘cause lord knows it might be all you got.

Kinect Saves Doctors Tens of Thousands Of Dollars

 

Who ever said games never helped anybody.

Doctors are using the Xbox Kinect in order to create 3d scans for surgical robots. This technique usually costs around 50,000$, however doctors are getting practically the same results with a 150$ Kinect and a little hacked software.

Check the link for the full article.

Article: Turning Microsoft's $150 Kinect Into a $50,000 Piece of Surgical Equipment

Technorati Tags: Kinect,Microsoft,Surgical Robots,Robotics

Kinect Augmented Reality Hack (holodeck just around the corner)

Yes, it's another kinect hack, but this one is pretty awesome.
Kinect hacking team Kimchi and Chips made a Kinect hack to have some fireball-tossin-augmented-reality fun that looks to me like a precursor to some real fun holodeck action in the future.

Check the vid

Kinect Hadouken from Elliot Woods on Vimeo.

Video:Kinect + Street Fighter IV = Hella Cool

 

Yet another Kinect hack. But this ones special. An ambitious Kinect user has mashed up Street Fighter IV and Kinect, allowing users to live out their dreams of throwing fireballs and performing super uppercuts.

Check the vid below