With a host of improvements rumoured for the next Kinect, it’s a little surprising to see that there’s still room for the current Kinect to get better: Microsoft has added face tracking capabilities to Kinect through a software update. Which means, Kinect will be able to read and react to your facial expressions.
Gesture control as we know it is rudimentary at best. But a new San Francisco startup called Leap Motion has just announced a new 3D motion control system that its claims is 200 times more accurate than anything else on the market—and it’s set to cost just US$70.
The Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts is the birthplace of some incredibly weird and wonderful creative technology. This year we’ve already seen a descriptive camera that spits out words rather than images. Today, at the ITP 2012 Spring Show, that was joined by a couple or other memorable projects.
Rumour: the Xbox will get a full version of Internet Explorer. More rumours: it will rely heavily on Kinect controls, for Minority Report-style operation and voice control. Even more rumours: no date on launching date yet. [The Verge]
Kinect has drawn a huge amount of interest — not just from gamers but computer scientists, engineers and artists. Now, it seems Microsoft is branching out, because one of its latest research projects offers gesture control powered by just a computer’s speakers, microphone and some inaudible sound.
Technology is transforming the way kids play and learn. But this new sand box is a complete revelation: using Kinect to gather depth information it teaches kids about topography and can even simulate water without making a mess.
If you’ve ever wondered what a Kinect with DSLR image resolution might be like… well, you’ll have to wait. But for now, this is the next best thing: called RGBDToolkit, it’s a project designed to layer HD video over Kinect’s depth maps. And it’s pretty neat.
That swanky surround-sound system might have eight point one channels, but you’ve got to be sitting at their precise focal point to get the full effect. This newly-filed Microsoft patent application will track listeners throughout the room and provide 3D audio regardless of their position.
Ever felt like wearing Barbie’s wardrobe? I can’t say I have, but then I’m truly not the target market in any way shape or form. Still, while the marketing is lost on me, Australian Barbie fans will soon get to live out their dressup fantasies via Kinect.
Some projects are just dazzling in their scale — like this Kinect hack, that allowed Giz reader Chris Vik to control the pipe organ at Melbourne’s Town Hall using only his hands.
