Kinect

PrimeSense, the company behind Kinect's 3D sensor, is teaming up with Taiwanese manufacturer ASUS to bring us what might be the next big motion-control entertainment system for consumers. The WAVI Xtion (pronounced "WAVI action") utilizes a pair WAVI boxes to stream media from PC to TV and an Xtion sensor near your TV set to to bring gesture control into the mix.  Read More

The development of open source drivers for Microsoft's Kinect motion-controller is already opening up new (if not entirely unpredictable) applications for the device. This example, developed by members of the Virtopsy research project at the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the University of Bern in Switzerland, is a functional prototype using Kinect that provides users with a hands-free way to review radiological images.  Read More

Once open source drivers for Microsoft’s Kinect were created, it was inevitable the device would be put to use in a virtual sex game. With it around a month since such drivers started appearing, ThriXXX, a company responsible for a range of 3D sex games that are already compatible with a number of sex toy peripherals, has now produced a video demo of a Kinect being used to virtually fondle a number of computer generated ladies.  Read More

It's time for our annual selection of the most coveted, clever and fun consumer tech products that you – or even better, a generous loved one – can get your hands on this Christmas. From wireless audio to actioncams and RC flyers, these are some of the items we'd like to be unwrapping this year.  Read More

In the 2002 movie Minority Report, part of the “way out there” 2054 technology was a computer system that Tom Cruise navigated his way through via arm and hand gestures. That technology – minus the holograms – has now officially arrived 44 years ahead of schedule, thanks to the design team at tech firm Evoluce. With support from Microsoft, the company has created prototype software which allows Microsoft’s Kinect gesture-based video gaming platform to control Windows 7 applications. PC-users will likely soon be able to “swim” through Google Earth images, write on-screen messages in the air, and surf the Internet without cramping their mousing hand.  Read More

The race to claim the bounty offered by Adafruit for open source drivers for Microsoft’s Kinect has been run and won. The winner is hacker Hector Martin whose achievement of producing drivers to pull depth and RGB camera data from a Kinect is made even more impressive by the fact that it came just three hours after the European launch of the device.  Read More

It’s only just been released in North America and already there is a move to hack Microsoft’s Kinect motion controller to allow it to be used on systems other than the Xbox 360. As part of its Open Kinect (OK) project, New York-based open-source hardware developer, Adafruit, is offering a US$2,000 bounty to anyone who can produce some open source drivers capable of getting the RGB out and distance values captured by the USB device.  Read More

All eyes were on Microsoft at the Tokyo Game Show at Makuhari Messe this weekend, as the company was featuring the new Kinect for Xbox motion controller system, formerly known as Project Natal. The Xbox booth occupied a mammoth chunk of real estate on the show floor, with multiple demonstration areas set up to give Tokyo a look at this fancy new toy.  Read More

Microsoft has just announced the successor to the storage-less Xbox 360 Arcade, the creatively-named Xbox 360 4GB, which features 4GB of internal flash memory, built-in 802.11n WiFi and a casual-friendly price of US$199.99.  Read More