Next-generation Kinect for Windows won't be for the average user

PCWorld - Microsoft has made it official: The new-and-improved Kinect that will ship with the Xbox One later this year will also come to Windows in 2014.

The Windows version will offer the same improvements found in the Xbox One’s Kinect. The device has a wider field of view, better depth detection, an improved noise-canceling microphone, more precise skeletal tracking, and ambient light detection.

But don’t expect Kinect to replace your PC’s mouse and webcam anytime soon. Microsoft still envisions Kinect primarily as a product for businesses and organizations, though the company expects consumers to interact with the motion controller in public places.

“It’s going to be the spaces that are stand-up play spaces similar to the living room experiences,” Bob Heddle, Microsoft’s director of Kinect for Windows, said in an interview. “I would imagine that most consumers will see this in interactive retail screens, for example … virtual product trial is very interesting, things like magic mirrors to try on virtual clothing.”

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The Leap: Soon You Won’t Need a Keyboard or Mouse

Candice Lanier - Just like in the movie, Minority Report, and along the lines of Kinect, people will soon be able to interact with technology via the mere movement of a hand–or finger. After more than five years of development, an amazing technology named The Leap has been developed that synthesizes the shape and movement of the human hand to produce movement onto a computer.

Leap Motion CEO Michael Buckwald is quoted by Mashable as saying:

"We really wanted to build a device that would actually be leaps and bounds better at doing a lot of things that most people want to do with their computers. And in order to do that, you need to be able to track fingers, and you need to be able to do that at a deep, centimeter level.

The underlying method we use is a radical new approach that has never been used before.  It’s simultaneously very inexpensive and also more powerful and more accurate.”

The Leap employs a concept known as Natural User Interface(NUI) in which the use of a tightly-packed cluster of sensors results in a meshed sensor field that can pick up on even very subtle gestures in all five fingers, on each hand, at any given time. “If the useiberty r is looking at a 3D model of something, they should be able to reach out and pick it up and move it,” Buckwald explains.

Read the Rest of the Article at Liberty News

Leap Over The Microsoft Kinect and Interact With Your Computer

 

Forbes - Imagine an iPod sized USB device that creates a 3D interaction space around your laptop or desktop. A physical space where your gestures really do control your computer and you can reach into your hard drive like you do a physical file cabinet. Enter the world of the Leap – a new device where your hand and finger movements are tracked to a measurement thinner than a sheet of paper.

From Leap Motion website:

‘Leap represents an entirely new way to interact with your computers. It’s more accurate than a mouse, as reliable as a keyboard and more sensitive than a touchscreen.  For the first time, you can control a computer in three dimensions with your natural hand and finger movements.

This isn’t a game system that roughly maps your hand movements.  The Leap technology is 200 times more accurate than anything else on the market — at any price point. Just about the size of a flash drive, the Leap can distinguish your individual fingers and track your movements down to a 1/100th of a millimeter.’ 

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Microsoft releases Robotics Developer Studio 4, bring your own Kinect

It’s been available in beta for a few months, but Microsoft has now made the final version of its Robotics Developer Studio 4 toolkit available for download.       More

CES – Kinect for Windows: Five ways to put it to use

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer can get a little wound up about Kinect. (Credit: James Martin/CNET)

Microsoft’s grand plan: Charge developers only for the hardware and give away the software developer kit. It’s all about growing the ecosystem around Kinect. In other words, Kinect is going to be a lot more than fun and games. The company has been sprinkling around hints about what industries will work best for Kinect. Here’s a look at five industries likely to dive head first into Kinect development.

1. Health care. Microsoft clearly sees Kinect as a hospital and health care staple. On ZDNet Health, Denise Amrich noted how Kinect is helping hospitals practice so-called clean techniques. Amrich, an RN, noted that keeping a sterile environment is critical. Kinect is also likely to have surgical applications too. And Kinect is likely to be useful even at the lower end of the healthcare spectrum. The Wii is used in physical therapy. Chances are the Kinect will be too. (Also see: Microsoft foresees roles for Surface 2, Xbox, Kinect in healthcare)
2. Retail. Kinect also seems like a natural fit for the retail industry. Why? It’s a handy way to try things on virtually, browse kiosks and select products. Microsoft is also likely to pair up Kinect technology with its Surface efforts for retail use.                 More