Kinect-Enabled Laptops In The Works

Kinect has received arguably more attention online from some of the clever "hacks" PC developers have made, and Microsoft were quick to offer an official SDK for development of PC Kinect software. But not everyone has the room to put a big Kinect sensor next to their monitor, and it makes even less sense for portable computers, a huge market for their upcoming Windows 8 OS.

A source at Microsoft has confirmed to The Daily that Microsoft are going to allow Kinect hardware to be built directly into devices, with two Asus netbook prototypes spotted featuring an array of sensors above the screen where a webcam would typically sit, as well as LED's below the display. The Daily also notes that Microsoft will likely licence the Kinect technology to hardware manufactures, as it does with Windows software currently, rather than make them in-house.


As the Kinect hacks show, there is clearly a lot to be done with Kinect in this space, and it is far from restricted to gaming. With the Windows 8 beta launching next month, as well as the Windows Store, could we see our first officially released Kinect for PC software? It's clearly heading that way, and with rumors of Kinect enabled TV's and set-top boxes coming in the near future, Microsoft is betting big on the technology.

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Kinect Sells 18 Million, Heading To Windows In February

In their final keynote speech at CES this year Microsoft announced that Kinect has sold an impressive 18 million units since it launched back in November 2011. Amazing numbers for any device, let alone a peripheral launched this late into the console generation. Microsoft were also pleased to announce strong Kinect sales on the back of the Xbox 360's strongest year, having sold 66 million units worldwide in total, trumping the Wii to become the best selling console in North America.

They also announced at the event that Kinect For Windows, unveiled late last year, will be available in limited quantities from February 1st in 12 countries (United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, United Kingdom) for a suggested retail price of $249.99.

Included in the price is the slightly updated Kinect for Windows sensor, which includes a shortened USB cable to ensure reliability across a broad range of computers and the inclusion of a small dongle to improve coexistence with other USB peripherals. Of particular interest to developers will be the new firmware which enables the depth camera to see objects as close as 50 centimeters in front of the device without losing accuracy or precision, with graceful degradation down to 40 centimeters. The price also includes a one-year warranty, access to ongoing software updates for both speech and human tracking, and continued investment in Kinect for Windows-based software advancements.

Check out the full Microsoft blog post on the Kinect For Windows announcement. We can't wait to see how smaller developers make use of Kinect in innovative and unique ways, and hopefully we'll all have a chance to check out some Kinect For Windows applications once the Windows Store launches with Windows 8 this year.

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Microsoft Releasing Kinect For Windows Hardware, Launching Accelerator Program

It's clear that Kinect is going to play a major part in Microsoft's future. They're setting it up to be a major component of the future of computer and home entertainment interaction, and gaming is only the beginning.

Now they're releasing a Kinect specifically for the PC to aid developers in their creation of software. The SDK of course works with the Xbox Kinect hardware, but the Windows hardware differs in a few small but important areas.

Simple changes include shortening the USB cable to ensure reliability across a broad range of computers and the inclusion of a small dongle to improve coexistence with other USB peripherals.  Of particular interest to developers will be the new firmware which enables the depth camera to see objects as close as 50 centimeters in front of the device without losing accuracy or precision, with graceful degradation down to 40 centimeters.  “Near Mode” will enable a whole new class of “close up” applications, beyond the living room scenarios for Kinect for Xbox 360.

This is one of the most requested features from the many developers and companies participating in our Kinect for Windows pilot program and folks commenting on our forums, and we’re pleased to deliver this, and more, at launch.

Microsoft are also launching the Kinect Accelerator project, which will see them give 10 start-up companies using Kinect for either Xbox 360 or PC $20,000 after a competitive screening process. The 10 winning companies will also get an Xbox development kit, the Windows Kinect SDK, office space, all the resources of BizSpark, technical training and support, and mentorship from entrepreneurs, investors and Microsoft executives intensely focused on making their business a success.

Any Kinect-enabled application on Windows or Xbox that can be a commercial business is valid to apply, from education to healthcare, art installations to gaming, social to interactive play. The deadline is January 25th, 2012 and you can apply now by clicking here.

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Kinect For Windows SDK Update Released

The software development kit allowing developers to create Kinect applications for the PC using Microsoft's tools was released earlier this year, and Microsoft have kicked off a brand new website introducing the newest release of the SDK.

New features include:

• Faster and Improved Skeletal Tracking
With updates to the multi-core exemplar, Kinect for Windows is now 20% faster than it was in the last release. Also, the accuracy rate of skeletal tracking and joint recognition has been substantially improved. 

• Status Change Support
You can now plug and unplug your Kinect without losing work/productivity. 

• Improved Joint Tracking
Substantially improve the accuracy rate of joint recognition and tracking.

And it of course still comes with all of the documentation, raw sensor stream access, voice recognition and a whole host of features that help developers to get Kinect to do what they want it to do.

The commercial SDK, letting businesses and developers create software to work in and potentially revolutionize entire industries, is still scheduled for an early 2012 release.

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The Kinect Effect - Microsoft Celebrates Kinect's One-Year Anniversary, Announces Commercial SDK

On November 4th Kinect will have its first birthday and Microsoft are kicking off the week by celebrating the "Kinect Effect", the burst of innovative and often unexpected applications for the device spanning an array of industries and far exceeding its initial unveiling as a gaming platform.

Microsoft clearly sees hands-free interaction with computers as an important part of our future, and their plans with Kinect are just getting started. As well as the huge support from TV and entertainment content providers coming later this holiday season, Microsoft are set to launch the Kinect For Windows commercial program early next year.

The commercial program will give businesses the tools to develop applications that not only could improve their own operations, but potentially revolutionize entire industries. To date, more than 200 businesses worldwide -- including Toyota, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Razorfish -- have joined a Kinect for Windows pilot program to begin exploring the possibilities of Kinect. While no one knows what the future holds, if the past year is any indication, it’s going to be inspiring.

Kinect has inspired creativity inside the company says Kevin Schofield, general manager of Microsoft Research, which played a key role in developing Kinect. In Microsoft Research alone, several people are working on refining Kinect’s existing capabilities and enabling it to do more. For example, researchers are now looking to build a library of common Kinect gestures that Microsoft can share with developers to help their projects move more quickly.

“These things are just on a steady treadmill, they just keep getting better and better,” he says. “The underlying technology is just going to get better, and having the product out on the market accelerates the whole process.”

Read the full press release on Major Nelsons blog, and check out xbox.com/kinecteffect for a look at the variety of ways Kinect is being used today, and how it will be used in the near future.

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Kinect for Windows SDK Beta Available Now!

As expected, Microsoft have unveiled the Kinect for Windows Software Development Kit, allowing anyone to create software utilizing Kinect on their PC. The current SDK is a non-commercial beta, and can be download by anyone for free here. Check out the full details below!

The Kinect for Windows SDK beta is a programming toolkit for application developers. It enables the academic and enthusiast communities easy access to the capabilities offered by the Microsoft Kinect device connected to computers running the Windows 7 operating system.

The Kinect for Windows SDK beta includes drivers, rich APIs for raw sensor streams and human motion tracking, installation documents, and resource materials. It provides Kinect capabilities to developers who build applications with C++, C#, or Visual Basic by using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010.

This SDK includes the following features:

• Raw sensor streams - Access to raw data streams from the depth sensor, color camera sensor, and four-element microphone array enables developers to build upon the low-level streams that are generated by the Kinect sensor.
• Skeletal tracking - The capability to track the skeleton image of one or two people moving within the Kinect field of view make it easy to create gesture-driven applications.
• Advanced audio capabilities - Audio processing capabilities include sophisticated acoustic noise suppression and echo cancellation, beam formation to identify the current sound source, and integration with the Windows speech recognition API.
• Sample code and documentation - The SDK includes more than 100 pages of technical documentation. In addition to built-in help files, the documentation includes detailed walkthroughs for most samples provided with the SDK.
• Easy installation - The SDK installs quickly, requires no complex configuration, and the complete installer size is less than 100 MB. Developers can get up and running in just a few minutes with a standard standalone Kinect sensor unit (widely available at retail outlets).

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Watch a Special Kinect Event Live Tomorrow. Update: Confirmed SDK Beta Launch

Channel 9, the Microsoft site for developers to share and communicate with their customers, is hosting a live Kinect event tomorrow, June 16th at 9:30am PST.

Although it isn't made clear exactly what the event is about, our best guess is that it will be regarding the Kinect SDK for the PC, and possibly showing off some applications created that may or may not be heading to Kinect Fun Labs. Whatever it is, you don't have long to wait.

Find out what time it is broadcasting in your region here. You can find the stream for the event here in 720p and you can submit questions during the event on Twitter with the #Ch9Live hashtag.

If you can't watch live, check back here tomorrow and we'll have all of the details.

Update: WinRumors is reporting that the event is to celebrate the launch of the Kinect SDK beta this week, allowing developers to finally develop Kinect applications on their PC with full support from Microsoft. The SDK will include support for:

• Robust Skeletal Tracking for high-performance capabilities that track the skeleton image of one or two persons moving within the Kinect field of view
• Advanced Audio Capabilities, including four-element microphone array with sophisticated acoustic noise and echo cancellation for great audio; beam formation to identify the current sound source and integration with the Windows speech recognition API also included
• XYZ depth camera for standard color camera stream access and depth data that indicates the distance of the object from the Kinect camera

We should really start to see indie development blossoming now, and with Kinect Fun Labs giving the 360 audience a way of accessing chosen software of particular merit, this is certainly the start of something special for Kinect.

Once again, we'll keep you up to date with the latest from the event tomorrow!

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Kinect Fun Labs Announced - Available Now!

As we previously speculated, Kinect Me, Kinect Bobblehead, Kinect Googly Eyes and more are smaller apps for a new Kinect app store. Kinect Fun Lab is that app store, and will present the latest innovations from the Kinect scene as "gadgets".

Launching with several gadgets, the store introduces a number of new featuring to Kinect, including finger tracking in a new 3D drawing app, and the long-awaited object scanning. Kinect Me will also allow players to scan their body and face to have their likeness rewalised in an Xbox 360 Avatar.

With the Kinect PC SDK launching soon, we look forward to seeing the Fun Lab populated soon.

Kinect Fun Lab is available for free right now for all Xbox 360 owners, be sure to check it out.

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