Kinect

Microsoft's Kinect motion gaming accessory is getting a permanent price cut, company insider Major Nelson announced today.

The suggested retail price for the Kinect, which launched in November 2010, drops from $149.99 to $109.99, effective immediately for North America, Latin America, and Asia Pacific regions. Amazon and Best Buy's Kinect listings already reflect the new pricing, with other major retailers surely to follow suit soon. … Read more

The latest rumors say so, but we'll explain why the latest rumors are probably wrong. Also on today's episode, we learn why IBM might want to buy RIM's secret treasure chest, and we decipher the tea-leaves of iOS 6. What is Apple not telling us about the new OS for fear of giving away iPhone 5 secrets?

And finally, the next Xbox may hit soon, another rumors suggests. This tweeted image of a swirl of colors supposedly indicates that the Kinect 2 might be awesome. To us it just looks like, well, modern art. But you guys … Read more

It's widely believed that Microsoft is working on a new Kinect motion-gaming peripheral for its next console. And now, an image claiming to showcase that device's image quality has leaked onto the Web.

Twitter user SuperDaE yesterday posted what is claimed to be image of the Kinect 2 in action. The image shows an adult and child standing next to each other and includes far greater detail and depth recognition than what is available in the first-generation Kinect.

According to SuperDaE, the leaked image was captured from Microsoft's "Durango" development kit. It's believed that … Read more

Developers eager to be among the first to create applications for Leap Motion's new gesture control system think it could be used to auto-translate sign language.

That was among the details the company released this morning about the initial round of requests from developers to design tools that work with the Leap -- technology that lets users control what's on their computers with hundredth of a millimeter accuracy with nothing more than their fingers or their hands.

The San Francisco company said that in the two months since pulling back the wraps on the Leap, more than 26,… Read more

A Japanese inventor appears to have put an awful lot of effort into enabling laziness. A modder going by the handle of "FRP" looks to have designed a mobile wastebasket that can ambulate around to catch any falling (preferably with a high arc) trash you toss in its general direction.

FRP replaced the bottom of the can with some wheels attached to something similar to an Arduino board. On the other end of the system is a wall-mounted Kinect that watches for flying debris, calculates the landing spot, and then sends the can to catch the garbage like an outfielder going after some rookie's pop-up.… Read more

If you haven't yet had the pleasure of flailing your body in front of your TV set, here's your chance to do it on the cheap.

I'm talking about the Xbox Kinect, of course, the motion-sensing camera system that "turns your body into the controller" for various games. I don't mind telling you, it's a blast.

And it's on sale! For a limited time, and while supplies last, Best Buy has the refurbished Xbox Kinect for $59.99 shipped (plus sales tax where applicable).

A quick caveat before I go on: unlike … Read more

Why is it that all the geeks of the universe haven't just up and relocated to Japan by now? The latest demonstration that the island nation is a nerd utopia comes in this video of one man's real-world "date" with a programmed augmented-reality girlfriend.

Using a Microsoft Kinect, AR goggles, and some other sensors, the unidentified man in the video goes to the park with a digital representation of virtual pop star Hatsune Miku. Yes, they have virtual pop idols in Japan, too -- it's kind of like if Max Headroom and Katy Perry somehow managed to get together and reproduce a singing anime hologram.… Read more

Google, Canadians and Nic Cage. Tuesday's top tech stories are nuthin' but trouble.

Google may pay a record $22.5 million to the Federal Trade Commission to settle a charge over a privacy violation made public six months ago. Google is accused of exploiting a loophole around user privacy settings in Apple's Safari browser. And the Wall Street Journal says this would be the largest penalty a single company has been asked to pay to the FTC. The Journal first brought the issue to light and exposed how Google used a code to get around privacy controls. Ad … Read more

Xbox Kinect users can now see how many calories they're actually shedding as they jump, dance, and shake to their favorite games.

Available today as a free download for Xbox Live subscribers, Kinect PlayFit is a fitness dashboard that counts the calories you burn as you play certain Kinect games, including Dance Central 2, Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012, and even Kinect Star Wars.

You can also follow your calorie count over time to see how much you're losing as you do the Zumba or swing that lightsaber.

You can even get credit depending on how many calories … Read more