kinect

Wow. And you thought "S*** That Siri Says" was funny. Wait till this Kinect-enabled shopping cart from Whole Foods hits the real world. The possibilities for parody (and aisle-storming, non-gluten-free-linguini-flinging mayhem) are infinite.

As Geekwire reports, Microsoft demoed this very early prototype at an event on its Redmond, Wash., campus today. The motorized, talking cart is kitted out with a Kinect sensor for Windows, and other scanning gear, and can detect items as you place them in the cart; alert you to items that don't jibe with your preprogrammed dietary constraints; ring you up and charge your account; and, perhaps most chillingly, follow you around the store.… Read more

Remember the Board of Awesomeness, the Kinect-controlled motorized skateboard from CES? Well, it just got more awesome.

The creator of this high-tech board, Chaotic Moon Labs, has come up with a new version called the Board of Imagination that works by reading your brain waves. That's right, a mind-controlled skateboard. You simply imagine where you'd like to go and how fast you want to get there, and the Board of Imagination will take care of the rest.

It's powered by the same 800-watt electric motor and Windows 8-enabled Samsung tablet as the Board of Awesomeness, but it … Read more

Sometimes a painting is so beautiful you just want to reach right into it.

Of course, if you happen to be in a museum, that impulse could get you tackled by a security guard.

But Greek multimedia artist Petros Vrellis seems determined to let people satisfy the urge. He's currently at work on a project that would let viewers stir the skies of one of the West's most iconic paintings: Vincent Van Gogh's "The Starry Night."… Read more

The Xbox 360 is still scoring big amidst a slump in overall gaming sales.

Microsoft's hot gaming console was the best-selling platform in the U.S. in January, its 13th month in a row at the top of the charts, NPD Group said yesterday.

For January, Microsoft sold 270,000 Xbox 360s,  grabbing 49 percent of the console market last month. The Xbox accounted for $310 million in total sales (hardware, software, and accessories), the highest number for any console in the U.S. January also marked the 11th month in a row in which the Xbox grabbed … Read more

Adventure, excitement. A Jedi craves not these things. But LucasArts has something that might interest non-Jedi out there, as the publisher today announced that Kinect Star Wars and its special-edition Xbox 360 hardware bundle will both launch on April 3.

Additionally, LucasArts announced a handful of new game modes that will be included in Kinect Star Wars. The Duels of Fate mode will see players develop Jedi skills in a series of battles against Sith opponents, while the Galactic Dance Off mode lets players "battle Darth Vader on the dance floor" to the beat of Star Wars-themed pop songs.

Previously set for release last year, Kinect Star Wars is set primarily during the time of "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones," with overlapping bits of the other prequel trilogy films and nods to the original Star Wars trilogy as well.

Read more of "Kinect Star Wars launches April 3" at GameSpot.… Read more

A handful of prototype laptops spotted at CES with Microsoft's Kinect hardware built in are currently generating some serious buzz.

Originally a hardware add-on for the Xbox 360 game console, the Kinect has the potential to be built into a lot of devices, at least those that run Windows. Enterprising hobbyists have already hacked it to work on PCs, and the next step is to take the bulky oversize Webcam hardware and shrink it down so it fits inside a laptop, with no external hardware required.

The Daily originally pointed out these prototypes, and described them as follows: "The devices, which at first glance appear to be Asus Netbooks running Windows 8, feature an array of small sensors stretching over the top of the screen where the Webcam would normally be. At the bottom of the display is a set of what appear to be LEDs."

My colleague Scott Stein was aptly dubious:… Read more

Consumers in the United States and 11 other countries can now buy Microsoft's Kinect motion-sensing game controller for Windows hardware.

In addition to acquiring the new Kinect, users also get a software development kit that allows them to create commercial programs that use the Kinect motion-sensing and voice-recognition controls. Microsoft expects companies to develop PC applications that take advantage of the device's natural user interface.

The suggested retail price of the Kinect for Windows is $249. Microsoft said that later this year it will offer special academic pricing of $149.

Already, companies including United Health Group, American Express, … Read more

Kinect hacks have been used for many a grand feat, from a tool that helps the blind navigate more easily to hands-free questing in World of Warcraft and virtual cat brushing.

So why not integrate the powers of Microsoft Kinect with a mirror to teach such subjects as basic anatomy?

For the past year, a team out of the Technical University of Munich in Germany has been working on just that. The researchers use Kinect to estimate the position of a person in front of an augmented-reality mirror in order to create the illusion that the user can see inside … Read more

Hey, look at this: Kinect on a laptop. OK, so there we go. According to The Daily, companies are well on their way to making laptops--or, at least, laptop prototypes--running Windows 8 and equipped with Kinect motion camera hardware instead of standard webcams.

The Daily got to see some of this technology first hand on what it thinks were Asus laptops. Intel's CES 2012 press conference featured a stage re-enactment of a similar Kinect-like idea on a laptop, shooting a virtual catapult in a game.

The real question here is, who's going to use this?… Read more