kinect

Who needs to bother with a fitting room when you can use a Kinect to model outfits?

Between pitches for mobile payments, new self-checkout machines, and virtual customer service assistants, technology rules the show floor at the 101st Annual National Retail Federation Convention and Expo in New York, taking place this week.

This year it's possible to try on a new dress -- with matching purse, belt and jewelry -- in just a few seconds using a Microsoft Kinect camera. You become a paper doll on the television monitor with FaceCake's Swivel, a virtual dressing room that will … Read more

Fresh from CES 2012, Eric, Donald, and Bonnie wrap up all the best CES tech they missed during their week in Vegas. On deck is a touch-screen window, an R2-worthy 3D projector, Kinect-controlled skateboards, toilet tech, zombie tech, and of course, Geek News.

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LAS VEGAS--The company that developed the technology behind the Kinect for Xbox 360 says it sees on-board cameras and gesture control replacing touch on all consumer devices.

Israel's PrimeSense developed the sensor for the Kinect and says the potential for gesture control technology is huge--extending beyond the loungeroom into digital signage, medicine and other mobile devices.

"Everybody knows touch. What we want to do is bring [our technology] into all consumer devices," said Tal Dagan, PrimeSense's vice president of marketing. "Think of going back before touch. It's crazy. So we think this is the … Read more

Dish launches the "Hopper," with the first live kangaroo ever on stage at CES; Steve Ballmer explains why this is Microsoft's last CES keynote; and Justin Timberlake takes the stage at Panasonic's press event to announce MySpace TV.

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded, from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas:

Microsoft on Feb. 1 will roll out Kinect for Windows as it tries to leverage Xbox’s best feature and natural user interface for broader use.

In a blog post, Microsoft outlined how it plans on turning Kinect for Xbox 360 to new uses. For me, the money line from Microsoft was:

Kinect for Windows will also support gesture and voice on Windows Embedded-based devices and will enhance how data is captured and accessed within intelligent systems across manufacturing, retail and many more industries. We are building the Kinect for Windows platform in a way that will allow other companies … Read more

When Microsoft's mega-hit Kinect motion controller for the Xbox was released in 2010, its closed nature inspired a hefty bounty to hack it and come up with open-source drivers.

But now that Microsoft has released an official version of Kinect for Windows, the team that offered that payout is wondering whether they might have to do it again.

Microsoft eventually realized that there was an insatiable thirst for developing open-source Kinect projects and released a software development kit of its own. But now the folks at open-source hardware purveyors Adafruit are wondering if the new Kinect for Windows platform … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Microsoft had one last shot to go out with a bang at the Consumer Electronics Show today but instead opted to take a victory lap or two.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer did a lot of shouting and talking, but didn't say anything too substantive in his final keynote address at CES. Instead, the company chose to run through a number of its upcoming--but previously announced--projects, from Windows Phone to Windows 8.

The company, however, did say it would bring the Xbox 360 peripheral Kinect to Windows on February 1, and Ballmer said the motion-sensor device has sold 18 … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Microsoft is leaning heavily on the Kinect to up its cool factor. So much so it plans on bringing the gaming peripheral to Windows on February 1.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said there are more apps being created for the motion sensor, which originally debuted as a gaming peripheral and the Xbox 360's answer to the Nintendo Wii. Ballmer said the Kinect has sold 18 million units.

The Xbox and the Kinect are one of the few successful parts of Microsoft. The Kinect was a particularly hot item during the holiday season.

Microsoft initially positioned it as an … Read more

Telepresence robotics applications continue to get curiouser and curiouser. For instance, how about grooming your cat via a humanoid robot avatar?

That's what Tokyo-based software engineer Taylor Veltrop did with a Nao robot from Aldebaran Robotics.

Veltrop devised an interesting control apparatus for Nao, a popular research robot known for its RoboCup soccer skills.

He wanted to manipulate Nao from a distance, so a treadmill and Kinect were used to navigate the bot, while a head-mounted display controlled Nao's head while showing its camera feeds. Veltrop could thus see through Nao's eyes.

A Wii remote and the Kinect were used to control Nao's arms, including the task of using a brush to groom a cat. … Read more