kinect

Get an Xbox 360 (4GB) for $149.99

You gotta love the Xbox. Even after all these years, it's still rocking great new games (Dishonored, anyone?), still evolving with accessories like the Kinect, and still the best Media Center Extender you can buy.

The entry-level Xbox typically runs around $200, but while supplies last, Fry's Electronics has the Xbox 360 (4GB) for $149.99 (plus sales tax in some states). Shipping adds another $10.54, unless you're lucky enough to have a Fry's store near you, in which case you can pick it up. (The Xbox, not the store.)

If you're the least … Read more

Tactile glove is like a homing device for your hand

I've been known to wander the wasteland aisles of the grocery store, seeking out a single elusive item in a futile voyage only slightly shorter than "The Odyssey." If only I had a prototype tactile glove developed by the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology and the Max Planck Institute for Informatics.

The glove works by giving the wearer physical feedback. It vibrates to lead the person to a point in 3D space. The researchers see it being useful for locating items in a supermarket, finding a car in a parking lot, or zeroing in on a book among the stacks of a library.… Read more

Microsoft improves Kinect for Windows SDK, launches in China

Microsoft today updated its Kinect for Windows software development kit with a host of improvements.

According to the software giant, the new and important Kinect for Windows SDK now allows developers to consult data from the sensor's three-axis accelerometer, providing access to the device's orientation. In addition, developers will have access to depth data beyond its previous limit of four meters, as well as use of an infrared stream.

"Access to all this data means new experiences are possible: whole new scenarios open up, such as monitoring manufacturing processes with extended-range depth data," Microsoft Kinect for … Read more

Play NBA Baller Beats, destroy a TV?

Game developer Majesco's newly released NBA Baller Beats attempts to revive the nearly extinct rhythm video game genre -- and it doesn't involve playing a mock musical instrument, but rather bouncing a ball in front of your television.

To play Baller Beats, you merely need to bounce a basketball (or any similar-shaped ball) to the rhythm of a chosen song. A crescendo of icons float down a virtual track, instructing you to perform up to 20 different moves, such as dribbling the ball with a certain hand, or between legs, or performing a pass fake.

The game also features an eight-player multiplayer mode, as well as various difficulty settings and unlocks. The $59 Baller Beats also includes a real full-size Spalding replica NBA basketball, perfect for losing control of and destroying something breakable in the living room. … Read more

ZeroUI promises hands-free 3D model creation

SAN FRANCISCO--Building 3D models should be something everyone can do. That's the pitch from ZeroUI, a Silicon Valley startup that has created a technology platform designed to let anyone create their own digital models, whether a robot, drum, table, or anything else.

The Cupertino, Calif., company is relying on gestural input technologies such as Microsoft's Kinect, and soon, Leap Motion's Leap controller, as well as systems built into some computers, to allow users to create their models with nothing but their hands.

The company's name comes from the fact that its system has an extremely minimal user interface. Rather than requiring users to understand the mathematics and physics of a model they might want to build, the ZeroUI system simply allows them to stand in front of the input camera and use intuitive hand gestures to craft their 3D model (see the video below). … Read more

Man hacks Kinect to help his mother e-mail after stroke

It's been 12 years since Chad Ruble's mother suffered a stroke that led to aphasia, a disorder that affects language processing but not intelligence. Most of the one million Americans who have the disorder experience difficulty both reading and writing, according to the National Aphasia Association, and Chad's mother Lindy was unable to recognize text and thus unable to use a keyboard.

So Chad did what any computer-savvy son should: he hacked a Kinect to help her.

After designing a visual dashboard of emoticons (happy, sad, angry, tired, etc.), each of which can be further qualified by an amount (expressed as signal strength -- one, two, three, or four bars), Chad says he turned to a Kinect, some gesture recognition code, and the simple OpenNI library for Processing to track the position of his mother's hand. A green arrow button sends the email and a red X resets the screen.… Read more

Microsoft planning fall update to Kinect for Windows

Microsoft has provided a fall update to its Kinect for Windows roadmap.

Microsoft plans to release an update to the Kinect for Windows runtime and software development kit (SDK) on October 8. A September 4 post to the "Kinect for Windows" blog mentions some of the new features slated to be part of that update:

Expanded sensor data access—including color camera settings and extended depth data More tools and samples, such as "a new sample that demonstrates a 'best in class' UI based on the Kinect for Windows Human Interface Guidelines" Support for Windows 8 desktop applications, … Read more

Madden 13 on Vita and Kinect: New technology in the huddle

Late August doesn't usually mean much for video gamers...unless you're playing Madden. Like the swallows of Capistrano, the arrival of the next Madden has become inextricably associated with the start of football season for us...and, the start of Scott's endless obsession over the NFL Team We Shall Not Name. Madden as an actual game doesn't really merit much to talk about year in and year out...new rosters, slight tweaks that only a veteran player would appreciate, or game modes that few might spend the time to discover. Still, the NFL fans buy it, … Read more

There's no escaping the mobile-ad attack

Thursday's tech news roundup is feeling square:

In the search for more money, YouTube is adding video commercials to play before videos on smartphones and tablets. These ads will play for five seconds before users can skip right to the video. As we spend more time on mobile devices, it's only natural for advertising to migrate. Android users will be the first to see pre-roll ads, since the YouTube iPhone app cannot show ads. But that will change in the next YouTube app version for iOS 6.

The Google+ network has updated its sliders. The feature, found in … Read more