Kinect Hacks Abound
XBox 360's Kinect
is a darling. What makes it more exciting is the fact that many people are actually developing a lot of "hacks" around it. Not that they're doing anything that's entirely bad for Microsoft. These smart people are actually inventing more ways to use the technology at hand. It's marketed for games, yes, but it holds a lot of promise to redefining the "user interface".
Kinect is, put simply, a general purpose multi-joint motion sensor paired with APIs that allow developers to interpret motions to interact with their programs and applications. Well, that doesn't really sound simple. Still, tech-smart people abound. The technicalities of "hacking" Kinect is accidentally left open by Microsoft. It became so popular within the month it went out in stores that it quickly brought about cool hacks and websites dedicated to the craft like http://kinecthacks.net, for example. Microsoft changed gears to supporting them because these communities can quickly invent new ways of applying the technology for both entertainment and practical uses.
Like the keyboard, mouse and touch screen, Kinect is simply an input device. It allows the user to interact with the computer. By original design, Kinect is supposedly an input device for the XBox 360. Since the XBox 360 is essentially a computer, it really won't stop anyone to figure that Kinect can be used to interact with any computer. Since Microsoft didn't lock Kinect to the XBox 360, it won't be surprising for Kinect to actually find its way to our computers.
It is smart for Microsoft to support the Kinect hacking community. Innovation doesn't always have to be proprietary. There's something new brewing everywhere that could utilize this technology to the max. Inventions have to happen now. Commercialization can happen later. Meanwhile, Microsoft can claim to fame that they started it all.
is a darling. What makes it more exciting is the fact that many people are actually developing a lot of "hacks" around it. Not that they're doing anything that's entirely bad for Microsoft. These smart people are actually inventing more ways to use the technology at hand. It's marketed for games, yes, but it holds a lot of promise to redefining the "user interface".Kinect is, put simply, a general purpose multi-joint motion sensor paired with APIs that allow developers to interpret motions to interact with their programs and applications. Well, that doesn't really sound simple. Still, tech-smart people abound. The technicalities of "hacking" Kinect is accidentally left open by Microsoft. It became so popular within the month it went out in stores that it quickly brought about cool hacks and websites dedicated to the craft like http://kinecthacks.net, for example. Microsoft changed gears to supporting them because these communities can quickly invent new ways of applying the technology for both entertainment and practical uses.
Like the keyboard, mouse and touch screen, Kinect is simply an input device. It allows the user to interact with the computer. By original design, Kinect is supposedly an input device for the XBox 360. Since the XBox 360 is essentially a computer, it really won't stop anyone to figure that Kinect can be used to interact with any computer. Since Microsoft didn't lock Kinect to the XBox 360, it won't be surprising for Kinect to actually find its way to our computers.
It is smart for Microsoft to support the Kinect hacking community. Innovation doesn't always have to be proprietary. There's something new brewing everywhere that could utilize this technology to the max. Inventions have to happen now. Commercialization can happen later. Meanwhile, Microsoft can claim to fame that they started it all.
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