Gesture Control

After having recently shown us some visionary beyond-game-console applications for the Kinect gesture interface peripheral, Microsoft appears to be ready to "put its money where its mouth is." As first (at least in my RSS feed suite) reported by VentureBeat, the company has partnered with an investment firm called TechStars (which, per its website, "provides

Last Thursday, I shared a concept video from Microsoft that showcased a number of under-development and beyond-gaming implementations of the company's Kinect stereo vision peripheral. Today, I'll pass along a bigger-picture visionary clip from Microsoft, which you can find above. Unlike John Gruber, I don't particularly think that vision videos are a waste of corporate

In a "treat, not trick" move appropriate for the day (Halloween) in which it occurred, Microsoft officially announced on October 31 that (as had already been suspected) it is planning to release a commercial version of the Kinect SDK early next year. As I mentioned in earlier coverage, the current "beta" tag translates into a

When it rains, it pours. That's the thought I keep having of late, as announcement after announcement validates the burgeoning trend of using cameraphones' image sensors for gesture interface purposes. One week ago, for example, I mentioned the Windows Phone-based version of Kinectimals. Later that same day, I pointed out some patents (both applied for

One notable optics omission from Nokia's first two Windows Phone O/S-based handsets, a writeup on which I just published, is that they don't include the front-facing cameras which Windows Phone v7.5 supports for the first time, and which other OEMs are including in their new "Mango"-based handsets. The omission is especially surprising given that Nokia's

Two weeks back, I discussed how Microsoft was "maturing" the Xbox 360 Kinect experience by integrating support for the peripheral in an increasing number of new games, including adult-tailored titles such as Forza Motorsport 4. More recently, Microsoft took the broadening aspiration in the other direction, partnering with three other companies to create content targeting