Infi-Zeal's Blog

When the Kinect first launched last November, gamers were (to put it charitably) a bit skeptical. Here was a device with incredible technological potential, and the most impressive game that came out with it was a dance simulator. Still, the Kinect has become a bona fide hit, selling more than eight million units in the first 60 days alone and being named the “fastest-selling consumer electronics device” of all time by Guinness World Records. But more importantly, the software problem has been solved. Not by Microsoft, whose Kinect releases have been few and far between, but by the ever-growing legion of hackers creating innovative tech demos and applications for Kinect on the PC. If you have a Kinect, you owe it to yourself to see what’s happening in the hacking scene—putting this knowledge to use isn’t even that hard. Follow along and we’ll show you how. 1. Set Up Your Kinect Physically setting up the Kinect is a piece of cake, as long as you have the stand-alone power supply t...

Apple might have made the touch screen ubiquitous, but Microsoft thinks hands-free interfaces will be just as big. Motion control:  Startup company GestSure uses Kinect for Windows to allow surgeons to look through medical images without having to touch unsterile equipment. While most of the headlines about Microsoft this fall will concern its new operating system, Windows 8, and its new Surface tablet, the company is also working hard on a long-term effort to reinvent the way we interact with existing computers. The company wants to make it as common to wave your arms at or speak to a computer as it is to reach for a mouse or touch screen today. That’s the goal of a program called Kinect for Windows, which aims to put the wildly successful gaming accessory Kinect wherever Microsoft’s ubiquitous operating system is found. It’s also designed to allow computers to be used in new ways—for example, by surgeons who don’t want to touch a keyboard with sterilized hands mi...