Wave of the 'Gaming' Future a 'Real' Indicator of Progress
Technology that we once wished upon a star to have, in our living rooms, to satisfy quenching the thirst for high-tech computer ambitions, is reality.
"Kinect... allows players' physical movements to control action on the screen."[1] Just think of all the applications that the technology used for Kinect can be used for. It is the fact that we have it here that is important. What the gaming competition looks like over the next year is a matter to be determined.
If the hacking was all that bad, it is just about a certainty that a legal battle would have started already. That said, let us look at some of the applications, which aren't in the gaming world at all, that have caught on so far:
"One of the more interesting uses of the Kinect is in the medical world. A radiologist and a computer scientist from the Virtopsy Group, a division of the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the University of Bern in Switzerland hacked the Kinect to create an interactive, touch-less interface.
Radiologist Steffen Ross explains in a video that forensic pathologists have historically had issues in trying to interact with PACS datasets. This is because they cannot interact without touching some type of interface, whether it's a keyboard or touch-screen. But touching anything can contaminate the operating room. The only way around that would be to do a full scrub, which is time consuming.
Virtopsy computer scientist Lars Ebert says the Kinect's 3D camera allows them to use gestures to interact with the medical images on the PACS system without touching anything. The team also created voice commands, allowing them to change image angles, light settings and more. Ebert says it's prototype of what could come.
Another Kinect hack, from the University of Washington's BioRobotics Laboratory, has it performing haptics, the art of applying touch sensation with computer applications. With 3D images, University of Washington team used a 3D haptic controller to "touch" the person within view of the Kinect's camera.
Microsoft hasn't come out with an official position on Kinect hacks, though doing them probably voids the warranty. And it isn't clear what would happen if someone tried to commercialize any of it -- odds are much of the technology would have to be licensed from Microsoft, and no tinkerer has yet asked to do so.
But it does show the possibilities for the technology..."[2]
Internet cafes, college lounges, luxury recreation rooms... you have got to get thisGet Kinect now:
sources
[1] 'First impressions: Microsoft's Kinect gaming system'; By Larry Frum, Special to CNN November 4, 2010 <http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/gaming.gadgets/11/03/kinect.video.game/index.html >
[2] 'Best Of Microsoft Kinect Hacks'; By Gabriel Perna | December 25, 2010
<http://in.ibtimes.com/articles/95204/20101225/microsoft-kinect-hack-kinect-hacks-kinect-xbox-kinect.htm>
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In : Future is now technologies
Tags: kinect games gaming microsoft cnn medical radiology internet cafe