Two netbook prototypes with built-in Kinect sensors have been spotted, supposedly created by Asus and approved by Microsoft.
The Daily claims to have seen two Windows 8 netbook prototypes with a Kinect sensor mounted in the chassis, built by Asus and sanctioned by Microsoft. Given that the Redmond company officially announced Kinect for Windows earlier this month during CES 2012, the news shouldn't be a surprise. But so far both companies have yet to announce anything backing up the report.
According to The Daily, the prototype netbooks featured an array of small sensors stretching across the top of the screen where a webcam typically resides. Mounted along the bottom of the screen was what appeared to be a string of LEDs. The report also noted that an unnamed source at Microsoft confirmed that the two prototypes were indeed official. Unfortunately, the rest of the story is mere speculation, providing little else of the actual hardware details.
As reported during CES 2012, Microsoft plans to release the Kinect for Windows SDK to developers on February 1. This means the Kinect drivers and APIs will be available to both commercial software developers and the general public. The company said that it's currently working with more than 200 companies to build applications for Windows that take advantage of Kinect's technology.
"We are building the Kinect for Windows platform in a way that will allow other companies to integrate Kinect into their offerings and we have invested in an approach that allows them to develop in ways that are dependable and scalable," said Craig Eisler, General Manager, Kinect for Windows.
Suddenly a netbook with a built-in Kinect sensor doesn't seem quite so far-fetched after all.
Depending on the price per unit, using a Kinect sensor may be cheaper than installing a touchscreen when building an "interactive" netbook or notebook. Gaming would seem out of the question given the compact nature of the notebook/netbook form factor, but waving through various windows or activating applications via voice would seemingly be ideal. As Microsoft indicated earlier this month, the possibilities are seemingly endless.
"We are excited for the new possibilities that Kinect will enable on the Windows platform, and to see how businesses and developers reimagine their processes and their products, and the many different ways each Kinect could enrich lives and make using technology more natural for everyone," Eisler said.
We can't wait to see how this possible rumor flourishes.
As with my Xbox 360 kinect it was fun for the first day, then it got shelved.
Point, swipe, zoom gesture, voice control, facial recognition. All that.
Pointing and clicking may be a gesture or it might be something like 2gstyle mentions where kinect does the motion and the capacitive screen does the "click".
Everyone I think realizes the metro interface is awesome for capacitive touch displays. It's also perfect for NUI like Kinect.
this is too much to say for such a simple thing.
Really that kinect thing is nothing complex, nothing new and not expensive at all.
You just take more than 2 cameras, make the drivers and there you have a kinect like system.
This sensors and arrays are nothing more than really cheap low resolution cameras, driven by a program to recognize your face and your hands, just like other webcam programs do (recognize your face you they can focus on it) for many years now.
It's sad to see companies sell old staff, or old technology as a new product and making money out of it.
Will this thing be in handy? I believe not, because your mouse is the most accurate thing you can use and I believe that nobody is going to use it in public places. Just imagine someone waving and pointing at his/her laptop, it will be a hilarious scene.
more like, tried it out one day, found out it was no fun due to input lag from games, then got shelved. maybe newer patches got rid of the input lag, but it is still very bad just navigating the Xbox dashboard menus with it. I can only imagine how bad it is to navigate a complete OS with it. NO THANKS!!!
Now with this I can scroll my browser with my oily hand while I am eating snacks!
And supposed I was to pint at someone else's screen??? sitting at the back and make a few gestures?
then......
to make the desired function happen. If this doesn't come native with the Windows version I certainly am interested in starting a project to make a freeware version.
https://plus.google.com/u/1/117183349381733551173/posts/3iqpVMn9uBd
I can see it now... 100 people in a Starbucks all waiving their hands around in front of their laptops
Kinect for Windows actually makes more sense than the xbox mostly in my mind due to computing horsepower. Kinect usages far exceed simple gaming on Windows and I look forward to these abilities. If anything surely for a cheap 3D scanner as already demo'ed with hacked Kinect modules with PC's. I look forward to being able to perform 3D scanning and printing out of the box. Imagine being able to basically make your very own replication system. Have an item, copy it, make another item.