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Microsoft’s latest home for Kinect technology: portable computers
Microsoft’s drive to integrate Kinect technology into a wide array of products is not slowing.
A few weeks ago at CES, the company announced a desktop version of the Kinect, but it also seems the boys and girls in Redmond, Wash., are hard at work integrating the motion-sensing technology into portables.
The Daily had a chance to check out a pair of prototypes incorporating Kinect sensors over the last few days. The devices, which at first glance appear to be Asus netbooks running Windows 8, feature an array of small sensors stretching over the top of the screen where the webcam would normally be. At the bottom of the display is a set of what appear to be LEDs.
A source at Microsoft has confirmed that the devices are indeed official prototypes of laptops featuring a Kinect sensor. In terms of functionality, there are hundreds of different ways that motion control could be leveraged in a portable. Gaming has the most obvious applications, but a Kinect-enabled laptop could also toggle between programs with the wave of a hand, or media controls could be tweaked with the wag of a finger. What’s more, motion-controlled portables could offer a new way for disabled individuals to interact with their devices.
Microsoft will probably not be making its own portables in-house. Rather, the tech giant will most likely license the Kinect technology to hardware manufacturers, much like it already does with Windows.
Innovation in the portable Kinect space will likely not come directly from Microsoft either. The tech giant seems more apt to put the platform in the hands of developers. We will likely see this occur next month, when a public preview of Windows 8 becomes available.
Microsoft’s plan to get the Kinect out of the living room and into other devices seems to be picking up momentum every day. Besides the company’s CES announcements, we reported on its efforts to create a Kinect-supported television set last November. While it’s very possible this project might be shelved, there’s solid evidence to support a Kinect-enabled set-top box, as reported by The Daily earlier this month.
A few weeks ago at CES, the company announced a desktop version of the Kinect, but it also seems the boys and girls in Redmond, Wash., are hard at work integrating the motion-sensing technology into portables.
The Daily had a chance to check out a pair of prototypes incorporating Kinect sensors over the last few days. The devices, which at first glance appear to be Asus netbooks running Windows 8, feature an array of small sensors stretching over the top of the screen where the webcam would normally be. At the bottom of the display is a set of what appear to be LEDs.
A source at Microsoft has confirmed that the devices are indeed official prototypes of laptops featuring a Kinect sensor. In terms of functionality, there are hundreds of different ways that motion control could be leveraged in a portable. Gaming has the most obvious applications, but a Kinect-enabled laptop could also toggle between programs with the wave of a hand, or media controls could be tweaked with the wag of a finger. What’s more, motion-controlled portables could offer a new way for disabled individuals to interact with their devices.
Microsoft will probably not be making its own portables in-house. Rather, the tech giant will most likely license the Kinect technology to hardware manufacturers, much like it already does with Windows.
Innovation in the portable Kinect space will likely not come directly from Microsoft either. The tech giant seems more apt to put the platform in the hands of developers. We will likely see this occur next month, when a public preview of Windows 8 becomes available.
Microsoft’s plan to get the Kinect out of the living room and into other devices seems to be picking up momentum every day. Besides the company’s CES announcements, we reported on its efforts to create a Kinect-supported television set last November. While it’s very possible this project might be shelved, there’s solid evidence to support a Kinect-enabled set-top box, as reported by The Daily earlier this month.
