Kinect for Windows SDK Download - Microsoft Research. Skype and Kinect could be Microsoft’s new killer combo. Update: It’s official: Microsoft adds new ‘Skype Division’ in $8.5 billion deal Microsoft’s blockbuster agreement to acquire Skype is all but assured now, with multiple reports citing a purchase price of $8.5 billion, including assumption of debt.
The deal is already raising lots of eyebrows, with New York Times columnist David Pogue’s readers turning it into a running joke on Twitter. The skepticism is warranted. Microsoft has had a rough time with big acquisitions in the past, and Skype will be seen by many in the industry as tying its fortunes to an over-the-hill technology giant that has struggled in consumer markets. But many of the people trying to wrap their heads around the deal are missing an important point — the more than 10 million Microsoft cameras connected to television screens in homes around the world. That’s how many Xbox 360 Kinect sensors have been sold in six months.
The existing video chat feature in Microsoft Kinect. Forrester's McQuivey: Microsoft Could be "Dominant Player in the TV Business Overnight" WorldWide Telescope lights up with Kinect - Next at Microsoft. Here's What You Can Build With Kinect: Custom Statues, Training Simulations, Noise Ink & More.
Microsoft's motion sensing technology for Xbox, Kinect, has experienced rapid take-up and interest.
Last week Microsoft announced a non-commercial Kinect software development kit for Windows, given widespread interest in using the technology outside of the Xbox. But an open source community had already sprung up in November, to enable non-gaming Kinect projects. OpenKinect is working on "free, open source libraries that will enable the Kinect to be used with Windows, Linux, and Mac. " Below we check out some of the latest projects developed using Kinect. November: Kinect Drivers Hacked, Early Experiments Begin Kinect's original purpose was to enable gamers to control Xbox games through a natural user interface, using gestures and spoken commands.
As reported by our channel ReadWriteHack on November 10th, Kinect's drivers (software that determines how a computing device will communicate with other devices) were almost immediately hacked and became available as open source software. Kinect Lands Spot in the Pages of the Guinness Book of World Records. Microsoft’s peripheral for the Xbox 360 has been dubbed the Fastest-Selling Consumer Electronics Device by the Guinness Book of World Records.
After their explosively popular debut that left pretty much every other similar peripheral in the dust, this could be considered the jewel in the crown of excellent timing and good product work. I’ve been covering the Kinect and how it’s affected the technology industry for quite some time and the fact that its sales were initially volcanic has never left my desk. It’s only been four months since its glittering debut and it’s never left center stage—and now they’ve exceeded the 10 million mark. ReadWriteWeb brings us the statistics and some commentary on this amusement for Microsoft, According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Kinect sold at “an average of 133,333 units per day, for a total of 8 million units in its first 60 days on sale from 4 November 2010 to 3 January 2011,” leaving both the iPhone and the iPad in the dust.