Kinect won’t be out until November but the company behind its camera technology has already signed deals to bring similar systems to HTPCs and set-top boxes for televisions.
At this point, the coolest thing about Microsoft’s Kinect isn’t the games, it’s the possibility of controlling your electronic gadgetry with a Decker-esque monotone or, if you prefer, a Johnny-style wave of the hand. What proper nerd wouldn’t thrill to the idea of saying, “Track 45 right” and actually seeing something happen on the screen? Before long, that fantasy may not be restricted to just the 360.
Adi Berenson of PrimeSense, the company behind the camera technology at use in Kinect, says it has signed deals to include its hardware in HTPCs by the end of the year and in at least one cable set-top box for televisions by summer 2011. PrimeSense also hopes that the devices will begin to be installed directly into televisions by the end of next year.
It won’t be exactly like Kinect; the system will still use two cameras to monitor three-dimensional positioning but won’t support voice recognition or any kind of motorized tilting, Kinect features which were added by Microsoft. On the other hand, the gesture recognition has apparently “evolved,” so while yelling at your television will still be a waste of time, there may come a day when flipping it off actually gets you somewhere.
Source: Engadget
