SoftKinetic brings Kinect-like controls to the PC (video)

SoftKinetic is one of many sensor companies promoting 3D cameras in the wake of Microsoft’s success with the Kinect motion sensors for the Xbox 360. But while Microsoft has already sold 18 million Kinect system, Michel Tombroff, chief executive of SoftKinetic, says motion-sensing technology is just getting off the ground.

Tombroff says the company’s “time-of-flight” technology is more responsive than the PrimeSense technology used in the Kinect system and that makes applications using SoftKinetic more … Continue Reading

Goodbye remote control: PrimeSense shows off post-Kinect TV motion-sensing system (video)

PrimeSense has its 3D motion-sensing chips in Microsoft’s Kinect hands-free controls for the Xbox 360. But that’s just the beginning of using your body motions to control your entertainment.

At the Consumer Electronics Show, the Israeli company showed off a next-generation TV interface that lets you control your TV experience with a wave of your hand. Like Kinect, the system uses a 3D camera with chips made by PrimeSense that can capture your movement in … Continue Reading

Virtual shopping with Bodymetrics will show how outfits fit on your body

Bodymetrics used the technology in Microsoft’s Kinect motion-sensing system for the Xbox 360 for a virtual shopping application.

If it works, it could enhance the experience of shopping for clothing online, which has become at $30 billion market. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the London-based company showed how it lets you scan your body at home using a 3D capture camera from PrimeSense.

That gives the system — a computer or, in … Continue Reading

How Microsoft engineered Kinect to withstand gamers and lightning strikes

Microsoft engineers spoke publicly for the first time yesterday about how they built the Kinect motion sensing system, offering a rare glimpse inside the secret world of product design.

After being taken to task for designing Xbox 360 game consoles that failed in large numbers, Microsoft turned a corner: Very few customers have returned the Kinect add-on for the Xbox. One of the reasons was the engineering discipline that the company applied in the wake … Continue Reading