Latest post by LongZheng reveals MS Research’s plans to ship JS library for kinect-enabled website. We already mentioned this in our twitter, but today’s little article will take a look at opportunities that this fact brings to the market.
Kinect has been a revolutionary addition for XBOX and sold millions of copies first year, becoming the fastest selling product in Microsoft’s history. Although, I didn’t like the release name (codename: “Project Natal” was much smoother to our ears), we all now take it for granted. There are still no hardcore games for Kinect, titles like Sesame street (a must-notice title for parents out there) and Kinect adventures are great for kids so they sell well, while Dance Central series popularize this device as an entertainment.
It is said, that Microsoft gets in a right vibe on the third time. Kinect sold more than 18 million devices in 1.5 years, but the development for 3rd parties has been limited due to lack of experience. However, consumers love and use Kinect voice more than Kinect-gestured controls, simply because of the accuracy and easiness. “XBOX Pause/Play/Search” words are much more comfortable, than trying to swipe left and right with your hands in attempt to make a menu scroll.
Kinect for Windows Release and the Beginning of Kinect Hacks
In February 2012, Microsoft released Kinect for Windows, with improved sensors and SDK. And while many people were skeptic about the reception, partially because of the higher price, researchers and developers loved that they wouldn’t need xbox to play around with Kinect anymore. Thus, PC/MAC-based experiments started to crowd coding4fun section at channel9.
We remember first example Kinect-enabled virtual fitting room in Topshop, Moscow. That was really cool. Accuracy was average, but the customers loved to see if the dress fits their style without trying it on. And of course – social network sharing.
Kinect SDK made it pretty easy to track body parts moving.
There are 20 parts that kinect can track:
- left foot, right foot
- left ankle. right ankle
- left knee, right knee
- left hip, right hip
- hip center
- spine
- shoulder center
- left shoulder, right shoulder
- left elbow, right elbow
- left wrist, right wrist
- left hand, right hand
- head
It’s an initiative of MS Research, to ship the library. No further details revealed, since it’s only a peek.
Since its first appearance as a companion for Augmented Reality (AR), Kinect is quickly growing as a must for various digital media events. Mostly these are digital kiosks for interactive advertising. There are tons of articles and case studies written about how Kinect is used in advertising, but the post mentioned above expands the development part, merging kinect-enabled web and application development together.
Opportunity to Jump In for Web Developers
Today’s approach for developing Kinect applications is the same as any other involving sensors: you take the SDK, create an app, connect the device and test it, get the data you need. JavaScript library for Kinect-enabled websites could help merging the application development, limiting the functionality but making the solution more universal. Just imagine: you create a website with an interactive kinect-enabled module. Of course, talking about Microsoft’s piece of technology, we get a platform limitation: feature is IE only. Features are delivered via ActiveX, and that means no support for other browsers. Good news: IE9 and 10 are much better than the older versions and are capable of rendering great websites (almost) correctly.
This website would provide the same content both for common users, as well as for the interactive user group. No need to develop a special app, just integrate your module into the website and place a giant display onto the windows: engage your users via interaction and create unified experience both on interactive and common web browsing sides.
This in fact could engage many web developers to experiment with the controller and to position the Web as a great place for Kinect Hacks and Tricks. We will definitely follow the story.
Read this:
Microsoft Research to ship Kinected Browser JavaScript library for Kinect-enabled websites Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces Conference Kinect Controlled SwimBrowser Microsoft Research, Kinected Browser Kinected Browser: Depth Camera Interaction for the Web
Marat Kiniabulatov | Agile Tardigrade Consulting 