Hasta La Gadget!

NTT is developing technology that faithfully reproduces pictures and sound from distant locations, creating a natural sense of distance and position, as if both people are in the same room.
“Regarding the picture, this system includes technology that uses 3D video. It continually generates pictures from such a viewpoint that, the other person seems to be right in front of you. Regarding the sound, the system uses technology that reproduces the sound wave-front, so you can hear the other …

There’s a lot of talk going on about Microsoft‘s next-generation gaming console, but we haven’t heard a whole lot about the console’s next-generation Kinect sensor add-on. According to a leak, the new Kinect will feature quite a bit of upgrades from the current sensor, including full HD streaming, and a quicker latency that’s cut down by a third from the current Kinect sensor.

The next-generation Kinect sensor is said to be able to stream 1920 x 1080 at 30fps, and will come with a USB 3.0 connection. The sensor will also have a wider field of view, going from 57.5˚ horizontally and 43.5˚ vertically to 70˚ horizontally and 60˚ vertically. The new Kinect will also be able to allegedly track six players rather than just two.

On top of the RGB stream being full HD, the depth stream will also be higher resolution at 512 x 424 instead of 320 x 240. The new Kinect will also come with an IR stream for the first time, with a resolution of 512 x 424. Thanks to the improved streaming abilities, the sensor will be able to separate objects in close depth proximity, as well as capture depth curvature around edges better.

What’s perhaps most interesting, though, is the lack of a vertical tilt motor in this next-gen Kinect sensor. We’re not sure why exactly Microsoft would cut this out, but it most likely has to do with cutting down on production costs. Again, this is all just a leak and is unconfirmed, so we’re definitely taking it with a grain of salt, but hopefully we’ll hear more about the Xbox 720 and the new Kinect at E3 in June.

[via The Next Web]

Microsoft next-gen Kinect sensor to support 1080p, USB 3.0, and 60ms latency is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We’ve already seen how the fashion industry can make use of robotics to make life easier for shoppers. But a Japanese clothing chain called United Arrows also found a way to use robots to make things more fun for window shoppers. The company installed a robotic mannequin in one of their stores that mimicked the movements of the person in front of it.

The mimicking mannequin is called MarionetteBot. It uses a Kinect to capture and help analyze the movements of a person. A motor moves a total of 16 wires to match the mannequin’s pose. MarionetteBot isn’t fast or limber enough to perfectly mimic the moves of a person, but it still proved to be a hit.

How come no one thought of doing the robot dance?

[via Akihabaranews]

The probability of hearing news of a new Xbox this year are the highest they’ve ever been seeing how Microsoft has been teasing the countdown to its E3 press conference at the start of 2013. Until the next Xbox is revealed, we’re stuck with the Xbox 360 for a couple of months, which Microsoft took the time to highlight its overall sales.

The news comes from Microsoft’s director of programming for Xbox Live Larry Hryb who announced via Twitter the Xbox 360 has sold over 76 million units in its lifetime. The Xbox 360′s Kinect sensor also sold pretty well since its debut in 2010 as 24 million units have been sold. In addition to those sales numbers, Hryb also announced Xbox Live has 46 million paying customers, in other words, Gold Members.

At its current sales numbers, the Xbox 360 has become the fourth best-selling game console in history, behind the Nintendo Wii, Sony’s PlayStation and PlayStation 2, respectively. Considering the next Xbox has yet to be unveiled, the Xbox 360 could see some new life as an alternative to the next Xbox since it already has a large library of established titles, which will most likely receive a great discount after Microsoft’s next Xbox announcement.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Nintendo Wii U Delivers First Free-To-Play Game This Week With TANK! TANK! TANK!, NVIDIA Highlights Project SHIELD’s Non-Steam PC Game Experience,

One of the most terrifying prospects we’ve heard in the past few years surrounding a gaming console – or a computer of any type, for that matter, has been re-addressed this week with the Xbox 720. This machine has not yet been confirmed as even being in development by Microsoft as of yet, but another bag of tips has been revealed with specifications and features included with the device that may set your hair on end. The first and perhaps most important of these is the idea that the included Kinect camera need to be plugged in to the machine at all times – and that it’ll be watching you constantly.

The Xbox 720 has been tipped as currently being distributed to developers under code-name Durango. Under that code-name we’ve seen a collection of information leaks large and small over the past year or so, with quite a few more than usual stacking up over the past few months. Today a source is speaking with Kotaku about this developer unit complete with a note that the features included on this unit will, for the most part, be included on the final Xbox build as well.

One element in play on this device appears to be a requirement for the new and improved Kinect camera sensor to be plugged in and active whenever you’re operating your Xbox. That’s all well and good, right? No harm in having a piece of the device plugged in as long as it’s not recording me playing Halo with uncombed hair, yes? Not if it has any implementation of Patent 20120278904 it’s not.

That patent application goes by the name Content Distribution Regulation by Viewing User. This application is for a “content presentation system and method” (the Xbox with Kinect, in this case) allowing content providers (Microsoft or whatever video company is participating) to “regulate the presentation of content on a per-user-view basis.” With this system Microsoft describes how “the users consuming the content on a display device are monitored so that if the number of user-views licensed is exceeded, remedial action may be taken.”

We must assume that this means the video being watched will throw up a warning sign, and now that the Xbox will explode into flame, of course. The same source as mentioned above has provided the image you see above this paragraph, this image coming from a specifications manual provided to developers (or so they say) here in the pre-release calm before the storm. This new Xbox 720 system will be able to not only see more “skeletons” than before (6 in one room!) it’ll have additional contact points – thumbs and all.

Have a peek at the timeline below to see more insights on what the Xbox 720 might bring later this year. And don’t forget – the Xbox 720 isn’t actually confirmed to in existence in any capacity by Microsoft as yet. We’ll hear from them soon – we hope!

Xbox 720 may be “always watching” with mandatory Kinect is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.