Tag Archives: Kinect

ALERT: Leaked Documents Show What Could Be The Next Xbox

ALERT: Leaked Documents Show What Could Be The Next Xbox

While it’s clear Microsoft isn’t planning to introduce its next-generation Xbox console this year, all signs indicate that a 2013 launch is in the cards. A newly leaked 56-page document sheds some light on the company’s plans, for what it calls the “Xbox 720.” The presentation appears to be from August 2010.

Microsoft outlines a competitive differentiation for its next-generation Xbox, including support for Blu-ray, native 3D output and glasses, concurrent apps, and additional sensor and peripheral support. Alongside a promised 6x performance increase, there’s also mention of true 1080p output with full 3D support and an “always on” state for the console. A slide on core hardware indicates that the next Xbox will be designed to be scalable in the number of CPU cores and their frequencies. Microsoft appears to have been debating whether to use six or eight ARM or x86 cores clocked at 2GHz each with 4GB of DDR4 memory alongside three PPC cores clocked at 3.2GHz each for backwards compatibility with existing Xbox 360 titles.

Microsoft positions its Xbox 720 as the only box needed for living room entertainment in the document, providing background recording functionality for TV content and a unified Windows 8 foundation to make it easier for application developers to build apps that target Xbox, PC, and Windows Phone. Illustrations of the Xbox 720 throughout the presentation make it comparable in looks to an old set-top box, but appear to be just a concept design used in 2010. Microsoft rounds off the document with a promised price point of $299 with its Kinect 2 hardware and a prediction of a 10-year lifecycle with more than 100 million units sold.

via Xbox 720 document leak reveals $299 console with Kinect 2 for 2013, Kinect Glasses project | The Verge.

ALERT: Leaked Documents Show What Could Be The Next Xbox

ALERT: Leaked Documents Show What Could Be The Next Xbox

While it’s clear Microsoft isn’t planning to introduce its next-generation Xbox console this year, all signs indicate that a 2013 launch is in the cards. A newly leaked 56-page document sheds some light on the company’s plans, for what it calls the “Xbox 720.” The presentation appears to be from August 2010.

Microsoft outlines a competitive differentiation for its next-generation Xbox, including support for Blu-ray, native 3D output and glasses, concurrent apps, and additional sensor and peripheral support. Alongside a promised 6x performance increase, there’s also mention of true 1080p output with full 3D support and an “always on” state for the console. A slide on core hardware indicates that the next Xbox will be designed to be scalable in the number of CPU cores and their frequencies. Microsoft appears to have been debating whether to use six or eight ARM or x86 cores clocked at 2GHz each with 4GB of DDR4 memory alongside three PPC cores clocked at 3.2GHz each for backwards compatibility with existing Xbox 360 titles.

Microsoft positions its Xbox 720 as the only box needed for living room entertainment in the document, providing background recording functionality for TV content and a unified Windows 8 foundation to make it easier for application developers to build apps that target Xbox, PC, and Windows Phone. Illustrations of the Xbox 720 throughout the presentation make it comparable in looks to an old set-top box, but appear to be just a concept design used in 2010. Microsoft rounds off the document with a promised price point of $299 with its Kinect 2 hardware and a prediction of a 10-year lifecycle with more than 100 million units sold.

via Xbox 720 document leak reveals $299 console with Kinect 2 for 2013, Kinect Glasses project | The Verge.

ALERT: Leaked Documents Show What Could Be The Next Xbox

ALERT: Leaked Documents Show What Could Be The Next Xbox

While it’s clear Microsoft isn’t planning to introduce its next-generation Xbox console this year, all signs indicate that a 2013 launch is in the cards. A newly leaked 56-page document sheds some light on the company’s plans, for what it calls the “Xbox 720.” The presentation appears to be from August 2010.

Microsoft outlines a competitive differentiation for its next-generation Xbox, including support for Blu-ray, native 3D output and glasses, concurrent apps, and additional sensor and peripheral support. Alongside a promised 6x performance increase, there’s also mention of true 1080p output with full 3D support and an “always on” state for the console. A slide on core hardware indicates that the next Xbox will be designed to be scalable in the number of CPU cores and their frequencies. Microsoft appears to have been debating whether to use six or eight ARM or x86 cores clocked at 2GHz each with 4GB of DDR4 memory alongside three PPC cores clocked at 3.2GHz each for backwards compatibility with existing Xbox 360 titles.

Microsoft positions its Xbox 720 as the only box needed for living room entertainment in the document, providing background recording functionality for TV content and a unified Windows 8 foundation to make it easier for application developers to build apps that target Xbox, PC, and Windows Phone. Illustrations of the Xbox 720 throughout the presentation make it comparable in looks to an old set-top box, but appear to be just a concept design used in 2010. Microsoft rounds off the document with a promised price point of $299 with its Kinect 2 hardware and a prediction of a 10-year lifecycle with more than 100 million units sold.

via Xbox 720 document leak reveals $299 console with Kinect 2 for 2013, Kinect Glasses project | The Verge.

What Do You Get When You Combine A Kinect With A Shopping Cart?

Kinect Shopping Cart

This.

The quest for a high-tech “shopping cart of the future” is nothing new, but Whole Foods is planning to test a new spin on the concept, using Microsoft’s Kinect sensor for Windows. The motorized cart identifies a shopper with a loyalty card, follows the shopper around the store, scans items as they’re placed inside, marks them off the shopping list, and even checks the shopper out in the end.

Microsoft showed the very early prototype, being developed for Whole Foods by a third-party developer, Austin-based Chaotic Moon, during an event on the Redmond campus today, hosted by Craig Mundie, the company’s chief research and strategy officer.

The company says the project is literally weeks old, and that was apparent in the demo, which included a couple of false starts where the sensor didn’t precisely the shopper. The technology will need to be ironed out before it’s deployed, lest our shopping trips turn into destruction derbies.

But it’s an interesting application that shows what outside developers can do now that a Kinect software development kit has been released for Windows, expanding the sensor beyond the Xbox 360 game console.

via Whole Foods prototype puts Kinect on shopping cart, follows people around store – GeekWire.

What Do You Get When You Combine A Kinect With A Shopping Cart?

Kinect Shopping Cart

This.

The quest for a high-tech “shopping cart of the future” is nothing new, but Whole Foods is planning to test a new spin on the concept, using Microsoft’s Kinect sensor for Windows. The motorized cart identifies a shopper with a loyalty card, follows the shopper around the store, scans items as they’re placed inside, marks them off the shopping list, and even checks the shopper out in the end.

Microsoft showed the very early prototype, being developed for Whole Foods by a third-party developer, Austin-based Chaotic Moon, during an event on the Redmond campus today, hosted by Craig Mundie, the company’s chief research and strategy officer.

The company says the project is literally weeks old, and that was apparent in the demo, which included a couple of false starts where the sensor didn’t precisely the shopper. The technology will need to be ironed out before it’s deployed, lest our shopping trips turn into destruction derbies.

But it’s an interesting application that shows what outside developers can do now that a Kinect software development kit has been released for Windows, expanding the sensor beyond the Xbox 360 game console.

via Whole Foods prototype puts Kinect on shopping cart, follows people around store – GeekWire.

Huge Upgrade to Xbox Live Includes Live TV And Voice Controlled Kinect

Xbox Live isn’t just an online gaming service anymore. Microsoft is announcing today that the new version of its Xbox Live user interface will help transform entertainment on the television. The upgrade goes live on Tuesday.

Calling it the future of TV, Microsoft is unveiling of a user interface for the Xbox 360 console’s dashboard; it is also unveiling dozens of new options for watching movies and TV on the game box. And Microsoft has improved the quality of using voice commands to move from one choice to another on the box or to search through all of the entertainment options at your disposal in an instant.

via Microsoft upgrades Xbox Live with 40 entertainment services, live TV, and Kinect voice control | VentureBeat.

XBox Sale Hit Record Week

Xbox

The Xbox 360 saw its biggest sales week in the product’s history during last week’s “Black Friday” sales rush, according to Microsoft.

In all, over 960,000 consoles were sold in the United States during the week, the company said Tuesday. Of those, 800,000 were sold within a 24-hour period.

Additionally, 750,000 Kinect sensors were sold during the week, between standalone units and those bundled with consoles.

This record week comes during the system’s seventh year on the market, an unprecedented accomplishment for a video game console.

via Gamasutra – News – Black Friday Week Biggest In Xbox History.

The Next Microsoft XBox Kinect Just Might Read Lips

Kinect

Microsoft plans to release a next-generation Kinect device so accurate it can lip read, sources have told Eurogamer.

Kinect 2 will come bundled with future Xbox consoles, we understand.

The intention is that Kinect 2 will offer improved motion sensing and voice recognition.

One development source told Eurogamer that Kinect 2 will be so powerful it will enable games to lip read, detect when players are angry, and determine in which direction they are facing.

Kinect 2 can track the pitch and volume of player voices and facial characteristics to measure different emotional states.

via Kinect 2 so accurate it can lip read • Eurogamer.net.

It’s Not Too Late! Microsoft’s Black Friday: $100 Kinect, Free Windows Phone

Microsoft’s growing retail footprint, in stores and online, comes with an obligation to participate in the annual Black Friday sales — at least if it wants to keep up with the competition in the madness that is post-Thanksgiving shopping in the United States.

The Microsoft Store retail site has put up a page teasing the company’s lineup of Black Friday deals, scheduled to start at 12 a.m. Pacific time Friday, and they’re not too shabby. The Microsoft Store’s Facebook page has additional details.

via Microsoft’s Black Friday: $100 Kinect, free Windows Phone, discounts on Office and games – GeekWire.