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With the release of the Kinect game system for home entertainment, it was likely that this technology would soon be demanded by PC users. To meet this demand, the Business Insider reports, a motion-controlled interface is coming to the PC as early as next quarter. The biggest surprise – it won’t be a Microsoft initiative.
A privately held Israeli company, PrimeSense, licensed core Kinect technology to Microsoft (News  - Alert) and has now announced that it is partnering with PC and peripheral maker Asus to create a similar device for the PC.
The device is dubbed the Wavi Xtion and the collaborating companies are preparing to show off the technology at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas later this week. The technology is being positioned as ideal for browsing multimedia content and accessing the Internet and social networks, instead of for games.
Third party developers will be able to leverage APIs and a Wavi Xtion store is expected to launch to provide developers with the opportunity to sell motion-controlled apps. The overall system is expected to launch in the second quarter, although pricing has not yet been determined.
A Korean game developer claimed last month that Microsoft was working on a version of Kinect for the PC, but Microsoft has yet to confirm that any such activities are in the works. Hackers have already figured out how to easily manipulate the system and hook it up to a Windows PC. PrimeSense may need to enhance the security features on their device to ensure users can take full advantage of the technology without worry.
Last month, Microsoft reported that it is looking to perform updates on the Kinect accessory, including improvements to its resolution. The current model’s resolution for monitor movement is limited by the firmware to 320 x 240 at 30 frames per second. Since the resolution and device features are managed by the firmware, the resolution and feature settings can easily be updated through the Xbox dashboard.
In other Microsoft news, the software giant’s search engine, Bing recently introduced several upgrades in an apparent attempt to increase Microsoft’s market position against search engine rival Google. Some of the most popular improvements on Bing relate to Facebook with like annotations. Therefore, links listed on the search results page will indicate if they were “liked” by the user’s Facebook friends.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.
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