In case you missed this: Microsoft Releases Kinect SDK Beta for PC Posted: 17 Jun 2011 03:45 AM PDT Kinect for Windows SDK Beta! IT IS TRUE!!!!! My Kinect and PC are waiting for my summer project. What a great opportunity to "practice" programming over my 5 week summer break..... I already know C#, and I've done a little game programming (ie. AI for Game Development - using XNA Game Studio Express- it has been a while). I have some cool ideas for basic games that might be good for the students I work with who have autism spectrum disorders... and some ideas that might be fun for my grand-baby. I can't wait to have time to code again! Here's some info from the Microsoft Kinect for Windows SDK Beta website: "The Kinect for Windows SDK beta is a programming toolkit for application developers. It enables the academic and enthusiast communities easy access to the capabilities offered by the Microsoft Kinect device connected to computers running the Windows 7 operating system." "The Kinect for Windows SDK beta includes drivers, rich APIs for raw sensor streams and human motion tracking, installation documents, and resource materials. It provides Kinect capabilities to developers who build applications with C++, C#, or Visual Basic by using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010." This SDK includes the following features: Raw sensor streamsAccess to raw data streams from the depth sensor, color camera sensor, and four-element microphone array enables developers to build upon the low-level streams that are generated by the Kinect sensor.Skeletal trackingThe capability to track the skeleton image of one or two people moving within the Kinect field of view make it easy to create gesture-driven applications.Advanced audio capabilitiesAudio processing capabilities include sophisticated acoustic noise suppression and echo cancellation, beam formation to identify the current sound source, and integration with the Windows speech recognition API.Sample code and documentationThe SDK includes more than 100 pages of technical documentation. In addition to built-in help files, the documentation includes detailed walkthroughs for most samples provided with the SDK.Easy installationThe SDK installs quickly, requires no complex configuration, and the complete installer size is less than 100 MB. Developers can get up and running in just a few minutes with a standard standalone Kinect sensor unit (widely available at retail outlets)."
Nicholas Kolakowski, Application Development News, 6/16/11 |
Summer Blogging Plans - Lots of interesting updates -Sony's Tablet video(s), more to come... Posted: 17 Jun 2011 02:54 AM PDT I've been wrapping up the loose ends of the last few weeks of what turned out to be quite a busy school year, so I haven't posted in about 10 days! I have lots to cover, including interesting updates about a variety of tech companies I follow. Today, I'm sharing a video from Sony that highlights the features of the company's iPad-like tablet in a creative way:The video is the first of a 5-part campaign to promote the S1 and S2 Android tablets For more information: Sony Teases New Tablets With a Mysterious VideoStan Schroeder, Mashable 6/17/11Sony Launching 2 New Tablets, Both Run Android HoneycombJolie O'Dell, Mashable, 4/26/11 Here's a previous teaser:"Here's a preview of our two tablets - codename S1 and S2.With the S1 designed for comfort and S2 built for safe portability Sony enters the Tablet arena with two very distinct offerings."-SonyNote: If you are a new visitor, I work as a school psychologist in my "day job", which can spill over to evenings and weekends at times... I returned to school to take computer and technology courses back in the '00s, and started to blogging because it was a requirement for one of my courses. I never stopped. My blogs still serve me well as on-line filing cabinets, since I have a fairly wide range of interests and I like to drill down deeper into topics that strike my fancy. I'm curious that way. Because of my interest in interactive multimedia technology, most of my posts include video clips, photos, and links to interesting websites. |