New Kinect Hardware For PCs And TVs Coming Soon

Microsoft has now officially announced that Kinect will be available for desktops and TVs by 2012. Given the success Microsoft has had after the launch of Kinect so far with Xbox 360 being the top selling gaming and entertainment console, the company doesn't want to leave any stone unturned and is now bringing the new revamped Kinect hardware exclusively for PCs and TVs.

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In the #-Link-Snipped-# post, Craig Eisler, General Manager, Kinect for Windows, has explained that the Kinect has been optimised with new hardware components and drivers to fit into the PC specific work environment. The Microsoft Kinect SDK is also being upgraded to accommodate the new features for developers. Some hardware changes include the shortening of USB cable and extra support for external USB devices and also the new firmware would enable the Kinect camera to recognise objects with accuracy as close as 50cm.

Participants in the Windows Pilot program wanted to use Kinect for commercial purposes with the support from Microsoft, in this regard Microsoft is planning to give access to the latest updates of speech and human tracking technology such customers along with providing support for the new Kinect hardware for Windows.

There has also been some information that Microsoft is in talks with TV manufacturers like Sony and Vizio for integrating Kinect powered NUI (Natural User Interface) in their upcoming TVs, bringing a possibility of wide range use of Kinect.

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