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How Apple Almost Got Microsoft’s Kinect Game Controller
- mcritz 16y agoMythical
- shasta 16y agoI'm afraid most companies have no idea how much their legal departments, with all of the bullshit they pile on everyday business transactions, cost them.
- fname 16y agoMaybe it's just me, but I'm not quite sure I follow how they "almost" got it. Perhaps if they were negotiating numbers and figures and it just fell through -- I could see that; but just because the initial meetings didn't go so well or were hung up on NDAs? I don't get it. EDIT: It is, however, a cool story to tell...
- sudont 16y ago> It is, however, a cool story to tell… Right. Microsoft : PrimeSense :: Tartars : Joseph Boyce If you’re an inventor, it probably doesn’t hurt to have a origin myth. And, I’m not quite sure if Apple is therefore the Luftwaffe or the lard...
- czhiddy 16y agoWhat device(s) would Apple even stick the PrimeSense technology in? The 12 watts [1] needed to drive the thing only really makes sense on desktops, and for what - a weird experimental Minority Report style 3D interface? [1] http://www.joystiq.com/2010/11/04/kinect-teardown-two-cameras-four-microphones-12-watts-of-powe/ http://www.joystiq.com/2010/11/04/kinect-teardown-two-camera...
- taitems 16y agoImagine walking up to your desktop and it recognises who you are and automatically unlocks? Apple has been rumoured to be working on something like this. There are a multitude of ways this technology can be applied, and just because you can't envisage a way to use them - it doesn't make them any less useful. "No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame."
- InclinedPlane 16y agoThat technology already exists, and can be used on any computer with a webcam, Kinect would be overkill: http://www.keylemon.com/product/ http://www.keylemon.com/product/
- repsilat 16y agoWith depth recognition it would be more difficult to put a picture of someone's face in front of the webcam to unlock the computer.
- gvb 16y agoTrue, but it is interesting what little soap, toilet paper, and hair can do... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_1962_Alcatraz_escape#Escape http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_1962_Alcatraz_escape#Escap...
- gcheong 16y agoApple TV maybe? Not built-in but as an add-on controller for the device and games/apps?
- pclark 16y agoI'd hardly say Apple "almost" got it based on that anecdote.
- tgflynn 16y agoI had been under the apparently mistaken impression that Microsoft had developed Kinect in house. Since Microsoft Research has such a strong computer vision team I'm surprised that they needed to go to an outside company for this technology.
- brudgers 16y agoBased on the Wikipedia entry, Microsoft developed the gesture, voice and facial recognition software which drives the Kinect. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinect#Technology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinect#Technology
- joeyo 16y agoBut Primesense developed the depth sensor. http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=h0GvAAAAEBAJ http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=h0GvAAAAEBAJ
- brudgers 16y ago>"'Apple is a pain in the ass,' he said, smiling." I'm not sure how that becomes "almost," besides, what would Apple do with a game controller?
- VomisaCaasi 16y agoApple TV comes to my mind... The Israelis probably did see far more wider uses for this technology, but it seems to me Microsoft just outbid the others and then marketed this only as a game controller. Though, I wouldn't be too surprised if we were to see more uses for this popping up in the next version of Windows or somewhere else.
- brudgers 16y agoGiven how recently it was realeased, it's hard to say that the rumor of Kinect coming to Windows has been kicking around for a while. But it wouldn't surprise anyone at this point: http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2011/0120/Is-Kinect-coming-to-Windows http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2011/0120/Is-Ki...
- contextfree 16y agoIt's not exactly a "rumor", Gates and Ballmer have been talking up its eventual PC use since well before the Kinect's release. http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/15/bill-gates-natal-for-windows-coming-to-an-office-near-you/ http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/15/bill-gates-natal-for-wind...
- patrickgzill 16y agoObviously military, industrial, surveillance, security, shopper tracking in stores, and cashier tracking for cash businesses, would all be possible uses. Hook it up to a MakerBot and you can use it to disassemble things as well as assemble them.
- patrickgzill 16y agoAccording to people I have known who negotiated with them, Apple was far, far harder to deal with, and paid less than other customers. The "PITA" factor I find credible.