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Microsoft wants you to help improve Kinect 2.0's voice recognition
Using the Xbox One's Kinect for voice commands is still pretty hit-or-miss for many, and Microsoft knows it. With the console's next update, Redmond is adding an option for speech data collection as a way to crowdsource the sensor's improvement. Writing on his blog, Xbox's Major Nelson says that the more voice samples the company has to add to its algorithms, the more accurate the console can be. If you aren't keen on the company collecting samples of your voice (which is entirely understandable!), it's an entirely opt-in process. Should you want to help out, however, all you need to do is dip into the console's privacy settings and enable it. This isn't the first time that Microsoft has done such, though -- a similar function was in place on the Xbox 360 as well. Update: The 312MB update is rolling out to those in the preview program now, check the new update button under System in the Settings menu to download it.
New Kinect for Windows drops the Xbox One logo, adds a power cable
Last year, Microsoft said that the next-gen version of Kinect was coming to Windows, but has been relatively quiet since. That changes now, as Redmond has lifted the curtain on the new sensor and it looks... a lot like the Xbox One version. The unit is missing the Xbox logo power-indicator of its console-tethered counterpart, but as the Kinect for Windows Blog points out, that's about all that's different between the two. The software giant also says this reveal is a sign that we're getting "closer and closer" to launch, but didn't give any other release details. For the nitty gritty specs about power supplies and voltage ratings, check the source.
NASA's JPL maneuvers a robot arm with Oculus Rift and Kinect 2, points to more immersive space missions
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has been on the hunt for a more natural way to maneuver robots in space for some time now, resulting in cool experiments like using a Leap Motion controller to remotely control a Mars rover and using an Oculus Rift plus a Virtuix Omni to take a virtual tour of the Red Planet. It therefore made sense for the folks at JPL to sign up for the latest Kinect for Windows developer program in order to get their hands on the newer and more precise Kinect 2 (which, incidentally, is not available as a standalone unit separate from the Xbox One) to see if it would offer yet another robotics solution. They received their dev kit in late November, and after a few days of tinkering, were able to hook up an Oculus Rift with the Kinect 2 in order to manipulate an off-the-shelf robotic arm. According to our interview with a group of JPL engineers, the combination of the Oculus's head-mounted display and the Kinect's motion sensors has resulted in "the most immersive interface" JPL has built to date. Join us after the break to see a video of this in action and find out just why one of them has called this build nothing short of revolutionary.
Report: Next Xbox requires Kinect to function, runs multiple games at once
Microsoft isn't acknowledging the development, or even the existence, of the Xbox 360's successor (codenamed "Durango"), but that isn't stopping potential details from leaking out of Redmond. The latest report comes via console overview documents (known as "white papers") provided to Kotaku by the same source who provided information on the next PlayStation (codenamed "Orbis"), and it spells out some things we've yet to hear. Namely, the console will ship with a new version of Microsoft's motion-sensing camera controller, Kinect, and that the device, "must be plugged in and calibrated for the console to even function," the piece says. The new Kinect -- which we've heard of in the past -- is said to capture up to six people at once, and an alleged image demonstrating the difference between new and old versions of the camera puts much higher specs on said device (1920x1080 color resolution, more trackable joints, improved depth resolution, etc.). The new console is also reported to employ multitasking, enabling multiple games or apps to run concurrently, similar to mobile phones and tablets; how many apps that could mean is unclear, if true. Sony's PlayStation Vita already employs such functionality, making the claim all the less far-fetched. The piece also states supposedly final retail hardware specs for Microsoft's next game console, including a 64-bit D3D11.x 800MHz GPU, an 8-core x64 1.6GHz 4MB L2 CPU, 8GB DDR3 RAM, 500GB of on-board memory, USB 3.0, HDMI-out, and an optical drive for 50GB discs. For its part, Microsoft's staying mum -- "We do not comment on rumors or speculation. We are always thinking about what is next for our platform, but we don't have anything further to share at this time," a Microsoft spokesperson told us -- and Sony's the only game in town with even an event scheduled in the near future. [Photo credit: Kotaku]
Alleged Xbox 720 document leak resurfaces, stirs rumors of Kinect 2, native 3D, AR glasses
A document passing itself off as an internal Microsoft presentation about the future of Xbox has surfaced, and is stirring internet chatter with its possible hints at the future of the console. Despite turning up online over a month ago and potentially dating back to 2010, a few things mentioned that have since come to fruition -- like SmartGlass -- are earning it more attention. The proposed developments include cloud-based entertainment, native 3D, augmented reality "Fortaleza Glasses," scalable hardware -- all by 2015. If that's too long to wait, however, the time line also indicates we'd be seeing the next generation hardware in 2013 for $299 (more precise and four-player ready Kinect 2 included). The Xbox 720 package described includes such pie-in-the-sky bullet points as Blu-ray and whole-home DVR features, all from a low-power always-on box built on a "Yukon" ARM hardware platform. Of course, even if this is legit and not just some business student's exercise, all the talk of value propositions, OEM licensing and developer profitability are proposals that could have changed. Need more reasons to be skeptical? Digital Foundry points out the extremely optimistic wattages listed and previous appearances of the illustrations included. Ponder over the full 56-page document for yourself -- taking into account the bored minds on the internet that are capable of cranking out this kind of stuff, like that infamous Nintendo Revolution video -- after the break. Update: The document has been pulled from Scribd, apparently at the request of a Covington & Burling, LLP. [Thanks, Leonard]
Kudo Tsunoda: 'Waiting for the next big thing isn't about waiting for the Kinect 2'
Last summer, try as we might, we couldn't get too much out of Microsoft's creative director for Kinect Games, Kudo Tsunoda, about what's next from the interactive peripheral. More recently, in an interview with Venture Beat, Tsunoda was a little more verbose about what he thinks the next big thing in Kinect is -- and it isn't a Kinect 2. The good news is, he believes that no new hardware will be required, and the innovations will likely come from developers, as they better understand and utilize the capabilities. A combination of voice, tone and facial recognition along with motion detection will likely be the tools that push the experience into the next era -- such as allowing users to participate in a game's story like an actor. Hit the source if you want to read the full interview, but you can be sure we'll be at E3 again this year to beat him, and others, with the question stick once more.
Rumor mill: next gen Xboxes + Kinect 2 to read lips, track fingers, make unicorns real
Pinches of salt at the ready, folks. According to the latest speculation, Microsoft's sequel to the Xbox 360 will actually be two models, a pared down set-top box for casual gamers and a heftier model for the hardcore. Either way, Xbox 720 / Xbox Loop's getting paired up with a revised version of the magnificent Kinect hardware. The digital grapevine's saying that Kinect 2 will be able to read your lips, track your fingers and sense the tone of your voice to determine if you've come over all angry. It can't do that currently thanks to its USB cable, which can only transmit 16MB/s of data -- limiting the camera's resolution to 320 x 240 at 30fps. We don't know what protocol the new sensor bar will use, but we do know that either USB 3.0 (which can transmit 400 MB/s) or Intel's Thunderbolt (700MB/s) would remove such limitations. In related news, 2012's Kinect for Windows is getting a shorter USB cable for better data integrity and a refocused image sensor that will switch to "near mode" to see objects 50cm away -- which means a whole bunch of classic Kinects and Nyko Zooms are gonna wind up as a filling for a New Mexico landfill.
