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Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

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Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#211

Post by SllX »

PopsiclePete wrote: post #199
andrepd wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Amazon and Google are caught up in a dumb contest to see who can produce the best hockey-puck-sized speaker that can add items to your shopping list But you know why it is so, don't you? The allure for an information company of having an always-on, always internet connected, high-sensitivity microphone, running proprietary software doing god knows what, the allure of having such a device in as many homes as possible…

Which is why you buy it, and when not at home, play really loud, awkward and uncomfortable recordings of someone having bad, sweaty, cringe-inducing sex. For hours on end. If you're into software, you could make it exciting. Perhaps write a scraper to strip the audio off porn clips, mix it up with old Khruschev speeches? Could be a tactic to fight systems like these - overwhelm them with garbage data.

Overwhelming with garbage data is definitely something you can do with social network trackers, it's definitely something I engaged in when I was most active on Facebook. That said it seems to me the far better solution, if you actually value your privacy, is to give up the convenience it would offer and simply not let systems like this into your house.

In a fight to protect your privacy, the only way to win is to not willingly give up your data, even if that means not making use of new systems or taking active countermeasures against tracking systems.

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#212

Post by nh2 »

rsp1984 wrote: post #202

What many don't know: The exact chips and technology behind the Kinect v1 (as developed by PrimeSense) are still in use today in many products: We (that is -- shameless plug -- my company DotProduct) combine a Primesense Carmine sensor (basically a smaller version of the Kinect) with an Android tablet and our software to create a self-contained portable 3D scanner (www.dotproduct3d.com). Occipital has created their o…

> Only very recently we're starting to see sensors that rival the Kinect/Carmine in terms of overall quality.

Can you make an example of such alternatives?

Are they barebones sensors, or full hardware a consumer can buy?

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#213

Post by gerdesj »

"Launched in 2010 with a $500 million marketing campaign"

I am very, very, far from being a MS apologist but I think that dropping Kinect is a really stupid idea, strategically.

MS have dropped quite a few balls recently and this is another one. No doubt in the boardroom this will be an obvious slash to balance the books but it is a bloody stupid idea when you look a bit wider.

This thing was/is a bit of a game changer - not really new, per se, but very useful in quite a few areas. Quietly, many groups in many areas of research and development have used this thing to do things that border on sci fi.

I hope Kinect is dropped somewhere else - it is just good enough to work well.

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#214

Post by wiseleo »

This is sad news.

I love playing dance games with Kinect. The "Dance Central" series is brutally accurate in its judging. I remember seeing a demo of Project Natal, which was Kinect's codename. It deeply impressed me because it looked like technology from the future.

In fact, I bought an Xbox 360 instead of Xbox One because I wanted to play those specific games and they like other original Kinect titles are only supported on the 360 Platform.

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#215

Post by giobox »

caseyohara wrote: post #206
tengbretson wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think most of your analysis is spot-on, however. > Don't forget, smartwatches originated from a highly successful Kickstarter campaign. Smartwatches have been a techno-futurist pie-in-the-sky product for almost 50 years now.

Yes but it was proven to be commercially viable on Kickstarter

Given the fate of Pebble just ~3 years or so after launching their original watch, I’d question that it proved the commercial viability!

Apple outselling Rolex in 2016 (the same year Pebble died) arguably did far more to cement this, and in a significantly shorter period of time.

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#216

Post by partiallypro »

JoeDaDude wrote: post #16

Most unfortunate. I was hoping to see the technology applied to VR. One of my complaints/observations about VR is that you are a disembodied viewpoint in the VR environment. Something like a Kinect mocap system would add bodily presence in the VR environment.

Microsoft has stated they are still using the technology for VR/AR and robotics.

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#217

Post by partiallypro »

ekianjo wrote: post #15
larrik wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Xbox One is hardly dead, though.

Not dead but a massive failure compared to what the Xbox360 did on the market.

If I'm not mistaken the Xbox One and PS4 both sold at faster paces than their predecessors.

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#219

Post by taneq »

dwighttk wrote: post #174
bhouston wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure cheap and high quality lidar is coming very very quickly - so many companies working on it. There will be no market for an awkward kinect. Kinect is not great compared to modern lidar systems anyhow, it was just more accessible.

I thought I read Tesla got away from LIDAR because it won't be inexpensive enough for consumers any time soon.

They did, but that decision was a while ago and phased-array LIDAR has come along a lot faster than I think they expected.

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#220

Post by ekianjo »

partiallypro wrote: post #217
ekianjo wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not dead but a massive failure compared to what the Xbox360 did on the market.

If I'm not mistaken the Xbox One and PS4 both sold at faster paces than their predecessors.

The Xbox One? I'd be very surprised if it did. The PS4, certainly, because the PS3 was a pretty bad experience for Sony.
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