Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

fastcodesign.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

251–260 of 265 posts

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#251

Post by criddell »

annabellish wrote: post #247
criddell wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think price has much to do with it. Even if they were free I can't see them taking off.

VR isn't going to replace flat-panel gaming, it's a new medium, and for more than just games. Think of a VR headset as a new kind of output display, not a new format for video games.

I agree with that. When I say "take off", I mean become popular with or useful for the general public. It makes a great demo though. Also, I'm talking about the current generation of VR that involves strapping something to your face. Get rid of that and everything changes.

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#252

Post by soundwave106 »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #152
WorldMaker wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Kinect has done wonders for amusement park and museum efforts. At this point I'm more surprised when those sorts of museum and amusement projects aren't using a Kinect. (...and more often than that it's simply because an old expensive system hasn't broken yet, but soon as it breaks you expect it to be replaced with a Kinect.) For that reason, the commodification of the Kinect really has been a boon for science an…

I went to a few museums last week on vacation. I was surprised to see how ubiquitous the Kinect was - almost every new-ish exhibit had something interactive that made use of the Kinect. Just when I was thinking about how much fun it would be to get one to play with, they killed it :(

It will be interesting if Microsoft quietly makes a "Kinect" platform that targets businesses / museums / etc. for this exact reason. (Basically, going the Google Glass route of discontinuing a consumer "flop" that still ends up being utilized, and produced, on the B2B end).

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#254

Post by ApolloFortyNine »

giobox wrote: post #215
caseyohara wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Rolex is a luxury watch maker. The cheapest Rolex you can get is more than 5000 dollars. To say they market to different audiences would be an extreme understatement.

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#255

Post by giobox »

ApolloFortyNine wrote: post #254
giobox wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Rolex is a luxury watch maker. The cheapest Rolex you can get is more than 5000 dollars. To say they market to different audiences would be an extreme understatement.

While this is true, it in no way makes my point any less valid.

Pebble went out of business, the very opposite of commercial viability.

Apple went on to outsell a 4.7 billion dollar player in close to a year. If the choice of Rolex offends, insert the name of more or less any other watch manufacturer you like, the comparison usually stands, or at the least shows the exceptional sales the line achieved in a short period of time. If anything, it's even more impressive when one compares to 2016 revenues of cheaper watch makers such as Seiko, Fossil, Citizen etc.

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#256

Post by _abak_ »

chillingeffect wrote: post #232
JaRail wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not entirely. LIDAR has other issues important when building self-driving cars. LIDAR can't read signs. LIDAR doesn't work well in the rain, though progress is being made these days.. And don't forget the cameras tesla uses don't rely solely on the visual spectrum we see. They can still see through fog via infrared, for example.

Can't the LIDAR eventually be made to use IR wavelengths and thus synthesize 3-d images through fog? also, the question of seeing the fog is more nuanced that can see/can't see: "Just like it is impossible to give a simple answer to the question “How far can I see with a thermal imaging camera?”, it is equally impossible to say how much shorter the range will be in foggy or rainy conditions. This is not only dependan…

LIDAR typically uses lasers in the so-called eye-safe range (around 1.4 micro meters). This range is precisely around the absorption peak of water so that LIDAR cannot damage the eyes of pedestrians and other by-standers. By construction, LIDAR sucks in the fog, rain, snow, etc.

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#257

Post by mattmattmatt »

Qworg wrote: post #14
mattmattmatt wrote: post #4

Was really hoping to see more non-xbox kinect uses over the years. More art installations, more retail, more whatever. Sad to see it go.

You'll find that Kinects are powering far more exhibits and retail art projects than you'd know.

Totally agree and recognize that. But a bummer to see it disappear into the background (and thus get discontinued as a result).

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#258

Post by swang »

ifhd wrote: post #169
swang wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i mean, the amazon echo was a pretty interesting new thing that they created a market for. tthen once they realized people were buying it every big tech company jumped on it to not get behind. the problem is if google doesn't go into the "speaker with a voice assistant" space, they allow amazon to possibly gain dominance in said space. this is why everyone wants to get in on drone delivery, self-driving cars, vr, etc…

But at some point shouldn't someone stop to question how valuable the space really is? I suppose at least the data is worth a lot towards better voice control efforts.

a device that's sitting in the home is priceless to a company. not even for the data they get. it's because the next device they buy they'll think of devices that will work with the one they've already bought. have an amazon echo? they'll probably buy speakers that support alexa, car integrations with alexa, etc..

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#259

Post by tolger »

chaostheory wrote: post #57
cwyers wrote: post #6

I bought the original Kinect, and I bought an Xbox One after the Kinect was no longer mandatory but I later bought a separate Kinect for it. It has moments of transcendence and a lot of failures between those moments. There's a handful of games where the Kinect sensor really makes sense, and a lot of games where it was shoehorned in and wasn't fun. The biggest problem is that it requires a lot of space. It's a pain t…

Another problem is the failure rate and time to failure. Even when we didn't use it often, my unit failed in about 6-8 months. My replacement unit failed in less than 6 months. MS refused to send me a replacement for the 2nd unit. It was a missed opportunity because Kinect was there much earlier than Amazon Echo. MS just wasn't as committed to improving it.

Mine (Xbox One) failed after a year as well. I didn't use the motion sensor as much as the always on Mic. I loved walking into the room and saying "Xbox On" and my Xbox would turn on. "Xbox Pause" and "Xbox resume" when watching a movie and later when Cortana was integrated it became even more useful. But once it failed, I never thought it was important enough for me to replace it.

Re: Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

#260

Post by gxh8N »

nh2 wrote: post #212
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?

Doesn't answer your question directly, but I would assume that an example is the new iPhone X face unlock sensor, since PrimeSense was acquired by Apple.
Post reply on HN