Kinect technology will revolutionize the computer

How Kinect will revolutionize the computer? With the imminent arrival of the motion sensor to Windows, what improvements would be possible in navigation?

It was inevitable: Kinect not last long only as an accessory for video games. Along with celebrating a year of launch of the device, Microsoft recently stated that the sensor that turns you on the joystick to get to Windows in 2012. The product itself was for Xbox 360 by crossing the barrier of entertainment, but the portable computer must be a real revolution.

The detection of the body would be a much greater improvement than a webcam or an enhanced extra games – which will not even have a huge area to be played. Imagine navigating without a mouse, with a much greater freedom of use. Think of the endless possibilities range of additional applications for creating and editing videos or photos, for example.

But what is he closer to happening? What are the most creative uses that can be incorporated into a computer with Kinect? We answer these questions with some examples that may appear on PCs in a future that is not far away.

Goodbye, mouse!

The most obvious item is also one of the most fun. Microsoft probably will want the best possible interaction between your operating system and Kinect – and that includes virtually all areas of navigation.

A total integration would enable the user to open any content without the mouse, using only hand movement. The interface Metro, one of the biggest news of Windows 8, will fit like a glove here: think about how it would move with freedom and fluidity of the squares containing the application, or even undesirable drag the icons to the trash in style.
Release the artist in you

New applications can be created to extract the maximum efficiency of the motion sensor Kinect. With this, so it must be possible to draw digitally on a program similar to our “Paint”, but as you’re actually painting a canvas, as moving the arms in the air to create an image.

Although not replace the design from graphics tablets and pens, which digitize the contents scrawled, the method using hands would bring new possibilities for artists and designers, who still would find it easier to tinker with editing tools. Future versions of Photoshop or GIMP with unique tools for Kinect – and that in the future would bring even greater precision – there would be no surprise.

"Minority Report - A New Law" (Image Source: 20th Century Fox)

Multimedia Center

We can illustrate the idea with just one statement: “Minority Report – The New Law.” The film starring Tom Cruise is a great reference when it comes to navigating between multimedia data with the use of hands, as it features a futuristic mechanism may well become a reality.

Imagine viewing a document library, folder full of music and movies stored on your computer, all without the help of mouse. Only the movement of hands is needed, providing a very comfortable dynamic anyone using such services.

As the Kinect offers a service very similar, but restricted to the Xbox 360, this item must appear with certainty in the computer version.

Conversations without borders

You’ve tried everything to improve their video streams via webcam, but its image is still blurry, blurry, or presenting crashes? With Kinect, forget all that difficult to maintain videoconferences, since the sensor has a camera to reproduce the picture of who is in front of the unit.

More than show you in a good image resolution, with Kinect transmissions are capable of recognizing the position of one or more participants, focusing on each person with ease, even if she makes several moves with the body. In addition, integration with software such as online games or Power Point, for example, let the conversation much more interesting.

And we’re not just talking about a conversation between two people – entire meeting could be conducted smoothly with the help of the device.

A new dimension

The video below, which was recently released by Microsoft to promote the progress of Kinect gives an idea of ​​the possibilities of the apparatus with three-dimensional technologies.

The interaction in the handling of 3D models in medicine, engineering or school supplies should not be as evolved from the beginning, but the idea is to reach a level close to the video. Applications such as AutoCAD, whose functions include the molding of objects in three dimensions, would gain a much greater realism with Kinect.

With the transmission of your image to the screen, you would not only easier to use the tools of rendering the object, but also be able to control what is being shaped. Imagine riding a power cube and hold it, even virtually, to assess whether it was correctly produced.

The game also wins

Although it was done with a focus on “turning the player on the joystick,” the library of Xbox 360 games using the motion sensor is properly disappointing. For now, basic titles are just and proper, as Kinect Adventures, or games that require the use of the body such as Just Dance 3.

When transporting the Kinect to the computer, it would be a much simpler task to reach the hardcore gamer – one fan who always uses the largest launches in the market and lives in search of a greater gaming experience. It is worth remembering that the PC graphics power is arguably greater than that of the current consoles, if the machine count on powerful configurations.

Watch the Kinect Effect

Kinect could still be integrated with special controls, which are shaped like a pistol or wheel, for example, creating experiences that can verge on realism in genres such as FPS. Both the PC gaming industry as the unit itself would gain from this partnership.