What Kinect Could Be, But Probably Won't 143
An opinion piece at CNN looks at Microsoft's Xbox Kinect, praising the system's capabilities not for gaming, but for what it does to the video viewing experience. "The idea of being able to ditch your table full of remote controls and just use your hands and voice to interact with the TV is compelling. It's much nicer than QWERTY keyboards, which are a terrible idea in the living room. It's also better than Wii-like remote controls, or even using an iPad or smartphone as your TV remote, a feature that cable companies are increasingly rolling out." The problem, as they see it, is Microsoft's inability to actually bring this into common usage for regular television viewing. "It seems like the company is tied too much to the Xbox's substantial gaming revenue to split the Xbox TV stuff off as a separate product — even though there's a huge population of non-gamers who probably have no interest in buying an Xbox." Perhaps this is something that can be addressed by others when the Kinect SDK is released.
12 watts of power, right? (Score:4, Insightful)
Not to be a party-pooper, because different interfaces should be explored, of course, but for day to day usage I could, on principle, not justify using a TV remote that draws 12 watts.
Re:The very few times... (Score:2, Insightful)
Then by your comments about Microsoft NOT actually making the Kinect, Are we to assume you make everything you claim to make?
When you make dinner, do you raise the cattle? Do you grow your own wheat? Do you make your own cheese? Do you even make your own beer( I have friends that do that and its not that hard to do)??
Microsoft was at the helm the entire time this product was being developed and created. So what Steve Balmer didn't actually sit there and hand craft the molds for the plastic to be poured into to make the shell.
AntiMS fanboyism at its worst.