By David Bates
Review & Description
Microsoft's Kinect add-on for Xbox is the fastest selling new gaming peripheral in history, and no wonder. For under $200, Kinect can see and hear its surroundings, find people, even tell them apart. It's a huge step towards controlling computers and devices just like Tom Cruise did in Minority Report. Hackers worldwide are salivating at the chance to take control of Kinect. With Microsoft's brand-new Kinect SDK and this book, they can. Hacking with the Microsoft Kinect Beta SDK teaches every skill programmers need to become pioneering Kinect "DIY" hackers. Long-time hardware hacker David Bates first walks readers through installing and configuring the new Kinect development environment with Microsoft's free Visual Studio 2010 Express. Next, he introduces Kinect's core features through a series of simple hacks presented in the form of easy, step-by-step tutorials. Developers learn how to map 3D space in real-time, track motion, recognize people, and find the sources of sound. Step by step, Bates guides readers through increasingly challenging tasks, including detecting people while they're walking; interacting with individuals; identifying the loudest voice in a group; and reacting to objects. Bates even shows how to use Kinect to build a working security system. He concludes by previewing the future of Kinect, including opportunities to commercialize new applications, and evolving "natural user interfaces." Read more
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