So Christmas is nearly upon us again – that time of year when you dust off those Nintendo, Xbox and PlayStation games and get Granny doing the javelin in the living room after the Queen’s Speech. No doubt we will all have some great fun in the process. I’m a big gamer so for me it’s a change from shooting zombies, shouting at the TV and being killed by a 10 year old online!

I have a serious passion for games, more importantly Kinect games and the tech behind what has now become a widespread hacking trend. For me, this is a great time to be around this development.

So, you are probably thinking what is a Kinect hack? Well, here is a little background before we get into the detail.

The technology behind Kinect was invented in 2005 by Zeev Zalevsky, Alexander Shpunt, Aviad Maizels and Javier Garcia.

Kinect itself was first announced on June 1, 2009, under the code name "Project Natal". Following in Microsoft's (yes I am a Mac not a PC) tradition of using cities as code names, "Project Natal" was named after the Brazilian city of Natal as a tribute to the country by Brazilian-born Microsoft director Alex Kipman, who incubated the project. The name Natal was also chosen because the word natal means "of or relating to birth", reflecting Microsoft's view of the project as "the birth of the next generation of home entertainment”.

Kinect was launched in North America on November 4, 2010, and in Europe on November 10, 2010. I was very fortunate to get one of the USB devices not too long after the launch when they hit the UK.

After selling a total of 8 million units in its first 60 days, the Kinect holds the Guinness World Record of being the "fastest selling consumer electronics device". 10 million units of the Kinect sensor have been shipped as of March 2011.

The device itself allows for hands-free control of games or applications, made possible by using an infrared projector and camera and a special microchip to track the movement of objects and individuals in three dimensions. This 3D scanner system called Light Coding employs a variant of image-based 3D reconstruction. The system also has voice recognition built in, like SIRI on the new iPhone 4s. And there’s much speculation that the next version will have lip recognition which could mean a whole new opportunity for developers.

OK so enough of the history lesson...

The term ‘Kinect hack’ has been adopted by developers worldwide. It doesn't actually mean they are hacking the device. Put simply, Microsoft offered the open- source drivers to them but it sounds cool so let’s stick with it. Essentially, an open-source driver for PCs has been made available that opens the USB connection, allowing developers to develop upon the framework.

I know it’s a bit nerdy but one thing that excites me most is the opportunity developers and UI designers now have when it comes to user interface designs. I remember watching the Minority Report, back in 2002, where Tom Cruise wore those famous special gloves to interact with a heads-up menu. Blimey, 2002 wasn’t that long ago and we were all thinking... ‘Yeah that’s going to happen’. Well, the truth of the matter is that it is happening, and developers worldwide are creating some fascinating work. Microsoft continues to embrace this by offering $20,000 along with development space to ten startup companies, in hopes of turning out some incredible Kinect applications. At the end of the three month programme, each group will have the opportunity to present their creations to a group of investors. So in essence a heavily technical product that has a huge amount of tech inside has opened up the doors for some creative thinking.

Developers and designers are creating rich audio and visual experiences for the user. Suddenly, our spectrum of interface ideas becomes more engaging and the content opportunities are endless, especially in public spaces. Users are intuitively embracing this new tech. I recently took a trip to Cadbury World and I was amazed that this technology was being used. One of my biggest insights was watching someone the age of my grandfather jumping on a game projection to unwrap sweets. Intuitive and playful to say the least. I could go on but one thing I would say to finish is what a great time it is to be part of this progression. The opportunities are endless for sectors like retail and most importantly education and learning.

Here are some of my favourite examples of Kinect hacks. One of the things that fascinate me is this next level of opportunity advertisers and marketers have to develop engaging content that is truly indulgent for the user.

Interactive Puppet Prototype

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Virtual Dressing Room

      

Interfaces could be on any surface