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[rcjordan]

I did a high-end voice recognition set-up about 10 years ago using Dragon Dictate Pro as the engine.  It actually did a really nice job of surfing without much training of the voice commands.  I didn't like it, though ...turns out that I'd rather spin a tracball and type rather than talk to my screen.  That and other experiments have made me wary of yet-another elegant UI.

Still, one using the Kinect looks interesting, particularly for managing a media center.

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According to the documentation accompanying the downloads, the Kinect drivers are designed to integrate seamlessly with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 (32-bit only) and Linux Ubuntu 10.10 and later (x86 and x64).

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Download-Official-Kinect-Drivers-for-Windows-and-Ubuntu-Linux-173777.shtml

Kinect Controls Windows 7

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-wLOfjVfVc

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KinEmote is an easy-to-use, free application that takes gestures captured by the Microsoft Kinect and translates them into key strokes that any Windows application can recognize. Users can easily map their own keyboard keys to each of the gestures recognized by the KinEmote software.

http://code.google.com/p/kinemote/

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Now we're getting somewhere:

Supposedly interfaces ANY program to Microsoft Kinect. Create a socket server, which other programs -- including Flash and Silverlight websites -- can then interrogate. JavaScript could be used to communicate with the socket server without a browser-specific extension.

No hacking of the OpenKinect driver.  The installation process is said to be quick and dirty.

http://labs.blitzagency.com/?p=2634

[nop_90]

I have no idea of a capabilities of the device.
If it can communicate with the socket, then you can hook it up to anything.

Mistake palm pilot made, windows CE etc is assuming people want to "write".
Reality is I can type much faster then I can write.

But you can talk much faster then you can write.
Maybe 100-150 words per minute.
But you can "read" much faster then you can "talk".

Deaf Get Chance To 'Talk' On Phone
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/26/tech/main595942.shtml
But you can "sign" as fast as you can "talk".
Also you hands will probably not get tired as fast as your voice.

So the theory is "valid", just not sure where you are going with this

[isthisthingon]

  

Love the concept.  The keyboard idea is nice, but I think the sign language possibilities are even better.  In fact, depending on the precise-factor of reading your movements, a new form of sign language might be possible where the movements wouldn't need to be so extreme and obvious for mere human eyes to be able to decipher 

Perhaps communication could one day travel at the speed of thought   

[nutballs]

i dunno.
I think being able to transcribe straight from my brain would be fucking terrifyingly ADD.

[rcjordan]

IMO, both voice commands and kinect are perfect for "broad stroke" types of browser/program manipulation.  Detailed work, like entering long text or plugging numbers into spreadsheet cells, is (for now) better accomplished by the keyboard.  But for some applications like media centers, the keyboard is a PITA.  Think about the Xbox or Roku UI to view Netflix.  It'd be pretty nice to page through the queue of movies by sweeping your hand to the right or left. Or giving it short voice commands like "Search.....Columbo."  No digging out a keyboard, controller, or special remote.

[perkiset]

I think it's an awesome idea, and agree with your approach RC.

Agree that for *some* tasks the keyboard or mouse are the best bet, just as touch is starting to take it's place in the vWorld.

I am curious about gesture sets - for example, the file system UI responding to some things while other apps respond to others.
Point to an app ... it gets focus.
Swipe hand right/left, move to adjacent virtual desktop.
EMail: scrunch hand, trash.
EMail: unscrunch hand, open email etc.

I think that could actually make the 10' interface a much more viable possibility.

[isthisthingon]

Top 15 Kinect hacks: http://lm.pcworld.com/t/1658708/33610819/160077/0/

I like the toilet assist 

[jairez]

@toilet assist ... "use the soap, Luke!" 

I like the two dudes "dorkin' it up" with the light sabers. 

Interesting stuff.

[perkiset]

Yeah, +1 for the toilet helper.
And uh, +10 for the boy toy at the end ... Give what I just saw at the show i think the future looks quite promising.

But on a serious side, I thought the "virtual mirror" showing the CT imagery of you was damn cool. Some of the educational possibilities of that would be incredible.

[rcjordan]

I had a tech demo of kinect last week. It's kinda slow and clunky using the xbox.  And still not granular enough.  Supposedly, the next update will address better recognition of hand positions and facial expressions.