Microsoft’s Kinect has been an extremely popular accessory for the Xbox 360, early on Microsoft quickly realised that the Kinect was becoming popular with DIYers and hobbyists who produced a range of cool hacks for the Kinect, which we have seen in many different videos.
Microsoft announced a while back that they were developed a Kinect SDK for Windows that would allow for the creation of some really cool programs and software, they even demoed one they created back in April, which let you use the Kinect with the Worldwide Telescope, you can see this in action in the video below.
Microsoft is holding a special event tomorrow, which well be streamed live on the web at Channel 9, and the company is expected to announce the availability of the Kinect for Windows SDK Beta.
According to a recent report by Win Rumors, the Kinect for Windows SDK should be available for developers to download later this week, and it will have support for a number of different features which will allow developers to create software and apps that can be used with the Kinect.
The features include Robust Skeletal Tracking, which will be able to track the skeleton image of one or two people moving about in the Kinect’s field of view, there will also be advanced audio capabilities,plus an XYZ depth camera.
We are looking forward to the Kinect for Windows SDK being released, we have already seen some amazing stuff created for the Kinect, and all this has been done without an SDK from Microsoft.
As soon as the Kinect SDK is available, we expect to see some even more awesome creations for the Microsoft Kinect, and we suspect that the release of the SDK, will make the Kinect even more popular than it already is, especially amongst software developers.
Microsoft sold a total of 10 million Kinects in 2010, and the Kinect now also holds a Guinness World Record for the fastest selling consumer electronics device, and it sold an average of 133,000 units a day, with a total of 8 million Kinects sold in just 60 days.
Source Win Rumors
Video Credit: Ars Technica