Rumors have been swirling for awhile about Kinect’s impending integration into devices not traditionally called “Xbox 360,” so this one comes as no surprise. Microsoft is busy working on an embedded version of Kinect for laptops (and probably) tablets. This iteration of the polarizing tech aims to replace the ditzy little webcam found on typical mobile computers, enabling a slew of gesture and voice controls no doubt geared toward the new Windows 8 user interface. But the big question on everyone’s mind is: how will it work?

Gaming seems like the most obvious use to the fine folks of The Daily, for a fairly obvious reason: that’s all it’s really being used for right now (awesome hacks notwithstanding, of course).

Click here to view the embedded video.

But what else might the system be used for? For starters, voice control of applications and the operating system. Think about the current integration of Kinect voice commands on Xbox 360, but integrated throughout the entire operating system or embedded into apps.

Another possibility, hinted at about a year ago, is the idea of facial recognition logon. This already works with Kinect on Xbox–at least, it does if the lighting conditions are right–but in the up-close space of a laptop it should be very accurate pretty much all the time. Better hope you don’t have any local doppelgangers, though.

Gesture support for the new Windows 8 UI is a given, I think. The OS was clearly built with the idea in mind, and combined with both voice and tough could signal a paradigm shift in how we interact with our computers. If they can pull it off, such a combination will make Microsoft’s competitors look like they’re standing still.

What are your thoughts, though? How do you see Kinect integration in laptops and tablets affecting the way you do the things you do? Sound off in the comments!

From: Joystiq
Source: TheDaily

Whenever a new operating system is released–and especially if said OS is released by Microsoft–there’s much ballyhooing to be done about its specs and requirements. Particularly after the debacle of Windows Vista, which was sluggish on even the very newest hardware at the time of its release, Microsoft has been under a lot of pressure to “de-bloat” Windows. With Windows 7, they proved they could do that by shipping an OS that was smaller and tremendously faster than its predecessor. With Windows 8, we’re seeing that evolution continue as Windows slims down and speeds up yet again.

Of course, this time it’s very different: Windows 8 is a complete reinvention of the desktop operating system, with a front-and-center focus on the touch and, if rumors are correct, voice, experience. With all these new bells and whistles, the natural question is: what the hell kind of minimums will I need to run this?! Click through after the break for the full lowdown, sans bellyaching!

Source: Within Windows

What follows is from the Within Windows website, with AtNS’s commentary in blue.

Minimum component set for tablets and convertible PCs
These are the BASELINE specifications for Windows 8 tablets and PC’s. While some sites we’ve seen today are stirring the “ZOMG! Teh Rez is too l0w!” pot, there are already Windows 8 tablets announced with higher resolutions up to 1080p. So let’s not get our panties in a twist for no reason!

Storage: At least 10gb free space after the out-of-box experience completes. In all likelihood, this means that the minimums we’ll see in storage for these devices are 16GB of NAND storage, similar to iPad and other tablets.

System firmware: UEFI. This is the new “Basic Input/Output System” replacing the decades-old BIOS. It should ensure that new systems have a lot more protection from malware running in the OS or from bootable media.

Networking: WLAN and Bluetooth 4.0 + LE (low energy). Obvious, but the good news about Bluetooth 4.0 as a minimum specification is that we can count on battery life improvements from even the most basic of devices.

Graphics: Direct3D 10 device w/ WDDM 1.2 driver. Good news for gamers, though I’m a little surprised they didn’t mandate DirectX 11 since that’s been the current version for more than 2 years. Still, DX10 is very capable.

Resolution: 1366×768. This has some folks up in arms. Don’t be pissed–it’s a MINIMUM, which means that even the cheapest, lowest end device will still have better resolution than your iPad 1 or 2. 3 is up in the air .

Touch support: At least 5 touch points, must pass all tests. Better than some tablets, less than others. For reference, iPhone supports 5, iPad supports 11.

Camera: 720p Don’t get too excited. That’s 0.9 Megapixel.

Ambient Light Sensor: 1-30k lux capable w/ dynamic range of 5-60K. Neat! Sensors.

Magnetometer. Even MORE sensors. We like sensors. Sensors are sensible. They make sense.
Accelerometer: 3 axes w/ data rates >= 50Hz. In case you were worried there aren’t enough sensors.

Gyroscope. Last one. We promise. Maybe.

USB 2.0: At least one controller and exposed port. Likely, these will be MicroUSB ports, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a few tablets shipped with full size ports. Personally I’m looking forward to the “Transformer Prime” variants.

Speakers. So you can hear stuff, I’ll bet. Surprised Microphone isn’t listed, given it’d seem to be a requirement for Microsoft’s TellMe service.

Just a quick blurb to let you know, that Acer Netbook deal from TigerDirect is back! $199 is a killer deal!

Who this software is for, is the small time developer of something, whether it’s code or art or whatever, who needs version control but doesn’t have a huge budget or a lot of time to spend learning the ins and outs of Linux. This is version control that you can install on Windows in 5 minutes, have it configured in 10, and be using it in 20 (the extra 10 is because you will need to install Tortoise SVN on your client PC and reboot, then configure it to Check Out your repository). If you’re unfamiliar (and I was until a few days ago), what this software does is it runs on a server that your team then connect to via client software on their PC’s. The clients each sync to and from the server, and as changes are made to the files in your project everyone is kept up to date on the latest project files with their own local copy. When they’ve made changes, they sync back to the server and the rest of the team will get their changes next time they sync. 

In addition to just keeping everyone on the same page, the server also keeps track of different versions of the files in the repository. This is useful when, for example, I’m working on a file and I screw it up but don’t realize that until I’ve already synced to the server. With the SVN server, I can go back to a previous version of that file very easily and redo my work without the mistake in tow and without having to start the file over from scratch. This saves me individually and the team collectively a boatload of time and effort that might otherwise be wasted redoing work as the result of small mistakes. 

But wait…there’s more! Beyond the simple fact that your team is now saving time and effort and keeping up to date with the latest and greatest files, there’s another benefit. That benefit is simple: if the server crashes and there’s no backup…you’ve got backups of project data on every person’s PC. If you haven’t backed up your server, of course, shame on you. Bad panda! But lucky for you, the rest of the team’s PC’s save your ass. Heck, even if you’re one person, setup your home PC with an SVN server and your laptop (or work PC if you can get away with it!) with the client so you can stay synced and backed up on the go!

VisualSVN’s client software will integrate directly with Microsoft Visual Studio, though be warned: the client app is not free, only the server is (and how weird is that?). Even so, you can use any SubVersion compatible client to access the VisualSVN repositories from a client PC and sync both up and down with ease. The software further runs with such a light footprint that you can easily run it in a Virtual Machine under VMWare, MS Virtual Server, VirtualBox or any of the other tools out there for virtualization (and we’ll be covering some of these very soon). For your ease and comfort I’m including a link to the free TortoiseSVN client below, which you can use with VisualSVN at no charge.

If you’re in the market for a Version Control System for your team’s project but you don’t have a lot of cash, consider VisualSVN. It’s an excellent product that does a single job, and it does it very well. Please do remember that you need BOTH the Server and the Client below to make use of this product.

Final Judgment: Highly recommended for small development teams on a budget.

Website and Download: VisualSVN Server Download

Client and Download: TortoiseSVN Client Download

Orb Networks. Maybe you’ve heard of it, maybe not, but what they do primarily is provide the free Orb Media Server software. Now, in theory this is an amazingly cool piece of software, but in practice it’s actually only pretty darn cool. Yes, cool has levels.

Anyway, the software. Orb is pretty slick; what it does is fairly simple in premise: install it on your PC, configure it to point to your folders full of music and video clips, and it will stream all that media to your mobile device, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, cell phone, iPhone or pretty much anything else with a web browser. In cases where the target device doesn’t support the media in its native format Orb will transcode it to something a little more universal, notably Flash FLV format (as you’d find on YouTube or similar sites).

For mobile devices, this software is, to put it plainly, freaking awesome. Torn between the $300 iPhone 16GB and the $200 8GB models? Don’t be-get the 8GB and save yourself the $100. Add Orb to your computer at home and have access to as much storage as you can afford there, and let’s face it: for that $100 you just saved you’ll get a hell of a lot more than the 8GB extra you will from Apple. I’m currently streaming the entirety of my MP3 collection (which itself wouldn’t even fit on my 60GB regular iPod) plus a good 30ish DVD’s I ripped for the iPod. Suffice to say, my chances of getting all that content on the phone alone are well below zero.If you don’t mind spending $10, Orb even offers a nice little app on the iTunes App Store that will stream into a nice interface, but if not that’s fine-you can stream from Safari with no problems in most cases (Disclaimer: it doesn’t work for me, but it does work for the other person on my Orb account, streaming from the same server. Of course, my phone is now Jailbroken, so that may be related).

But Orb is not perfect. I’ll background this for you a little by telling you that I’m running Orb on a Quad core AMD Phenom 9600 with 4GB of DDR2 memory (PC6400), with most of my media streaming from a RAID5 array (4x320gb 7200RPM 16MB cache). When I stream videos to my Xbox 360 they look awful. This is not the fault of the 360-the same video files played natively from a USB hard drive or streamed through another app look fantastic (they’re all DivX format and some are in HD 720p) It streams the music to 360 just fine and I enjoy that functionality, but the video is simply awful. I suspect this is as a result of Orb’s default settings for transcoding, but unfortunately the software doesn’t give you any granular access into those settings to allow you to tweak them for yourself, and the defaults clearly don’t take into account a robust multicore CPU/memory system with decent GPU.

Further into Orb’s list of weaknesses is the fact that you can only add 3 users to your account, though for many people this will be no problem. For me it doesn’t really matter at all as I only have 4 people who use the server and rarely does more than person at a time access it, but if you’re looking to share your media with a lot of heavy users simultaneously then Orb might not be for you.

All in all Orb is a good, solid piece of software that just about anyone should be able to wrap their heads around, and unlike many of its contemporaries it’s fairly reliable. You’ll get your best experience on your mobile devices, but if you can get around the fact that streaming quality to a console isn’t that great you might enjoy that experience as well.

Final Judgment: Good software for streaming to a portable device with limited local storage, but has some problems with more capable devices

Website and Download: Orb Media Server

No, not that, you perve! I meant download free software. It’s something we all like to do, am I right? (Of course I am). Particularly right now, in this horrendous economy where Democrats and Republicans alike are trying to fix the problem (nevermind that they caused the problem, that’s another post for another site and time), the reality is that when government does–let’s face it-anything–it takes forever to start working. Well if you’re like me, you’re impatient as hell and you want to have stuff to play with but you also want to eat at least a few times a week. Or maybe you just have needs that aren’t being met, who knows.

Starting tomorrow, we’ll begin introducing a series of articles (complete with links) covering free software that you can use to do jobs that are typically done by commercial software but for free. We’ll give it a final judgment and recommend it along with a few words about its utility compared to the commercial software it replaces, and hopefully that will help you out. Don’t worry, we’ll make sure the links are easy to follow. We’re also going to try and cover both PC and Macintosh as much as possible.

Want to help out? If there’s a need you have, tell us about it in the comments and we’ll put our brainy staff on task to find something to meet your needs, assuming a free equivelant exists (almost everything has a free equivelant, but we can’t guarantee anything). If you have recommendations, let us know and we’ll be happy to write it up and give you credit, just be sure to include your name, a link to the software you’re recommending and a way to contact you if we have any questions.

So I got to play with Win7 just a tad before I retired, and what I learned in my 15 minutes with the new OS was twofold: First, Windows 7 is freaking fast. I mean XP fast-maybe faster. I rebooted a few times just to make sure the results were repeatable, and not only is Windows 7 a super fast  booter, it’s also fast once you get to the desktop. The familiar animated effects garbage are in effect, but somehow they just seem…faster to me. Perhaps even more importantly it worked with all my Vista drivers (x64 version) and it easily configured my dual boot system into triple boot (now it glistens with XP, Vista and 7–hooray!)

So tonight I plan to try to actually install some applications and see what happens. Wish me the best, because even though it’s fast, let’s face it–the fish won’t let us forget–it’s still just a beta.

And by “you” I mean “Me”, because we might as well just face it right now: this world revolves around me and should be personalized accordingly.