Microsoft is working to bring its Kinect motion-sensing gadget to laptops. This applies to Windows 8 laptops, so it is still relatively far into the future.

The Daily, which is the source of this story, has apparently had a look at a pair of prototype netbooks from Asus with the gadget integrated. If anyone is actually going to buy them though, they should try moving the Kinect into something a little bit more powerful than the practically dead netbook format.

Kinect was initially launched for the Xbox 360 as an act of desperation to counter Nintendo’s inventive Wii controllers. Sony did the same thing with its PlayStation Move. Both were launched with much fanfare and were reasonably well received.

Microsoft has also widened the scope to include the PC, but building the technology into laptops is an entirely new idea that might be an interesting feature in future Windows 8 gaming laptops.

The Kinect  consists of two cameras and a microphone that sense the surroundings and let you control games and other software with gestures and voice commands.  Thanks to the dual cameras it also has “depth perception” to more accurately pinpoint the users input.

Other than gaming, the gadgetry can of course also be used for controlling parts of an operating system, which might be one of the reasons that Microsoft is holding off the launch until the next version of Windows arrives.

Source: The Daily

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