william chen my thoughts, ramblings, rants on this ever-changing world

Microsoft’s future vision on technology

Microsoft, as everybody knows it, the company who love to hate. A few months back, Microsoft showed a clip from a presentation given at the Wharton Business Technology Conference. In Microsoft’s belief, the technology advancement will be so rapid that this is a world we’ll live in in a decade.

Included in the video was their idea of Microsoft Surface. Though it’s still too expensive for the average consumer to buy, it’ll become a reality. Here is the video of what Surface is

Anyway, Project Natal is something the XBOX team has been working on recenly, and it’s basically a controller-free gaming system. Though I have my doubts in this (i.e. how well it works), the concept video is undoubtedly mind-blowing.

Sony toyed with this idea a few years back (remember EyeStation or Eye-something? The little webcam you hook up, and you calibrate it by standing inside the body outline shown on the screen) I guess Sony marked it as a failed attempt and never went forth with it in R&D.

Project Natal: good concept, pain in the ass to implement. Mainly because the input is a variable, and not a defined button. Everybody’s living room is going to look different, and dogs would be walking by (though that can be fixed with facial recognition). But hey, we have progressed through static HTML pages to PHP to websites built entirely upon user inputs (namely, facebook)

-edit-

Sorry, Project Natal is a reality. Microsoft explains:

Compatible with any Xbox 360 system, the “Project Natal” sensor is the world’s first to combine an RGB camera, depth sensor, multi-array microphone and custom processor running proprietary software all in one device. Unlike 2-D cameras and controllers, “Project Natal” tracks your full body movement in 3-D, while responding to commands, directions and even a shift of emotion in your voice.

In addition, unlike other devices, the “Project Natal” sensor is not light-dependent. It can recognize you just by looking at your face, and it doesn’t just react to key words but understands what you’re saying. Call a play in a football game, and players will actually respond.

More info on Gizmodo.