Microsoft to Release Kinect Development Kit

There have been some interesting unofficial hacks that enable Kinect to be using with Windows and now Microsoft have said they are going to release a Kinect development kit for hobbyist developers with a commercial version due later.

This should enable developers to come up with some interesting solution with the Kinect and maybe do some Windows Media Center integration.  The SDK will give developers access to the Kinect audio, system API and direct control of the Kinect sensor. I not sure how practical a Media Center Kinect remote would be but it would be nice to play about with the SDK. I can imagine sitting on my sofa and skipping commercials with a wave of the hand

Ever since the November launch of Kinect for Xbox 360, enthusiasts and academic researchers alike have expressed their excitement and intense interest in the possibilities created by the product’s ability to enable users to bring games and entertainment to life without using a controller.

Kinect for Xbox 360 and the potential seen within its core technology have captured the imaginations of the academic research and enthusiast communities. To encourage and support that creativity, on Feb. 21, Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s chief research and strategy officer, and Don Mattrick, president of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business, announced that the company plans to release a non-commercial Kinect for Windows software development kit (SDK) from Microsoft Research this spring.