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Kinect for Windows was only released last month but Microsoft are continuing to push forward with the developments. In a post on the Kinect for Windows Blog on MSDN Microsoft have talked about version 1.5 coming in May. A part of the new version will be Kinect Studio an application that will enables developers to record and replay users working with their apps which will be very useful for developer while debugging their applications. Also included is “10-joint” skeletal tracking so application can track head, neck and arms of a standing or seated users. This should work in default and near mode and could lead to some interesting applications.

Microsoft will be posting more details soon.

The momentum continues for Kinect for Windows. I am pleased to announce that we will be launching Kinect for Windows in nineteen more countries in the coming months.  We will have availability in Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan in late May.  In June, Kinect for Windows will be available in Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, India, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.

We are also hard at work on our 1.5 release, which will be available at the end of May.  Among the most exciting new capabilities is Kinect Studio, an application that will allow developers to record, playback and debug clips of users engaging with their applications.  Also coming is what we call “seated” or “10-joint” skeletal tracking, which provides the capability to track the head, neck and arms of either a seated or standing user. What is extra exciting to me about this functionality is that it will work in both default and near mode!

Also included in our 1.5 release will be four new languages for speech recognition – French, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese.  In addition, we will be releasing new language packs which enable speech recognition for the way a language is spoken in different regions: English/Great Britain, English/Ireland, English/Australia, English/New Zealand, English/Canada, French/France, French/Canada, Italian/Italy, Japanese/Japan, Spanish/Spain and Spanish/Mexico.

In a future blog post, I’ll discuss the features and capabilities we are releasing in more detail.  We are excited by the enthusiasm for Kinect for Windows, and will continue to work on bringing Kinect for Windows to more countries, supporting more languages with our speech engine, and continuing to evolve our human tracking capabilities.

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