Netflix for Xbox 360 updated with Kinect support, everybody wave!

在Available today, Kinect support for Netflix on Xbox LIVE delivers controller-free movies and TV shows exclusively on Xbox 360

Starting today, Kinect support for Netflix now allows consumers to instantly watch TV shows and movies streaming from Netflix with just the wave of their hand and sound of their voice. As the first console to launch streaming from Netflix in 2008 and the only device that lets you share your favorite movies and TV shows with up to seven friends in a Movie Party, Xbox is now the only place to enjoy thousands of TV shows and movies streaming from Netflix controller-free on the biggest screen in your home.

"By integrating Kinect into the Netflix experience on Xbox LIVE, we're continuing to transform the way people enjoy their favorite entertainment in the living room," said Pete Thompson, General Manager, Xbox LIVE. "Since its launch, Netflix has always been one of the most popular services on Xbox LIVE, so we are excited to deliver a brand new way to control this experience in a way that can't be found anywhere else."

The Netflix application currently offers Xbox LIVE Gold members who are also Netflix members in the United States and Canada the ability to instantly watch TV shows and movies streaming from Netflix, which contains thousands of TV shows and movies from the major networks and studios, and independent and international producers. Now, through the power of Kinect, your voice is the remote control – just say "Xbox play" to start movie night.

"Netflix continues to provide its more than 20 million members in the U.S. and Canada unparalleled convenience, selection and value," said Netflix Vice President of Corporate Communications Steve Swasey. "With thousands and thousands of titles available to watch instantly, paired with the innovation of Kinect and the power of Xbox LIVE, this is an entirely new way for Netflix members to enjoy instantly watching TV shows and movies streaming from Netflix on their TVs."

With Xbox LIVE, take your Xbox 360 online and browse the full Netflix library to find the movie or TV show that you want, or launch Netflix from the Kinect Hub and select from one of the recommended titles using your voice and hand gestures as the remote control. Even play, pause, fast forward and rewind what you're watching with the wave of your hand or the sound of your voice.

With a growing community of 30 million active members on Xbox LIVE spending more than one billion hours a month online enjoying entertainment, Xbox 360 is the only place to experience controller-free entertainment with tens of thousands of movies and TV shows in 1080p streaming, thousands of live and on-demand sports, and millions of songs – all on the biggest screen in your home shared with the people you care about most wherever they are.

 

Hulu Plus, Kinect updates for Xbox 360 caught on camera (update: video!)

 Our friends at Joystiq have obtained screenshots showing off Hulu Plus in action on the console, as well as a shot of the Kinect Hub with Hulu and Netflix apps included. According to their tipster the Hulu (which looks similar to Zune Video as predicted) and Avatar Kinect apps are "fully functional," with good tracking of their movements similar to existing uses for the peripheral. there's no word on whether or not members of the larger public preview will get an early peek at these features, but you can still hit the source link below for a better look.

 

Earthquake rescue with Kinect bot

在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。
在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。
24 February 2011 Last updated at 18:22 ET By Dave Lee BBC World Service Peter Crook (far right) hopes the robot can make search and rescues attempts "more streamlined" As New Zealand tries to come to terms with Christchurch's devastating earthquake, rescuers continue to bravely work their way through the rubble in search of more than 200 missing people.

From the ground, experts attempt to judge where people are most likely to be buried by scrambling through rubble, listening out for sounds and sending dogs to locate life.

Some buildings, however, have proven simply too dangerous for rescue teams to enter.

A team of engineers at the University of Warwick has been working to solve this problem by developing a robot capable of entering unstable buildings and "looking" around for any signs of survival.

Until now, previous technology has relied on prohibitively expensive laser-based equipment, but Warwick's team have turned to a far more affordable piece of hardware - Microsoft's Xbox Kinect.

The motion-detection device means Warwick Mobile Robotics (WMR) have been able to create a robot which can accurately model its surroundings and even identify places in which survivors may be.

"The whole idea is to protect the lives of the rescuers," explained Peter Crook, mechanical engineer on the project.

Continue reading the main story

It's not really designed to bring people who are stuck there out, but it would mean that the rescue services know where they are”

End Quote Peter Crook Warwick Mobile Robotics "What you'd have is a team of maybe two people - it doesn't take a lot of manpower - and they'd set up outside. From a safe distance they'd drive the robot in and then use that robot to look for victims."

Award-winning

Last year, the robot was awarded first place at the European Robocup Rescue championship in Germany, a prestigious competition which seeks to give initiatives in this field the ability to gain publicity and funding.

WMR is currently courting further sponsorship for their research - particularly when it comes to testing the robot in real-life situations.

"They're obviously hard to predict and we don't have the money to fly out there," said Mr Crook, reflecting on the disaster in New Zealand.

"We raise all our own funding and so cost is a massive issue for us in what we can and can't produce".

Mr Crook estimates that by using Kinect rather than other similar technology, the team has managed to save over ￡2000 per robot.

And, as well as being cheaper, the machine is more technologically advanced than ever before.

"What we had before was a LIDAR - a laser range finder - but that then just gives you literally a planar view so you get a flat-line of how far things are away from you.

The robots are currently in the testing phase

"Whereas the Kinect gives us a 3-D view so we can actually see like an image and how far everything is away."

This makes the robot potentially a massive help for rescuers desperate to waste no time in getting to survivors.

"It's not really designed to bring people who are stuck there out, but it would mean that the rescue services know where they are, and would be able to get to them much more effectively than maybe looking through a whole building which may be empty.

"It also produces a 3-D map at the same time, so what you will then have back on the computer is a whole map of the interior of the building. You could then streamline your rescue process."

New approach

However, the project faced one concerning hurdle.

Microsoft had, in the past, been reluctant to support using Kinect on anything other than their Xbox console.

Continue reading the main story Digital Planet is the weekly technology programme broadcast from the BBC World ServiceIt is broadcast on Tuesday at 1232GMT and repeated at 1632GMT, 2032GMT and on Wednesday at 0032GMTWMR's robot was only made possible after an independent programmer produced unofficial drivers which enabled the Kinect to be used on a normal computer.

"We hadn't dealt with permission," Mr Crook said.

"So should this become a commercial product, I think we may need to cross that bridge."

However, while Microsoft resisted adapting Kinect's use in the devices early stages, the company now says it has changed its stance.

From the spring, a developers kit for the Kinect will be made available for personal users, while a commercial kit will follow at a later date.

"It's definitely good news for us," said Mr Crook, welcoming the new approach.

"Essentially we're using it for the function it's designed for but applying it not to computer games but for saving lives."

View the original article here

Earthquake rescue with Kinect bot

在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。
在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。
24 February 2011 Last updated at 18:22 ET By Dave Lee BBC World Service Peter Crook (far right) hopes the robot can make search and rescues attempts "more streamlined" As New Zealand tries to come to terms with Christchurch's devastating earthquake, rescuers continue to bravely work their way through the rubble in search of more than 200 missing people.

From the ground, experts attempt to judge where people are most likely to be buried by scrambling through rubble, listening out for sounds and sending dogs to locate life.

Some buildings, however, have proven simply too dangerous for rescue teams to enter.

A team of engineers at the University of Warwick has been working to solve this problem by developing a robot capable of entering unstable buildings and "looking" around for any signs of survival.

Until now, previous technology has relied on prohibitively expensive laser-based equipment, but Warwick's team have turned to a far more affordable piece of hardware - Microsoft's Xbox Kinect.

The motion-detection device means Warwick Mobile Robotics (WMR) have been able to create a robot which can accurately model its surroundings and even identify places in which survivors may be.

"The whole idea is to protect the lives of the rescuers," explained Peter Crook, mechanical engineer on the project.

Continue reading the main story

It's not really designed to bring people who are stuck there out, but it would mean that the rescue services know where they are”

End Quote Peter Crook Warwick Mobile Robotics "What you'd have is a team of maybe two people - it doesn't take a lot of manpower - and they'd set up outside. From a safe distance they'd drive the robot in and then use that robot to look for victims."

Award-winning

Last year, the robot was awarded first place at the European Robocup Rescue championship in Germany, a prestigious competition which seeks to give initiatives in this field the ability to gain publicity and funding.

WMR is currently courting further sponsorship for their research - particularly when it comes to testing the robot in real-life situations.

"They're obviously hard to predict and we don't have the money to fly out there," said Mr Crook, reflecting on the disaster in New Zealand.

"We raise all our own funding and so cost is a massive issue for us in what we can and can't produce".

Mr Crook estimates that by using Kinect rather than other similar technology, the team has managed to save over ￡2000 per robot.

And, as well as being cheaper, the machine is more technologically advanced than ever before.

"What we had before was a LIDAR - a laser range finder - but that then just gives you literally a planar view so you get a flat-line of how far things are away from you.

The robots are currently in the testing phase

"Whereas the Kinect gives us a 3-D view so we can actually see like an image and how far everything is away."

This makes the robot potentially a massive help for rescuers desperate to waste no time in getting to survivors.

"It's not really designed to bring people who are stuck there out, but it would mean that the rescue services know where they are, and would be able to get to them much more effectively than maybe looking through a whole building which may be empty.

"It also produces a 3-D map at the same time, so what you will then have back on the computer is a whole map of the interior of the building. You could then streamline your rescue process."

New approach

However, the project faced one concerning hurdle.

Microsoft had, in the past, been reluctant to support using Kinect on anything other than their Xbox console.

Continue reading the main story Digital Planet is the weekly technology programme broadcast from the BBC World ServiceIt is broadcast on Tuesday at 1232GMT and repeated at 1632GMT, 2032GMT and on Wednesday at 0032GMTWMR's robot was only made possible after an independent programmer produced unofficial drivers which enabled the Kinect to be used on a normal computer.

"We hadn't dealt with permission," Mr Crook said.

"So should this become a commercial product, I think we may need to cross that bridge."

However, while Microsoft resisted adapting Kinect's use in the devices early stages, the company now says it has changed its stance.

From the spring, a developers kit for the Kinect will be made available for personal users, while a commercial kit will follow at a later date.

"It's definitely good news for us," said Mr Crook, welcoming the new approach.

"Essentially we're using it for the function it's designed for but applying it not to computer games but for saving lives."

View the original article here