The Kinect is getting a form of reincarnation with the new Sky Glass Camera, a device that detects motion controls to work on the new series of Sky TVs in the UK.
Does all of this sound familiar? That's because it looks and sounds eerily close to the Xbox Kinect. In fact, Sky is even partnering with Microsoft to bring some social functions to the device (thanks, The Verge). Users will be able to have a good old social time as you can sync your Sky Glass TV to watch media with others and chat along.
Just to be clear, this camera isn't the Kinect itself, but rather something that embodies some of its features. According to Sky's chief product officer Fraster Stirling, the partnership with Microsoft has created a "fantastic feature".
"Working with Microsoft we’re also building a fantastic feature that lets us watch TV together even if we’re miles apart. It syncs your TV with other households, with integrated video and chat on-screen, and you can choose content from the biggest channels — including Premier League matches, movies, and all your favorite entertainment."
All of this is something the Kinect originally tried to achieve, with Microsoft even going as far as to bundle the camera with every single launch Xbox One. Unfortunately, despite its best efforts, the Kinect never truly took off - despite some pretty incredible tech behind it.
There are even a few games you'll be able to play with the Sky Glass Camera such as the iconic Fruit Ninja. Sterling claims "family games are never going to be the same again”.
The Xbox Kinect has even been spotted being used in grocery warehouses, where it's made to assist AI-controlled robots in packing people's shopping. It's nice to see the technology still being used in practice, even if it never took the gaming world by storm.
Will you be picking up a Sky Glass Camera? Let us know in the comments below.
Comments 15
...does anybody actually want this? Feels very gimmicky.
Sky are in a tricky situation at the moment with internet streaming services taking more and more of their products' appeal away all the time
Sky glass tv, will come then go with hardly any general public knowing.
It will probably never recover it’s design, prototype and manufacturing costs.
Most go LG,Samsung or a few Sony TVs in the UK.
Almost dead on arrival, you can see it a mile away.
A company with to much money to waste.
It was already unappealing that MS would have a camera pointed at you constantly (until they dropped the requirement). I'd honestly feel much worse about it if it was Sky.
After the damage kinect did to the xbox one. I cringe every time I read the term "kinect" I hope they at least rename it.
@Zag_Man lol ur joking right? thats hideous.
So...
..it wasnt SkyNet, it was SkyNect
Don't forget they also use the Kinect technology for ghost hunting!
A very versatile bit of kit. LOL
This whole Sky Glass is old fashioned, it's an out of date attempt to compete with Netflix et el. Sly will likely use this Kinect hing to spy on you for targeted advertising.
@Zag_Man I have also used this at Dreams, was not going to pay their prices for a mattress though 😂
I use something very similar at work. We have a Kienct pointing straight down onto a table where we lay product underneath it (very similar to Dreams). The kinect can measure the distances and then is hooked up to a PC and projector which projects a sort of heat map image onto the product and we can see any imperfections. Pretty clever stuff really.
Never used one for gaming though 🤣
Well, I enjoyed the kinect with my children on the 360 , we had a blast with Kinect adventures, kinectimals, fruit ninja and the like, thought the gestures were really working well. But understood why it went away... Still a huge success story for MS, who basically sold a bunch of kinect 3's to the U.S Military for like 22 Billion (Hololens)
@Zag_Man you put your quote marks in the wrong place. Surely it should be to analyse the way you 'sleep'
I've mentioned it before in a comment on another article here, on my honeymoon in Japan I visited the aquarium in Osaka.
They had a Kinect looking down on you to track your movement through a section on the floor where fish were projected.
As you walked round your splashes in the water scared the fish and they'd swim away. Of course no real, water, splashes or fish, just a cool effect. All the little kids seemed to love it.
Kinect, more popular than Xbox One in Japan!
Not difficult I know. 🤣
Uhm.......does it also include a WiiU Game Pad to use as a remote control?
And can you play Ouya games on it?
@Zag_Man "you lay down on a special bed in the shop"
That's funny, that was Don Matrick's original plan for Kinekt, too! Though it didn't involve mattress recommendations.
Kinect tech is one of those thing where it wasn't really successful, but it's tech is still important. So I guess in that sense it wasn't a failure, there's a lot of great uses for it. I imagine VR and workout programs would probably be near the top.
@Zag_Man lol whatever next.
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