Here's hoping Apple has something interesting under wraps to put Primesense to work on and isn't just filling up their patent war-chest.
Laser diodes (which produce the structured light used by the PS technology) need to operate at a specific temperature so they hit a specific frequency of light. You do this so that you can hit a frequency window for the IR filter in front of your camera. The trade-off here is to use a wider filter, but this increases the system's susceptibility to noise and outside light (windows with sun shining through them are a big problem).
There is a longish delay for the laser diode to hit that frequency (that's what Kinect is doing when it's starting up; the firmware and all is ready to go in a few hundred milliseconds, but the LD needs tens of seconds to get to operating temp). It's not an instant-on device unless you can process data that has low fidelity.
In addition to dumping power into a heater, you also need a cooler (a mere heat sink won't be reactive enough). More power. I really worry about battery life in a hand-held device. (I don't remember how much power laser diodes draw, but the one in the Kinect draws over 60mw).
Microsoft has a metric buttload of patents in this area, both purchased and from in-house R&D.
I really wonder what Apple thinks it bought.
In almost all of the lawsuits I've seen, the patents used by Apple were filed by Apple (and most had Steve Jobs name on them).
Outside of the Nortel stuff, it doesn't seem like Apple is big about acquiring businesses for their patents. Are there notable examples of Apple weaponizing patents that way? I thought that was more the hallmark of Apple's competitors, rushing to put together a defense...
Kinect is not only about gestures. It's also a cheap 3D scanner.
[0] - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/occipital/structure-sens...
New input devices open new possibilities. Just vaguing: 3D sculpting; with the device propped up, any surface is a keyboard; 3D photographs.
Ideally, couple it with a holographic display...
EDIT mobile applications "augmented reality gaming, virtual shopping, Real View™ measurements, 3D scanning and printing, photography enhancement" (http://www.primesense.com/market/mobile/), engadget article (http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/15/primesense-demonstrates-c...)
Samsung at least have been trying to change that: http://www.samsung.com/us/support/howtoguide/N0000003/10141/...
Not that I've ever seen anyone do it.
I don't have much expertise in OS's, but it seems to me that that IOS would be the perfect OS for smart machines. It's already optimized for mobile, wifi, cellular data, lightweight (relatively), and most of all, has a rich and vast developer community. Home Appliances that run on iOS would be a logical step, don't you think? In that case, this purchase would make sense. They could also be developing gaming units as expansion modules for AppleTV?
How about gesturing with your iWatch?
Just sayin'
There are countless unexplored avenues for 3D sensing technology, far beyond gimmicky gestural controls. My own application, as a high-accuracy presence detector for home automation, reached the front page of HN a few years ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2303395). Others were using these sensors for DIY robotics applications, telemedicine, etc.
Now we'll probably have to wait another 20 years for another round of patents to expire before we "little guys" get another shot at depth sensing.
Good luck to PrimeSense, they probably deserve the exit, but bad news for the rest of us.
Besides, kickstarters that rely on hardware fab probably have the highest failure rate on the whole site.
If you are playing a game, it's fine, you want to move around depending on the game style. But once you're looking for relaxing activities, like flipping over channels, is stressful.
It's less expensive than hunting around for the remote in the couch cushions for five minutes.
I like disassembling depth cameras and laser rangefinders. We used the sensors extensively in robotics, back when the only ToF option was the $10k Swiss Ranger SR4000. You can find some of my writings on my robotics website:
http://www.hizook.com/blog/2010/03/28/low-cost-depth-cameras...
http://www.hizook.com/blog/2010/06/20/low-cost-depth-camera-...
http://www.hizook.com/blog/2009/01/04/velodyne-hdl-64e-laser...
This should be exciting.
http://venturebeat.com/2009/02/21/sources-confirm-microsoft-...
I wonder if this spells doom for the following products: ASUS Xtion http://event.asus.com/wavi/product/xtion.aspx
Structure Sensor http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/occipital/structure-sens...
On the flip side, playing games is one thing.... controlling your TV is a different story altogether. I'm not sure how great an experience it will be. Samsung already has gesture controls on some of their camera-equipped TVS. The experience of waving your hands around for control can actually get a bit tiring.
It will be interesting to find out how Apple plans to integrate this technology into their devices.
$85M investments so far.
3 years ago, the company refuses $400M offer from Microsoft (rumour) - saying:
"we are here for the long run".
It Powering XBox Kinect, Dumped at XBox One.
Also amongst "Most Innovative Companies (2011)" [1]