Kinect for Windows has been one of the coolest projects that Microsoft is personally involved with. Windows applications being built using Kinect continually impress me more so than any games that use Kinect on the Xbox 360. It speaks to the power of the Kinect platform as an interface. With that being said, Microsoft has updated the Kinect for Windows SDK and Runtime to version 1.5. The updates adds a host new capabilities and tools to make building Kinect-powered programs easier. The updates range from new tools like Kinect Studio to new languages in Kinect’s speech recognition. Starting with the new tools, developers can now play around with the above mentioned Kinect Studio. It allows developers to record and play back Kinect data. This should make testing easier since you don’t have to have the person perform the movements over and over again. Microsoft has released a set of Human Interface Guidelines that detail best practices when creating Natural User Interfaces with Kinect. On a related note, the Face Tracking SDK is now available. It tracks head position, location of eyebrows, shape of the mouth and more. The skeletal tracking capabilities have been greatly enhanced with this release. The biggest update is the addition of Seated Skeletal Tracking. One of the major problems with Kinect on Xbox 360 is that it can’t detect movement very well when the person is sitting down. With Kinect for Windows, it can now detect a 10-joint head/shoulders/arms skeletons while ignoring the leg and hip joints. Skeletal Tracking has also been added to Near Mode. It supports Default and Seated tracking modes. The idea here is that Kinect can be used to track movement in applications that involve displays which people need to interact with on a personal level. Performance has seen improvements with the mapping of a depth frame being sped up to five times from the last update. The Kinect device will also keep depth and color frames in sync with each other. The RGB image quality has also been increased with 640×480 now running at 30 FPS and YUV 640×480 running at 15 FPS. Adding in a feature from Kinect for Xbox 360, it’s now easier to build applications that allow users to control 3D avatars. It does this by providing Joint Orientation information for the skeletons being tracked. The Joint Orientation is offered in two flavors – Hierarchical Rotation based on bone relationship or Absolute Orientation using Kinect Camera coordinates. Kinect is also becoming more internationally minded with Microsoft releasing four new language for speech recognition – French, Spanish, Italian and Japanese. They also released new language packs to support different dialects based on region. This is especially important for English as Kinect has to contend with differences between the U.S., Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Finally, the Kinect for Windows hardware is now launching in Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. It will be available in 15 additional countries (mostly European) in the following months. Microsoft is a global company so I wouldn’t be surprised if they had Kinect for Windows hardware in every major country by the end of next year. It really is exciting to see Kinect for Windows being supported like this. I was concerned that Microsoft would treat it as just a side project to their big money maker – Kinect for Xbox 360. I have been proven wrong, but it wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing support that Kinect for Windows has so far received. To see some of the amazing things people are doing with Kinect, check out the Kinect Accelerator finalists. To download the latest SDK and Runtime, just hit up the Kinect Developer page. It’s easy and free. You can’t beat that combination.

The dethroning of Internet Explorer has been a long time coming. For years Microsoft’s browser sat at the top of the browser heap, stagnating and becoming bloated. First Netscape, and the Mozilla tried to take Internet Explorer down with good design, modulability, and other modern features. Those browsers never spread too far beyond a core of internet-savvy users, though. When Google launched its Chrome browser in 2008, its focus was on speed. This aimed right at the weakness of the market’s large, slow browsers. Chrome’s ease of use, combined with its automatic updating features, gave the browser an edge and propelled it into the browser wars with a fury. Now, Statcounter is showing that Chrome might have overtaken Internet Explorer for good. As seen above, Chrome has gained over a 10% higher share of the market since this time last year, and has done so at the expense of both Microsoft and Mozilla. This comes at a time when Microsoft has actually improved Internet Explorer. Microsoft’s browser now has many of the features that Chrome and Firefox sport, and its newest version is faster than previous ones. Unfortunately, the company has a hard time getting users to upgrade to newer versions of the browser. Many IT departments don’t bother with the hassle of upgrading browsers on every employee’s computer. Also, many Internet Explorer users are less computer-savvy users who simply use the browser because it came with their Windows installation. Some people still use Internet Explorer 6, an outdated, unsupported browser that doesn’t work with much of the modern web. In fact, according to StatCounter, more people use Internet Explorer 6 than use Opera or Safari 5.1. Take a look at StatCounter’s statistics below and see for yourself. StatCounter also keeps statistics on operating systems, search engines, social media, and more. Source: StatCounter Global Stats – Browser Market Share (StatCounter via The Next Web)

Remember Microsoft’s So.cl social network? It has now launched to the public. You can sign up and use it if you want. Socl was spotted back in November, originally under the name Tulalip, and then Microsoft officially announced it in December, as a way to give students a new way to learn. It was initially made available to students at the University of Washington, Syracuse University, and New York University. At the time, Microsoft said, “So.cl has been designed for students studying social media to extend their educational experience and rethink how they learn and communicate. They can build posts with many elements—photos, video, text, and more—and share them with colleagues. They also can find students with similar interests and build communities around specific educational goals. So.cl might even give students the ability to create their own social tool, customized for their own community.” To use the service, you can either sign in with Facebook or your Windows Live ID. When you go to sign in using Facebook, it says: So.cl is an experiment in open search. That means your searches on So.cl are viewable by other So.cl users and will also be available to third parties. So.cl does not automatically post your searches, comments, or likes to your Facebook stream unless you choose this option. Also, we don’t contact your Facebook friends unless you invite them. Then, you’re asked to choose interests (not unlike StumbleUpon) and follow the most popular users on So.cl: Then, you’re taken to your home page, where you can “explore the best of So.cl”. The top bar and notification counter looks somewhat like Google’s: If you click on one of the categories, you get a newsfeed for the category. This is comprised of searches that people have performed and posts that people have made to that category. For the ones based on searches, it tells you what they searched for, and then gives you a specific link (I’m not sure if this is the top result for the search, the one that person clicked on, or what). It’s a different experience. That’s for sure. If you search for something, you’re presented with a set of results from both Bing, and feed results from So.cl. You can add results to your posts, not unlike Bing’s social features. When you’re ready, click “done” and it will post your update, with results. They may still have some bugs to work out. When I tried to post the one from the screen cap above, it didn’t really give me any indication that it was actually posted. When I went to “My Posts” it was nowhere to be found. It’s also telling me that I have 0 interests. Then why did I accept all the suggestions it gave me at the beginning? It also says I am following 0, even though I also elected to follow the popular people it suggested. Another feature of the service is called “Video Parties,” which appear to be Microsoft’s version of Google’s Hangouts. Here’s what the site says about them: Watch videos with your So.cl friends in real time by creating a party in So.cl. Note: Video Party allows other users to see the videos that you have posted or viewed It appears that users get 10 invitations to start with. So, it seems this is about more than a tool for students now. It’s unclear whether Microsoft is really trying to build its own social network like Google has done with Google+, or if this is really just a testing ground for social Bing features. It seems like the latter. For one, they’re letting you sign in with Facebook from the get go. This could make the whole thing more useful, since everyone is already on Facebook. Think about how much more complete Google+ would be if it had all of your Facebook friends. Of course, if it has all of your Facebook friends, what’s the point in using both? That’s where things get a little hazy with Socl too. It seems to be largely about search, and BIng is obviously Microsoft’s baby in that department (complete with a fresh, socially-focused redesign, no less). Lili Cheng, one of Socl’s creators, reportedly said that they’re using Socl as “an experiment with the search + social networking experience from Microsoft Research,” and that we’ll see “other experiments in Socl over time.” Have you tried Socl yet? What is your impression? Let us know in the comments.

Facebook has had a huge day! Not only did they have their IPO, but they also dodged a huge bullet today when the Oregon Governor signed a bill today that assesses big data centers for taxes on their local value, not on intangible assets like their national brand. The biil known as the “Facebook Bill” will be signed into law at Facebook’s data center in Pineville, OR. Now that this bill is going to be signed, Facebook can, and will probably, build a second data center. The new data center will be a “green” data center that uses “innovative cooling techniques to conserve energy.” The big public platform enables Facebook to push its Open Data Center Alliance strategy which is a “consortium of leading global IT organizations with a common view of the requirements and challenges facing next generation data center and cloud infrastructure innovation.” This bill will also open up the possibility that other big tech companies such as Google and Microsoft will also build data centers in Oregon. This move would be great for those companies saving them a ton of money and bring much needed jobs to the state. Mix this tax break in with the fact that Oregon has no sales tax and it could be a great place to work for some people. If only their property taxes weren’t so dang high.

I went to the University of Kentucky for five years. During that time, I learned that everybody had a MacBook. They seemed to have bought the computer for one reason – it’s totally the coolest, duh!. Jokes about stereotypical MacBook users aside, it’s a good computer for college. Microsoft has a problem with that and has regularly offered a free Xbox 360 with the purchase of a Windows PC for college students. That offer is back. Microsoft announced today the return of the promotion that has all new Windows PC purchases receiving a complimentary 4G Xbox 360 Netflix streaming device gaming console. The offer is available to college students in the U.S. and Canada, but the terms are a little different for both countries. Students in the U.S. can claim their Xbox 360 by buying a Windows PC worth $699 or more at the following retailers: Best Buy, Dell.com, Fry’s Electronics, HPDirect.com, Microsoft Stores and NewEgg.com. Students in Canada can claim their Xbox 360 by buying a similar Windows PC, but the value has been reduced to $599 for them. Participating retailers for our neighbors up north include Best Buy, Dell.ca, Future Shop, Staples and The Source. The guy at Microsoft recommends a Dell XPS 13 as his computer of choice. While I don’t advise the purchase of laptops, mostly because I favor desktops, I know that college students need laptops for their needs. The Dell XPS 13 is decent as far as Ultrabooks go. The Intel Core i7 is nice, but the 1.70 GHz processing speed is kind of disappointing. The on-board Intel graphics are kind of lackluster as well, but you’re not using the computer for gaming. That’s what the free Xbox 360 is for. It’s a pretty good deal, but I feel that Apple is still going to get the majority of purchases for the new school year. It won’t even be MacBooks either. Students are probably begging their folks for an iPad since it’s easier to carry around and can do anything a normal college student requires – stream Netflix. I’m not in college so I can’t take advantage of this deal, but many young people are just starting out on their journey of acquiring debt education. Are you going to take advantage of Microsoft’s returning deal?

Will Amazon’s popular EC2 cloud soon be facing competition from Google and Microsoft? If reports are true, Amazon’s position as the preferred cloud storage facility for a number of web properties, including WebProNews, could be directly threatened. Thanks to a scoop from GigaOM, word is both tech giants are hard at work on cloud storage services, and both are expected to formally announce their existence later this summer. Apparently, the willingness of other companies to pay for these cloud storage services plays a big role in the motivation behind these developments: Although Google declined to comment on whether the offering is indeed on the way, an IaaS cloud would make a lot of sense for the company. It already has a popular platform-as-a-service offering in App Engine that is essentially a cloud-based application runtime, but renting virtual servers in an IaaS model is still where the money is in cloud-based computing… Microsoft clearly got the message on where developers are spending in the cloud, too, which is why it’s reportedly expanding its Windows Azure cloud to compete with Amazon more directly than it already does. Apparently, a willingness from both giants to compete with Amazon in relation to cloud computing prices. Amazon’s willingness to slash prices for their Amazon Web Services platform has not been lost on Google or Microsoft. In fact, Google has already shown a willingness to reduce prices on their Google Cloud Storage service. Currently, Google and Microsoft’s cloud services operate under the Platform as a Service (PaaS) model, while Amazon operates with under the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). The difference between the two methods is PaaS offers a computing platform, where the user/customer creates the interface based on tools and programs provided by the company offering the service. While the IaaS model is considered the more basic of the two, is it also gives customers access to storage facilities, all provided by the company instead of the consumer. The following graphic, borrowed from Wikipedia, gives you an idea of how each service functions: With that in mind, GigaOm’s report indicates both Google and Microsoft may be offering the IaaS version to consumers: In terms of timing, this looks like a case of both companies realizing they got ahead of themselves and the market by centering their cloud computing plans around PaaS rather than IaaS. If Google really does roll out an IaaS offering, maybe it’s also a sign of its newfound maturity when it comes to rolling out new services that fit naturally into its existing business and that it can actually sell. If Google and Microsoft indeed dive into the arena that’s currently ruled by Amazon’s Web Services platform, does this mean Amazon’s days as the top provider of could storage are numbered? [Lead Image Courtesy]

Microsoft turned some heads last month when they announced that the Bing Search API would be heading exclusively to the Windows Azure Marketplace. A lot of non-profit groups like libraries were understandably upset because Microsoft wanted $40 a month just to use the new API. After hearing the criticism from non-profit groups, Microsoft has adjusted the pricing to include a free option. The Bing Search API is now available on the Windows Azure Marketplace. From there, you can download the API and begin using it in Azure Web apps to provide Bing-powered search results alongside images, video and all kinds of other great search-related queries. The new Bing Search API can also be configured to your liking to return only the most relevant data to your applications. Microsoft, in a move that will make non-profits love them, are keeping the Bing Search API free up to 5,000 queries. That’s a little better than Google’s Custom Search which only allows up to 100 queries per day which equals out to about 3,000 free queries a month. For applications that use more than 5,000 queries a month, Microsoft has an easy to understand tiered-pricing system. It goes from 10,000 queries for $20 a month to 2.5 million queries for $5,000 a month. For 2.5 million queries using Google’s Custom Search, their pricing comes out to be $12,500. Either way, Bing Search is obviously the more cost effective option. It’s worth pointing out that Google at least only charges you per 1,000 queries, up to 10,000 a day, where as Bing charges you upfront for all the queries in a month. So you can get away with paying less with Google if you have slow search days. If you are using the Bing Search API 2.0, Microsoft encourages you to switch over to the new Windows Azure Marketplace version. You can still use the old 2.0 API for free until August 1 which is when Microsoft will switch over to only handling requests for those who are using the Windows Azure version. To encourage people to make the switch sooner than later, Microsoft is offering a free trial for any subscription tier. You can start processing 2.5 million queries for free as soon as you sign up. If you find yourself needing even more than 2.5 million queries a month, Microsoft can hook you up for a small fee. If all of this sounds better than you ever could have imagined, check out the migration guide (docx) for moving old Bing Search API apps to the new Bing Search API. In doing so, you’ll be signed up for the free trial. Just be sure to change back over to the free tier before the trail ends unless you can afford $5,000 a month. As an aside, Microsoft is removing two services from the Bing Search API since they aren’t used all that much. Starting August 1, the PhoneBook SourceType and the RSS endpoint will no longer be available through the API. Microsoft’s translation service will be available only through Microsoft Translator (for a separate fee) instead of the Bing Search API as well.

The Apple rumor mill has been in high gear these days. What with reports of an iPad Mini, the new iPhone, and the iTV, speculation about what Apple’s got coming down the product pipeline has been rampant. Reports about Apple’s supposed foray into the HDTV market with a device alternately called either the iTV or the Apple TV (not to be confused with the set-top box), have played a pretty sizable role in that speculation. There has been speculation about the TV’s size, its shape, its price, and its features (Siri? FaceTime?). One feature that’s bounced around the rumor mill but hasn’t picked up a lot of traction, though, is motion control. This rumor – often dismissed – suggests that Apple’s HDTV will be getting the same kind of motion- and voice-activated interface that Microsoft introduced with their Kinect system. With a system like this in place, you wouldn’t need Apple’s remote app on your iPhone or iPad. You wouldn’t even need a physical remote. You could control your TV by talking to it and waving at it. This, of course, could pose a problem for enthusiastic sports fans, who may get tired of hearing Siri say things like “I’m sorry, I don’t understand ‘Pass the damn ball.’” At any rate, while a motion controlled iTV/Apple TV is still very much in doubt (as is the TV itself, for that matter), it appears that Apple really could implement the technology if they want. In fact, according to a report today from Business Insider, Apple’s “answer” to Kinect is older than Kinect itself. According to “a source familiar with the software,” the software started out as a hack designed to have devices shut themselves down when they detect the user leaving the room or waving goodbye. It was originally developed in 2005. When Apple decided to hang onto the software, the source assumed it was going to be incorporated into Macs with iSight cameras built in. That, of course, never happened, and Apple has apparently kept the tech under wraps ever since. The revelation that Apple has motion sensing technology already in the works prompts BI to suggest that it could go into the rumored iTV. Combined with Siri, this technology would instantly give Apple a strong competitor to Microsoft’s Kinect system, which has rapidly evolved into far more than a mere game controller. Of course, the technology could also be used in other ways: it could still be implemented in Macs, or it could be adapted for use in iOS devices, perhaps as an answer to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich’s Face Unlock feature. Or it really could go into the iTV. Always assuming, of course, that Apple really is making an iTV, and really does plan to bring it to market. While that seems more and more likely of late, the fact is that the device is still basically just another rumor. But if it isn’t just a rumor, if Apple really is working on their own HDTV, then motion sensing technology (along with Siri, FaceTime, the App Store, and a few other unique Apple touches) could make for a pretty revolutionary HDTV, even if Apple doesn’t get the content delivery deals they reportedly want for it.

As the release of the next iteration of Microsoft’s Windows operating system nears, a few major questions remain unanswered. Specifically, nobody quite knows when Windows 8 will be releasing to the public. Late summer seems a likely candidate, but no one is quite sure. Similarly, nobody knows exactly when Windows 8 – which is designed to offer a unified desktop/tablet/phone experience – will be coming to mobile devices. A recent report, though, appears to confirm that the Windows Phone 8 will be arriving on Nokia Lumia phones by year’s end. Israeli publication Techit (Google Translation) is reporting that Nokia Lumia handsets running WIndows Phone 8 will be arriving in Israel and elsewhere by the end of 2012. The news, apparently, comes from Eurocom Nokia, a company that handles distribution of Nokia’s products. Of course, as Ubergizmo points out, Eurocom Nokia is only affiliated with Nokia, and is not actually Nokia itself. As such, this could still turn out to be just a rumor. Given what little we do know about the Windows 8 release schedule, though, the timeline does seem to make sense. If Windows 8 hits sometime in the third quarter – say, around August or September – then it stands to reason that Windows 8 tablets and Windows Phone 8 phones would start to hit the market sometime in the late third quarter or early fourth quarter.

Microsoft is now pushing PC’s that not only come with Windows 7, but come with a “cleaner” version of the operating system that is free of “crapware.” Software, such as DVD playback programs, customer help icons, and trial games, is often installed by computer retailers or manufacturers onto the computers they sell. This software is often referred to as “crapware.” A Microsoft Signature computer is one that comes with no software installed by manufacturers, and on which Windows 7 has been tweaked by Microsoft to function best on the computer’s hardware. In addition to selling Microsoft Signature certified computers in the online Microsoft Store (including computers from manufacturers such as Dell and HP), Microsoft has also set up a program to help Windows 7 users convert their current computers to a Microsoft Signature set-up. Computer owners can bring their devices into one of the few physical Microsoft Stores around the U.S. and have it Microsoft Signature-certified for $99. Walt Mossberg over at The Wall Street Journal ran some tests with several different computer manufacturer’s computers and compared the speed and reliability of Microsoft Signature computers with those that were loaded with crapware. Not surprisingly, he found that Microsoft Signature computers were faster to start, wake up, and shut down, but only by margins of a few seconds. Note, though, that all of these comparison computers came straight from Microsoft. If you are looking for a clean Windows 7 install, Microsoft Signature isn’t exactly that. Signature comes with a plethora of Microsoft products installed, including some that could be considered crapware in their own right. Windows Media Center, Internet Explorer 9, and the Zune Marketplace all come pre-installed on a Signature PC. The Journal story states, however, that Microsoft Stores will help users uninstall or install any software, at their request. All of this seems silly when you consider that users can simply take an afternoon and re-install a fresh version of Windows 7 from the disc that they have already purchased. And, if the manufacturer of their computer did not provide a copy of their operating system, the price of an OEM copy of Windows 7 Home Premium is almost exactly the same as a Microsoft Signature in-store wipe. Still, I suppose that if you have more money than time, Microsoft Signature might just be the perfect way to get BonzaiBUDDY and all of those toolbars off of your mother’s computer. (via The Wall Street Journal)