Oh sweet baby Jesus. You are so unimaginative it's sad. The tech could be used in innumerable different ways of which you don't understand, don't foresee, and most definitely couldn't imagine. You are one of those people who think the iWatch is a stupid idea because you don't need something new on your wrist to tell you the time, when the entire point of it is biometrics, not at all in any way, time. Let's let the inventive geniuses at Apple keep imagining. You keep looking at what's already here.
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Beyond Television: How Apple Could Incorporate PrimeSense Technology Into Its Products
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Oh sweet baby Jesus. You are so unimaginative it's sad. The tech could be used in innumerable different ways of which you don't understand, don't foresee, and most definitely couldn't imagine. You are one of those people who think the iWatch is a stupid idea because you don't need something new on your wrist to tell you the time, when the entire point of it is biometrics, not at all in any way, time. Let's let the inventive geniuses at Apple keep imagining. You keep looking at what's already here.
That's a whole lot of assumptions made about me with zero fact to back it up. At what point did this become personal to you?
I've been playing with the Xbox One all weekend and the Kinect on it is amazing. There wasn't one time where it misunderstood me or activated accidentally - and I have 2 screaming kids and wife in the house too
.
A thoughtful, well written and researched article. More of this please! While I love my speculative rumor tabloids, I also appreciate these in-depth pieces.
iPhones are finally to a point where you don't really need a faster one. Maybe if you're into high-end games. Otherwise Apple needs to come up with new ways to leverage the speed of these newer devices. Real-time 3D tracking? Sure, but I hope it's not a gimmick. If it can assist in navigating a user interface or somehow quickly provide me contextual information in my environment, then do it. The added benefit for Apple is there is yet another reason to upgrade. Now that we have the M7 motion coprocessor, I wonder if they could roll these new features into that for the M9 in the iPhone 6S in late 2015. Now that's just the type of speculative rumor tabloid story that I would read!
iPhones are finally to a point where you don't really need a faster one. Maybe if you're into high-end games. Otherwise Apple needs to come up with new ways to leverage the speed of these newer devices. Real-time 3D tracking? Sure, but I hope it's not a gimmick. If it can assist in navigating a user interface or somehow quickly provide me contextual information in my environment, then do it. The added benefit for Apple is there is yet another reason to upgrade. Now that we have the M7 motion coprocessor, I wonder if they could roll these new features into that for the M9 in the iPhone 6S in late 2015. Now that's just the type of speculative rumor tabloid story that I would read!
What exactly is the product here?
All Primesense gives Apple is an IR structured light sensor. Nobody knows what the application is yet
INTRODUCING: Apple's iHUB... with FACE ID
Interested in another different take on this educated media tech speculation? Huddle up.
First, two observations:
Microsoft initially introduced their new Xbox One game console more as a multipurpose media center and entertainment hub which also happens to play great games than the other way around. Think about why they did that, and then consider that Apple has now acquired the key inventors behind the original Xbox's Kinect 1.0 tech... even though Apple has never shown any interest in launching a game console of its own.
Ever since Steve's intro of the original iPhone, Apple has consistently displayed a pattern of entering a recently emerged product category a bit on the late side, to then soon taking and utterly leading the field. Thanks to a superior design of both the product as well as, especially, the user experience, Apple usually maintains a comfortable lead on its closest competitors for multiple years. It is successful with remarkable consistency at (re-)defining whatever new as well as existing product category it trains its sights on.
Now consider, against this background, Apple's brand new acquisition of PrimeSense. What if the overarching Apple strategy this acquisition fits in is one where Apple tries an end-run on not 1 but 5 product categories in one fell swoop: TV-sets, game consoles, TV content distribution (i.e. cable contracts etc.), all-in-one desktop PCs and internet-enabled home-automation systems?
Imagine a sleek new Apple device. It could be called iHub or such, which like the iPod and iPad before would be Applespeak shorthand for 'entertainment hub', 'media center', 'media console', or so.
Being an Apple device it of course looks like it has been carved in one cut out of a big slab of pure unobtainium. It resembles their 27-inch iMac a lot, but it is thinner, weighs a bit less and comes in a 35 inch version "for bedrooms" (and home offices) and a 55 inch version "for living rooms" (and boardrooms).
Integrated behind the smooth glass of the top bezel, instead of an integrated webcam, is PrimeSense's sensor array... which you will want to use to operate your iHub by voice Siri, of course and gestures... much like people now do through the Kinect 2 on the Xbox One, but without an ugly accessory sticking out of and defacing the top of your sleek TV set and without adding any unsightly dangly wires behind your set too.
Apple being Apple, they are also highly likely to also use PrimeSense's camera and depth sensors to replace their iSight solution and be used for their very Skype-like Facetime videoconferencing app... and to enhance Facetime beyond its current state to include usage of the depth-data provided by the PrimeSense array of sensors. In contrast to Microsoft's questionable judgement call to bundle Skype as a stand-alone app on its new Xbox One, I would expect Apple to deeply integrate video-conferencing and other innovative uses of the PrimeSense sensor array into the OS of the iHub.
Similar to the iPhone 5s' Touch ID, your iHub will come with 'Face ID', which will use facial recognition for security (to unlock access) as well as personalization (personal pre-sets, log-in passwords, etc.) of your and your family's usage of your iHub. Yes, the Kinect 2 enables this kind of stuff in living rooms right now with the Xbox One.
Inside the set, aside from the PrimeSense hardware and fairly decent stereo speakers, you will get both an Apple TV and a nearly fully fledged iMac PC... or more likely an iMac which runs an Apple TV in software. Optional Apple accessories will include a sleek set of wireless add-on speakers + subwoofer for those craving greater audio immersion in their movies and games.
To further differentiate itself from few-tricks-ponies like game consoles and TV sets, it will also come with a host of additional built-in sensors including for temperature, air pressure, smoke & gasses, humidity, light levels etc. ... so as to also function as your home automation center for temperature (think NEST thermostat functions), lighting, safety (fire & gasses detection), front-door security camera, baby-monitoring, granny-monitoring, weather station, energy-consumption tracking, internet usage management, possessions tracking etc. etc. And of course you will be able to access all of that functionality (including the DVR functions, if needed) remotely via your connected iPhone and/or iPad when you are away from home. In other words, your iHub will also become the hub for your family's 'Internet-of-things'.
Given that it is a 1.0 device, Apple will, as is its wont in any case, gimp us all a bit yet again and hold back on using truly top-spec components for all features. So the resolution will probably just be regular HD, and the PrimeSense sensor will be roughly equivalent to today's Kinect 2.0. This way, Apple can later introduce a 'Retina Display' iHub which will in fact be a by then regular 4K or UltraHD display and a next-gen PrimeSense sensor array as the 'big new special things' on a future version of the iHub. Per this same rationale, iHub 1.0 will not have a touch-screen and will not be capable of showing content in 3D. Gotta keep some goodies back to make them buy that next version next year!
Net result: we will all be drooling for Apple's new must-have iHub thing: a single, elegant multifunction entertainment hub / media center device that you will use as a TV set, a DVR, a game console, a large-screen PC, and more. And you can use one or more of your iOS devices as second screens, remote controls and (even Wii-like) game controllers.
Why? Why not!? This makes far more sense than speculating that Apple bought PrimeSense to only break into the game console business with a narrowly focused game console pure-play.
Interested in another different take on this educated media tech speculation? Huddle up.
First, two observations:
Microsoft initially introduced their new Xbox One game console more as a multipurpose media center and entertainment hub which also happens to play great games than the other way around. Think about why they did that, and then consider that Apple has now acquired the key inventors behind the original Xbox's Kinect 1.0 tech... even though Apple has never shown any interest in launching a game console of its own.
Ever since Steve's intro of the original iPhone, Apple has consistently displayed a pattern of entering a recently emerged product category a bit on the late side, to then soon taking and utterly leading the field. Thanks to a superior design of both the product as well as, especially, the user experience, Apple usually maintains a comfortable lead on its closest competitors for multiple years. It is successful with remarkable consistency at (re-)defining whatever new as well as existing product category it trains its sights on.
Now consider, against this background, Apple's brand new acquisition of PrimeSense. What if the overarching Apple strategy this acquisition fits in is one where Apple tries an end-run on not 1 but 5 product categories in one fell swoop: TV-sets, game consoles, TV content distribution (i.e. cable contracts etc.), all-in-one desktop PCs and internet-enabled home-automation systems?
Imagine a sleek new Apple device. It could be called iHub or such, which like the iPod and iPad before would be Applespeak shorthand for 'entertainment hub', 'media center', 'media console', or so.
Being an Apple device it of course looks like it has been carved in one cut out of a big slab of pure unobtainium. It resembles their 27-inch iMac a lot, but it is thinner, weighs a bit less and comes in a 35 inch version "for bedrooms" (and home offices) and a 55 inch version "for living rooms" (and boardrooms).
Integrated behind the smooth glass of the top bezel, instead of an integrated webcam, is PrimeSense's sensor array... which you will want to use to operate your iHub by voice Siri, of course and gestures... much like people now do through the Kinect 2 on the Xbox One, but without an ugly accessory sticking out of and defacing the top of your sleek TV set and without adding any unsightly dangly wires behind your set too.
Apple being Apple, they are also highly likely to also use PrimeSense's camera and depth sensors to replace their iSight solution and be used for their very Skype-like Facetime videoconferencing app... and to enhance Facetime beyond its current state to include usage of the depth-data provided by the PrimeSense array of sensors. In contrast to Microsoft's questionable judgement call to bundle Skype as a stand-alone app on its new Xbox One, I would expect Apple to deeply integrate video-conferencing and other innovative uses of the PrimeSense sensor array into the OS of the iHub.
Similar to the iPhone 5s' Touch ID, your iHub will come with 'Face ID', which will use facial recognition for security (to unlock access) as well as personalization (personal pre-sets, log-in passwords, etc.) of your and your family's usage of your iHub. Yes, the Kinect 2 enables this kind of stuff in living rooms right now with the Xbox One.
Inside the set, aside from the PrimeSense hardware and fairly decent stereo speakers, you will get both an Apple TV and a nearly fully fledged iMac PC... or more likely an iMac which runs an Apple TV in software. Optional Apple accessories will include a sleek set of wireless add-on speakers + subwoofer for those craving greater audio immersion in their movies and games.
To further differentiate itself from few-tricks-ponies like game consoles and TV sets, it will also come with a host of additional built-in sensors including for temperature, air pressure, smoke & gasses, humidity, light levels etc. ... so as to also function as your home automation center for temperature (think NEST thermostat functions), lighting, safety (fire & gasses detection), front-door security camera, baby-monitoring, granny-monitoring, weather station, energy-consumption tracking, internet usage management, possessions tracking etc. etc. And of course you will be able to access all of that functionality (including the DVR functions, if needed) remotely via your connected iPhone and/or iPad when you are away from home. In other words, your iHub will also become the hub for your family's 'Internet-of-things'.
Given that it is a 1.0 device, Apple will, as is its wont in any case, gimp us all a bit yet again and hold back on using truly top-spec components for all features. So the resolution will probably just be regular HD, and the PrimeSense sensor will be roughly equivalent to today's Kinect 2.0. This way, Apple can later introduce a 'Retina Display' iHub which will in fact be a by then regular 4K or UltraHD display and a next-gen PrimeSense sensor array as the 'big new special things' on a future version of the iHub. Per this same rationale, iHub 1.0 will not have a touch-screen and will not be capable of showing content in 3D. Gotta keep some goodies back to make them buy that next version next year!
Net result: we will all be drooling for Apple's new must-have iHub thing: a single, elegant multifunction entertainment hub / media center device that you will use as a TV set, a DVR, a game console, a large-screen PC, and more. And you can use one or more of your iOS devices as second screens, remote controls and (even Wii-like) game controllers.
Why? Why not!? This makes far more sense than speculating that Apple bought PrimeSense to only break into the game console business with a narrowly focused game console pure-play.
Don forget, the mouse, touch screens and touch pads were once products for niche markets, as well. It's not about the current market. It's about the future. Apple needs to have presence and a capability. This is better than needing to research and develop the technology, in house, from scratch.
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A portable 3D scanner would be perfect for capturing images and environments for a holodeck.
I think he ment that every time MS does anything even remotely similar to Apple we get this "Here we go again! MS has no imagination, they can only copy the magic innovation of Apple. LOL", and now Apple is buying the exact same technology used in MS Kinect 1.0.
Of course Apple is free to buy whatever they can, but reactions over the same kind of news are very different according to who did it. Just imagine if Siri had been a licensed technology (instead of Apple buying the company) and now MS bougth the Siri company.
I feel the same exact way. Except I'm not quite as paranoid about the camera haha. I still don't want it...especially as I don't need or prefer the gimmick, but I wouldn't specifically throw it away just because of paranoia.
Couple this with a 3d printer
Would be interesting. Take a photograph of an object and/or scene/person and print said object out.
Tom
Would be interesting. Take a photograph of an object and/or scene/person and print said object out.
Tom
Yea this technology is cool and all but in the end, it's just going to be a large format, Facetime machine. It will be video conferencing, made user friendly for Apple's wide demographic.
I can already see the ads already, a family talking to family members in different countries, all in the comfort of their living room, in front of a big TV.
I can already see the ads already, a family talking to family members in different countries, all in the comfort of their living room, in front of a big TV.
Copying Microsoft. (I'm only saying that because if it was the other way around this thread would have been 20 pages long talking about how Microsoft copied Apple's kinect.)
Why must it be for reasons of paranoia and not just basic privacy and the avoidance of annoyances you did not ask for, pay for or want?
Or are you one of those many people who say "If you have nothing to hide then it is ok?"
Example:
We all hate the fact that cookies track your web behaviour and can lead to often poorly and annoyingly targeted ad's, yes? Well this kind of technology has immense potential for Targeted Advertising, to just scratch the surface.
In as much as being able to detect if anybody is in the room watching TV. This would be a premium 'slot' I would pay for if I was an advertiser and had the budget. Playing a certain Ad to a guaranteed occupied room potentially carries premium revenue.
Also being able to detect if they audience fell within the parameters of adult, male / female, or child size, is equally useful and just a tiny example of the potential. Playing a certain Ad to a guaranteed demographic also potentially carries premium revenue.
The same with Ethnic / non-Ethnic advertising. Remember when the early Kinect system could not recognise many dark skinned users? Well they could turn that defective anomaly into a positive use... LOL!
You still may say that all this is ok. However, is it something you would want to buy a premium product for?
If somebody wants to put an advertising poster on your front lawn for free, will you allow it? And if you are going to allow it, are you going to pay for the board for which the advertisement will be posted to?
That is my main point, in regards to a TV with this sort of technology. It is not something I will want to pay for or allow.
Of course the Apple TV set will be a Trojan Horse in regards to the above.
It will have all the 'bells' and 'whistles' and 'shiny' to attract the usual sheep, who will be so dazzled by the gimmicks that they will totally forget any security issues, or breaches of privacy when they plug it in and click the "I agree" tab on the T&C's. Just look at Google Glass.
There are major security issues with any camera directed at you connected to the internet. Paranoia is not a requisite to acknowledge that fact, although it certainly helps!
P.S. Just because you are not Paranoid, it does not mean they are not out to get you....
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I've been playing with the Xbox One all weekend and the Kinect on it is amazing. There wasn't one time where it misunderstood me or activated accidentally - and I have 2 screaming kids and wife in the house too
Can you help me out then? I'd say it's 90% accurate, but I cannot get the Xbox to wake (I have the setting turned on) when I say "Xbox on", nor can I get it to tune to channels that have numbers (i.e., ESPN2, H2, etc.)
And, to the point of the article and what I was trying to say is yes, it is a neat concept but nothing I would say that people would be using more than just as a novelty (at this point).
The way I see it, Apple will probably stick Capri inside the next iPhone, release an SDK, and let devs figure out how to make it useful. Kinda like what they're doing with the M7 coprocessor
And MS switched to a Canesta Time of Flight sensor for the Kinect 2. ToF can go longer distance and has lower latency, which is better for gaming and living room scanning. PrimeSense is structured light and I don't think you're gonna be able to do face login in the living room with it unless you wanna kiss your TV. Mobile should be interesting though
The "Xbox On" not responding I have no clue, mine works fine even when I shout from across the room. The channels with numbers thing you can't do right now. I'm hoping they patch this in the future. They're might be a workaround using Oneguide Favorites but I haven't bothered to check.
Why must it be for reasons of paranoia and not just basic privacy and the avoidance of annoyances you did not ask for, pay for or want?
Or are you one of those many people who say "If you have nothing to hide then it is ok?"
Example:
We all hate the fact that cookies track your web behaviour and can lead to often poorly and annoyingly targeted ad's, yes? Well this kind of technology has immense potential for Targeted Advertising, to just scratch the surface.
In as much as being able to detect if anybody is in the room watching TV. This would be a premium 'slot' I would pay for if I was an advertiser and had the budget. Playing a certain Ad to a guaranteed occupied room potentially carries premium revenue.
Also being able to detect if they audience fell within the parameters of adult, male / female, or child size, is equally useful and just a tiny example of the potential. Playing a certain Ad to a guaranteed demographic also potentially carries premium revenue.
The same with Ethnic / non-Ethnic advertising. Remember when the early Kinect system could not recognise many dark skinned users? Well they could turn that defective anomaly into a positive use... LOL!
You still may say that all this is ok. However, is it something you would want to buy a premium product for?
If somebody wants to put an advertising poster on your front lawn for free, will you allow it? And if you are going to allow it, are you going to pay for the board for which the advertisement will be posted to?
That is my main point, in regards to a TV with this sort of technology. It is not something I will want to pay for or allow.
Of course the Apple TV set will be a Trojan Horse in regards to the above.
It will have all the 'bells' and 'whistles' and 'shiny' to attract the usual sheep, who will be so dazzled by the gimmicks that they will totally forget any security issues, or breaches of privacy when they plug it in and click the "I agree" tab on the T&C's. Just look at Google Glass.
There are major security issues with any camera directed at you connected to the internet. Paranoia is not a requisite to acknowledge that fact, although it certainly helps!
P.S. Just because you are not Paranoid, it does not mean they are not out to get you....
I agree, to most of what you said. But I guess I failed to mention that I don't care about what you've mentioned above, as much as I would care to have the product. If I cared enough about said comments above I would not think of buying the product. That said, if they were to have an optional kinect package (like with the 360) I would not buy it. But only because I don't need the gimmick
While I agree that it is something that people should strongly consider, the way that companies are using this "data" is being masked behind features or in this case, a product, which simply will not work without it. If you are trying to use Google maps online, but you refuse to accept cookies, then you simply will not be able to use Google maps. It's as simple as that. And while I don't agree with it, at this point, you can only do so much to prevent them from collecting data, and in this case a "potential" for wrong intent - from happening.
I turn off ad tracking and send data logistics and those sorts of things when I see it. But I do not refuse terms of conditions (and therefore not be able to use a product) because of these sorts of issues.
I actually leave mine on at all times and power on the TV with the remote, like I used to (my wife would freak or somehow not understand having to tell the xbox to fire up from voice command every time she wanted to watch TV).
I can plainly say, 'Xbox, watch Fox / CBS / NBC' and it switches the channel (and to the HD version too - I was skeptical that it would tune it to a non-HD version of the channel). We use ATT Uverse and it seemed to learn the DVR's controls fairly easy without much effort. Perhaps a reconfigure and do the cable provider setup again?
Google the list of things you can tell your Xbox and you'll find yourself talking to your entertainment center more and more...
Niche product NOT
True only if you dismiss 90% of the article that prompted this thread. (or didn't read before commenting) Granted some applications are for specific markets (artists/sculptors) but besides the many broad uses mentioned, I could see law enforcement and military applications esp. with decreasing form-factor.
True only if you dismiss 90% of the article that prompted this thread. (or didn't read before commenting) Granted some applications are for specific markets (artists/sculptors) but besides the many broad uses mentioned, I could see law enforcement and military applications esp. with decreasing form-factor.