Windows 8 to include Kinect integration [Rumor]

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Alex Wilhelm

Alex Wilhelm is a San Francisco-based writer. You can find Alex on Twitter, and on Facebook. You can reach Alex via email at [email protected] (show all) Alex Wilhelm is a San Francisco-based writer. You can find Alex on Twitter, and on Facebook. You can reach Alex via email at [email protected]

With the first full build of Windows 8 in the wild, revelations have been coming on hot and heavy as to just what the next version of Windows will contain. Today’s revelation is sure to turn some heads: there is strong indication that Kinect-type integration is coming in Windows 8.

To begin, Italian blog Windows8Italia found the following sensor buried inside of Windows 8:

This corroborates earlier leaked slides that detail the potential for Windows 8 to detect individuals and log them in directly to their Windows 8 account:

This feature would mirror a similar capability that the Kinect provides for the Xbox, which signs in users to their Xbox Live accounts based on recognition of their physical characteristics.

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Microsoft has said on the record that Kinect will be coming to the PC, it is only a matter of when. While official support for Kinect on the PC might be a ways off yet (perhaps shipping with Windows 8), intrepid hackers are already creating applications for PCs that use the Kinect.

Microsoft is also in the process of providing a personal use SDK that should increase even more the amount of development that currently surrounds the motion sensing gadget.

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