As you can see in the photo, the Kinect sensor sits on top of what appears to be a Windows-based tablet. The cart is apparently battery-powered, and uses a sensor to recognize a person using their shopper loyalty card. The cart will then follow them around the store while the shopper drops their items into the basket.

The fancy cart will even scan product bar codes and mark them off your shopping list as you add them to the basket. The system will also track what you’re spending and checks you out when you finish shopping. That means you don’t have to stand in line and wait to pay. Considering most grocery stores have two of their 57 checkout lanes open at any given time, not having to stand in line is an even bigger deal than not having to push the cart. Of course, it’s not sophisticated enough to identify and weigh produce at this point, but that probably wouldn’t be hard to add.

We talked about a prototype Kinect-based shopping cart a while back, but this one is much more sophisticated. At this point, the Kinect cart is only a technology demo, but it sure would be cool to see this sort of tech show up in grocery stores some day.

[via Geekwire]

The guys over at interactive design collective Lab212 created this work simply entitled Starfield, in which a user sits in a swing, and as they swing back and forth, a projected starfield moves in sync with their swinging action. The setup consists of a Kinect, installed behind the swing, along with a projector which casts the stars onto a blank wall in front of the swing. Check out the effect in the video below:

The application was created using openFrameworks, and even can work with anaglyphic 3D glasses to create a really immersive effect. I can only imagine that between the swinging and the rapidly flying 3D stars, that you’d get a little woozy from this after a little while.

[via The Curious Brain]

The series of three spots was produced on behalf of Sony Europe by Studio Output and Marshmallow Laser Feast to promote the immersiveness of movies rented or purchased from the PlayStation Store, and they definitely get the point across with these spectacular short clips. Incredibly, all three clips were shot in real-time, with zero edits or post-production. Everything you see was an optical effect seen through the lens of the camera. Michel Gondry would be proud. Watch, and see what I mean:

The scenes were created by projecting images onto various 3-dimensional surfaces, and then syncronized a variety of real-world props, booby traps, and triggers in the enviroment to move along with the scene changes. As you saw in the clips, live actors also helped move around various props and contrivances to help with the immersion. They shot the entire thing with a Steadicam, with several of PlayStation Move controllers strapped to it, as well as EyeToy cameras around the room in order automatically track motion and adjust the scene accordingly.

Now if only Sony could make a real holodeck, I’d buy one.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

You can get the SRW-S1 controller right now for $119.99(USD) from SteelSeries.

[via Kotaku]

Granted, blaues01′s hack is quite complicated and only works with Rhythm Tengoku, but the important thing is that his set up works – when he swings his sword, the A button is pressed almost instantly. That and he makes sheating and unsheathing a sword look bad ass:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

No sir, thank you.

[via Kontraband]

Take, for instance, Oliver Kreylos’ programming hack, which combines the color and depth images captured by the Kinect to produce a live 3D representation of the environment. Check out the video below to see what I mean…

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Plus, he figured out a way to use the 3D reconstruction to measure objects digitally, as shown in the next video clip:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Cool, no? At this point, Oliver is just working on the initial version of the code, and hasn’t yet released source code for it, but you can track his progress over at his website.

[via Engadget]

I might want my PC on all the time, but the printer, speakers and all the other powered crap sitting on the desk attached to the PC don’t need to be on all the time. A new power strip called the HiSaver has surfaced that makes it easy to save power when you leave the room. The HiSaver Powerbar has a remote motion-detecting sensor that sits on your desk. When you leave the room for at least ten minutes, four of the outlets on the thing turn off automatically to save juice.

One outlet at the top of the machine stays on all the time for the PC itself. If you need more than one always-on outlet, one of the four motion sensing outlets can be changed to always on with a flip switch. The thing is cool and can be purchased now for $109.99(USD), making it one of the more costly power strips you’ll ever see.

This Gesture Cube kind of reminds me of those Microsoft Surface interactive tables. You know the ones I mean? I keep seeing them in CSI:Miami, making using a computer look like something out of Minority Report.

The Gesture Cube was designed by a European team comprised of IDENT Technology AG, ZINOSIGN and LUNAR, and puts gesture controlled interfaces into something different than you’ve probably seen before. The portable cube serves as remote input device to a host of different devices around your home, such as media servers, computers, and household appliances.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Its interface would be based on electric field sensing technology, which can detect movement and gestures in 3D – without the need to touch the screen. Looks incredibly cool. I want one now!

[via Gizmo Watch]

Just load up greySox String Trio, choose a bit of classical music, and press “play”. The music loads in and plays based on the strokes of the virtual “bow” that is your iPhone or iPod Touch. String Trio uses the motion sensor in your iPhone to detect the angle and length of your strokes, and adjusts the playback of the music accordingly. You can either choose automatic accompaniment (hence the “trio” part of the name), or perform a solo without any backing instruments. The video below should give you a pretty good idea of how it works.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I don’t know about you, but that Beethoven demo track sort of sounded like the theme from Fawlty Towers to me. They really should add that one to the app and they’d sell a lot more copies. For now, you’ll have to settle for one of the over 20 included classical and folks songs bundled with the App. greySox is also offering in-app downloads of two additional 10-track collections, priced at 99 cents each.

String Trio is available now over at the iTunes App Store for $1.99 (USD).

The guys at Microvision have put together this demo of their PicoP display engine, strapped to a motion-sensing FPS gun controller – and it’s awesome! The system tracks your movements in real time and projects a heads-up display on a blank white wall to keep you immersed in the gameplay. The tiny mobile projector can crank out images up to 200-inches (assuming you’re in pitch darkness), and can automatically produce a distortion-free image on flat or curved surfaces. For purposes of this demo, the controller is wired up to play a game of Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Want to see it in person? If you happen to be in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada over the course of the next couple of days, Microvision is showing off the PicoP gaming demo at the Intel Extreme Masters North American Championship at the West Edmonton Mall. While you’re there, you can be dazzled by the m4d 5k1llz of some of the best video gamers in world.

Too violent for you? The Microvision guys will also be showing off a projector-controller demo with Aladdin flying around on a magic carpet. I’ll be standing on the other side of the room with my GunCon to shoot it down.

[via PicoProjector]

As you hold your PC up and move it around, the highly-sensitive motion-sensor USB module sends position data to the StellarWindow’s planetarium software, adjusting the viewport to match the angle of your screen. The motion sensor module detects both acceleration and earth magnetism on X, Y and Z axes.

The stunning star maps include a combination of photographic and CGI images, including are over 2.6 million stars and other celestial bodies cataloged and overlayed onto the display.

The software also includes a voice guidance capability that helps you position the sensor in the right direction. This video clip really shows off the StellarWindow in action…

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

If you don’t happen to have a tablet PC lying around, you can also attach the sensor to a pair of binoculars and view the feedback on a connected Windows PC (a Mac OS X version is coming soon).

While casual stargazers can do something similar on iPhones with Craic Design’s Pocket Universe, that doesn’t really compare to the high resolution imagery and sheer volume of data you’ll find in this software. If you’re seriously into astronomy, there’s no comparison. Then again, StellarWindow costs 100-times more than Pocket Universe.

Fairy Devices sells the StellarWindow for $299 (USD), but only accepts PayPal. But if you want to pay by credit card, the guys over at the Japan Trend Shop have them for $338 (USD).

The BLAZE PS3 Motion Freedom 3D controller can detect your movements and send them to the PS3 for use in games. The controller has a D-pad, analog stick, and all of the other buttons you’d find on a DualShock 3 control.

Now there’s no word on what games the Motion Freedom will support, but BLAZE makes mention of Tiger Woods PGA Golf and Sega Tennis in their announcement. No word on a release date or price either – so for now, you’ll just have to be satisfied reading the press release.

[via TFTS]

Of course, the 16GB Latte Espresso PMP can play music and video files, but it’s also got a touchscreen with tactile feedback, so you can actually feel a pronounced “click” when you interact with buttons and controls on the screen. The media player also features a “G-sensor” which automatically rotates the apps and display to match the angle of the player’s 3-inch (420×240 resolution) display.

Audio formats supported include MP3, WMA, FLAC, APE, OGG, and AAC (without DRM). Video can be played back in AVI, WMV, RM, RMVB, 3GP, MPG, MP4 or FLV formats. There’s also a built-in FM radio, but it doesn’t receive HD radio or RDS information like other the new Zune HD does. But what do you want for $99 bucks? On the other hand, it can actually broadcast its audio signal to a nearby FM radio without any extra hardware.

As is often the case with these jack-of-all-trades media players, it also includes other miscellaneous apps like voice recording, a text reader, a stopwatch and a photo browser, but none of them sound like anything special.

Released earlier this year with a list price of $199 (USD), you can now get your hands on a Latte Espresso over on Amazon for just $99.99. If you’re wondering if you should take the plunge, 4dthinker has a detailed review of the Latte Espresso, along with all its pros and cons.

Unlike Nintendo’s Wii-mote, the Project Natal (pronounced “na-tall”) sensor box can detect movements of your entire body, and can also recognize voices. The compact device will mount above or below your television set and has an RGB camera, depth sensor and multi-array microphones to detect movements and voices around your room.

From the looks of Microsoft’s demo footage shown today, the system aims to significantly improve on the basic gesture control found in devices like Sony’s EyeToy. There’s also full gesture control for interactive with menus without the need for a controller.

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Project Natal’s cameras can even detect faces and scan objects in real time and inject them directly into the games you’re playing. This concept footage should give you a pretty good idea of where Microsoft wants to go with Natal:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

While most of the demo footage shown was for more traditional fare like fighters, racing and sports games, one standout was Peter Molyneux’s “Milo”.

Milo is sort of like a modern-day take on Seaman, but with a boy who can respond to your emotions, voice, facial expressions  and movements.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Cool stuff, but a little bit creepy. We may have officially crossed into the Uncanny Valley. Keep in mind that all of the tech demos and video footage shown at this point are only conceptual, and the features and functionality of the final product could (and probably will) change.

Microsoft hasn’t announced a release target for Project Natal, but if they manage to work out all the kinks, I’m hoping we could see the system as early as the 2009 holiday season. On the other hand, we could be waiting until some time in 2010. Stay tuned for more details.

[Project Natal for Xbox 360]

The LetterLogger is small enough to be concealed inside of a standard #10 business envelope, yet contains sophisticated GPS and motion-sensing technology which can record every movement along the letter’s travels. Not only can it record the precise position and timing of each location, but its motion sensors can detect the amount of time when the letter is sitting still, which could help ferret out wasted time during the delivery process.

They should slap one of these directly on every mail carrier too. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some delays at the neighborhood bar, donut shop and strip club.

[via Engadget via NaviGadget]

The Mscape concept allows you to use the portable gaming device as a “lens” to the world around you, superimposing interactive elements into the scene in real time. For instance, you might be looking down a city street, then hold the device up to see a virtual dragon attacking you on the screen, you’d then duck out of the way and the game would respond to your physical actions. It’s a lot easier to understand if you watch this video clip provided by HP.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The Mscape would use a combination of motion sensing, GPS and other technologies to understand its context in the real world. Certainly this isn’t the first “augmented reality” system I’ve seen, but it’s the first portable gaming device to embrace the concept. The general idea is kind of cool — if not a little impractical — the first time someone gets run over by a bus while they’re playing with one of these in the street, the lawyers will kill it.

HP hasn’t revealed if and when the technology will be brought to market.

[Sci-Fi Tech via Destructoid]

The DS Motion Card plugs into the DS or DS Lite card slot and features a three-axis accelerometer and a one-axis gyroscope to send a player’s movements to the DS.

At this point, there isn’t a way to use the card with off-the-shelf games, so you’ll need to mod your DS to play homebrew titles. There are a couple of game demos available for download on the DS Motion website to get you started.

The card is just $25 bucks, so if you’re into the DS homebrew scene, you might want to pick one up just to play with it.

[via Destructoid]