Blog 9: Kinect-ed to Linux???

After first reading the requirements for this week’s blog, something started to bother me. Where had I seen the word “Kinect” before…I knew it was recent and sometime during the day today. Then it finally hit me: in the google ads in my gmail account! I raced to my inbox to search feverishly for this word that I thought I had seen. No dice. But, while I was looking, I remembered that the ad had been titled something like “Microsoft says, ‘that’s my kinect driver’” or something along those lines. Enter google. I searched for “Microsoft and kinect” to be led straight to an article on a very reliable and trusty source of information—Wikipedia. In that article there was but a blurb about some “open source driver” with a paragraph quickly covering something about a Linux driver that “allows the use of both the RGB camera and depth sensitivity functions of the device.” I still didn’t think I was getting the entire story. Right underneath the driver heading in the article, it stated: “See also: Free60”, with the “free60” hyperlinked. Intrigued, I clicked on it.

Apparently, Free60 took over for the “Xbox Linux Project” that was supposed to be researching a way to hack into the Xbox 360 and run Linux on the console. According to the article, someone figured this out. It turns out there are two Linux kernel patchsets currently available. This is quite the tangent, as this is not what I was originally searching for, although the trail is starting to get warmer…

Let’s get back to the basics and what we know for sure: the Kinect is a motion detecting device that attaches to the Xbox 360 to perform similar feats to those of the Wii game console, but is supposedly superior in performance. Now for the nitty gritty…

In an article published by the BBC on the 12^th of this month, the BBC reported that Microsoft’s Kinect controller had been hacked within days of its release on the consumer market. According to the BBC article, Microsoft did not agree with the Kinect being tampered with; they also reported that Adafruit started the wave of attempted and successful hackings. Apparently Adafruit offered $3000 in spite of Microsoft’s censuring the modification of its device. A man (hacker) named Hector Martin was able to hack the device almost as soon as it was released. He managed to get it working with his Linux computer. Compatability anyone? This article also noted that Microsoft said that the Kinect had not truly been hacked, that “What has happened is someone has created drivers that allow other devices to interface with the Kinect for Xbox 360" and that "The creation of these drivers, and the use of Kinect for Xbox 360 with other devices, is unsupported [by Microsoft].” They continued on, adding, "We strongly encourage customers to use Kinect for Xbox 360 with their Xbox 360 to get the best experience possible" [Quotes from “Kinect hacked days after release” article].

Enter Matt Cutts, a Google Engineer. In the article, “Google Engineer Wants You to Hack Microsoft’s Kinect,” there is an offer of $2000 to the person(s) who can make an open-sourced program for the Kinect. A second monetary prize of $1000 is also offered to anyone who can further develop Linux for the Kinect. Why would Matt Cutts, the Google Engineer, offer such a proposition? According to this article, a “holographic [user interface]...AR games; and even multi-device setups that allow for true 3D” are all possible outcomes of such a development. This means that the Kinect’s uses would be virtually endless...limited only by the imagination and creativity of non-Microsoft engineers and scientists, or every day Linux folk.

Ada boy, Adafruit!!! You have successfully claimed another victory for the open-source community!


What does this mean for the rest of us? The possibilities are endless! This could mean a whole wave of invention that propogates into every portion of our lives…this could start the new age of human and robot interaction like that level seen on The Jetsons or Futurama. Or, is this still too futuristic to believe...?

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"There is no security on this earth; there is only opportunity." -- Douglas MacArthur