XBOX Kinect

Kinect is an attachment to Xbox 360 for motion gaming. It is basically a bar like structure with cameras, microphones, sensors etc that makes 3D capture possible.

The Depth sensor:

Parts:

Infrared laser projector

Monochrome CMOS sensor(image sensor)

Working:

The depth sensor can capture data in 3 dimensions and can also adjust the depth. The software in kinect automatically calibrates the depth sensor according to the game, player and the environment. It also considers if there is any obstacles in the environment like a chair or a bed.

Power/Limitations of Kinect:

·        Gesture recognition

·        Voice and facial recognition

·        Can track up to max of 6 people

·        Only two active players

·        20 joints/different movements per player

·        Output video frame rate of 30Hz

·        VGA resolution

·        Range 1.2 to 3.5 m

·        Range/field of view: 57 deg horizontal and 43 deg vertical

·        Four microphone capsules

·        16 bit audio at sampling rate of 16KHz a sampling rate of 16 kHz.[39]

Kinect revolutionized the gaming industry. After the Nintendo wii where you have to hold the sensor and other stuff to play the game Microsoft with its kinect attachment allowed motion gaming naturally. You don’t have to attach the sensors. Just play it naturally.

One more feature that fascinates me is the array of microphones. Usually the microphones fail in a lot of noise, but due to the arrangement of these four microphones in the kinect, it works well even in noisy environment.

The graphics still need to be worked upon as the games you get till now on kinect are cartooning and far away from reality like other xbox games. On the whole I rate kinect as the best motion gamin device.

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Quantum Computing

One or the other time we all feel that our laptops and desktops are really slow. Whenever we need to index a very large database or even run a long CPP code we see the processor is taking too much time. To overcome this quantum computing was first proposed in early 1970’s.

It is basically based on quantum physics. It works in qubits or quantum bits instead of usual binary bits by using quantum physics properties of nuclei and atoms. The main function of quantum computing was to perform calculations faster and to solve solve some real life mysteries. We all know that computer only reads binary digits i.e. 0 and 1 but with incoming of quantum computers computer can take any values between 0 and 1. A usual computer does one problem at a time as it can take only one value as input but it is not the case with quantum computers. They can perform series of calculations in a  single go and making calculations exponentially faster. Quantum computers can also produce interference between the inputs. And while doing the calculations simultaneously and interfering one right answer is obtained. A quantum computer has a very high potential and is no match to the computer a normal man uses. A quantum computer can perform a huge amount of operations at once which cant even be calculated in no. by modern laptops with same speed the quantum computer solves it.

Quantum computing is not befitted with tasks like mailing and processing word files but is very efficient in performing calculations, cryptography and indexing of databases.

touchscreen and you

Change is the only constant. Talking of the IT sector, we all know how the market is flooded with touchscreen phones. The mass has shifted from numpad and qwerty phones to touchscreen phones in the last couple of years. Touch screen cell phones have revolutionized the communication world due to easier and quick screen navigation.

First for the general masses I would like to tell how the resistive and the capacitive  touch works. The resistive touch screen is made up of a  normal glass that is covered with a conductive and obviously resistive metallic layer. These two layers are held apart by spacers. An electrical current runs in the layer while the touch screen is operational. When a user touches the screen the change in the electrical field is noted and at that point, also the co-ordinates of the point are also recorded. Once the coordinates are known, a special driver translates the touch into the machine language i.e. the language your phone can understand.

The capacitive touch screen is better and has a unique method to find the coordinates of the touch. In this the panel stores some charge just like a capacitor and whenever the user touches it, some part of the charge is transferred to him. Then the change in charge on the glass panel is measured from all the corners.

Touch screens in general are very beneficial. First and foremost it saves me space. No extra keypad is required. And with phones its “SLEEK IS BETTER”. They have easier hand eye coordination than the mice, keyboard or keypads. I can go from 1 corner of the screen to other in no time. I just have to move my thumb. Plus there is no sensitivity issue. I don’t have to set the sensitivity of the mouse. It’s all in the speed of my thumb.

Touch screen these days is not only restricted to mobile phones. It has also revolutionized the industry. It’s simply not possible to use a desk or lappy everywhere. And computers are needed in every kind of work environment to perform various functions. Tablets are the perfect solution to this. they are compact and do not require any peripherals to operate them. Plus they have the potential to be more comfortable for the user. Pinch to zoom, drag and drop feature, haptical feedback etc acts as icing on the cake.

I feel that the touchscreens have changed the people communicated and worked and in coming years with advancement in touch technology, it has got to change things further.
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