Ok so the kinect is hot news right now with hackers and agencies eager to see what they can do with the hardware. I am excited to say that Blitz Agency has created a software utility that allows you to use flash with the Xbox Kinect device.

Just watch the video by Blitz Agency and be inspired.....

Flash Kinect Demo from BLITZ Agency on Vimeo.

If your an agency then Flash is the tool of choice (sadly in some cases for visual wizz!) for creating interactive visual experiences this gives flash developers a much richer opportunity and area where they can push their flash skills without weening when hackers mention loads of C++. You can read more about this at Blitz Agencys blog.

From a brand and experiential perspective this is awesome and I can see this replacing crappy touch screen kiosks eventually. Plus I think that as tablets pcs become more main stream I can only imagine that the synergy between all of these devices and how you communicate and interacte with technologies will be all the more richer! Great days ahead I say!

We have recently bought the Kinect for the agency to play about with so time to see what the digital team can do with it! 

However using the Kinect though means that if you want to use it for a brand or live project you need to seek out permission from Microsoft which I can only imaging has its own hurdles where it depends on the client and brand perhaps.

In this case I cant wait for Asus to release their version of the Kinect (apparently called the WAVI Xtion which is going to be shown at CES 2011) where you will have the liberty of using the device how you wish and for whatever brand campaigns or ideas you can come up with! Dont know how much itll cost yet but hopefully itll market at a reasonable price!

You can read more about this here

Nice work guys!

A Starry Night from Torchbox on Vimeo.

The team at Torchbox want to wish our clients, friends and families a very merry Christmas.

As a treat, we've made this short video to brighten the day and warm cold toes.

Filmed and edited at our offices in Oxfordshire, UK. Music recorded and produced at Torchbox by Katie Overbury, Wes West and Tom Dyson.

http://twitter.com/torchbox

http://torchbox.com

I came across the eyewriter website today while surfing for processing and interactive concepts at 2010.futureeverything.org and thought that the technology, use and application was quite inspiring really given the DIY approach to technology and what these guys have managed to put together.

It must be so frustrating for anyone suffering from ALS and communicating.

Members of Free Art and Technology (FAT), OpenFrameworks, the Graffiti Research Lab, and The Ebeling Group communities have teamed-up with a legendary LA graffiti writer, publisher and activist, named TEMPTONE. Tempt1 was diagnosed with ALS in 2003, a disease which has left him almost completely physically paralyzed… except for his eyes. This international team is working together to create a low-cost, open source eye-tracking system that will allow ALS patients to draw using just their eyes. The long-term goal is to create a professional/social network of software developers, hardware hackers, urban projection artists and ALS patients from around the world who are using local materials and open source research to creatively connect and make eye art.

http://eyewriter.org

Here is the Video from the Open Frameworks site which is what Eye Writer is based on and uses.

I am no C++ developer myself and would always opt for processing.org for this stuff.