Microsoft's Kinect: The New Mouse?

I'm I the only one concerned about concentrated pin-point beams of UV light being shined into my eyes for hours-on-end when using Kinect? I know we can't <i>see</i> the UV light, but that doesn't mean it can't hurt our optical wetware, right?<p>If it were in our visible spectrum, how bright would it be? As bright as a flashlight shining in our eyes? Brighter than that? Less bright?<p>Obviously I know not what I talk about and this is all FUD, but I haven't seen it addressed anywhere.

The Kinect is a very interesting piece of technology. Because it is REAL. You can buy it, you can use it. Of course, it is not the end of the mouse and keyboard as we know today, because it is just the first step, but it is here, not just a prototype in some lab.<p>That said, I don't think it will replace mouse and keyboard, because the way we interact with our computer is based on the periphery, the mouse and keyboard. Without mouse buttons, we can't click on something that good (there are possibilities for clicking with a gesture, but it sucks, at least at the moment). We can't type text with gestures, perhaps we have to dance letters? :) So in order to use motion based computer interaction on a daily basis, we need to invent some new interface link between the computer and our body. The Kinect is a very first but also a very good step in the right direction, because it is here, it is open, and it is not too expensive to use it. And it is a lot of fun to play with :)

Not this kinect, because it reduces the human hand to a stumpy block. No recognition or awareness of fingers. Pretty understandable.<p>However, this means that I can't yet point at my projector and snap my fingers to send a mouse click or other signal. I have to wave my other arm or shout.<p>When they crack this, then we will see some really amazing UIs.

I believe the "new mouse" is not gesture-based control like the Kinect, but rather eye tracking such as tobii.com. Gesture-based control is great for certain things like controlling a TV or similar, but simple fatigue will be the problem in using it for more "typical" computing scenarios. Just try and stretch your arms in front of you for two minutes, you'll see what I mean. Eye-tracking on the other hand, can very well be used for standard computer use, and it's an amazing (dare I say magical) way of interacting with a computer. This is given the right software naturally, as a standard eye-tracked mouse cursor is not really that great. In any case, the next 5-10 years will be interesting in terms of UI and peripheral development.

I don't understand all the hype. The playstation eyetoy had similar functionality (as far as I can tell - not having tried the kinect) at least two years ago. Is it really that much better?

<i>Microsoft views Xbox-Kinect as a potentially big, new technology platform that others build on, extending its reach and reinforcing its value — a rerun of the Windows-Office story.</i>

So Microsoft finds itself with a surprise hit on its hands and the marketing machine goes into overdrive.<p>I guess it's fortunate that our schools are broke. It's the only thing that would prevent them from wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on Kinects. It's obvious they would revolutionize how teachers teach students cursive writing skills.<p>Just think, gym teachers could insure that every student has a fluid jump shot.

So how long until they are integrated into displays then?