Crack open the Kinect with ease

​Retooling the Kinect motion camera to perform your own sinister designs is going to get a lot easier now that Microsoft has announced it will be releasing a non-commercial Kinect for Windows software development kit later this spring.

 

In short, those who wish to crack the thing open and play with its innards will now have easier access to the product's full functionality thanks to the inbound "starter kit" for application developers to take advantage of.

 

Even shorter: Kinect hacks are about to get a whole lot cooler.

 

The Kinect for Windows SDK is being developed and released by Microsoft Research in collaboration with the Interactive Entertainment Business to "support a growing community of academic researchers and enthusiasts who are exploring potential applications using Kinect."

 

Giving access to all of the devices bells and whistles through a computer interface will allow deeper access to the Kinect's capabilities, such as audio, system APIs and even direct control of the sensor; allowing everyone to more easily create richer experiences designed around the Kinect technology.

 

Considering what has already been accomplished by the hacker community, we're pretty eager to see what else they can come up with once access to the Kinect's inner workings is basically served up on a silver platter.