Apple's unveiling of the iPhone 5 (along with other related announcements) wasn't the only notable tech news this past week. Intel also held its yearly U.S. Developer Forum, and Dadi Perlmutter's Tuesday morning keynote showcased several notable embedded vision demonstrations.
SoftKinetic (company video shown above) is one of a number of software-only and software-plus-hardware developers targeting gesture interfaces for computers, a list that also includes Embedded Vision Alliance members such as CogniMem Technologies, eyeSight, Omek Interactive, and PointGrab. Dean Takahashi at VentureBeat had favorably reviewed a company demo at January's Consumer Electronics Show. And in June, as covered at both Engadget and The Verge, the company unveiled the pocket-sized, claimed "world's smallest" DepthSense 325 gesture recognition camera kit.
These developments apparently also caught Intel's eye. Perlmutter demonstrated SoftKinetic's technology during his IDF keynote. And Intel will begin bundling SoftKinetic support within its Perceptual Computing SDK, which targets the Ultrabook platform, beginning next year. For more, see the following additional coverage:
- AllThingsD
- DailyTech
- EE Times
- The Register
- Slashdot, and
- VentureBeat (and more)
Gesture interfaces weren't the only vision-implemented technology that Perlmutter highlighted in his presentation. Back in January, I told you about a vending machine co-developed by Intel and Kraft that would only dispense a pudding sample if it decided you were old enough to fit in the product's target age bracket.
At IDF, Intel showed off another vending machine concept, this one Coca-Cola-branded, and already in use in some areas of the world. Powered by a Core i7 CPU, it includes a microphone for voice input, both QR Code and conventional currency payment options, Wi-Fi connectivity, a 46" touchscreen display…and a 1080p camera used for customer demographic (age, gender, ethnicity, etc) collection purposes.
