VentureBeat says that Intel believes that the close-range gesture-recognition that is able to detect finger moving is a way to go for controlling ultrabooks.
"SoftKinetic is a pioneer and leader in the field of 3D gesture recognition who is helping us to make our vision of natural, interactive user experiences a reality," said Achin Bhowmik, Director of Perceptual Computing at Intel. "Gesture-based interaction enables humans to interact in a natural, intuitive way with their computer systems."
The 3D camera itself bears Creative Labs logo, although the basis of the design is SoftKinetic DS325, or so I was told:
The camera has RGB and Depth frames sync, 30fps speed, depth range of 0.5ft to 3.25ft (15cm-1m), FOV 73deg and powered by a single USB2 port with power less than 2.5W. The camera become available, starting October, 2012. The cost of the camera will be available for developers in October 2012 for $149.00 plus tax and shipping. The commercial release is planned for the first half of 2013.
Mitch Reifel, Softkinetic VP of Sales, says: "the idea is that this technology starts as a peripheral and the technology will improve, get smaller z-height and lower cost to integrate [into the Ultrabook lid - ISW]. We will be announcing another major partner in 4Q that will help us realize this, so more info will be coming soon."
Here is a picture of what Intel showed at their forum:
Update: EETimes: Intel announces a $1M prize for the best user interface innovations using the new perceptual computing developers kit.
