The Madeleine Brand Show for August 22, 2011

Air guitars and augmented reality: how Microsoft's Kinnect is changing technology

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Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Smaly Viloria (back to camera) plays a game with Microsoft's new Kinect controller for the Xbox 360 at the Best Buy store on November 4, 2010 in Miami Beach, Florida. The Kinect went on sale today and uses sensors to read the players body language so controllers are not necessary to play Xbox games with the Kinect.

Air Band is being released today for the X-box. It's basically the video game Rock Band without the little plastic instruments. Instead it uses Microsoft's Kinect sensor to detect your body movements. Watch the screen, and you see your image, with a virtual guitar in your hands. Air Guitar is just one way the Kinect is changing gaming. The three-D sensor may be ushering in a new world of virtual and augmented realities. Joining us to talk about all this is Joel Johnson of Kotaku.com.


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