Kinect 1.5 for Windows in the Works

Kinect for Windows came out just in February but Microsoft already has a 1.5 release in the works for late May, which will add a new app to help developers debug their products based on recorded user interactions.

Microsoft is also rolling out the sensor bar, first developed for the Xbox 360 game console, in 19 more countries in the coming months, with Asia getting it in May and a variety of EMEA nations in June.

All of this comes courtesy of a March 26 post on the Microsoft Kinect for Windows blog from Craig Eisler, the general manager of the product. Eisler said the key feature in the 1.5 release be a new app called Kinect Studio that will allow developers to “record, playback and debug clips of users engaging with their applications.”

The 1.5 release also will feature seated, or “10-joint” skeletal tracking, which will add the ability to track the head, neck and arms of either a seated or standing user. The Kinect is geared for people who are standing in front of their TV, so this is a significant tuning for people who use it sitting at a desk.

The 1.5 update will add speech recognition for four new languages: French, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese. It will also enable speech recognition for languages spoken differently in different regions, such as different British English dialects. Don’t underestimate this. One of the funnier problems with the iPhone Siri was it couldn’t understand Scottish brogues.

Kinect for Windows looks like the Kinect for Xbox sensor but is designed to work at closer range on Windows 7 and eventually Windows 8 PCs. Kinect for Xbox requires several feet of room for use, but the desktop version can sit under your monitor and register your gestures or voice commands.

Kinect has done wonders to revitalize the aging Xbox by getting people off the couch and jumping around, rather than using a handheld controller. Microsoft recently added Kinect support for Comcast Xfinity, HBO Go and MLB TV apps on its Xbox Live service.