By Jessica Roy 11/06/12 9:13am

Patently Absurd

I'm watching you... (Photo: Game Informer)

Microsoft Wants to Build a Creepy ‘Consumer Detector’ That Charges for Content Based on How Many People Are in a Room

The Kinect add-on for Microsoft’s Xbox, which allows users to play fully-immersive games as the Kinect tracks your movements and translates them to the screen, is a fun alternative to typical couch potato gaming. But did you know it can also help corporations spy on you? America!

Back in 2011, Microsoft applied for a patent that would allow cameras and sensors, much like the ones embedded in the Kinect, to track how many people are in a room. Developed by Microsoft’s “incubation team,” which is where they test new approaches to hardware, the patent was recently made public. They’re calling the invention a “consumer detector” and it’s just as frightening as it sounds. Read More

By Jessica Roy 9/12/12 9:43am

Patently Insane

Let's get freaky. (Photo: Rikomatic)

Microsoft Has Patented What’s Basically a Holodeck

Sometimes when you can’t make the trip to Risa, you might feel the need to recreate the pleasure planet in a fully-immersive alternate reality. Who wouldn’t? Ars Technica reports that Microsoft filed a patent last year for a “Holodeck-style, full room immersive display.” Score one for the Star Trek nerds.

The patent, of course, goes hand-in-hand with the Xbox 360′s Kinect add-on, which allows for virtual reality-like game play where users can interact with elements on the TV by moving around in their own physical environment. Microsoft’s patent would allow users to do this, but in a literal 360-degree field, meaning that even the walls, floor and ceiling would become part of the game. Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 9/11/12 7:51am

Linkages

FEED ME, SEYMOUR. (Photo: flickr.com/articulate)

Booting Up: Plz Water Your Sad, Neglected Fern Edition

Thanks to the miracle of modern technology, soon your near-dead plants will be able to text you when they desperately need water. [Wall Street Journal]

American Airlines’ pilots can now use iPads throughout the flight. You, a mere wretched passenger, are not so lucky. [The Next Web]

After a stroke left his mother unable to use a keyboard, this dude hacked a Kinect to help her access email, because he is a better son than you. [CNET]

Good news! Some of those pretty women friending you on Facebook might not be spammers. Bad news: They might work for the Taliban. [Wired]