Microsoft Releasing A New Adpater That Will Allow You To Use Your Kinect For Xbox One Sensor In Windows PCs

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

You can buy the new $49 adapter from Microsoft that will allow your Kinect for Xbox One sensors to work with Windows 8/8.1 PCs and tablets.

Microsoft’s existing Kinect for Windows sensor sells for $199.99, and the company’s Kinect for Xbox One sensor sells for $149.99. The idea with the $49 adapter was to make it possible for consumers to buy the Xbox One sensor and the adapter for the same price as the Kinect for Windows sensor, said Scott Evans, partner director of program management in Microsoft’s Operating System Group.

Also, it is important to note that you need a USB 3.0 port on your Windows PC to make this adapter work. Xbox 360 Kinect sensors are not supported with this new adapter.

Microsoft is also now allowing developers to make their Kinect apps available in the Windows Store for the first time. The first set of apps include the following,

YAKiT: An app from Seattle startup Freak n’ Genius that allows people without design expertise to animate 2D or 3D characters in real time.

Nayi Disha: Series of interactive apps for early childhood education that gets kids up on their feet and learning through movement.
3D Builder: An app that enables anyone to scan a person or object, turn it into a 3D model, and create a 3D print of that model.

Kinect for Windows SDK 2.0 is now available for download for developers. This new Kinect Adpater Kit will be available in 12 countries today and followed by 41 more countries in the coming weeks.