Microsoft's Kinect Already Hacked? - PC Magazine

Has someone already won the $2,000 bounty for delivering open-source drivers that work with Microsoft's recently released Kinect motion-tracking system? Odds are looking good!

Here's the background. Adafruit Industries announced a $2,000 prize last week for anyone who managed to hack into the Kienct in an effort to unlock the device for use with hardware other than the Xbox 360. In short, here's the official challenge: "Upload your code, examples and documentation to GitHub. First person / group to get RGB out with distance values being used wins, you're smart – you know what would be useful for the community out there. All the code needs to be open source and/or public domain."

Well, user AlexP over at the NUI Group Community Forums has posted a video that appears to show a Kinect being controlled via a standard PC interface. That's the only background we have so far, so it remains to be seen whether the potential submission will actually fulfill all the criteria of Adafruit's contest.

Nevertheless, one thing is certain: Microsoft won't be very happy about the results.

"Microsoft does not condone the modification of its products," said a company spokesperson in an interview with CNet. "With Kinect, Microsoft built in numerous hardware and software safeguards designed to reduce the chances of product tampering. Microsoft will continue to make advances in these types of safeguards and work closely with law enforcement and product safety groups to keep Kinect tamper-resistant."

So why the challenge? Adafruit is hoping that the Kinect's "radar camera," as Make magazine senior editor Phillip Torrone puts it, can be unlocked for use with robotics. But as for specific purposes, the sky's the limit—Nintendo's gyroscopic Wii Remote, after all, has been transformed into everything from a VR head-tracking device to the controller of a 15-ton robotic arm.

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Queen to launch British Monarchy page on Facebook - BBC News

7 November 2010 Last updated at 03:39 ET Royal updates heading for Facebook The Queen is set to have an official presence on Facebook when a British Monarchy page launches on the internet-based social networking site.

Buckingham Palace says it is not a personal profile page, but users can "like" the service and receive updates on their news feed.

The Queen has reportedly embraced the web and sends e-mails. A British Monarchy Twitter feed is also available

The Facebook page is due to go live from Monday morning.

The page will also feature the Court Circular, recording the previous day's official engagements.

Royal Flickr

Also featured will be information about royal events and ceremonies, searchable on a UK map.

Its creation is a collaboration between Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and the Royal Collection.

Although users of the social networking site will be unable to add The Queen as a "friend" or attempt to virtually "poke" her as they would with anyone with a personal profile, they will be able to find out what royal events are happening nearby.

The launch of the Facebook page follows the introduction of the Monarchy's Flickr account earlier this year.

It also joined Twitter in 2009 and established a Royal Channel on YouTube in 2007.

Prince William has already been officially featured on social networking sites, with updates about his tour of New Zealand in January posted on to Facebook and Bebo by the New Zealand government.

Facebook has become a global internet phenomenon since it was started by Harvard undergraduate Mark Zuckerberg in 2004.

He created it as a network for his fellow students but the site's appeal quickly spread to other universities and later world wide.

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Reset iPhone Alarms To Avoid Daylight Savings Time Glitch - LANewsMonitor.com

Reset iPhone Alarms To Avoid Daylight Savings Time Glitch:  Some technology websites reported that the Apple’s iPhone OS- the iOS- has been hit by a bug that was causing alarms to go off an hour late after the clocks went back in the UK. The problem was noticed a few weeks earlier when Australians switched to Daylight Savings Time, but it was not fixed at that time and it grabbed headlines when the bug hit the UK.

Apple admitted that the iOS is facing the issue and assured that it would soon release a patch for fixing  daylight savings time problem. But Apple failed to release the daylight savings time update on time and it is expected that the fix would be released today, but it would be too late as the American clocks have gone back by now.

North-Americans would face problems if they would rely on their iPhone to wake and it would be better they manually re-set their alarm or make use of some other means to wake up on time. An alarm clock will be the best option.

Many tech websites reported that the bug is dangerous and they have published urgent reminders to their readers warning of the potential dangers of the bug. Although it is a small problem but Apple’s reluctance to release the fix on time has made it big issue and now it is expected that Apple will have to release a fairly substantial patch as some other iOS bugs have also came to light in the last few weeks. One bug allows individuals to gain access to an iPhone’s contacts when the phone is locked.

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