Remo Knops' Personal Blog » GADGETS

Project Natal for Xbox 360 – A Controller Free Gaming Experience

Remo Knops — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:00:10 +0000

Last year I attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but unfortunately I do need to miss one of the best technology shows on the planet this year. Since I’m passionate about Windows Phones and other Microsoft products I didn’t want to miss the Microsoft CES 2010 keynote with Steve Ballmer and Robbie Bach.

While Steve Ballmer announced to the public that the HTC HD2 will become available in the US via T-Mobile in upcoming spring, I was far more excited by an announcement made by Robbie Bach, President, Entertainment & Devices Division @ Microsoft: “Project Natal for Xbox 360“.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFrvHSEQKTU

What is Project Natal for Xbox 360 ?

While the video above of the announcement describes Project Natal for Xbox 360 pretty well, but you might want to look at a Project Natal definition from the Wikipedia page:

“Project Natal is the code name for a “controller-free gaming- and entertainment experience” by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 video game platform. Based on an add-on peripheral for the Xbox 360 console, Project Natal enables users to control and interact with the Xbox 360 without the need to touch a game controller through a natural user interface using gestures, spoken commands,or presented objects and images. The project is aimed at broadening the Xbox 360′s audience beyond its typically hardcore base.”

Both the video and the definition shown that Project Natal for Xbox 360 is a complex but very challenging innovation from a technical- and scientific perspective. In the Project Natal video above you can see some behind the scenes with the some Project Natal team members, each having a different professional- and educational background !! I think this story tells it all …

www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9tmr8VDqN8

Some concluding thoughts about Project Natal

I used to play with the Atari 2600 “gaming console” as a child, but I have never really played a lot on gaming consoles. However yesterday the little child in me woke up yesterday after I saw the announcement and demo of this technical masterpiece.

Some critics might say that the first steps into a different way of interacting with the gaming console were set by the Nintendo Wii Console. This might be true, but the types of games and “game-richness” on a Nintendo Wii Console totally differ from the types of games on the Xbox 360 or the Sony PlayStation 3. Furthermore the Nintendo Wii Console still requires a kind of controller, despite the form may differ from the traditional controllers.

The Project Natal video above provides some realistic scenario’s which outline the new way of interaction between man and machine. I really like the part where the skateboard is scanned and loaded into the game so the boy can ride his own skateboard in the game, or the steering, clutching and tire changing in the racing game.

I think it is fair to say that Microsoft has developed a great new technology for the Microsoft Xbox 360 with Project Natal. In order to further boost the return on investment (ROI) on this excellent outcome of Microsoft Research, I started to think if there are different applications in other markets within the Microsoft Ecosystem.

I can think of future scenarios where you can control the machines in your kitchen, or interacting with your home electronics or I can even think of scenarios in the car industry. This might sound like future mapping, but I honestly do believe that Microsoft has a powerful technology in their hands with great potential. I hope we can see some results in the future.

“Microsoft tonight announced it would start shipping its Natal gesture and voice controller for the Xbox 360 game console in time for the Christmas holiday shopping season.”

Like you can read in the LA Times article above, Robbie Bach, President, Entertainment & Devices Division @ Microsoft tonight announced that Project Natal is available for consumers early 2010. In other words this is soon, and I’m definitely gonna see if I can replace the good old Atari 2600 memories with a brand new Microsoft Xbox 360 (Elite) gaming console, of course combined with the Project Natal add-on !!

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Short review of AIAIAI Y-COM in-ear headphones

Remo Knops — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:37:17 +0000

After I wrecked the Turbosound in-ear stereo headphones, it was time to lookout for a new set of in-ear headphones for cycling and jogging. Eric Lin, who uses V-Moda earphones, gave me the tip to have a look at the AIAIAI-website based on some of his friends’ experiences.

With a fair pricepoint of 55 euro’s (shipping excluded) I decided to give it a try and ordered a set of black AIAIAI Y-COM in-ear headphones. In this article I will share my thoughts and experiences so far.

Overview of AIAIAI hard-plastic case and black Y-Com in-ear headphones

What’s in the “Box” ?

The AIAIAI Y-COM in-ear headphones are cleverly packed into a cylindrical hard-plastic package, as you can see in the overview picture above. In the top and bottom of the cylinder there are removable compartments, which contain additional five (!!!!) different sets of ear-plugs.

Technical speciﬁcations

Below electronic engineers, musicians or audio-lovers can have a look at the detailed overview of technical specifications [ref02]:

Driver Unit: 9 mm diameter
Plug: Stereo straight Mini Plug 3.5mm
Impedance: 16 ohms
Sensitivity: 100dB/mW
Rated power input: 4 mW
Maximum power input: 20 mW

AIAIAI Y-Com product details (Y-splitter, 3.5 mm plug, on/off switch)

Product details

When you open the website, you will notice that it’s flash-based and the graphics already target a specific user-group. One of the first characterizations of the AIAIAI-products is “cool” to wear and fashionable, which are reflected in some eye-catching details in the productdesign.

The first detail is the thickness of the cable, which is 2.5 mm in diameter. What I can’t see, but do hope for is is a wider diameter of the copper innercable (compared to other headphones), resulting in a better audio performance and quality.
The second detail is the sleek 3.5 mm, gold-plated plug. On the exterior of the black connection part between plug and cable is a nice AIAIAI logo, which emphasizes the level of detail in the product design.
A third detail is the Y-part, which splits the cable to the left- and the right earphone. With a large L and R on this part the left- and the right earphone are clearly marked. The “Y-splitter” is probably the product detail that resulted in the naming of the product (also remark the naming of the Swirl in-ear headphones [ref01]).
The AIAIAI designer put a nice ON / OFF switch between the “Y-splitter” and the right ear-phone. This is very clever so I can pauze and play the music on my iPod Classic, without touching the device in the innerpocket of my jacket. This feature is also very helpfull on my road racing bike, when you don’t have the time to reach into the backpocket of the shirt. Furthermore it works when you have your gloves on.
Finally all the AIAIAI headphones have a pre-bend cable at the last part of the cable just before the headphones. When you receive the heeadphones in the cylindrical case you might think the headphones are damaged, but the bend is made in there on purpose. Both on the hard plastic case, as well as in the userguide it is described to wear the cable of the headphones behind your ear, like the Shure in-ear headphones.

AIAIAI Y-com in-ear foam plug and cable bend for comfortable wear

First experiences

The yellow foam earplugs reminded me (as a mechanical engineer) directly of the E-A-R Classic earplugs which you need to wear in noisy manufacturing environments. The idea is that you roll and sqweeze the earplugs between your fingers and push the in your auditory channel. The foam expands and closes the auditory channel, resulting in a significant noise reduction. The same principle applies to the AIAIAI Y-COM in-ear headphones. I was very surprised with the level of noise reduction, while the headphones are extremely comfortable to wear, even underexercising condictions.

Because the fit is simply great and pretty “deep” in your ear there are no problems if you are wearing a hat during jogging in the winter. One of the details that is very helpful under these winter circumstances is the on and off switch, which makes it easy to control you music player. It might be cool if you could also switch to the next- or previous song, but that might be a point of improvement in the next itteration of the product.

Last but not least the sound quality of these headphones is remarkably good ! Owkay, what you pay for is what you get, and some musicians or audio-lovers might question the sound quality of the AIAIAI Y-COM headphones. Of course there probably are technically superioir in-ear headphones on the market (like the Shure E530 or the Ethymotic ER4 headphones), however the pricepoint of these headphones is much higher. It doesn’t make these headphones very suitable for all day use, or during sports.

I have put different styles of music on my iPod Classic: Rock, Trance, Pop and even Classical music. With all these styles the sound quality is high, which means a very clear sound output and low volumes as well as a good “color” of the music.

What I perhaps miss is a small case to put away the AIAIAI Y-COM in-ear headphones, when not used. The hard plastic cylinder is way to large for that purpose. Luckily I do have a lot of compartments in my Crumpler Beancounter L messenger bag.

Final thoughts & overall conclusion

Interesting pricepoint of 55 euro’s;
Additional five sets of ear-plugs to search for an optimized fit to your ear;
Very good fit, and comfortable to wear, because of a clear plug-design;
Great noice-cancellation without any hightech electronics inside;
Clever product details and heavyduty cable;
Very good sound quality at low volumes;

Minor points of improvement, which even could improve the overall product- and user-experience is more controls on the on/off switch and the lack of a case to put away the headphones. Overall I think this pair of headphones provides a very good value for money, and you simply can’t go wrong with them. The additional sets of ear-plugs make the AIAIAI Y-COM in-ear headphones suitable for a wide audience. The pricepoint is very interesting, and the product design is clever as well as fashionable. Also the customer service is great, and speedy. Therefore I could advise the AIAIAI Y-COM in-ear headphones to everyone, you can’t go wrong !!

A great many thanks to Eric Lin, for providing me with this excellent tip !!

UPDATE:

You might want to check-out the review of the AIAIAI Tracks on-ear headphones review over at MobilityMinded!

Overview of additional sets of in-ear plugs

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