Kinect-iPad combo takes augmented reality to the next level

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8tiHXDiqsw]

The Kinect from Microsoft is, in case you didn’t know, the best-selling and most-hacked motion controller. In fact, we here at 9to5Mac love the Star Trekkiness and pure geekiness of some of the hacks and mods we’ve seen. It took the community a rather long time, however, to figure out how to hook up a Kinect to an iPad. The guys at LAAN Labs changed all that with a remarkable application that takes advantage of Microsoft’s motion controller and Apple’s tablet in clever ways.

In their example, a Kinect is used to capture 3D data of its surroundings which is then being wirelessly fed to an iPad 2 and enhanced in gorgeous augmented reality on the tablet, courtesy of the String Augmented Reality SDK for iOS. Not bad, not bad at all… The video makes one wonder whether Apple is working on a Kinect-like device for the living room entertainment. Maybe a rumored Apple-branded television set will incorporate motion controlled gestures?

via Engadget