Hacker disconnects Kinect from Microsoft's control

"Microsoft does not condone the modification of its products. 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."

God damnit Microshit.

This is why I hate EULAs that practically say "hey, by the way, you're pretty much renting this from us. It's not really yours." If someone pays upwards of $200 for the sodding thing, they should be allowed to break it without fear of "law enforcement" to come knocking. Ridiculous.

i read this over at Engadget, he said he has no plans on releasing said hack to the public, but will continue to work on the hacked Kinect device. I just wonder what uses it could be used for

Nerd alert!!!!!
What's the point??

Now all we have to do is wait for hackers to unlock for Kinect's love core and we've got ourselves an early Wall-E prototype in the making -- the head, anyway....Right on track with all americans becoming fat asses.

"thankfully, it doesn't classify what it sees as 'edible' or 'non-edible'"

It doesn't need to classify things as such, because everything is automatically labeled "edible".

That particular statement from Microsoft was actually in response to the original $1000 bounty, which led to Adafruit increasing it to $2000, and without a doubt further increased the motivation for someone to crack it. People don't take kindly to being told what they can and can't do with something they own.

Probably the only reason we don't have wall E type of robots in this time isn't because technology won't allow it, its because the stupid law does not allow people to modify products like this..

Didn't the Library of Congress recently authorize the use of hacking/jailbreaking your own electronics? How is modding a Kinect a violation of the law, unless you try to take it on XBL?

I have no reason to buy one unless there will be some neat hacks for it. Microsoft, what about my dollar? Wouldn't you like my dollar?

"work closely with law enforcement"

Really? The guy bought your shitty device... I would think that now that it's his property he ought to be able to take it apart as much as he wants. Is there some ridiculous fine print that says otherwise? This is what I hate about EULAs.

@Gaddes Possibly. I am referring mostly to digital things, like installing software. Unless you manually extract those .cab archives, or whatever sort of encryption the installer uses, you're agreeing to the terms they lay out. I'm pretty sure it's illegal to use the thing you bought, with your money, WITHOUT agreeing to the terms. Which is stupid, and which is why EULAs should be abolished. Copyright, in minute doses (to protect the developer's IP, in order to guarantee that nobody copies the work and *turns a profit from it*) is fine, but draconian chokeholds that force you to either sign a blank check or not use the thing you bought is inherently flawed.

How it's lasted so long, I have no idea...

This is not hacking.

This is just relaying commands (like up and down) and receiving info back (like the accelerometer data.) The guy just knows a little about it. The device itself hasn't been hacked.

This is bull.

I'll be back when you can actually hack it. Which you can't. Because it's a webcam.

make C-3P0

microsft isn't gonna do anything they are just covering their own asses from getting sued apple Sony nintemdo does this shit too people hack new electronics all the time nothing wrong with that.unless of course ur using it to pirate/cheat online

Did somebody say Kinect-headed robot?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JbNsReqkB8

These hackers need to create a better Kinect for Apple and then have their memories erased, ala "Paycheck." Maybe they already have, I can't remember!

scare tactic # 34

i always knew stickpeople were real.

Yes, already! Sweet, now the people that hack the playstation eye need to get a hold of it, This will make on sweet cheap 3d scanner. Never like the kinect for what ms wan't to use it for, but it's good for cool shit like 3d modeling.

So many activities! It's making my head spin on all the activities we can do.

Microsoft's response is such a canned statement of douchebaggery! Do they honestly think this guy went through all that trouble just so he can pirate kinetimals or something. He's way too busy doing cool shit with kinect to actually bother with your lame ass games.

Haha. Good luck working with the authorities on this Microsoft. Your not going to get anywhere.

The guy is manipulating his property, to his ends. Without breaking any laws. That my friends is called reasonable usage. This guy could hack his kinect, and program his computer to use it, and theres not a damn thing you can do. All you can do, is to make that job harder for him.

You can't come into his home, and tell him what he can, or can't do with his property. The goverment can, only in so far that he is breaking the law. Manipulating property to learn something from it, or to repurpose it isn't illegal. How many of the people who worked on the hardware side, of Kinect, do you wajor, dismantled a PC to figure out how it works, when they were younger? If dell told them, "you can't do that", what would they have thought?


What do you gain by doing this? Oh yeah. You want to copy and paste this hardware/software, rebrand it, and re-release it, for the PC at a hiked price, five to ten years from now. Well lets be honest. The markets going to let you get away with that, even if a (relatively) small group of people, get their kinect to work with their PC.

This is the sort of thing, that convinces people capitalism impedes technological advancement. If they can figure out kinect, they can hack it. If they can hack it, they can get it to work for PCs. If they can get it to work for PCs, they can create and modify any software to use the device. six months from now, their will be a school, somewhere, teaching students how to perform a, life saving surgery, with kinect enabled PCs. Whoops, you just accidentally streamlined education that requires "hands on" experience,, and made it ten times more accessible in the developing world. You better stomp your feet, issue a condemnation, and call the authorities.

Or...You can hand the world instructions on how to hack kinect. Donate a decent supply of them to charities. Particularly those interested in education. And encourage them to develop software, that makes their goals that much more reachable. Then get free publicity on just about every major news network, the world over. And a 100 years from now, kinect will be seen as something more than a novel, exercise in vanity. But a technological invention that was a vital part of developing some parts of the world. And better yet (with your priorities anyways), this will increase sales of Kinect, improve your ever slipping image, and hype up the motion control hardware, designed for the pc specifically.