It’s been quite a while since my last post but I have been working on all sorts of new and interesting projects to keep me busy. One of which is a banking app I wrote for a local bank in the Peoria, Illinois area. I was so frustrated with not having the ability to quickly view my accounts or transfer funds on the go that I spent a few days and put together this application. It’s honestly become my #1 used application on my phone!
I originally offered the application to the those in charge of the bank itself so they could offer a new service to their customers but they were not interested at the time. Alternatively, I thought about placing it on the App Store but again figured it wouldn’t be much of a hit not coming from the bank of course. So in an effort to not let it go completely to waste here is the original source code for the entire application. If you live in the Peoria area, bank at CEFCU, and also do iOS development; you *may* have some use for this! If you meet the first two requirements but don’t do iOS development, forward on this link to CEFCU. Maybe one day they will adopt a much more mature mobile banking system.
The application is wrapped around CEFCU’s online banking system. It basically hits the proper URL’s and parses the pages as necessary to provide a cleaner and simpler user interface. It actually works quite well. It’s only been tested with about three or four different account logins so if you have any bugs please forward them on and I’d be happy to take a look.
The Microsoft Kinect has been out for nearly a month now and there is already a huge number of PC based applications that have begun utilizing the device. Everything from being able to interact with Google Maps and web browsing via hand gestures to real-time 3D rendering of the data captured from the depth camera. After seeing some of these applications I wanted to write a small application to get an idea of how to communicate with the device.
I decided to utilize Code Laboratories NUI SDK for my application however the open source drivers from OpenKinect appear to be the better route to go if you want more functionality and community support. I really didn’t have any ground breaking ideas in mind so I decided to put together a simple program to take pictures and capture video from the device. The application is written with WPF/C# (.NET 3.5) and requires Visual Studio 2010 to compile. I’ve included compiled binaries as well if you would simply like to run the application. You will need to install the CL NUI SDK/Drivers for KinectPhoto to function properly. Images and videos are output to the executable directory. Usage is pretty straight forward but if you have any problems or questions feel free to contact me.
The video capture/encoding process is pretty slow. I utilized René Nyffenegger’s AviWriter for the encoding. If anyone has additional ideas for improving the video capture process I’d love to hear them.
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Last Thursday we decided to pick up the Microsoft Kinect add-on for our XBOX 360. Ever since I seen the demo videos nearly a year ago from Microsoft I was both excited and skeptical. Could Microsoft actually pull off the gaming experience I’ve dreamt about since I was a kid?
I was never a huge fan of the Nintendo Wii. It seemed a little too cheap, awkward to use, and mostly had games aimed at children. The Playstation Move I have absolutely zero knowledge about or experience using. Sony seemed to be simply trying to copy the competition rather then trying to defeat them. Microsoft on the other hand has always had a knack for surprising me. The original XBOX and XBOX 360 had great innovations to the gaming world but never truly changed how we interface with our games like the Wii attempted to do with this generation of consoles.
After arriving home with our new toy we decided to jump right in. Upon entering the dashboard after applying the system update I was greeted with an entirely different dashboard then I was used to with NXE. It seems as if Microsoft took a step back graphically and simplified things. Instead of menus that jump out at you, everything was very blocky and lacking color. I can’t say it was honestly a bad move. It seemed almost reminiscent of Apples take on user interfaces; “Simple”. The console instructed me to wave at it to enter the Kinect enabled menu system. Wow, I’m manipulating a menu by merely waving my hand in the air! This just seemed so unreal and the accuracy of my movements to the on screen cursor was perfect.
We started off with the bundled Kinect Adventures and started a game of “Rally Ball”. The first thing I noticed was how the in game avatar was replicating my every move. Moving side to side, legs and arms flailing, my character was actually imitating me! There was a small lag but it wasn’t enough to hinder gameplay. The game wasn’t anything to write home about but of course simple games like these are necessities to a new piece of hardware. Developers have to start somewhere. I’m not sure how long some of the Kinect titles have been under development but they incorporated some really neat features. One that seems to be used across the board is taking pictures or videos during key points in gameplay. They’re rather amusing after a session of play.
Overall I feel the purchase was well worth the $149.99 price tag. The hardware itself is nothing new to the world. Depth cameras have been around but never utilized to this degree or available for such a cheap price. Microsoft and it’s gang of development studios have done an amazing job at reinventing the gaming world. If the Kinect had been available at the beginning of this hardware generation, the Nintendo Wii wouldn’t have had a leg to stand on. Unless Nintendo can pull an ace out of their sleeve and come up with something innovative (again) next generation; they more than likely won’t be selling hardware like they did with the Wii. Microsoft should easily be able to roll the Kinect into the next XBOX and steal away a major portion of console sales for the upcoming generation. Of course, they will still need to upgrade the hardware and keep the hardcore gamers happy but I think they’ve been leading that area since they entered the market.
I will be eagerly awaiting to see how the first year of the Kinect plays out. As developers and consumers get more time with the device we should see a great improvement in the games available and the algorithms used to interface with the users. There also seems to be a brilliant group of people dedicated to interfacing with the hardware on the PC. Two days after it’s release, drivers were available to communicate with the device and another day or two to actually capture video from it. If we start seeing applications available to interface with our home computers using the hardware I will be extremely happy! The days of the keyboard and mouse are long overdue for some change. I don’t foresee the ability to rid completely of them anytime soon but a guy can dream…
Additional Reading:
Kinect NUI SDK - http://codelaboratories.com/kb/nui
List Of Kinect Ready Games – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kinect_games
Official Kinect Website – http://www.xbox.com/en-US/kinect
So this is going to be my first post of what should hopefully be many on my blog. My life has taken crazy twists and turns this past year and almost all of it for the better. I feel it is a good idea to start documenting some of these experiences so that others can keep updated with my daily life and more than likely entertained by it as well.
The greatest thing that could of ever happened to me in 2010 was the birth of my son, Michael. For the first time in my life, someone’s existence is completely dependent on me. I like to think of it as the other way around. I feel completely dependent on him and his mother. They both keep my head on straight and moving forward in life. It’s scary and amazing at the same time but wouldn’t change one bit of it.
We recently got our first family pictures taken for both Christmas and my son’s 6 month birthday. Wow, 6 months… I can’t believe how old he is getting already. Here is a few images from the photo session of my handsome man and our family.
