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Kinect is a line of motion sensing input devices produced by Microsoft and first released in 2010. The technology includes a set of hardware originally developed by PrimeSense, incorporating RGB cameras, infrared projectors and detectors that mapped depth through either structured light or time of flight calculations, and a microphone array, along with software and artificial intelligence from Microsoft to allow the device to perform real-time gesture recognition, speech recognition and body skeletal detection for up to four people, among other capabilities. This enables Kinect to be used as a hands-free natural user interface device to interact with a computer system. Kinect is a peripheral that sits atop the user's display similar to a webcam.
Kinect originated as a means to eliminate the game controller from Microsoft's Xbox video game hardware, competing with the Nintendo Wii's own motion-sensing capabilities, hoping to draw a larger audience beyond traditional video game players to the Xbox. Kinect first launched as an add-on for the Xbox 360 in November 2010, and within a few months more than 10 million units had been sold, making it one of the fastest-selling computer hardware products at the time. However, video games had to be developed to specifically incorporate the Kinect's features, and the bulk of games released with Kinect support were family-friendly titles. As Microsoft developed the successor console, the Xbox One, the company had planned to make the second generation of Kinect hardware a required component of the console, giving a reason for developers to seek to take advantage of it. However, the forced inclusion of Kinect raised concerns related to privacy, and among other major changes, Microsoft eventually eliminated the requirement for Kinect to be always connected to the Xbox One, though still bundled Kinect with the console on its release in November 2013. A market for Kinect-based games still did not emerge after the Xbox One's launch, and Microsoft eventually eliminated the Kinect from the Xbox One bundles, while later hardware revisions eliminated the Kinect-specific ports on the console, requiring a special USB adapter instead. By 2018, Microsoft had discontinued all Kinect hardware for video games.
However, Kinect had found an unexpected home for Microsoft in academics and commercial applications, as the Kinect sensor, at the time, was cheaper and more robust compared to other depth-sensing technology applications. Microsoft now considers non-gaming applications, such as in robotics, medicine, and health care, the primary market for Kinect. Shortly after the November 2010 release, users were able to hack into the Kinect and develop hardware drivers and software interfaces to be used on Microsoft Windows personal computers and other systems. Microsoft, after initially objecting to the potential security issues raised by these hacks, changed course and endorsed these efforts, and released its own software development kit for non-commercial applications. The company later rebranded the Kinect hardware into Kinect for Windows in 2012, allowing for commercial applications. A second-generation Kinect for Windows, based on the Xbox One unit, was released in 2014, though Microsoft ultimately terminated this line and directed users to use the Xbox One Kinect as it was functionally equivalent. Following the discontinuation of the Xbox line of Kinect sensors, Microsoft released a non-gaming version as the Azure Kinect, which incorporates Microsoft Azure cloud computing applications among the device's functionalities. Part of the Kinect technology was also used within Microsoft's Hololens project.
DevelopmentThe origins of the Kinect started around 2005, at a point where technology vendors were starting to develop depth-sensing cameras. Microsoft had been interested in a 3D camera for the Xbox line earlier but because the technology had not been refined, had placed it in the "Boneyard", a collection of possible technology they could not immediately work on.
In 2005, PrimeSense was founded by tech-savvy mathematicians and engineers from Israel to develop the "next big thing" for video games, incorporating cameras that were capable of mapping a human body in front of them and sensing hand motions. They showed off their system at the 2006 Game Developers Conference, where Microsoft's Alex Kipman, the general manager of hardware incubation, saw the potential in PrimeSense's technology for the Xbox system. Microsoft began discussions with PrimeSense about what would need to be done to make their product more consumer-friendly: not only improvements in the capabilities of depth-sensing cameras, but a reduction in size and cost, and a means to manufacturer the units at scale was required. PrimeSense spent the next few years working at these improvements.
Nintendo released the Wii in November 2006. The Wii's central feature was the Wii Remote, a handheld device that was detected by the Wii through a motion sensor bar mounted onto a television screen to enable motion controlled games. Microsoft felt pressure from the Wii, and began looking into depth-sensing in more detail with PrimeSense's hardware, but could not get to the level of motion tracking they desired. While they could determine hand gestures, and sense the general shape of a body, they could not do skeletal tracking. A separate path within Microsoft looked to create an equivalent of the Wii Remote, considering that this type of unit may become standardized similar to how two-thumbstick controllers became a standard feature. However, it was still ultimately Microsoft's goal to remove any device between the player and the Xbox.
Kudo Tsunoda and Darren Bennett joined Microsoft in 2008, and began working with Kipman on a new approach to depth-sensing aided by machine learning to improve skeletal tracking. They internally demonstrated this and established where they believed the technology could be in a few years, which led to the strong interest to fund further development of the technology; this has also occurred at a time that Microsoft executives wanted to abandon the Wii-like motion tracking approach, and favored the depth-sensing solution to present a product that went beyond the Wii's capabilities. The project was greenlit by late 2008 with work started in 2009.
The project was codenamed "Natal" after the Brazilian city Natal, Kipman's birthplace. Additionally, Kipman recognized the Latin origins of the word "natal" to mean "to be born", reflecting the new types of audiences they hoped to draw with the technology. Much of the initial work was related to ethnographic research to see how video game players' home environments were laid out, lit, and how those with Wiis used the system to plan how Kinect units would be used. The Microsoft team discovered from this research that the up-and-down angle of the depth-sensing camera would either need to be adjusted manually, or would require an expensive motor to move automatically. Upper management at Microsoft opted to include the motor despite the increased cost to avoid breaking game immersion. Kinect project work also involved packaging the system for mass production and optimizing its performance. Hardware development took around 22 months.
During hardware development, Microsoft engaged with software developers to use Kinect. Microsoft wanted to make games that would be playable by families since Kinect could sense multiple bodies in front of it. One of the first internal titles developed for the device was the pack-in game Kinect Adventures developed by Good Science Studio that was part of Microsoft Studios. One of the game modes of Kinect Adventures was "Reflex Ridge", based on the Japanese Brain Wall game where players attempt to contort their bodies in a short time to match cutouts of a wall moving at them. This type of game was a key example of the type of interactivity they wanted with Kinect, and its developement helped feed into the hardware improvements.
Nearing the planned release, the problem of widespread testing of Kinect in various room types and different bodies accounting for age, gender, and race among other factors, while keeping the details of the unit confidential. Microsoft engaged in a company-wide program offering employees to take home Kinect units to test them. Microsoft also brought other non-gaming divisions, including its Microsoft Research, Microsoft Windows, and Bing teams to help complete the system. Microsoft established its own large-scale manufacturing facility to bulk product Kinect units and test them.
Public revealsKinect was first announced to the public as "Project Natal" on June 1, 2009, during Microsoft's press briefing at E3 2009; film director Steven Spielberg had joined Microsoft's Don Mattrick to introduce the technology and its potential. Three demos were shown to showcase Kinect during the briefing—Microsoft's Ricochet and Paint Party, and Lionhead Studios' Milo & Kate created by Peter Molyneux—while a Kinect-enabled version of Criterion Games' Burnout Paradise was shown during the E3 exhibition. By E3 2009, the skeletal mapping technology was capable of simultaneously tracking four people, with a feature extraction of 48 skeletal points on a human body at 30 Hz. Microsoft had not committed to a release date for Kinect at E3 2009, but affirmed it would be after 2009, and likely in 2010 to stay competitive with the Wii and the PlayStation Move.
In the months following E3 2009, rumors that a new Xbox 360 console associated with Kinect emerged, either a retail configuration that incorporated Project Natal, or as a hardware revision or upgrade to support Kinect. Microsoft dismissed the reports in public and repeatedly emphasized that Kinect would be fully compatible with all Xbox 360 consoles. Microsoft indicated that the company considered Kinect to be a significant initiative, as fundamental to Xbox brand as Xbox Live, and with a planned launch akin to that of a new Xbox console platform. Microsoft's vice president Shane Kim said the company did not expect Kinect would extend the anticipated lifetime of the Xbox 360, which had been planned to last ten years through 2015, nor delay the launch of the successor to the Xbox 360.
Following the E3 2009 show and through 2010, the Kinect team members experimentally adapted numerous games to Kinect-based control schemes to help evaluate usability. Among these games were Beautiful Katamari and Space Invaders Extreme, which were demonstrated at Tokyo Game Show in September 2009. According to Tsunoda, adding Project Natal-based control to pre-existing games involved significant code alterations, and made it unlikely that existing games could be patched through software updates to support the unit. Microsoft also expanded its draw to third-party developers to encourage them to develop Kinect-based games. Companies like Harmonix and Double Fine quickly took to the Kinect and saw the potential in it, and committed to developing games for the unit, such as the launch title Dance Central from Harmonix.
Although the Kinect's sensor unit was originally planned to contain a microprocessor that would perform operations such as the system's skeletal mapping, Microsoft reported in January 2010 that the sensor would no longer feature a dedicated processor. Instead, processing would be handled by one of the processor cores of Xbox 360's Xenon CPU. Around this time, Kipmen estimated that the Kinect would only take about 10 to 15% of the Xbox 360's processing power. While this was a small fraction of the Xbox 360's capabilities, industry observed believed this further pointed to difficulties in adapting pre-existing games to use Kinect, as the motion-tracking would add to a game's high computational load and exceed the Xbox 360's capabilities. These observed believed that instead the industry would develop games specific to the Kinect features.
At the following E3 2010, Microsoft used its press conference on June 13, 2010, to fully premiere the Kinect hardware, along with a performance by Cirque du Soleil. During the conference, Microsoft revealed the rebranding of Project Natal as "Kinect", which Xbox Live director Stephen Toulouse explained was a portmanteau of the words "kinetic" and "connection", key aspects of the Kinect initiative. Launch dates were also given, with the Kinect to arrive first in North America on November 4, 2010. Microsoft also introduced a revision of the Xbox 360 that was slimmer than the existing model, included a larger 250 GB hard drive, and had a Kinect-ready port: this unit later became known as the Xbox 360 S. In addition to hardware, Microsoft and several other game developers and publishers showed off Kinect-ready titles during the E3 2010 exhibition.
Kinect for Xbox 360 marketing and launchMicrosoft continued to refine the Kinect technology in the months leading to the Kinect launch in November 2010. By launch, Kipman reported they had been able to reduce the Kinect's use of the Xbox 360's processor from 10-15% as reported in January 2010 to a "single-digit percentage".
Microsoft heavily advertised and promoted the Kinect launch. According to The New York Post, Microsoft had a $500 million budget for this marketing. While this claim was widely re-reported, The marketing campaign You Are the Controller, aiming to reach new audiences, included advertisements on Kellogg's cereal boxes and Pepsi bottles, commercials during shows such as Dancing with the Stars and Glee as well as print ads in various magazines such as People and InStyle.
Microsoft gave away Kinect units and Xbox 360 consoles to all members of the audience at the October 19, 2010 The Oprah Winfrey Show, and similarly followed suit two weeks later for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
On October 23, 2010, Microsoft held a pre-launch party for Kinect in Beverly Hills. The party was hosted by Ashley Tisdale and was attended by soccer star David Beckham and his three sons, Cruz, Brooklyn, and Romeo. Guests were treated to sessions with Dance Central and Kinect Adventures, followed by Tisdale having a Kinect voice chat with Nick Cannon. Between November 1 and 28, Burger King gave away a free Kinect bundle to a random in-store customer every 15 minutes. A major event was organized on November 3 in Times Square, where singer Ne-Yo performed with hundreds of dancers in anticipation of Kinect's midnight launch.
Kinect was launched in North America on November 4, 2010; in Europe on November 10, 2010; in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore on November 18, 2010; and in Japan on November 20, 2010. Purchase options for the sensor peripheral include a bundle with the game Kinect Adventures, and as a hardware bundle with Kinect Adventures and the redesigned Xbox 360 S console with either a 4 GB or 250 GB
The Kinect sensor was typical a gloss-black; a Star Wars bundle for the Xbox 360 was released on July 21, 2011 which include the first all-white Kinect unit to match with the themed-console along with the games Kinect Adventures and Kinect Star Wars.
Kinect for Xbox One and declineThe Kinect release for the Xbox 360 was estimated to have sold eight million units in the first sixty days of release, earning the hardware the Guinness World Record for the "Fastest-Selling Consumer Electronics Device". Over 10 million had be sold by March 2011. While seemingly successful, the Kinect had a number of downsides: its launch titles were primarily family-oriented games which may have drawn new audience but did not have the selling power of major video games like Battlefield and Call of Duty, and thus did not have a high attach rate, with only around 20% of the 55 million Xbox 360 users having purchased the unit. It had also been difficult to engage with developers and publishers of these more popular series, since altering their game play away from the controller would be disruptive, even with the added advantages Kinect could provide. The Kinect team recognized some of the downsides with more traditional games and Kinect, and continued ongoing development of the unit to be released as a second-generation unit, such as reducing the latency of motion detection and improving speech recognition. Microsoft provided news of these changes to the third-party developers to help them anticipate how the improvements can be integrated into the games.
Concurrent with the Kinect improvements, Microsoft's Xbox hardware team had started planning for the Xbox One around mid-2011. Part of early Xbox One specifications was that the new Kinect hardware would be automatically included with the console, so that developers would know that Kinect hardware would be available for any Xbox One, and hoping to encourage developers to take advantage of that. The Xbox One was first formally announced on May 23, 2013 and shown in more detail at E3 2013 in June. Microsoft stated at these events that the Xbox One would include the updated Kinect hardware and it would be required to be plugged in at all times for the Xbox One to function. This raised concerns across the video game media: privacy advocates argued that Kinect sensor data could be used for targeted advertising, and to perform unauthorized surveillance on users. In response to these claims, Microsoft reiterated that Kinect voice recognition and motion tracking can be disabled by users, that Kinect data cannot be used for advertising per its privacy policy, and that the console would not redistribute user-generated content without permission. Several other issues with the Xbox One's original feature set had also come up, such as the requirement to be always connected to the Internet, and created a wave of consumer backlash against Microsoft.
Microsoft announced in August 2013 that they had made several changes to the planned Xbox One release in response to the backlash. Among these was that the system would no longer require a Kinect unit to be plugged in to work, though it was still planned to package the Kinect with all Xbox One systems. However, this also required Microsoft to establish a price-point for the Xbox One/Kinect system at its November 2013 launch, more than the competing PlayStation 4 launched in the same time frame, which did not include any motion-sensing hardware. In the months after the Xbox One release, Microsoft decided to launch a Kinect-less Xbox One system in March 2014 at the same price as the PlayStation 4, after considering that the Kinect for Xbox One had not gotten the developer support, and sales of the Xbox One were lagging due to the higher price tag of the Kinect-bundled system. Richard Irving, a program group manager that oversaw Kinect, said that Microsoft had felt that it was more important to give developers and consumers the option of developing for or purchasing the Kinect rather than forcing the unit on them.
The removal of Kinect from the Xbox One retail package was the start of the rapid decline and phase-out of the unit within Microsoft. Developers like Harmonix that had been originally targeting games to use the Xbox One had put these games on hold until they knew there was enough of a Kinect install base to justify release, which resulted in a lack of games for the Kinect and reducing any consumer drive to buy the separate unit. Microsoft became bearish on the Kinect, making no mention of the unit at E3 2015 and announcing at E3 2016 that the upcoming Xbox One hardware revision, the Xbox One S, would not have a dedicated Kinect port; Microsoft offered a USB adapter for the Kinect, provided free during an initial promotional period after the console's launch. The more powerful Xbox One X also lacked the Kinect port and required this adapter. Even though developers still released Kinect-enabled games for the Xbox One, Microsoft's lack of statements related to the Kinect during this period led to claims that the Kinect was a dead project at Microsoft.
Microsoft formally announced it would stop manufacture of the Kinect for Xbox One on October 25, 2017. Microsoft eventually discontinued the adapter in January 2018, stating that they were shifting to manufacture other accessories for the Xbox One and personal computers that were more in demand. This is considered by the media to be the point where Microsoft forgone any further work on the Kinect for the Xbox platform.
Non-gaming applications and Kinect for WindowsWhile the Kinect unit for the Xbox platform had petered out, the Kinect had found new life in academia and other applications since around 2011. The functionality of the unit along with its low cost was seen to be an inexpensive means to add depth-sensing to existing applications, offsetting the high cost and unreliability of other 3D camera options at the time. In robotics, Kinect's depth-sensing would enable robots to determine the shape and approximate distances to obstacles and maneuver around them. Within the medical field, the Kinect could be used to monitor the shape and posture of a body in a quantifiable manner to enable improved health-care decisions.
Around November 2010, after the Kinect's launch, scientists, engineers, and hobbyists had been able to hack into the Kinect to determine what hardware and internal software it had used, leading to users finding how to connect and operate the Kinect with Microsoft Windows and OS X over USB, which has unsecured data from the various camera elements that could be read. This further led to prototype demos of other possible applications, such as a gesture-based user interface for the operating system similar to that shown in the film Minority Report, as well as pornographic applications. Adafruit Industries, having envisioned some of the possible applications of the Kinect outside of gaming, issued a security challenge related to the Kinect, offering prize money for the successful development of an open source software development kit and hardware drivers for the Kinect, which came to be known as Open Kinect. Adafruit named the winner, Héctor Martín, by November 10, 2010, who had produced a Linux driver that allows the use of both the RGB camera and depth sensitivity functions of the device. It was later discovered that Johnny Lee, a core member of Microsoft's Kinect development team, had secretly approached Adafruit with the idea of a driver development contest and had personally financed it. Lee had said of the efforts to open the Kinect that "This is showing us the future...This is happening today, and this is happening tomorrow." and had engaged Adafruit with the contest as he been frustrated with trying to convince Microsoft's executives to explore the non-gaming avenue for the Kinect.
Microsoft initially took issue with users hacking into the Kinect, stating they would incorporate additional safeguards into future iterations of the unit to prevent such hacks. However, by the end of November 2010, Microsoft had turned on their original position and embraced the external efforts to develop the SDK. Kipman, in an interview with NPR, said
PrimeSense along with robotics firm Willow Garage and game developer Side-Kick launched OpenNI, a not-for-profit group to develop portable drivers for the Kinect and other natural interface devices, in November 2010. Its first set of drivers named NITE were released in December 2010. PrimeSense had also worked with ASUS to develop a version Kinect for personal computers for China. The resulting product, the Wavi Xtion, was released in October 2011.
Microsoft announced in February 2011 that it was planning on releasing its own SDK for the Kinect within a few months, and which was officially released on June 16, 2011, but which was limited to non-commercial uses. The SDK enabled users to access the skeletal motion recognition system for up to two persons and the Kinect microphone array, features that had not been part of the prior Open Kinect SDK. Commercial interest in Kinect was still strong, with David Dennis, a product manager at Microsoft, stating "There are hundreds of organizations we are working with to help them determine what's possible with the tech". Microsoft launched its Kinect for Windows program on October 31, 2011, releasing a new SDK to a small number of companies, including Toyota, Houghton Mifflin, and Razorfish, to explore what was possible. At the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in January, Microsoft announced that it would release a dedicated Kinect for Windows unit along with the commercial SDK on February 1, 2012. the device included some hardware improvements, including support for "near mode" to recognize objects about in front of the cameras. The Kinect for Windows device was listed at, more than the original Kinect since Microsoft had considered the Xbox 360 Kinect was subsidized through game purchases, Xbox Live subscriptions, and other costs. At the launch, Microsoft stated that more than 300 companies from over 25 countries were working on Kinect-ready apps with the new unit.
With the original announcement of the revised Kinect for Xbox One in 2013, Microsoft also confirmed it would have a second generation of Kinect for Windows based on the updated Kinect technology by 2014. The new Kinect 2 for Windows was launched on July 15, 2014 at a price. Microsoft opted to discontinue the original Kinect for Windows by the end of 2014. However, in April 2015, Microsoft announced they were also discontinuing the Kinect 2 for Windows, and instead directing commercial users to use the Kinect for Xbox One, which Microsoft said "perform identically". Microsoft stated that the demand for the Kinect 2 for Windows demand was high and difficult to keep up while also fulfilling the Kinect for Xbox One orders, and that they had found commercial developers successfully using the Kinect for Xbox One in their applications without issue.
Integrating Kinect with Microsoft AzureMicrosoft had abandoned the idea of Kinect for video games, but still explored the potential of Kinect beyond that. Microsoft's Director of Communications Greg Sullivan stated in 2018 that "I think one of the things that is beginning to be understood is that Kinect was never really just the gaming peripheral...It was always more." Part of Kinect technology was integrated into Microsoft's Hololens, first released in 2016.
Microsoft announced that it was working on a new version of a hardware Kinect model for non-game applications that would integrate with their Azure cloud computing services in May 2018. The use of cloud computing to offload some of the computational work from Kinect, as well as more powerful features enable by Azure such as artificial intelligence would improve the accuracy of the depth-sensing and reduce the power demand and would lead to more compact units, Microsoft had envisioned. The Azure Kinect device was released on June 27, 2019 at a price of, while the SDK for the unit had been released in February 2019.
FundamentalsThe depth and motion sensing technology at the core of the Kinect is enabled through its depth-sensing. The original Kinect for Xbox 360 used structured light for this: the unit used a near-infrared pattern projected across the space in front of the Kinect, while an infrared sensor captured the reflected light pattern. The light pattern is deformed by the relative depth of the objects in front it, and mathematics can be used to estimate that depth based on several factors related to the hardware layout of the Kinect. While other structure light depth-sensing technologies used multiple light patterns, Kinect used as few as one as to achieve a high rate of 30 frames per second of depth sensing. Kinect for Xbox One switched over to using time of flight measurements. The infrared projector on the Kinect sends out modulated infrared light which is then captured by the sensor. Infrared light reflecting off closer objects will have a shorter time of flight than those more distant, so the infrared sensor captures how much the modulation pattern had been deformed from the time of flight, pixel-by-pixel. Time of flight measurements of depth can be more accurate and calculated in a shorter amount of time, allowing for more frames-per-second to be detected.
Once Kinect has a pixel-by-pixel depth image, Kinect uses a type of edge detection here to delineate closer objects from the background of the shot, incorporating input from the regular visible light camera. The unit then attempts to track any moving objects from this, with the assumption that only people will be moving around in the image, and isolates the human shapes from the image. The unit's software, aided by artificial intelligence, performs segmentation of the shapes to try to identify specific body parts, like the head, arms, and hands, and track those segments individually. Those segments are used to construct a 20-point skeleton of the human body, which then can be used by game or other software to determine what actions the person has performed.
Kinect for Xbox 360 (2010)Kinect for Xbox 360 was a combination of Microsoft built software and hardware. The hardware included a range chipset technology by Israeli developer PrimeSense, which developed a system consisting of an infrared projector and camera and a special microchip that generates a grid from which the location of a nearby object in 3 dimensions can be ascertained. This 3D scanner system called Light Coding employs a variant of image-based 3D reconstruction.
The Kinect sensor is a horizontal bar connected to a small base with a motorized pivot and is designed to be positioned lengthwise above or below the video display. The device features an "RGB camera, depth sensor and microphone array running proprietary software", which provide full-body 3D motion capture, facial recognition and voice recognition capabilities. At launch, voice recognition was only made available in Japan, United Kingdom, Canada and United States. Mainland Europe received the feature later in spring 2011. Currently voice recognition is supported in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States. The Kinect sensor's microphone array enables Xbox 360 to conduct acoustic source localization and ambient noise suppression, allowing for things such as headset-free party chat over Xbox Live.
The depth sensor consists of an infrared laser projector combined with a monochrome CMOS sensor, which captures video data in 3D under any ambient light conditions. The sensing range of the depth sensor is adjustable, and Kinect software is capable of automatically calibrating the sensor based on gameplay and the player's physical environment, accommodating for the presence of furniture or other obstacles.
Described by Microsoft personnel as the primary innovation of Kinect, the software technology enables advanced gesture recognition, facial recognition and voice recognition. According to information supplied to retailers, Kinect is capable of simultaneously tracking up to six people, including two active players for motion analysis with a feature extraction of 20 joints per player. However, PrimeSense has stated that the number of people the device can "see" is only limited by how many will fit in the field-of-view of the camera.
Reverse engineering has determined that the Kinect's various sensors output video at a frame rate of ≈9 Hz to 30 Hz depending on resolution. The default RGB video stream uses 8-bit VGA resolution with a Bayer color filter, but the hardware is capable of resolutions up to 1280x1024 and other colour formats such as UYVY. The monochrome depth sensing video stream is in VGA resolution with 11-bit depth, which provides 2,048 levels of sensitivity. The Kinect can also stream the view from its IR camera directly as 640x480 video, or 1280x1024 at a lower frame rate. The Kinect sensor has a practical ranging limit of distance when used with the Xbox software. The area required to play Kinect is roughly 6 m2, although the sensor can maintain tracking through an extended range of approximately. The sensor has an angular field of view of 57° horizontally and 43° vertically, while the motorized pivot is capable of tilting the sensor up to 27° either up or down. The horizontal field of the Kinect sensor at the minimum viewing distance of ≈ is therefore ≈, and the vertical field is ≈, resulting in a resolution of just over per pixel. The microphone array features four microphone capsules and operates with each channel processing 16-bit audio at a sampling rate of 16 kHz.
Because the Kinect sensor's motorized tilt mechanism requires more power than the Xbox 360's USB ports can supply, the device makes use of a proprietary connector combining USB communication with additional power. Redesigned Xbox 360 S models include a special AUX port for accommodating the connector, while older models require a special power supply cable that splits the connection into separate USB and power connections; power is supplied from the mains by way of an AC adapter.
Kinect for Windows (2012)Kinect for Windows is a modified version of the Xbox 360 unit which was first released on February 1, 2011, alongside the SDK for commercial use. The hardware included better components to eliminate noise along the USB and other cabling paths, and improvements in the depth-sensing camera system for detection of objects at close range, as close as, in the new "Near Mode".
The SDK included Windows 7 compatible PC drivers for Kinect device. It provided Kinect capabilities to developers to build applications with C++, C#, or Visual Basic by using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and included the following features:
- Raw sensor streams: Access to low-level streams from the depth sensor, color camera sensor, and four-element microphone array.
- Skeletal tracking: The capability to track the skeleton image of one or two people moving within Kinect's field of view for gesture-driven applications.
- Advanced audio capabilities: Audio processing capabilities include sophisticated acoustic noise suppression and echo cancellation, beam formation to identify the current sound source, and integration with Windows speech recognition API.
- Sample code and Documentation.
In March 2012, Microsoft announced that next version of Kinect for Windows SDK would be available in May 2012. Kinect for Windows 1.5 was released on May 21, 2012. It adds new features, support for many new languages and debut in 19 more countries.
- Kinect for Windows 1.5 SDK would include 'Kinect Studio' a new app that allows developers to record, playback, and debug clips of users interacting with applications.
- Support for new "seated" or "10-joint" skeletal system that will let apps track the head, neck, and arms of a Kinect user - whether they're sitting down or standing; which would work in default and near mode.
- Support for four new languages for speech recognition – French, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese. Additionally it would add support for regional dialects of these languages along with English.
- It would be available in Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan in May and Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, India, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates in June.
Kinect for Xbox One (2013)An upgraded iteration of Kinect was released on November 22, 2013 for Xbox One. It uses a wide-angle time-of-flight camera, and processes 2 gigabits of data per second to read its environment. The new Kinect has greater accuracy with three times the fidelity over its predecessor and can track without visible light by using an active IR sensor. It has a 60% wider field of vision that can detect a user up to 3 feet from the sensor, compared to six feet for the original Kinect, and can track up to 6 skeletons at once. It can also detect a player's heart rate, facial expression, the position and orientation of 25 individual joints, the weight put on each limb, speed of player movements, and track gestures performed with a standard controller. The color camera captures 1080p video that can be displayed in the same resolution as the viewing screen, allowing for a broad range of scenarios. In addition to improving video communications and video analytics applications, this provides a stable input on which to build interactive applications. Kinect's microphone is used to provide voice commands for actions such as navigation, starting games, and waking the console from sleep mode. The recommended player's height is at least 40 inches, which roughly corresponds to children of 4 and a half years old and up.
All Xbox One consoles were initially shipped with Kinect included. In June 2014, bundles without Kinect were made available, along with an updated Xbox One SDK allowing game developers to explicitly disable Kinect skeletal tracking, freeing up system resources that were previously reserved for Kinect even if it was disabled or unplugged. As interest in Kinect waned in 2014, later revisions of the Xbox One hardware, including the Xbox One S and Xbox One X, dropped the dedicated Kinect port, requiring users to purchase a USB 3.0 and AC adapter to use the Kinect for Xbox One.
A standalone Kinect for Xbox One, bundled with a digital copy of Dance Central Spotlight, was released on October 7, 2014.
Considered a market failure compared to the Kinect for Xbox 360, the Kinect for Xbox One product was discontinued by October 25, 2017. Production of the adapter cord also ended by January 2018.
Kinect 2 for Windows (2014)Released on 15 July 2014, Kinect 2 for Windows is based on the Kinect for Xbox One and considered a replacement of the original Kinect for Windows. It was also repackaged as "Kinect for Windows v2". It is nearly identical besides the removal of Xbox branding, and included a USB 3.0/AC adapter. It released alongside version 2.0 of the Windows SDK for the platform. The MSRP was. Microsoft considers the Kinect 2 for Windows equivalent in performance to the Xbox One version.
In April 2015 having difficulty in keeping up manufacturing demand for the Kinect for Xbox One this edition was discontinued. Microsoft directed commercial users to use the Xbox One version with a USB adapter instead.
Azure Kinect (2019)On May 7, 2018, Microsoft announced a new iteration of Kinect technology designed primarily for enterprise software and artificial intelligence usage. It is designed around the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, and is meant to "leverage the richness of Azure AI to dramatically improve insights and operations". It has a smaller form factor than the Xbox iterations of Kinect, and features a 12-megapixel camera, a time-of-flight depth sensor also used on the HoloLens 2, and seven microphones. A development kit was announced in February 2019.
Kinect-enabled features on the Xbox operating systemRequiring at least 190 MB of available storage space, Kinect system software allows users to operate Xbox 360 Dashboard console user interface through voice commands and hand gestures. Techniques such as voice recognition and facial recognition are employed to automatically identify users. Among the applications for Kinect is Video Kinect, which enables voice chat or video chat with other Xbox 360 users or users of Windows Live Messenger. The application can use Kinect's tracking functionality and Kinect sensor's motorized pivot to keep users in frame even as they move around. Other applications with Kinect support include ESPN, Zune Marketplace, Netflix, Hulu Plus and Last.fm. Microsoft later confirmed that all forthcoming applications would be required to have Kinect functionality for certification.
The Xbox One originally shipped in bundles with the Kinect; the original Xbox One user interface software had similar support for Kinect features as the Xbox 360 software, such as voice commands, user identification via skeletal or vocal recognition, and gesture-driven commands, though these features could be fully disabled due to privacy concerns. However, this had left the more traditional navigation using a controller haphazard. In May 2014, when Microsoft announced it would be releasing Xbox One systems without a Kinect, the company also announced plans to alter the Xbox One system software to remove Kinect features. Kinect support in the software was fully removed by November 2015.
Video gamesXbox 360 games that require Kinect are packaged in special purple cases, and contain a prominent "Requires Kinect Sensor" logo on their front cover. Games that include features utilizing Kinect, but do not require it for standard gameplay, contain a "Better with Kinect Sensor" branding on their front covers.
Kinect launched on November 4, 2010 with 17 titles. Third-party publishers of available and announced Kinect games include, among others, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, LucasArts, THQ, Activision, Konami, Sega, Capcom, Namco Bandai and MTV Games. Along with retail games, there are also select Xbox Live Arcade titles which require the peripheral.
Kinect Fun LabsAt E3 2011, Microsoft announced Kinect Fun Labs: a collection of various gadgets and minigames that are accessible from Xbox 360 Dashboard. These gadgets includes Build A Buddy, Air Band, Kinect Googly Eyes, Kinect Me, Bobblehead, Kinect Sparkler, Junk Fu and Avatar Kinect.
Third-party developmentNumerous developers are researching possible applications of Kinect that go beyond the system's intended purpose of playing games, further enabled by the release of the Kinect SDK by Microsoft.
Alexandre Alahi from EPFL presented a video surveillance system that combines multiple Kinect devices to track groups of people even in complete darkness. Companies So touch and Evoluce have developed presentation software for Kinect that can be controlled by hand gestures; among its features is a multi-touch zoom mode. In December 2010, the free public beta of HTPC software KinEmote was launched; it allows navigation of Boxee and XBMC menus using a Kinect sensor. Soroush Falahati wrote an application that can be used to create stereoscopic 3D images with a Kinect sensor.
Kinect also shows compelling potential for use in medicine. Researchers at the University of Minnesota have used Kinect to measure a range of disorder symptoms in children, creating new ways of objective evaluation to detect such conditions as autism, attention-deficit disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Several groups have reported using Kinect for intraoperative, review of medical imaging, allowing the surgeon to access the information without contamination. This technique is already in use at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, where doctors use it to guide imaging during cancer surgery. At least one company, GestSure Technologies, is pursuing the commercialization of such a system.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory signed up for the Kinect for Windows Developer program in November 2013 to use the new Kinect to manipulate a robotic arm in combination with an Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, creating "the most immersive interface" the unit had built to date.
Kinect for Xbox 360Upon its release, the Kinect garnered generally positive opinions from reviewers and critics. IGN gave the device 7.5 out of 10, saying that "Kinect can be a tremendous amount of fun for casual players, and the creative, controller-free concept is undeniably appealing", though adding that for "$149.99, a motion-tracking camera add-on for Xbox 360 is a tough sell, especially considering that the entry level variation of Xbox 360 itself is only $199.99". Game Informer rated Kinect 8 out of 10, praising the technology but noting that the experience takes a while to get used to and that the spatial requirement may pose a barrier. Computer and Video Games called the device a technological gem and applauded the gesture and voice controls, while criticizing the launch lineup and Kinect Hub.
CNET's review pointed out how Kinect keeps players active with its full-body motion sensing but criticized the learning curve, the additional power supply needed for older Xbox 360 consoles and the space requirements. Engadget, too, listed the large space requirements as a negative, along with Kinect's launch lineup and the slowness of the hand gesture UI. The review praised the system's powerful technology and the potential of its yoga and dance games. Kotaku considered the device revolutionary upon first use but noted that games were sometimes unable to recognize gestures or had slow responses, concluding that Kinect is "not must-own yet, more like must-eventually own." TechRadar praised the voice control and saw a great deal of potential in the device whose lag and space requirements were identified as issues. Gizmodo also noted Kinect's potential and expressed curiosity in how more mainstream titles would utilize the technology. Ars Technica's review expressed concern that the core feature of Kinect, its lack of a controller, would hamper development of games beyond those that have either stationary players or control the player's movement automatically.
The mainstream press also reviewed Kinect. USA Today compared it to the futuristic control scheme seen in Minority Report, stating that "playing games feels great" and giving the device 3.5 out of 4 stars. David Pogue from The New York Times predicted players will feel a "crazy, magical, omigosh rush the first time you try the Kinect." Despite calling the motion tracking less precise than Wii's implementation, Pogue concluded that "Kinect's astonishing technology creates a completely new activity that's social, age-spanning and even athletic." The Globe and Mail titled Kinect as setting a "new standard for motion control." The slight input lag between making a physical movement and Kinect registering it was not considered a major issue with most games, and the review called Kinect "a good and innovative product," rating it 3.5 out of 4 stars.
Kinect for Xbox OneAlthough featuring improved performance over the original Kinect, its successor has been subject to mixed responses. In its Xbox One review, Engadget praised Xbox One's Kinect functionality, such as face recognition login and improved motion tracking, but that whilst "magical", "every false positive or unrecognized command had us reaching for the controller." The Kinect's inability to understand some accents in English was criticized. Writing for Time, Matt Peckham described the device as being "chunky" in appearance, but that the facial recognition login feature was "creepy but equally sci-fi-future cool", and that the new voice recognition system was a "powerful, addictive way to navigate the console, and save for a few exceptions that seem to be smoothing out with use". However, its accuracy was found to be affected by background noise, and Peckham further noted that launching games using voice recognition required that the full title of the game be given rather than an abbreviated name that the console "ought to semantically understand", such as Forza Motorsport 5 rather than "Forza 5".
Prior to Xbox One's launch, privacy concerns were raised over the new Kinect; critics showed concerns the device could be used for surveillance, stemming from the originally announced requirements that Xbox One's Kinect be plugged in at all times, plus the initial always-on DRM system that required the console to be connected to the internet to ensure continued functionality. Privacy advocates contended that the increased amount of data which could be collected with the new Kinect could be used for targeted advertising. Reports also surfaced regarding recent Microsoft patents involving Kinect, such as a DRM system based on detecting the number of viewers in a room, and tracking viewing habits by awarding achievements for watching television programs and advertising. While Microsoft stated that its privacy policy "prohibit the collection, storage, or use of Kinect data for the purpose of advertising", critics did not rule out the possibility that these policies could be changed prior to the release of the console. Concerns were also raised that the device could also record conversations, as its microphone remains active at all times. In response to the criticism, a Microsoft spokesperson stated that users are "in control of when Kinect sensing is On, Off or Paused", will be provided with key privacy information and settings during the console's initial setup, and that user-generated content such as photos and videos "will not leave your Xbox One without your explicit permission." Microsoft ultimately decided to reverse its decision to require Kinect usage on Xbox One, but the console still shipped with the device upon its launch in November 2013.
SalesWhile announcing Kinect's discontinuation in an interview with Fast Co. Design on October 25, 2017, Microsoft stated that 35 million units had been sold since its release. 24 million units of Kinect had been shipped by February 2013. Having sold 8 million units in its first 60 days on the market, Kinect claimed the Guinness World Record of being the "fastest selling consumer electronics device". According to Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter, Kinect bundles accounted for about half of all Xbox 360 console sales in December 2010 and for more than two-thirds in February 2011. More than 750,000 Kinect units were sold during the week of Black Friday 2011.
Other motion controllersKinect competes with several motion controllers on other home consoles, such as Wii Remote, Wii Remote Plus and Wii Balance Board for the Wii and Wii U, PlayStation Move and PlayStation Eye for the PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Camera for the PlayStation 4.
- The machine learning work on human motion capture within Kinect won the 2011 MacRobert Award for engineering innovation.
- Kinect Won T3's "Gadget of the Year" award for 2011. It also won the "Gaming Gadget of the Year" prize.
- 'Microsoft Kinect for Windows Software Development Kit' was ranked second in "The 10 Most Innovative Tech Products of 2011" at Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards ceremony in New York City.
- Microsoft Kinect for Windows won Innovation of the Year in the 2012 Seattle 2.0 Startup Awards.


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By Goose Mahler, Columnist
Surfing through Twitter, Facebook and wrestling dirt sheets, there are always debates on what's the best, what's the worst – and the debates go on and on.
I remember back in the day a bunch of us would chat on Wrestleline all night about what was going on in WCW, ECW and WWF. We always seem to have the debate about people that get lost in the shuffle or misused.
With all the WWE talent seemingly wanting to jump ship, it brings an age-old chat room question to the forefront, who is being mishandled or misused the most in WWE-land?
Misused is a wrestler/performer that loses TV time, is only seen in backstage interviewers or settings or gets stuck on shows like Main Event or back in the day Sunday Night Heat, Velocity, etc. There always is a group or a batch of wrestlers that just can't get on Raw or Smackdown or main TV for whatever reason.
Now with the WWE forcing the Wild Card Rule down our throats there are literally several talents on both shows that are completely non-existent to mainstream TV. Why? Because we get two days of Shane and McIntyre. We get two days of Kofi and Roman. We get two days of Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. What becomes evident is why can't these other wrestlers break through?
Without further ado here is just some of the talent the WWE higher up has completely forgotten that they have on their main roster.
Ember Moon. Former NXT Women's Champion. Smackdown Live took the belt off Becky and put it on Charlotte who lost it immediately to Bayley and instead of Ember or one of the other women getting a crack at it Alexa Bliss is in line of a title shot. Makes no sense at all when you have an Ember Moon on the roster. The girl is athletic, fun to watch in the ring and can get the crowd going. Yet she stuck in the back getting Mandy Rose magazines covers passed to her. Seems like a great waste of a talent.
Speaking of women, remember former Smackdown Live Champ Naomi? It seems the WWE doesn't feel the Glow any longer. This lady has pulled off some Kofi Kingston like moves in the Royal Rumble, wins a battle royal, lights the crowd up, yet can't see the light of day on TV. Her last notable feud again with Mandy Rose went nowhere and had no pay off. Moving Naomi to Raw seemed like the right move, but again she is getting buried, but hey she is reunited with Tamina so maybe we will get a Ride Along with them and Uso's again which is more entertaining than seeing Baron Corbin on TV week after week.
Buddy Murphy, the best kept secret in the WWE on Smackdown. This secret seems so good that Vince won't let the cat out of the bag. His secret is our loss. Buddy was putting on great matches on 205 Live with everyone they threw at him. Moving him to the main roster seemed like a given and maybe a run at the IC or US titles? Instead we have yet to see him. It begs the question why? With ratings so low Buddy might not save a show, but if he goes out and have a solid match with someone like Balor, Andrade, or even Sami Zayn. But instead we sit here waiting to see if Vince will tell a secret better than Bray Wyatt stole a Twisted Metal Gimmick.
Any tag team from NXT: Authors of Pain, Heavy Machinery, the Viking Raiders, and even the Women's Champions The Iiconics are all non-factors on WWE TV right now. This isn't the first time I've mentioned this either. Enzo and Cass, The Vaudevillians, the Ascenion, the list goes on with teams from NXT that were over that the WWE can't get over on the main roster. Instead some of them turn into comedy acts, but they just aren't used in the proper manner to get over. The Iiconics are claiming the longest reign…great when was the last defense and what PPV was on it? These teams are solid, but again in Vince's World they are jokes.
Speaking of former NXT champions, Shinsuke Nakamura went from his feud with AJ Styles to US Champ to tag teaming with another underused wrestler Rusev. Nakamura is booked like crap, which is why he can't get over with the WWE crowd. Turning him heel was a good and bad move. Meaning: It's a good move if the heel goes over and makes the audience pay attention. It's a bad move if they free fall from main event to mid card to lower card. And Nakamura should not be a lower card wrestler.
Maybe the WWE doesn't see but you can also add Asuka and Kairi Sane to the list. Paige's surprise tag team has yet to get a tag title match because the most misused title is the Women's Tag Titles. Asuka and Kairi are some of the most entertaining women's wrestlers the NXT crowd got to see week in and week out. Now they are chasing a set of belts that are the laughing stocks of the wrestling business and this includes the 24-7 belt (Thank God for R Truth).
The Good Brothers. AJ Styles tried to get Anderson and Gallows motivated this week on Raw. It wasn't enough for a win, but they did have a solid albeit short match, but that doesn't change the fact that they are misused beyond belief. Here are two guys that were so over in Japan and the WWE can't use them correctly. It's Tensai part II people. The WWE can't measure up to Japanese wrestling and it shows with the mis-booking of the Bullet Club.
Another Impact and ROH alum that I see being misused if Mike Bennett aka Mike Kanellis. He is still one of the best workers on 205 live, But the WWE audience is only seeing a bleep of what he can do in the ring. Mike can be a beast and ring general like no other if given the chance. At this point the WWE writers don't know what to do with him and that is truly the fans loss. Mike is a pure wrestler that if given the chance can and will connect with the crowd. But will he be given the chance?
Robert Roode also comes to mind. See a pattern here? TNA/Impact wrestler not being utilized to his fullest ability. Roode can be a stud with the right in ring partner. But the WWE doesn't seem to know who that might be and how to get him over. Right now Roode is in the hunt for the ugliest belt of all time the 24-7 title. I wish they can find a way to make him Glorious again because the Impact fans know what he is capable of, the NXT fan base knows it too, but the WWE Universe is being deprived of a good wrestler.
Want more former Impact wrestlers that the WWE is mishandling to death?
Eric Young and EC3. I get it Sanity didn't get over, no fault of their own and EC3 had never been given a real chance since his vignettes aired. Eric Young is a good wrestler. Anyone that watched Impact knows that. He has a certain IT factor that connects with fans. The WWE hasn't figure that IT out yet and Eric is regulated to Main Event and Dark Matches. It's sad, because the same thing can be said about one EC3. Go back watch EC3 and Young in NXT or Impact and tell me why the WWE is missing the boat with these two? If you can figure it out look me up on Twitter @MGoose37 because I'd love to know theories on why Vince won't showcase Impact wrestlers not named Styles.
If you made it this far, again there are a ton of patterns with the WWE and who's buried here. There are a lot of home-grown talents that aren't getting any airtime. But former Impact wrestlers and NXT gold standing wrestlers aren't being used correctly at all. The WWE scoops up these wrestlers pays them a boat load and then can't remember how to use them or get them connected to the crowd.
When you start seeing signs at events like "Let EC3 go" or "Where is Buddy Murphy?" you know the crowd is losing patience with how the wrestler/wrestlers are being promoted/handled or not promoted and handled. It's just a shame that Vince again isn't listening to us and thinks his shows are the best in the world when we all know we wouldn't wipe our butts with the crap he is putting on TV week after week.
The best thing is, if you want to see what Impact wrestlers, not getting buried, can do before they hit the WWE check them out on Twitch.TV because you will see something special right now from a promotion not a lot of people are giving a chance to. And they don't bury their talent on Impact… Like the WWE does.

subset: commoncrawl


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Posey's Tips & Tricks
A recently added "tamper protection" feature finally corrects an obvious security gap in Microsoft's anti-malware solution.
Over the years, I have developed something of a love/hate relationship with Windows Defender. On one hand, Windows Defender has actually caught malware infections that other anti-virus programs have missed. It certainly hasn't happened very often, but it has happened.
The best example I can think of is an incident that occurred way back in 2015. Windows Defender discovered a virus within an old file that was stored on my file server. While it might not seem all that remarkable that an anti-malware tool discovered a malware infection, there were two things that made this incident noteworthy. First, that server's contents had been scanned many times before by other anti-malware tools. Second, this particular infection had evaded detection for 17 years! According to my server logs, that particular file had not been accessed since the 1990s.
I was so taken aback by the discovery that I actually mentioned it on Facebook (my Facebook account is only used for communicating with close friends and family, and I never post anything technical):
The point is that on at least a couple of occasions, Windows Defender managed to do something really awesome.
On the other hand, though, I have seen Windows Defender fail far more times over the years than I have seen it succeed. I couldn't even begin to guess how many times I have had friends or family ask me to take a look at a malware infection, and in most of those cases Windows Defender (or its predecessor, Microsoft Security Essentials) had been disabled by the malware.
The idea that Windows Defender could be disabled and that critical system files could be tampered with by malware never sat well with me. I always speculated that it would be relatively easy for the Windows operating system to ensure the integrity of its own code (there are various mechanisms in place to do that now) and for Microsoft to treat Windows Defender as a core OS service that cannot be disabled.
Thankfully, Microsoft finally seems to be taking Windows Defender seriously.
To see what I mean, take a look at Figure 2. I arrived at this screen by going to Settings and then clicking on Update and Security, followed by Windows Security.
As you can see in the figure, the Virus and Threat Protection section indicates that there are some actions that are recommended. Clicking on this text causes Windows to display the Virus and Threat Protection screen, which you can see in Figure 3.
As you can see in the figure above, Microsoft has recently introduced a tamper-protection feature for Windows Defender. This feature prevents malware from being able to turn off Windows Defender protection. The reason why Windows indicated that actions were recommended (as evidenced by the warning icon in the figure above) is because tamper protection is currently turned off.
I applaud Microsoft for introducing tamper protection for Windows Defender. At the same time, though, I'm not quite sure why Microsoft requires tamper protection to be manually enabled. That requirement would seem to violate Microsoft's secure-by-default initiatives.
As you saw in Figure 3, enabling tamper protection is a simple matter: Just click the Turn On button and tamper protection will be enabled. Once you have done that, the screen will change to indicate that no action is needed. You can see what this looks like in Figure 4.
So, is Windows Defender good enough to replace a commercial anti-malware solution? I honestly don't know. It has been years since I have done any head-to-head testing.
My own experiences have been that Windows Defender does a decent job of detecting malware infections, but only if the infection does not disable it before it has a chance to take action. My guess is that the new tamper-protection feature will go a long way toward keeping your system safe from malware.
About the Author
Brien Posey is a 21-time Microsoft MVP with decades of IT experience. As a freelance writer, Posey has written thousands of articles and contributed to several dozen books on a wide variety of IT topics. Prior to going freelance, Posey was a CIO for a national chain of hospitals and health care facilities. He has also served as a network administrator for some of the country's largest insurance companies and for the Department of Defense at Fort Knox. In addition to his continued work in IT, Posey has spent the last several years actively training as a commercial scientist-astronaut candidate in preparation to fly on a mission to study polar mesospheric clouds from space. You can follow his spaceflight training on his Web site.
Microsoft this week announced that its Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management solution can now scan Windows devices that are lacking certain agent support.
Size, airflow and security should be at the forefront of your decision.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Thursday that the Hive ransomware group's international network has been "dismantled."
Microsoft this week described a five-hour service incident that occurred on Wednesday Jan. 25, which was said to have affected its Exchange Online service, as well as other Microsoft 365 services.
Some Microsoft customers experienced service delays or timeouts on Tuesday, lasting about two hours and 40 minutes, according to a Jan. 25 "Azure Status History" page entry.
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Site traffic scenario assumption - Monthly and annual - 2022 (starting year) - 2028 (terminal value)
Orders details - variable + one fixed cost - orders placed - 2022 (starting year) - 2028 (terminal value)
Fixed costs - G&A - 2022 (starting year) - 2028 (terminal value)
Capex (financing + financing + valuation) - 2022 (starting year) - 2028 (terminal value)
Cash flow statement - 2022 (starting year) - 2028 (terminal value)
Customer metrics - 2022 (starting year) - 2028 (terminal value)
Our valuation model - 2022 (starting year) - 2028 (terminal value)
Cash balance vs Burn rate - 2022 (starting year) - 2028 (terminal value)
Margin rates - 2022 (starting year) - 2028 (terminal value)
More realisitic - Cash balance vs Burn rate - 2022 (starting year) - 2028 (terminal value)
More realisitic - Orders selection - 2022 (starting year) - 2028 (terminal value)
More realisitic - Customer Acquisiiton - 2022 (starting year) - 2028 (terminal value)
Team Picture
Ideation Board
Stakeholder map
Children and adolescents have many physical and digital competencies that make them equal regardless of long term illnesses, disabilities or without. By creating an app that can be used to track activity limits, we are creating an opportunity for supervised and peer led exercises. The Stay Active app is designed to encourage more physical activity throughout the day by means of a rewards system on an ecological farm. The ecological thinking helps youth understand the basics of climate change and is in alignment with the SDGs. For ideation we used the Design Thinking methodology using a Miro board.
What it does
Users download the Stay Active app to track their physical activity, and are motivated to do more physical activity through the day.
Features include: 1) A Reward system 2) Opportunities to connect, engage with friends online for group exercises. 3) Creates Climate Consciousness
- The reward system is based on an ecologically built farm. Users navigate through their farm to grow produce, and points are gained for different seeds and fertilisers for growing food. There is a target for getting ingredients for certain recipes, and more points are gained from this. Movement is tracked by the app, and the movement score is converted to rewards.
- A network of building friends is encouraged by attending group exercises that are supported by trainers created by application of computer vision (AI) first, and at later stages by real trainers.
How we built it
Using the mooven system to recognise movement to convert the information into points. The app interface was created by unity. The ideation process, user personas, stakeholder map was made in Miro. The business model was created by Marko Peric, Data Consultant and Finance Professional with entrepreneurial knowledge in venture capital and private equity.
Our scenario model represents sustainable growth rates for four categories that define revenue streams of our app solution from 2022 till 2028: consumption by email, consumption by organic search, consumption by paid search and affiliates programmes.
The reason why we choose 2022 as a starting year (reporting results on 31 st December 2022) is based on the next: a) need for funding activities until the end of 2021 b) needs for research&development process for the app and tracking device, c) testing result and collaboration with industry experts d) connecting with industry stakeholders d) maintaining and creating supply chain and e) pivoting business model and rotation of the industry experts.
While taking these facts into consideration, we want to point out that our growth rates are based on the industry benchmark ratios in the venture capital and start-ups ecosystem. Moreover, these rates should grow at a maximum rate of 15% as an industry acceptable level (as a standard). More info: https://www.valuespreadsheet.com/blog/how-to-determine-a-realistic-growth-rate-for-a-company
Cost structure Fixes cost – office rent, salaries, wages & benefits, professional fees, software tools and equipment for application
Variable cost – email (cost per click), organic search (cost per click), paid search (cost per click), affiliates (cost per click), freight/shipping per order, labour/handling per order
Revenue streams Revenues: consumption by email, consumption by organic search, consumption by paid search, affiliates programmes, vouchers offered for coins, short commercial on the app (visual or audio), short term sponsorships from supranational sports organizations/charity organisations
Important and relevant information from our business model:
a) Our scenario assumptions provide information yearly while describing total monthly and annual visits. b) Variable marketing costs are declining from EUR 1.5 (2022) to EUR 0.4 (2028). c) Variable fulfilment cost is declining from EUR 10 (2022) to EUR 3.20 (2028). d)The contribution margin per order explains the net cash generated mechanism (after all variable deductions), which is progressively growing from EUR 21 (2022) to EUR 149 (2028). e) LTV/CAC ratio explains overall true profitability and subtle growth from 2023 to 12.4x in 2028. f) In the DCF valuation method, by including EBITDA multiple 9x (terminal value of multiple) and the NPV of forecast at least 5%, the total enterprise value will be approximately EUR 239mil. g) The payback period is relevant for delivering info about profitability (which can be before 2027). h) Genaral&Administrative cost is every year growing by at least 10% (max 20%). i) Capital expenditures are mostly related to the acquisition cost of software and licenses, equipment and infrastructure relevant for daily operation (also the same for the backup process). j)The cost of capital for startups in venture capital is between 5% and 10%. For this occasion, we use a lower limit (to support this idea and the possible business model). k) Customer acquisition cost is mainly related to the tracking devices and their supplier (there is always a lot of space to reduce it; if supply chains of the tracking devices are entirely transparent). l) By 2024 cash balance and position will be positive in terms of declining burn rate and balancing the cash role position m) The average item in gross value is and stands for EUR 200 – it represents the cost of software on the mobile and the tracking devices for the subscription for the first 12 months (subscription is free for the basic modules). To reduce total cost, we offer discounts and token-vouchers for services and products for our customer base.
We certainly believe if we were given the opportunity to get funding or funds for this application in the amount of EUR 350.000 on a 3 year period, this app can be operational and profitable in terms of every product offering and solution within it.
Challenges we ran into
Trying to agree on the key features and the target group; the ideation process had diverse perspectives due to a diverse audience. Coordinating due to various time zones.Testing the movement sensor from the mooven. Also the interoperability between different devices and connecting with the app to send the same data. Agreeing upon how much movement would contribute to a seed. Building a bank of recipes to get from the farm. Keeping the level of engagement high across the age ranges.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We have a gamification model that aligns with the SDGs and aligns in a ubiquitous way to encourage physical activity for both the individual and group activities. Only three members were from last year, and the rest came together from various parts of the globe to work on this project and brought in fresh perspectives. All had really good ideas to make this product more feasible than last year, and a more engaged, relevant offering.
What we learned
There are many differences to group exercise for children and adolescents. Wearable technology can help, but also not everyone has access to it. The financial viability of this is an important aspect to go from design to implementation.
What's next for Stay Active
To go beyond the concept and build on ways, on how to reach all children and adolescents (with and without long term illnesses or disabilities). To get to work on it in real time during incubation order to make it a reality. Build more nutrition-laden recipes and extend the user engagement with the application of AI and real life trainers.


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You thought Helix wouldn't have made it, right? Yeah, me too. But apparently Helix is getting a new season, and I sure do hope it's going to get better than the first one!
Syfy EVP Bill McGoldrick announced on the 28th that Helix will get renewed with a new season of 13 episodes, and will start airing in the winter of 2015. I don't know how much of a smart decision this big of a break is, because if you ask me SciFi is no Sherlock. Sure, it's entertaining, but I don't know if I will lose sleep at night over wanting to know how its plot unfolds in the next season.
Helix premiered on January 10 this year (2014), and it chose for itself a very smart time frame to air in, because it soon became the top program in that time period. Syfy ranked as the 2nd cable entertainment among adults 18-54, which we all have to admit is pretty impressive thanks to one show.
Syfy ranked as the #2 cable entertainment network among both Adults 25-54 (1.6 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.3 million). Since its premiere, Helix has averaged 2.1 million total viewers, 1.1 million Adults 25-54 and 1 million Adults 18-49. Helix's DNA of production features executive producers Ronald D Moore (Battlestar Galatica, Outlander),Steven Maeda (Lost, The X-Files) and Lynda Obst (Contact, Sleepless in Seattle).
This all sounds pretty impressive, so I am left with the impression that I'm a hater and a nitpicker? No matter, I will still be true to myself and call this show mediocre.
Helix features Billy Campbell, Hiroyuki Sanada, Kyra Zagorsky, Mark Ghanime, Jordan Hayes, Meegwun Fairbrother and Neil Napier, all versus one hell of a virus. The show includes immortals, man-made plagues, sort-of zombies and Shyamaln-like plot twists all again the bleak white of the Arctic backdrop.
McGoldrick said that "Helix has built one of our most loyal and consistent audiences in its first season on Syfy. The incredibly talented writing and producing team have crafted a thriller that consistently delivered suspense, twists and high quality drama. We look forward to growing this passionate audience in what promises to be an even more memorable second season."
I hope McGoldrick is right and the second season will be better. Season one wasn't bad, don't get me wrong, but it was all over the place. Too many plotlines going on at once and weak character interactions made the show be not as strong as it could've. The main plot idea was great, but I felt it wasted a lot of its potential, drawing out the premise and drowning in subplots.
However, I have to say I am at least curious to see in what direction they are going to take this, and if it's going to be better (or worse) than the first season.
What do you think? Did you like season one? Excited for season two?
(Wanna go out and fight virus-zombies a second time?)


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Kid Carboy taste tests six new beers from Chicago's newly relaunched Berghoff Brewing.
Kid Carboy taste tests six new beers from Chicago's newly relaunched Berghoff Brewing.
Kid Carboy notes a sobering trend of segregation in modern beer festivals.
Kid Carboy Jr. breaks down the craft beer industry's huge statistical gains in 2012.
Kid Carboy Jr. tastes a trio of firefighter-themed brews from California.
Kid Carboy Jr. tastes a panel of German oktoberfest brews and crowns a winner.
Kid Carboy Jr. expounds upon his love of sessionable Oktoberfest brews.
Kid Carboy tastes the "value imperial stout" brother of Southern Tier 2XIPA and is less than blown away.
Kid Carboy tastes New Belgium's latest fall seasonal beer and is rather unimpressed.
Kid Carboy tastes a coveted brew (which is any brew) from Indiana's Three Floyds.
Kid Carboy interviews the man behind Chicago's new Begyle Brewing, which will offers growlers of beer on a subscription model to its clientele.
Kid Carboy tastes an excellent red ale from Milwaukee's Lakefront Brewery.
Kid Carboy Jr. launches into a vintage diatribe on the hot-button craft beer issue of reselling prestige brews on the secondary market.
Kid Carboy tries the first canned beer from Two Brothers Brewing, Outlaw IPA.
Kid Carboy tastes a new imperial stout from Chicago's Pipeworks Brewing.
Kid Carboy Jr. tastes three beers from the little-known but history-rich Gray's Brewing Company of Janesville, Wisconsin.
Kid Carboy's guide on converting a craft beer neophyte to a slavering Alehead.
Kid Carboy souses his way through Chicago Craft Beer Week's Mash Tun Festival.
Kid Carboy tastes what he deems "Belgian quad meets imperial stout."
Kid Carboy examines the Chicago Craft Beer lineup and cherry-picks the best upcoming events for your convenience.
Kid Carboy interviews the founders of Chicago's new Arcade Brewery, lovers of comics, crowdsourcing and videogames.


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Sometimes you have a test running and realise that you want to modify some settings and start all over.
Then you want to cancel your active test:
ByteBlower Endpoints can be canceled remotely since version 2.19.0.
You can now choose if you want the ByteBlower Endpoint to
- keep contact with its MeetingPoint at regular intervals ("Heartbeating Mode")
- remain completely silent ("Silent Mode")
Every heartbeat signal is an opportunity to exchange information. This way, a command can be sent to each ByteBlower Endpoint to cancel the running scenario.
Heartbeating Mode
- In the GUI, you can configure this here, under File>Project Properties>Scenario:
When enabled, you you can cancel tests from within your GUI.
- In the API, you can configure this by using the ScenarioHeartbeatIntervalSet command on a ByteBlower Endpoint. It has one argument, representing the interval in nanoseconds.
Silent Mode
For some tests, it is crucial that the configured test traffic is the only network traffic.
- In the GUI, you can configure this here, under File>Project Properties>Scenario:
- In the API this is the default behavior.
Old versions
In old ByteBlower Endpoints, with a version before 2.19.0, the app stopped heartbeating to the Meeting Point while a test scenario was running. While running a test, all ByteBlower Endpoints went into "Silent Mode".
This behavior was chosen because it often is undesired to have additional management traffic on top of the actual test traffic.
The downside of this is that you have to wait until the end of the test until the Wireless Endpoint becomes reachable again. So, you can not cancel such a test remotely.
If you want to cancel the test, you have to walk to each Wireless Endpoint, and push the "Abort" button.


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Once you have tried our homemade flatbread recipes, you won't go back
Freshen up your lunchtime munchies with one of our delicious flatbread recipes. Fire up the grill and toast up some of our garlic and rosemary flatbreads, pack your pitta breads with fresh veggies or roll up a homemade wrap or two.
Bring the spice to your curry night with our fresh naan bread recipe, or try something different - turning it into a naan bread pizza.


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Please note that this site uses cookies to personalise content and adverts, to provide social media features, and to analyse web traffic. I hate parties. Call me antisocial What does the antisocial, know-it-all frog say? Reddit Antisoccial Reddit. Why did the antisocial ship sink? Because it Bel Gris break the ice. Last year I joined a group for antisocial people Antisocjal antisocial brother just got fired from Antisocual job at the butcher.
He just wasn't meating enough people. Bankers are so antisocial. They're a bunch of loaners. Whyy joke may contain profanity. How many antisocial guys does Why Im Antisocial Meme take to change a flat tire? Fuck you! People used to think George Washington was antisocial. But he just wasn't a party person. An Antisocial Darwinist. Welp we got ourselves a new disease Bill has been my best friend all of my life since like 3rd grade. Recently, he met this girl named Emma Wong and fell in love with her.
She is also a black Asian with the same last name. Ever since he met her he Why Im Antisocial Meme talking to me and if I try to talk Friendly Crow: How was your family reunion? Antisocial Crow: It was murder
Please note that this site uses cookies to personalise content and adverts, to provide social media features, and to analyse web traffic. I hate parties.
· Why I'm Antisocial. - IHE. Like us on Facebook! Pin Tweet Shop the Meme.4,4/5(8).
Why I'm Antisocial is an exploitable that compares the interests of a person hanging out by themselves to the interests of the group hanging out together. The is normally paired with cringe and special snowflake behavior, or replaced with a sequitur for a humorous or absurd effect.
It's not easy being an antisocial person, what with the world being so full of people and all. Oh, it's not like you wish anyone harm or anything. Or maybe you do. What do we know? But that's beside the point. And it's that disinclination to be around people that defines you. You're antisocial and you're proud of it!


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To check the availability of the domain name you intent to register, you can visit our website - www.sgnic.sg - and key in the domain name in the Whois box. If the search returns a "Domain Not Found", it means the domain name is available for registration, subject to SGNIC's Registration Policy and Procedures Guidelines.
You may refer to your registrar to update your contact information.
The registrant should first obtain a "domain transfer password" from his current registrar. With this "domain transfer password", the registrant can then approach the new registrar (winning registrar) to effect the transfer. The winning registrar will then submit a 'transfer of registrar' request to SGNIC.
Although the current registrar (losing registrar) may require any outstanding payments to be made before the domain name is transferred, it should not prevent the transfer from taking place. The current registrar (losing registrar) may explicitly approve or reject the transfer request. If the current registrar chooses to do nothing, the transfer process will be approved by SGNIC after 7 days from the date of the transfer request.
SGNIC will then inform the two registrars whether the transfer request has been approved.
You would receive a 'Complaint Transmittal Coversheet' from both the SDRP Secretariat and the party who has disputed your use of your domain name (the Complainant). The Coversheet will inform you that a complaint has been filed against your domain name registration.
Under Corppass current guidelines, the following group of entities is eligible to apply for Corppass account:
To find out more and learn about Corppass, visit the Corppass "Find Out More" page <here>.
Should you require further support on Corppass, please visit the Corppass "FAQ" page <here>.
To learn more about Corppass functionalities and how to use them, you may view Corppass step-by-step guides and video guides <here>.
We use cookies to gather information and improve your online experience. By accessing and using our website, you agree to this use of cookies. For further details, refer to our Privacy Policy.


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Located in beautiful Lancaster, Pennsylvania
This is the harvest time of year, the time of year when we talk about gratitude. Last year for my Thanksgiving column, I asked my good friend Alan Swanson to permit me to re-publish his wonderful essay about gratitude. This year, he's come up with a new essay looking at gratitude, joy and love with his Seed Point meditation. I share it here:
By Alan Swanson
For many years now, I have been working with a process which I have come to call a Seed Point. As with an actual seed, there is growth involved. With proper nourishment, the seed works with creation to manifest its specific nature into the world.
This particular Seed Point is something different, for it works in the realm of what we term the future. It involves working with an experience we are having in the present moment, and projecting the completed process into the future. This, in order to create the most beneficial result possible.
By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP
Thanksgiving is more than a day on the calendar. It is a spiritual practice that challenges us to look for the good in the days, indeed the moments, of our lives. In times of trouble, this practice of finding moments of gratitude seems extra challenging. For many people, these times are fearful, scary and uncertain.
The question is: Can we still find gratitude?
Ironically, these are the very times where finding and acknowledging gratitude is necessary for our health and well being.
Gratitude gives us the energy to live, thrive and love. It is not so much an action that promotes complacency – although it could if we take the narrow view of it. Rather, gratitude is an action stimulates us to find the good wherever we are and gives us the motivation to share the good in our world.
There are many ideas about how to promote gratitude and I've written about some of them through the years – keeping a gratitude journal or a gratitude box, for example.
Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP, is an author, trainer and psychotherapist who promotes, practices and teaches experiential methods including psychodrama, Family and Systemic Constellations, mindfulness and Tarot imagery.
November 2022
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— The KD-X444LP HDMI allows signal and device control extension up to 70 meters —
MOUNT VERNON, NY – Key Digital, an award-winning developer and manufacturer of leading-edge digital video processing and video signal distribution solutions, introduces its new KD-X444LP HDMI CAT5e/6 extender set – a 4K 18G transmitter/receiver pair featuring Power over CAT (PoC) with bi-directional IR and RS-232 control extension. The single CAT6 extension, with fully automatic, cable length dependent equalization and amplification, has a range of up to 70 meters (230 feet).
The low-profile, slim-chassis KD-X444LP supports video resolutions up to 4096×2160/60 Hz at full 4:4:4 sampling through Key Digital's proprietary UHDoTP (Ultra High Definition over Twisted Pair) protocol. The extender set provides uncompressed 10.2 Gbps signal extension with visually lossless compression applied to video formats exceeding 10.2 Gbps up to 18 Gbps. The provided power supply can be flexibly connected at either of the Tx or Rx units, with the second unit receiving PoC – only one power supply is needed.
An expansive list of content standards is supported by the KD-X444LP, including the HDCP 2.2 anti-piracy protocol; the HDR10 standard for high-dynamic-range video; and EDID management for display recognition. It also offers deep color support up to UHD/4K 30Hz 4:4:4/12-bit or 60Hz 4:4:4/8-bit. A full buffer system manages HDCP authentication, EDID control handshakes and TMDS re-clocking / signal re-generation for serial data optimization. Hot Plug Detection Control can force a display to see a partner device as always connected and active to help overcome installation obstacles in cases where multiple connectivity layers or use with non-standard devices results in a "no source connected" error.
Dolby and DTS surround formats up to 6.1 channels are supported alongside video extension, while the KD-X444LP Tx unit's HDMI pass-thru output supports Dolby, Dolby TrueHD, DTS and DTS-HD surround formats up to 7.1 channels.
For shorter extensions of 50m (164ft) or less, and where 7.1 HD audio or HDMI pass thru is not required, Key Digital offers its otherwise identically capable KD-X444SP extender set.
The Key Digital KD-X444LP HDMI extender set is available to ship from stock at an MSRP of $499. (USD) as is the KD-X444SP at an MSRP of $315. (USD).
For more information:
KD-X444LP HDMI Extender Set
KD-X444SP HDMI Extender Set
Key Digital


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Your Review
The Happy Haven
Spacious, furnished exquisitely, and complemented with well-appointed décor, your family will have plenty of room to stretch out.
An open floor plan features a nice sitting area with a large sectional you can sink into while watching TV. The streamlined kitchen has premium stainless steel appliances and a six-person breakfast bar for casual meals. A 10-seat dining table is at the ready for more formal dinners.
After dinner, head to the home theater where you can sit back and relax while you watch your favorite film. The giant leather chairs even have candy and drink holders. Once your film ends, you can try your shot at billiards in the game loft.
When the family is ready for bed, take your pick from six charming bedrooms, with en suite baths that have generously-sized showers, dual sinks, and large soaking tubs to rest weary bones after a busy day at the parks or on the links.
You'll all love days spent lounging by the pool, relaxing in the spa, or enjoying the glow of the fire pit in the evening under the stars. And nothing will beat a delicious barbecue eaten out in the summer kitchen where you can all plan the next day's itinerary.
When you're ready to explore the entirety of the exclusive 2,300-acre Reunion Resort, or to make that short trip to Disney--there's a shuttle service to drive you to and from the theme parks or anywhere on the resort property.
If there are golfers in your group, you'll want to hit the links at Reunion's three epic PGA Championship courses. Between games, visit one of the 10 premier swimming pools, including the Seven Eagles pavilion, featuring relaxing jacuzzis and a crisp infinity pool, overlooking stunning views of the courses.
Treat the kids to a trip to the five-acre water park with a huge lazy river and twisting waterslides. Plus, grab a workout buddy and make time for the fully-equipped fitness center, six state-of-the-art "Hydro-Grid" tennis, bocce ball and volleyball courts, or opt for Yoga and Tai Chi classes, or a soothing treatment at the Reunion Spa.
When you want to dine out, you've got a choice of six top restaurants, from an upscale tavern and a sushi bar, to Reunion's signature steak house.
Ready for that much-deserved Florida getaway? Let us help you make it unforgettable.
Show More
New kid's bedroom photos coming soon!
About the Villa
What People are saying
Spencer Clarke
Just love everything about this place. Neighborhood great, restaurants on site great.. The house itself unbelievable- clean, rooms very spacious- my room even had a balcony. Backyard, entertaining! Worthy of the price.. Will highly recommend this place.
Eve Higgins
My stay at Reunion resort
Location wise, everything is close by, the house was very much spacious, cleaned and the view is phenomenal. Not forgetting the host communication was great for the most part, so if you were to ask me for rating, I would say it's 11/10. My stay at the Reunion Resort was more than I anticipated.
Spencer Clarke
Beautiful home. Nice location. I will definitely be staying again
Dave Ludwig
Better than best resort
Spent a weekend here. In one word phenomenal. All amenities including pool and spa better than imagined. Very comfortable beds and felt like 1st class resort. Strongly recommend.
Thank You!
Choose Your Stay Dates
Choose Your Stay Dates
Certain reservations may also require a security deposit. You won't be charged yet.
Seasonal Rates
Certain reservations may also require a security deposit. You won't be charged yet.Choose Dates See Seasonal Rates
Booking Note: Reservations made during holiday periods will also require a refundable security deposit. *Pool & Spa Heating is an additional charge and varies based on location and home.Booking Terms
The Destination
Reunion Resort
The Reunion Resort is one of the most luxurious resorts in Central Florida and sits just minutes from Walt Disney World and world-class shopping and restaurants. The homes located within the resort are nothing short of breathtaking, from 2-bedroom condos in the grand hotel to single-family style 6-bedroom homes and stunning one-of-a-kind custom 12-bedrooms mansions. Enjoy a perfect dream vacation while staying at the Reunion Resort! Please note that new homes and areas continue to be built throughout the resort. Some construction may be present during your stay.View Resort
More to Love
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Reunion Resort
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Bonsai Green Weeping Willow Tree Cutting - Thick Trunk Start, A Must Have Dwarf Bonsai Material. Ships from Iowa, USA
Collections : outdoor plants
Brand: CZ Grain
- BEAUTIFUL DWARF TREE: Weeping Willow Cutting to Grow. Very Fast Growing and Easy. NO POT OR SOIL INCLUDED. Vibrant Bark. Fast growing, a unique specimen indeed.
- #1 GROWTH PERFORMANCE: Our rating speaks for itself! Willow are the fastest growing Bonsai Trees period!
- THE PERFECT DIY GIFT: For mom, dad, him or her, this is the perfect gift to give on birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, housewarming or any other occasion. Ideal for beginners, masters, and children alike. See the excitement in their eyes as they experience growing indoor bonsai trees.
- 100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEED: Love it, or your money back! If you struggle with any aspect of the process, don't hesitate to contact us. We promise to help you out until you receive the results that you want. Nevertheless, if you are not satisfied with the kit we'll refund you 100% of the money, no questions asked.
- *Images are for reference only and are of mature plants* - Ships Bare Root or Fresh Cut with no roots in the winter. No Soil or Pot Included, All Natural High Quality Potting Soil like Fox Farms Ocean Forest or CZ Grain Bonsai Soil is recommended
Details: NO POT OR SOIL INCLUDED. You get one thick cutting of Dwarf Weeping Willow to grow as bonsai. You grow the leaves and branches and in a few months you have an old looking tree. This is a must see!! Willows are the fastest growing bonsai on the planet. Satisfaction is Guaranteed or we will refund it!! Instructional Sheet and Video Links Included. Enjoy this tree and enjoy this day! *** Main Pic is of a mature Plant, it will take a year+ to reach that mautrity. ***