Why hacking games consoles is a good thing

I often rant on this blog about how console manufacturers should just allow hackers to do what the hell they want with the hardware they themselves have purchased. Sony and Nintendo are both renowned for producing hardware to keep homebrew programmers out and any time someone does find a way in, the company in question immediately push an 'update' via the online connection that breaks any homebrew code. Microsoft recently became the first company to buck the trend by explicitly encouraging the use of their 'Kinect' hardware for Xbox 360 by hackers and other home hobbyists. Every time I rant about not being able to hack my games consoles a lot of non-geeks ask me why I care and why I don't just use my games consoles the way they were intended, to play games? I never really had a good, non-political answer to that question... until now.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12559231

Step in, a team of mechanical engineers from the University of Warwick. They've built a robot (that looks very much like Johnny Five) whose purpose is to search for earthquake survivors in rubble too hazardous for a live human to enter. Except rather than use the usual expensive laser scanning technology employed by similar robots, their creation's vision is powered by a Kinect, which is available for £100 at your local toy shop. This thing is cheap and can save lives, and is generally ten shades of awesome. And it's only possible because Microsoft don't care if homebrew developers want to write code for their hardware.