The Kinect really is awesome
...and not just as a game platform. This article (hat tip to Nik for pointing me to it) describes viSparsh, a system for assisting blind people which is made from a modified Kinect. The Kinect's depth awareness allows the device to determine how far the wearer is from an object and feeds back a series of vibrations, a bit like a car's reverse sensor. Over time the wearer learns to judge distance using the vibrations, allowing them to walk around much more confidently.
The use of a Kinect for good reminds me of the robot built by researchers from the University of Warwick, which uses a Kinect's 3D imaging capabilities to locate trapped survivors in the aftermath of an earthquake.
There are two things to learn from these stories. Firstly, the Kinect is wasted on video games. It's genuinely groundbreaking technology. Secondly, both these stories are examples of the good that can be done when a tech company opens up their hardware to homebrew developers and hobby hackers. Microsoft have very publically announced [eff.org] that they encourage people to use the Kinect in whichever way they see fit, a very different attitude from Sony, Nintendo and even one-time proponents of freedom Apple, who all frown upon the use of their kit for anything other than its intended purpose, and go to great lengths to ensure it doesn't happen.