Sony is jumping into the SDK world and going after all the Kinect hackers out there. After Microsoft’s release of the Kinect, thousands of makers started tinkering on open source drivers/data dumps were released (disclosure, I worked on this with Limor Fried & Johnny Lee). Weeks later, Microsoft announced it would also have an SDK (non-commercial use, commercial use later). Sony has a competing product called the Move and they’re looking to get people hacking with them now (coming soon page). I think it’s unlikely we’ll see much happen with Sony’s efforts, definitely not as much as we’re seeing with the Kinect hacks — Sony is extremely busy suing legitimate makers and innovators. See our previous article(s) – “Sony’s War on Makers, Hackers, and Innovators” & “Meet the DIY iPod Case Sony Killed: The RetroPod…”
Who is Move.me for?
Move.me is designed for academic researchers, university instructors, college students, programming hobbyists, and HCI developers. Show us how you can take the PS Move beyond traditional gaming and into areas such as:– Games and tools that support kids’ physical fitness and nutrition.
– Kid-friendly programming interfaces for computer/technology classes or individual learning.
– Physical therapy and rehabilitation.
– Sports physiology or fitness training.
– Music and the creative arts.
In my opinion, this list has many of the people Sony completely alienated. Here’s a bold power move for Sony, drop the lawsuit(s) against George Hotz and hire the kid to help cook up an amazing SDK just like Microsoft is going to do for the Kinect. This act alone would likely repair a lot of damage out there and something I think everyone would welcome. We can announce it on stage at Maker Faire in May with someone from Sony and George. They can both give a talk about Sony embracing user innovations — it will be wonderful. Think about it :)
Sony, call me. We’ll do this up right: 707-827-7311.
Update: Nevermind, Sony is completely toxic. Steer clear folks–
A federal magistrate is granting Sony the right to acquire the internet IP addresses of anybody who has visited PlayStation 3 hacker George Hotz’s website from January of 2009 to the present.
Thursday’s decision by Magistrate Joseph Spero to allow Sony to subpoena Hotz’s web provider (.pdf) raises a host of web-privacy concerns.
Respected for his iPhone hacks and now the PlayStation 3 jailbreak, Hotz is accused of breaching the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and other laws after he published an encryption key and software tools on his website that allow Playstation owners to gain complete control of their consoles from the firmware on up.
I visited George’s site many time for my article, expect to see me and/or MAKE getting sued by Sony shortly I suppose?
ADVERTISEMENT
