Kinect hardware specs revealed in full.

The Kinect has been in the media spotlight for a little over a week now, and yet we’re just today finding out the actual specs. Thanks to UK e-tailer Play.com, the nitty gritty is finally known (and slightly disappointing). The Kinect only musters two resolutions (320×240 and 640×480) at a max of 30fps. At such low resolutionstins, hand gestures and other subtle body movements aren’t likely to be picked up. Furthermore, there’s a two person limit to the Kinect. Though, considering the Kinect’s filed of view is a rather narrow 57 degrees means anything more than two human bodies would have been a tight squeeze for sure.

And one other tidbit that’s sure to leave your morning slightly less cheery now is the issue of lag. At the resolution and capped frame rate, minimum response time is a rather pokey 33ms. If you watched some of the demos on stage at E3, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

All in all, the Kinect is still a great hardware accessory for the Xbox 360 and in my mind, a fair amount ahead of the Wii or PS3′s motion efforts. But it could have been so much better. Maybe Kinect 2, hmm?

Hop inside for the full Kinect spec list and let us know what you think…

Palm celebrating Thanksgiving early, waiving $50 app submission fee for all past and future devs.

Palm may not have always been the best dinner host with it’s lame attempts at previous “freebies” aimed at spurring developers’ hearts and minds, but their latest attempt is certainly one to tip your hat at. For all submitted apps past and present, Palm is waiving the $50 submission fee. Yes. Every. Single. App. Palm’s coffers won’t be too drained (fortunately for HP) as there are but a mere 2,684 apps in the App Catalog, totaling a rather low $134,200 when all is said and done.

It’s not really the monetary value that matters. It’s a huge gesture by Palm telling devs that they really do care to keep their business now and in the future, while also giving webOS fence sitting devs a healthy dose of incentive to jump to team Palm.

Analytical mindsets aside, it’s a noble move by Palm. But is it enough?

Easily hack AT&T voicemail with Android.

File this in the “uh-oh” department. Apparently there’s a small issue with Android devices on AT&T that allows pretty much anyone to gain access to your voicemail. Downloading any number of caller ID spoofing apps in the Android market is the only requirement. Simply input the destination number and then set the spoofing caller ID app to mimic the destination number. As long as the number in question doesn’t have a voicemail password, you’re in.

From the looks of things, AT&T already knows about the vulnerability. Though they incorrectly implies that these “spoofing apps” exist solely to hack into peoples’ voicemail accounts in efforts to topple the world. But who’s counting, eh?

Moral of the story is pretty basic — put a password on your voicemail folks.

Verizon allowing Droid Incredible pre-order owners to swap out for a Droid X

Of all things I’ve called Verizon over the years, “caring” is not one that would usually float to the top. But a statement made tonight seems rather heartfelt at first glance. Droid Incredible owners who pre-ordered their devices can waltz into their local VZW store (no Droid X pre-orders through Verizon) and swap out their Incredibles for a brand spankin’ new Droid X. That is, unless your pre-order was before mid-June. At that point, your 30-day return/swap-out policy is expired.

In actuality, this 30-day policy isn’t anything new. It’s been around on many carriers for any device for years. Either way, it’s quite a deal if you ask me. With hot new devices such as the Droid X, carriers have gone to extreme lengths to prevent upgrades, instead opting to reel in as many new customers as they can, shafting current, older customers.

So what would I do? Given that the Droid X and Incredible are pretty close competitors, I’d take the Droid X in a heartbeat. I don’t see any legitimate reason for keeping the Incredible unless you have some weird Sense UI fetish.

What do you guys and gals think? If you are elligible for the Incredible-to-Droid X swap, would you do it?

Why can’t we have non-market Android apps on AT&T? Answer: For your safety

It’s a legitimate answer that companies fall back on all too often to cover their tracks. In the case of Android and AT&T’s reluctance to offering non-market Android apps, it is again “consumer safety and data protection” that takes cake. It’s noble that AT&T wants to keep our digital bits safe. But at what expense? I’m fully capable of making an informed decision as to whether an app is legit or not. Though I’m sure plenty of Android newbs, use to Apple’s squeaky clean ecosystem, may fair differently.

In the end, it’s a rather no-nonsense approach by AT&T that unfortunately still leaves myself and many AT&T Android hopefuls frustrated. One could argue however that in the end, those with know-how and willingness to install non-market apps will root their AT&T Android devices and conduct business as usual anyway. What do you guys think? Is AT&T’s response too much of a cop out, allowing them to hide their control freak ways. Or is it really for the safety of mankind overall?

Apple’s “trouble shooting guide” to iPhone 4 signal woes anything but…

We’ve all seen so far how Apple has first claimed that a fix was on the way for the much maligned cell reception issues plaguing the iPhone 4, only to go on a couple days later saying there wasn’t any issue at all. I’ll leave a little thing called common sense on the table for you to decide (but really, it’s pretty obvious there is an issue). In the meantime, I thought it would be both beneficial and perhaps slightly comical to go on through Apple’s official 5-step process for troubleshooting this supposedly “non-existant” issue. The steps…

That was fast — Custom FRF84B Froyo roms start popping up. [Bugless Beast Froyo 0.4]

It’s been but a few hours and already devs are releasing updated ROMs for the Moto Droid based on the fresh-out-of-the-oven Froyo FRF84B package that made itself known earlier this morning. This particular ROM comes from “Pete”, developer behind the popular “Bugless Beast” series. The latest release, 0.4 FRF84B comes fully zip aligned, de-odexed, and chock full of Pete’s usual allotment of enhancements such as 50MB of system memory always free, auto-overclocking (negating the need for setCPU), and a boat load of custom scripts. It’s really quite impressive how customized it is and how fast Pete managed to pump it out. +1 Pete!

The full list of tweaks and features can be found over at the release thread on DroidForums. Happy flashing!

Download BB Froyo 0.4 (FRF84B) — Download File