Guest Post by Britney Baker of PrepaidCellPhones.net. If you’re interested in submitting a guest post, contact me.

If you are considering purchasing a Microsoft Kinect device to use with your Xbox 360, before you go out and spend the $150+ dollars for the system, there are a few things you should take into consideration.

photo credit: Jon Åslund

1. The Kinect does not need a controller.

When watching demos or viewing commercials for the Kinect, many people ask where the controller is located. The answer is your body. With its sophisticated motion sensing technology and voice recognition, there is no need for a separate manual controller. You can control your Xbox 360 by addressing it with the prefix ‘Xbox’, or you can use your hands to navigate the menus. The hands free approach is what makes the Kinect one of the most appealing devices on today’s market.

For example, say you are watching a movie on your 360 and the phone rings. Instead of hunting around for the controller to pause the movie before you answer the phone, you can simply say “Xbox pause”, and Kinect will recognize your command and pause itself accordingly, allowing you to answer the phone. Once you are finished, you can say, “Xbox resume” and pick up your movie as you were.

2. The Kinect needs at least 8 feet of space.

Because it is a motion sensing device, you will need plenty of space in order for the camera to detect you. The cameras within the device need to see your entire body, so standing back around six feet is necessary. This means you need at least eight feet of space in front of the device in order to operate properly.

3. The Kinect is compatible with the older Xbox 360.

If you have an original Xbox 360, you will still be able to use the Kinect. However, you will need to purchase an adapter to plug the device into the back of the machine, as it uses a proprietary connection instead of a USB connection.

4. The Kinect can detect multiple people using the device.

Many people ask whether the sensor can handle more than one person on the screen. In fact, the Kinect features jump in/jump out technology, which means a person who wants to join in can merely jump into the view of the sensor in order to start playing. Once they are finished, they can jump out without the need for the original player to stop or restart the game.

5. The Kinect can detect people who are sitting down.

When the device was first debuted as Project Natal, many reporters and media types reported having trouble with the device detecting sitting people. This is because of the way the wire frame algorithm for the Kinect was rigged, placing the hip point below the leg point when people are sitting. This has now been changed with the release of the Kinect, so it does not have problems detecting individuals.

Britney Baker reviews prepaid cellphones for PrepaidCellphones.net. Her latest review looked at Tracfone.

I’ve recently developed a philosophy of using things to their fullest potential: originally, I was forced to replace my older gadgets with new versions repeatedly. It wasn’t until a short while ago that I decided against my consumption for a variety of reasons:

• It wasn’t a healthy way of gaining happiness (an interesting topic on its own).
• It wasn’t a wise way to spend my money — I already had an iPod Video, why did I need an iPod Touch? I could be saving up for that Macbook I always wanted.
• It wasn’t satisfying me anymore. I think I’d exhausted all satisfaction that I might’ve gotten originally from buying gadgets. That’s the problem with consumerism.

Don’t get me wrong — I still buy new gadgets: but now, my new gadgets typically are used to replace something thats been lost/broken/malfunctioned, or for the sake of convenience (combining two gadgets into one). Or to introduce a whole new concept into my life (I’m looking into getting a PSP…we’ll see how that works out, haha).

But I’ve discovered an alternative to the constant consumption and re-consumption of gadgets — using basic computer knowledge, a keen eye, and a spirit of adventure to find out how to leverage your gadgets and use them to their fullest potential. I’ve done what I’d thought was previously unimaginable — my deeds (so far) include:

• Putting Leopard 10.5.2 on my Dell Inspiron 6400 (I don’t advise you do it if you are of the faint of heart — I should also mention that it’s against Apple’s agreement you have to click in order to use Leopard, because you’re installing Leopard on non-Apple hardware). Don’t get me wrong — it wasn’t easy, and I only recently figured out how to do it to near-perfection, with sound and dual-monitor support.
• Installing Android on my HTC Touch. That one turned out to be a fail (fail used as a noun — yep: an event where one fails miserably and hilariously at an attempt; http://failblog.org), as everytime I tried starting Android up (I installed it as a .cab file so it can be easily installed and removed) I was left with a white screen or my phone would turn off. Fail.
• Tweaking my iPod Video 5.5G so I could play Pokemon Red on it. I also installed other themes on my iPod 5.5G so I could make it look ‘fresher’ — like an iPod Touch, if I may. Both using custom firmware (which might void iPod warranty, so be careful with that — I figured since my iPod was so old anyway, I might as well give it a shot, haha).
• I’ve also managed to make my Wii play .mp3 files, .mp4 files, homebrew games (that should give the secret away), and even — DVD’s. That’s right — and I didn’t even have to touch the hardware.

photo credit: You Are The Conductor..

I’m no expert. I’m just an ordinary guy — probably a bit nerdier, but still pretty ordinary. And if I can do it, you most definitely can — so here are a few lessons that I learned along the way.

• Google will be your best friend. That’s right. You’ll get by just typing in ‘(insert gadget name here) modifications’ or ‘(insert gadget name here) hacks’.
• If you fail once, brush yourself off and try it again. And if you fail again, then change something. Or Google it again.
• Forums will be your second-best friend. Register if you have to (I registered anonymously on InsanelyMac). Use their search functions regularly, because you probably won’t have been the first person to experience a certain kind of problem.
• Don’t try modding new gadgets. Unless you can afford to replace it — because typically warranties don’t cover that kind of stuff.
• Don’t be afraid to push it! I remember when I was installing OS X, I installed a bunch of incorrect drivers that eventually required a format. It was discouraging, and I had to start over again, but I remembered that I used to live without it just fine, and so I can continue to live without just fine. If you can’t live without it, then you might want to pay for it (legitimately — not that leveraging is usually illegitimate).
• Not all gadgets can be leveraged — here’s the Herbert rule: if it has a screen/screen output, it can be leveraged.

I’m not sure if anyone’s ever associated the term ‘leveraging’ with ‘gadgets’, but I recently learned of the term in a business course and I wanted to use it. That and the word ‘synergy’ really jumped out at me. If the public demands it, I will begin posting general guides on how to leverage gadgets, so it can be a learned process (these won’t be step-by-step though, I don’t like writing comprehensive stuff — sorry). And even if the public doesn’t demand it, I think I just might.