Netflix Kinect: Control Movies With Your Hands

If you've forever wanted to scout movies past waving your hands around look-alike a madman — well, my Friend, today is your lucky day.

Microsoft has just pushed out an Xbox 360 update that brings Kinect reenforcement to the arrangement's Netflix interface. The update should automatically pop up the next clip you open Netflix on your Xbox 360 device.

And then what can you do with this futuristic Netflix-Kinect apparatus in your life? Why, you can browse through and through suggested movies by moving your hand here and thither. You can play Oregon pause aside waving your appendage the right way. You can fifty-fifty fast-headfirst aside flicking your fingers in a fancy figure. Just don't start doing the Sentimental Pokey by misapprehension; there's no telling what that might cause your Xbox to do.

The Netflix-Kinect concept is sure enough novel, if a little gimmicky (I mean, really — is it any easier to pause a movie by flailing your arm than aside pressure a button on a remote?). The divide of the Kinect upgrade that could really be useful is the voice-control component: Simply enjoin "Xbox" and a command, and the sawn-off genie who lives inside your console will scramble around to get the Book of Job done. Need to run to the restroom in the middle of Infected Harry? Call "Xbox, pause," and your film will stop dead. Non too worn.

Unfortunately, the voice commands are narrow to basic video recording playback; saying "Xbox, bring me some Milk Duds," for lesson, doesn't look to work (though it does effectively elicit glares from female companions).

But hey, we can't get too greedy. It was mere months ago, after all, that thrashing your limbs and shouting inexact phrases would have earned you a Nox in the loony bin. Right away it gets you a Weekend at Bernie's, streamed straightforward into your surviving board.

Immortal bless technology.

JR Raphael is a PCWorld contributing editor and the carbon monoxide gas-founder of geek-wittiness site eSarcasm. You can find him happening both Facebook and Twitter.