Microsoft welcomes hackers to Kinect

Kinect, Microsoft's new hands-free gaming accessory for the Xbox, has -- not unexpectedly -- attracted a crowd of hard-core technology geeks.

But of the million (and counting) Kinects sold since they hit shelves Nov. 4, some have been bought by geeks with intentions beyond mere gaming. There are hackers, programmers and experimenters who have gotten the motion-sensing video game controller to do things it was, well, not really meant to do.

These include 3-D object scanning and manipulation, hands-free control of computer applications (reminiscent of “Minority Report”) and hands-free driving on the game Mario Kart. To see some videos of the creative and zany tinkerings, go to kinecthacks.net.