A recent article on Kinect hackers mentions the ease with which the new Microsoft game platform can drive real world devices:

When Kinect appeared on store shelves, Adafruit Industries, an online seller of DIY electronics kits, offered $1,000, then $3,000, to the first person who could analyze Kinect’s innards and share the information with developers at large. It took all of six days before the Kinect’s secrets were cracked. . . . Geeks around the world set to work. One strapped a Kinect to a Roomba, letting him steer the robot vacuum cleaner by waving his hand. Others used Kinect to control World Of Warcraft characters with their bodies rather than keyboards.

Cool, right? Well, perhaps not so much. A website based on the film “Sleep Dealer” spells out a business model for using technology to further stratify the labor force:

The 20th century generated the tools to globalize and maximize production. Computers simplified tasks, the Internet connected every human being, robots climbed stairs, vacuumed carpets and pumped hearts. There was only one missing piece, a link that could tie them all together, and Cybracero Systems discovered it: We call it THE NODE®. Through basic nodes implanted in the wrists, ankles and eyes of workers, they are able to connect to and control human-like machines in the first world. In this way, any job, even manual labor, can be accomplished.

Some call it “unbelievable”. We call it “Telepresence”. Through Telepresence, a chauffer in Tijuana nodes up and drives a cab through the streets of London. A nanny in Tijuana babysits a toddler in Beverly Hills. A crew from Tijuana raise a skyscraper in Chicago. Soon, Telepresence will be globalized.

Read More »Outsourcing & Tracking the Service Sector