If you’ve ever gone appliance shopping, you know it’s not fun. However – and trust me on this – you don’t want to make an uninformed choice and risk suffering years with the wrong appliance. Maybe that’s why folks were buzzing around the new Amana demo that was on the floor at Build 2013 this week. The showcase was an engaging in-store experience developed for the Amana brand using Kinect for Windows and Windows Embedded 8 Industry.
The 8-foot Amana demo encompasses an Amana refrigerator, dishwasher, oven and microwave mounted in a cabinet that has Kinect for Windows sensors positioned to capture customers’ interaction with the products. When a customer approaches the cabinet, the application greets them with an introductory screen. The customer can simply gesture to navigate through the digital catalog display to learn about the appliance’s features, such as energy efficiency and water-saving options. No more trying to decipher the product spec sheet or hunting down a salesperson to answer questions.
The functionality is powered by Windows Embedded, and the Amana solution does a great job of showcasing the opportunity for developers to build rich app experiences on industry-specific hardware.
For more of the story, take a look at this post on the Windows Embedded Blog.
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Deborah Pisano
Microsoft News Center Staff