Have you ever been sitting on your couch, in the middle of a marathon Gears of War gaming session, when the urge to have pizza overwhelms everything else? But your phone’s out of reach, and having to drive to pick up a pizza would cost you valuable gaming time. What to do? Thanks to a recent partnership between Microsoft and Pizza Hut, your problem has been solved! Pizza Hut released an app to the Xbox Marketplace that lets you order and customize a pizza. What’s different from being able to do the same thing on your computer or phone? The Xbox app will let you use Kinect, Microsoft’s motion tracking and voice-controlled accessory, to build the pizza through hand gestures and voice commands. While it’s a fun idea, it also shows how off-track and meaningless the Kinect has become. What could have revolutionized gaming is now being used to let you order pizzas so that you don’t have to leave your couch – at least, until the delivery guy arrives.
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.