Windows 7 Sensor Development Kit Giveaway

You watched the video, and you probably thought “I want one of those sensor kits!”

With this in mind, you likely checked www.microsoft.com/whdc/sensors for information on the sensor kits, but given that they’re not on sale yet, you had no luck. What’s a developer to do with his context-aware application without a way of testing context-awareness?

Oh, but there’s hope!

Thanks to some very under-the-table negotiations, I managed to obtain two extra Sensor Development Kits to give away. They come with light sensors, touch sensors, accelerometers, and are generally awesome. Think of the possibilities; you could turn one of these into a game controller and brag to all your friends, or you could code code an alarm which is triggered whenever someone opens your secret closet… or you could just write an application which happens to be context-aware in Windows 7 like normal people.

These things are supposed to retail for 50 bucks each, so this’ll save you some funds if you’re an indie developer (a good number of you guys reading this right now probably are).

This is what I have:

You’ll get one of each: one Sensor Development Kit CD and one Sensor Development Kit pack with whatever comes inside. You don’t get a copy of build 6801, which is fine because you guys probably know where to get it from anyway. Just keep in mind that you will need 6801 or later to use the sensor development kit; the APIs aren’t in Windows Vista.

The details will emerge over the next few days as I finalize how I’m going to give these away, but it’s not going to be as simple as just commenting in a thread. Some effort is involved, but the reward is an awesome toy for whatever nefarious purposes you may have in mind.

I’ll have all details worked out by Wednesday (Nov. 12, 2008), by which time there’ll be an update to this post. However, if you’re already interested, send me a PM on the forums with what you plan on doing with your Sensor Development Kit. Doing so might give you a heads-up; I’m trying to get these into the hands of people who can do the best work with them.

Alright, here’s the plan for those of you who have not yet sent me a PM on the board:

1. Simply send me a PM on the forum with the following:
   • Subject: “Windows 7 Sensor Kit” no quotes
   • Body:
     • say what you plan on doing with the sensor kit (your idea will still be yours; we won’t steal your idea) 
     • Also include what you liked most about the sensor development kit after having seen the interview and/or the channel 9 session for it.
     • Include your email address. must be valid. This is solely for the purpose of contacting you regarding a sensor kit should you be drawn, nothing else. Upon sending me a PM, you’ll be included in the drawing.
   • Deadline: November 19, 2008, 11:59 PM GMT -5:00 (EST)
2. The winners will be selected and contacted November 20, 2008. The winners will have until November 21, 2008, 11:59 PM GMT -5:00 (EST) to reply to the email with the details requested in the email.
3. The kits will be shipped on November 24th, 2008.

Things to note: International winners will have to cover shipping. Sad but true; we can’t cover international shipping. If a non-US resident is selected, the person will be contacted with further details.

If one or both selected winners do not respond within the designated time frame, the sensor kits will be relinquished to Microsoft.

That’s about it. Best of luck to you guys; I’m looking forward to giving these away.

Bryant Zadegan
Chief Editor
AeroXperience