NYT R&D Lab uses Kinect to make 'magic mirror' for bathroom surfing

And of course, there's an opportunity for interactive apps, such as the 'tooth brush watcher/timer' that ensures you're getting good coverage over each section of your teeth for a decent amount of time. And similarly for flossing.

(Though they'd need to do better work in fog-free mirrors than has been done thus far. Because every one I've owned has had its coating lose effectiveness in a few months.)

But what this really begs for, is a continuous computing environment: a whole-house computer that can take your session with you from the bathroom mirror to the bedroom mirror, to the surface-style kitchen table and so on, with speakers and microphones throughout the home so that you can interact with it even without a screen.

In that situation, the value of a bathroom mirror computer isn't judged in the context of "will I be in front of this mirror long enough for it to be useful", but instead in the context of "would I like my whole-house computer to be able to provide me services here too."

And I think that's a much more compelling case.

"On average we spend an hour in the bathroom every day"

And only about 3-5 minutes of that is spent in front of a mirror. And even less is spent looking at said mirror. Why would I slow down brushing my teeth to play which-tie-should-I-wear with my mirror? The closet is right around the corner.

What they did not take: My kinect and small collection of 2-3 kinect games. Perhaps "Dance Central" Scared them off.

Seeing hacks like this for the kinect has given me something to do with it while I waited for an appropriate deal/time to purchase a new system, but honestly it's a little bit creepy.

I do not think the average consumer would be okay with a camera/internet connected device with a camera in their bathroom. That being said, coolest hack since the head tracking.

Seriously though - it's a great tech, but their focus on ad revenue at the prototyping phase is disturbing.