Apple acquires studio behind the Kinect motion sensor tech

Newsbrief: With third-party companies like Occipital looking to add Kinect-like depth detection to the iPad's camera, Apple has chosen to go straight to the source, acquiring the company behind the Kinect's 3D motion-sensing hardware. PrimeSense's original PrimeSensor design technology was used in Microsoft's Kinect camera sensor, although the Xbox One's Kinect now uses Microsoft's own tech. The company's technology was also used by hardware company Asus for its Xtion Pro control interface. The PrimeSense tech allows a camera to observe a scene in three dimensions, identifying people, body properties, movements, gestures, and locations of furniture, walls and the floor. Now Apple has bought Israel-based PrimeSense, with AllThingsDigital reporting that sources says around $360 million changed hands as part of the acquisition.