Over the past twelve months, Odopod has worked with a few Kinect prototypes using open source drivers in conjunction with Processing and Flash.

The most robust examples have leveraged the full body (aka skeleton) tracking provided by the OpenNI and Prime Sense NITE libraries. Unfortunately, this level of tracking requires people to pose like they're about to get a pat down from airport security. Even if you just want to track a single hand, it requires a socially awkward wave to the camera.

In February, Microsoft released the Windows version of the Kinect hardware as well as its Kinect for Windows SDK and license. The hardware itself is only nominally different, supporting experiences that are closer than possible with the XBOX hardware. The software, however enables full skeleton tracking without the need to strike any particular pose. In fact the recognition is instantaneous.

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Hack Days at Odopod is an incredible time of year. For 48 hours, we shut down the office, turn inward and focus on our own ideas. It’s a chance for us to build the kind of things that our clients don't ask for every day and just invent.

It starts off with an open call for ideas. Eight are picked and small teams are formed to produce the projects over two days. Everybody takes part - designers, developers, producers and strategists - all racing toward the same intense deadline, with a heightened sense of focus, creative energy and collaboration.

The culmination of Hack Days is a series of prototypes and proofs-of-concept.

Here are the results...

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It's that time of year again for another two days of closed-door hacking, tinkering and building prototypes for projects of our own devising.

Each year, we ask everyone in our studio to submit ideas that they've always wanted to make. There are no rules and no restrictions - the only ask is to describe the idea in 100 words or less.

From there, we make selections, split into eight teams and build the ones we love. We're just in the midst of the final selection process (as seen above) and are extremely excited about how the submissions are turning out so far.

This year, it all goes down November 9th and 10th.

We'll keep you posted on progress and process - in the meantime, check out the results of Hack Days 2010.

The launch of the new Tesla store at Santana Row in San Jose includes three gorgeous touch screen experiences designed and developed by Odopod with Tesla Motors. The experiences immerse visitors in Tesla owners’ stories, vehicle innovations, and enable them to configure their own Roadster for purchase or sharing with friends.

As Tesla's digital agency of record, Odopod designed the experiences to fit within Tesla’s unique retail strategy, one that rethinks the entire approach to selling cars. Odopod and Tesla continue to collaborate to produce digital experiences that augment the purchasing process and make for a remarkable experience.

An excerpt from Tesla Motors press release:

Today Tesla Motors reinvents the car buying process with the grand opening of its store in the popular Santana Row retail district of San Jose, California.

...The Tesla Design Studio will also debut on Teslamotors.com. Built using HTML5, the Tesla configurator provides an intuitive interface for users to design their Roadster from a computer, smart phone or iPad.

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We're thrilled to have worked with such an amazing group of people at Tesla to bring the innovative retail experience to life.

For more information visit these links:
Teslamotors.com
Press Release
Exclusive Tour Of Tesla's Showroom With Apple's Retail Guru

Everyday at Odopod, we're challenged with a huge spectrum of client needs. We get to dive deep into their businesses and create innovative work for some amazing brands. But there are some ideas that we just don't get to make. Some skills that we just don't get to use. So we decided to turn inward, develop our own ideas and make things.

For two glorious days, Odopod shut down to work exclusively on projects of our own devising - and for those 48 hours, it was all invention...

Here's how it all went down:

A few weeks before Hack Days we put out a call for project submissions to our entire studio with only one rule: describe your idea in less than 100 words. At the end of the call, we selected eight projects to prototype.

We split up into small teams comprised of all disciplines - everyone participated, bringing a unique set of skills to the table. People soldered and sketched, filmed and photographed, coded and glued. There were acts of physical computing, drafts of architectural plans, and a ton of work we don't see everyday.

It was hard work, but well worth it. Here's a quick overview of the prototypes we created:

More after the jump »

In the spirit of making things, we're closing up our doors this Thursday and Friday to work on Odopod Hack Day projects. These are the projects and ideas that we've always wanted to create. For two days, we'll do what we want. No clients. No messing around - and in the next few weeks we'll share the results...