The Kinect reads your body motion, allowing you to bat a ball or follow a dance lesson as if it were happening in your living room. Having a computer recognize body movements could lead to several applications. Doctors already have begun interacting with a computer without touching it, saving them the trouble of scrubbing up after contact with dirty keyboards. (You can read about some of the experiments using this device and software by Googling “Kinect effect.” See also the “Kinect and motorized skateboard” brief video.)

Microsoft is giving the software away free to developers, a big switch from last year when they were threatening to sue anyone who tried to develop Windows/Kinect applications. Developers will have access to the software and hardware starting February 1, but it could be some time before the rest of us get our hands on one. The new Kinect will be $250, compared to around $150 for the older version that works with the Xbox.

This is one of the most famous entertainment programs in computer history. In fact it was such a combination of sophisticated programming, animation and skill that it was typically kept running on autopilot, so to speak, in the show windows of Microsoft stores.

Back in those days – back when there were lots of companies making Microsoft compatible computers – some with wonderful names, like “Kentucky Fried Computers,” the true test of whether or not a system was compatible was whether it could run Flight Simulator.

Those early versions trained you how to land at airports like Chicago’s Meigs Field, which no longer exists (a nostalgia trip). This Spring you can download a light version for free. You can fly around Hawaii in an “ICON A5,” an amphibious plane with cockpit space for two, and designed by the same engineers who did the Voyager spacecraft, SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo. If you want more aircraft and more locations it will cost you, though Microsoft hasn’t yet announced the price. Sign up for a free “Windows Live” account, and go to the games section to download it when it’s available in a few months.

This is the first new flight simulator from Microsoft since 2006, when Flight Simulator X came out. The whole flight simulator programming team was laid off in 2009. We like the new approach. It’s always better to let people try something out before asking them to buy something extra.

Over half a billion people have played “Bejeweled,” the popular game from PopCap, and version 3 is now out for Nintendo DS, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. You may have played it on a computer, an iPhone or the airline seatback.

The game continues to sell at the rate of one copy every 4.3 seconds. (This reminds Bob of expert’s predictions 25 years ago that games would soon disappear from computers as serious business programs took over.)

Bejeweled 3 lets you explode colored jewels in a myriad of ways. We were surprised to see “poker mode,” “butterfly mode,” “diamond mine,” and “ice storm.”

If you thought Farmville was hot stuff, wait till you try Zynga Adventure, a new Indiana Jones-style game that will send you looking for the lost city of El Dorado as you traverse jungles, mountains and temples.

The game is 40 times larger than other Zynga games and involves 200 quests. You can ask friends to join your crew and help solve puzzles, get out of traps and avoid snakes. No word yet as to availability, except that it’s “coming soon.”

Peggle, the most addictive game we’ve ever played, launched today on the Amazon Appstore for Android. It’s free today only.

After the free period, the game is $3.

In Peggle, players fire a ball that ricochets off pegs. Unusual creatures help you clear each level. Joy is fond of the pumpkin character. Bob favors the alien space blaster. Both of us like the wise old owl, a Zen master with a near-miraculous ability to maximize scores. Check out the action on YouTube.