The Kinect is required for this feature from what I know unless I'm mistaken, and read wrong. This works through voice activation, so the Kinect senses who you are, and adapts the home screen the way you like it. This is impressive considering six people can be logged on the same console at one time. It doesn't have to be at your house either, you could go to your friend's house, or a stranger's house, the home screen will change if the Kinect hears your voice. A few more details are listed such as the 1000 friends limit, and the limitless follower option where you can see who's playing what, and the snap functionality that allows you to instantly switch between apps and games.
Via OXM
As we've reported in the past, the console uses Kinect's face and voice recognition to identify players the second they pick up the pad (or when you say "Xbox [something or other]") loading in a personalised dash and content without further prompting. You could say "Xbox, play Fable Legends", for instance, and the console would immediately fire up your very own Legends save file from cloud.
Via OXM