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Displaying items by tag: Xbox

Monday, 09 September 2013 06:58

Microsoft Pushes Xbox Music Out to Android and iOS

Xbox Music

Microsoft is an interesting company. Over the years they have built more than a few very solid products (including operating systems), but because of a lack of real leadership and marketing ability many of these products have remained in the shadows. One of these has been the Zune music service Zune Pass. This service was put into competition with Apple’s iTunes at the height of Apple’s power and consumer influence. Microsoft updated the service when they launched the ill-fated Zune HD that allowed for unlimited downloads and streaming with a simple monthly fee and still failed to get the service to take off.

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Electric-Kettle-with-Tea-Pot-WX-8971-

One thing that I find sadly funny is when one company accuses another of patent abuse. It is one of those statements that really spells out just how disingenuous most corporations are. However as a rule, most large corporations have people that are paid to mask the truth at least to come degree. In today’s episode of pot meets kettle we find Microsoft accusing Google of patent abuse after winning a victory against Google in court. Google (through Motorola) was trying to get certain Microsoft products banned from import.

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Wednesday, 04 September 2013 18:29

Xbox One on 22nd November

xboxone

Just as the rumors that have appeared in earlier today claimed, Microsoft confirmed that we will have and opportunity to purchase Xbox One on 22nd November this year, when it will be available in specialised stores in selected countries.

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ballmer

For those of us that are either a little older or who simply follow the goings on of Captain James T. Kirk the news that Microsoft might be making a smart watch out of translucent aluminum very interesting. This material was predicted in one of the Star Trek Movies (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home). It seems that Microsoft may think that by using exotic materials they can garner the attention of the market. The problem with this logic is that it has not really worked out for them so far. With the Surface (RT) their VaporMag casing did not help in powering sales and might have hurt them as there were manufacturing issues while increased the cost per unit to manufacture them.

Published in News
Monday, 08 July 2013 20:33

New FEZ patch incoming

philfish

Polytron's Fez, which appeared on Xbox Live in 2012, in a very short period of time won hearts of many players with its simple and fun gameplay, but his reputation was tarnished because of the patch, which withdrew recorded progress of quite a lot players, forcing them do play the game all over again.

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Friday, 05 July 2013 14:43

How Did Microsoft Get to Windows 8 Anyway?

dspme

Microsoft as a corporate entity has had an interesting life cycle. When Bill Gates was in charge the goal was to build systems and software that would interconnect and build the back bone for corporate and home networks. Interoperability was the key and the folks at Microsoft insisted on creating their products to work now and also support older programs (and in some cases hardware). This was vital for their target market; the enterprise. Bill Gates knew that if he build a solid back ground in companies, universities, schools etc then it would spread to the consumer market. The plan worked and continued to work simply because most people want a similar experience across their computing platforms (remember this point). The move was brilliant and Microsoft managed to get themselves very firmly entrenched in the market.

Published in Editorials
Thursday, 27 June 2013 19:36

Kinect for Xbox One will not work on PC

kinect

For those who plan to buy a Xbox One, and then use the console's Kinect on the PC and vice versa we are brining some bad news. According to Ars Technica, the new Kinect for Xbox One will not be able to directly connect to a PC, unlike the older versions of the device for the Xbox 360 that came with the adapter that made connectiong to PC's via USB slot quite simple. Instead, the new Kinect that comes with the Xbox One has its own connector and it is physically impossible to connect it with anything on the PC, and Microsoft does not intend to make an adapter that would allow such thing.

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neural

Using a new method that mimics the human brain, Microsoft researchers claim to have doubled the speed at which the speech is recognized and the results returned to the user. To achieve this acceleration, Microsoft researchers used a new approach, which should also increase the accuracy of speech recognition by 15%.

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Xbox One

Microsoft is making a rapid about face on their DRM AND use game policies. Despite their original statements that people should get an Xbox 360 if they want to play offline they are now removing the 24-hout check in period for disk based games. They are also removing the restrictions they had in place for trading and selling used games. Microsoft is claiming that they did this due to user feedback, but for some reason we think it was more about Sony’s announcement and the way gamers shifted loyalties so fast.

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ps4

Although we have already reported that the Xbox will have a really hard time fighting against the new Sony console, one of the important factors for some of the user and was a statement that the PlayStation 4 will not forbid the exchange of used games. Of course those words brought joy to pirates ears, but also to many of us who considered game sharing good and reasonable practice.

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