While you’ll notice that the Kinect for this Xbox One machine isn’t physically attached to the console – though that might change – it will need to be synced up. These two devices will need to be chatting with one another at all times in order for either to function, this per a confirmation given to IGN, there’s no getting away from Kinect.

“Kinect does require to be connected to Xbox One in all cases, yes. We use the living room almost as a moniker – that’s where we assume the best screen is in the house. But if you like to play in any other room in the house, the Xbox One will deliver the same quality of experience whatever the environment.” – Xbox UK marketing director Harvey Eagle

According to Microsoft’s own Xbox Wire, the Kinect accessory is no longer just that. It’s part of the Xbox One – it’ll come in every Xbox One box and it’ll be assumed that you’ll be using it. Game developers will be encouraged to use Kinect on the regular.

“The all new Kinect is now an essential and integrated part of the platform.  By having it as a consistent part of every Xbox One, game and entertainment creators can build experiences that assume the availability of voice, gesture and natural sensing, leading to unrivaled ease of use, premium experiences and interactivity for you.” – Microsoft

While this will be one point on the plus side for those gamers wishing to stay with their Xbox 360 – or pick up a new one now that the Xbox One will likely drive down prices of past generations – it’s also likely that much game functionality will be based on this system for future gamers in the Xbox Live universe as well. The Xbox One vs Xbox 360 battle may very well be a war you’re going to want to follow from here on in.

In the FAQ for the Xbox One, it states that the console is designed in a way “so you can play games and watch Blu-ray movies and live TV if you lose your connection.” However, many of the Xbox One’s new features will require an internet connection, including cloud abilities and such, so while you can technically play games without an internet connection, the gaming experience probably won’t be as exciting or feature-packed.

As for used games, the FAQ states that the Xbox One is designed “to enable customers to trade in and resell games.” Of course, these are pretty vague statements, and we wouldn’t be surprised if there were a few details that we’re not aware of yet that Microsoft isn’t telling us, but it at least provides us with a little assurance.

However, it’s said that Xbox 360 games won’t be able to work on the Xbox One due to a different architecture used in the new console (x86 compared to PowerPC). Luckily, though, your Xbox Live profile will transfer over, meaning that you won’t lose all of those achievements you earned playing Xbox 360 games.

Microsoft told Engadget that the company cares “very much about the investment people have made in Xbox 360 and will continue to support it with a pipeline of new games and new apps well into the future.” In fact, Microsoft will have some news for Xbox 360 gamers at E3 next month, so stay tuned for that if you plan on sticking with the eight-year-old console.

VIA: Engadget

Design

The original Xbox 360 design measured in at 310 x 80 x 268 mm, with a slightly concave form-factor; Microsoft offered it in white or black. In mid-2010, the Xbox 360 S shrunk things down, introducing some sharper angles along the way, and offered in matte or gloss black. The most noticeable illumination is the the “ring of light” on the front, with four lit quadrants that show processing or error status.

Above: Xbox 360 in Black and White. Below: Xbox One.

The new Xbox One is an altogether more blocky affair, resembling a traditional Blu-ray player or A/V receiver more than anything else. Microsoft describes it as finished in “deep and rich liquid black” with a beveled edge to add a little eye-candy, but it’s also quite sober. How well it will fit in a world of flat-screen TVs remains to be seen – though they could perhaps stand on top of it – but there’s the possibility to replace at least your Blu-ray player in the A/V rack.

Processor and Graphics

In the Xbox 360, Microsoft used a specially developed PowerPC tri-core Xenon processor running at 3.2GHz, while the graphics were courtesy of an ATI Xenos GPU running at 500MHz and paired with 512MB of 700MHz GDDR3 memory.

The Xbox One kicks things up another level altogether. Microsoft is yet to fully detail the processor, calling it only an 8-core chip based on x86 architecture, and with “more than 5bn transistors”; the graphics, meanwhile, haven’t even been described beyond something custom from AMD with DirectX 11.1 support

However, there’s 8GB of system memory, and Microsoft will use virtualization technology to effectively run three platforms simultaneously. The underlying core is the Windows Kernel, as per Windows 8, while the Xbox OS runs virtually within that; the third platform basically acts as a bridge between the two. That means Microsoft can keep the Xbox OS part stable over the lifespan of the console, giving game developers a consistent platform to code for, while the Windows kernel – where apps like Skype and others will run – can be updated progressively.

Optical Drive

Aside from a short-lived experiment with an external HD-DVD drive, the Xbox 360 has stuck with DVD. That means support for games and movies; games come on dual-layer DVD with up to 7.8GB of space. There’s also regional locking, which is optional for game developers

The Xbox One keeps an optical drive, but here kicks it up to a Blu-ray drive. That’ll be used to install games to the console, too, along with play movies. Unfortunately, what it won’t do is backward-compatibility, so you wont’ be able to load up your old Xbox 360 titles on the new Xbox One.

Storage

In its most recent form, the Xbox 360 offers up to 320GB of hard-drive space, though most used a 250GB drive. The Arcade version has 4GB of integrated flash storage on the motherboard.

The Xbox One goes straight to half a terabyte, with a 500GB internal drive. That space will be vital, however, since games will be installed directly to the onboard storage rather than run from Blu-ray. It’ll mean faster loading, but we’re still not sure how big all the high-res graphics Microsoft and its developer partners are so excited about will be.

Connectivity

When first launched, the Xbox 360 had three USB 2.0 ports; that was increased to five on the Xbox 360 S, as well as a dedicated Kinect port. The refreshed model also has integrated WiFi b/g/n along with a 10/100 ethernet port. HDMI has been included since mid-2007.

For the Xbox One, there are now USB 3.0 ports, with at least five spread around the console. Microsoft has also included wired gigabit ethernet and a digital optical audio output. In addition to an HDMI output, for hooking up your TV or a projector, there’s also an HDMI input, for plugging in your cable TV box or other source.

Unfortunately, despite the focus on TV and multimedia, there are no internal tuners and no CableCard slots. Any source you want to use with the Xbox One must be external, just as Google did with the original Google TV boxes.

Inside, there’s WiFi and WiFI Direct, the latter – in a tweaked way – being used to hook up to the controllers.

Controllers

Microsoft redesigned the Xbox controller for the 360, and it has stuck around since with only a minor refresh in mid-2010. Available in wired and wireless versions, it has two analog sticks and two analog triggers, along with eleven digital buttons and a D-pad. There’s also a USB port – custom-shaped, for the chatpad keyboard – and 2.5mm headphone connection.

Above: Xbox 360 Wireless Controller. Below: Xbox One Wireless Controller.

The new controllers look similar, though with smoothed off edges and a more rounded look. The controls are similar in layout – helping keep things familiar for Xbox 360 upgraders – but there’s now new impulse triggers and an updated “precision” directional pad. The battery is now integrated too, and of course they use WiFi Direct to hook up, rather than a proprietary 2.4GHz link as on the old console.

Kinect

Microsoft introduced the Kinect motion-sensor bar in 2010, an add-on to the 360 to compete with the Wiimote and PlayStation Move. The bar uses a combination of camera and infrared sensors to identify gamers and track their movements; it can simultaneously track up to six people, though only two active players at a time. Twenty joints per active player can be individually monitored, and there’s also voice recognition support.

Above: Xbox 360 Kinect. Below: Xbox One Kinect.

The new Kinect has been significantly redesigned, matching the blunt-sided look of the Xbox One, and getting far more impressive internal abilities. It now has a 250k pixel infrared depth sensor and a webcam, with a wider angle lens. As well as tracking body movement, it can monitor both skeletal and muscle movements. In fact, it’s so sensitive it can even measure the gamer’s pulse, monitoring the pigmentation changes in their face. The microphones are used for the Xbox One’s advanced speech recognition system, which is used to wake the console as well as search for content, switch between TV and gaming, and more.

This battle isn’t over

Just because there’s the Xbox One on the scene, however, that doesn’t mean the Xbox 360 is going anywhere quite yet. “In just a few weeks at E3 we’ll be sharing what’s next for Xbox 360″ Microsoft’s Don Mattrick said at the opening of the event today. We’ll also be seeing a collection of new games and additional functionality from the Xbox One at E3 as well as Gamescom later this year – stay tuned!

Hardware

First off, the console and controller come with a new black look that’s the complete opposite of the matte white appearance that the Xbox 360 had when it was first released eight years ago. The controller is reminiscent of the Xbox 360 variant, but it obviously includes a handful of changes, including a new D-pad (woot!), vibration motors in the trigger buttons, as well as a slightly redesigned body that makes the battery pack more flush with the rest of the controller.

As for what’s inside the Xbox One, there’s an 8-core processor with 8GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive built in. The Xbox One will also come with a Blu-ray drive for the first time, officially ditching the HD-DVD format and officially getting with the times. There’s also both HDMI input and output, as well as USB 3.0. As for the Kinect sensor, it has a 1080p camera sensor and can shoot 60 frames per second. It’s so finely tuned that it can read your heartbeat while watching you exercise, as well as notice how balanced you are. The new Kinect’s field of view is also expanded by 60% to allow it to capture more objects in the frame.

Software

Microsoft also revealed Xbox On (not to be confused with the name of the console itself). Xbox On is a feature that uses the new Kinect sensor and voice and hand recognition to allow users to perform a number of commands without the controller. You can even turn on the console with your voice, as well as switch through apps (including watching live TV and movies), as well as jump into games with the power of your voice. Hand gestures also allow you to navigate the user interface using Minority Report-like gestures. You can also use Windows 8′s snap mode, where you have two apps run split-screen side-by-side, such as chatting with someone on Skype while you continue to play a game.

The home screen is a lot like that of the Xbox 360, with a few minor tweaks. We still get the tile layout that Microsoft is known for at this point across their different platforms, and the home screen shows us games, movies, apps, and TV stations that you’ve watched/played recently, and it also shows content that you frequent.

The Xbox One essentially runs three operating systems in a way. The first one is the raw Xbox OS that developers can use, and the second OS is based on the Windows kernel. The third OS is a piece of software that allows the first two OSes to communicate with each other. The raw Xbox OS will be used for games, while the Windows kernel portion will be used for apps and such.

The Xbox One will also be cloud-powered, meaning that games, movies, music, etc. You’ll even get DVR capabilities in games, so you can record gameplay while you’re playing, and play it back any time you want, with the ability to edit footage as well through the cloud. Not a lot of details on cloud capabilities have been announced, but we should be hearing more on that in the near future.

Games & Apps

Of course, it wouldn’t be the Xbox One without games. Several developers and publishers made an appearance at the Xbox One event to show off the next-generation in gaming. EA Sports showed of FIFA 14, as well as new additions to Madden, NBA Live, and UFC. There’s also going to be a new Forza installment, and a new concept that combines TV and gaming into one, called Quantum Break. Steve Spielberg also made an appearance and announced an interactive live-action Halo television series, which should be fairly interesting. Activision was also there to show off Call of Duty: Ghosts, which was just recently announced.

Microsoft partnered with the NFL to bring a more interactive and immersive football experience to the Xbox One. Users will be able to live-stream games, as well as manage their fantasy football teams through the console, with the ability to chat with friends at the same time through Skype. Details are extremely scarce at this point, but essentially, it seems like you just need to take what you know about interactive sports on gaming consoles and throw it all out the window.

Market Release

So, when should you expect the Xbox One to land in stores? Microsoft says at some point “later this year,” but we’re guessing some time in the fall before the holiday shopping season begins. That’s around the same time that we should expect Sony’s PS4 to release, so it’ll be interesting to see which console hits stores first and when. In the meantime, Microsoft will reveal more about the Xbox One at E3 2013 next month, as well as at Gamescom in August.

This game will be bringing with it a storyline that’s 10 years into the future – a future where the world has had a catastrophic event that’s destroyed much of our modern society. Once again you’ll be taking part in a spy warfare situation, working with many environments – from exploding structures to underwater caves to the sides of skyscrapers.

Above you’ll see the first teaser trailer for this game with graphics as they’ll be appearing on the Xbox One. There you’ll see mostly cinematics, but you’ll get a taste of what it’ll be like to play as well. Here the developers behind the game have built on a next-generation gaming engine that allows for environments that are thick and diverse. New animations are being introduced as well: sliding, lean out, lean in, and interactive smoke included.

Users will be able to customize characters in a new collection of ways for multiplayer action. This game will be able to be played both online and offline, with dynamic maps appearing for users to modify in-game while the game is in-play online. Changing the map with actions like exploding bombs is an ability reserved for only the next generation for games like Hawken.

Below you’ll be seeing the folks at Infinity Ward showing off how they made this “emotional reality” of a game exist for the Xbox One.

The team you’re part of is made of the remnants of the USA military. You’ll be working with a dog – and Infinity Ward’s Executive Producer Mark Rubin notes: “we’ve had dogs in Call of Duty before, but never like this. This is someone you care about – this is a squad member.”

This dog is also going to be part of the game with direct control. As Rubin mentioned speaking with Joystiq as they met with him earlier this year, speaking about this game specifically, they found some rather interesting things when researching real tactical dogs.

“The dog you saw in the picture has all that armor on and stuff, it’s not fake. The dog actually is wearing an earpiece, and he’s got a camera on his back that flips up, so the seal actually has a screen and he can see what the dog sees through that camera. So if the dog is moving through tall grass or in a room or a dark area somewhere, he can see it on his screen.

He can actually give voice commands to the dog through the earpiece – go left, go right. And if they need to be silent – this is crazy – the dog’s got little vibrating things on his neck, so you can vibrate right or vibrate left and the dog knows, if I feel right, I go to the right, if I vibrate left I go to the left. So he can drive the dog, in a sense, from his little device on his arm.” – Mark Rubin, Infinity Ward CEO

This game will be released at a time when – we must assume – the Xbox One is already available. As the game has been pegged for release on 11.5.2013, we can assume that Microsoft’s assertion that the Xbox One will be released “later this year” will mean right around the holidays. Have a peek at our Xbox One tag portal for more information on this next-generation console and stay tuned for more information on the Call of Duty series – and more Ghosts!

According to Spielberg, this television series is an opportunity to bring on a new era in entertainment. For “Halo The Television Series”, an “intersection where technology and myth-making meet” is made, and something “truly groundbreaking” will be unleashed. While the Halo game series certainly hasn’t been anything to scoff at over the past few years of it being one of gaming’s most popular, the inclusion of Spielberg in a television series surrounding it brings this announcement to a different environment entirely.

NOTE: The above photo comes straight from Bonnie Ross herself, taken of of both her and Steven Spielberg for this announcement specifically.

The Halo game franchise will certainly be coming to the Xbox One as well, but for now, it’s only a television series. Saying that it’s “only” a television series may prove to be folly as well – with what we’ve seen from the Xbox One for voice recognition, voice commands, and future Kinect interaction, we may yet see some game-changing content, as Microsoft says.

This release is intended for the Xbox One and may very well be amongst the devices “exclusive downloadable content.” The true extent of this content set is not yet known – we’ll see soon enough! For now, be sure to check out more Xbox One content in our brand new Xbox One tag portal to see how, when, and why you might want to check this console out.

As for the fantasy football experience, neither the NFL or Microsoft detailed the new feature too much, but the fantasy football experience on the Xbox One will include features like keeping track of scoring and giving users on-screen updates based on your fantasy teams. Again, not a lot of details at all, so we might have to wait until E3 to find out more.

However, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made an appearance in a video during the event, and essentially just repeated himself over and over again, saying that “fans will be able to experience football in a way they’ve never experienced before.” We’ll be taking his word for it, so hopefully the NFL has something special for Xbox One users.

Microsoft says that “this partnership will redefine NFL experiences for the fans through exclusive and interactive content that you’ll find only on Xbox,” so you can expect some pretty impressive features according to what both the NFL and Microsoft are describing. There will also be Microsoft technology “on the sidelines,” which we’re not sure what the means exactly, but it’s possible that Xbox One users will be able to get a close-up experience in an NFL game.

Microsoft didn’t give out too many details about Quantum Break, but the concept is pretty intriguing. The game appears to include live action drama – including a pretty creepy little girl – and then jump into gameplay as the storyline demands it.

We’ve seen ambitious cut-scene video in games before, of course, with mixed results. Often enough, the acting can be cheesy and the plotlines nonsensical; gamers generally want to be able to skip past them as soon as possible.

Remedy Games’ challenge is to change that mindset, and it’s apparently hoping to do that by increasing the amount of drama altogether. We’ll have to wait and see whether the Xbox One can actually achieve that; fast-switching between TV and games is certainly one of the headline features being pushed.

Of course, given the Xbox One’s new Kinect can track more movement and details of the gamers than ever before, there’s also the possibility for those watching to actually jump into the plotline, in hardware at least. We’ll know more when Quantum Break launches on the Xbox One.

With the update to Xbox Live, users will be able to record games as they’re being played, play them back, and edit these videos in the cloud. Xbox Live will be updated to help with multiplayer game queuing. This is the start of Microsoft’s real move to the cloud for gaming.

In addition to this, the Xbox One will be working with Skype with the Kinect camera, live TV, and notifications over your live TV shows. Voice recognition and commands are in play, and interactive TV will be coming up soon as well.

The Xbox One will be working with a wireless controller, a separate Kinect device (as it was in previous editions), and a completely new user interface that’s quite similar to Windows 8. Have a peek at the timeline below for additional bits and pieces that’ve popped up earlier today.

All four will launch in the next 12 months, so some of them won’t necessarily be available at launch, but Madden should be one that we’ll se at least close to the console’s launch. EA says that all four gales “will be revolutionary,” and will “fundamentally change the way you play,” thanks to changes in both the graphics and gameplay dynamics.

One of the biggest changes is improvements to the spectators, which athletes have said are one of the biggest aspects during a game, so EA naturally wanted to put a lot of focus on making the spectators and audience a realistic part of the game. A new engine called EA Sports Ignite, will allow EA to add a lot of new features to these games.

EA says that the new engine will allow for 10 times more animation detail four times more calculations per second. EA really only gave us further details about FIFA 14, which will be an Xbox exclusive, and we’ll be hearing more about the game at some point “later this year.”

It’s the combination of two platforms that Microsoft says makes Xbox One most successful. The on-stage demo certainly looked impressive, with the speech- and gesture-controlled console instantly switching between gameplay and multimedia content.

To recognize that there’ll be a new Kinect sensor bar, which Microsoft will be including in the box with every Xbox One. That has a broader field of view, too, with 1080p Full HD resolution, and can track and identify the users’ voice from across the room.

The Xbox OS will be responsible for games, just as you might expect. However, the Windows core will be used for other apps, such as Skype, and Microsoft will be able to more frequently update it while keeping the Xbox OS stable for game developers to rely upon.

Meanwhile, the new Xbox One platform will be tied closely into Xbox LIVE, which Microsoft says will consist of more than 300,000 servers. That will include a Game DVR feature – complete with editing tools – to upload and share videos of your best achievements in the cloud.

We’re not told anything about the processor, but I’m sure we’ll hear about it in the future at some point. Other than the RAM and hard drive space, we’re told the One has HDMI input and output, which will allow you to plug in other HDMI devices into your Xbox One, which we’ve never seen before in a gaming console.

The Xbox One is also running three different operating systems. One is the raw Xbox OS that’s for developers, the second OS is a kernel of Windows, and the third OS isn’t necessarily an OS, but rather a piece of software that allows the two operating systems to communicate with each other.

Microsoft also showed off and talked about the controller, which is based on the Xbox 360 console, but it looks a bit sharper this time around, and the battery compartment is more flush with the controller. There’s also vibration built into the triggers, and a new D-pad has been introduced, which will hopefully subside all the haters.

Skype will be able to pop up with a video call no matter what the user is doing on the big screen. This means that if you’re watching a basketball game, you’ll still be able to get a notification in the upper left-hand corner with the face of the caller trying to contact you. If you do want to call them, it’s all about pushing your hand up to the corner to grab them.

You’ll also be able to use voice commands to make this happen – the Xbox One allows you to make voice commands as it recognizes your voice in the room. This is a universal system, not just limited to Skype commands.

Also working with Skype is multi-tasking – you’ll be able to watch the game while you’re video chatting at the same time. Sound like something you’re into?

This system appears to be limited to the Xbox One for now, but we wouldn’t count it out for the Xbox 360 in the future. It’s like that we’ll have to wait until E3 2013 to see if this integration with Skype will be retro-fitted to this now-legacy system.

The Xbox One can connect to all of your devices in your living room (maybe not ALL, but probably most of them). By doing this, you can control other home entertainment devices and even turn on and off your television using the Xbox One with Xbox On voice commands. You can also cycle through various apps on the new console by saying things like “watch TV,” “call Fred” (in Skype).

However, you can also turn on the console by saying “Xbox on,” meaning that the console can be turned off per se, but it will always be on in a sense in order to hear voice commands to turn on the console. You can also use hand gestures with the Kinect camera to swipe through home screens and apps, which will give you a Minority Report-type feeling.

Essentially, it’s a lot like what you can do with the Xbox 360 Kinect already, except this time around, there’s a lot more you can do with voice commands and hand gestures, and it’s a lot quicker and faster to navigate through apps. The voice recognition seems to be quite crisp and fast, and this also was the first time we got to see the new Xbox One interface, which looks a lot like the Xbox 360 interface.

The system Mattrick spoke of at the event right from the beginning of an All-in-one system that works with Games, TV, and entertainment and is what Microsoft intends to be “Simple, Instant, and Complete.” A reveal trailer was played on the big screen showing the device – and its peripherals – as quick as it was named: this is the Xbox One.

This device has a slot-loading full-sized disk drive – DVDs and Blu-Ray, that is, and has two peripherals right in the box. This device works with a full-sized controller that’s extremely similar to the controller from the 360, with a bit of bulk shaved off it’s back.

This controller has been shown to be completely wireless from the start, and will be working in collaboration with the system’s Kinect system. This sensor sits separate from the Xbox One console as it has in previous editions, and all pieces here appear much more square than in past editions as well.

This system will work with voice recognition and voice control, will be connected to the cloud for gaming, and you’ll be working with a user interface that’s extremely similar to what we’ve seen recently from Windows 8. This system’s release details will be shared a bit later today – stay tuned through our brand new Xbox One tag portal for more!

It’s likely that Microsoft will take a cue from Apple, in this case, continuing to support the previous-generation device for at least several more years. It would be a slap in the face, essentially, to see the Xbox 360 bite the dust in an instant, especially when games continue to be developed and released for it up unto the week we’re in right this minute!

As the next-generation Xbox makes its debut, so too comes an entirely new layout for gamers looking to get in on the device straight from the start. This change-over has been tipped to be similar to that of Microsoft’s push for Windows 8, bringing on Live Tiles and color themes not unlike the desktop-based system. It’s understood that Microsoft will be implementing many Windows 8.1 “Windows Blue” features in the initial release of the Xbox 720 as well.

There’s also been a big update to the global Xbox universe with a release of the title THE MUSIC ROOM for Xbox users only. This is an interactive TV series that is essentially heralding an era where programming is available to certain devices only – in this case, a gamble for Microsoft on the idea that enough people will love the Xbox 720 for its entertainment programming alone – television shows, that is.

For Xbox 360 owners, several changes should be prepared for. The first of these is the depreciation of the Xbox Points system. It doesn’t seem at the moment that these points will be dashed out entirely, but a change-over to a new system will be taking place one way or another if all goes as suggested.

This detail – along with some other pointed rumors of the unavailability of used games and offline gaming – have gone far to push Activision CEO Bobby Kotick’s warning that the Xbox 720 – along with the PlayStation 4 – could face the same gamer hate as the Wii U from Nintendo. It was also revealed this past week that EA has cut and run from the Nintendo Wii U, having no games planned for this device in their current roadmap.

The Xbox 720 has been tipped to be working with a TV tuner, DVR streaming, and augmented reality abilities. It’s been said that this next-generation console will act as a mid-way point between your television and your TV box, allowing you to get notifications when you’re watching your everyday TV programs. Just about the only thing that’s not been rumored for this Xbox is specifics in its processor, graphics abilities, and final game package.

The final unit will be revealed today (May 21st, 2013) in an event at 1PM EST – that’s 11AM PST and NOON if you’re living in the Central time zone in the USA. You’ll be able to find the full collection of Xbox news bits up-to-the-minute through SlashGear’s big Xbox tag portal throughout the day – and into the future as well!

The two-part series will be presented by Laura Jackson, EDGE reports. Meanwhile, former Libertines co-frontman Carl Barat will appear as a special guest, and Everything Everything, Don Broco, and Swim Deep will perform.

Unlike traditional television, however, The Music Room will support interactivity with viewers. Xbox LIVE Gold viewers will be able to “determine the show’s finale in real-time” Microsoft says, with live polls used to guide the outcome.

That’s an oft-referred-to feature of IPTV, but we’re yet to see it comprehensively break through into the mass market. Audiences are already familiar with voting for reality TV shows, though that generally takes place via SMS text message or by calling a premium rate phoneline.

Microsoft’s approach, however, will rely on Xbox LIVE, and opens the door to a far greater emphasis on digital TV content, particularly in the next-generation Xbox. That is expected to feature a number elements designed to emphasize multimedia consumption, though the rumor-mill has proved indecisive on which, exactly, will make the final cut.

For instance, there has been talk of a pass-through HD video input, which would allow the new Xbox to sit in-line with your cable/satellite receiver and your TV. Then, if friends on Xbox LIVE invited you to join a multiplayer game, the message could be flashed up on top of whatever TV show was currently playing.

Another possibility Microsoft supposedly considered was DVR functionality, turning the Xbox 720 into a TV recorder. However, insiders claimed that concerns about prompting dissatisfaction among content owners means that’s unlikely to show up in the final console.

Whatever the final functionality, Microsoft is clearly putting Xbox at the heart of its digital TV content strategy. The company sold off its Mediaroom business back in April, saying it wanted to focus on services as part of the Xbox brand.

The Music Room will start on Wednesday, May 29, at 3:30pm ET (8:30pm BST).

While the big event starts at 1PM Eastern Time tomorrow, it becomes time here and now to see what we’ve got on tap. This is the Xbox 720, very possibly set to be the first Xbox since the first released at the start of this line to be named simply “Xbox.” Along with it comes rumor of an Xbox Surface device, bringing on a whole new generation of Microsoft’s home-made tablets aimed directly at the gaming world.

With or without the Xbox Surface, word of early prototypes has reached SlashGear’s ears from sources anonymous, noting several elements as being cut or at least having been put on the cutting block and kept at the last minute for the console. One of the more important of these is a feature allowing the Xbox 720 to act as a mid-way point between your TV box and your television.

With this constantly-on feature, the Xbox would work with Xbox LIVE to give you updates and send you requests while you’re watching television shows or movies. Without such a feature, the Xbox would be attached as it always has been – connected to an input on your TV separate from the rest of your devices. With an HDMI-in port on the Xbox 720, it would appear that, somehow or another, Microsoft intends to keep you at attention all the time.

The Xbox 720 has been tipped to have “Xbox TV” features both in and out of the mix in past iterations before its final presentation this summer, with Google TV boxes having acted as a guide at points here or there. With cries out for a fully games-dedicated machine from early testers of the device, it may be that Microsoft has pulled back a bit on the entertainment side of things.

It’s been suggested that this version of the Xbox might work with DVR functionality as well as a TV tuner, both of these having been available as accessories for the PlayStation 3 internationally in the past. With such things built-in to the new Xbox, things could be more centralized for Microsoft in the living room than ever before.

The Xbox 720 has been suggested to be revealed in pieces, similar to what Sony is doing with with the PlayStation 4 – and both devices will have a massive showing at E3 2013, where gaming has its heyday each year.

This so-called Xbox 720 is ready to jump off the blocks with abilities inclusive of its predecessors. You’ll still be able to play games on it, of course, but you’ll also be able to use the Xbox 720 as your one-stop shop for home entertainment. The Xbox TV will be part of this equation.

Microsoft will need to keep the power of the Xbox 720 as a gaming console intact in order to continue to compete with Sony, of course. As the PlayStation 4 was revealed only in a very basic way, it’s expected that Microsoft will use the opportunity to come in with a bit more solid force.

Essentially: “hey Sony, that’s a nice wireless controller you’ve got there – we’ve got an actual machine to show the public.”

That said, it won’t be long before Sony shows their PlayStation 4 console hardware off to the public, either. Have a peek here at the first E3 teaser video released earlier today, straight from the source.

So it’s a black box with sharp edges – exciting! Will Microsoft come back at Sony with a white box with rounded edges? We shall see!

The abilities of the Xbox 720 will likely spread their way across your living room and enter your smartphone and tablet as well. As Microsoft already uses a system called Xbox Smartglass to allow owners of iPhones, iPads, Android and Windows Phone devices, and likely more platforms to control the Xbox remotely. With the Xbox 720, Microsoft will likely expand how this system works, allowing users to control their Xbox system in ways not yet available: game control, for instance.

As the Xbox becomes more a part of the living room entertainment system family, so too must it work at all times. It’s been suggested that the Xbox 720 will be placed between your cable or TV box and your television screen itself. As you watch the content you love each day, you’ll also have Xbox notifications on-screen for for your convenience.

Of course if you like to change inputs on your TV like you’ve always done, it’s up to you.

Microsoft will certainly expand the Xbox’s ability to work with the web, likely making a point to show the machine’s ability to game in the cloud right out of the box – if they do anything more with the cloud at all, that is.

Kinect will very likely be getting an upgrade, and its expected that the Xbox 720 will be sold initially as a Kinect-included system only when it first goes on sale. Tips of IllumiRoom being integrated into the system when it launches have been shut down by Microsoft earlier this year – the same is likely true with any other 3D augmented reality integration – at least at the start of this release.

The Xbox 720 – rumored to be called simply “Xbox” from this point forward – will be shown off on Tuesday, May 21st with few, if any, game titles attached to it. The reason for this is the imminent approach of the E3 gaming convention where Microsoft has promised waves of games being announced in a fantastic display.

The actual release of this system has also been rumored – of course – this time being suggested for a November release. If that were true, Microsoft would likely beat Sony to the punch or have a hammer-drop at nearly the same time as the PlayStation 4.

Some of the strategies for extra console “stickiness” Microsoft considered involved making sure the new Xbox was always involved in whatever the gamer’s TV might be showing at the time. One possibility apparently worked on was an HD input on the Xbox, which could be used to input signals from a cable or satellite box and then overlay Microsoft’s content on top.

That – a similar strategy to what Google used with the early Google TV boxes – could then be used to flash up Xbox-related news and notifications on top of regular TV. So, the sources suggest, gamers could challenge their friends to a multiplayer match, with the alert showing up on top of broadcast television.

The system could also be used to further break down the walls between live content, whether from cable or another source, and on-demand content and gaming served up by the next-gen Xbox, it was claimed. Microsoft even whipped up DVR functionality for one prototype version of the console, but “has been wary of including it” because of concerns that it might negatively impact current partnerships with content owners.

Such fears haven’t, apparently, affected Microsoft’s arch gaming rival, however. Sony has offered a TV tuner, the torne, and a DVR accessory, the nasne, for the PlayStation 3 for some years now, though only in Japan.

In fact, Microsoft supposedly went one stage further than a heavily-integrated console, and developed a full Xbox TV. The likelihood of such an all-in-one reaching the market seems low, however, given the commoditization of TVs, and the fact that – over the typical multi-year life cycle of a console – Microsoft would probably have to more frequently update its screen technology.

Meanwhile, there’s also chatter around streaming gaming, another topic Sony has confirmed will be integrated in some way into the PS4. Microsoft’s strategy on cloud gaming – though still a work-in-progress, the tipsters say – is more cautious, apparently, with concerns that the cost of infrastructure might prove unwieldy, while the potential for underwhelming and frustrating gamers with slower internet connections raised fears about the possibility of a negative backlash.

Any eventual implementation of cloud gaming on the Xbox 720 could start off in more humble ways, ensuring backward-compatibility with existing Xbox 360 titles. According to previous rumors, the new AMD-based architecture of the incoming console won’t be natively compatible with that of the 360, and one possible workaround to that is allowing upgrading gamers to stream their old titles running on a remote server.

Exactly which elements of these features – if any – will make it to the production console is unknown at this stage. However, a more accurate Kinect motion-controller seems more than likely, though talk of 3D glasses that could add augmented reality-style gameplay to titles is perhaps somewhat more shaky. Microsoft is known to be working on IllumiRoom, a projection system which expands gameplay and other home entertainment beyond the confines of the TV for more a immersive experience, but the company has said it won’t be ready in time for the Xbox 720 release.

Microsoft is due to announce the new Xbox on Tuesday, May 21, though the first big games announcement will take place at E3 in June. Previous talk has indicated a November release date, with the possibility of both outright purchase and a subsidized model, similar to those of cellphones, where the console would be cheaper but gamers would be tied into a two-year Xbox LIVE GOLD subscription.

That will mean cross-platform support for both the existing console and its replacement. Messaging systems will work on both models, apparently, allowing gamers to communicate whether they have the 360 or the next-gen model, while beacons and achievements will also supposedly be supported across the board.

The change in the Xbox dashboard will also see the Xbox Points system deprecated, as has previously been rumored, with new currency and gift cards used in its stead.

As for when all this will happen, the first signs could be as early as next month. The initial public beta will take place either late in June or in early July, the sources suggest; assuming all works as expected, that should be followed by the final update in August.

Speculation about the new Xbox – which has colloquially been referred to as the “Xbox 720″ – has been rampant over the past twelve months, particularly in the period since Sony announced the first details of its PlayStation 4 earlier this year. Exactly what hardware will be included is uncertain, though there has been chatter of a smaller overall device with mandatory Kinect motion-gaming control and redesigned gamepads.

Nonetheless, there have been notes of caution from industry insiders, warning that the days of blockbuster game-dedicated consoles may be behind us. Earlier this month, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick warned investors that both the Xbox 720 and the PS4 could face the same sort of gamer apathy that Nintendo has encountered with the Wii U, sales of which have proved underwhelming.

As Kotick sees it, mobile and casual gaming – such as might be played on a smartphone or tablet – has made significant inroads into the segment overall, and that will make for a far tougher market for the next-gen consoles to break into. “We continue to face the uncertainties of the console transition” Kotick told investors.

More details will become clear when Microsoft makes its first public announcement about Xbox 720 this coming week, with an event on May 21 expected to see some – though unlikely all – of the console’s features revealed.

The app is available now from the Windows Store, and can be used by both Windows 8 and Windows RT users, meaning it can be used on both a Windows 8 PC and a tablet. For those who don’t require the full expanse of Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Express is a free alternative that offers a variety of photo-editing tools, such as the basics like cropping and red-eye correction, as well as color-adjustment tools and “Looks” photo filters.

Back on January 25, the company rolled out an update to its Express app for iPad, adding support for Retina displays, as well as some other needed features, such as multi-tasking and using the on-board camera. That last feature is now available across the latest version of the software for all devices, including PCs with an attached or integrated webcam.

In case you missed it, earlier this month Adobe rolled out Photoshop CC with integrated collaboration, Behance instant sharing, and more. Such is part of their Creative Cloud online storage, which is a subscription-based service for Adobe users available at a monthly fee. Tools, syncing, and more are offered.

It was also revealed earlier this month that Adobe is working on a Lightroom app for iOS users, an offering that will provide support for editing RAW images. This app will appeal more to the professional market, as well as those who currently use Lightroom. While not exactly the same, the app will be similar to the desktop version of the software, and will allow users to transfer their work to a computer for finalization.

SOURCE: Windows

However, 130,000 units is a far cry from March and February, when Microsoft sold 261,000 and 302,000 consoles, respectively. Total revenue brought in for the Xbox 360, including hardware, games, and accessories, adds up to $208 million, which is also more than any other gaming console for the month of April. However, its more than half of what Xbox 360 sales were a month previous, when March brought in $402 million.

During April, the Xbox 360 also held six out of the top 10 console games, which include NBA 2K13, Dead Island: Riptide, BioShock Infinite, Defiance, Injustice: Gods Among Us, and Call of Duty: Black Ops II. NBA 2K13, BioShock Infinite, and Call of Duty: Black Ops II were also on the list during March.

The steep drop in sales could be a result of the impending announcement of the so-called Xbox 720, which Microsoft will unveil on May 21. However, the console most likely won’t actually release to the public until later this year in the fall, meaning that if sales are slipping already, it’s going to be a long summer for Microsoft and its Xbox 360.

As for the latest gaming console that has hit the public pipeline (the Wii U), sales aren’t doing so well either. The console has missed Nintendo’s expectations, and it seems many developers and publishers are beginning to rethink their strategy to makes games for the new console, including EA, who has said that they don’t have anything in the making for the Wii U, which could potentially hurt the console even more.

SOURCE: Official Microsoft Blog

Users can type an English phrase and receive its Klingon translation in the proper alphabet, and for those times when you need a Klingon translation, you can reverse the process and enter the alien phrases, in turn getting the English translation. The feature is available via the Web version of Bing, and via the Bing Translator app for Windows Phone 8 with the update Microsoft rolled out.

Microsoft went into detail on how the translation process project was performed over on MSDN, offering an explanation in both English and another in Klingon, for those fluent among us. The project was done in partnership with the Klingon Language Institute, and was particularly difficult because of the lack of substantial texts in the language, let alone transcribed texts.

That is where the fan community came in, providing feedback and corrections. The translation engine was trained with an initial bought of transcribed Klingon texts using the Microsoft Translator Hub. Over time, the combination of these two things resulted in more accurate results as the project progressed and was refined, and finally the finished project, which is now available.

You can get a translation in either Latin script or in its native plqaD script, but Microsoft advises that you must manually select the language rather than relying on Auto-Detect. If the translation option isn’t enough for you, there’s also a widget that can be added to websites, allowing visitors to translate the pages into the Star Trek language. And just for the record, this is how you say SlashGear in Klingon:

SOURCE: Bing

According to Heiner’s statements earlier this year, Google purposely passed down commands to YouTube to keep Windows Phone from having the same full-blown app iOS and Android users enjoy. “But just last month we [at Microsoft] learned from YouTube that senior executives at Google told them not to enable a first-class YouTube experience on Windows Phones.”

Fast-forward nearly six months, and Google has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Microsoft, demanding that the YouTube application be pulled and disabled on handsets by next Wednesday, May 22. This is due to two reasons: the lack of advertisements, and the ability to download videos that have been marked as unavailable for those accessing on smartphones and tablets. According to the letter, the lack of ads and download feature are harming the YouTube “content ecosystem” and decreasing ad revenue.

The claims aren’t bothering Microsoft, it would seem, with the Windows Phone YouTube app remaining available. Shortly after news of the cease-and-desist surfaced, Microsoft responded with a candid, if not somewhat biting, statement: “We’d be more than happy to include advertising but need Google to provide us access to the necessary APIs. In light of Larry Page’s comments today calling for more interoperability and less negativity, we look forward to solving this matter together for our mutual customers.”

In light of the accusations Heiner made earlier this year, such a response from Microsoft isn’t surprising. The question now is how Google will respond, which we’ll have to wait for until next week (assuming the app remains). Microsoft may elect to keep the app available and to allow it to remain functional on users’ devices, which is suggested by its response.

SOURCE: ars technica

He spoke on how technology should be used, specifically on how technology should be getting out of the way. Page’s mention of how “we’re just scratching the surface of what’s possible and what’s next” lead into his assurance that having to turn off multiple smartphones before he stepped onstage was absurd: it should be simpler than that.

“Technology should do the hard work, so you can get on and live your life. We’re only at one percent of what’s possible, and we’re moving slow relative to the opportunity we have.” – Larry Page

Reminding the audience that “software should run everywhere, and easily,” Page made it clear that he’s not a fan of the “trouble” they’ve had with Microsoft in the past – this referring to patent issues and licensing matters of all kinds.

“Every story I read about Google is about us vs some other company, or something else, and I really don’t find that interesting. We should be building great things that don’t exist. Being negative is not how we make progress.” – Larry Page

This chat showed more than what was spoken about by Page. It was a show of power, or a show of what might be seen as courage in Page’s willingness to stand in front of the developer and press and take questions. Questions, in this case, not in any way pre-screened or filtered.

Page mentioned not just Microsoft, but Oracle – how it wasn’t pleasant to be in court with them. He made it clear that “the right solution to education is not randomness” with regard to Google Search making informed decisions on what people should see in search results. Page’s session was an attempt to show Google as a friendly, real, human group here in 2013.

According to The Verge, sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans for Xbox have said that the Points virtual currency will be shut down, and real currency will be brought in, as well as a new gift card system that is said to be similar to iTunes. Normal cash transactions using credit and debit cards are said to be supported alongside the gift cards.

The new currency system will supposedly work across Microsoft’s various services, including the Windows Store, Windows Phone Store, and Xbox Live, however it’s not said if it will be a universal system that will seamlessly integrate all of these services together (for instance, buying a gift card in the Windows Store, but using it in Xbox Live).

As for when Microsoft plans to unveil this new system, it’s said that it could be as soon as E3 next month, with an official launch later this year that will either coincide with the Xbox 720 launch or just right before the new console’s release. There was no mention of revealing the new system at the company’s May 21 event later this month, so it looks like Microsoft will be keeping some of its new details until E3.

Microsoft will be spreading out its announcements of its next-generation console throughout the year, with the first unveiling of the Xbox 720 on May 21, followed by more details at E3 2013 in June, and an appearance by the company at Gamescom in August, where it’s expected that Microsoft will unveil more games for the new console.

SOURCE: The Verge

The feature, which is being rolled out over the course of the next few days, integrates your existing Gmail contacts so that they can see and message them from within Outlook.com, matching them with integrated contacts you might have from other services as well, such as Skype. The information is then available via the contact information summary page.

Initiating a chat with Google contacts can be done from both Outlook.com and SkyDrive once they’re connected. The feature – when it rolls your way – will appear under “Add people to chat with,” showing up as a Google contacts option. After selecting it, another window will open with Google’s “Request for Permission” page detailing what permissions Microsoft will be granted, including access to contacts, basic account info, and the ability to view and send chats.

Once you grant permission (by clicking “Allow access”), your Google contacts will be synced with the Microsoft account, appearing under the contact list with native Outlook.com contacts. As mentioned, the chat ability is also available on SkyDrive in addition to Calendar, the inbox, and People. For example, according to Microsoft, when working on a document, two contacts can chat from within SkyDrive, making real-time editing communication easier.

Says Microsoft, the feature is rolling out now, so some lucky users might already have access to the feature. Those who aren’t seeing it yet will by the end of the week, according to the announcement. In the meantime, users are advised that some “quirks” may present themselves over the course of the week as a result of the update. Likewise, users are told to keep an eye on SkyDrive, as that is where it’ll pop up first, followed by your inbox, then finally People.

SOURCE: Office

The company also reiterated that a preview version of Windows 8.1 will be available starting June 26, and will be launched during Microsoft’s BUILD conference that week, which the company first confirmed earlier this month. Preview versions will be available for both Windows 8 and Windows RT.

As for what this update will bring, that’s still a slight mystery. There will obviously be the usual bug fixes and performances enhancements all around, but it’s been rumored that Windows 8.1 will allow for smaller Windows tablets to come into play, allowing Microsoft to compete against Google’s Nexus 7 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire series. Microsoft said that the update will help them “to deliver the next generation of PCs and tablets,” so it’s possible that we could be looking at 7-inch slates this next generation. We recently heard about the possibility of new HTC tablets coming with an updated version of Windows RT. This would mark the return of tablets for HTC if true, but we’ll have to keep our ear to the ground for the time being.

Microsoft said that they will have more details about the Windows 8.1 update “in the coming weeks,” so it’s definitely worth it to sit tight for the time being if you’re looking forward to an update to Windows. It’s said that Microsoft will bring back the Start button, as well as include an option for straight-to-desktop booting, but we’re taking those rumors with a large grain of salt for now.

You can check out the new photo timeline by heading over to SkyDrive, or via the image below if the update hasn’t rolled your way yet. Photographs are sorted in a way that aggregates them based on album and time. For example, one batch of images taken an hour or two before a second batch will show up in its own separate collection, making it easier to find images. Navigation can be accessed via month in yearly groupings. There’s also a filmstrip view (above) for watching them in a slideshow.

That change aside, users will also find that uploading photographs using SkyDrive’s desktop application will be faster after the update arrives. According to Microsoft, this change is to address feedback it has received from users about how long it took to upload images, resulting in changes to both server code and the application itself. Uploads are said to be 2x to 3x faster.

Using thumbnails, users can find the file they’re looking for faster by narrowing in on the ones related to the application to which it pertains. To facilitate this, there’s a new layout for thumbnails, and beyond that the addition of thumbnails for both PowerPoint and Word files, adding to the rate at which items be located.

As we noted earlier this week, Microsoft also recently announced that full-resolution SkyDrive image and videos uploads for Windows Phone users was going global, giving users in previously unavailable markets access to the feature. Says the SkyDrive update notice, this feature has now officially be rolled out across the global for all users.

SOURCE: Windows

Of course the PlayStation 4 and gaming PCs will also have their shot at this title in 2014. This title is being made by the same company that created Halo and has partnered up with Activision, the company that brings you Call of Duty. With such big-name titles on the line, Destiny has a lot to live up to.

The images above and below are only small versions of the actual detail you’ll be able to see, Bungie delivering full-resolution pictures to the public to allow them a taste of full-screen possibilities. Though these images make the game look like a backdrop from a blockbuster film event, the final product will be an online exclusive first-person shooter.

This means that the Xbox 720 and the PlayStation 4 will continue down the road suggested for them in the latter days of their predecessors – this is a very connected future we’re starting soon.

Images of what Bungie calls its Abandoned Earth segment of the game – or environment, however it’ll be presented – have been unveiled as well. In these images its revealed that the planet is not simply a barren wasteland in this distant realm of possibility – it’s a place where nature has taken back what it owned before humans came along. Much like what’s seen in such apocalyptic films as I Am Legend, cities have been overgrown.

Bungie has also revealed information about the plot of this game. One of the several races available for use by you and your compatriots are the Guardians.

“You are a Guardian of the last safe city on Earth, able to wield some of the Traveler’s incredible power. You are taking this mantle just as a new day dawns. Titans, Hunters, and Warlocks have finally returned to our long-lost worlds, only to find out we are not alone. ” – Bungie, on Destiny

There are also Warlocks, Hunters, and Titans, each of which appear like they came directly out of the next Halo title. That or backup robots for Daft Punk. These and the visions of the Moon, also known as a “Forbidden Zone” by the newest reveal of the contents of the game, will provide for some rather interesting waves of unveils when this multi-platform title comes to fruition.

Above see full-sized versions of each of the images in this post for up-close inspection. Also have a peek at SlashGear’s Xbox 720 tag portal as well as our PlayStation 4 tag portal for the race to the finish line. As far as game developers are concerned, these two consoles are bringing the same beast to the party!

SOURCE: Bungie

In the letter, Schneiderman criticized the companies for not doing their part in curbing mobile device theft. He wrote that the companies were too involved with the bottom line to take a step back and “create technology to render stolen devices inoperable and thereby eliminate the expanding black market on which they are sold.”

Schneiderman also brought up a huge accusation in the open letters, questioning whether or not mobile phone companies weren’t helping out with thefts since they benefit from selling replacement devices to users who had their initial device stolen.

Schneiderman is urging all four companies to talk to his office and brief him on their anti-theft efforts, if any. He also wants these companies to help New York and the rest of the country to figure out ways to cut down on device thefts — methods that police officers don’t have control over, such as implementing technology that shuts down a device when it’s detected as stolen and can locate the suspect.

Of course, Apple has a feature called Find My iPhone that allows users to do a number of things when their device gets stolen, and they even use the GPS to track the location of the stolen phone, as well as the suspect who stole it. Of course, it isn’t foolproof, and you can easily wipe the device clean to prevent it being tracked. It’s also a feature that isn’t on by default, which could be a reason that a lot of users don’t have the feature enabled.

In any case, we’re interested to see what Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Samsung have to say in response to Schneiderman’s open letter. As to whether these companies will jump in and do their part to prevent device theft is yet to be seen, but we wouldn’t be surprised if they nonchalantly said, “no thanks.”

VIA: Cult of Mac

SOURCE: New York Attorney General

Asked whether Jobs was maudlin during their final meetings, Gates describes the Apple co-founder as instead upbeat and relatively positive. Jobs “showed me the board he was working on” Gates recalls, a Philippe Starck designed minimalist yacht named Venus which was officially completed late in 2012.

According to Gates, Jobs “talked about how he’s looking forward to being on it, even though we both knew there was a good chance that wouldn’t happen.” The two also discussed how technology was yet to address all of society’s ills, such as education and health.

“We were within a year of the same age, and we were kind of naively optimistic and built big companies. And every fantasy we had about creating products and learning new things– we achieved all of it. And most of it as rivals. But we always retained a certain respect and communication, including even when he was sick” Bill Gates on Steve Jobs

Health is, of course, an area Gates went on to focus his attention on, with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarding grants to medical projects across the world. That has been a second life for Gates, after Microsoft, something Jobs himself praised during an AllThingsD appearance.

For Microsoft and Apple fans, however, it’s likely to be Gates’ comments on his relationship with the former Apple CEO that are the most interesting. “We did tablets, lots of tablets, well before Apple did, but they put the pieces together in a way that succeeded” Gates concedes, referring to Apple’s segment-leading iPad, while Jobs’ design and branding insights also come in for praise.

The full Bill Gates interview was shown on 60 Minutes with Charlie Rose, with the full transcript available here. A segment of 60 Minutes Overtime, where Rose reflects on the interview, is shown below.

SOURCE: CBS News

After you log in with your Microsoft account and connect your Facebook account to Bing, you will discover that you can view comments on Facebook posts in the sidebar inside of the search engine. From there, you can comment and “like” posts without having to visit the Facebook homepage. Whenever you search for something, Bing will automatically bring up any relevant Facebook posts from friends, whether or not they’re recent.

The social sidebar that’s included in Bing has been a feature for a while now, allowing users to connect their Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, or Klout accounts to receive relevant posts from friends on social networks regarding search queries that you make to Bing. Google has a similar sidebar, known as Knowledge Graph, that brings up any third-party relevant info during a search.

This is just another example of the close relationship between Microsoft and Facebook. The social network’s new Graph Search tool, for example, includes results from Bing search on top of Facebook’s own results, so the relationship and integration between the two services goes both ways.

VIA: PC World

SOURCE: Microsoft Bing Blog

This feature will be available within the next few days to everyone using Windows Phone 8, and will be accessible in Photo settings. Heading to a Windows Phone 8 device’s Photo app, heading down to the three dots (aka More), hitting Settings and SkyDrive will bring up the Auto Upload options. With this option tapped, users will no longer only see two options, they’ll see six.

In SkyDrive storage, Windows Phone 8 users will see the ability to upload both videos and photos to the cloud in Good Quality and Best Quality sizes. If a user selects Good Quality for photos, they’ll be using wifi and their wireless data connectivity to do so. Both Good and Best quality uploads for Video require wifi, while Best requires wifi for photos.

This release has been, according to the developers behind the project, deliberately taken slow to make sure it was a quality experience. Because of this, global availability has been awaited for quite a while (for some). The full roll-out is scheduled to begin as soon as today – have a peek and see if you’re hooked up now!

SkyDrive is attached to not just Windows Phone 8 device at this point in history, but Windows 8 devices as well. Here in the spring of 2013, Microsoft’s SkyDrive reliance is heavy, and it can be expected to continue for cloud storage straight from the company for some time to come.

SOURCE: Windows Phone Developers

Senior Producer Dominic Guay spoke at a preview of the game this week in San Francisco, letting it be known that the contents could be seen as a warning as much as a normal, every day third-person thriller. Here the player will be working as Pearce, a hacker living in a futuristic Chicago blanketed with a “Smart City” installation that can access essentially any information wirelessly.

What’s more, this new-age Chicago’s smart system doesn’t just work with and control public service systems, it helps police hunt down and capture bad guys. Using systems like the very real SpotShotter, as pointed out by Venture Beat (they also attending this San Francisco preview of the game), the in-game police can track gunshots by triangulating the sounds with city-wide sound recorders.

“The problem is, if you start spying on people in every aspect of their lives, it becomes addictive. hat if you see a woman being mugged in a back alley or a man being extorted? It becomes hard to do nothing.” – Dominic Guay

The game’s hero Pearce will be aiming at and avoiding not only the police, but corrupt 3rd party users and gangs, each of them also taking advantage of the connectedness of the city and its citizens.

Much in the same way Batman is able to hone in on sound signals throughout a city by tapping in to the cellphone signals of its citizens, here too anyone with access will be able to hear all. Batman’s ability to do this appears in the movie The Dark Knight as well as in the video game Batman: Arkham City. In Watch Dogs, this sound system is part of the larger ctOS (City Operating System).

Helping to advance the realism of the game to a point that’s essentially creepy, Kaspersy Lab has been confirmed to be working with the developers of this game in its last phases. Speaking at the game preview this week with Joystiq, Guay made their involvement clear:

“We’re working with Kaspersky Lab, a big security firm. They have really hardcore experts there on hacking. We send them some of our designs and we ask them feedback on it, and it’s interesting to see what gets back. Sometimes they say, ‘Yeah, that’s possible, but change that word,’ or, ‘That’s not the way it works.’” – Dominic Guay

It’s also become clear that this game will not be restricted to your gaming console – it’ll not just be a game you play on Xbox 360, PC, Xbox 720, PlayStation 4, and the rest. Instead you’ll have gameplay expansion available on smartphone systems and on tablets as well. This game will, like the hero of the game, be played on the move, as well.

Expect Watch Dogs to be solidified with detail galore by the time of its final release later this year. At the moment it would appear that Watch Dogs will be set for a November 22nd release date and will be appearing on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC at the start.

In an interview with CNN, Reller says that Microsoft has attempted to convince Apple to build a Windows 8 app for iTunes, but the Cupertino-based company doesn’t seem to want to budge, even though such an app “is in high demand” for Windows 8 users, according to Reller. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with having just a desktop version of iTunes, but Windows 8 tablet users are out of luck.

Since Surface tablets running Windows RT don’t have a desktop mode, iTunes users won’t be able to access the music player and media store on their tablet, and will have find a computer in order to manage their music, movies, and iOS apps. Surface Pro users have access to desktop mode, however, but the experience isn’t as good as on a full-size computer.

Apple has made much of their software available for Windows, but as the world is shifting more towards tablets, it seems the competitiveness has increased along with the rise in tablets, and Apple may be thinking twice about bringing their software over to Windows tablets, simply because the company wants to keep the exclusivity with iTunes.

Currently, the Windows app store has over 60,000 apps available for download, and there’s been around 250 million downloads total so far. Reller says that it’s a “realistic achievement” to have all the most popular apps in the iTunes App Store available in the Windows app store by the time the holiday season rolls around.

[Source: CNN]

Panay, who led the Surface project, and is a corporate VP at Microsoft, took to Twitter to confirm that he had been testing out the latest Wacom beta drivers. “Cool to see Pen pressure in Photoshop” he commented, along with the promise that the software update would be “releasing soon.”

That was then followed by the quiet release from Wacom of what’s described as an “Enhanced Tablet Driver“, v7.1.1-12. Although the driver makes no specific mention of Surface Pro, the details given around what, exactly, it does for a Wacom digitizer-enabled system does sound just like what Panos was talking about:

“Expand the capabilities of your tablet computer with the enhanced tablet driver for systems that use Wacom Feel IT technology! Installing this driver will provide many advanced pressure-sensitive features that Wacom pen tablet users have come to enjoy. The driver supports advanced features such as pressure-sensitivity in graphics applications such as Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter. It also allows you to adjust the pen tip pressure sensitivity and to program the side switch of the pen for a wide range of alternative settings and functions” Wacom Feel It driver documentation

Microsoft is yet to confirm whether this is, in fact, the relevant update, though given there have been mixed messages around why pressure sensitivity does not work properly in all apps in the first place, that’s arguably not a surprise. Anecdotal reports from Surface Pro users have indicated that it the driver does, indeed, address the issue, ZDNet reports.

One proposed explanation is that Microsoft scuppered third-party support by forcing the Surface Pro to use its own InkAPI drivers for the Wacom digitizer, whereas others have blamed Adobe for not building the necessary support into its software. Adobe has been pushing for the WinTab API drivers instead.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is tipped to be preparing a new line of “Surface 2″ tablets, potentially including a smaller, roughly 7- to 8-inch model, for reveal at its BUILD 2013 developer conference this year. So far, Windows RT and Windows 8 have been reserved for 10-inch tablets or bigger, leaving the smaller scale touch market to the iPad mini and various Android-powered options.

The set-top box is said to have been designed several times by now, and the latest ones that made it into prototype mode reportedly have support for Kinect, enabling voice and motion control of the system. The device would, in addition, work in conjunction with Microsoft’s other devices and offerings, such as the Xbox and mobile Windows devices.

The sources went on to say that work is being done on the development side to make it simple for developers to create content for the device, including having instructed its development teams to create programs with Microsoft-created coding standards. The goal, says the sources, is for developers to have a simple way to write software for use across the company’s many devices.

Such a rumor comes at a time when Microsoft is readying the launch of the next-generation Xbox, the same thing Sony is doing, with the PlayStation 4 slated to go on sale in time for the holidays. As we’ve previously noted, however, the consoles present a bit of uncertainty, with some feeling that they might not live up to expectations. Microsoft declined commenting on the rumor.

[via Wall Street Journal]

The so-called transition Kotick describes is one of an evolving gaming industry, where players aren’t perhaps so wedded to their dedicated, heavy-duty consoles as they were at the launch of the Xbox 360 and PS3. Factor in the remaining questions that surround even Sony’s officially announced PlayStation 4, and Kotick is readying for an uphill struggle.

“There are still many unknown factors,” he explained on the call, “such as pricing, launch dates and quantities, the level of first-party support and, importantly, consumer purchase intent in a world where consoles are no longer just competing with each other, but also with new platforms, such as smartphones and tablets.”

Those mobile platforms have risen in gaming prevalence over the intervening years, with more casual titles at the $0.99 price point in Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play market gaining traction on iPhone and Android. Apple’s iPod touch has also become a compelling gaming system, with improvements in the company’s homegrown processors leading to more impressive, near-console-quality titles.

In short, it’s a very different market from what Microsoft and Sony are used to, and one in which Kotick seemingly suspects they may find the reception to the Wii U to be the rule, not the exception. “All of these factors further heighten our concerns heading into the back half of the year,” he concluded, “particularly during the very competitive fourth quarter.”

Activision has already warned that World of Warcraft online multiplayer subscribers are dropping, though the game publisher says it is confident its other projects will maintain sufficient momentum to keep profits up.

[via ExpertReviews]