The research and development teams over at Microsoft Labs can pride themselves on being the people who managed to come up with the fantastic Kinect motion-sensing hardware, a handy piece of kit that uses a built-in camera to detect and interpret motion. Since release, the Kinect has been super successful, both with owners of the Xbox gaming console and those technology enthusiasts who have sought to produce open-source software for the hardware.
So, what has been foreshadowed and rumored over the past couple of months was recently officially announced by Microsoft in yet another fairly lengthy post on the Building Windows 8 blog: The company will be ditching the Windows Live brand. The products will continue to exist, of course, but they will no longer be under the umbrella of the Windows Live branding; instead, everything will be unified through what is called a Microsoft Account, formerly known as a Windows Live ID. We'll have SkyDrive, Hotmail, and Messenger as services, which will be accessible on Windows 8 via the SkyDrive, Mail, and Messaging apps, respectively (this begs the question; is the future bleak for the actual Windows Live Messenger client?)
Last week, we told you of Microsoft's plan to release its Xbox 360 console bundled with a Kinect sensor for $99, with a paying subscription model charging $14.99 a month and offering users Xbox LIVE Gold Membership for the duration of the 24 month contract.
Ever since the Kinect was released, people immediately began to see that the technology's potential extended far beyond gaming. A pretty extensive homebrew community surrounding the Kinect developed, eventually gaining support even from Microsoft. That's not surprising, however, given the plethora of cool stuff developed. And, speaking of cool stuff developed to bring the Kinect to new heights, a research team at the Human Media Lab of Canada's Queen's University led by professor Roel Vertegaal developed an insane 360-degree display called the Telepod. Basically, the primary function of the Telepod is to create a 3D hologram that slightly livens up videoconferencing.
If you are a fan of console gaming and happen to prefer to stay on the Xbox side of the spectrum rather than Sony's PlayStation, then be prepared to benefit from a little bit of excitement. According to IGN, Microsoft's next-generation gaming console is currently being assembled behind closed doors in a United States-based factory.
With Samsung having only just announced the juicy details of its Samsung Galaxy S III, it arguably takes pride of place as the poster child of Android (sorry, HTC One X), thus instantly drawing comparisons with the flagship devices of the two other major mobile ecosystems.
According to sources close to The Verge, Microsoft is geared up to release a $99 Xbox + Kinect console package next week, which will charge a monthly subscription fee and include Xbox Live access, as well as additional extras.
Although Windows Phone received a much-welcome boost from Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, it's fair to say, in terms of smartphone news, Microsoft's mobile platform doesn't really get in amongst the exciting end of the scale. In a refreshing turn up for the books, however, one particular Windows Phone enthusiast has modded his Nokia Lumia 800 to enable wireless charging.
The story that Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was planning to take his place in-line and buy a Nokia Lumia 900 was a great one for headline writers. What better than a co-founder of the company behind the iPhone queuing up to buy one of the competition? Well, how about the man himself waxing lyrical about said competition?
It's certainly been a busy last few days for Microsoft. After showcasing the impressive cloud service SkyDrive, as well as announcing the Release Preview of the Windows 8 OS, Microsoft's Security Essentials package has been updated to version 4.0, and is now ready for download.
