Owners of Microsoft's Xbox 360 console who are not already subscribed to Xbox LIVE Gold will be able to give the service a try for free this weekend. For the period of June 1st to June 3rd, gamers will be able to take advantage of all that an Xbox LIVE Gold account has to offer, without having to stump up the fee usually associated with it.
Microsoft's Xbox 360 has received yet another shot in the arm, with a new player coming online in the instant content streaming portion of the console's developing world. Having already outed a PlayStation 3 app, Amazon has now seen fit to bring Xbox 360 owners under its wing, allowing those with both an Xbox LIVE Gold account as well as an Amazon Prime subscription to stream movies and TV shows instantly.
While students often get a bad reputation of being lazy, deluded procrastinators, quite a few actually knuckle down and work extremely hard. A group of students studying at the Köln International School of Design in Germany have certainly done that with aplomb, creating a rather wonderful Kinect-based prototype which takes the idea of the coffee table tablet and rethinks it for a somewhat softer surface.
The tech world was in a state of shock last year when Microsoft confirmed it had purchased VoIP telecommunications outfit Skype. The move for the software and technology wasn't too surprising in itself, but the $8.5 billion price tag certainly was, especially given the company - which was once under the control of internet auction site eBay - wasn't exactly making much money.
If there are two pieces of technology that have come about in the last five years that have the power to change the way we work and play, the Apple iPad and Microsoft Kinect top the list. Both promised to add a new dimension to both the mundane and the enjoyable things in life, and whether they have managed just that is very much up for debate.
Anyone who is familiar with the comings and goings of the consumer technology industry will be more than au fait with Microsoft's Kinect sensor and its associated attachments. What started out as a motion sensing accessory for Xbox 360 gamers has grown to be so much more, with people adapting the technology to be used in a number of different innovative and exciting situations.
In the gaming world, one of the biggest franchises around is without doubt the Halo series. The fourth installment to the series is greatly-anticipated, and it has been revealed today by Microsoft that Halo 4 will offer a sleuth of multiplayer options, including a weekly “Spartan Ops” episodic series.
As the technology world keenly awaits further updates (and soon, a Release Candidate) of Windows 8, the software maker is seemingly focused on a big push with regards to Xbox and Kinect. As well as the purported Kinect Play Fit package, which would place stronger emphasis on Kinect's fitness and well-being prowess, the Redmond-based outfit is said to be testing a modded version of Internet Explorer 9 on the Xbox 360 console.
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.
