Microsoft’s Kinect was introduced as a powerful gaming accessory, opening the door for a new generation of motion-controlled Xbox games. The applications escalated quite quickly however, with tech enthusiasts finding many other uses for the motion sensing accessory. This newest one simulates an actual x-ray machine, making it (almost) possible to see inside your skull.
Jonathan Blow is something of a hot property in gaming circles these days. The man behind the wildly popular and critically acclaimed Braid is also one of the more outspoken developers in the industry, and in a recent interview with gaming publication EDGE, the man that thought up one of Xbox Arcade's sleeper hits was typically frank.
When the Kinect SDK first launched, researchers began looking into ways to make the technology more accurate, allowing it to do much more than tracking bodily movements. Although such advancements have yet to manifest in the popular peripheral, Microsoft has today showcased a feature allowing for the fine-tuning of gesture control, allowing the Redmond company's Research team to simulate multitouch gestures on a PC, but over the air.
Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 has only been around for six months, but a job posting over at the Redmond company's listings page suggests its successor will be hitting devices later this year. With most competitive operating systems churning out annual revisions, it was always presumed Microsoft would indeed offer a significant update to its smartphone firmware, but now, the job posting all-but confirms those suspicions.
The highly-anticipated launch of the PlayStation 4 is almost upon us, but it serves as just a mere chapter in what promises to be an explosive battle between the major next-gen consoles this year. Also purported for announcement at some point in 2013 is the successor to the Xbox 360, and although much of the rumor and speculation thus far has encircled the console itself, the changes made to the current Kinect peripheral will also be important in determining the overall success of the console, dubbed the 'Xbox 720'. VGleaks, a site which always seems to have the scoop on forthcoming console info, has delivered once more with a detailed list of what it purports to be the specs of the so-called Kinect 2.0.
Microsoft has been preparing its Windows Blue updates for quite a while now, and screenshots of some of the latest developments have begun to emerge via several sites dedicated to the Redmond company's flagship operating system. The screenies reveal two different builds of what is referred to internally as Windows Blue, and although build numbers are unconfirmed, TheVerge has learned that Microsoft recently pushed its NT kernel up to 6.3.
Blake Jorgensen, CFO of Electronic Arts, has given his take on the next-generation consoles of Microsoft and Sony, noting that he believes neither the Xbox 720 or PlayStation 4 will offer backwards-compatibility. Although this has long since been presumed to be the case among gaming circles, this is the first time a genuine insider has stepped out with all-but confirmation that neither of the hotly-anticipated next-gen consoles will offer any kind of support for pre-existing titles.
We are only days away from the organized event that will introduce to the world Sony's next-generation gaming console, but while Sony may be keen to reveal what they have been working on with Orbis; Microsoft on the other hand are remaining tight lipped. The lack of public information from the Redmond company shouldn't come as any great surprise, but we do have a plethora of leaked information to wade through in the meantime, starting with a source who is already familiar to the community.
According to a report over at TheVerge, Microsoft may be planning to implement some kind of voice-recognition technology into its upcoming home entertainment system, dubbed unofficially the 'Xbox 720'. The current direction of the Xbox 360 implies the next-gen console will serve as more than a mere gaming portal, and with the 720 also said to be expanding on the current array of set-top box-like features, it looks as though the power of the voice will also be significantly entrenched into the next-generation offering.
Prepare yourself Microsoft software lovers, as it seems that potential changes are afoot over at the Redmond headquarters. It seems that well-placed sources are suggesting that Microsoft is taking a very serious look at introducing a fully functioning and official version of the Office productivity suite in 2014 for the Linux platform. We aren't suggesting that a release of Office for Linux would instantly make desktop Linux a more appealing proposition to every computer user in the world, but it would certainly act as encouragement for those who have been dicing with the idea of introducing Linux into their lives.
