Microsoft re-brands its entertainment apps
As part of the build up to the launch of its latest OS, Microsoft is re-branding its entertainment apps to a more neutral naming scheme.
Gone is the old and confusing Xbox gaming branding for music and videos. I for one approve, I never quite understood why Microsoft was trying to encapsulate its entire media suite under a gaming title.
As part of the change, Xbox Music will be renamed to Groove, because “Groove describes what people feel and do with music,” says Microsoft. Despite the name change, the $9.99 a monthly or $99 yearly subscription for music streaming will remain as it was with Xbox Music, but track purchases will be moving over to Microsoft’s Windows Store. Those with an Xbox Music Pass will automatically be moved over to a Groove Music Pass.
Although the service doesn’t offer free streaming like many of its competitors, Microsoft is planning to update the application with the ability to upload your music collection to OneDrive. Your library will then be available to stream to other Windows devices, Xbox gaming consoles, and even our Android smartphones and tablets in the future.
Xbox Video is also being renamed to a much simpler Movies & TV title. Again functionality remains much the same as before, but Microsoft is adding support for new files formats, such as MKV. Some nifty features include contextual menus for your collections and you can also begin watching content on one devices and then just pick up where you left on another.
Just as with music, film purchases and rentals will be moving over to the Windows Store, so everything will be housed in one convenient location rather than dotted across various applications. Sadly, Movies & TV content doesn’t appear to be heading to Android devices any time soon.
Microsoft is adding the final touches to its store and media applications ahead of the launch of Windows 10 on July 29th, but it remains to be seen if this will help the company compete with some of the established media services already on the market.
Meet the Micro:bit, the BBC’s tiny programmable computer for kids
The Raspberry Pi has been a huge success story for Britain, giving millions of people an affordable way to tinker and learn with pocket-sized hardware. Now, the BBC is hoping to make a similar impact with the “Micro:bit.” Like the Raspberry Pi, this tiny computer has been created to help youngsters learn the fundamentals of programming and computer construction. Today in London, the broadcaster unveiled the Micro:bit’s final design — a rectangular, credit card-style board measuring 4cm by 5cm — and some of the all-important hardware features. These include 25 red LEDs, which can show messages and facilitate games, two programmable buttons, an on-board accelerometer and magnetometer. The device also offers Bluetooth LE connectivity, a microUSB slot and five input and output (I/O) rings that can be hooked up with crocodile clips and 4mm banana plugs. It’s been a while since the original BBC Micro was considered cutting edge, but even so — this new device is 67 times lighter and 18 times faster than its spiritual predecessor.
The BBC has a slew of partners for the Micro:bit, including ARM, Microsoft, Samsung and Barclays. The broadcaster will be giving away up to 1 million devices to every year 7 student in the UK later this year, with the idea being that they’ll form the core of their learning and projects. Being so small, students will be able to carry them between classes, compare modifications in the playground and collaborate on assignments. The BBC will also be launching a website later this summer where students can learn how to program the Micro:bit and simulate creations before transferring them to their device.
If, like us, you’re not in school anymore, there should still be a way to jump on the Micro:bit craze. The BBC says it’ll open-source the specs and launch a not-for-profit company later this year tasked with overseeing the initiative. Eventually, that’ll involve creating new Micro:bit computers and making them commercially available in the UK.
Filed under: Misc
Source: BBC
Microsoft has $500K in prize money for HoloLens science projects
Microsoft wowed me a few weeks ago with its internal HoloLens programs, but like we’ve seen with Kinect, the coolest uses aren’t always the ones Redmond devised. To help make more applications a reality, the tech giant has opened up what it’s calling the Academic Research Request for Proposals. Five awards — each including $100,000 and two HoloLens development kits — will go to accredited universities and be announced this October 6th. The official reasoning here is that Microsoft wants to “better understand the role and possible applications for holographic computing in society.” So, to see what people outside of the Redmond campus think augmented reality is capable of. Got it. Other objectives include spurring research for mixed reality and generally getting more people to make holograms. A few examples the company lays out are data visualizations (similar to Epic Games) and creating 3D models for medical training.
Microsoft stresses that these proposals need to be absolutely complete and that those submitting them be fully capable of carrying out the research or experiments. From the sounds of it, projects that answer high-value research questions and could be easily published in places like academic journals will curry favor among judges. All that to say, Microsoft isn’t giving any of these awards out lightly. Think your US-based institution has what it takes? Deadline for sign-ups is September 5th.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, Wearables, Science, Software, Alt, Microsoft
Source: Microsoft Research
Microsoft’s new Tossup app aims to make event planning easier than ever
Microsoft’s Garage team has already created a number of experimental applications for Android, and today we’re getting a good look at what’s next to come from the company. The newest app developed by the Garage is called Tossup, and it’s been designed to make event planning and opinion-gathering much easier.
If you’re appointed the not-so-fun task of figuring out where your friends want to go for drinks after work or for dinner on a particular night, Tossup may help you out with that. You can create polls to get quick “yes” or “no” responses from your friends, and also get opinions on any other topic you can think of. It also has a handy built-in messaging platform so you can share links and get opinions in real-time.
It can oftentimes be quite difficult to get all of your friends or co-workers to weigh in on a particular event, especially when group text messaging doesn’t work extremely well across all platforms and not everyone is too fond of planning events through Facebook. The app is free from the Google Play Store, and actually seems pretty easy to use so far. If you’re interested, head to the Play Store link below for more details.
Windows 10 preview turns Xbox Music into ‘Groove’
Welcome to the new music experience in Windows 10. As hinted at earlier this morning by Paul Thurrott, the company just announced it’s rebranding the Xbox Music experience to “Groove“, while also renaming the Xbox Video app to just “Movies & TV.” According to a blog post about the changes, the new naming is meant to be “more identifiable to our broad customer base” and will roll out to other devices in the coming months. The timing of the change is odd as Windows and Xbox begin to work more closely together than ever before, but it doesn’t appear that the actual features will be much different. Of course, with the launch of Apple Music, rebranding could be just the way to get some attention for an existing service that already offers a lot of the same features.
The subscription Xbox Music Pass is turning into Groove Music Pass with $10/month or $100/year streaming of songs from the Windows store, along with custom radio stations. Meanwhile, if you want to store your own tracks in the cloud, that OneDrive link to the Music service that just launched on Xbox, Windows and Windows Phone is coming to Android and iOS “soon.”
The new Movies & TV app in Windows 10 is also mostly the same, however now it’s added MKV container support while it lists your personal video files along with any stuff you buy from the Windows store. Windows Insiders on the Fast ring should see these changes with the next update, while everyone else will have to wait until Windows 10 launches July 29th.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Mobile, Microsoft
Source: Blogging Windows, Groove Music
Microsoft’s latest app experiment helps you get friends together
Microsoft’s Garage team has tried to solve many everyday problems with its experimental mobile software, but it’s now tackling one of the most common: how do you get your friends together for a night on the town? The group’s new Tossup app for Android and iPhone gives you a simpler, shared experience for deciding on where you’re going, when, and who’s coming. You only have to ask your friends for a vote, and Tossup will automatically plug your decisions into your calendar. Is this a one-trick pony? You bet — but that might be all you need if you don’t want to set up a Facebook event (or juggle multiple conversations) just to head out for Korean barbecue.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, Microsoft
Source: App Store, Google Play
Bing Maps adds trip-planning tools and easy access to reviews
If you prefer Bing Maps as your go-to navigation tool, the software’s preview version received a big redesign. Focused primarily on helping you plan trips, a load of new features aim to make it easier to search, view and share multiple destinations easily. Bing Maps Preview will pull in reviews and photos from Yelp in its search results, so you’ll have quick access to suggestions when traveling in an unfamiliar locale. When it comes to planning an evening out, for example, there’s a new card-based format to keep each stop a few taps away. For those entries, hours, useful details and similar options nearby are all included. Bing also employs predictive routing to help you determine the best time to head, showing you what traffic would be like for a specific time of day.
There’s also an Along the Route feature that displays restaurants, hotels and more on the path you’re looking to travel, serving up suggestions when you need to pull over and refuel. What’s more, you can get a closer look with updated Streetside views, save destinations to My Places for later viewing and easily share travel plans with others. The load of new tools is available through the Bing Maps Preview on the desktop now, and updates are said to be on the way to Bing Maps mobile apps.
Filed under: Software, Mobile, Microsoft
Source: Bing Blogs
‘Minecraft’ beta for Windows 10 will pit you against mobile friends
Microsoft and Mojang don’t just have a story-based Minecraft game to show at Minecon 2015 — they’re also revealing a beta version of Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition. This release will ditch the less than ideal Java code of desktop versions in favor of native Windows code, and shares some roots with the Pocket Edition you typically find on phones. You’ll even get to build worlds with those mobile players through an update that should hit “soon” after the beta arrives. And to no one’s surprise, the construction title will do a lot to take advantage of Windows 10’s many Xbox tie-ins, such as 8-way multiplayer (both locally and on Xbox Live) and game video recording. The beta will be ready on July 29th, and it’ll be free if you already have the existing PC version. If you’re new to all this, it’ll cost $10 to get in during the test phase.
Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft
Source: Xbox Wire
Microsoft and Kyocera quietly squash patent beef
Microsoft can cross out another patent dispute in its list, now that it has settled its issue with Kyocera. Redmond filed a lawsuit against the Japanese electronics maker back in March, claiming that the latter’s Android phones infringe upon seven patents it owns, including their messaging and location tracking features. Several Android device manufacturers, such as HTC, ZTE and LG, have been paying Microsoft royalties to use its patents for quite some time. It’s unclear if money will change hands when it comes to this particular deal, though, since its announcement only talked about signing “an agreement expanding” an older one. The two have apparently signed a cross-patent license after making peace, allowing them to use each other’s technologies in their own devices.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Microsoft
Via: PhoneScoop
Source: Microsoft
N64 controller modded to (sort of) work with the Xbox One
Microsoft has an exorbitant $150 controller coming this year that it hopes will make up for the Xbox One’s middling gamepad, but that won’t make the upcoming Rare Replay feel any more authentic when you play. The folks at Hyperkin — makers of the Retron 5 console — know this and set forth a challenge: mod a Nintendo 64 controller to work with Microsoft’s latest game console. And they succeeded. Mostly. As you’ll see in the video below, the three-pronged paddle can navigate the console’s dashboard and select apps, but, since there’s only one analog stick, that rules out it playing nicely with a vast majority of modern games. The wiring is a bit wonky and certain inputs trigger at random, but, from the sounds of it, the project is far from over.
The plan is to make “an awesome controller” work in time for Rare Replay‘s release. Does that mean Hyperkin will actually sell an N64-styled controller for the game? It sounds like a possibility. We’ve reached out to the company for more info and will update this post should we hear back.
[Image credit: Reintji/Flickr]
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD
Via: Kotaku
Source: Chris Gallizzi (YouTube)
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