Hasta La Gadget!

The Xbox One game console will enable all users of a single console to enjoy the benefits of a single users’ Xbox Live Gold account, Microsoft announced this afternoon. This initiative, called “Home Gold,” includes online multiplayer, various streaming services (Netflix, Hulu, NFL), Game DVR and the One Guide — services that are specifically enabled through Xbox Live Gold membership ($60 a year). That also includes digital games that any user of a single Xbox One purchased as well, a variant of functionality that Microsoft previously promised with Xbox One and subsequently rolled back after consumers reacted negatively.

Microsoft’s Xbox VP Marc Whitten announced as much on the company’s Xbox news site, Xbox Wire, where he wrote:

“It means that your account and your gamertag are truly yours. You don’t have to share your gamertag for multiplayer gaming with others in your home, or see recommendations for your kid’s cartoons next to the recommended first-person shooter for you. It also means that you can introduce new games and enjoy multiplayer with friends while they are at your house. Last but not least, it also means that when you buy one Xbox Live Gold membership, multiple people can enjoy the best benefits of Xbox Live Gold on your Xbox One at no additional charge.”

Apparently the same XBL Gold account can be signed in on both an Xbox One and an Xbox 360; as expected, Xbox 360 Gold accounts carry over to Xbox One, though this is the first we’re hearing about peaceful co-existence between the two consoles. We’ll surely hear more from Whitten and co. in Cologne, Germany during Gamescom 2013 in just a few weeks.

Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Microsoft

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Source: Microsoft

Nobody can accuse Oscar-winning director Ang Lee of being stuck in a box, having gone from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to Hulk to Life of Pi. According to Deadline Hollywood, he’ll next tackle a boxing film that looks at the 1960s and ’70s golden age or prizefighting, with such rivalries as Ali-Frazier and Hearns-Duran. Intriguingly, he intends to give us an intimate peek into that world by filming it in 3D, presumably using Life of Pi‘s Cameron Pace Fusion 3D technology. Other story and technical details have yet to come out, but given the filmmaker’s love of complex themes and the epic clashes of the era, he’s got our attention.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Via: The Guardian

Source: Deadline Hollywood

ClockworkMod dev Koushik Dutta is showing off another Android tweak that proves what can be done with Google’s Chromecast dongle. Following up on his Phone to Chromecast Android app, and a Chrome extension that did the same, now he’s added framework extensions to CyanogenMod that pipe audio and video content from any app — that uses the system’s default media player — straight to the Chromecast. This should apparently work for pretty much anything, as he describes it plays locally stored content or streaming stuff like podcasts. In the demo video (embedded after the break) he shows it working with Twit.tv and BeyondPod. As with the previous examples, this isn’t available for mass consumption just yet, but hit the source link to get a peek and ask any questions you have about how it works.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Software, HD, Mobile

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Source: Koushik Dutta (Google+)

Normally, patent applications have us guesstimating at future implementations, but not so with this particular Microsoft filing. The USPTO doc, which surfaced just today and dates back to February 2012, has a very direct purpose: it uses two cameras to capture an environment, process the images and then spit ’em back out as a “integrated interactive space,” or projection. Sound familiar? We thought so. It’s called Illumiroom and it works with Kinect. Outside of a few gaming-centric demos earlier this year, Microsoft hasn’t really detailed too much about the in-development tech, nor its destiny outside those research labs. But if this patent app is related, it bodes well for fans of full-body gesture control and immersive AR environments. Because as we all know, a life less real is a life worth living. Right?

Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Microsoft

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Source: USPTO

Netflix users in the UK needn’t look to misty mountains old in order to get their Tolkien fix. Starting today, Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is available for your viewing pleasure, marking a victory for the site over its competition. Sky Movies has consistently bested Netflix when it comes to acquiring movies before anyone else, but The Hobbit was one battle it lost. The film’s sequel, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, is set for a December release, so this just might be enough to tide you over until then. Just make sure your viewing party is a dragon free zone. We hear they make for terrible houseguests.

Filed under: Internet, HD

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Via: The Inquirer

Source: Netflix