Hasta La Gadget!

An early taste of Microsoft’s next-gen gaming experience arrived today for Windows Phone and Windows 8.1 users in the form of the Xbox One SmartGlass app, and now Android and iOS faithful can get their fill as well. There’s not much you can do with the second screen app as the hardware it’ll play wingman to won’t arrive until Friday, but you can find quick clips of launch titles via the Game Clips feature, courtesy of those who have advance access to the console. If you have a device running Android 4.0+ or iOS 6.0 and above, you can sample Redmond’s forthcoming gaming experience ahead of time at the bordering source links.

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Tablets, Software, HD, Mobile, Microsoft

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Source: Google Play, iTunes

The good news: we’re apparently a little less obsessed with acronyms than we have been in past years. The bad news? It seems we’re still addicted to taking photographs in bathroom mirrors for posting on social networks. According to the Oxford Dictionary, use of the word “selfie” has increased by leaps and bounds over the past year, up some 12,000-percent. That’s enough to earn it the honor of becoming the academic reference book’s word of the year. And, this being the Oxford Dictionary, there’s naturally a nice etymology involved, tracing the word’s usage to a self-reportedly drunken poster on an Australian messageboard who smashed their lip on a flight of stairs. So…congrats? Also on the shortlist: binge-watch, bitcoin, schmeat (synthetic meat, naturally), showrooming, twerk and olinguito, an adorable raccoon relative from Colombia. Don’t worry, you’re all winners in our book.

Filed under: Software

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Via: The Guardian

Source: Oxford Dictionary

The jugglers and the clowns are out in full force for this one. It’s probably not exactly what Bob Dylan was envisioning when he penned “Like a Rolling Stone” lo so many decades ago, but it’s a pretty terrific tribute to the folk-rock classic directed by YouTube hero Vania Heymann. You can flip through several stations featuring the likes of Marc Maron, Drew Carey, Danny Brown and the Pawn Stars synced masterfully with the track. The video commemorates the recent release of the 47-disc set The Complete Album Collection, Vol. 1.

[Thanks, Jeff]

Filed under: Internet, Software

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Via: Slate

As the ancient proverb goes: a next-gen console ain’t no next-gen console without next-gen mobile apps. We can’t remember who said that exactly, but it’s impossible to forget what’s built into the new Xbox One SmartGlass app. After all, Microsoft’s been hyping everything you’ll be able to do with that second screen for months now. In preparation for the One’s launch later this week, the companion app has (unsurprisingly) landed first in the Windows Phone store. As you’d imagine, it’s basically useless, but you can still download it, sign in and poke around the limited UI should you wish. We expect the new version to show up in the App and Play stores in due course, but perhaps this debut appearance will remind Sony that Windows Phone users like apps, too.

Update: It appears that Microsoft not only released the SmartGlass app for Windows Phone today, but the folks in Redmond unveiled the Windows 8.1 version as well. So now that Microsoft fans can get SmartGlass on any of their devices, the only thing remaining is to get their hands on that lust-worthy console.

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Tablets, Software, HD, Mobile, Microsoft

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Via: the::unwired

Source: Windows Phone store, Windows App Store

It sure is good that Microsoft’s Xbox One controller doesn’t have a “Share” button dedicated to pushing live broadcasts of gameplay to the internet, because that functionality is being delayed beyond the console’s November 22nd launch date. Microsoft confirmed as much this morning in a cursory footnote in a larger piece about the Twitch.tv app, which reads, “We are working to ensure the initial Twitch on Xbox One broadcasting experience meets the expectations of the Twitch community.” It sounds like, as it stands now, broadcasting via Xbox One isn’t up to snuff for release.

“While this feature won’t be available right away, we’ll let you know as soon as it is ready,” the note continues. “Our goal is to deliver it during the first part of 2014.” We’ve yet to use the Xbox One’s broadcasting since first hearing about it during the console’s debut event last May. To be clear, the Twitch.tv app is different from the ability to broadcast gameplay through Twitch.

In addition to the delay news, Microsoft released a video of Twitch.tv’s app in action, which enables viewing of gameplay broadcasts (it’s below the break). Hilariously, this will allow Xbox One players to watch live gameplay from other game platforms, just not the one they’re using. Womp womp.

Filed under: Misc, Gaming, Software, HD, Microsoft

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Source: Xbox Wire