For this week’s Photoshop Contest, I asked you to help Microsoft take aim at some demographics other than hipsters. And while technically these entries fit that criteria, I’m not sure how many phones they’d sell. Yikes. More »
As a card-carrying member of the Upload Generation, your Kin is about a lot of things: chilling with your peeps and BFFs, taking pictures and video of all of life’s most awesome moments, keeping tabs on your MySpace pals, and documenting the fascinating story of your nipples without a pesky American Apparel V-neck getting in the way. Or wait… maybe not? Microsoft has just pulled a Kin ad briefly featuring a young gentleman snapping shots of his PG-rated parts underneath his t-shirt in response to Consumer Reports‘ concerns that the move encourages “sexting” — a growing problem amongst the world’s technologically-savvy (and hormone-riddled) youth — saying that it “takes the issue of sexting very seriously and it was never our intent to promote it in any way.” It looks like Microsoft has kept the commercial around on the Kin site and just removed the offending portion — it was only about a second long — so hanging out in underground speakeasies with fake hipsters is still okay, apparently. Follow the break for the original, unedited video.
Microsoft changes naughty ‘sexting’ Kin ad, camera to be used for clothed chests only originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Apr 2010 13:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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When deciding how to bring technologies to market, companies face the decision of whether to offer them in its own products, pursuing a strategy of vertical integration, or license constituent elements for inclusion in others’ products. In the wireless operating system space, Apple, RIM and Palm (since Web OS) have chosen the former strategy while Symbian, Google (via Android and Chrome OS) and Microsoft have generally pursued the latter. It is difficult, if not unwise, for a licensing company to compete with its partners. Attempting to avoid this dynamic led to the disastrous split of Palm, Inc. into the PalmSource software company and PalmOne hardware company back in 2003. With the imminent release of its teen-targeted, social networking handset, though, Microsoft is seeking to have its Kin and eat it, too.
Continue reading Switched On: Kin dread spirit
Switched On: Kin dread spirit originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Apr 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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A team of three developers has created a toolkit that can bypass Microsoft’s limitations on developing programs for the Zune. The kit allows independent programmers to create applications for the digital music player.
“This is the first Zune hack that works,” Glenn Anderson, one of the creators of the toolkit told Wired.com. “People can now bypass all of Microsoft’s limitations and develop for the platform.”
The toolkit called OpenZDK will allow developers to make new games, port old ones, create emulators and even have a rogue app store on the device. It will work on the original Zune and Zune HD.
OpenZDK could let people make applications on par with Microsoft-published games such as PGR: Ferrari Edition and Audiosurf Tilt. It could also spark a healthy homebrew community that would offer programs that are much better than what is available on the Zune now.
Microsoft launched the Zune music player in 2006 and a HD version of the device last year. Zune, though, has barely made a dent in the market that Apple iPod consistently dominates. Zune reportedly has a market share of about 2 percent.
Earlier efforts to make Zune apps relied on a Microsoft kit called XNA development tools. In 2008, Microsoft released XNA Game Studio 3.0, which supports Zune development. But some developers say that XNA’s sluggish performance and lack of 3-D or internet access make it difficult to produce quality apps.
The OpenZDK toolkit could allow programmers to get around the limitations Microsoft has placed. The OpenZDK crew met on ZuneBoards, a popular online Zune development community, where they go by usernames Netrix (aka Anderson), Nurta and itsnotabigtruck. It took them a few months to work around Microsoft’s protections, Anderson said, and they have been testing it for the last two weeks.
But since OpenZDK has just launched, there are no apps or games based on it available yet. Getting started is easy enough, though, by following the steps on the OpenZDK wiki.
Microsoft’s newly announced Kin phones will also be running some of Zune’s software, but the OpenZDK team says it won’t be possible to simply port the hack onto the phones, because Microsoft has “locked the phone down.”
Which isn’t to say Kin is unhackable. “That remains to be seen,” Anderson said, hinting it could be possible in the future.
Photo: Zune
[Thanks, jhoeforth & Dilpickle1]
Zune HD hacked, OpenZDK now available to developers originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Microsoft’s extra capacious Zune HD just went on sale last week, and already orders are hitting the doorsteps of eager music lovers. A tipster with a commendable level of kindness dropped us a gallery’s worth of unboxing photos, and as you’d expect, nary a thing has changed on the outside. On the inside, however, things are downright zany. Zany, we say! Have a look below if you’re curious, and be sure to let us know in comments if / when your own Zune HD 64 arrives.
[Thanks, Jp3009]
Gallery: Microsoft Zune HD 64 unboxing
Microsoft’s Zune HD 64 starts sliding out, unboxing proves the bump in capacity originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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This article was written on January 16, 2008 by CyberNet.
A forum member over at WinBeta snatched up what appears the box art for a Microsoft Plus! Pack designed for Vista. It was taken from an online Canadian store, called Future Shop, who has since removed the listing from their site. It was priced at $39.99 Canadian dollars, and the release date posted was February 15, 2008. The box says that it includes “four casual games enhanced for Windows Vista” developed by Mumbo Jumbo.
The Microsoft Plus! packs have been released for almost every consumer version of Windows since Windows 95. Often times they include things like games, themes, screensavers, and some small applications. I think that everyone expected Microsoft to retire the Plus! packs with the release of Vista Ultimate Extras, but I guess that’s not the case.
So maybe this is what the Ultimate Extras team has been up to instead of delivering those extra apps all of the Vista Ultimate users eagerly await? Maybe Microsoft will offer these for free to Vista Ultimate users? Who knows anymore.
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The reality of PlayReady’s ability to extend DRM’d media across devices still seems to be more theory than reality (just ask Nokia) but if/when protected content wants to stay that way, Samsung hardware will be ready. The first of the company’s products with Microsoft’s DRM scheme baked in are expected to ship this year, with an expected migration from the old Windows Media DRM wrapping up across all product lines by 2012. We’re still dreaming about sliding content access from Zune to Galaxy S to Media Center PC to our remote and back, and will remain secure in our cryosleep chambers until it comes true…
Samsung, Microsoft work PlayReady DRM support into upcoming devices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
It’s hard to grasp the breathtaking scale of the epic war between Microsoft, Google and Apple. Billions upon billions of dollars. Entire industries at stake. This is the board. These are the pieces. More »
Ilan Spillinger, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 VP, was on hand in Tel Aviv yesterday for a showcase of Project Natal. Although there wasn’t much in the way of groundbreaking stuff, the resulting video does show off the motion control system’s gender recognition (done through Natal’s facial recognition … you filthy child) and ability to track two players within the frame at the same time. A tipster from the audience tells us that earlier lag issues have been eradicated, although some jitter was indeed apparent when the second person stepped into Natal’s field of vision. Either way, it’s looking like Microsoft’s Xbox 360 peripheral is progressing well toward its release near the end of this year. Go past the break to see for yourself.
[Thanks, Roy]
Continue reading Microsoft gives us a look through Project Natal’s eyes (video)
Microsoft gives us a look through Project Natal’s eyes (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 08:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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