IllumiShare

Worldwide Telescope

Rewards on Xbox LIVE

Developer Challenge

Microsoft logo gets a make-over  [03:52]

Kinect becomes more available [14:58]

Xbox and the election  [10:47]

New Windows Phones [17:20]

Ballmer defends the last decade    [01:48]

New Direction for the Halo Movie     [04:45]

Kinect Playfit   [07:33]

Xbox LIVE to blame???   [10:13]

About Brian

Brian Tyler has spent nearly two decades creating tools and SDKs—everything from Visual Studio to support for custom scientific hardware—for developers both inside and outside of Microsoft. Brian currently is the development lead on the new SDK for Windows 8 Metro-style games.

About Jerry

Jerry Nixon grew up in Missouri and graduated from William Jewell College, razor-sharp and ready to exercise his new Philosophy degree in the software industry. Early in his career, Jerry was a Microsoft developer and architect. He led agile teams to successful custom application deployments, mentored junior developers, and designed long-lasting solutions. Prior to Microsoft, Jerry owned and operated a successful, onshore and near-shore Microsoft Partner-Integrator building web and mobile-based prototypes for ISVs around the world. Verticals extended through academic, finance, non-profits, and the military.

Brian Tyler and Jerry Nixon recommend you check out

• Tools for game development on Windows
• Developing games
• Windows 8 consumer preview download
• Jerry Nixon's blog
• Follow Jerry on Twitter

About Peter

Peter Isensee worked as a game programmer during the 90's and joined the Xbox team at Microsoft in 2001. He's led the Advanced Technology Group and Xbox software development kit (XDK) teams, and is currently overseeing developer programs for Xbox, Windows and Windows Phone. Pete has been giving talks at GDC and other technical conferences since 1999. He enjoys discussing esoteric C++ issues while wine tasting, with predictable results.

About Jerry

Jerry Nixon grew up in Missouri and graduated from William Jewell College, razor-sharp and ready to exercise his new Philosophy degree in the software industry. Early in his career, Jerry was a Microsoft developer and architect. He led agile teams to successful custom application deployments, mentored junior developers, and designed long-lasting solutions. Prior to Microsoft, Jerry owned and operated a successful, onshore and near-shore Microsoft Partner-Integrator building web and mobile-based prototypes for ISVs around the world. Verticals extended through academic, finance, non-profits, and the military.

Peter Isensee and Jerry Nixon recommend you check out

• Win8 developer download
• WinPhone tools
• Developing for Windows 8
• Developing for Xbox LIVE
• Developing for Windows Phone and Xbox 360
• Jerry Nixon's blog
• Follow Jerry on Twitter

For developers, you can download Windows Phone development tools and Windows Azure SDK, and get a free Windows Azure trial account.

Tags: Soundtracker, Geo Social Music, Nokia Lumia 800, HTML5, Internet Explorer 9, Windows Phone, Windows Azure, Windows 8, XBOX Live

Xbox LIVE for all?

Nix on MIX?

Peace out Points

Paul knows how to PARTY (SQL server style)

The game uses the Windpws Phone 7 geo-tagging functionality to pin-point where you are, and you can build bases to defend against the “freaks” in real locations. I sat down with Justin Robey and John Noonan to talk about the new Windows Phone 7 and Xbox LIVE integration- good stuff!

The initial lineup (over 60 games) will include well-known titles from Gameloft, Konami, Namco, PopCap and THQ. And there are more to come prior to the phone’s launch this holiday season, says Microsoft. After the phone launches, additional Xbox LIVE titles will be added every week.

In addition to mobile gaming, WP7 will let gamers customize their avatars, check on their friends’ online status, compare achievements, message Xbox LIVE friends via the phone and invite friends to play multiplayer games on either the phone or PC. Game-related news, tips and tricks will also be available via the Games hub.

For the compete game lineup, check out the news release here. Some notable standouts include Guitar Hero 5, Bejeweled, Crackdown 2, Fast & Furious, Halo Waypoint, UNO and two Star Wars titles.

But I have a little secret for you: you don’t have to wait until 2011 to watch Hulu on your Xbox. There are several ways Media Center users can gain access to Hulu right now. It’s been awhile since I last tested these (posted here), but the one I liked the best was PlayOn, which still supports Hulu, Netflix, CBS, YouTube and more. It’s kind of pricey though – $39.99 for the first year and then $19.99 afterwards. But as a “cancel your cable” alternative, it’s an investment worth making since its yearly price is comparable to what many pay monthly for their cable TV.

The full list of announced features is as follows:

• The updated dashboard which sports a new look-and-feel will also have a brand-new portal called the “Kinect Hub.” Here, you have easy access to all the controller-free games and entertainment on your Xbox. With Kinect, you can say “Xbox” and the console will show you the commands you can use to navigate with your voice. You can even use Kinect for party and in-game chat for all your Xbox LIVE games.
• The 3rd annual “Summer of Arcade” program, kicking off in July,  is adding new games including  “Castlevania Harmony of Despair,” “Hydro Thunder Hurricane,” “Lara Croft and the Guardian of the Light,” Limbo,” and “Monday Night Combat.”
• Netflix will be updated in November with a search feature that lets you type in what you’re looking for and add it to your queue. You can manage your queue too, from the updated interface.
• ESPN comes to Xbox LIVE with ESPN live and on-demand sports coverage including 3500 events from college football, college basketball, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the NBA and more. You can also participate in group trivia sessions, polls, and predications where you can pit yourself against other sports fans.
• Zune music will come to Xbox LIVE with 7 million tracks and 16,000 music videos. Zune will be Kinect-enabled, allowing you to navigate through menus and control playback with your hands or voice, Minority Report-style. Zune Pass subscribers can stream music on demand.
• Next year, video chat from Windows Live Messenger will be integrated into the console and can be activated using voice commands via Kinect or gestures. Users can watch movies and TV together, listen to music or just have conversations – no dorky headset required. Kinect will also track you during the video call, so if you move around the room, Kinect’s camera follows you.

Image credit: Engadget.com

Remember – you have to be signed into the U.S. version of Bing for this to work. You can change your locale by clicking the link in the top right corner of Bing.com.

While this isn’t a huge promotion by any means, it’s nice to see two different teams at Microsoft working together to provide a little something extra for Xbox fans.

This data will be of great benefit to Xbox advertisers who want to know if their ads are reaching the right people at the right time. And it’s only the beginning, notes the Microsoft Advertising blog. The game show only runs for 14 weeks, but Microsoft will continue collaborating with Nielsen to measure other Xbox LIVE media in the future including TV, video, and social media.

At the time of writing, the current bid stands at $7400 but Beatles fans still have plenty of time to place a bid themselves – the auction will continue for a week.

In addition to the console, Microsoft has also released the Beatles’ “All You Need is Love” as a downloadable song through Xbox LIVE for 160 Microsoft Points. Proceeds from the song also go to the same charity and your purchase will register you to win one of the limited edition Beatles Xbox 360 consoles (yes, there are more than one!) and a Rickenbacker 325 replica guitar controller.

One thing to note is that Xbox’s integration with social services like Twitter, Facebook, and Last.FM won’t arrive until later this year. Also, the new Zune Video Marketplace will ship later this fall when the new Zunes go on sale.

No word yet on when this will be available for other countries, but based on the comments, it does seem like there’s quite the demand!

Now, thanks to the Xbox 360 System Update Preview program, you can sign up to be a part of the group that will get to test out the newest features before they go live for everyone. To do so, just fill out the "Xbox LIVE Update Preview Sign Up" survey found here on Microsoft Connect. You’ll have to answer a handful questions about where you live, your home network, your ISP connection, and few others so the Xbox Team can help pick out a good cross-section of users to be invited to the test.

According to Major Nelson, they’re looking for multiple thousands of participants, so your chances of making it in the test program are good. If you’re accepted, you’ll be notified via email within a week.

For more details about the updates included, see below:

Netflix Updates

• Queue Management: You’ll soon be able to add movies to your queue from the Xbox interface
• Movie Parties: Gold members will be able to organize Netflix viewing parties where avatars gather together in a virtual theater to watch a movie together. Here, the avatars can interact with each other – that is chat, or even throw popcorn at each other.
• Enhanced Playback: Playback has been optimized to be smooth even if your bandwidth fluctuates.
• Friends Info: More info is displayed in the Friends Channel and in the Guide to show you what your friends are doing.

Avatar Marketplace

• More clothing and props from the top brands and game franchises (like “Halo”) for your avatar. (Note that only limited content is currently available in the preview.)
• Props – You can now equip your avatar with animated items they can carry around and interact with.
• Awardables – The ability to earn Avatar clothing and props as rewards within games has been added.

Games on Demand

• 24 x 7 access to an online library of popular full game titles on Xbox LIVE whenever you want them
• Purchase Options – Full Xbox 360 games can be downloaded using Microsoft Points, direct debit, or credit card.
• Game Manuals – Game manuals for Games on Demand titles can be viewed, downloaded or printed on Xbox.com.
• Games on Demand titles are linked to your Xbox LIVE account, so you can delete and re-download anything you have already purchased to the same console or another console.

User Ratings

• You can now rate every game on the Xbox LIVE Games Marketplace using a 5-star system.
• You can easily find the games that everyone's been raving about by visiting the Top Rated games in the Browse All category of Xbox LIVE Games Marketplace.

Xbox LIVE Parties

• Party Reconnections – If you are accidently disconnected from your party, Xbox LIVE will automatically reconnect you.
• Streamlined Party Invites – Invites are now just one click away! No need to click through multiple screens to get all your friends together.

Video Display Options

• It’s even easier for you to watch in the highest resolution possible on your TV using an HDMI connection.
• Display Discovery – Makes sure you can see and hear your entertainment in the highest resolution and sound quality possible with the option to override and select audio and video formats independent of the information your television sends to your Xbox 360 console.

Other Improvements

• Gold Member Veterans – Xbox LIVE Gold members get to show it off with a stamp on your Gamer Card that tells people how long you've been a Gold member.
• Indie Games – Xbox LIVE Community Games has been renamed Xbox LIVE Indie Games.
• Achievement Browser – The Achievements browser is now easier to read. You can now also launch a game directly from the browser.
• Achievements Tracking – A new view inside the profile panel which includes a summary of Achievements earned across all the games played, and shows of all your completed games.
• Streamlined navigation, including new entry points in the dashboard for Active Downloads, redeeming codes, recovering Gamertags and more.
• Voice Messages – No more blank voice messages! When recording a voice message, a warning will pop up if no audio is detected.
• Friends List Sorting – Find and sort your friends by activity, Gamertag or online status by pressing the Y button while viewing the friends list in the Guide.
• Memory – Time stamps now appear in the memory area, which particular handy when managing saved games.

Account Management

• Subscription Notification – If your Xbox LIVE subscription is about to run out, you will now be notified when you sign into Xbox LIVE.
• Updates for Invalid Windows Live IDs – If the Windows Live ID you provided has expired, you will now be prompted to update it the next time you sign into Xbox LIVE.
• Account recovery is faster and more reliable.

For more photos from the update, check out Crunchgear’s online gallery here.