Windows Phone to bump iPhone???

Xbox Video Playback problems

The Visual Studio Game!

 Bing is for Doing

On this D³: LIVE & INTERACTiVE special, the crew travels to the East of Toronto .NET User Group in Pickering, ON for a special presentation by Gladstone Grant, VP Developer & Platform Group at Microsoft Canada (LinkedIn, Twitter). Gladstone talks about Microsoft's overall technology direction and the opportunity it provides developers to be successful and to help their customers be successful.

Gladstone Grant

Software is an "innovate or die" business. It's the kind of business that attracts restless, positive people like Gladstone Grant. As VP of Microsoft's Developer and Platform Group, Gladstone has the enviable job of being focused on the future, on what's next, on the things most of us haven't even dreamt of yet. After nearly 20 years in the technology industry and more than 12 years with Microsoft Canada, Gladstone's passion for technology, for learning, for new challenges and for competition are stronger than ever. When Gladstone turns his attention to the present, rather than the future, he indulges his passions for sport and home renovation.

East of Toronto .NET User Group

The mission of the East of Toronto .NET User Group is to provide advanced, interesting information about the Microsoft .NET Framework. It serves the need of developers to receive the best .NET programming information, and fill their desire to be informed about developments of revolutionary importance as early as possible. The group serves the needs of programmers who are currently working with or interested in the .NET platform.

D³: LIVE & INTERACTiVE
Tune in to Developers, Developers, Developers: LIVE & INTERACTIVE (D³) hosted by Jonathan Rozenblit. The show airs live every first Wednesday of the month at 12:00 PM ET and features the latest updates on what's new and exciting in the world of development; featured presentations; and guests. LIVE and INTERACTIVE means that you'll be part of the show -- You're invited to interact with us; ask questions and get them answered; and share your thoughts and opinions -- all LIVE.

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Xbox dashboard update

Free Xbox for students!

Windows Phone and Verizon

Fashion update

VOTE FOR THE NINEYS!!!
The Xbox PACT
Swim with Phelps on your Kinect
A Microsoft cookbook of the Future
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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!

PASS recap

Windows Phone Updates

What do you do with YOUR xbox?

The new game is an adaptation of the upcoming movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1) and it lets you perform spells with just your hands. For example, players can use stupefy, expelliarmus, protego, windgardium leviosa, and others by moving their arms and hands in particular motions. (No actual magic wand is required).

For Harry Potter fans, this one’s going to be a must-have.  For everyone else, there are plenty of other Kinect titles to choose from. You can keep track of the growing list here.

But how quiet is that really? Well, thanks to this video, you can actually hear (or not hear, as the case may be) the difference between the old and new. The sound recordings were made six inches from the front of the consoles, say the video’s creators.

Wow, that’s quiet!  

Over the next 14 weeks, the tour will take the Xbox Kinect to 32 cities across North America – the full lineup of tour dates is here. In addition, Kinect will be in the Microsoft stores in Scottsdale, Arizona, Mission Viejo, CA, Denver and San Diego.

Photos and videos from the tour will be posted to a dedicated portal site at http://kinect.me so you can share your experience with friends, like on Facebook, for example. Or you can just visit that site to see others playing with the new console. (Right now, the page says “coming soon,” however).

For more info on Kinect and the coming tour, you can also check out http://www.xbox.com/kinect and http://www.facebook.com/kinect.

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 updated console is slimmer, contains a 250 GB removable hard drive and built-in 2.4GHz Wi-Fi N. Even better than that, the console is being described as “whisper quiet.” (That feature alone makes it worth the upgrade, right? Our current Xbox sure likes to make its presence known.)

The updated console sells for $299.99 – the same price as the current Xbox, despite all the improvements. Major Nelson posted pics to flickr which show off the console from multiple angles…including the back (here) where you can spot the port layout.

Other specs include: a new custom Kinect-ready port (on older Xboxes, Kinect will work via USB), 5 USB ports (2 on front, 3 in back), touch-sensitive buttons (swipe your finger to activate on/off and eject), an AV cable, HDMI port, optical audio out port, a smaller, more efficient power supply cable, included all-black wireless controller, 45 nanometer & integrated CPU and GPU and a single fan (down from 2) for quieter sound.

Plus, check out Engadget’s unboxing of the console here.

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

The Kinect add-on consists of a camera, audio sensors, and motion-sensing technology that tracks 48 points of movement on the human body. And it plugs directly into any Xbox 360.

The initial game line up for Kinect includes the following, as reported first by USA Today:

•Kinectimals lets you train and play with 20 different virtual cats, including a lion, cheetah and tiger.

•Joyride, a racing game, lets players use their hands to hold an imaginary steering wheel — pull your hands toward you and push back out for an acceleration boost — and their bodies to execute jumps and tricks.

•Kinect Sports has six activities including boxing, bowling, beach volleyball, track and field, soccer and table tennis. To serve a volleyball, you mimic the real motion; in soccer, you can kick the ball or do a header.

•Kinect Adventures includes a river-raft time trial and obstacle course, playable by up to four players. On the raft, playing as a duo, you and a partner must lean one way or another to steer. Jumping helps the raft reach special areas for extra points.

•Dance Central, in development by MTV Games, incorporates immersive, full-body dancing without the need for a controller.

•Star Wars characters and iconic Disney favorites will be featured in separate new games being developed at Microsoft in conjunction with LucasArts and Disney.

MTV properties will also cover Xbox 360 game announcements, world premieres and other breaking news throughout the conference. 

But wait, it gets even better: Cirque du Soleil will be there too, turning E3’s media circus into a real one. Apparently, the Cirque du Soleil performers will be helping to introduce Natal, which captures body motions via sensors and a camera and translates those into in-game actions. That should be interesting!

On Monday June 14th, Spike TV will cover E3 media briefings and game launches live at 10:30 AM PDT. On Tuesday, June 15th, MTV will cover Natal’s launch starting at 12:30 PM PDT. That coverage will be rebroadcast on Nick at Nite, mtvU, MTV Hits and Logo at 6 PM PDT later that day.  Also, MTV Networks’ GameTrailers.com will provide live, high-definition video streams of both these events and more.

Or if you must be there in person, E3 will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center from June 13th to 18th.

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.

New York State Deputy CIO Rico Singleton shared this news at the recent Interop technology conference in New York City, but wouldn’t go into further details about the service besides saying that it was currently in the testing phase.

There’s no time frame on when the new service will publicly launch, but assuming it works out, it wouldn’t be surprising to see other states adopt the technology as well.

Once logged in, users can track over 40,000 game titles, meet fellow gamers from around the world, join groups, take quizzes, and build a free website for their clan or guild.  

If you haven’t checked out Playfire before (or it’s been awhile), you may want to take a look. The company revamped their homepage earlier this month with a fresh design that loads faster and makes accessing the various parts of the website much easier than before.

Playfire is free to join – there are no “premium” features you have to pay for. It’s just your typical niche social networking site. Interested gamers can sign up here for an account.