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Microsoft Makes Xbox-Centered Living Room Push with SmartGlass Wireless Streaming and More

charlituna said:
key being TO THEIR XBOX. If you don't have that then having an iPhone etc doesn't matter.

this is a gimmick, albeit a potentially very good one, to keep the XBox going. to make sure that it keeps a place in the living room with the Apple TV etc.
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Sorry, but thats a pretty stupid comment.

With AirPlay the key is TO THEIR APPLE TV. It's the exact same situation, except an Xbox is much more useful than the current Apple TV.
 
rmwebs said:
This isnt how it works. Companies dont think "Crap, we've got to go to a convention in 6 months, quick...make something!", if something isn't ready, it wont be released, they arent going to develop something that'll make a very low revenue just for a convention, when instead they can get big publicity by announcing something that will sell more units. More units sold = more revenue, releasing a couple of games = very low revenue.

Think about it:

Sell a console, and you've got a new customer who will buy your games, pay for subscriptions, etc.

Sell a game and you get existing customers buying that game for a few months, then it drops off sharply to near zero revenue.

Either way, I'm pretty sure Microsoft have a much better idea on how to run their business than you or I do. 🙄
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Why their conference was bad is irrelevant. When you watch an E3 conference your not thinking "Oh wow, I bet this is going to increase their revenues by 15%!" Its a venue to show off to the world your hand and try to build hype for your console/game. I don't know why you are throwing business into this.

The fact is... they didn't have a good conference.
 
charlituna said:
And you are wrong. What you describe is one use of Airplay, but there are uses well beyond that if the developers wish to include them. A prime example is Real Racing 2 HD. Google it.
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Except the latency is terrible. Airplay really isn't built for games. I know you want to dream about that, but latency kills it.

w00master
 
MacRumors said:
Engadget reports:
SmartGlass brings AirPlay-style wireless technology to Xbox and Windows 8 by letting you send video from your tablet or phone to your TV. [...]
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Hmmm. Sounds vaguely familiar. I wonder if Ballmer has tried AirPlay...

MacRumors said:
[...] It then turns that second screen into an information window giving you data of the content you're watching. Plus, it updates the info on your mobile device as the content on the TV changes.
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What a shame. Microsoft was copying AirPlay so well until then.
 
super tomtendo said:
I've never been a fan of Microsoft, but the one thing in the last ten years that they have done right... Is this Xbox Platform.

They dominate the competition when it comes to both social and online experiences - Nintendo and Sony are not even close.

Microsoft has always been a bulky and clunky product to me. But this Xbox platform is apple like - simple, clean, and it works(minus the red light phenomenon, but Apple had the same with Antennae-gate).

After watching the final hour of Microsoft's E3, I am really excited for my Xboxs future. And the Smart Glass is going to work on all platforms of devices(Windows, Android, and iOS), which is genius. They understand they need to allow iOS users the same access - surrendering for the greater good.
Sure, this is basically Apple TV, but better... until next week? We'll see.

Now, some say Xbox has ran away from gaming, but so has everyone else. It's not all about gaming anymore people. It's about the whole-experience and offering it to everyone - not a small group of people. And it's not like they don't still offer and create great games...

Good job Microsoft(Xbox Team).
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I agree with most of this but saying "Antennae-gate" and red-ring of death are similar situations is very off. Red-ring of death was pretty rampant and made the console useless. The "Antennae-gate" issue was merely a usability issue, like Steve said "don't hold it like that".
 
Winni said:
What still blows my mind is this "the AppleTV is just a hobby" bollocks. They charge 129 bucks for that "hobby" product and tell you straight in your face that since it's just a hobby you better don't expect anything for your money. I'm not sure if whether this says something about Apple or if it says something about their average customers.
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Actually, $99.

But still, I agree that it's odd Apple calls this just a 'hobby'. I'm guessing, because if they want to cancel this product completely, change the interface or features abruptly, they can do this because it's 'just a hobby'.

I disagree with your premise that users don't expect more for the money. I have 3 Apple TVs in my household, and we can't live without them. Numerous friends and family have seen our Apple TVs and bought their own because of it's uses.

(We use it for streaming our daughter's Disney movies - instead of her scratching the physical media. The start up is instantaneous with no ads, and also great for those with sons/daughters who change their mind. She can ask for Cinderella, then 5 seconds later ask for Beauty and the Beast, and it's no problem with the remote. My brother now has thousands of movies - none bought through iTunes - he can all watch in his household at the click of a button. And all bedrooms have the same content, there's no need for a PC connected to each TV that has to be updated separately. The Apple TV is invaluable for this. I don't know any other product that makes this so easy - along with the best Netflix implementation I've seen from any of the Roku/X-Box/Tivo boxes)
 
cadillac1234 said:
Microsoft is definitely pushing the cord cutting options.
The XBox viewing options are very extensive HULU, ESPN3, Netflix, Pandora, Amazon

Problem is the Xbox360 itself... great for playing games, not so much fun navigating TV menus with a huge controller.
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God, WHAT is wrong with physical controllers!? I assume you'd prefer everything to function like Kinect? Where you just hope the device you're trying to interact with can somehow interpret whatever vague gestures you make?

When did we get so lazy that we decided using a peripheral as well-designed as a wireless xbox 360 is somehow "inconvenient"?
 
bungiefan89 said:
God, WHAT is wrong with physical controllers!? I assume you'd prefer everything to function like Kinect? Where you just hope the device you're trying to interact with can somehow interpret whatever vague gestures you make?

When did we get so lazy that we decided using a peripheral as well-designed as a wireless xbox 360 is somehow "inconvenient"?
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Simple... Xbox controller requires 2 hands. Normal remote uses 1.

However, anyone who complains about that should have purchased a harmony remote years ago.
 
bungiefan89 said:
When did we get so lazy that we decided using a peripheral as well-designed as a wireless xbox 360 is somehow "inconvenient"?
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You do have to admit that the 360 pad isn't the best for navigating through menus. Preferably, it'd use a controller that'd fit in one hand.

Anyway, the jist of this entire argument is that Microsoft is copying Apple for a technology they themselves didn't even invent. Like MS never had one of the better PC oriented media center setups readily available as far back as XP, and what we're seeing here isn't an extension of that.

No. Apple has AppleTV. Anything that comes out after that is a shameless ripoff. Excuse me while I sigh and abuse the eyeroll and Apple logo emotes. The discussions going on in this thread are pretty dumb when it comes right down to it.
 
baleensavage said:
As much as I love Apple, Microsoft has made much more headway in the living room than Apple has. The big difference between this and Airplay is that it will work with multiple platforms and mobile devices. Also far more living rooms have an XBox than have an AppleTV. If anything this seems a jab at the Wii U, basically saying that with your existing tablet or smartphone, you can connect to your XBox, so why bother with the new Wii U.
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And this will decide the outcome. Once again it will be about the end user experience.

Microsoft will offer their product supporting multiple OS'. Apple will be in the Apple Eco System. Period. If Microsoft pulls this off with cross platform performance that is seamless it will be a problem for Apple.

My money will ride on Apples announcements at WWDC. Many of the features Microsoft demoed require WIN 8. Win 8 IMO is only going to be sold on new build PC's for a while. Tons on Businesses still run on WIN XP NT Server, and are just moving to WIN 7.

10.8, iOS6, and a new ATV with a Sharp LED in 32" to 60" all in one swoop.
Followed by a 7" iPad with iControl. 😉
 
Airplay is better - are you drunk ?

charlituna said:
They already have one half of it and have for a while so that wouldn't be a huge shock and it won't be because Microsoft thought of it first and Apple is just copying their 'brilliant idea' that they basically copied from Apple's AirPlay.
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I awaiting since AirPlay was announced that Apple releases the Video part. So far they have not. So I can send the music from iTunes to my TV (as a remote speaker) but I still CANNOT do the same with video. Oh, and you CANNOT mirror the display of my MacPro onto the TV either - simply because my LCD runs a much higher resolution (2650x1600) my 55" is capable of.

So maybe this is the kick in Apple's butt - so that DENON can release an AV amp which will deserve the "V" in (AV) because it supports AirPlay video.

Oh, but that Tim doesn't like .... waiting ....
http://usa.denon.com/us/Airplayus/index.html
 
cadillac1234 said:
Microsoft is definitely pushing the cord cutting options.
The XBox viewing options are very extensive HULU, ESPN3, Netflix, Pandora, Amazon

Problem is the Xbox360 itself... great for playing games, not so much fun navigating TV menus with a huge controller.
Click to expand...

Just for you, they just came up with this:

xbox-360-media-remote.jpg


Which I use and it is one of the smallest remotes there is. It can be coded for your TV and you can use most of its functions as well. $19.99 at WalMart and other places. Used the white one before and it worked well, too (my son dropped it once to many times).
 
charlituna said:
But are they really making it for rival platforms. The way I read it this only works with iOS if you have an Xbox. That's the hub for your use, it won't work without it.
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MS could have said, "to use these XBOX features, you will need a Windows Phone". Instead, they will have apps readily available from the rival platforms. It's not like Apple where you need an iOS/OSX platform to use FaceTime.
 
flash84x said:
I agree with most of this but saying "Antennae-gate" and red-ring of death are similar situations is very off. Red-ring of death was pretty rampant and made the console useless. The "Antennae-gate" issue was merely a usability issue, like Steve said "don't hold it like that".
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I guess, I meant more from a publicity stand point
 
I'm not sure where people are getting the smart glass app being an attack against the AppleTV. This implies that whatever Apple is going to do in the TV market requires you own an iPod Touch at the very least and an iPad if you want full functionality (which would triple the price of today's AppleTV if you don't own another iOS device). Yes, Apple could do this but I don't see them doing it. Apple doesn't see iOS devices as peripherals now (unless you count iCloud, then everything else they make is a peripheral to iCloud).

Sure they expanded Xbox marketplace into music (is this just a rebranding of Zune?) is competing with Apple. But the smart glass app has almost nothing to do with that. The Bing voice command thing is more of an attack against Apple (although I doubt it will be competitive against Siri with dev APIs...which I'm completely making up but assume will be in iOS 6).

Anyway, the whole smart glass thing looks more like a response to the Wii U (which is a basically a Wii with the graphics abilities of an Xbox 360 and a weird cross between a 7 inchish tablet and a controller). Essentially, it lets them compete against the Wii U without having everyone buy new hardware (since probably a fair number of people own a tablet of some sort).

This, of course, assumes that the iOS app will have full game functionality. I doubt Microsoft would intentionally cripple it to such a degree as being useless but it could run afoul of App Store rules (e.g. if it is downloading new code on the fly that would probably get it banned). We have to see how the game integration actually works before we can say.

PS: As far as Airplay, Apple isn't advertising this feature heavily yet so it shouldn't be considered a core functionality of the AppleTV.
 
Those complaining that Microsoft is copying Apple - dream on.

Xbox 360 is a FAR superior media device. On mine I can get BBC iPlayer, 4OD, LoveFilm, Netflix and streaming LIVE TV from Sky. In the US there is also Hulu and a music store available

They have a far more solid multi-device strategy than Apple. Microsoft knows that one interface doesn't fit all, so modify accordingly for each device, while retaining the flavour.
 
flash84x said:
I agree with most of this but saying "Antennae-gate" and red-ring of death are similar situations is very off. Red-ring of death was pretty rampant and made the console useless. The "Antennae-gate" issue was merely a usability issue, like Steve said "don't hold it like that".
Click to expand...

Wow... head in sand much...

Although the antenna problem is not as fatal as the red-ring.
 
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