The Xbox One continues to create quite a buzz.. and not just because of its announced features. A lot of the talk is about used games and how they will work going forward. Microsoft might have told us that they would allow used games – but the details were fuzzy at best.

Shortly after this, rumors started surfacing suggesting that MS would require us to pay some kind of fee in order to sell a game or even let a friend borrow it. Is there any truth to this? According to MCV, retailers have already been briefed on how X-One used games will work and reports that any company that wants to take a trade-in game will need to be hooked up to Microsoft’s database so that access to the game can be removed from the previous owner’s account and transferred to a new one.

The idea is that publishers currently don’t make a cent off used games, and so both the publisher and Microsoft will now get a cut of the fee paid by game stores that resell titles. This also brings up new questions and concerns, however.

First – what does this mean for those of us that want to sell a game on Ebay or Amazon? Is there a way to access Microsoft’s deactivation database, and if so, how much will it cost us to free our games? It also makes use wonder what will happen in 10 years when the servers are down – will it be impossible to use the Xbox One and used games?

There is also the possibility that already very LOW trade-in credits from places like EBgames will shrink even more in order to compensate for fees associated with hooking to Microsoft’s database. Unfortunately, the retailer’s unofficial ‘clarification’ doesn’t really seem to clarify the situation at all.

What do you think of the whole situation? If all these rumors are true, will you still consider buying an Xbox One or not?

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On Tuesday, Microsoft revealed to the world its latest gaming system, the Xbox One. While we currently only know a limited amount of information about the PS4 and X-One, that doesn’t stop instant comparisons between the two consoles that will compete for your living room later this year.

It is too early to have a true “Versus” article, as too much is unknown. We can however take a deeper look at the currently known hardware and features to help you better decide which system you believe is right for you.

So let’s jump right in:

The Hardware specs

Honestly, the hardware between the Xbox One and Sony PS4 seem rather comparable, at least based on what we currently know. Both run on 8-core x86 processors, with Sony’s PS4 confirmed to have an AMD Jaguar chip. Both systems also have Blu-ray optical drives.

The PS4 does one-up the Xbox One when it comes to RAM, though. Both have 8GB, but the Playstation 4 equips GDDR5 RAM, as opposed to the X-One’s DDR3. Will this make a noticeable “real world” difference? Maybe, maybe not.

As far as the HDD is concerned, we only know the Xbox One will have 500GB of storage space. No word on the PS4 yet. It’s also worth noting that Xbox One will REQUIRE all your discs to be copied over to the drive. This is nice because you can simply store away the game disc. It’s also annoying because it makes lending and selling games harder (though there will still be a way..).

Motion Control

Both the PS4 and Xbox One make next-gen motion technology a major part of the console experience, they just go about it in very different ways.

For the Xbox One, you get the next-gen Kinect that can recognize heartbeats, tons of different joints and has extremely accurate voice control technology (or so the demo leads us to believe).

As for the PS4? It ships with a new Playstation Eye that will work with the DualShock 4 controller to allow special tracking and motion features.

Which method is better? Honestly, that depends on your own tastes.

The Cloud and Multiplayer

Next-gen game consoles are going to rely on net connectivity more than ever. In fact, Microsoft’s Xbox One REQUIRES a connection to the net. That said, it does have an offline mode for those times when your net is down for whatever reason.

Both systems will also promote features like cloud saving and syncing. This should also mean that it will be easy to pull up your profile and saves on your friend’s game systems.

As for the online experience, Xbox will continue evolving its Xbox Live and plans to boost its servers from 15,000 to 300,000 by the time its next system launches!

Sony also wishes to continue adding abilities to its own online network, though it will likely continue down the “free to use” model, as opposed to Xbox Live’s charge model.

Second Screen Experience

Almost everyone has a smartphone or tablet these days, at least that is the case for the folks willing to drop big money on a game console from day one. That’s why both consoles will work nicely with mobile devices for controlling some aspects of the menu – or even some games. This is particularly true when it comes to using the PS Vita as a controller on the PS4.

Connectivity

Both consoles have USB 3.0 technology.

The Xbox One, however, seems to ditch RCA components and goes with just an HDMI input and output. The PS4 will still have RCA and optical, though.

Additionally, both consoles will fully support 4K TV signals.

The Big Differences

While we likely don’t have the “full picture” of features for the PS4 or Xbox One – we can tell you that there are a few areas of direction where each system seems to be focused.

PS4 – Social Aspects

For the PS4, there is a dedicated share button on the controller. You can send snippets of recorded video straight to a friend and even invite them to watch your game, or even perhaps participate in it in some minor way (that includes singleplayer games from the sounds of it).

There are likely other big features that we will learn about at E3.

Xbox One – TV Integration

The Xbox One is clearly aimed at bringing TV and the Xbox One together. In their demo, Microsoft showed off how its next-gen system could quickly bring up TV and even change channels, all from the Xbox interface (using HDMI tech).

Even more exciting, the system could change channels through voice. Saying “Switch to MTV” would switch to MTV, for example.

Additionally, the Xbox One has “snap mode”. This makes it easy to multi-task by running more than one app at the same time. Sony’s PS4 also has some of these abilities, but the big difference is that the X-One will also bring this experience to the TV – allowing you to watch a show all while browsing the net in a snapped box on the side of your TV screen.

Backwards Compatibility

Unfortunately backwards compatibility is all-but dead with both consoles. The Xbox One won’t work with Xbox Live arcade titles or Xbox 360 content. The same pretty much goes for the PS4 in regards to the PS3.

Gaming

I don’t want to compare gaming announcements too much right now. Why? Because we really won’t see the whole picture until E3. Sony’s reveal event showed tons of exclusives and special titles.

For the Xbox One event, we were mostly shown off the console and its TV integration features. We do know games like Forza 5 will be a launch title, and the company has promised 15 Xbox One exclusives will be shown at E3.

Really, expect much of the same kinds of games as seen in the last-gen for the two consoles. So if you currently prefer PS3 exclusives – you’ll probably feel the same about the PS4. And same goes for Xbox 360 to Xbox One.

And the winner is….

Again, I’m not talking winners or losers here. Partially because Microsoft or Sony could give us extra “OMG that’s freaking awesome” features at E3 that could change everything. Second, because console preferences play a HUGE part here.

So instead of Mobile Magazine giving out a verdict, it’s up to you, the readers. Which console do you think looks better and why?

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As you might already know, the National Football League (NFL) allows coaches and players access to only laminated playbooks and Polaroid images, and strictly no device that records or plays video is allowed. But that’s going to change with this new deal between the NFL and Microsoft, which will bring the company’s Surface tablet on to the sidelines.

The deal is apparently worth $400 million over five years, and if everything goes as planned you will be seeing teams playing with the Surface to check out replays and plan their next move this season.

Currently many teams might prefer using the Apple iPad as a playbook, about which Darren Rovell says, “Under the Microsoft/NFL deal, players and teams can still use iPads for playbooks, but Apple branding has to be covered up”. There will be Microsoft branding on the replay booth.

Just in case you are wondering, one reason for NFL’s technophobia is that they want to ensure competitive balance. They do not want a team with good techies to have an advantage over other teams. If you are a Formula 1 fan, you should know what we are talking about.

The big question is whether or not the deal will help further popularize the Surface line or not? What do you think of the NFL agreement with Microsoft?

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After all the speculation about Durango, Xbox 720, Infinity or the many other names we heard associated with the console – the next Xbox is here, and is called the Xbox One.

Now before you get too confused, the Xbox One’s name isn’t about it being the “first”, it’s about it being the “one and only” console you need, and how it is supposed to be the one device you need to take your multimedia experience to the next level.

Honestly, the Xbox One is really more of a super-powered multimedia device than a console, in that media seems to be just as (if not more) important for the X-One!

So what else do we know? First, here’s the brief bit we know about the specs: it has an 8-core CPU, 8GB RAM, a Blu-ray drive, a 500GB HD, built-in Wi-Fi, and HDMI In/Out ports.

The real beef is in the multi-tasking and multimedia aspects, though. The system is designed to work with live TV, easily pulling up all your channels from right within the Xbox. In fact, you can browse channels like MTV just by saying “turn to MTV”. Voice control and gestures are a huge part of the Xbox One experience – in fact the console not only includes the 2nd-gen Xbox Kinect, it is required for the console to work.

The new Kinect has an 1080p camera and is considerably more accurate on how it reads people than ever before. Speaking of Kinect, it also recognizes you when you ask it to turn on, and it automatically loads up your profile quickly, without the need for you to manually log on.

Now moving on to multi-tasking, ever wanted to watch a TV show or movie while browsing the net, all on just your TV? Easy enough with the Snap Mode feature (similar to Windows 8′s modern UI snap feature). Here you can put up Internet Explorer and TV all at once.

There are also a hell of a lot of gestures like pinching, zoom and more. Want to control moving around on the interface with your tablet or smartphone? Done.

Of course the Xbox controller is also there (and presumably the only option for gaming, besides perhaps Kinect for some games) with a slight redesign.

There are plenty of other great features, but that gives you a pretty good overview.

Now here’s a big question: are the rumors about always-on connectivity and the inability to get/sell used games true?

Always On and Used Games

The Microsoft Xbox One WILL require an internet connection. That said, it will be possible to access the system ‘offline’ for single player games, movies and other online activity. The system does push internet connectivity and cloud features wherever possible, and even pushes game saves to the cloud.

In other words, it isn’t always-on, but it is pretty close.

As for used games? Microsoft requires all discs to be installed onto the drive. Afterwards, you can archive away the disk, as the game is tied to an Xbox Live account. Want to link a game to more than one Xbox Live account? You will have to pay a fee. Who knows how this will work for multi-gamer households.

Microsoft also says that selling a game is possible, though again it might require some kind of fee from the sounds of it.

Wondering if your old Xbox Live content and 360 games will work? In a word, they won’t. No backwards compatibility of any kind here.

What about the games?

Not much in the way of game information was released at the event, with much more Xbox One stuff expected at E3. Here’s the list of games announced however:

• Forza 5
• Battlefield 4
• Destiny
• Call of Duty: Ghosts
• Thief
• Quantum Break
• NBA Live 14
• FIFA 14
• Madden NFL 25
• EA Sports UFC

Microsoft promises will we see 15 new exclusive and 8 new Ips at E3, so there is plenty more to come.

Summing it all up…

Bottom-line, the Xbox One has a lot of great features going for it. Unfortunately, it also has some potential negatives – such as its online requirements and used games fees.

What do you think of the Xbox One: impressed, excited, disappointed or indifferent? No matter how you feel right now, remember that E3 is coming soon enough and we will learn quite a bit more at that time, both about the Xbox One and the Sony Playstation 4.

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Microsoft is pretty well known for its “Scroogled” campaign which pokes at Google’s potential privacy concerns. In the latest ‘leaked’ video Microsoft even directly parodied Google’s own commercials to show how Google allegedly tracks you everywhere (video posted below).

The big question is, how innocent is Microsoft here? According to Ars Technica and security researcher Ashkan Soltani, they are possibly guilty of similar privacy concerns with Skype. Apparently Skype messages are sent through a server before reaching the person you are talking to – in other words, they could potentially be read or scanned by Microsoft.

We can’t say for sure if Microsoft is really scanning/reading messages or if they are, whether it is just for security (checking for links with malware, etc) – but accoring to Professor Matt Green at John Hopkins the problem is about perception.

“The problem right now is that there’s a mismatch between the privacy people expect and what Microsoft is actually delivering. Even if Microsoft is only scanning links for ‘good’ purposes, say detecting malicious URLs, this indicates that they can intercept some of your text messages. And that means they could potentially intercept a lot more of them.”

The idea is that Microsoft should be clearer of their own privacy policies, though again we can’t confirm or deny that Microsoft really is scanning/reading said messages.

Personally, I don’t like the idea of being spied on through the net, but I’ve come to realize that privacy online is more of an illusion than anything and I wouldn’t put it past any company to ‘spy’ on our messages, emails, and browsing history – at the very least to serve us ads.

What do you think, would it surprise you if Microsoft is scanning Skype messages? Does it concern you? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

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A 2012 study done by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration suggests that an average of 38 small children die each year in the US alone, due to heatstroke after being left unattended inside a hot parked car. There are some systems to prevent this problem, but three engineering undergrads from Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University have come out with a unique solution.

Anshul Mehra, Yejin Kim and Jeffrey Kamei (seen in the above image from left to right) have turned the Microsoft Kinect into a safety system. It will utilize the Kinect’s ability to detect even the smallest movements, like those of a sleeping baby.

After more development the final product could be built into a car and would become active once the car is parked. If the temperature inside the vehicle rises above a limit with an occupant in it, the system could make sounds or notify the police or a service such as OnStar. And since the window glass blocks infrared light, the system will not detect movements outside the vehicle.

But, of course, if the parents are a bit more careful, they won’t have to rely on technology to look after their children. Yet, since some people are fond of learning things the very hard way, incorporating such a system into future cars could be the only way to save a lot of lives.

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Barnes and Noble recently introduced price cutting on its tablet line, alongside the introduction of support for Google Play. Many feel the reason that this move was made was to be more competitive against other tablets including the Kindle Fire line, others say it is a way to push remaining stock before bowing out of the tablet game.

Now it looks like an internal document has surfaced suggesting that Nook is ending its involvement in creating Android-based tablets by 2014, instead looking to have partners create devices designed around Nook’s software and store. Additionally, the reports claim Microsoft is looking to take its investment in the Nook one step further, buying it out.

It’s really hard to say whether this is true or not, and if it is, what Microsoft plans to do with the Nook line. They could strongly integrate Nook services into their Windows 8 tablets, and they could also spin-off their own Nook-centric tablets.
If this happened, the tablets would probably run on some form of Windows 8 or Windows Embedded as opposed to Android, of course.

What do you think, if the rumor is true, should Microsoft buy Nook? Or should Nook continue to ride out its new strategy of aggressive pricing and Google Play support and see where that takes the company first? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

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Windows 8 has certainly received mixed reception up until this point, but Microsoft is hoping to change all of that with Windows Blue, aka Windows 8.1. Microsoft hopes to win folks over to Windows Blue, and has officially confirmed that they will be releasing a preview version just in time for its Build conference this June.

So what’s new in Windows Blue? Essentially, Blue is all about making the learning curve of Windows 8 less harsh. That means making customization and other aspects better in the new Start Screen. While not 100%-confirmed, there is also strong reason to believe that Microsoft is actively considering returning the start button in Windows Blue.

Keep in mind that the Start Button’s return doesn’t mean the Windows 7-style start menu will return, it will still use the full-screen Start menu from Windows 8.

After Windows Blue debuts, Microsoft is also looking to get into the small-screen tablet market with 7 and 8-inch devices.

Can Windows Blue help address some of the concerns surrounding Windows 8? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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Windows 8 might not be selling like hot-cakes, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been a success at least at some level. With the mobile-centric OS, Microsoft hoped to push into tablets in a more meaningful way than ever before. That mission has been accomplished, at least to some degree.

According to the latest IDC stats, Windows say a measly .2 million tablets shipped last year, which for most of that year means Windows 7 devices. Three months into 2013, tablet shipments are up 700% with 1.6 million units. Microsoft also now represents 1.8% of the tablet market thanks to its Surface line, making it the fifth most significant tablet brand if IDC’s numbers are correct.

Sure, these numbers are paltry compared with Apple, Samsung, Asus and other brands – but it is still a foot in the door, and that’s what Microsoft was aiming for. Now they just need to push on with the Surface brand, and with the upcoming Windows Blue. It won’t be an easy road, but the groundwork is perhaps finally there to at least allow Microsoft to compete as a solid third place contender in the mobile world.

So what’s next for Microsoft? While we can’t say for sure, DigiTimes claims to have some insider information. Before we go forward, just remember that DigiTimes has a very mixed reputation when it comes to rumors, so speculation is needed.

The latest gossip ships to indicate that the second generation Surface line is coming in June at Microsoft’s BUILD Conference, which could see not only a new 10-inch model, but also 7 and 8-inch variants.

While this is a rumor, it isn’t terribly far-fetched. We already know that Windows Blue is going to be officially shown off at BUILD, and even a Preview version might be released. We also know that Microsoft has previously talked about the possibility of 7-inch tablets, and that rumors indicate Windows 8.1 Blue will be more tablet friendly.

Smaller Windows tablets and a smaller Surface are coming eventually, it’s just hard to say if June is too early or not. What do you think, would you be interested in a smaller-screen Microsoft Surface tablet if Microsoft can position the device at a price equal to or lesser than the iPad Mini?

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The next Xbox will be here soon, likely bringing with it improved graphics, as well as social and multimedia enhancements. There is still a lot we don’t know about Microsoft’s next console, such as whether it will feature always-on DRM or even what it will be called. The later of this questions might now have been revealed. Microsoft has started registering “XboxFusion.com” and other domains related to the Fusion name.

Of course that doesn’t mean the next system will be called the Xbox Fusion. It is equally possible that Fusion could be a new engine, mechanic or service for the next Xbox. We really don’t know.

IF the next Xbox really will be known as the Xbox Fusion, what do you think? Like the name or not, tell us in the comments below.

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