Author: The enConnected Team

Announced this morning, Microsoft is selling their IPTV platform to Ericsson for an undisclosed amount.

According to Yususf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President of Marketing, Strategy and Business for the Interactive Entertainment Business of which both IPTV and Xbox operate under, the move will “allow Microsoft to commit 100 percent of its focus on consumer TV strategy with Xbox.”

Watchers don’t have to read in between the lines to understand why Microsoft is choosing to offload the Mediaroom technology now. In fact, today’s statement lays it out quite plainly:

“With the sale of Mediaroom, Microsoft is dedicating all TV resources to Xbox in a continued mission to make it the premium entertainment service that delivers all the games and entertainment consumers want – whether on a console, phone, PC or tablet. And with 76 million Xbox 360 consoles around the world with 46 million Xbox LIVE members, it is a mission that gets us out of bed in the morning.

It is not a mission that we can achieve alone. We want to partner with the industry to deliver the next wave of innovation in games and consumer entertainment. We will partner with content creators, studios, labels, networks, content aggregators, operators and distributors to make this happen. We believe the future of home entertainment is one where TV becomes more simple, tailored and intelligent. We believe the best is yet to come for this industry.” – Yusef Mehdi, Corporate Vice President of Marketing, Strategy and Business for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft

Historically, Microsoft Mediaroom created software and technology that powered boxes that plugged into your television –cable boxes from your local cable provider if you will. According to Microsoft the division’s software powers 22 million of those boxes in 11 million homes.

Microsoft last shipped a significant update to the platform with Mediaroom 2.0 back in January of 2013.

Microsoft sells Mediaroom technology to Ericsson

Just a short time ago I took to enConnected Social to talk about why the news operation at enConnected would be slowed down. This Friday marked my final day at the day job, and the start of what I hope will be, the best move for both you and I Dear enConnected Reader.

Today is my first day as a freelance writer and full time editor-in-chief at enConnected. I’ve got a load of things planned more podcasts, giveaways, the whole nine yards. This will be the first time I’ll be able to give enConnected the intense focus it deserves. This will be the first time I can create the kind of posting schedule and content creation I feel many of you crave.

enConnected LIVE returns to its regular recording timeslot as well as its new posting schedule next week. I trust that most of you will have forgotten just how annoying my voice actual is. We’ll remedy that in a hurry.

Wall to wall news coverage begins immediately. Throughout the day you’ll find the Microsoft entertainment stories you care about, assembled with the care that almost no one puts into these topics today. I’m also reinstating our enConnected Weekends initiatives from before the downtime. That means more What’s On, and more Saturday Night @ the Movies.

I’ve heard from many of you who miss our series on Windows 8 and that topics that it entailed. I’m happy to announce that you’ll get the latest edition of The 8 Equation this week. At some point I’ll be compiling these and turning them into an eBook as well.

As we move forward, I’ll be adding to our roster of projects. If you’ve got ideas, if you can already think of things we should be covering better, please don’t hesitate to send them my way: tpope@enConnected.com.

This won’t mean that I’ll only be working here. A couple of months ago I began covering smartphone news for GottaBeMobile and I’ll continue to do so. Topics I report on there won’t be covered here on enConnected. As we don’t cover iPhone or Android topics anyway, this shouldn’t be a huge change. However I do prefer full-disclosure.

Lastly, I’d like to close with Thank You. Thank You to the people in my life who give me the courage to make the leap. Thank you time my former employers who believed in what I was doing enough to put up with the random weekdays off, and long lunches needed to cover what Microsoft has been doing. Thank you to my new colleagues at GottaBeMobile for taking a chance on me while still allowing me to keep this project of mine going. Lastly, thank you enConnected Nation. You’ve been with me for six years and I don’t want you to think for a second that I don’t value your eyeballs and contributions.

Thank you, from Richmond. Now, how’s about we go kick some ass?

Hello from Richmond, it’s your full-time editor-in-chief

Just a short time ago I took to enConnected Social to talk about why the news operation at enConnected would be slowed down. This Friday marked my final day at the day job, and the start of what I hope will be, the best move for both you and I Dear enConnected Reader.

Today is my first day as a freelance writer and full time editor-in-chief at enConnected. I’ve got a load of things planned more podcasts, giveaways, the whole nine yards. This will be the first time I’ll be able to give enConnected the intense focus it deserves. This will be the first time I can create the kind of posting schedule and content creation I feel many of you crave.

enConnected LIVE returns to its regular recording timeslot as well as its new posting schedule next week. I trust that most of you will have forgotten just how annoying my voice actual is. We’ll remedy that in a hurry.

Wall to wall news coverage begins immediately. Throughout the day you’ll find the Microsoft entertainment stories you care about, assembled with the care that almost no one puts into these topics today. I’m also reinstating our enConnected Weekends initiatives from before the downtime. That means more What’s On, and more Saturday Night @ the Movies.

I’ve heard from many of you who miss our series on Windows 8 and that topics that it entailed. I’m happy to announce that you’ll get the latest edition of The 8 Equation this week. At some point I’ll be compiling these and turning them into an eBook as well.

As we move forward, I’ll be adding to our roster of projects. If you’ve got ideas, if you can already think of things we should be covering better, please don’t hesitate to send them my way: tpope@enConnected.com.

This won’t mean that I’ll only be working here. A couple of months ago I began covering smartphone news for GottaBeMobile and I’ll continue to do so. Topics I report on there won’t be covered here on enConnected. As we don’t cover iPhone or Android topics anyway, this shouldn’t be a huge change. However I do prefer full-disclosure.

Lastly, I’d like to close with Thank You. Thank You to the people in my life who give me the courage to make the leap. Thank you time my former employers who believed in what I was doing enough to put up with the random weekdays off, and long lunches needed to cover what Microsoft has been doing. Thank you to my new colleagues at GottaBeMobile for taking a chance on me while still allowing me to keep this project of mine going. Lastly, thank you enConnected Nation. You’ve been with me for six years and I don’t want you to think for a second that I don’t value your eyeballs and contributions.

Thank you, from Richmond. Now, how’s about we go kick some ass?

Just a short time ago I took to enConnected Social to talk about why the news operation at enConnected would be slowed down. This Friday marked my final day at the day job, and the start of what I hope will be, the best move for both you and I Dear enConnected Reader.

Today is my first day as a freelance writer and full time editor-in-chief at enConnected. I’ve got a load of things planned more podcasts, giveaways, the whole nine yards. This will be the first time I’ll be able to give enConnected the intense focus it deserves. This will be the first time I can create the kind of posting schedule and content creation I feel many of you crave.

enConnected LIVE returns to its regular recording timeslot as well as its new posting schedule next week. I trust that most of you will have forgotten just how annoying my voice actual is. We’ll remedy that in a hurry.

Wall to wall news coverage begins immediately. Throughout the day you’ll find the Microsoft entertainment stories you care about, assembled with the care that almost no one puts into these topics today. I’m also reinstating our enConnected Weekends initiatives from before the downtime. That means more What’s On, and more Saturday Night @ the Movies.

I’ve heard from many of you who miss our series on Windows 8 and that topics that it entailed. I’m happy to announce that you’ll get the latest edition of The 8 Equation this week. At some point I’ll be compiling these and turning them into an eBook as well.

As we move forward, I’ll be adding to our roster of projects. If you’ve got ideas, if you can already think of things we should be covering better, please don’t hesitate to send them my way: tpope@enConnected.com.

This won’t mean that I’ll only be working here. A couple of months ago I began covering smartphone news for GottaBeMobile and I’ll continue to do so. Topics I report on there won’t be covered here on enConnected. As we don’t cover iPhone or Android topics anyway, this shouldn’t be a huge change. However I do prefer full-disclosure.

Lastly, I’d like to close with Thank You. Thank You to the people in my life who give me the courage to make the leap. Thank you time my former employers who believed in what I was doing enough to put up with the random weekdays off, and long lunches needed to cover what Microsoft has been doing. Thank you to my new colleagues at GottaBeMobile for taking a chance on me while still allowing me to keep this project of mine going. Lastly, thank you enConnected Nation. You’ve been with me for six years and I don’t want you to think for a second that I don’t value your eyeballs and contributions.

Thank you, from Richmond. Now, how’s about we go kick some ass?

Following, three months of silence about their update plans for the applications that bring the Xbox Music experience to Windows devices, Microsoft has now made updated versions of Xbox Music, Xbox Video, and Xbox Games on  available to users.

As of yet, we’re unable to obtain any definitive list of improvements, however you don’t have to spend a large amount of time with the refreshed versions before running into new features.

This update to Xbox Music on Windows 8 brings with it support for filtering music downloaded from a user’s cloud collection, more opportunities to discover related albums and artist through out, and the ability to search your computer’s local collection. Hey, sometimes browsing to find that new Justin Timberlake album ruins the moment.

The newly updated Xbox Video app features the ability to download content that a user might previously purchased on in Zune Video Marketplace, the Xbox Video Store. More meta-data including actors, directors, and cast are now provided for both television shows and movies on that particular show’s store page. Rotten Tomatoes, and their reviews are now included on these individual store pages as well. Users can also rate video content themselves as well.

We should mention that both Xbox Music and Xbox Video now have the ability to control their own volume level separate of Windows’ system volume meter. We also noticed a few user experience improvements to help users better grasp what is being played from their local cache of media and what is being streamed.

Finally, Xbox Games now supports Xbox LIVE messaging!  There’s also a new social buzz section that pulls in games reviews, but let’s be real here -they could have just thrown an updated app with only messaging and we’d all have celebrated.

We’re sure there’s more to be found here so we’ll keep looking. Each one of these application updates are available for free from the Windows Store immediately, so if you’re running Windows 8 we suggest you hit the ‘update’ button as soon as you can.

 

 

 

Microsoft rolls out updates to Xbox on Windows applications

Have you been looking for even more Xbox LIVE applications to feed your video content hunger? Starting today Microsoft is adding Redbox Instant and GamerTrailers to it’s stable of content providers.

GameTrailers on Xbox LIVE, which as you would imagine showcases the latest in trailers for upcoming AAA gaming titles and related content is now available to download. Users won’t need to create any GameTrailers specific account prior to using the application as it’s subscription fee and presented by AT&T.

Those looking to rent or outright purchase the latest in Hollywood Cinema will be delighted to find that Redbox Instant on Xbox LIVE is also available as of today. It provides multiple ways to enjoy content including a monthly subscription of $8 per month that nets users four DVD rentals at a Redbox kiosk and unlimited access to anything in the Instant streaming catalog.

As with all Xbox LIVE applications that aren’t Xbox Video, users will need to have an Xbox LIVE Gold account to take advantage of either of these applications, though Redbox Instant won’t gain the requirement for a limited time. Also, both of these applications are compatible with Kinect voice and gesture navigation for those who still haven’t found that remote the last in the couch sometime long ago.

GamerTrailers and Redbox Instant on Xbox LIVE Debut

Have you been looking for even more Xbox LIVE applications to feed your video content hunger? Starting today Microsoft is adding Redbox Instant and GamerTrailers to it’s stable of content providers.

GameTrailers on Xbox LIVE, which as you would imagine showcases the latest in trailers for upcoming AAA gaming titles and related content is now available to download. Users won’t need to create any GameTrailers specific account prior to using the application as it’s subscription fee and presented by AT&T.

Those looking to rent or outright purchase the latest in Hollywood Cinema will be delighted to find that Redbox Instant on Xbox LIVE is also available as of today. It provides multiple ways to enjoy content including a monthly subscription of $8 per month that nets users four DVD rentals at a Redbox kiosk and unlimited access to anything in the Instant streaming catalog.

As with all Xbox LIVE applications that aren’t Xbox Video, users will need to have an Xbox LIVE Gold account to take advantage of either of these applications, though Redbox Instant won’t gain the requirement for a limited time. Also, both of these applications are compatible with Kinect voice and gesture navigation for those who still haven’t found that remote the last in the couch sometime long ago.

When I opened the Marketplace (or Windows Store or whatever it’s called nowadays) on my Windows 8 PC this evening, I noticed that the official Twitter app is finally available. I suspect that it’s no coincidence that the desktop (Adobe AIR) versions of Tweetdeck were sunsetted at the same time Twitter finally released the Windows 8 app.

Taking a quick look at the app, it’s fairly nice, but very minimal. When it’s snapped to the narrow side of your screen, it very closely resembles the new version of the Windows Phone Twitter app, but when it’s set to full screen or it’s snapped to the wide portion of the screen, it looks very sparse and empty. The app doesn’t seem to support columns or multiple accounts (not yet, at least), so all you see is a single column, no matter how you have the app positioned on your screen.

Have you installed it and played with it yet? What do you think?

I’m sure you’ve all noticed a significant slowdown in the day to day activity on the site. Don’t fret, enConnected isn’t any less of a priority, and it sure as hell isn’t going anywhere. I just so happen to be in a transition behind the scenes and as you can see, it’s heavily effecting the amount of work I can put into the site right now….

From The Social: A Status Update on enConnected

Yesterday, Twitter released a completely revamped version of their official app for Windows Phone. Today, however, things have started to get a little weird.

As I may have mentioned before, my wife & I both bought HTC 8X devices in late December. She got the 8 gig yellow, and I got the 16 gig blue version. They are on the same AT&T Family Plan.

We both updated to the new Twitter app yesterday. This evening, however, her phone notified her that there was another “update” available for the Twitter app. She updated her phone and found that she had actually been rolled back to the old version.

On my phone, meanwhile, there is no such notification about an “update”.

On her phone, inside the app itself, on the About screen, it shows as version 1.3.4692.24603. On my phone, though, it shows as version 3.0.0.31940.

On her phone, the Marketplace says that the current version is 1.5.1.0, released on Jan. 27, 2013; while my phone’s Marketplace says the current version is 2.0.0.1, released on Feb. 26, 2013. I’m not sure exactly what might be going on, but it is rather strange to see this happen, especially on the heels of the Windows Phone 7.8 update getting pulled from the metaphorical shelves yesterday. This is not a good sign for our beloved platform.

Something strange afoot with the official Twitter app for Windows Phone