On Tuesday, May 21, Microsoft raised the curtain on its first new gaming console in nearly seven years: the Xbox One. In order to better understand how the Xbox One is being received by the larger tech community, we surveyed GigaOM’s own readership on the new offering. So which new feature of the Xbox One was chosen to have the biggest impact? Read this analysis to find out. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The web is abuzz with talk of Microsoft’s Xbox One, which was announced on Tuesday. Here’s a chance for GigaOM readers to share their own thoughts by taking our survey. Read more »
The new car year is fast approaching but not every model is ready to be produced. That presented a problem for Nissan and its 2013 Pathfinder. The solution? Use the designs to create a virtual reality experience of the vehicle with Microsoft’s Kinect as the interface. Read more »
With the growth of sensors and microelectronics, the potential uses of wearable-computing technologies now reach to health and fitness, gaming, fashion, disabilities and augmented reality. Most importantly, the widespread adoption of wearables will drive the form function and market for mobiles in vital ways. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Tablets featured prominently in the connected consumer space, both as a product category and as a component of broader platform strategies by major OS providers Microsoft, Google and Apple. Meanwhile Facebook began laying the groundwork to add payment processing to its platform. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The adoption of tablets, social media and new interfaces and the changing nature of the TV itself mean the digital living room will continue on its path of rapid change, thanks to new ways of creating, viewing, bundling, distributing and selling content. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Samsung’s latest ad promoting the gesture controls for its Smart TV line are the perfect combo of hilarity paired with sexiness — and not just of the TV itself! Watch what happens when dozens of men see a pretty girl gesturing at them through a window. Read more »
Just as the older members of my family are finally getting used to Skype and FaceTime, along comes a 3-D hologram concept project! Dubbed the TeleHuman, the system uses six Microsoft Kinect sensors and a 3-D projector inside a 1.8 meter tall acrylic cylinder. Read more »
Two star hires and a well-reviewed phone-and-tablet operating system do not necessarily remake a company, but they do ease the perception — prevalent in recent years — that Microsoft is on its last legs. Could the once-dominant software giant be on the comeback trail? Read more »
Microsoft made it easier to create robots on Thursday by launching the final release of its Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 4, which moves out of beta status. Using the Xbox Kinect accessory, the free software can power moving robots that can “see” and understand their surroundings. Read more »
This year’s CES was the biggest in the show’s 44-year history. It boasted 15 miles of exhibit hall aisles, 3,100 booths and 153,000 attendees. It is easy to be jaded by the endlessly repetitive products, but the thousands of innovations point toward a future of connectivity. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
From SOPA to Microsoft’s expanded Xbox live platform to cloud-based content storage from Apple and Google, the fourth quarter in consumer electronics and media was all about the continued battle for digital living room dominance. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The fourth quarter may have lacked a dominating big-event product announcement like Q3’s Facebook platform extension or Q2’s unveiling of Google+, but the NewNet world continued to buzz along. In the battle for mind share, everyone wanted to be a platform. Meanwhile, consumer and social technologies continued to gain momentum, and new vehicles for content and service discovery presented both challenges and opportunities for NewNet companies. And it is hard to ignore the overcrowded but growing world of daily deals. This quarterly report analyzes these trends and others, and it also provides a near-term outlook of trends, technologies and companies to watch in 2012. Companies mentioned in the report include Amazon, Facebook and Socialcast. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Samsung, on a high after releasing some strong mobile numbers last week, today became the latest consumer electronics brand to hang its name… Read more at paidContent »
Samsung is putting some effort behind its smart TV lineup, with plans to add new functionality for consumers to interact with their TV screens. Its next-gen smart TVs will include voice, gesture and facial recognition features that will enable even smarter TV applications. Read more »
Call it the year of lessons learned, if not quite bubbles burst. In 2011, several trends in the connected consumer space that appeared inexorable at the start of the year seemed disorganized by the end. What does that mean for the next 12 months? From cloud-based media storage to daily deals to the fight for the digital living room, 2012 will be a year of consolidation and integration. Both entrepreneurs and investors will figure out that many once-promising standalone business models need to be grounded on more solid, integrated platforms to create real value. Companies mentioned in this report include Hulu, LivingSocial, Netflix and Zynga. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
As 2011 comes to a close, I’m thinking ahead to what mobile technology trends I expect to see in 2012. While I formulate those thoughts for a post later this week, now is a good time to see how I did with my 2011 predictions. Read more »
What kind of amazing new things are going to happen in tech over the next 365 days? Digital design agency Fjord got out its crystal ball and let us have a preview of its annual prediction of the most important themes in tech next year. Read more »
With the growth of over-the-top services that let users access the video they want over the internet (and often, for free), those companies… Read more at paidContent »
If the Kinect and the Wii popularized the idea of gestures controlling machines, the rise of startups working in the area will take the tech… Read more at paidContent »
The GigaOM RoadMap conference on Nov. 10 gathered leaders and visionaries to discuss how, thanks to technological and generational shifts, society as a whole is becoming more connected — not only in the media we consume and the social networks we use but also in the way we interact with devices and manage our resources. This research note takes a look back on the event in order to analyze this new era of connectivity across various industries, from Jack Dorsey’s idea of becoming “more human,” not less, to the concept of “invisible technology” and data, the fuel of the new century. Companies mentioned in this report include Airbnb, Netflix and Twitter. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
It will take more than a five-button remote control to efficiently navigate the new universe of video content now available. That means a new user interface for the video viewing experience is inevitable, and many companies are involved. Here are a few to watch. Read more »
In today’s new universe of video content, consumers need more than a five-button remote to effectively navigate the thousands of choices available. Fortunately, the same technology that has made it possible to create so many offerings can also provide the intelligence to help us find what we want to watch. Though it’s not clear which of the new approaches will win, services from Microsoft, Google, Apple, Roku and others are leading the way towards enormous rewards when it comes to the new era of TV interfaces. Additional companies mentioned in this report include Rovi, Technicolor and Hulu. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The number of connected devices is steadily on the rise, but it’s not smartphones or computers that will lead us to the 50 billion connected devices expected by the year 2020. Rather, the Internet of Things — numerous smart objects that speak to the web and ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Apple has included facial recognition technology in iOS 5, 9to5Mac discovered earlier this week. It’s not something Apple is advertising with the software update yet, but as it develops, it could become on of the most significant additions ever introduced to Apple’s mobile operating system. Read more »
The second quarter of 2011 was a fast-paced one for the connected consumer segment, with every sector of the digital media landscape — music, e-books, online video and gaming — experiencing significant events and changes. Media consumption, purchase and management continued its shift towards the cloud, ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Microsoft just released its Q2 results, and it’s clear the 360 has gone from being a drag on financials to contributing in a positive way. But one surefire way to expand the market further is by making the 360 available at the $99 price point. Read more »
Despite its commercial appeal, the Xbox gaming console has historically been notoriously unprofitable for Microsoft. But according to the company’s latest earnings report, Microsoft’s gaming division has finally started to earn its keep. Has the tide finally turned for the gaming console market? Read more »
Microsoft today adds Kinect support for its Robotics Developer Studio. Software and an SDK are helpful, but the real news may be in Microsoft’s 2010 purchase of Canesta, which has a chip-level pattern recognition solution. With it, Microsoft could shrink Kinect functionality to fit in smartphones. Read more »
Microsoft’s Kinect is clearly a top seller for games, but early hacks show it to be a device capable of far more beyond interactive gaming. Microsoft agrees, today releasing an official software development kit that could be used to further bridge the physical and computing worlds. Read more »
Comcast has partnered with Skype to bring its video chat service to subscriber living rooms. With an adapter box and HD video camera, Comcast subscribers will soon be able to video chat with any other Skype users from the comfort of their living rooms. Read more »
At the IEEE Technology Time Machine Symposium last week I listened to the world’s leading academics, engineers, executives, and government officials project what the world will look like in 2020. The future brings technology together for everything from enhancing the human experience to improving environmental sustainability. Read more »
There may be many questions about Microsoft’s decision to buy Skype, but one thing is for sure: It can take video conferencing video calling to a whole different level, thanks to Kinect. If you watch these videos, you can easily imagine the future of video calls. Read more »
Crunchfish, a Swedish app company, has built software for mobile phones that turns the phone’s camera into a mouse. It’s one of several efforts to bring gesture-control to phones, and an example of how far motion control technology has come in the last few years. Read more »
Blame cord cutting, at least in part, for the drop in cable subscriber numbers in 2010. Looking towards 2011, we expect this trend could gather further steam thanks to bundled subscription offerings from players like Microsoft and Apple. We also expect a new iteration of the ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
When it comes to looking at Microsoft’s long journey to become a key player in the digital home, most of the digerati remain skeptics. But recently the company has been swinging a hot bat, with its Xbox 360 and a legitimate holiday hit in the ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Most of the digerati remain skeptical about Microsoft’s long journey to becoming a key player in the digital home will ever pay off. But recently the company has been swinging a hot bat, with its Xbox 360 and a legitimate holiday hit in the Kinect. Read more »
Microsoft is selling an average of 100,000 Kinect accessories per day, making it the hottest holiday seller this year. So why is Kinect capturing our imagination, and money, when Sony and Nintendo both have competing motion controls for their own systems? Let me show you! Read more »
Already selling 1 million units in 10 days, Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect controller is a hit. I can see why; it’s intuitive, fun, and it finally gives parents like me a chance to beat the kids in a video game, even if I look stupid doing it. Read more »
TV apps will soon be “everywhere,” according to attendees of a recent GigaOM Bunker event examining the future of the TV market. But how that market will develop, and which TV platforms will win out, is yet to be ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
