Microsoft

The Xbox One Can Tell When It’s Overheating, and Adjusts to Fix It

So here’s a cool thing the Xbox One can do: It automatically recognizes when it’s overheating—probably because you’re an idiot and left a pizza box on top of it—and can adjust on the fly. In fact, it’s designed with extra room to make those adjustments. In our chat with Xbox’s General Manager of Console Development…

How the Xbox One Console Was Designed to Be an Everything Machine

As the dust settled over the new Xbox One this summer, one point that kept coming up—maybe predictably—was size: The console is surprisingly chunky. Just chunky enough to make you wonder whether its wide berth isn’t a hint at what Microsoft’s engineers were hiding in there—and what it could reveal about their intentions for future…

You can now snag a Nokia Lumia 928 for free on Verizon when you take out a two-year contract. That’s a pretty sweet deal.

The Xbox One Controller Will Work with Your PC…. in 2014

PC Gamers! You won’t have to spend more money to make your Xbox One controller work with your computer. Unlike the 360 which requires a wired controller or an extra dongle, the Xbox One’s controller will work fine with your PC games. Well, it’ll work fine with your PC after a software update in 2014.…

The Xbox One Is Worse For Everyone If Kinect’s Not Mandatory

Using Kinect with your Xbox One is no longer mandatory. Yay, right? No. Wrong. Again. This is another dumb subtraction from Microsoft, presented as choice. https://kotaku.com/xbox-one-wont-actually-need-kinect-plugged-in-microso-1113142909 It’s simple: As a standard-issue, always-on-and-enabled FEATURE of the Xbox One, Kinect was something that had a hugely better chance (not a guarantee, but a good chance) of being…

The next Xbox 360 update will finally officially kill Microsoft Points dead. All your points will be converted over to an amount of currency equal to or greater than your points. Any Microsoft Points Cards will still be valid too (and transferred to real dollars). [Microsoft]

Why the Hell Are the Xbox One’s Best New Features Behind a Paywall?

You don’t buy a Big Mac and pay extra for special sauce. You don’t buy an iPhone and pay extra for FaceTime. So why in the hell is Microsoft putting some of its most heavily promoted Xbox One features behind an idiotic Xbox Live Gold paywall? Because it can. But that doesn’t mean that it…

The Internet Was Almost Called the Catenet

In its early days, radio technology was often called wireless telephone. The Xbox was almost called the MEGA. But did you know that the internet nearly wound up with a different name too? Indeed, the internet was almost called the catenet. https://gizmodo.com/microsoft-actually-considered-these-idiotic-names-for-t-708779004 Just as the internet derived its name from the word internetworked, the term…

Microsoft Just Improved the Xbox One’s Graphics Powers

Well, Microsoft does seem to be listening to people. A sticking point for a lot of fans on the next-generation console has been that it’s less powerful than Sony’s PlayStation 4. In a podcast today, though, Major Nelson talked with Xbox’s Marc Whitten about some changes to the Xbox One that will let it crank…

How the Xbox One Is Designed To Be Left Switched on for 10 Years

There’s a reason Xbox One comes in that whopping great 1980s VCR style case, and it’s not because some one in authority at Microsoft went mad. It’s for cooling, to help keep it quiet and reliable—and so you can leave it switched on constantly for the next ten years. According to Digital Foundry, which spoke…

Google has decided to extend Google Sync support for Windows Phone until December 31st—which’ll give Microsoft longer to guarantee its mobile OS plays nice with Google Calendar and Contacts in the future.

Microsoft Has to Change SkyDrive’s Name Because of a Lawsuit Now, Too

Ha. In a pain-in-the-everything development for Microsoft, it’s agreed to change SkyDrive’s name because it infringes on a trademark owned by British Sky Broadcasting Group, one of the largest media organizations in the UK. This is, of course, deeply funny. Last year, Microsoft had to rename its Metro interface after it lost a slapfight over…

In Theory, This Is How Xbox One and PS4 Graphics Compare

There’s no doubt that on paper, the way Sony’s designed the PS4 and the AMD components it’s selected offer 50 per cent more power in the GPU department over the Xbox One. But does it really make any difference when you get down to playing a game? That’s the question Eurogamer and Digital Foundry set…

The 7 Companies Microsoft Won’t Let Its Ex-Windows Chief Work For

Late last year, Microsoft booted out booted out its head of Windows, Steve Sinofsky. Now, a few more details have come out about his departure—including who Microsoft have banned him from working for. https://gizmodo.com/the-president-of-windows-steven-sinofsky-is-leaving-mic-5959997 In a 10-K filing, it’s revealed that Microsoft has said Sinofsky “cannot accept direct or indirect employment” with Amazon, Apple, EMC,…

Microsoft Gave Google a Copyright Takedown Request for Microsoft.com (Updated)

Because every company with even just a three-legged rat in the copyright race basically just shotgun sprays Google for takedown requests these days, Microsoft accidentally but very hilariously asked Google to censor… Microsoft.com. That’s got to be even worse than HBO giving Google a takedown request for VLC. Yeah, it’s definitely worse. https://gizmodo.com/huh-hbo-gave-google-a-copyright-takedown-request-for-796178090 The takedown…

Microsoft Word Problems

The only thing harder than math is math about real life. These Microsoft Word problems from our friends at McSweeney’s are impossible: 1. Helen’s bibliography contains 27 web sites, two-thirds of which Microsoft Word annoyingly converts into hyperlinks. If selecting “remove hyper link” requires two clicks of the mouse, how many clicks will Helen expend…

Microsoft Has Invented a Way To Embed Data in 3D Printed Objects

Say you have a 3D-printed item you’re selling. Maybe you slap a barcode on it that identifies what it is, where it came from, and how much it costs. However, Microsoft has developed a new technology called InfaStructs that offers a better alternative. With it, you could embed information directly inside of an item. InfaStructs…

Nokia 1020 Review: The Best Smartphone Camera in a Pretty Great Phone

The Nokia 1020 represents something fairly remarkable: the nearly flawless melding of a smartphone and a camera. The assumption up until now was that while such a mash-up wasn’t strictly impossible, it would surely require a laundry list of unpleasant compromises. Instead, what we’ve got is an entirely new kind of gadget. One that, most…

Nokia’s Lumia 625: A 4.7-Inch Windows Phone on the Cheap

Nokia’s follow up to the mid-range-to-budget Lumia 620 has gone bigger than ever, taking Windows Phone to an Android-like 4.7-inches. Shame about the resolution. The budget phone will come packing an 800 x 480 IPS 4.7-inch LCD with “supertouch” so you can use it with gloves on; great, I guess, but it looks decidedly low-res…

The New SkyDrive Might Be the Best Cloud Storage Yet

SkyDrive in Windows 8.1 has a secret weapon no one’s talked very much about. It’s actually pretty amazing, in that small sort of way that doesn’t change much, but still manages to completely alter how you use something. In fact, it might just make SkyDrive the best cloud service around. If you install Dropbox, SkyDrive,…