Xbox Second Screen Announced 125
kodiaktau writes "Microsoft has announced a feature called SmartGlass that provides a new set of features when viewing media on mobile or PC devices. Sources say that it will provide context focused advertising/product placement as well as metadata about the media you are currently viewing. Additionally the interface allows you to store viewing data and share between your desktop and mobile devices to continue viewing content between devices. From the article: 'SmartGlass also allows you to view the web on an Xbox 360 using Internet Explorer. The tablet or phone becomes the keyboard and you can easily browse web pages without having a physical keyboard in the living room.'"
"...using Internet Explorer" (Score:2, Insightful)
No, thanks.
Re:"...using Internet Explorer" (Score:4, Informative)
It is IE 9, not IE 6 or the crappy dumb phone nefront on the PS 3
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He said "no thanks". Did you not hear him or something? Maybe he should say it in all caps?
Re:"...using Internet Explorer" (Score:4, Informative)
Why not use IE? Honestly, it sucks WAY less than it used to!
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I'm afraid I can't tell if you're serious or not.
Re:"...using Internet Explorer" (Score:5, Funny)
Microsoft products. When "sucks way less" is the replacement for "good".
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"NEW: Tastes nothing like the old one"
http://www.mysavings.com/img/link/large/17969.jpg [mysavings.com]
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The only thing made by microsoft that doesn't suck is a vacuum cleaner.
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M$ had their moment in the sun and M$ Office was good and at a fair price the 1997 version, windows 98 second edition was nearly there and XP professional edition was pretty on the money apart from the idiot sign up. They got greedy, totally choked the chicken on MSN, failed to retire Uncle Fester, when nuts trying to corrupt international standards, lame arsed in on music player and phones and are a real pain on data lock in and forced upgrades.
M$ here are a couple of thrown away hints about how table
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Probably not even IE9 but IE10, since the update is coming in the fall and Windows 8/IE10 is expected to go RTM/Gold by Aug 1.
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This is for the Xbox 360 and Windows Mobile devices. Let me know when Commodo Dragon or Chrome works on these?
I am not saying its the best browser in the world, cures cancer, lets web developers write an ajax site in one line of code (unless they know perl ;-), or anything.
Is it usable for the living room or the phone? Absolutely, and it is the only somewhat modern browser and can do an ok job compared to the competition.
Opera for the Wii is very very old and certainly wouldn't work well on modern sites. Ne
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Sorry mr. An Onymous Coward, I don't have any mod points to bring you to "+5 insightful".
Please, complain to mr. Slash Dot.
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Well, it's certainly similar in concept, but there's a pretty big difference between "interact with this included piece of proprietary hardware" and "interact with otherwise unrelated standard hardware". I was expecting the "standard hardware" to mean Windows hardware, but there does seem to be iOS support, hopefully Android support to follow once Windows 8 tablets inevitably fail.
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hopefully Android support to follow once Windows 8 tablets inevitably fail.
Android support was mentioned. (Though not in the linked article)
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Let's be honest here. Wii U was not first. They did it with Gamecube / GBA.
But did they not rip that off from the dreamcast? I'm arguing a strong yes here.
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I doubt Nvidia would go with microsoft for the 720 or whatever it'll be called. Nvidia got burned very badly on the orignal xbox.
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They were late to the "rip off Nintendo" game last gen, so now they are on it before the Wii U is released.
LOL. Well, Nintendo copied them back this time (with the pro controller).
What they won't be coping is games that make good use of this feature.
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Well, in this case both of them copied the Sega Dreamcast [wikipedia.org], assuming that Sega was actually the first one...
On a side note: that thing looks like it might make an original XBox controller feel comfortable!
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and the Dreamcast ran Windows CE, so it could be said that MS was the innovator originally.
Re:Allready copying Nintendo (Score:4, Interesting)
Erm, no.
Hardware != OS. Sega designed the Dreamcast, not Microsoft. Sega just implemented some of Microsoft's software within it.
If I made a revolutionary new virtual reality system, and happened to choose Linux to run it, would you say that Linus Torvalds was the innovator responsible for this virtual reality system?
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??
It ran wince but it is not a part of the console. The Dreamcast doesn't have an internal operating system. That came depending on what came on the game discs it booted from and only a tiny fraction of games employed wince. Interesting of note out of all Dreamcast's library of games (which is small already) there is not one top title which uses wince.
List of wince games here:
http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/threads/43804-WinCE-games-List [dcemu.co.uk]
You could easily build up a collection of A-B rated titles without hav
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and alfred sloan copied ford? what's your point?
the second and third guy to do something is usually the successful one because historically the entrepreneur is stubborn and sticks to his narrow vision
Re:Allready copying Nintendo (Score:5, Insightful)
Except that nowadays the first guy patents it, and demands shake-down money from everybody else because somehow the patent office granted a patent on either an idea, or something which reads as "something well known, but with a computer".
Somehow, we call this innovation.
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While I wholeheartedly agree that there is a serious problem with the patent system, I don't understand why everyone seems to think this is a new thing. Inventors, or should I say "smart" inventors, have always patented their creations in an effort to lock others out so that they can make as much profit as possible. In fact, that's why the patent system exists.
Right now the focus of patent complaints seems to be largely on software patents, which I agree are largely bunk, but that's not the point. In the
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Re:Yay, something I don't need and don't want (Score:5, Insightful)
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The summary doesn't mention it, and I winder ... by phone or tablet, do they mean *any* phone or tablet, or are they going to pull an Apple and lock it to their devices?
Re:Yay, something I don't need and don't want (Score:5, Informative)
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other platform support will be
1) poorly implemented
2) deliberately gimped
3) late
4) all the above
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So it's like a Gamecube with the Gameboy attached..... the Gameboy displays extra info about the players or overall maps. Nothing new really.
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Not to mention Dreamcast and its VMU modules (or whatever they were called). Frankly, it's a shame we've had to wait until now (for TFA and the Wii U) for it to resurface as an idea again.
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The problem is that a lot of the stuff mentioned were already possible before this "technology". You can open IMDB on any phone or any tablet already. This sounds a bit more interactive, but why should I be reading about a scene instead of just watching it? There are some potential gaming applications with it, but am I supposed to juggle a controller and a tablet at the same time in order to get a "full" experience? Doesn't sound particularly fun. (Maybe they want me to use Kinect+tablet, but shouting
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Umm, those were in *reruns* of shows. They were essentially the same as trivia commentary tracks on some DVDs.
It wasn't like these were in the initial runs of the shows, and necessary to understand the show. They were additional info, for fans. (At least a couple of them succeeded in getting me to watch a rerun, when I otherwise would't've.. But I skipped the ads as always, so it wasn't too successful on the network's part.)
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I inferred that you were disparaging them in the original post I responded to. Now it sounds like you thought they were useful.
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I can think of a few examples why I'd want this in addition to simply watching.
My wife and I are working our way through all the Star Trek series right now on Netflix, we're in Voyager now. I can't count the number of times we've said "hey, is that the actor from such and such episode or other sci-fi series?" and pulled up IMDB while letting the show continue to play. Having that info auto-linked would speed up the time it takes to find and get us back into the episode that much faster.
Similarly, in a serie
Wait, What Are We Doing Wrong?! (Score:5, Funny)
How about you work on a next gen console, and stop adding useless crap to your tired console from 2005?
But but but, we can help you find products that you want to spend money on! Don't you want that? Don't you want to spend money? Don't you want to see the new shinies that are coming out on the expensive game system you paid moneys for? Are you some communist that is against buying stuff? And we can build a WEB SERVICE with the RIAA that helps you make sure that you're playing a REAL copy of your favorite movie or album and will make sure you're not some victim using victimizing bittorrent, horrible handbrake and the dangerous PS3MediaServer to enjoy your game system. We just want to give you more purchasing power and help you manage your digital rights. Don't you want power and rights? Huh?
Typical Slashdot bullshit (Score:4, Insightful)
Interesting. If they work only on the XBox 720 and abandon the 360, the typical Slashdot comment will be "OMG THEY WANT TO FORCE YOU TO BUY A NEW CONSOLE THAT YOU DON'T NEED TO GET NEW SOFTWARE FEATURES LIKE A BROWSER".
If you bought a XBox 360, all this is amazing value lasting years (minus RRoD issues which they fixed at their cost) and you can still use all the new features like using your existing iDevice or Android device with the new games.
Why is this a bad thing again, isn't it just more value for your money? They're not even charging the 5, 10 or 20 bucks for the big software upgrades that Apple used to charge for the iPod Touch upgrades.
Why is the summary so lame and talks mostly about ads? I don't even see the "Sources say... ads" line in the article... where did it come from? Now we're going to see that picked up in the comments and without even a proper source.
Again, since when is adding features to something you already bought a bad thing? And no, I am not new here. So I guess it's because we're talking about 'M$' on the Slashdot circle jerk inborn retardation channel. The saner people have left in disgust and the inmates run the asylum, right from the submitters to the commenters to the moderators, perhaps editors too.
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and yet the keynote explicitly mentioned it.
Re:Yay, something I don't need and don't want (Score:4, Insightful)
Because the 360 (and PS3) are "Good Enough"
Just like DVDs vs BluRay, sure BluRays hold more detail, higher res, etc. but DVD is sufficient for most people. Many are even willing to get lower quality for more convenience, like crappy streams/ 'R5' torrents. I would say the main reason DVD's outsold VHS is the lack of Rewinding.
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you are doing it wrong. " 360 (and PS3) are "Good Enough""
I stopped playing PS3 after last year's madden, the season progression took 15-35 minutes, the game start takes several minutes... time for new hardware...
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considering i only play a hand full of games, madden being one of them... i wish there was a way to update rosters for madden 2010 instead of a "new" game each year.
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"Stop adding value to my current investment and bring out a new platform so I can throw money at you all over again!"
Never thought I'd hear that on slashdot, the place that almost universally derides the upgrade train from LPs to tapes to CDs and then on into the downloadable content realm.
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Upgrading from LP to cassettes to CD don't offer new content..... just the same old stuff that you need to repurchase. But the 5-year-cycle for consoles provides better sound, better graphics, and new games. We want and are willing to pay for improved technology & the new game styles it permits. (Unless you're still sitting there playing your old Atari?)
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Re:Yay, something I don't need and don't want (Score:4, Interesting)
Better graphics and new games are something you get in the current cycle, without upgrade consoles. Games from 2012 look a lot better than they did in 2005 on the same hardware.
This has pretty much always been the case with most formats- the later games look better as they get to grips with the hardware and standards generally improve. Later Atari 400/800 and Commodore 64 games looked miles better than some of the first releases.
Conversely, while the first tranche of next-generation games may look marginally impressive next to their predecessors, it's often not that big a leap, e.g. I remember when my flatmates bought a PS2 in early 2001 and the games looked slightly improved over what you'd expect from the original PlayStation, but nothing that impressed me that much. (The Grand Prix racing game in particular looked just like a PS1 game with higher resolution). Similarly, the early PS1 game Road Rash looked pretty much like a Mega Drive/Genesis racer, just with a few added polygon buildings and some FMV slapped on.
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You are correct (programmer skills improve over a console's life), but exaggerate a bit. The games you cite as examples were probably developed for the PS1, and then last-minute ported to the PS2. That happened with Final Fantasy 4 which is really an NES game, but was retargeted to Super Nintendo near the end of development. Ditto "Animal Crossing" and "Luigi's Mansion" which were originally N64 games, but released to the Gamecube since the n64 had been discontinued.
Final Fantasy 10 and Gran Turismo 4 we
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So you're claiming that LPs, *with the pops/clicks and skipping*, sound better than CDs? Especially "to normal ears".
That's ironic, with your username. While I haven't played any of my Atari 2600 games in a long time, I do think some are "still" fun. Heck, I'll probably get a Wii at some point to play the various Mario games (fr
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Why not graduate from consoles and move into PC gaming?
If it wasn't for the rumors that next gen consoles are being designed I would have expected the next gen consoles to be stripped down PC's with a content delivery system that works on consoles and PC's.
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Re:Yay, something I don't need and don't want (Score:4, Insightful)
Do you honestly believe that the PC gaming companies aren't doing all of this too?
They don't have one time serial numbers? They don't have additional DLC and add-on costs? They don't have DRM that requires an always-on internet connection? They don't cost a fortune?
I'm pretty sure I've seen people complaining about all of these things in PC gaming.
At least on a console I don't have to worry about what other crap they're doing behind the scenes.
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Wrong, that's just as much an issue with PC games.
you're OK with paying a subscription (e.g. xbox live) on top of the top-dollar paid for a game, just to play it.
Wrong, that's only XBox that has subscription fees and wrong again on needing to pay that just to play it.
you're OK with paying for DLC or content packs that really should be part of the game (and in some cases is actually delivered on the game media but cost
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If you're ok as a game developer making 3d realistic graphics on crappy intel gma 915 mobile graphics with 3% of the power of a real GPU with a console, and no dedicated ram.
Seriously Intel killed the gaming market for the pc. I saw a statistic here several years ago that showed 70% of the pcs sold come with these graphics so horrible not even Aero can run properly. The same games all look fluid and awesome on the console and kids laugh at PCs because they are so slow, crappy, and over priced.
Go ahead and t
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Overhead of the OS. MS tried the "stripped down PC" with the Xbox...it's already been tried. Didn't work.
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Microsoft altready tried the "Smash a PC into a console" with the original Xbox, and they lost a lot of money doing it. It is cheaper to design a console that is easy-to-assemble and save some cash, especially if it is designed to allow integration later on (such as the PS2slim with one single CPU instead of several independent chips).
Re:Yay, something I don't need and don't want (Score:5, Insightful)
Because not everybody is interested in PC gaming?
It's just another machine to buy and keep up to date, and it is probably more effort than most people are willing to invest.
I don't play games often enough to want to do anything other than pop in the disk, play the game a while, and turn off the console.
I'd be willing to bet most people who play on consoles don't want to have a PC gaming rig, or they'd have done so. I for one have no interest in getting into the "which super awesome video card do I need now". A console is more like an appliance, plug it in and go, which is precisely what I want it to be.
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I for one have no interest in getting into the "which super awesome video card do I need now".
To be fair, these days it's more like "which super awesome video game is going to finally require me to upgrade my video card". If you get a decent one (less than 100 dollars) it will last a ridiculously long time playing all the latest games at close to max settings. My theory is that the games are designed in the first place for console hardware which hardly ever gets deprecated, even after a new console version is released.
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Why not graduate from consoles and move into PC gaming?
Oh no, I already spent way too many years of my life chasing THAT dragon, thank you very much.
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Why not graduate from consoles and move into PC gaming?
Because not everyone wants to be on the forums on launch day questioning why their drivers are crashing when they adjust their settings to get a balance between performance and visual quality. Look at the myriad of posts on the forums for AAA titles complaining of crashes with different hardware combinations and hurried releases of drivers to try and fix problems.
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to me the non-game stuff was the best part of the show. the latest shoot everyone till they are dead game is getting pretty old.
getting rid of extra crap i have and using the x-box for everything is something i'm looking forward to. few years ago i thought sony was going to do this, but once again sony screwed up
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How about you work on a next gen console, and stop adding useless crap to your tired console from 2005?
Yeah stop supporting your products dammit!
batting 1000 (Score:4, Funny)
Wow. Steve Ballmer batting 1000 lately.
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the penetration rate of tablets and smartphones is a lot higher than proprietary x-box keyboards that will just add to clutter around the house
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Yes. Those proprietary, standard USB keyboards which are so expensive and totally hard to find at, well, anywhere.
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Steve Ballmer batting 1000 lately.
Remove the 1 and the remaining digits are on the money...
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Hmmm ... I have the little xbox keyboard attachment for my wired controller. I wonder if I'll be able to use IE with that? No mention of it in TFA.
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He did say "keyboards don't belong in the living room". So STOP IT!
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He did say "keyboards don't belong in the living room". So STOP IT!
I think the shareholders are saying that "Steve doesn't belong in the board room."
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Does it actually say that you need a phone/tablet to enter text for web browsing? I'd expect it to just work with any existing Xbox accessories that enable you to type.
2004 called.... (Score:1)
Giving the people what they want. (Score:5, Funny)
Finally, Microsoft has listened to it's customers and fanbase! People have been clamouring for years to have context focused advertising/product placement on their Xboxen and now these long years have loyalty have been rewarded. Bravo, Microsoft. Bravo.
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its*
I hereby hand in my Grammar Nazi ID card and matching lanyard. Oh, the humiliation.
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I hereby hand in my Grammar Nazi ID card and matching lanyard.
Congratulations, comrade. You are now a Grammar Commie.
Your membership papers and code-keyring will be sent after you submit appropriately completed forms in triplicate.
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its*
I hereby hand in my Grammar Nazi ID card and matching lanyard. Oh, the humiliation.
You missed the second one:
;)
"...these long years have loyalty have been rewarded".
Shred it!
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I always have mod points when I want to comment, and never when i want to mod.
Anyways, I agree. Ads have pushed me away from the 360. Advertisements are literally among my most loathed concepts. I used to be a FAN of the xbox. Not anymore.
Re:Giving the people what they want. (Score:5, Funny)
Ads have pushed me away from the 360. Advertisements are literally among my most loathed concepts.
What, you think just because you spent several hundred dollars on hardware, and continue to pay a subscription fee to access online content, you shouldn't be bombarded with advertisements every time you turn the thing on? How else are they supposed to make money???
I swear, the selfishness of today's consumer...
.../sarc
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With a battle cry go forth which is
"Give the people what they want."
And what the people want could only be the senseless slaughter
of the gutter-slime that litters this nation for cash and prizes.
Yes, this is the show where people bet their lives to win something big.
'cause when your life is shit, then you haven't got much to lose on
Slaughterama!
Re:Giving the people what they want. (Score:5, Insightful)
This is why the marketers need to be dragged out in the street and gutted like pigs :)
You know that an engineer came up with the idea of SmartGlass, and it was really cool... in the lab. The awesomeness was then taken as a prototype to a bunch of executives who cooed and went gaga over their new money maker... and then the marketers came in and fucked the whole thing up by "giving" customers exactly what they don't want.
Good Job, Marketers, Hip Hip Hooray! :)
Re:Giving the people what they want. (Score:5, Interesting)
It reminds me of Netscape Constellation. Netscape invented a pretty cool system where you could have a network-portable desktop - you could log into any computer anywhere, and all your stuff (programs, documents, desktop, everything) would come up for you. Think Chromebook, but more app-oriented, and in 1997.
One TINY feature of this was push content. Then the Netscape marketing department got wind of it and said "You mean we can use this to PUSH ADS?"
Then all the other stuff was ripped out, and the push content part of it got released as Netcaster, part of the Communicator suite.... And then was promptly ignored by everyone, because the only people interested in pushing content to you were advertisers.
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Gee, kind of like NFS home directories? From 1984 (according to wikipedia).
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And like clockwork, Slashdot comes out crying "invasive advertising shenanigans"!
I see... (Score:3)
So this time Microsoft is looking to copy the new Nintendo console BEFORE it comes out.
Finally! (Score:1)
clutching at straws (Score:2)
MS has missed the boat on just about everything. The bulk of disposable income wants gadgets, not PCs, sure a single PC is OK, but the money is in phones, tablets and consoles, and trying to turn the xbox into something worse through ads will only drive people away.
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so if I want to look something up quick I can.
If you would of used that same logic to goto YouTube and actually watch the announcement you'd know it is supported on Windows, iOS and Android platforms.
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So it's coming up on IOS and Windows Phones? I expected Windows Phones but IOS over Android?
Watch the presentation, he said Windows Phone, iOS and Android.