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.'"
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.
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.
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?