The Smidgen

For anyone who somewhat actively follows the mobile phone world (especially of the smart phone variety) it should come as no surprise that Microsoft has finally officially announced and revealed it’s new smart phone OS, Windows Phone 7 Series, at the MWC (Mobile World Conference) in Barcelona today.  There are hundreds, if not thousands of different portals on the interwebs where you can read the details of what 7 Series has to offer, read the liveblog of Microsoft’s announcement at MWC or check out a 22 minute long demonstration of the new OS, so I’m just going to summarize here and give you what you really want, my take.

The Quick (Details and such)

So what’s new, short and sweet?  I know it sounds trite but seriously, what isn’t new?  Hell even the OS’s name has changed from Windows Mobile to Windows Phone 7 Series (not exactly roll-off-the-tongue good but, hey).  Now if you take a quick look you’ll see that it looks nothing like WinMo 6.5.3 or any other previous MS Mobile OS, however, you will think right away (if you’re me or an equally techie webnerd) that it does look strikingly similar to the Zune HD.  Coincidence?  Not even remotely.  The interface theme is called Metro and it actually started with the refresh to Windows Media Player a while back, moved on to the Zune and has now found a new home in the 7 Series.  Large, bold text and lacking the ‘chrome’ or flashy graphics from other systems.  Simple, clean, wholly un-MS like from the start … except now it’s part of one of their main OSes, which is some sort of paradox I don’t want to think about right now.  If you stop to think about it (and you are actually interested in that sort of thing), it’s pretty impressive that MS, as big and unwieldy as it seems, was able to shed the WinMo skin so completely, though of course they desperately needed to. continue reading…

Got that spiffy new Zune HD but feel like your squandering your Tegra powered goodness?  Well fret no more as the latest firmware update 4.3 (released last Friday) opened up the world of 3D gaming to Microsoft’s plucky little PMP.

Along with fixing that odd little playcount issue, the 4.3 player update added support for upcoming 3D games and apps which have now arrived on the Marketplace.  Though the list is still rather small the good part is that all the games are (as promised) free!

On a personal note I seriously hope this means that support for full-on community development, and a paid marketplace to encourage said community, is on the way.  The day of Xbox Live Arcade merging with the Zune Marketplace is coming, I can feel it.

Here’s the game list:

• PGR: ferrari edition, a 3d racegame
• Lucky lane bowling, a 3d bowling game
• Vans Sk8: Pool service, a 3d Skate game
• Piano, a simple piano where you can play your own tunes on
• Audio Surf: Tilt, ride your music – you choose a song that the game will turn into a roller coaster track for you to ride
• Checkers, I don’t think you’ll need a description for this one

Update: Engadget fired up PGR on their Zune HD, uploaded a video and had this to say about it.

That Tegra chip is no joke — the graphics in PGR: Ferrari Edition are easily on par with the PSP and quite possibly better, with intricate textures, high-quality reflections, and smooth framerates. The other games aren’t nearly as intense, but they’re just as smooth.

It’s been a long, long time coming but if the rumors are true the next handheld system from Nintendo may get a significant performance boost thanks to the Tegra in the form of the tentatively named Nintendo TS (Tegra System?).  Yup, that’s right, the same multi-core ARM based chip that powers the new Zune HD could give Nintendo a portable system that is on par with the Wii in terms of processing power and graphics output.  Moreover, it could actually compete with the feature set of its closest rival, the PSP.

The news gets even better when you consider that the previous generations of DS hardware were based around 16 and then 32-bit ARM cores, making the leap to Tegra painless and, very likely, backwards compatible, which everyone apparently loves.

If true, this design win for the Tegra chip would mean a huge boost in revenue for Nvidia knowing that they power the new version of Nintendo’s 100 million selling DS system.

Conversely, this could be dire news for Microsoft if it ever plans on getting into the handheld market with their Zune hardware.  The Zune HD currently uses the same Tegra chip and therefore is currently sitting idly on the processing honchos to deliver a great gaming experience.  That is, of course, if MS can ever get off it’s backside and integrate the Xbox Live Arcade into the Zune and vice versa.  Delay too long and Nintendo will swoop in with a Tegra of it’s own and a long history of success in the handheld market to swing around like a 10 ton hammer.

The handheld market just got a whole lot more interesting for me.  Look for this rumored device to land sometime in late winter of 2010.

Big old rumor alert here so grab that chunk of salt you keep laying around for just such an occasion.  It seems that SquareEnix head, Yoichi Wada, is predicting that Nintendo will unleash a Wii HD with graphic capabilities similar to the current PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2011.

This of course would not be the first time for such a rumor but it is the first one I know of coming from the head of a major game development studio.

An HD Wii that supports HDMI and 1080p with actual current gen graphics would go a long way toward swinging my attention back to the big N.  Of course playing catchup in 2011 is all fine and dandy until the next Xbox releases in 2012 (another rumor, that one).

Yeah ... looks real comfortable alright ...

Oh Japan, how I love you and your crazy sh*t.  See that thing on the left there with the suit precariously balanced on it?  Yeah, that’s Honda’s answer to the Segway.  A self propelled, self balancing, 3.7mph traveling unicycle that moves in the direction you lean.  Tightrope not included.

The U3-X weighs in at just under 22lbs and though it’s just “a proposal” right now, it’s designed with the elderly as a first thought, world takeover a close second (like all of Japan’s robots).  The wheel is actually comprised of many tiny motor-controlled wheels that allow it to swerve around in any direction when you lean that way.

I’m not really sure how the less mobile and coordinated elderly (you know, the ones that need a device to move them around) would fair with something like this but hey, that’s not the point, the point is it’s cool and weird right?  Right!?  Want to see some more pictures (you know you do), check out the Daily Mail article.

The world of the mobile smart phone operating systems is about to get even more crowded as Intel has announced that Moblin v2.1 will support phones using their Atom processor.

Multiple applications running at the same time and the ability to flip through them was displayed on a MID, nothing really ground breaking there.  Intel’s new offering will be one more Linux based OS for smart phones with the only interesting fact about it (so far) being that it’s designed for the Atom.  This is the important part for Intel which seeks to compete more heavily against ARM in the MID and now in the phone sectors.

Expect this to pick up some steam as Intel will be throwing a lot of it’s bags of money toward dominating yet another chip market.

Image courtesy of Engadget

As everyone should know by now, the Zune HD is out and it’s a thing of beauty but a lot of reviewers aren’t quite sold on it.  Why you ask?  Lack of apps.  For me, it’s a PMP and a damned good one so I’m not really bothered by the limited amount of apps available on the Zune marketplace, however, inevitable lines are drawn to the iPod Touch with any new PMP and since the Zune HD actually has app capability, the lack thereof is going to be noted.

Fear not though, fans of the Zune, for while all apps for the Zune HD in the near future will be created by MS only (and free I might add) XNA has received an upgrade to version 3.1 and included libraries for things like the HD’s multi-touch screen and accelerometer.

So what the hell does that mean?  Well from the site XNA is “composed of industry-leading software, services, resources, and communities focused on enabling game developers to be successful on Microsoft gaming platforms.”

Broken down XNA is the platform used to develop Xbox Live Arcade games and with access to Zune HD tech in version 3.1, any developer who belongs to the XNA club can develop games and apps for said device.  Good eh?

So when will they be available?  No word on that yet but you can bet MS is working hard on figuring out all of the logistics.  For now we can just enjoy the “etch-a-sketch” work in the photo above.  Multi-touch draw, erase with a shake?  I’ll take it.  It’s simple but hey, not bad for a day’s work.

Sony has been in the eReader business for a while now but with the recent success of Amazon’s Kindle devices, Sony has redoubled it’s efforts in order to push themselves back into this market.

In a surprising (for Sony) move in the right direction they have abandoned their proprietary eBook format, BeBB, for the EPUB standard that was established in 2007, the very format that the Kindle does not support.  Supporting the EPUB standard means that any eBook you buy for your Sony touch screen eReader will work on any other eReader that supports the format, which is pretty much all of them save the Kindle.  Standards support is good for consumers who are then free to choose which device they want on features rather than which one supports the format they need, however, since the Kindle has it’s own format and happens to be the most popular reader out there it might all mean nothing to the consumers.

If this all sounds a tad too familiar then you’re probably thinking about the music industry and it’s digital juggernaut, iTunes.  The world may be happily suckling at Steve Jobs’ teat for their musical fix since his baby is the dominate force in the industry but the few people who want standards on their music so they can take it anywhere are getting crapped on almost daily, and it doesn’t seem like that will end anytime soon.

Will the same thing happen in the eReader world?  Will Amazon become the next Apple and become so large and powerful that they can dictate how the eBook universe will get it’s content however they see fit?  Only time will tell I suppose but in all of this there is something else that’s bothering me …

Sony gave up it’s own proprietary format!?  This is the company that tried to give the world BetaMAX, the MiniDisc, UMD’s and the MemoryStick and for the most part they still insist on using their own formats despite the fact that no one cares about them at all.  I would have thought after the hard won success of BluRay, Sony would try even harder to press their own formats.  Well color me surprised.  I guess this means one of two things, either Sony is actually starting to actually believe what Steve Haber, president of Sony’s Digital Reading Business Division said about the EPUB move:

A world of proprietary formats and DRMs creates silos and limits overall market growth.  Consumers should not have to worry about which device works with which store. With a common format and common content protection solution (DRM), consumers will be able to shop around for the content they want regardless of where they get it or what device they use.

Or what’s more likely, they have gotten a little better at seeing when their own formats are going to fail miserably.  After all they have a lot of experience with that.

A European patent reveals a new Wii peripheral tentatively called the Nintendo Wii-tarded (not really).  The inflatable seat … thing, to the left there is supposed to house a Wiimote to sense balance shifts and use the nun-chuck or second Wiimote to simulate riding a horse or other animal or perhaps a vehicle (like a motorcycle for shark jumping I would presume).

I’m speechless and/or choking on my own laughter here so I’ll just give you some links.  Joystiq, European patent.

While it’s not terribly surprising to hear, the recent update to the Xbox 360 dashboard (released today) contains a little blurb about how Netflix has an “exclusive” partnership with Microsoft, sorry PS3 and Wii fans.

Netflix Partnership
This exclusive partnership offers you the ability to instantly stream movies and TV episodes from Netflix to the television via Xbox 360. Xbox 360 will be the only game console to offer this movie-watching experience, available to Xbox LIVE Gold members who are also Netflix unlimited plan subscribers**, at no additional cost.

Of course the time was right for Microsoft to seal this deal now before things developed too far with other console manufacturers otherwise things would have been a lot more expensive I’m sure.  As long as it stayed on the Xbox it was fine with me, additional consoles streaming directly might have encouraged Netflix to press for some more direct download content but hey, what can you do.