6 | Microsoft
attle, Washington. The openings reflect Mi-
crosoft’s resolve to increasingly expand its
retail presence in the national market.
X MARKS THE SPOT
Microsoft has also just unveiled its newXbox
console and touted a few the treats it will im-
part. Though no official word as the actual
release date, or price, what is known offers
plenty to entice consumers feverishly wait-
ing to connect with its second generation of
“Kinect” functionality.
The company has described the Xbox
One as “the ultimate all in one entertainment
system” for a new generation of gamers and
entertainment enthusiasts. It integrates live
television programming, games, movies and
web services such as Skype, which can now
all be controlled through voice recognition
applications deployed by Kinect. Suppose
one wants to turn the console on, a voice
command will make it do so - Kinect actual-
ly listens (and isn’t that all any of us desire in
our relationships with technology devices).
Voice commands will similarly direct users to
other applications, simply by saying “Xbox
Watch TV” or specific networks by saying
“XboxWatch ESPN.” During a recent demo,
the system also responded to hand gestures.
Microsoft reports that this new generation
Kinect is powerful enough to detect mo-
tions in 13-billionths of a second. Its camera
has a field-of-view 60 percent wider than the
original Kinect, meaning users don’t have to
be so confined to one spot, and it also uses
infra-red applications enabling Kinect to
function in absolute darkness.
As for other specs, there’s the x64 8-core
AMD CPU, 500 GB hardrive, USB 3.0
ports, and 8GB DDR3 RAM, Wi-Fi con-
nectivity, HDMI-in and HDMI-out ports.
A Blu-ray drive has also been added.
And yes, gamers, more thrills to come. As
Xbox Live has proven to be the world’s most
popular online gaming platform, there is
substantial back-system overhauling to pre-
