Saturday, September 7, 2013

Major Nelson takes Xbox One questions, says banned users will 'absolutely not' lose games

Major Nelson takes Xbox One questions, says banned users will 'absolutely not' lose games data = {blogUrl: "www.engadget.com",v: 315};when = {jquery: lab.scriptBs("jquery"),plugins: lab.scriptBs("plugins"),eng: lab.scriptBs("eng")}; var s265prop9 = ('20623267' !== '') ? 'bsd:20623267' : ''; var postID = '20623267'; var modalMNo = '93325862', modalVideoMNo = '93320648', modalGalleryMNo = '93304207'; when.eng("eng.omni.init", {pfxID:"weg",pageName:document.title,server:"acp-ld39.websys.aol.com",channel:"us.engadget", s_account: "aolwbengadget,aolsvc", short_url: "",pageType:"",linkInternalFilters:"javascript:,",prop1:"article",prop2:"gaming",prop9:s265prop9,prop12:document.location,prop17:"",prop18:"",prop19:"",prop20:"", prop22:"richard-lawler", prop54:"blogsmith",mmxgo: true }); adSendTerms('1')adSetMOAT('1');adSetAdURL('/_uac/adpagem.html');lab._script("http://o.aolcdn.com/os/ads/adhesion/js/adhads-min.js").wait(function(){var floatingAd = new AdhesiveAd("348-14-15-14c",{hideOnSwipe:true});}); onBreak({980: function () { adSetType("F");htmlAdWH("93325862", "LB", "LB"); adSetType("");}}); EngadgetMenu NewsReviews Features Galleries VideosEventsPodcasts Engadget ShowTopics Buyers Guides Sagas Store HD Mobile Alt Announcements Cameras Cellphones Desktops Displays Gaming GPS Handhelds Home Entertainment Household Internet Laptops Meta Misc Networking Peripherals Podcasts Robots Portable Audio/Video Science Software Storage Tablets Transportation Wearables Wireless Acer Amazon AMD Apple ASUS AT&T Blackberry Canon Dell Facebook Google HP HTC Intel Lenovo LG Microsoft Nikon Nintendo Nokia NVIDIA Samsung Sony Sprint T-Mobile Verizon About UsSubscribeLike Engadget@engadgettip uswhen.eng("eng.nav.init")when.eng("eng.tips.init") onBreak({980: function () {htmlAdWH("93325870", "215", "35",'AJAX','ajaxsponsor');}});Major Nelson takes Xbox One questions, says banned users will 'absolutely not' lose games HDBypostedJun 15th, 2013 at 6:17 PM 0

Major Nelson takes Xbox One questions, says banned users will 'absolutely not' lose games

E3 is over, but Microsoft still has a long way to go to answer questions from gamers about its new Xbox One console, particularly when it comes to the effects of DRM. Director of Programming of Xbox Live Larry Hryb aka Major Nelson takes on the most upvoted ones from posters in Reddit's games section in this video interview with Chloe Dykstra. One question that seems to have a clear answer is whether banned users will lose access to any games they've activated, as he stated "Absolutely not, you will always have access to the games you purchased." That goes against a previous response from the Xbox Support twitter account, although that may have been the result of confusion between the Xbox One and Xbox 360 policies. A question with no satisfying response yet however, is what gamers can expect years down the road if Xbox One's authentication servers are shut down. Major Nelson followed up with a response in the comment thread that "I'll get the real answer, I just don't know it yet."

Interestingly, the question he wished more people would have asked is about the "family package" and, we assume game sharing with a single account, after previously bringing up its cloud library as one upside to the new DRM setup. Tracking back to the original debut's focus on the console's HDMI input and TV overlays he mentioned using snap mode to watch TV while gaming, or getting Xbox Live notifications and jumping "instantly" to a game while watching TV. A similar crowdsourced interview was planned with the PlayStation team, but cancelled. Major Nelson says he will address more questions leading up to launch and is planning an ask me anything session later, so keep your (many) inquiries at the ready.


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Alt-week 6.15.13: Chris Hadfield's retirement, invisibility cloaks and dino-bird feathers

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Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days.Altweek 61513 Chris Hadfield retires, invisibility cloaks and energyscavenging micro devices

What goes up must eventually come down, and shortly after landing on Terra Firma from his last of three ISS missions, Chris Hadfield has resigned from the Canadian Space Agency. That leaves us to wax poetic on his legacy of space education and other oddities, while we also make goldfish disappear and admire dinosaur plumage. Welcome to alt-week.

Space exploration is serious business, but you wouldn't know it by watching charismatic Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who just finished a stint commanding the International Space Station for 144 days. While getting that job done, Hadfield also flaunted breathtaking earthscape images, educated us on the weirdness of the zero-g environment, and even entertained with a surprisingly decent version of Bowie's "Space Oddity" from actual space -- prompting a "Hallo, spaceboy" reply from Ziggy Stardust himself. Shortly after rejoining the earthbound (see the video, above), Hadfield announced his retirement from the Canadian Space Agency and said he'd be moving back to his home in Ontario. Of course, he'll continue inspiring interest in science at Canadian schools while waving the space exploration flag on behalf of the CSA, and as his wife, Helene, said, "anything Chris does is always an adventure."

To date, so-called invisibility shields have been more or less parlor tricks, where the scene behind an object is projected onto the front, camouflaging it from the environment. However, such razzle-dazzle only works when viewed head on, making it useless in any practical applications. But researchers from Zhejiang University in China have created a pair of invisibility shields, one that cloaked a cat from any of four different directions, and another hexagonal system that shielded a goldfish from six viewing angles. Any object in the interior of the shields can be cached, thanks to optical systems that map the correct background to the given view. Though the illusion breaks down if you change the viewing angle, such a device would be cheap and easy to build, according to scientists -- meaning you may soon be able to put that pet-hiding project on the front burner.

Altweek 61513 Chris Hadfield retires, invisibility cloaks and dinobirds

Recently, we've had our childhood delusions dashed by the discovery that our favorite dinosaurs likely had feathers. But what about the plumage of actual, soaring dino-birds like Archaeopteryx? Little was known about its color and composition due to the breakdown and fossilization of the organic elements over hundreds of millions of years. Thanks to research at the Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, though, scientists now have a complete picture of that species' feathers, right down to the coloration -- which was light overall and dark at the tips, not uniformly dark as previously thought. All that was possible thanks to SLAC's ultra-sensitive X-ray beams, which discovered traces of pigment-related metals and organic sulfur compounds that could only have come from the extinct dino-birds themselves. The results go beyond the feathers, giving clues into the animal's health, diet and even mating rituals -- which we certainly wouldn't want to get in the middle of, judging by the image above. Check the video below for more.

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NVIDIA demos GRID streaming on OUYA, proves little boxes play big games (video)

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NVIDIA demos Grid streaming on OUYA, proves little boxes play big games

NVIDIA champions GRID as a perfect fit for cloud gaming platforms, but we haven't had much chance to see a good use case in action. The company was more than happy to oblige at E3, however, by streaming games from GRID to an OUYA system. As Android Central caught on video, the tiny console is well-suited to the job: its Tegra 3 and gamepad can comfortably handle remote delivery of an intensive game like Borderlands 2, at least in the controlled world of a trade show. While OUYA doesn't have much (official) access to NVIDIA's GRID at present, the booth demo was a possible vision of the future. It certainly gave OUYA an escape from its hassles on the street.

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Engadget Podcast 348: E3 and WWDC wrap-up - 06.15.13

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Engadget Podcast 343 - 05.10.13

E3 and WWDC are complete, so we set aside an hour to highlight the big announcements from both events in this week's episode of the podcast. Tim joins the same club as our Senior HD editor, Richard Lawler, by reserving both the Xbox One and PS4, while Brian and Peter wonder what a world with "NintenDroid" and Mario on iOS would be like. Don't delay -- drag your pointer down below to hear it all for yourself.

Hosts: Tim Stevens, Peter Rojas, Brian Heater

Producer: Joe Pollicino

Hear the podcast:

00:00:46 - WWDC 2013 keynote roundup
00:01:08 - iOS 7
00:07:29 - OS X Mavericks
00:14:21 - iTunes Radio
00:17:01 - MacBook Air (mid-2013) review
00:20:45 - The new Mac Pro
00:24:50 - E3 2013 mega roundup: Xbox One, PS4 and more from the big show
00:55:39 - ACLU sues over NSA's surveillance program, challenging its constitutionality

Subscribe to the podcast

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Contact the podcast

Follow the hosts on Twitter: @bheater @Tim_Stevens @Engadget
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Leave us a voicemail: (423) 438-3005 (GADGET-3005)
E-mail us: podcast at engadget [dot] com

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T-Mobile says MetroPCS' network transition is ahead of schedule

Migration of MetroPCS Customers to Nationwide 4G HSPA+ and LTE Network Ahead of Schedule

First devices connecting to 4G HSPA+ and LTE network become available for MetroPCS customers, offering a consistently outstanding wireless experience

BELLEVUE, Wash. - June 14, 2013 - Just six weeks after completing the combination of T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS, T-Mobile US, Inc. (NYSE: TMUS) today announced the migration of MetroPCS customers onto its 4G HSPA+ and LTE network is ahead of planned schedule. This migration will provide customers of both brands deeper LTE deployment and faster network performance - delivering on the benefits of the combined company.

"The moment that NYSE bell rang on May 1, we put it into high gear and hit the gas," said John Legere, president and chief executive officer of T-Mobile US, Inc. "We've already begun moving MetroPCS customers to our blazing-fast network. The best part is as they upgrade their phones, their wireless experience immediately gets better."

The company is making HSPA+ and LTE compatible devices available to MetroPCS customers as well as allowing them to bring their own unlocked compatible HSPA+ or LTE phone, providing them the opportunity to upgrade to a powerful 4G network. With approximately 60 percent of MetroPCS customers upgrading their phones every year, it is expected that migration of customers will continue at a rapid pace. The company expects full customer migration to be complete by the end of 2015.

MetroPCS customers in Boston, Las Vegas and Hartford, Conn. can now purchase two new HSPA+ Android(TM)-powered cutting-edge smartphones running on a nationwide 4G network, the LG Optimus L9TM and Samsung Galaxy ExhibitTM. On June 17, MetroPCS will also make available a refreshed version of the Samsung Galaxy S® III, which will take advantage of 4G LTE in addition to a nationwide 4G HSPA+ network1.

Additionally, MetroPCS launched a "Bring Your Own Phone" program in these markets, as well as Dallas, giving customers the option to bring their own compatible unlocked phone to gain access to the 4G HSPA+ and LTE network.

Migrating MetroPCS customers will also benefit customers of T-Mobile. As customers leave the MetroPCS network, the freed up spectrum can then be added to the company's growing 4G LTE network. Deploying the company's spectrum on a single network provides a path to double its initial super-fast 4G LTE deployment (to 20+20 MHz of 4G LTE) in approximately 90 percent of the top 25 metro areas planned for 2014 and beyond.

Indeed, just two weeks after becoming one company, T-Mobile leveraged the compatibility of existing MetroPCS 4G LTE handsets and enabled them to connect to its 4G LTE network in Las Vegas. This allowed the company to combine MetroPCS' 4G LTE spectrum with T-Mobile's spectrum, doubling the LTE spectrum deployment in Las Vegas and dramatically increasing data speeds for both T-Mobile and MetroPCS customers with capable devices. As the company's 4G LTE network expands to more cities, T-Mobile will continue to migrate MetroPCS customers with 4G LTE-capable handsets and leverage MetroPCS' spectrum to deepen the combined company's LTE coverage.

Independent third party tests of the company's 4G LTE in Las Vegas conducted before and after the addition of MetroPCS spectrum show that its 4G LTE has the fastest average download speeds in the city, with an increase of nearly 50 percent.

1 Coverage not available everywhere. Broad LTE coverage planned for 2013. Capable device and qualifying service required for 4G HSPA+ and LTE. LTE is a trademark of ETSI.


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Smartisan OS goes pre-alpha, available for international Galaxy S III only

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Smartisan OS now available in prealpha status, international Galaxy S III only

You may recall that a Chinese startup dubbed Smartisan promised to offer its first custom Android ROM on June 15th. Well, the time has come and the company stuck to its word, but there's a catch: the software is currently still in pre-alpha status, so it's neither stable nor speedy -- definitely not recommended for daily use just yet. That said, the release apparently includes most of the features demonstrated at the three-hour-long launch event.

The other catch is that you'll need an international Samsung Galaxy S III (i9300, WCDMA) plus Windows (presumably non-RT) to flash this early version of Smartisan OS. If you're game then head to the source link for the download and the instructions (but in Chinese). If not, you can wait for the upcoming release for the HTC One X, Samsung Galaxy S II, Xiaomi Phone 2 and Samsung Galaxy Note II. Or you can just wait for Smartisan's very own phone due next year, if you don't mind testing your patience.

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