The Business of Tech

Update: So I (Jerelle) thought we were coining a new phrase "Appleholic" during the show, turns out there are entire websites dedicated to Appleholics! Oh well... It's like that sometimes!

Olympus hid 'years of investing losses' with $1b merger payouts

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Google Acquires Admeld

Eric Schmidt: Google TV on 'majority' of new TVs by summer 2012

XBOX Update

The Update

Unified UI - The new Dashboard layout is sleeker, snappier, and just a hair quicker than its predecessor. Placing all of a channel's options front and center make it easier to find what you're looking for, and the single page revision eliminates all but the most necessary and basic of scrolling. By embracing Metro, the Xbox finally looks like a Microsoft product, donning the same uniform as the outfit's smartphone OS and upcoming Windows revision.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/05/xbox-360-dashboard-update-fall-2011-r...

Bing Search

Much like Metro itself, Microsoft's single-syllable search brand is becoming a staple in the outfit's products -- it's integrated into Windows Phone, it's bound to make an appearance in Windows 8 and now it's on your Xbox. Despite the search engine's digs on the web, you won't be perusing the archives of Engadget on your console anytime soon -- Bing search Xbox is a strictly local affair, and will only sift through content available over Xbox Live. Sound limiting? It isn't -- the Xbox games marketplace is jungle, and until now navigating it was a tiresome, unintuitive task

http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/05/xbox-360-dashboard-update-fall-2011-r...

VOICE

Almost every aspect of Xbox can be initiated and/or control via voice! (I guess it needs a name… Hal maybe?)

Natural language vs command based voice control???

Netflix Unveils New Xbox Experience

Here at Netflix we love the Xbox 360. Since November 2008 our members have instantly watched millions of hours of TV shows and movies streaming from Netflix via their Xbox. Today I am excited to share two big announcements about Netflix on Xbox!

http://blog.netflix.com/2011/12/netflix-unveils-new-xbox-experience.html

XBOX companion App

Just like with the new Dashboard's "Bing" search, you can use the Companion to find games, TV shows, movies, and music (text only, no voice functionality). The games pages will tell you which of your friends have played recently (and how long ago that might've been), list your achievements, and suggest related games. Choosing to play will load up the title on your screen, prompting you to be sure if you're already playing something else or watching video.

Speaking of, TV show and movie pages provide cast pages to quickly search for other content featuring the actor (no biographical data that we saw), and more importantly, you can choose to play the selected video via Zune, Hulu, or Netflix (pending availability). The bottom bar will show basic video playback controls (play / pause, fast forward, rewind, etc.) from the main screen while you're watching video, but be warned there's a slight delay when pressing — if you're trying to locate an exact frame, you're best off switching to the Xbox 360 controller.

http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/7/2618362/xbox-companion-windows-phone-a...

If you own a Windows Phone and an Xbox 360, this app is a must-download — you will find use in the features. Best of all, it's also free.

Windows Store & Windows 8

Avaialability

Feb 2012

Revenue Model

Microsoft just revealed when we can expect the Windows Store for Windows 8, and how much you can expect apps to cost. Starting in late February, developers can submit apps starting at $1.49 and charge as much as $999. We're not sure why Microsoft chose to set the bar above the 99-cent mental barrier, but there's some great news for developers when it comes to revenue share — like other app stores, Microsoft will take 30 percent of the proceeds at first, but reduce its cut to 20 percent after your app does $25,000 in sales. More reason to have a blockbuster program, we guess! There's also a 70-30 split for in-app transactions, but only if you use Microsoft's billing system — the eBay app, for instance, uses PayPal and doesn't pay Microsoft a thing.

http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/6/2616731/microsoft-windows-store-pricin...

Discoverability

We know people use the Web to find apps, so the Store app catalog will be indexed by search engines. We also support direct linking to app webpages.

Developers can also promote apps from their websites, not just with “available in the Windows Store” logos, but with built-in promotion through Internet Explorer 10. With just a line of markup, your website promotes your app via the app button within the browser, visible to anyone running Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 8.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsstore/archive/2011/12/06/announcing-the-n...

Enterprise

Enterprises can choose to limit access to the Windows Store catalog by their employees, or allow access but restrict certain apps. In addition, enterprises can choose to deploy Metro style apps directly to PCs, without going through the Store infrastructure. For Windows 8 Beta, IT administrators can use group policy to permit Metro style app installations, as long as the apps are signed by trusted publishers and the machines are joined to the domain. Then the IT admin can use powershell commandlets to manage those Metro-style apps on Windows 8.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsstore/archive/2011/12/06/announcing-the-n...

Commentary: Role of Tech Press in setting trends

Xbox voice controlled

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