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•Application submitted to the US Patent and Trademark office shows Microsoft's plans for tracking viewing habits of Xbox owners.• The company plans to reward viewers who watch adverts or shows with credits and achievements.• The new Kinect sensor can follow eye movements, track your reaction to shows using heart-rate monitors and see you in the dark. Microsoft has submitted a patent that could see the company track every TV show and advert watched via its Xbox One console and other devices. The application called 'Awards and Achievements Across TV Ecosystem' was submitted to the US Patent and Trademark office earlier...

An Oviedo, Florida family was woken up by police with guns surrounding their house in the middle of the night. This terrifying and potentially scarring event is brought to you by Microsoft Xbox.WFTV reports that the cops and family were the victims of a hacker hoax conducted on an Xbox at another house in town. How does that work? Hackers busted into a teenager's Xbox demanding information about a video game, and when he wouldn't help them, the internet criminals used his account to file a false report about a murder and hostage situation. The cops traced the account to...

One of Microsoft’s latest patent applications is a humdinger. It proposes to turn the Kinect camera into a snitch for movie studios, reporting back just how many friends you’ve got in your living room and what they’re watching. Think that sounds alarmist? Here’s what it actually says: “The users consuming the content on a display device are monitored so that if the number of user-views licensed is exceeded, remedial action may be taken.” It’s that blatant – a system to spy on private viewing habits. If put into practice, Microsoft’s plan could mean that the film you’re watching suddenly stops...

CLick here to view the video Xbox Live gamers paused from their usual Wednesday night online multiplayer battles against interstellar invaders and zombies to weigh in on the first presidential debate. Xbox users, jacked in through their Internet-connected consoles, are in a better position than most people to answer a quick poll, and Microsoft, which delivers gaming and other entertainment via the Internet through its Xbox Live service, took advantage of its captive audience to conduct some political research. Microsoft acknowledges the limited scope of the poll, says it is still analyzing the data, and hasn't widely publicized the survey...

Ohio teen collapses from dehydration after playing Modern Warfare 3 on Xbox for 4 daysBy Associated Press, Published: August 8 COLUMBUS, Ohio — A four-day Xbox gaming marathon apparently was too much for one 15-year-old Ohio boy. WCMH-TV reports that the Columbus teen collapsed and was hospitalized Tuesday after becoming severely dehydrated. His mother says he emerged from his bedroom during the four days only to pick up snacks or take a quick shower.

It looks like Microsoft are about to launch their own Tablet device, probably running a version of Windows 8 (and yes, I’m assuming Taniyama-Shimura once more). I’m fully expecting a lot of commentators to talk about how inexperienced the Redmond based company is at making hardware. So let me point out two counter-examples before the big event for your consideration. I’ll start with the Xbox 360. It’s had a pretty rough ride in terms of hardware with the Red Ring of Death and numerous issues early in the life cycle of the platform, but as Microsoft have understood the issues,...

Looks like there’s no such thing as a Second Amendment in the world of virtual goods. A new policy taking effect Jan. 1 will remove “gun-like” items from Microsoft’s Xbox Live Avatar Marketplace, the online store where gamers can buy items to dress up and accessorize their avatars, according to a forum post by a community manager for Epic Games, the company behind the blockbuster Gears of War franchise for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console. Virtual weapons affected by the new policy include the Gears of War Lancer, the combination chainsaw/assault rifle being brandished by my Xbox Live avatar in the...

Skype, the IP telephony company founded and part-owned by Swedish entrepreneur Niklas Zennström, has been bought bought by US software giant Microsoft, the firms confirmed on Tuesday afternoon. The statement confirmed speculation over the deal to buy the firm, whose product allows users to conduct video and telephone calls over the internet. Microsoft confirmed that the deal is worth some $8.5 billion, dwarfing the $6 billion the US firm paid for online advertising firm aQuantive in 2007 and its largest acquisition since its founding in 1975. The news of the pending deal has shocked analysts who consider the price to...

There's a bit of a she-said, they-said situation going on near Seattle, with the mom of an 11-year-old boy saying Microsoft reset his gamerscore unfairly and the company saying it was done because he was cheating. Regardless of the truth, the boy has been branded a cheater on Xbox Live and has to earn whatever achievements he had before all over again. Jennifer Zdenek told Q13 FOX News that her son Julius Jackson went online recently only to discover that his gamerscore had been reset and his account branded as belonging to a cheater.

Alleged sodomy recorded on video and mobile phoneTwo Emiratis, with other two fugitives and a person who is now dead, allegedly forcibly sodomised another Emirati and recorded the act on a video camera and a mobile phone. According to the accusation sheet, in October 2009, AMH, 27, jobless and AIM, 28, employee, participated and assisted the other two fugitives and a third who later died, to sodomise SAM in AMH’s house. AMH brought the victim to his house and the men sodomised him as the video recording that was found on his mobile shows. Four recording sketches each were for...

(AP) MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) - Microsoft Corp. and the chief rules enforcer for Xbox Live are apologizing to a small West Virginia town and a 26-year-old gamer accused of violating the online gaming service's code of conduct by publicly declaring he's from Fort Gay - a name the company considered offensive. The town's name is real. But when Josh Moore tried to tell Seattle-based Microsoft and the enforcement team at Xbox Live, they wouldn't take his word for it. Or Google it. Or check the U.S. Postal Service website for a ZIP code.

Barack Obama's warning against iPod, Xbox 2010-05-11 05:30:00 US President Barack Obama has criticized new forms of technology, such as the iPod and the Xbox. The leader, while addressing students at Hampton University, Virginia, also pointed out that journalists and news outlets these days have become obsessed with superficial coverage. "You're coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don't always rank all that high on the truth meter," the Telegraph quoted him as saying. He added: "With iPods and iPads...

Free Speech: President Obama, while addressing college graduates, condemns our access to new media as a subversion of democracy. Is the iPad a threat to democracy or exactly what Thomas Jefferson had in mind? At Hampton University in Virginia on Sunday, the president lamented that in an age of text messaging, the Internet and the iPad, information and its unfettered exchange had become a diversion that was putting a strain on democracy. We are not making this up. The "24/7 media environment," he told the students, "bombards us with all kinds of comments and exposes us to all kinds of...

HAMPTON, Virginia — US President Barack Obama lamented Sunday that in the iPad and Xbox era, information had become a diversion that was imposing new strains on democracy, in his latest critique of modern media.

President Obama's administration has asked Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer to create a game about reducing the U.S. deficit. Erskine Bowles, co-chair of Obama's fiscal commission, wants the game to be made so the general public can have a go to balancing the budget, reports USA Today. Such a game, should it be created, would be part of the U.S. Government trying to find a solution to addressing the United States' $12.8 trillion debt. Democratic Senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska says the game could "go viral."

The video game industry posted another disappointing sales month in the U.S. in February, with revenue down 15% from a year ago. Sales of video game hardware, software and accessories totaled $1.26 billion, vs. $1.48 billion in February 2009, the NPD Group said late Thursday. Sales of game consoles took the biggest hit last month, with revenue down 20% to $426 million. “Honestly, I had expected the industry to perform somewhat better this month,” said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. “Nonetheless, strong new releases, and Easter gift-buying bodes well for industry performance in March.”

It's astounding that until this moment, three years after the iPhone, the biggest software company in the world basically didn't compete in mobile. Windows Phone 7 Series is more than the Microsoft smartphone we've been waiting for. Everything's different now. Today, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Microsoft is publicly previewing Windows Phone 7 for the first time. The brand new, totally fresh operating system will appear in phones this year, but not until the holidays. All of the major wireless carriers and every likely hardware maker are backing it, and they'd be stupid not to. It's awesome. Further details...

A 15-year-old boy told Buffalo Grove police that his parents had taken away his video game system and asked whether they were within their rights. They were, police told him. The teen called 911 about 12:50 p.m. Sunday but then hung up, said Cmdr. Steve Husak. Officers went to the house, and after hearing the story, told the youth that his parents have the authority to take away his Xbox as punishment.

Beware of banned Xbox 360s loosed in ballooning numbers on auction sites and distribution lists featuring online classified ads. In the wake of Microsoft's ban of "a small percentage" or "around 600,000" or "up to one million players" (depending who you read), the Xbox-excommunicated are apparently leaping overboard to offer their 'modified' Xbox 360 systems rife with dozens of games, extra controllers, special revs of custom firmware, all for anywhere from a buck to the price of a new system on up to boutique (perhaps joke) pricing of over a thousand dollars. Last Wednesday, November 4, Microsoft's Larry 'Major Nelson'...

Angry Barry is a political parody high definition 2D side scrolling beat em up in the tradition of classic titles such as Bad Dudes. It is a purely independent title created with an ‘indie’ mentality – making whatever game you want to make without corporate pressure dictating what is created. This game is released for X-Box Live (on X-Box Live, check your Community Games tab, and then go to Action/Adventure games) for the lowest cost possible (400 points), and will be released in the coming months for the PC. In ‘Angry Barry’ you play the role of the titular...