Microsoft Had Plans To Integrate Kinect With Xbox, Says Ledbetter

According to a latest report, Microsoft had plans of integrating Kinect into Xbox. However, later the plan was dropped and Kinect was released only as an option for Xbox One users. According to the hardware designer of Xbox, Carl Ledbetter, “Microsoft had toyed with the idea of building Kinect into the Xbox One itself.” He added, “We pushed ourselves, can we put it all in one? Is that going to work? And the technology just isn’t there yet. As soon as you have something much bigger than the Kinect sensor people don’t want to put it by the TV, it’s too big.”

However, when Microsoft released Xbox without Kinect built into the device, Ledbetter did not seem to be sad. He says, “It’s all designed together, it’s holistic. And in the version that consumers can buy that doesn’t include Kinect, it still all works”. Also, “And so I think I share the same opinion that everybody does that by having more choice for the consumer, and a new point of entry for them, it’s great.”

Microsoft had released Xbox One in November, 2013, and has sold millions of devices since then. Xbox One will allow users to play games both offline and online. This means, you can simply use the device to play games from the disc or compete with your friends online. Since the device is portable, you can take the device with you to any location and start playing your favorite games from the disc.

According to Microsoft chat, Xbox Live is a place where you can find games and apps for the device. If you choose to become the gold member of Xbox Live, then you will have the privilege of accessing the features of Xbox One and its predecessor Xbox 360. Xbox One offers numerous personalization options. You can customize the settings of the device and decide how data ought to be used with the device and make use of various privacy settings for the best security.

By using Kinect, users can start interacting with their Xbox console without the help of a game controller. The most important feature of this device is that users can use spoken commands or gestures for interacting with the device. With numerous features added with Xbox One, keeping Kinect as an option will in no way disappoint customers. In addition, according to Microsoft chat support, users can add Kinect to their device as and when they wish.

Microsoft Introduces Improved Message Syncing Options In Skype

Over the years, we have had many Microsoft chat applications like MSN Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, etc. Of course, the availability of all these different versions of Microsoft instant messenger applications made things a little confusing for the average user, especially when they were trying to get tech support online.

Now, it seems that Microsoft has decided to streamline their entire Microsoft chat network. They have announced that they would slowly phase out all the other chat messenger networks, while promoting Skype messenger as the only Microsoft application.

About the Skype instant messenger application

Skype was first launched in August 2003. But in May 2011, Microsoft bough Skype Communications for 8.5 billion dollars. Since then, Microsoft has been cashing in on the popularity of the Skype instant messenger application, by releasing it as the default chat application in all its latest products, including Windows 8 OS and Xbox One console.

Microsoft has now merged its Windows Live and MSN Messenger chat networks with the Skype messenger service, making it one of the biggest chat works in the world in terms of the number of users.

About the newly improved message syncing functions in Skype

One of the complaints about the Skype application when it was initially launched was that it did not have good enough message syncing options. When Microsoft took over, they did promise to fix such problems. And, they recently released an updated version of the Skype application that comes with better message syncing options.

Now, it is easy to synchronise the messages on all your different mobile devices that has the Skype messenger installed. This means that whenever you receive a new message or start a conversation on one device, this information would be updated on all your other mobile devices as well. This option is very convenient for those users, who have multiple mobile devices and they would like to keep everything up-to-date on all of them.

Another of the functions newly updated and improved is the push notifications. Whenever you are engaged in a chat conversation, you would receive push notifications about any new messages. But, these notifications would not be synchronised on your other devices, instead would appear only on the device you are currently using. This would prevent the cluttering of unnecessary notifications.

For more information about the new functions in Skype and for downloading the new app version, visit the Microsoft Store webpage online.