The Verge - HD & Home Posts

Microsoft explains Xbox One cloud gaming in an effort to justify online requirement

2013-05-24T08:06:24Z

Microsoft created confusion over its Xbox One online requirement this week, but fresh details are emerging that offer an insight into why the next-generation console needs an internet connection. Microsoft is increasing its number of Xbox Live servers to 300,000, up from only 500 at launch and 15,000 today. The servers will help power a lot of the new Xbox dashboard features, but they'll also be a core part of Microsoft's cloud gaming plans.

The software giant didn't discuss these plans in detail during the Xbox One unveiling earlier this week, but an Ars Technica interview with General Manager of Redmond Game Studios and Platforms Matt Booty sheds some light on the 300,000-server cloud architecture. Part of the server setup will be...

Hulu auction heats up as DirecTV and Time Warner Cable place bids

2013-05-23T23:28:49Z

Hulu's future may be uncertain, but the company doesn't have any shortage of potential suitors. The Los Angeles Times reports that the first round of bids from potential purchasers were due this week, with Guggenheim Digital Media — a group led by former interim Yahoo CEO Ross Levinsohn — putting in a bid alongside the $500 million offered by former News Corp. head Peter Chernin. According to Reuters, two other parties also placed bids: DirecTV and Time Warner Cable.

Word broke earlier this year that Disney and News Corp. were considering selling Hulu. At the time, the two companies were divided on what the future vision of Hulu should be. Disney wanted to pursue an ad-supported business model, while News Corp. favored a...

Pandora still hasn't named CEO as losses widen

2013-05-23T22:09:39Z

Pandora, the web's top radio service, reported that the company's losses widened in its fiscal first quarter amid increasing competition and as the company prepares for another bruising fight on Capitol Hill. In addition, Pandora still hasn't named a new leader two months after CEO Joe Kennedy announced he planned to step down as soon as a replacement could be found.

Whoever Pandora may be considering as Kennedy's successor, it's clear leadership thinks it can find someone better than Barry McCarthy, one of the company's board members who was instrumental in helping to turn Netflix into one of the web's top entertainment sites. Tucked into documents Pandora filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 8th, the company said...

Future proofing: Xbox One to support 3D and 4K content

2013-05-23T20:02:03Z

The Xbox One is a next-generation console, and as such, it's built with some future proofing in mind. It can do things you're not quite ready for just yet, such as play back 4K resolution games, movies, and TV. And it'll support 3D visuals too, despite the fact that 3D in the home has yet to catch in any meaningful way when it comes to TV, movies, or games. Microsoft noted that the new console would support 4K at the Xbox One launch event on Monday, but 3D support was kept under wraps until Xbox spokesman Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb mentioned it in a Wednesday Yahoo chat session.

Netflix plans to double its original content output next year

2013-05-22T21:53:07Z

We're just a few days away from the long-awaited fourth season of Arrested Development, one of the most high-profile Netflix original series to be released. Ted Sarandos, the man behind the company's ever-burgeoning original content strategy, just sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to talk about Netflix' strategy and what you can expect in the coming year in terms of new material. When asked what "phase two" of its original content strategy would look like, Sarandos said "it's feasible that we would double the load that we did this year."

Given that there are at least five shows lined up for this year, it's conceivable that we'll see Netflix hit double digits on its original series next year. It's not clear what those new shows will...

Pandora finally ties into Facebook Open Graph, lets friends see what you're listening to

2013-05-22T15:29:04Z

It's late to the game, but Pandora has finally added support for Facebook's Open Graph, giving users the ability to "effortlessly" share their music listening activity on the social network. The feature can be enabled both from Pandora.com and the company's iOS and Android apps by toggling on a new "Publish" button in settings. Pandora is quick to point out that users retain granular control of just what's being shared with their friends. "You can customize what you share, including your listening activity, the tracks and artists you like, or the people you follow on Pandora," writes CTO Tom Conrad, adding "you will always be able to edit your activity on Facebook in case there’s a guilty pleasure or two that you don’t want friends...

Lars von Trier's 'Nymphomaniac' digitally stitches actors' faces to naked body doubles

2013-05-22T09:01:33Z

New details have emerged about the notoriously graphic sex scenes in Nymphomaniac — the upcoming double feature from Danish director Lars von Trier. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter this week, film producer Louise Vesth said Nymphomaniac's most explicit scenes will be shot using a technique that digitally combines its stars' faces with body doubles. According to Vesth, actors Shia LaBoeuf, Uma Thurman, and Charlotte Gainsbourg mimed the sex scenes onset, and then had their performances seamlessly stitched together with the doubles' pornographic shoots.

"We shot the actors pretending to have sex and then had the body doubles, who really did have sex, and in [post-production] we will digital impose the two," Vesth said. "So...

Sony mulls investor proposal to sell off movie, TV, and music units

2013-05-22T00:41:03Z

With Sony under increasing pressure to get out of the entertainment business and get back to making great gadgets, company managers have begun to evaluate whether to sell off part of the unit that oversees movies, TV and music, according to a report today from Nikkei, a Japan-based newspaper.

The move follows comments made last week by Daniel Loeb, the US billionaire investor who owns $1.1 billion worth of Sony's stock, equal to about six percent of the company's outstanding shares. He said last week that he wanted Sony's leadership to sell off as much as 20 percent of the company's entertainment holdings, which includes Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Loeb suggested that the money from a sale...

Xbox One is powered by Windows, but can Microsoft make you care?

2013-05-21T23:38:49Z

Microsoft finally unveiled its next-generation Xbox One console today. Amongst the fanfare of entertainment features, an improved controller, and the centerpiece of Kinect, the company revealed details on the architecture that powers its next console. More importantly, Microsoft says it's running Windows. The company told press that it's marrying its Windows Phone and Windows 8 user interface to the Xbox more closely than ever before, and that in fact the new Xbox is running three operating systems in total. What does that even mean, though?

"Three operating systems in one."

"The soul of the new system is the Xbox One architecture. Three operating systems in one," says Whitten. It sounds like an impressive software achievement, but...

Hands-on with the new Xbox One controller and its crazy vibrations

2013-05-21T22:47:33Z

The Xbox One console is nice, but what really matters is the controller: after all, it's the thing you hold in your hands the whole time you're using the console, and if Microsoft has its way that's going to happen a lot. We had a chance to spend a few minutes using the new controller, and while we can't say our minds are blown, Microsoft's definitely thinking in new ways about the new Xbox.

The controller's design is mostly the same as the Xbox 360. It's a little smaller, since the company was able to retract the removable battery into the device itself, so there's no bump on the back. It's also a little more refined, with black buttons instead of colored ones, and Microsoft says it's also improved the analog sticks and triggers. (Reps...