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You would of course the physical disk however it has little value by itself. Of course the EULA and/or ToS for Xbox Live will spell all this out and you would be free to choose not to purchase the game if you did not agree to the terms.

about 14 hours ago on Xbox One confusion: Microsoft leaves used games and 'always-online' requirement unclear

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Very different types of devices. The Xbox One is a traditional console. Big, feature rich, pricey to start with, now with more media functions as the later cycle of the current-gen consoles also had some support for. AppleTV is a (relatively) cheap accessory to your phone/tablet with an emphasis on media consumption. A next-gen AppleTV will probably hit most of the same points but may add casual gaming and open up a walled garden for third parties to support the platform. They will appeal to different types of consumers. I think the market for casual gaming / low cost / media consumption is much larger.

1 day ago on Is Xbox One a threat to (the future of) Apple TV? 1 recommend

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AirPlay is a great example of a feature that only Apple can seem to get right. They build it into the OS and they offer the APIs for developers to integrate it. They offer the hardware that supports it. Neither Microsoft or Google have that soup to nuts approach that is required to implement wireless display as effectively as Apple did years ago.

1 day ago on Is Xbox One a threat to (the future of) Apple TV?

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It’s kind of Microsoft’s own fault. They have some good ideas but haven’t done a very good job implementing them into consumer products. XBox has by far been their most successful new consumer product since Windows/Office so it does deserve some benefit of the doubt in this case but generally speaking I totally understand why people look at new Microsoft services/products with a lot of cynicism. They just don’t usually live up to expectations/potential.

1 day ago on Is Xbox One a threat to (the future of) Apple TV? 1 reply

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I do. I just need the facts and a few pictures. Easier to follow reading a live blog in my opinion. Plus some people have things like jobs or whatnot where they can’t really watch a video in the middle of the day.

2 days ago on Watch our Microsoft Xbox event post-show now! 3 recommends

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Over 6 billion SMS messages are sent per day in the US alone so erm yeah….

7 days ago on Hangouts is a disappointment 1 reply

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Both Android and iOS are mature operating systems now. There are a lot of ‘nice to have’ things they could add but for most people either one is totally sufficient. Focusing on the apps/services is going to be a bigger impact to users.

7 days ago on Your thoughts on Google I/O? 1 recommend

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The lack of centralized notifications is a huge deal breaker for me. I’ve been trying out a Windows Phone for the last week and I just feel lost without a place to go that collects everything together. In theory the Start Screen is supposed to do that but tiles tend to be very low on information density and animations get in the way. For example for e-mail on iOS I can see up to 10 from/subject/preview items in the notification center. On Windows Phone I can look at the tile and see one from/subject but no preview? I admit though Android is the worst of the three because using the stock Exchange client after more than 2 new messages it collapses them together and just says ‘3 new messages’ which is utterly useless. That’s even worse! At least with Windows Phone I get one all the time.

8 days ago on Ramblings of a disgruntled Windows Phone user

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Apple is the biggest player in digital music sales. They obviously are going to have a different set of challenges trying to get deals made with record labels simply because when they get into the subscription/streaming game it will very possibly be the end of digital music sales as we know them today. The record labels are going to be way more careful and demanding making a deal with Apple than they would be with smaller players in streaming/subscription simply due to the ramifications of such a deal. What happens if Apple quickly turns 100 million+ buyers into subscribers? That will have a massive impact on the music industry. On the other end of that equation for customers it’s not very good if Apple gives into all the demands of the record labels either just to get a deal done.

8 days ago on Exclusive: Google readies its Spotify competitor with Universal and Sony now on board

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Spotify chooses to offer an ad supported service so people using that service have a right to complain just as much as paid subscribers. This individual is not complaining about the existence of the ads so presumably they are OK using an ad supported service IF the volume of the ads is not much louder than the music. Not unreasonable at all. Sudden loud sounds are scary.

8 days ago on Exclusive: Google readies its Spotify competitor with Universal and Sony now on board 1 recommend

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Yep the way I’ve been using computers for the last 20 years or so was all wrong. Thank god Windows 8 showed me how wrong I really was. I burned all my other computers last weekend since they are useless without Metro and touchscreens. It was a very ritualistic experience for me. I was chanting and dancing as I watched them burn. Scarfing the virgin may have been taking it too far I admit but he was like 43 and grossly overweight so I doubt he had many good years left anyway. Point is I love Metro and repent for my years of not using Metro. Really looking forward to Windows 8.1 as it will continue to educate me about how a computer is really supposed to work. God bless all and thank you Microsoft.

9 days ago on Microsoft confirms Windows 8.1 as official name for 'Blue' update, free for Windows 8 users 3 recommends