Patrick Steele noted on his blog there was a Google Group created for the up and coming conference in Sandusky, Oh called CodeMash. As noted it is a place for finding opportunities for carpooling, ride sharing etc. The conversation has already started. If you are attending, join in!
I’ve only had my Xbox 360 for a few weeks and since I got it I’ve been spending quite a bit of time with it. In my usual geek curiosity fashion I’ve been going through every single screen, menu and configuration option. I’ve played games on Xbox Live, downloaded new arcade games for free from Xbox Live, and even rented a movie (Mission Impossible III) by downloading it with some Microsoft points from the Xbox Marketplace. I even connected it to my Media Center running Vista and streamed live TV and watch some recorded shows.
It then started to hit me. The Xbox is an upgrade away from taking over my living room. If it JUST was a DVR to boot I would kick my media center PC out of my living room and place the Xbox front and center. Will I ever see it happen, I doubt it, although the rumor mill is churning around the next release of the Xbox 360 from CES which is suppose to have a bigger hard drive (120gb) and HDMI support.
Honestly, the ONLY reason I have a media center PC running is to record TV. With one upgrade of a CableCARD and dual HD Tuners the Xbox 360 could be the killer device to have in the home. It would also have the largest DVR install base surpassing Tivo and others. Play games, download movies, watch and record TV all in one unit. Surely some of the folks at Microsoft have thought the same thing. The market is ripe for the taking if someone released a DVR to record HD TV and combine all the cutting edge devices and all of the high-end TVs that are being sold which do 1080i or 1080p.
The Xbox community has already added this functionality to their Xbox’s by modding them up to run Media Center. We are so close to having the ultimate converged device I can’t stand it. How long will I have to wait?
“Two dozen companies today announced formation of the TV Linux Alliance, which will define a standards-based Linux environment for the digital set-top box market.
“I have to say this is about the coolest hardware related news for Linux in a long time. It turns out that Matrox has released a powerdesk version of their software for Linux.
“Sharp announced at the CeBit trade show in Germany that it planned to use the Linux operating system to power a new version of its Zaurus personal digital assistant.