Recent News

July 24, 2013

Xbox Live Gold members can access the CNET Xbox SmartGlass app to enhance what they’re watching on CNET by answering quiz questions and polls, and looking up related information. They can even use the app as a remote control on a tablet or smart phone to search, select, play, or pause shows like “Always-On,” “CNET on Cars,” and “Rumor Has It.”

July 24, 2013

This trailer for the new “Splinter Cell: Blacklist” is intense. So is Blacklist, a terrorist organization that it seems can’t be stopped – not by laws, not by diplomacy, not by an army.

July 24, 2013

Xbox One’s unique capabilities are going to take gaming to the next generation faster than the Starship Enterprise. And in keeping with Captain Jean Luc Picard’s famous command, developers from some of the most celebrated studios in the world shared with Comic-Con fans just how they planned to make it so.

July 24, 2013

Go retro sci-fi with “Flight Control Rocket,” a follow-up to “Flight Control” that once was exclusive to Nokia phone users and is now available to many more would-be rocketeers on Windows Phone (7.5 and 8).

July 24, 2013

You may think of a 50s sci-fi movie (or its 80s remake) if you haven’t heard of “Blobster,” but it’s really a Windows Phone game that was formerly only available to Nokia phone users. In the game, a wide-eyed blob takes on a trifecta of adversaries: pollution in Blobtopia, the evil Big and Powerful Corporation and some mega baddie called Blobzilla.

July 24, 2013

In a guest post over on the Windows Phone Developer Blog, Buddy Vice President of Engineering Shawn Burke provides information on the Buddy Backend as a Service offering, which cuts down on the time developers have to spend building the underlying functionality for creating and managing users, sending push notifications and the like.

July 24, 2013

Steve Clayton of NEXT at Microsoft caught up with Clay Shirky last week at the Microsoft Research Faculty Summit. The two had a fascinating conversation on technology and culture, recorded in this edited transcript with audio clips posted on NEXT today.

July 24, 2013

Last month, Microsoft Research opened up its video vaults to the public with a new Video Library app for Windows 8. The app features over 4,000 interviews, lectures and more by a wide range of tech luminaries, and today NEXT at Microsoft has handpicked four must-see highlights for your viewing pleasure.

July 23, 2013

If you’re not always crazy about how your hair looks in photos, Lvdi Wang has your back. The associate researcher in the Internet Graphics Group at Microsoft Research Asia has helped create a new 3-D modeling technique that lets you digitally “fix” your hairdo.

July 23, 2013

Fans of Rube Goldberg will appreciate “Crazy Machines Golden Gears,” which was made especially for Windows Phone 8. You can choose from more than 60 different Parts in your inventory – and igniters like lasers to set your contraption(s) into motion.