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Xbox One Summer Update Adds Cortana, Music and More (mashable.com)

Posted by msmash on from the making-Xbox-great-again dept.

The Xbox One is finally getting the anticipated Summer update. The update brings Cortana voice assistant to all Xbox One systems in the United States and UK. "With Cortana, gamers can expect more from voice commands on Xbox," the company wrote in a blog post. In addition, the update is also adding the ability to play background music while you're playing a game. Also, users will be able to set whatever language they want, no matter what country they are in. Mashable reports: Other summer update changes tweak the usability of the console's dashboard and sharing features. There are also a number of invisible changes that prepare the console for the Windows 10 Anniversary update. Launching on Aug. 2, the Anniversary Update carries a number of benefits for gamers, chief among them the launch of Microsoft's Xbox Play Anywhere program. Play Anywhere is Microsoft's version of cross-play, allowing Xbox One users to download and play the PC version of supported games on Windows 10 machines. The list of initially supported games is rather small and it only works if you bought the game digitally, but it's a significant step toward Microsoft's goal of joining the Xbox and Windows platforms under one development umbrella.

25 of 40 comments (clear)

  1. Play Anywhere? by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

    I've heard about Play Anywhere a few years ago. It lasted 6 months last time.

    1. Re:Play Anywhere? by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

      I think last time it was called "Plays for Sure", wasn't it?

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
  2. Sends all your voice home by KiloByte · · Score: 1, Troll

    So now you'll have a box that analyzes and sends home (for "personalization" and "quality" purposes) everything you say, is always on ("just so you can activate it by voice") and is hooked to your telescreen. Yay!

    --
    The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
    1. Re:Sends all your voice home by dadelbunts · · Score: 2

      So dont turn it on. I dont understand what your issue is.

    2. Re:Sends all your voice home by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

      So now you'll have a box that analyzes and sends home (for "personalization" and "quality" purposes) everything you say, is always on ("just so you can activate it by voice") and is hooked to your telescreen. Yay!

      My xbone didn't even come with a Kinect. The only way it has audio input is if I plug a headset in, which I won't be doing very often.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    3. Re:Sends all your voice home by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      So dont turn it on. I dont understand what your issue is.

      The problem is that only a colossal idiot would believe that they can turn it off.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:Sends all your voice home by Xest · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Except you can. In fact, you can't even use the feature without explicitly consenting for this information to be collected and sent to Microsoft, and even if you do this you can later disable it at any point, and then on top of that once it's disabled you can actually delete all collected data to date.

      Of course, you could (and probably will) theorise they do it anyway, but given the amount of times they explicitly give the users choice and require consent they'd be slaughtered by the likes of the EU if they did that because they'd be explicitly lying to customers and breaking data protection law as a result. It just isn't worth billions of dollars of fines.

      So yeah, unfortunately this isn't a good story to throw out the old Microsoft hatred in, because they've actually done a pretty good honest job of data collection in terms of this feature. If anything this is an example of good practice, requiring explicit opt-in, allowing any-time opt-out, and allowing subsequent deletion of stored data to date.

    5. Re:Sends all your voice home by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      There are two configurable offs, and you can de-power it with a power-strip switch or at the wall (if outside the US).

      --
      Learn to love Alaska
  3. Re:Would you like some help with that ? by dadelbunts · · Score: 2

    Because its much more convenient to tell my xbox to record something or invite someone to the party than having to click through a bunch of menus? Do you even xbox?

  4. Happiness by kamapuaa · · Score: 2

    I'll never be happy until the XBox One lets you install Steam.

    I know it won't happen so I plan on a life of unhappiness :(...

    --
    Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
    1. Re:Happiness by lexman098 · · Score: 1

      I'll never be happy until my toaster lets me make milkshakes.

      Why not just buy the right device for the job instead?

    2. Re:Happiness by tepples · · Score: 1

      Because a separate device for each job is e-wasteful.

    3. Re:Happiness by lexman098 · · Score: 1

      And what does the Xbone do that steam can't?

    4. Re:Happiness by tepples · · Score: 1

      And what does the Xbone do that steam can't?

      I count three differences that some may perceive as advantages for Xbox One:

      Different set of exclusives Xbox One plays Xbox One-exclusive games. I'll grant that preference for Steam-exclusive games or Xbox One-exclusive games is a matter of taste. Smaller case Xbox One, even the larger current (pre-S) model, is smaller than a typical tower PC and may fit in better next to your TV. Lower price Good luck building a gaming PC, including the Windows license to let you run Windows-exclusive Steam games, for the price of an Xbox One. This'll be a nice puzzle for Hairyfeet to solve. I'll grant that if you already have a gaming PC, you can use it with your TV using a $50 Steam Link extender and an Ethernet cable through the wall.
    5. Re:Happiness by segin · · Score: 1

      For the same cost of an Xbox One, I can get a PC that performs just as well as an Xbox One. Don't delude yourself, kid.

    6. Re:Happiness by tepples · · Score: 1

      For the same cost of an Xbox One, I can get a PC that performs just as well as an Xbox One.

      Games that aren't ported to X11/Linux and don't work in Wine require a Windows license, which costs $119. After Microsoft's price cut, this leaves you with $130 for the hardware. I'd be interested to read your $130 build.

    7. Re:Happiness by tepples · · Score: 1

      You can also shoplift an Xbox One, but I wouldn't recommend it.

    8. Re:Happiness by tepples · · Score: 1

      Copyright infringement is not theft in the sense that, say, money laundering is not assault and battery. They're not the same thing, but they're both illegal.

  5. Re:Would you like some help with that ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Sounds like a failure in UI design.

    Seems voice controls are only catching on in places where the alternative user interface methods are atrocious, i.e. touchscreens.

  6. Re:Why the fuck is Cortana/Siri/etc always online? by kamapuaa · · Score: 1

    Why would they bother? What would be the motivation, when you can just assume that the user has an internet connection? While they're at it, why not program it in case the user doesn't have a monitor?

    --
    Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
  7. Update Naming Conventions by guppysap13 · · Score: 1
    Hey Microsoft, I know "Summer Update", "Anniversary Update", and "Windows 8.1 Update" sound nice and friendly, but they're useless if you're trying to have an unambiguous discussion about the update status of a machine.

    Tech Support: "Have you installed the Windows 8.1 Update?"
    User: "My computer installed updates last night"
    Tech Support: "But have you installed THE Update?"
    User: "Which one?"
    Tech Support: "..."

    Back on the helpline, that was always fun to walk people through. Whatever happened to Service Packs? Too scary? Too many people not migrating until you had released at least one Service Pack? Sounds like a problem of your own creation, and just changing the names isn't the way to fix it.

  8. It goes the other way too, with text to speech by tepples · · Score: 1

    While they're at it, why not program it in case the user doesn't have a monitor?

    Bad example, as screen readers (such as JAWS, Window-Eyes, and NVDA) do just that. In fact, Windows 10 is still available without charge for licensed users of Windows 7 or 8.1 who use assistive technologies such as text-to-speech.

  9. Re:Would you like some help with that ? by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

    Because the fucking game console is a PC. It's just a PC frozen in HW specifications and performance (and locked down to ensure performance), so the gaming experience on it is known and consistent. So Cortana is as useful on the gaming console as a PC. Whether it's useful on a PC is a separate issue.

    --
    Learn to love Alaska
  10. Re:Why the fuck is Cortana/Siri/etc always online? by segin · · Score: 1

    Because all that shit works great for people with a General American/newscaster/Iowan accent. Have any other accent, and watch that tech fail spectacularly. Say any new words that came into existence since the tech came out, and watch it fail spectacularly. Handling a myriad of accents requires a lot more computational power. Handling a rapidly-changing lexicon requires continuous updating.

  11. Re:Hey Cortana by segin · · Score: 1

    Grow up, AC.