Smart TVs might add an Xbox in 2021, and more tech news you need to know today

Your Tech News Digest via the DGiT Daily Tech Newsletter for Wednesday November 25th, 2020. It’s Thanksgiving Eve! Back Friday.

1. The future is your smart TV that plays Xbox games

Xbox boss Phil Spencer gave an interview with The edge as part of a one hour podcast. There’s a good deal in there and The edge An edited transcript has been helpful.

• A couple of points! One of these, in my opinion, is the initial confirmation that Microsoft is selling the console hardware at a loss. It’s not a surprise; That was the case with most consoles in the past … forever? But it’s confirmed!
• Spencer is disappointed that the expected launch title, Halo Infinite, has been postponed to 2021, which doesn’t serve as a strong reason for the Xbox Series X / S acquisition. However, Microsoft was unable to sell due to supply chain issues. This also applies to Sony, Nvidia and AMD, which are apparently waiting for TSMC to produce more chips.
• Quote: “From a business perspective, I sell every console I can build. I have a hard time pointing out how I would be selling more consoles today. I wouldn’t be “
• Spencer says he “applauds” what Sony did with the PlayStation 5 DualSense controller, which has received a lot of praise.
• As game streaming increases, Spencer insists he doesn’t believe the Xbox series will be the last hardware Microsoft ships.
• And there are some mentions of the battle with Apple over streaming games.

But on that point, and something I wanted to emphasize even more, Microsoft is already thinking about adding the Xbox console experience as an app for smart TVs. If the TV has the specs, why not?

• When asked if the Xbox should become a TV app, Spencer said, “I think that’s what you’ll be seeing in the next 12 months. I don’t think anything will stop us from doing that. “
• “What we used to call a television was a CRT that just casts an image on the back of a piece of glass that I look at. As you said earlier, a TV is more of a game console that sits behind a screen that has an app platform, bluetooth stack, and streaming capability. Is it really more of a television, or is it just the form and function of the devices we used to have around our television that are grouped together on a big screen that I am looking at? “
• Currently xCloud is only available with 720p. This is far from being TV-ready for anyone currently facing the curve with a 65-inch 4K HDR panel in their house.
• The idea that a FireTV or a Roku or an “Xbox stick” could stream xCloud, similar to how Google uses the Chromecast Ultra for Stadia, would be attractive. There are complications: Stadia controllers connect directly to WiFi to eliminate entry delay.
• Given that Microsoft makes more money by not losing hardware, you can see this.
• Spencer did not “hint” this either, as read the headlines. He said it. It’ll happen sooner or later.

2. The new Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 2 may be released later than expected. Korean media point to an early start in the second quarter of 2021 (Android Authority).

3. How 5G availability is stacking up in major US cities (Android Authority).

4. Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Fold, the foldable Windows laptop / tablet device, is now shipping after a long wait for the earliest previews. It’s still a $ 2,499 device starting with 256GB of storage without a keyboard / pen, but ratings should fall soon. Our hands-on is here (Android Authority).

5. More Apple M1 Mac reviews will be released, with a focus on app compatibility issues. Forbes is usually over the top here and there are some weird things like photos of screens instead of screenshots, but Patrick Moorhead is real. So all in all, this is worth reading: the M1 Mac transition isn’t entirely perfect for many apps. What makes sense! There are pitfalls for non-native apps that are sluggish, crash, or fail to install. It’s fine if you’re more or less just using Apple apps, but the performance of Slack, Chrome, and Zoom may not quite be there and tools like Matlab may be buggy. Be open and realize where the review is a little too similar to the comment section … (Forbes).

6. On this handy website you can find out whether certain apps still work on Apple Silicon (The next web).

7. Facebook is actively trying to get better. Facebook also has problems dealing with the fact that removing unwanted content (“bad for the world” content as identified by Facebook algorithms) from news feeds reduces the frequency with which users open Facebook. ((New York Times).

8. Google has 400 games in the pipeline from 200 developers for Stadia. Huh. ((The edge).

9. “I forget the world:” Afghan youths play PUBG Mobile to escape (New York Times).

10. SpaceX’s latest Starlink launch went smoothly! Start, Drone ship landing, and Satellite deployment clips (Twitter).

11. SpaceX Starlink engineers also hosted a Reddit AMA – here are the highlights, including no data restriction plans, a wider beta in January. One problem is that the operating limit for the upper temperature for the summer is somewhat low in many places: “The shell is certified for operation from 30 ° below zero to 40 ° above zero on the Celsius scale (that’s 22 ° F below zero up to 104) ° F) ”(Ars Technica).

12. Another rocket thing: This is what the separation of the Rocket Lab Electron stage and the ignition of the second stage looked like, seen from the first stage. Incredible! ((Youtube)

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