Those that want to buy pre-owned copies or trade-in unwanted games have been very vocal and I have a friend who will be buying a Playstation 4, despite being an Xbox owner since the beginning, because of this.  I can certainly understand this opinion but anyone who has moved away from books to a Kindle have had to come to terms with this new digital age.  It’s important to note that with these negatives come some very important positives.

With the Xbox One it was going to be possible to play disc based games (which would be automatically copied to the hard drive upon inserting the disc) without ever inserting the disc into the console again unlike you have to do with the Xbox 360 if you had manually copied the game to the hard drive.  It also meant that your game library was stored  in the “cloud” so you could play a game you owned on disc at a friends house without taking the disc with you.  You could also share your digital game library with up to 10 “family” members (they didn’t actually have to be family) and I believe that 2 of those could even play the game on another console while you were also playing it.

Unfortunately Microsoft have heard the negative feedback and today announced a U-turn on this new digital age.  Don Mattrick, President, Interactive Entertainment Business, explains the impact in his blog post:

So, today I am announcing the following changes to Xbox One and how you can play, share, lend, and resell your games exactly as you do today on Xbox 360. Here is what that means:

 

An internet connection will not be required to play offline Xbox One games – After a one-time system set-up with a new Xbox One, you can play any disc based game without ever connecting online again. There is no 24 hour connection requirement and you can take your Xbox One anywhere you want and play your games, just like on Xbox 360.

 

Trade-in, lend, resell, gift, and rent disc based games just like you do today – There will be no limitations to using and sharing games, it will work just as it does today on Xbox 360.

 

In addition to buying a disc from a retailer, you can also download games from Xbox Live on day of release. If you choose to download your games, you will be able to play them offline just like you do today. Xbox One games will be playable on any Xbox One console — there will be no regional restrictions.

Yes, they are reverting back to the old Xbox 360 system and this has a massive impact on the game sharing as Mattrick goes on to explain (emphasis mine):

These changes will impact some of the scenarios we previously announced for Xbox One. The sharing of games will work as it does today, you will simply share the disc. Downloaded titles cannot be shared or resold. Also, similar to today, playing disc based games will require that the disc be in the tray.

While this will be seen as a victory for those who were crying out against this bold new world I am really disappointed because the way the Xbox 360 works is really frustrating.  I really dislike that a game I’ve copied to the hard drive I still have to go get the disc off the shelf just to play it.  It’s for this reason that I’ve started purchasing games via the Xbox Marketplace and Games-on-Demand but then it means my kids can’t play games round at a friends house unless the friend also owns it.

All this actually makes the Xbox One less appealing for me.  I do hope that Microsoft listens to people like me, who where happy with the new DRM limitations because of the benefits, and make one last policy change to allow the digital limitations to be opt-in for people like me.

The post Microsoft U-Turns on Xbox One DRM appeared first on The Digital Lifestyle.com.

Element14 have launched a new XBMC bundle for the Raspberry Pi aiming to give Pi owners a quick and easy way to build an XBMC Raspberry Pi box. The bundle includes an SD card with Raspbmc configured on it, a wireless mini keyboard with integrated mouse pad, HDMI cable and Ethernet cable. The UK price is £45.99 and you still need your Raspberry Pi so it’s not that cheap but it’s a nice way to have everything together to get started with. Purchase links Farnell.com

Via

Turn your Raspberry Pi into a media centre with a new kit from element14

XBMC bundle allows users to quickly turn their Raspberry Pi computers into a low-cost home media centre

LONDON – 19 June, 2013 – Raspberry Pi owners can now quickly and easily turn their Pi into a low-cost media centre for their home or office, with a new XBMC bundle from element14.

One of a strong pipeline of Raspberry Pi solutions to be launched this year, the XBMC bundle is available through Newark element14and MCM in North America, Farnell element14in Europe, CPC in the UK and Ireland andelement14 in Asia Pacific.

The XBMC bundle is a simple out-of-the-box solution to transform any Raspberry Pi into a powerful media centre for the home or office. Containing all the additional hardware and software necessary to start using the device, the starter kit is the ideal solution for new and existing users to get the most out of their Raspberry Pi.

The XBMC bundle will allow users to stream content from devices on their home network through their Raspberry Pi, turning the screen or their TV into a media centre. The Raspberry Pi will then stream content from any computer on the local network. Users can also access their Xbox Live ID to recommend content.

The XBMC bundle includes an SD card pre-loaded with Raspbmc software, an open source Linux distribution created by Sam Nazarko that brings Xbox Media Center (XBMC) to the Raspberry Pi. To help users get started quickly and easily, a straightforward user guide featuring an online video tutorial is included.

To control the Raspberry Pi in XBMC mode, the bundle includes an ultra Mini Keyboard and integrated Mouse Pad that wirelessly connects to the Raspberry Pi, while HDMI and Ethernet cables are provided to connect to a TV or monitor and the Internet.

The element14 Community is a vast source of information to support engineers and customers can find solutions for the XBMC in tutorials and videos on the website.

With over nine million views of the Raspberry Pi group on the element14 Community the success of the micro-computer is clear for everyone to see. To join the conversation, go tohttp://www.element14.com/raspberrypi.

The post Element14 launch Raspberry Pi XBMC bundle appeared first on The Digital Lifestyle.com.

Amazon have issued an update to the iOS version of the Kindle app. Version 3.8.1 has a fix for bookmarking issues that causing issues for many iPhone and iPad users. The app is free from the iTunes Store

What’s New in Version 3.8.1

Fix for customer-reported bookmark issue

The post Kindle update for iOS fixes bookmark issues appeared first on The Digital Lifestyle.com.

The developer behind Raspbmc the XBMC distribution for the Raspberry Pi has announced that he is working with a team building a device based on the same chip as the Raspberry Pi and will run Raspbmc version of XBMC. The Stealth Nighthawk F117A is a HDMI stick that has the Broadcom BCM2835 chip in it and comes with an SD card pre-configured with Raspbmc on it. You get the advantages of XBMC in a simple HDMI stick design. The device is available for pre-order at $59.99 which seems expensive as it’s more than a Raspberry Pi but is a complete device and you could plug it into your HDMI port and you are away. They are currently seeking funding via indiegogo.com

I do wonder about the merits of a commercial operation building on top of the great work done by the Raspberry Pi foundation (a charity), read the blog post and the comments on raspbmc.com and make up your own mind.

The device is self-housed, is cheaper than a Raspberry Pi when all components are purchased and is aimed for a consumer market.

The Dutch manufacturer Anaar are happy to announce a $59.99 pre-order price guarantee for the first 250 units, which gets you:

The device itself

An SD card with a customised version of Raspbmc installed

They’d love it if you could vote for them in the Accenture Innovation Awards 2013 here. And if you’d like to fund the project or pre-order a unit, you can do so here

The post New XBMC TVDongle in development, based on Raspmbc appeared first on The Digital Lifestyle.com.

The MediaPortal team have released version 1.40 of MediaPortal. Version two may be in development but version one updates continue and the latest version 1.4.0 has lots of improvements and fixes. Last month MediaPortal release a test version of 1.4.0 and the release version contains the fixes present in the beta. There are HDMI improvements, faster startup, improved power handling, improved music playback and Blueray playback amongst the changes.

So if you want the latest stable version checkout this build of MediaPortal, if want to see the future of MediaPortal have a look at version 2 alpha. This is the last version to work Windows XP, starting with 1.5 you will need Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8 to use MediaPortal so pack up that old XP machine.

Details from the MediaPortal blog including how to upgrade from older versions.

HDMI half/fullscreen fix:
HDMI is THE connection these days. In 1.4.0 we have finally managed to fix the issue that plagued so many people in our community. MediaPortal no longer resizes into a small window when you use HDMI to connect your HTPC with a TV or AV receiver!

MediaPortal starts faster:
MediaPortal can take a fair amount of time to start. This release introduces a few changes which should reduce that startup time a bit.

Standby (S3) hibernation (S4) handling reworked:
MediaPortal’s compatibility with Windows power saving features has been improved. Hopefully this will allow you to save some money from your power bill.

Compensate for Windows DPI settings different than 100%
Windows has a feature that enables you to increase the size of text (to make it easier to read). This version of MediaPortal works better than previous versions when that feature is enabled.

Video and TV-recordings thumbnails creation
Our thumbnail creator for video files has been worked on to make it more reliable.
We are also now able to create thumbnails for TV recordings on multiseat systems!

Picture thumbnail creation
MediaPortal 1.4.0 creates picture thumbnails more than 10x faster than MediaPortal 1.3.0.

Music playback
The music player implementation has been given an overhaul. WASAPI support has been added and the existing ASIO support has been cleaned up.

MediaPortal Audio Renderer
Based on your feedback, the MPAR which was first introduced in MediaPortal 1.3.0 has been refined and improved even further.

Blu-Ray Playback
We know you love the native Blu-Ray support that was introduced in MediaPortal 1.3.0. We’ve made further improvements in this release.

TV-Server enhancements
The TV-Server has received numerous small fixes and enhancements such as the option to also import and export your tuner settings.

New logging framework
The new log4net logging has elements that can be configured, specifically the log file size and log rotation.

The post MediaPortal 1.4.0 released, last version to support XP appeared first on The Digital Lifestyle.com.

TVCatchup is a great app for watching live TV on a mobile device, there are iOS, Windows 8/RT, Windows Phone and Android versions of the app and the Android version has just been updated. The update fixes audio playback issue, crashing problems and improves the network utilisation.

With the app you can watch live TV of most of the UK free to air channels like the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 and works over WiFi or 3G.

The app is free from the Google Play Store.

What’s in this version:

In this update we have:
- Fixed audio only playback on a range of devices.
- Fixed the app exit crash.
- Improved connection efficiency.
- Fixed the second batch of issues according to feedback from support and reviews..

The post TVCatchup for Android updated, fixes audio issues appeared first on The Digital Lifestyle.com.

Skype have announced that the Skype video messaging features that have been in the beta testing for a while are now out of beta. Skype Video Messaging is now available for the desktop versions of Skype, the Windows Store version, iPhone and iPad, Android and BlackBerry. There is no mention of Windows Phone in the announcement on the Skype Blog.

Skype messaging is an offline video service where you can send someone on your contact list a message and they can pickup the message when they are next online, the service is free and included it the latest version of its apps.

We’re excited to announce that video messaging is now coming out of preview as a full-fledged (and free!) feature in Skype for Windows desktop, Skype for Windows 8, Skype for Mac, Skype for iPhone, Skype for iPad, Skype for Android and Skype for BlackBerry. Just like the millions of users around the world who have already previewed video messaging, you too can now record and share a personal video message, even when your friends and loved ones are not available. The best part is that they’ll be able to view your video message as soon as they sign into Skype.Skype Video Messaging is easy and convenient, and only the contact you’ve chosen to receive your message can view it.

Video messaging is now available to all Skype users. You can send and receive as many video messages as you want – completely free of charge. Video messages can be received and viewed on any platform or device running Skype.

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Raspbmc is a build of XBMC for the Raspberry Pi and the June update has brought us lots of updates and changes. There is an updated firmware / kernel and fixes for Live TV, improved setting options, a new XBMC skin and support for the Raspberry Pi camera addon. To get the update just reboot you’re Pi and the automatic update processes will kick in.

Details from the raspbmc.com blog

Tweaks to the initialisation system speed up booting and remove some initial UI lag that occurs just after startup

There are some performance and stability enhancements, particularly when playing high bitrate content.

Updated firmware and kernel

Fix for TP-Link WN725N V2 devices

Fix Live TV stopping when selecting another channel

Fix for Live TV aspect ratio issues resulting in black screen

Backport of delegation of discontinuity in streams to GPU rather than OMXPlayer (resolves some streaming issues), thanks to popcornmix for the original fix!

Now available via Raspbmc Settings:

Boblight support provides an ambilight like implementation. Take a look at this user’s setup here

Raspberry Pi camera addon support allowing surveillance. This is useful for watching a bird feed or your kids. Images are taken at a desired interval and uploaded to /home/pi/camera.

Ability to scan for WiFi hotspots instead of having to type the SSID in.

Users now warned if power supply is detected to be inadequate

Simultaneous audio output (HDMI and Analog) is now supported

A new XBMC skin, made for Raspbmc by A Future Pilot and fuzzword. Many thanks to the wonderful contribution that these two have made. You can swap back to the default skin at any time via System -> Settings.

libCEC is updated for improved compatibility with TV sets.

24 hour nightly builds of XBMC 13.x are now available again

Enable IPV6 connectivity for SSH

/tmp and /var/log no longer stored in ZRAM tmpfs

Support for NOOBS 1.2

Support for Stealth Nighthawk F117A

Another two mirrors have joined the Content Delivery Network which means faster updates and installs. The project is very weak for downloads in Asia and would very much appreciate a mirror to help offer users a good quality update and installation experience there.

The post Raspbmc June update brings lots of XBMC changes for the Raspberry Pi appeared first on The Digital Lifestyle.com.

The app is free from the Google Play Store.

 Build 142:

Fixed library folder settings are lost (library disappears)
Fixed using playlists can trigger a crash
Fixed Now Playing may fail to refresh
Fixed metadata display over bluetooth (partial)
Fixed album art cache fails to update on sync
Fixed handling of compilation albums
Fixed UPnP first track not displayed correctly
Fixed UPnP crashes when viewing video properties
Fixed Wi-Fi sync fails for complex autoplaylists
Fixed .nomedia file should be included with album art folder
+more…

The post MediaMonkey for Android updated to build 142 appeared first on The Digital Lifestyle.com.

Last year we took a look at the Boogie Board and in fairness the design was quite appealing to a child with the bright colours and appealing to a parent in the money you save in paper scribbled on.

The latest version I have is in a smart red and silver and has the pen integrated. So no more worrying where you left the pen.It is fitted with a magnet so you can just stick it on the fridge and use it as a message board by putting the pen through like a kick stand.

This is a far more adult design and the model I’m looking at is the Jot 8.5. Style wise it is a world away from the original boards. It is a little bit thicker but it is not a problem.

It has a smart silver button for erasing unlike the slightly smudgy one of old. The stylus stores away in a slot at the top. Great idea as with the old one I did tend to have to check I had the “right” stylus in my hand.

There is also a lock on this version so if you have an important note just click that on and the erase button won’t work.

Handily this one does not run out after 10,000 uses you just open the battery cover on the back and slide in a new battery.

It is a far more stylish design and much more appealing to put in your kitchen or even be seen with as an adult.

Prices do seem to vary I have seen £54 which does seem a bit high but also a more reasonable £34.

Whilst this cannot save to your computer and really only replaces the idea of a notepad or sticky note, when I consider how many pads I get through with notes and lists this actually can be a money saver and I can cross off the jobs as I deal with them. Many of the hi-tech tablets are confused when I try and cross items off a list!!

So if you are looking for an LCD writer and want to do your bit to save the environment this could be a good option for you. You could now safely take this to a business meeting without people thinking you had been raiding your child’s toy box.

Well done Boogie Board a stylish upgrade.

The post Review: Boogie Board Jot 8.5–the Boogie Board Grows up. appeared first on The Digital Lifestyle.com.