Microsoft Launches Kinect, Misses Bing Opportunity

Microsoft will capitalize on the Kinect launch Thursday to rebrand the Xbox 360 from a game box into an entertainment console, but some wonder whether the Redmond, Wash. tech giant will integrate its search engine Bing into the experience.

Kinect will allow Microsoft to better compete against video game console makers Sony and Nintendo, but the ability to search the Internet via voice commands would put it in a position to take search and advertising market share from Google by becoming an alternative to Google TV.

The Xbox allows its 25 million subscribers to experience entertainment in their living room through high-definition (HD) movies on Zune and Netflix, as well as sports on ESPN -- all through Xbox LIVE. The console also offers social options on Facebook and Twitter, and chat with other LIVE players around the world. Kinect launches with about a dozen video games and allows players to control the content through the wave of a hand or sound of their voices.

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PlayOn banned from Roku

PlayOn is client software that turns a game console into a digital video player, allowing consumers to access certain online video sites such as YouTube, Amazon VOD, and others. One site that you won't get access to, however, is Netflix. Here's the article from electronista:

Fearing legal repercussions, Roku Developer Program Manager Patrick announced on the company's official forums that PlayOn-compatible channels have been removed and can no longer be added. Those who already subscribed to the channel may be able to keep it, though for how long isn't known. Roku says this is because neither Roku nor the developer of the channel are affiliated with PlayOn.

For now, Roku remains as a streaming option on PlayOn's website. PlayOn offers streaming content from Hulu, Comedy Central, Spike, PBS, ESPN, CBS, ESPN3, Nickelodeon, TBS and BET. The first year costs $40, with every year after that priced at $20.

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Time Warner is Expanding TV Everywhere to Include Live ESPN Sports

The Time Warner Cable and ESPN TV Everywhere partnership will be the first big test of the stickiness of access to live sports in an authenticated service. We think that the cable operators' high-definition capabilities, growing VoD libraries, and aggregated live sports are among the chief weapons at their disposal to fend off cord-cutting. It will be quite interesting to see if TWC will report any figures on the usage of the ESPN content, as well as any impact this has on customer satisfaction and retention.

tvCompass bringing CBS content to mobile Internet devices

You may know tvCompass as the company that developed the ESPN Remote. At CES, I talked to them about several announcements, including a Widget publishing platform, bringing CBS content to devices like the ESPN remote, using Macrovision's guides to bring EPGs to new devices (like the iPhone), and turning the iPhone into a cool remote controller by partnering with Zilog.