Microsoft's SmartGlass Is Really Smart

At this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, Microsoft introduced its latest technology of Xbox SmartGlass. Before the announcement, the rumor mill was turning. Was SmartGlass a new type of hardware? Would it replaceXbox? Would it change how we interact with our computers? Would it be a new platform?

At the keynote speech, many of these questions were answered while we were left with many more to figure out. So, what did we learn from the announcement? We learned that SmartGlass is not a new or game changing piece of hardware. It is software.

Now while you say, "It is just a piece of software." You have to acknowledge that it is a really smart piece of software. It will communicate with multiple platforms and allow them all to talk with each other "seamlessly." That may sound like it should be easy, but it really is not. Actually, it is about as far away from easy as you can get. A lot of manufacturers have a large amount of difficulty just trying to unite one product line of web-enabled mobile and desktop devices. The task is daunting due to the differences in architecture. With SmartGlass, Microsoft is trying to Windows 7 Ultimate Key tie together Apple and Android products as well.

What hardware will I need?

To start with, you will need an Xbox or other device running Windows 8 to get the technology going. After that,Microsoft says that the sky is the limit and you can connect all types of mobile devices. They say they will be able to interact with iOS and Android devices. While Microsoft would prefer that you buy one of their Nokia phones, SmartGlass will interact with any non-Microsoft Android phone. You don't need to buy a Windows 8 tablet, but could use an iPad that you already own..

I like the idea but what do I do with it?

So, you have your Microsoft Xbox and Windows 8 tablet and are wondering what you can do with it. While we are still being kept in the dark about a lot of details, Microsoft announced that they would be using this technology in a few specialized areas. The two that they concentrated on at the Expo were gaming and streaming media. For the gaming community, they demonstrated some of Maddon's next football game where players used their tablets to draw their plays on the screen to call out plays. There was even a hint of Karaoke help with words showing on the tablet to help Office 2011 Mac Product Key the singer. For the real Windows 7 Ultimate Key question, do we really need to encourage more Karaoke? For videos, the tablet computers showed extra information as the movie was playing and could offer interactive games. It is kind of what you have now with pop up video facts, but on a different screen so your image is not compressed or overwritten.

What is next?

While SmartGlass was shown at the E3, we still have to wait for this fall for Microsoft to release it to the public. It will be ready just in time for the pre-Christmas buying rush and should make an interesting "computer stuffer." Who knows, maybe this Christmas, all of your entertainment experiences will be just a little smarter.