Xbox posts

Filed under: Desktops, Hardware, Mac Pro

OS Xbox Pro is the hottest hackintosh ever

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Nov 26th, 2009

Warning: some NSFW lyrics on the music in the video above.

What do you get when you combine an old Xbox with OS X and some Mac Pro level hardware? This monstrosity. Built by Will Urbina, the OS Xbox Pro is a hackintosh casemodded into an original Xbox dev kit, with some crazy hardware under the hood, including a pair of 2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550s, an NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT card, 8GB of RAM, an 16GB solid state drive, and four traditional hard drives -- one boots Windows 7, the other one does OS X (Snow Leopard, we believe -- he bought a copy retail), a Ubuntu install in there somewhere, and two other sweet hard drives for video editing.

And here's the wacky thing: Total material cost of the system is under $1500. That, combined with the video above, almost makes me want to spend a month of weekends trying to do something like this myself (aside from, you know, fitting it into a dev kit Xbox thing -- although fitting it into an old Macintosh might be a fun build, too). At any rate, awesome build for sure.

Tags: computer, custom built, CustomBuilt, dev-kit, geforce 9800gt, Geforce9800gt, hackintosh, hard drives, HardDrives, macintosh, os xbox pro, OsXboxPro, pc, ssd, windows 7, Windows7, xbox

Filed under: Gaming, Freeware, iPhone, iPod touch

Manage Xbox Live friends with iNXES

by Todd Ritter (RSS feed) on Dec 15th, 2008

To accompany the recent Xbox 360 dashboard update, 1337pwn.com released a new version of their Xbox Live friends-management iPhone application. iNXES lets you view your friends list in the NXE form complete with avatars, gamer scores, and online status.

In my testing (on 3G and WiFi), performance was pretty poor. Scrolling through categories or through my friends list was sluggish, and some of my friends' avatars have been updated on Xbox Live but are not showing on iNXES. I was, however, able to see profile data, achievements, and game history.

Continue reading “Manage Xbox Live friends with iNXES”

Tags: app-store, iphone, xbox, xbox360, xboxlive

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Software, iTunes

SuperSync adds support for TiVo Mp3s

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Apr 23rd, 2008

We posted about SuperSync last year, and we just posted about another iTunes library syncing app, Syncopation. But just in case you've been waiting to sync your music libraries not just across iTunes but also to your TiVo, the wait is over -- SuperSync version 2.3 now does just that. You can connect to a shared library with any series 2 or series 3 TiVo, and even use the remote to browse and play music.

And of course, SuperSync will still let you do all the other stuff other sync tools will let you do -- browse multiple libraries and copy music between each, transfer whole playlists, and even browse and play music over the 'net. A two-machine license (the app has to be running on both computers you use the transfer the music to and from) costs $29.

TiVo support is all well and good, but I can haz Xbox 360 support, too? Connect360 is great, and Rivet seems interesting, but if we could roll up the sync tool and the sharing tool into one app, all the better.

[Via Macworld]

Tags: media, mp3s, music, sharing, supersync, tivo, xbox

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Tips and tricks, Internet, Apple, iPhone

Xbox Live Friends list on your iPhone

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Feb 22nd, 2008

There are quite a few ways online to see what your friends are up to in Xbox Live -- the most fun way is probably the 360 Voice site (that lets your Xbox blog about what you've been playing lately), but there are also Facebook applications, Dashboard widgets, and all kinds of other ways to keep tabs on gamertags. And now, 1337pwn.com has released a browser widget for MobileSafari on the iPhone and iPod touch, so you can track any gamertags you like on the go.

It doesn't actually nab tags from your friends list, so you have to type them all in separately (of course, that also means you can ninja-monitor folks), but once you get it set up, you get a URL that you can bookmark (or Webclip -- there is a default Webclip icon as well) with each person's GT, Gamerscore, last game played, and their icon and motto. So there aren't too many stats there to deal with, but if you want to quickly see what your friends are up to on your favorite portable device, it works pretty well.

[Thanks, Det!]

Tags: friends-list, iphone, mobile-safari, webclip, widet, xbox, xbox-360, xbox-live

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Multimedia, Open Source, Leopard

XBMC being ported to Leopard

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jan 3rd, 2008

Xbox Media Center (or XBMC) is an open source media program designed to run on an original Microsoft Xbox game console-- for an open source app designed on a "hostile" platform, it's actually got one of the better media center interfaces around (and it's easy to plug into-- you can even use your iPhone to control it remotely). And so the crew over there has recently been porting it back to work with Linux itself-- all of the Xbox Media Center, none of the actual Xbox.

If it's on Linux, it shouldn't be too hard to get it back running on OS X itself, right? At least that's what elan on the XBMC forums thought-- he hacked together a close-to-working XBMC port on Leopard. They haven't released it in any fully workable form yet (if you want to dive in as a developer, you can probably start here, and good luck, you're going to need it), but as a few people say, there's definitely a call for a terrific open source media center for OS X, because Front Row doesn't cut it for everyone.

Thanks, floris!

Tags: leopard, linux, media-center, open-source, port, xbmc, xbox

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Multimedia, Cool tools, Hacks, iPhone

Use your iPhone as an XBMC remote

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jul 30th, 2007

I have to say, as much as everyone whined about the lack of an iPhone SDK, I am nothing but impressed at how far people are bending over backwards to provide functionality to the iPhone. Yes it makes you wonder how much we could do if there was an SDK, but on the other hand, developers are really showing us just how much can be done with just a browser.

Take, for example, the Xbox Media Center iPhone Remote. If you're still using your old Xbox as a media center, Tom Robinson has devised a setup that will let you actually log in to your Xbox from your iPhone, essentially using the iPhone as a very expensive (but very functional) remote control. Basically, you FTP the code onto your Xbox (or just install it over the web), and then login to the Xbox's IP from MobileSafari, and you can use it to browse media, view information on playing media, and even use transport and audio controls. Wild.

My only question is how secure this is-- without having used it, it seems like all you need to get full access to the Xbox is the IP address. There may be something in the code that confines access to a local network, but if you can install this script from the web, it seems like you could also log in to control an Xbox from afar after it's been installed. At any rate, it's a really interesting idea, and just another example of how creative people are getting in developing functionality on the iPhone.

Thanks, Dave!

Tags: controls, ftp, iphone, iphonesdk, mediacenter, remote, server, tomrobinson, xbox

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Multimedia, iTunes, Steve Jobs

Disney HD on Xbox Live... but not iTunes

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Jul 11th, 2007

I'm not sure how closely you're all following E3 (the big gaming convention going on this week in LA), but one of the tidbits of news dropped by some little company named Microsoft last night is Disney movies are now available for download on Xbox 360's Live Marketplace. Finally, just like all of us iTunes users have been doing for months, Xbox owners can enjoy Disney flicks via digital distribution.

But wait-- the Xbox flicks are available, right now... in HD. Wha? Is Microsoft's CEO the largest Disney shareholder and on their Board of Directors? Did someone from Microsoft run the animation company that turned Disney animation around? Why are Xbox 360 owners watching these movies in HD when we can't do the same on iTunes?

We've speculated before that HD movies would be coming to iTunes, but right now, Xbox 360 owners can see every single hair on Ariel's head, and iTunes purchasers cannot. What's wrong with this picture?

Thanks, James H.

Tags: disney, hd, itunes, marketplace, movies, xbox, xbox360, xboxlive

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Freeware, Open Source

MacLive: Your Xbox Live Friends on the Mac

by Mat Lu (RSS feed) on Feb 12th, 2007

MacLive is an Open Source utility to keep track of your Xbox Live friends on your Mac. You can set it to let you know when your friends log on via a Growl notification (so you can get fragging as soon as a buddy shows up online). Unfortunately, according this review MacLive is still a little rough around the edges, as the add a friend feature is apparently broken and there isn't yet a way to send messages, manage the friends list, etc.

Nonetheless, this is a great idea, particularly if the developer James Howard continues to improve it. MacLive is a free download at Google Code.

Thanks Peter!

Tags: maclive, xbox

Filed under: Airport

Xbox incompatible with 802.11n Airport Extreme

by Erica Sadun (RSS feed) on Feb 7th, 2007

TUAW reader Bryan Hughes writes in to tell us that after many unsuccessful attempts, he was unable to connect wirelessly to his Xbox 360 via the new 802.11n Airport Extreme. Over at a discussion at Apple Tech Support, other users report no problem connecting their Wiis and Playstation 3s to the Airport Extreme network but that the Xbox is another matter.

~~The Xbox 360 apparently will not recognize any network with security, whether WEP or WPA and~~ Microsoft's tech support apparently is telling customers that Apple routers are not recommended. So would you be willing to entirely disable security on your wireless network to connect to your Xbox? That's apparently one way of making the connection work. Some readers report that turning off security and closing their network (not advertising the SSID) and using MAC address filtering work. You can join the Xbox/Airport Extreme discussion here.

Tags: Airport, Airport Extreme, AirportExtreme, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox360

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, iPod Family, Apple

Argo, Microsoft's iPod killer

by Scott McNulty (RSS feed) on Jul 11th, 2006

Engadget, our sister blog who is always in the know when it comes to gadgets, have snagged a picture of a possible design for Microsoft's Argo. What the heck is the Argo? Why, it is Microsoft's attempt at an iPod killer.

According to the scuttlebutt the Argo will be part of the XBox brand and feature, along with all the routine media playback options, a wireless net connection and a social aspect along the lines of the XBox online experience. The real kicker? Microsoft is rumored to so want to convert people from the iPod and iTunes that they will replace, for free, all the music that you bought at the iTunes Music store with Janus DRM'ed Windows Media files.

Microsoft has confirmed none of this, of course, but it seems very likely to me. I won't be trading my iPod in anytime soon, but there are countless XBox 360 users out there that might.

Tags: argo, microsoft, xbox

Filed under: Gaming, iPod Family, Hacks

Dock your iPod in your Xbox 360

by C.K. Sample, III (RSS feed) on Dec 20th, 2005

If you have a brand new iPod and a brand new Xbox 360 and you have a penchant for hacking, then you've probably already spent several hours staring at both devices and trying to figure out how to make them embrace each other in the embrace that only two cool gadgets can share. Luckily for you, you gadget freak, Eliot Phillips shows you the way to build a Dock for your iPod into your Xbox 360. It's only step one, but it's sure to please.

Tags: 360, dock, ipod, xbox

Filed under: Gaming, Hardware, Odds and ends

Microsoft calls Power Macs an Interim Development Tool

by C.K. Sample, III (RSS feed) on May 13th, 2005

TUAW reader, Brock, wrote in with a tip pointing this out: Microsoft begrudgingly admitted to demoing recent videos associated with their new Xbox 360 on Macs. According to News.com, an official Microsoft spokesman blushed* before admitting, "We purchased a number of Apple G5's because very specific hardware components of the G5 allow developers to emulate some of the technology behind future Xbox products and services." Then a few minutes later when the spokesman got a hold of himself, feeling emboldened by the attention he was receiving*, he added with a sneer*, "This is an interim development tool that will be replaced with a more powerful and comprehensive solution later." [emphasis mine]

More powerful and comprehensive? The rumors of new more powerful Macs on the horizon must be true! ;-)

*I made these asterisked parts up.

Thanks, Brock!

Tags: 360, mac, windows, xbox

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