Microsoft showed off some of the voice-activated features included with the new Xbox One last week. Now, a new video offers a demonstration of SkyDrive, Microsoft’s online storage service, and its tight integration into the system.
SkyDrive’s various Xbox One-friendly features are demonstrated in the video posted on Monday (watch above), in which Jeff Henshaw, Xbox principal group program manager, puts the service through its paces.
See also: Xbox One: Everything You Need to Know About Microsoft's New Console
Access to SkyDrive from the Xbox One using Kinect is accomplished by simply saying "Xbox: Go to SkyDrive," a command that takes you from the console’s home screen into the SkyDrive environment. Once inside SkyDrive, the user can navigate to specific collections of photos and videos using the controller, gestures or voice commands.
One particularly useful feature of the new feature is the ability to issue Snap commands to enhance the photo viewing experience from SkyDrive. For example, if you’re watching a slideshow of your photos, you can issue the Snap command to add a music track from Xbox Music to the experience.
In addition to the passive experience, the system also lets you to use the Snap command to search Bing while viewing videos, in the event that you feel the need to research a particular image onscreen.
Microsoft also decided to make your SkyDrive content easily accessible from the Xbox OneGuide menu. In addition having a variety of live and streaming video at your fingertips, you can also turn any photo collection in your SkyDrive into a channel that can be selected from OneGuide.
The story of cloud services and the public's interest in the dynamic is still unfolding, but with this kind of seamless integration and ease of use, adopting the new storage dynamic will become dramatically easier, particularly for those new to the Xbox content consumption platform.
Priced at $499.99, the Xbox One is scheduled for release in the United States on Nov. 22.
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Image: Microsoft
Ending years of rumors and speculation, Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One, the successor to the Xbox 360, on May 21, 2013. The price will be revealed closer to launch (expected holiday), but the new console has superior processing power, comes bundled with the Kinect sensor and has new abilities for watching TV and movies more conveniently.
The Xbox One console comes bundled with the Kinect and a controller.
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The controller got a revamp, too, with dozens of tiny modifications, although the overall shape stayed the same.
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The Xbox One can perform four times the number of calculations per second as the Xbox 360.
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Steve Spielberg will be lending his talents to an upcoming live-action TV series based on the Halo franchise.
The new installment in the Call of Duty franchise will make use of the Xbox One's hardware to tell a more engaging story, with lifelike graphics.
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Even the dogs will look better in Call of Duty: Ghosts. This one has realistic scarring and a tattoo in the ear.
The next generation Xbox will be able to deliver movie-like experiences in games.