Following months of fevered rumor and speculation, Microsoft finally took the veil off the Xbox One, Redmond's impressively un-leaked next-generation console. The new system will come packaged with an updated version of the Kinect sensor and will be available “later this year,” and no price was announced.

The presenters on stage at Tuesday’s launch event consistently branded the new console as the technology that would unify the living room and bring all of your entertainment—games, music, and movies—into one location. And with a bevy of impressive new functionality, it appears that the One might just be able to assume that role of one central device.

Microsoft is well aware that the television resides at the center of your entertainment universe. And the Xbox One wants to be the gatekeeper for those experiences. All of them.

Xbox owns your TV

Voice commands will be a big part of interacting with the One. While we can assume you will still be able to navigate via your controller or Smart Glass app, Yusef Mehdi, Microsoft’s senior vice president of interactive entertainment, demonstrated how to navigate the One using voice commands and gesture control with the updated Kinect sensor.

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Right now I’m a fortune son. Because I’m listening to John Fogerty’s new take on the classic Credence Clearwater Revival song of the same name (with the Foo Fighters) from Fogerty’s upcoming album Wrote A Song For Everyone. And that’s thanks to Pandora Premieres, a new station from Pandora that launched on Tuesday.

Pandora has become an incredibly popular service because it lets you listen to the music you like for free (never mind those pesky ads) as stations based on artists, genres, or composers. But unlike subscription music services a la Spotify, you don’t get to choose complete albums. The new Pandora Premieres station offers the ability to listen to a few albums—before they’re even released. Up to one week ahead of their scheduled U.S. launch dates, to be exact.

The station debuts with the aforementioned Fogerty album, as well as Laura Marling’s Once I Was An Eagle, both available to stream from May 21 through May 27, ahead of their May 28 release dates. If you haven’t heard of Marling (I hadn’t) that’s because Pandora is planning to mix established artists with up-and-comers and change albums on a regular basis.

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Mobile network builder Nokia Siemens Networks unveiled tools to optimize video performance on mobile devices on Monday, just in time for the CTIA Wireless trade show that begins Tuesday in Las Vegas.

The new capabilities come out of Liquid Broadband, a portfolio of network performance technologies that NSN announced in February at Mobile World Congress. That lineup includes Liquid Applications for boosting app performance, plus other tools.

Amid all the effort going into small cells, more spectrum and other ways to boost total available wireless capacity, mobile vendors are also crafting tools for using that capacity more intelligently. Around the same time Liquid Broadband debuted, NSN rival Cisco Systems introduced Quantum, a software architecture that can analyze real-time data about the network to improve performance, among other things.

NSN wants to help carriers satisfy their subscribers with smooth video streaming, which may pose a challenge when many users on the same base station want to watch. The company says its new capabilities can reduce video stalling by 90 percent while also cutting demand for capacity by 25 percent.

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Sony is trying to steal some of Microsoft's thunder by offering a few fleeting glimpses of the Playstation 4 hardware on the eve of a Microsoft Xbox event.

A new teaser video on YouTube shows a fuzzy black box, gradually floating closer to the camera, while partial images of what appear to be the PS4 hardware flash into view. The video promises a chance to “see it first” at Sony's E3 press conference, scheduled for 6 p.m. PDT on June 10.

Sony

On the gaming forum NeoGAF, you can see all the supposed hardware images in one place, though they don't give much away. At best, we can see that the PS4 has its fair share of vents, odd angles, and design flourishes.

It's an amusing tease given that Microsoft's director of Xbox Live programming, Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb, has taken a jab at Sony for not revealing the final PS4 design yet. “Announce a console without actually showing a console? That's one approach,” he wrote on Twitter during Sony's reveal event in February.

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Your eye can clearly see only a small part of your screen any any given time. The rest of your field of view is some measure of blurry—a smearing of color your brain pulls, along with the sharp central focus, into a coherent image. That makes it relatively simple to extend the perceived breadth of a scene on your TV screen or monitor. Woodenshark aims to capitalize on this with its Lightpack (funding through May 31), an inexpensive back lighting system that extends your visual experience beyond the borders of your box.

A series of ten RGB LEDs radiate outward from a light-striped black box affixed to the back of your screen. These strips splash a pool of light onto the surface behind, its tones relating directly to the images displayed on their respective edges of the screen. The setup bleeds whatever you’re viewing into your peripheral vision in a way that is, as far as the less acute outer regions of your eyes are concerned, nearly as good as an extended sharp display—or at least that’s the pitch. And according to Woodenshark, soft lighting reduces muscular strain related to pupil dilation to boot.

You control the LED strips over a Micro-USB connection with a piece of software called Prismatik. In addition to governing the basic translation of edge imagery to strip output, Prismatik allows you to adjust capture areas, color balance, luminosity, and other specific values, as well as set up custom behaviors. With your own designs or plugins developed by other users, it appears the program can blaze blue when somebody pokes you on Skype or cycle a growing slice of red as your game spells cool, for example examples. Note that program’s role necessitates a Windows, Linux, or OS X computer: A standard television screen is not enough.

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Walter White, Jesse Pinkman, and the rest of your favorite Breaking Bad characters return in August for the series finale, but if it wasn’t for Netflix the show never would have reached this point, the series’ creator says.

Breaking Bad, which revolves around a high school chemistry teacher turned meth dealer, owes a big debt of gratitude to Netflix, Breaking Bad Executive Producer Vince Gilligan recently told New York Magazine. Part of the credit may go to the Netflix feature that permits one to “binge watch” shows in just a few sittings.

“I don’t think you’d be sitting here interviewing me if it weren’t for Netflix,” Gilligan told New York. “In its third season, Breaking Bad got this amazing nitrous-oxide boost of energy and general public awareness because of Netflix.”

Kudos to bingers

Gilligan is just the latest Hollywood bigwig to credit part of a show’s success to the way people are consuming video online. In February, television director David Petrarca, who has directed episodes of Game of Thrones and True Blood, said online piracy doesn’t hurt hit shows, but instead helps them maintain “cultural buzz.”

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On May 21st at 10am Pacific time, Microsoft will unveil its next-generation Xbox console. And if this article were titled "What we know for sure about the next Xbox," we could end it here. Microsoft has been very tight-lipped about the successor to the Xbox 360, but that's about to change.

Sony revealed the Playstation 4 in Feburary, promsing more info at the E3 Expo in June. Sony set the bar, and now it's up to Microsoft to clear it. In truth, there's not a lot of really solid information about the next Xbox. Rumors have circulated online for years, and seem to change with the tide. That said, when you hear the same things repeated often enough, from generally reliable sources, you start to get a reasonable idea of what to expect. We know what we would like to see in the next Xbox, but what are we likely to see?

The name

The code name for the next Xbox is Durango, but just as the console called Xenon was formally named Xbox 360, Durango will soon shed its development name in favor of a public moniker. Some have colloquially called Microsoft's next console the Xbox 720, because that's double 360, but that can't be the name, because frankly, it's dumb.

The International Business Times in the UK claims to have sources stating the name will be Xbox Infinity, which isn't half bad. This rumor gained a lot of weight thanks to a very official-looking marketing mock-up by a Reddit user going by the name of "C-Ron." Xbox Infinity might be the name (it has a nice ring to it and is suitably broad in appeal), but a fan-made logo is in no way proof of anything.

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Memorial Day may mark the beginning of summer in some ways, but it's winter for electronics shoppers, seeking bargains on TVs, computers, and other gear.

"May is typically not a good time to purchase electronics: it's generally a month of transition," writes Louis Ramirez for bargain hunter website DealNews.com.

For example, new HDTV models have started to enter the market. That means prices are starting to be slashed on older models. But in another 90 days or so, prices will start slipping on those newer models, too, so if you can be patient, your procrastination will be rewarded.

Memorial Day is also very close to number of high-profile events that will impact the computer and gaming markets.

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College graduation is a time for celebration. It's a time to reflect on what you’ve learned, and to look back on all the hard work that earned you that mortarboard and gown.

And in between Grandma taking way, way too many pictures, and Mom crying and fussing with your hair, and Dad stumbling over his well-meaning but awkward advice, all you’re thinking about during the actual event is how uncomfortable your shoes are. And how the gown is a particularly itchy polyester. And whether the bar down the street will still be serving happy hour after the ceremony.

Plenty of other websites can provide how-to tips on surviving your transition to adulthood, but we roll differently at TechHive. You need levity during these stressful times, so we searched far and wide across a sea of URLs to bring you the following collection of grade-A animated GIFs. Each should give you a laugh and help you remember that you’ve earned this.

When you realize your final project is due tomorrow—and you haven't started it yet:

Trying to study for finals when you have relatives in town for the ceremony:

When it's 4:17 a.m. and you're trying to pump yourself up to finish your last paper:

When people start freaking out during finals week:

When you still have five more pages of your thesis to write but you're out of things to say so you start to improvise:

Literally five minutes after you've finished your last final:

Selling your books back for the last time:

When you're feeling sassy in your cap and gown:

How you feel about your diploma during the graduation ceremony:

When they call you up to accept your diploma and pronounce your name wrong:

The first time you get to use the line "Do you want to come up and see my diploma?"

When your student loans start showing up in the mail:

When you see how much you owe on those student loans:

What you feel like doing after you calculate how long it will take you to pay it all back:

When people ask what you're going to do with your English/Art History/Philosophy degree, the first time:

When people ask what you're going to do with your degree, the fiftieth time:

Whenever anyone asks you "So, have you found a job yet?"

When you've sent out 50 resumes—and then realize you've misspelled your email address:

When you think you've completely blown an interview, but get a call back:

When your best friend lands his dream job, and you're still working retail:

Writing your first cover letter:

When you go for your first "real" interview—and find 20 other people waiting to interview for the same position:

When a position requires you to apply using Taleo. Which then deletes all your fields when you save:

Trying to determine if the job listings on Craiglist are legit:

When you land a paid internship in your field:

When your boss at your unpaid internship tasks you with alphabetizing the whole filing system:

Three hours later, when you realize you've misfiled the last 100 files:

In between projects at your internship:

How you feel when you've accepted a job:

When you land a job that is actually relevant to your degree:

Six months into your first professional job, when you start feeling like a "real adult":

Today the Play This! podcast is Carlos, Alex Cocilova, and intern Hayden Dingman, and they get into the Wii U. It's a system with a lot to offer, but it's struggling, and it might not survive the coming launches of the Playstation 4 and next Xbox.

Links from this episode:

• The new Vampire Weekend album is out, and highly acclaimed. And of course, Daft Punk is streaming on iTunes.
• Carlos couldn't come up with the name during the podcast, but Shake a Fist by Hot Chip is the song he was thinking of.
• If you miss old-school adventure games, you should check out Dreamfall: The Longest Journey. It's old, but the sequels have been successfully Kickstarted.
• Speaking of Kickstarter, Hayden is working on a project called Welcome to Boon Hill. Check it out!

Got something you want us to talk about, check out, or a guest you want us to try to book? Send us mail at entertainment@techhive.com with the subject: Play This! podcast. Or, tweet at us @TechHive.

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This week I take a peek at Hulu Plus, another paid online streaming service that charges $8 a month for access to new and old TV shows, but also a decent collection of movies—ranging from extremely highbrow to extremely lowbrow. A huge bonus is that service hosts many movies from the Criterion Collection, which is perhaps the most respected of all American DVD and Blu-ray distributors. Like Netflix, Hulu’s content depends on complex contracts with various studios, and sometimes videos will “expire.” But for now I’ll be concentrating on several titles from its “new” list, starting with some cult favorites.

Oldboy

★★★★☆

The middle part of Korean director Park Chan-wook’s “Vengeance Trilogy” is also the most loved; a proposed American remake has been buzzed about for years (currently, it’s in Spike Lee’s hands). Oldboy (2003) concerns a man (Choi Min-sik) who is captured and imprisoned for many years without explanation. When he’s finally released, he begins to work out what happened. Actor Choi undergoes a striking transformation, from a paunchy softie in a business suit to a lean, haunted, animal-like entity. In one striking scene, he fights off dozens of bad guys in a single sustained shot, tracking back and forth in a long hallway. But the ending of this revenge tale is the most memorable of all.

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Talk radio is horrible. By and large, the medium has devolved into stale fart jokes by aging morning zookeepers and political discourse aimed at rural survivalists. Thankfully, podcasts allow us to handpick the talk programming that we want to hear. Smartphone apps are the perfect medium to manage your podcast library and take it with you—anywhere your ears go, your favorite podcasts can follow.

Recently, I profiled the best podcatching apps for Android. To be sure, any of the eight apps featured there will be good enough. However, after spending some time with each app, Pocket Casts ($4) has proven to be the best podcatcher for your Android device.

Style is substance

Pocket Casts' flat design and clutter-free navigation allows for an intuitive user experience. All your favorite podcasts are stored in one easy-to-peruse magazine-style library (as you can see to the left). One nit-pick: There is no “list view” layout option in the initial window (I’m a fan of list views), but once you click a podcast icon, the app will present you with a list view of available episodes.

Tap on an individual episode to prompt a pop-up with a brief episode description and the option to stream or download. (The app charitably has an auto-delete function that will delete episodes after they’ve been played—the lack of an auto-cleanup in other apps has caused me grief in the past.)

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The U.S. Congress should consider a “safe harbor” from legal action for consumers using works protected by copyright as it launches a long-term effort to revamp copyright law, some advocates said Thursday.

Consumers should be protected from lawsuits when they use digital works they’ve legally purchased, Jule Sigall, assistant general counsel for copyright at Microsoft, told U.S. lawmakers.

“The lack of clarity around reasonable and ordinary personal use has contributed to the declining public reputation of copyright and a lack of respect for the law among some consumers,” he told the intellectual property subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. “Too often consumers view copyright as an impediment to their enjoyment of creative content they have paid for and a deterrent to innovation in new products and services.”

Copyright holders sometimes used ambiguities in copyright law to threaten consumers, he added.

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There has been a lot of speculation about the name of the console that will succeed the Xbox 360. We know the code name is "Durango," but that's just an internal development name—the Xbox 360 carried the code name "Xenon." New domain name registrations and redirects now provide convincing evidence that Microsoft will market the new Xbox under the brand name "Xbox Fusion."

Many have simply called Microsoft's next console the Xbox 720, because that's twice 360, right? But of course that wouldn't be the official name, because it's sort of dumb. More recently, a convincing mock-up from Reddit user C-Ron had the rumor mill convinced that the name of the next Xbox would be Xbox Infinity. That's not a bad name at all, but it's not necessarily real.

Recently, domain name registrations related to the name "Xbox Fusion" sprang up. Microsoft owns the domains for XboxFusion.com, XboxFusion.co.uk, XboxFusion.biz, and several others. Perhaps more important, each of those domains currently redirects to the official Xbox page, which is currently dominated by an ad inviting you to tune in on Tuesday, May 21 at 10am pacific time for the reveal of the next-generation Xbox. Microsoft does not own domains related to Xbox 720, Xbox Infinity, or other popular potential Xbox names. The company does own domains like Xbox8.us and XboxLiveTV.com, and has for years, but those seem to be held as a defensive maneuver, not for immediate use. Those domains just direct to Bing searches, not to the official Xbox site.

None of this is an official announcement, nor is it ironclad proof that "Xbox Fusion" is really the name of the next box. It could all be a red herring, or Microsoft covering its bases. But frankly, this is as close to a confirmation of the new name as you're likely to get before Tuesday. If Xbox Fusion isn't the name of the next Xbox, it's almost certainly the name of a major feature or service.

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Google CEO Larry Page has a chance to spread peace and love to rival Microsoft sooner than expected after a moving appearance during Google I/O.

“You need to actually have interoperation [between products and technology standards], not just people milking off one company for their own benefit,” Page said at a Q&A session on Thursday.

Page’s comments were directed at Microsoft’s recent decision to incorporate Google Chat into Outlook.com, while at the same time not offering Google the ability to incorporate Messenger and Skype chat contacts into Gmail. Microsoft recently shut down its original IM service to consolidate Messenger contacts with Skype.

Page’s comments also came just as Google is refusing to play nice with Microsoft over YouTube, the search giant’s popular video site. Google recently demanded that its rival shut down a Microsoft-built YouTube app for violating YouTube’s terms of service.

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Step aside, Spotify, there’s a new streaming music game in town.

On Wednesday, Google threw its hat in the ring of suscription music services with Google Play Music All Access, a $10-a-month streaming service, launching immediately in the U.S.

Like Spotify and its ilk, All Access offers millions of tracks (although Google didn’t say how many millions, or which music labels for that matter) for streaming on Android phones and tablets, as well as from a Web browser. And in the process, Google has also taking a big swing at its Android app partners like Spotify, Rdio, and Rhapsody.

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The Google I/O keynote for 2013 is just a few hours away, and this year’s kickoff to the company’s developer conference is shaping up to be one for the record books.

On tap for Google I/O 2013 are expectations for an Android refresh, new Google-licious hardware, a whole lot of gaming, and maybe—just maybe—some talk about Glass. (If we're lucky, Google might even throw a Glass-enabled Fred Armisen from a plane.)

Beyond those previous whispers, the ramp-up to the show has seen the launch of a revamped Google Play Store and a slew of new rumors of what might be on tap, from a potential Spotify killer to a "Google Galaxy S4." Let’s dive in to the latest Google-flavored reports and updates flying around the Web.

Google music streaming

Google is getting ready to take on Spotify this week with a new music streaming subscription service on Google Play, according to both The Wall Street Journal and The Verge. The company has reportedly signed deals with the major U.S. recording labels—Sony, Universal, and Warner—ensuring a deep catalog at launch. It’s not clear if Google will announce its streaming service on Wednesday during the I/O keynote, but it’s certainly a good bet if this turns out to be the real deal.

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In space, there is no AAA. So, if your spaceship sputters out, that’s sort of it. That’s the premise of the visually striking experimental short film, Grounded. I think?

Basically, after the unnamed astronaut crashes on the desert planet, a bunch of crazy stuff goes down. Like he crashes and lives, and crashes and dies, and crashes and lives to become an old man who farms the planet the rest of his days.

So, it’s all crazypants and open to interpretation. Like any good movie.

The website describes Grounded as “a metaphorical account of the experience, inviting unique interpretation and reflection by the viewer. Themes of aging, inheritance, paternal approval, cyclic trajectories, and behaviors passed on through generations are explored against an ethereal backdrop.”

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Previewed at the 2013 CES (then called the Qube), the Asus Cube is a set-top box that delivers the Google TV experience—a combination media streamer, advanced program guide, and application bundle—for a modest $140. But in my tests, its many admirable features weren’t always easy to use.

Physically, the Asus Cube looks a lot like a Boxee Box made whole (the Boxee Box being a cube with a corner lopped off). Measuring about five inches on each side and weighing in at less 15 ounces, the Cube sits between your usual TV video source—typically, a cable or satellite box—and your HDTV, with HDMI cables making the connections both ways.

In addition to the HDMI in and out ports, the Cube has an ethernet port for connecting to a broadband network, an IR blaster port for an included cable to transmit commands from its remote to the cable or satellite box, and a couple of USB 2.0 ports for hooking up drives with media content for playback.

Asus does skimp a bit on networking components: The Cube only supports 10/100 ethernet, and if you can’t use a wired network connection, you’re limited to 802.11n Wi-Fi on the 2.4GHz band. In crowded environments, the 2.4GHz band is highly subject to interference, making it less than ideal for streaming media. Support for the roomier 5GHz band would have been nice, and in its absence a wired network connection is highly recommended.

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For a limited time, the iTunes Store is end-to-end streaming Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, the group’s first new studio release since 2005. You can pre-order the album now for $12 and download it on its May 21st release date. Although you can’t choose individual tracks to play when previewing the album, you can start the stream playing and then use iTunes’ scrub controller to move through the album.

The Internet has been alive with rumors that the streaming release was offered to spoil early pirated releases of the album. While there certainly are pirated versions of the album floating around, they are predominantly copies of the iTunes stream rather than versions obtained elsewhere.

Additionally, this isn’t a first for iTunes. Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience, David Bowie’s The Next Day, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ I’m With You were also offered as end-to-end streams prior to their release. This strongly hints that this was simply another high-profile album being granted a unique promotional opportunity.

Listeners can choose to read the tea leaves any way they like, but it’s hard to think of this as a bad thing. It provides potential buyers the opportunity to listen to the entire album (multiple times, if they like) before committing cash to it, thus eliminating complaints about iTunes’ 90-second previews. The buzz generated by the rare stream brings attention to the album, which exposes more people to it. And it burnishes the iTunes Store’s image as the place to hear exclusive releases from major artists.

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Somehow, Alex Wawro has not actually seen any of the original A-Team TV show until now. Fortunately, it's on Netflix, so he can binge on classic 80s action TV all he wants. Have you ever noticed that, for all the shooting and explosions, nobody ever dies?

Links from this episode:

• We have no idea what Starseed Pilgrim is, but we love it.
• It's sort of depressing, but Detropia is a fascinating look into the fall of Detroit. You can find it on Netflix.
• If you like gross-out horror comedy, check out John Dies at the End.
• Alex has just discovered a little TV show called The A-Team, which you can stream on Netflix.
• Great YouTube videos by pixelspersecond, including The Matrix Retold by Mom. Also, Star Wars according to a 3 year old.
• Iron Man 3 is good. Go see that.
• Game Dev Tycoon is worth playing. It's a lot like Game Dev Story, perhaps a bit better, but not a mobile game.

Got something you want us to talk about, check out, or a guest you want us to try to book? Send us mail at entertainment@techhive.com with the subject: Play This! podcast. Or, tweet at us @TechHive.

Have a listen:

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ABC is updating its iOS app this week to support live streaming of shows, including programming from local stations—but the move doesn't cut the cord as decisively as it seems at first blush.

Users in New York and Philadelphia will be the first to get access to renamed app, Watch ABC, sporting the "Live" button that streams programming from local stations. Support for other markets is scheduled to be added this summer, as ABC cuts new deals with the companies operating its 200-plus affiliates across the U.S.

Although ABC’s signals are free to watch over public airwaves, the live stream option is available only if you’re a paying subscriber of a cable or satellite provider. The app will still stream shows on demand, but ABC will will withhold the most recent free episodes from its website and Hulu.com, releasing them first through the app.

The live streams from ABC’s iOS app won't have different ads from the TV versions. Instead, they will serve up digital ads similar to what’s shown on ABC.com.

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Aviva received a $50 Google Play gift certificate. How does Google's formats and DRM policy effect where she can enjoy the music, movies, and books she buys?

When you legally buy downloadable content, the company you buy it from often has veto power over where it can play. This is all part of the ugly truth of Digital Rights Management (DRM).  The publishers, in trying to keep you from sharing your content with others, make it possible for retailers like Google to completely control how and where you can watch, read, or listen to what you buy.

Google sells music, reading material (books and magazines), and video (movies and TV shows), and treats all three differently. I wish they sold books and movies as openly as they sell music.

[Email your tech questions to answer@pcworld.com or post them on the PCW Answer Line forum.]

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Forget Dave Bowman. Real-life space commander Chris Hadfield has harnessed the power of social media during his stint as the commander of the International Space Station to help make being an astronaut cool again, regularly dropping knowledge bombs and breathtaking in-orbit photos on his YouTube and Twitter feeds.

Between Hadfield and frequent updates from the Mars-hopping Curiosity rover, space has never felt so close. But even good things have to end; today, Commander Hadfield is scheduled to return to Earth after his stellar five-month stint in the sky.

How did Hadfield decide to wrap up his tremendous run? Not with a bang, but with a melancholy strumming. Last night, Hadfield shared his final opus with his 821,000-plus Twitter followers: An out-of-this-world cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."

One bonus side effect from Hadfield's musical adieu: An acoustic cover from Bowie's "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" is now pretty much a must-have when plans to reach the red planet (hopefully) come to fruition in 2023.

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This week on TechWatch, Carlos Rodela reports on grumpy cats unimpressed with YouTube, the cluelessness of Bill Gates, and a handful of games that will make you very, very uncomfortable—but you won't be able to look away.

Like what you see? Then make sure to check out the previous TechWatch episode TechHive's own Amber Bouman makes a special appearence to remind everyone that the term GIF is pronounced with a hard G. Repeat: a hard G. Not a soft G. Got that? Good.

And without further ado, here are the relevant links from the news stories discussed in this week's TechWatch episode.

• Facebook blocks rival Path's access to friends features
• YouTube launches pilot program for subscription-based paid channels
• Maxis announces The Sims 4
• Facebook addiction can cause delusions and psychotic bouts, say scientists
• Bill Gates predicts iPad and Android users will switch to PC tablets
• Valve experiments with players' sweat response

As the world prepares for the unveiling of next-generation of Xbox later this month, rumors persist that the gaming console is not the only piece of living room hardware Microsoft is developing.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Redmond is prepping a simple set-top unit that would stream video, audio, and other web content to your TV. Of course, the Xbox is already a more-than-capable streaming device, so presumably a pared down set-top device would do away with some of the hardcore gaming components (and the cost) in order to compete directly with the Rokus and Apple TVs of the world.

A cheaper—possibly Xbox branded—set-top streaming device would not only expand Redmond’s TV presence beyond hardcore gamers, but would fall in line with Microsoft’s plans to produce original content. If this new media scheme is going to have any legs, Ballmer and company will have to part ways with the existing Xbox Video structure and make content available beyond the Xbox / Windows ecosystem. This new device—if it ever makes it to consumers—may be the first step in that direction

Coming soon: Microsoft Studios

These Microsoft set-top rumors follow on the heels of news that Amazon is developing its own set-top box in time for the holiday rush. Amazon’s moves make sense as the company not only has a popular content network via its Amazon Prime and Instant Video offerings, but has also jumped headlong into producing original content. Just about every tech company with a recognizable name has stepped into original video content creation (ev-er-y recognizable tech company).

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