Your Xbox One and PC can now work hand-in-hand

By Brad Jones Published March 11, 2015

When Microsoft announced its plans for Windows 10, it was clear that the Xbox brand was about to be brought closer to Windows than ever before. Now, a new build of the Xbox app for users running the Windows 10 Technical Preview might give us our first taste of how this works in practice.

The new update brings with it a host of features, including the all-important ability to connect to your Xbox One. You can now use the app in the same way that you would interact with the console via Smartglass, as well as being able to browse OneGuide from your PC.

Recommended Videos

GameDVR functionality has also been expanded. You can browse game clips uploaded by other players, with the groundwork seemingly laid so that a future update will allow you to record video from your computer, which was teased at the unveiling of Windows 10 and has been possible on the Xbox One since launch. Also included as part of this update are improvements to the activity feed and user profiles.

While there’s plenty left to do before the Xbox One and a Windows 10 PC are as complementary to one another as Microsoft suggested when these features were first announced, it’s promising to see this progress being made. Today’s update won’t redefine anyone’s gaming experience, but it’s a good sign that the functionality that’s been promised will arrive in time for the full launch of Windows 10 later this year.

Users running the Windows 10 Technical Preview can download the Xbox app update from the beta version of the Windows Store.

Former Contributor

Brad is an English-born writer currently splitting his time between Edinburgh and Pennsylvania. You can find him on Twitter…

Topics

Computing

Google’s Gemini app adds a toggle to disable AI watermarks, with some exceptions

Your AI creations no longer need a visible stamp.

nano banana

If you have ever generated an image with Gemini and gotten annoyed by that stamped-on watermark, Google finally heard you. Gemini is rolling out a new setting called Media Watermarks that lets you toggle visible watermarks on or off across everything you create, including images made with Nano Banana, videos made with Omni, and music made with Lyria. Until now, that visible watermark was applied automatically with no way to turn it off.

https://twitter.com/geminiapp/status/2088277477672255830?s=46

Computing

U.S. courts will now make government use of spyware tools public

U.S. courts will soon start putting numbers on government spyware use

landfall-spyware-hacker

U.S. courts are set to begin publicly reporting how often federal judges authorize the government to use spyware and hacking tools to intercept real-time communications, giving the public its first standardized view of how frequently these surveillance techniques are being used.

The change will begin with data collected for the 2028 Wiretap Report, which will be published in 2029. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts told TechCrunch that the report will introduce a new “spyware/hacking” category covering wiretaps conducted using hacking tools and spyware, known to federal authorities as network investigative techniques, or NITs.

Computing

Mark Rober’s new CrunchLabs mysteries turn reading into a hands-on STEM adventure

Rober is expanding CrunchLabs with a series of mystery books focus on improving STEM skills with a fun twist.

Book, Publication, Comics

Mark Rober has spent years proving that science and engineering don’t have to feel like homework. His enormously popular videos turn subjects such as physics, robotics, and mechanical engineering into spectacular challenges, ingenious pranks, and machines that kids immediately want to understand.

CrunchLabs has carried that approach into the physical world with its Build Box subscriptions. Now Rober is taking it in another direction: children’s fiction.