It may not bring in as much money for Microsoft as Windows 7, Office or its business products, but Xbox Live is the biggest online gaming service with some 20 million members.
Over the past year, Redmond has been trying to tranform Xbox Live into what it hopes is the largest online entertainment service too. That's why earlier this year, it signed a deal with Netflix to let you watch HD movies on your TV via your Xbox 360 and Xbox Live.
Now Microsoft has updated Xbox Live again, this time by adding the two hottest social networks out there right now: Facebook and Twitter. It can be a little clumsy to try and update your FB status and tweet what your doing on the service's virtual keyboard - as opposed to your computer's keyboard - and you can't really trash-talk on social networks while you're spilling green alien blood in "Halo 3." You have to get out of the game first. But the new update will point you to other Xbox Live members who are also on Twitter or Facebook, and you can then invite them to play online.
The update also adds Last.fm, a customizable internet radio service to the Xbox Live music tab, and HD Zune videos too.
The only catch to all this? You have to be an Xbox Live Gold member to enjoy these new features. Gold membership is $4.99/month. But this weekend, Nov. 20-22, Silver members will get a free preview of the updates, so check them out and let us know what you think.
Redfin users weigh in on social faves
I've spent a lot of time this year on King5's tech reports - as well as on the websites I write for, TechNewsWorld and the E-Commerce Times - examining the Twitter phenomenon. The media certainly loves to write about the white-hot short message service, and there's a growing social media community in Seattle that's becoming more vocal in its use of Twitter for marketing and business strategies.
But Redfin, the Seattle-based online real estate brokerage, wanted to find out which social networks its house-hunting-and-selling users preferred, so it surveyed 450 people recently just for that reason. The results?
Facebook, not Twitter, won hands down by a five to one margin. 70 percent of those surveyed preferring Facebook, 42 percent using LinkedIn - the social network for professionals - 19 percent saying they don't use social networks and 17 percent using Twitter.
Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman, on his company's blog, expressed surprise at the findings. He figured Redfin's typical user demographic - mostly male, mostly high-tech and young "but not too young" as he put it - would go with Twitter.
Maybe Conan O'Brien is right. Maybe us media types - and celebrities - are the ones mostly all a-twitter about Twitter.
Palm Pixi review
This week's entry in the rapidly-evolving smartphone sweepstakes? A sleek little phone with a name right out of a "Smurfs" episode.
The Pixi from Sprint is Palm's representative in the growing $99 phone price category, which also includes the 8GB iPhone and the HTC Eris Droid from Verizon. A cheaper phone means a smaller screen and a slightly slower processor inside the Pixi than the $199 Palm Pre, which came out to some enthusiastic reviews this summer.
Like the Pre, the Pixi uses the webOS operating system, and it's very easy and intuitive to use for touchscreen phones; lots of swipes and sweeps with fingers, and the webOS lets you put open up several apps and features on the screen at the same time. It also gives you the option of using the mobile version of websites, or the PC versions if you're more comfortable navigating those.
But good luck trying that on the small screen, which may put off some consumers. The ability to "pinch" and zoom the screen image a la iPhone touchscreen helps.
The big revelation for me with the Pixi? The keyboard. It is tiny - maybe too small for Papa Smurf''s hands, you might think at first - but the raised keys make it easier to operate than some slightly bigger smartphones I've played with recently. As I've said before, the lack of a physical keyboard may be a deal-breaker for some consumers considering these fancy-schmantzy smartphones, and the Pixi does its part to remove that concern from the equation.
The Palm App Catalog is still in beta, so don't expect a blizzard of apps like the iPhone or even the Android Marketplace. But you do get location finding service via Google Maps. You also have no WiFi capabilities.
The verdict: if you like Sprint's service - and don't mind squnting occasionally at the smaller screen - than the Pixi could be a perfect "starter" smartphone for you.
