xbox "ONE"

[Asher]

Asher, what do you think of the XBox specs relative to the PS4 specs?

The main system 8GB RAM is faster on the PS4, but the Xbox has 32GB of ultra high speed SRAM which evens out the advantage. They're both supposed to be Radeon 7870-derived GPUs and 8-core AMD CPUs based on their Jaguar chip.

I think they'll be extremely close. The differentiating factor may be the new Kinect vs PS Eye, in which case the Kinect is superior across the board technologically.

What do you think about the OS/interactivity/market?

JM

MS has the edge here, but Sony hasn't really shown their hand.

[snoopy369]

Well, at least they learned how to do things right from Apple, like non-replaceable hard drives and locked-in ecosystem.

[Jon Miller]

I admit that my interest in the PS4 is higher because of Dust 514.

JM

[Guynemer]

I don't get why people are creeped out about this, to be honest.

Are you afraid the DSP in the console is going to judge you jerking off on the couch to a glimpse of a tit on Game of Thrones?

No, I'm afraid someone is going to hack into it and watch me through the always-on, required camera/microphone.

I mean, really, was that a "feature" people were clamoring for?

[Asher]

No idea. I don't really care either way about it.

It's unlikely everyone will hack it, and it's even more unlikely someone would use it to watch you at home in your living room.

[Ben Kenobi]

How 'bout that. Asher defending big brother.

[Sir Og]

I see a market for xbox one "accessories" which cover the always on camera.

[snoopy369]

I agree it's unlikely EVERYONE will hack it, but I think it's likely someone will. And that they will turn it into the next chatroulette ... people already try to hack laptop webcams, and sometimes succeed. This is no different, except there's only one software you have to figure out, and you have millions of users...

[snoopy369]

I see a market for xbox one "accessories" which cover the always on camera.

Well, you can always just shut off power to the box. That's easy.

[Asher]

How 'bout that. Asher defending big brother.

If you think an Xbox is big brother, you should get your head examined.

I'm a practical guy. Such concerns are, frankly, irrational and bizarre. I agree MS should provide an option to turn it off for tinfoil hat types, but there's a million workarounds here: unplug it when not in use, or just unplug the Kinect unit when not in use, etc.

[Asher]

I agree it's unlikely EVERYONE will hack it, but I think it's likely someone will. And that they will turn it into the next chatroulette ... people already try to hack laptop webcams, and sometimes succeed. This is no different, except there's only one software you have to figure out, and you have millions of users...

...and it's locked down with a combination of HW & SW encryption, and it forces users to constantly be up to date with the latest fixes. A massive distinction between a regular computer and a console.

[Ben Kenobi]

Didn't Asher hack into his neighbours stuff because the neighbour said something he didn't like? No wonder Asher's in favor of it.

[Asher]

Didn't Asher hack into his neighbours stuff because the neighbour said something he didn't like? No wonder Asher's in favor of it.

???? WTF?

I hacked into my neighbour's wifi to see if I could, because he's supposed to be a bigshot lead sysadmin at a rather large website. I rather like my neighbour and I didn't do anything to his network or computers other than crack the password and scan for devices.

Didn't Ben Kenobi grope that little girl because she called him a midget?

[snoopy369]

I don't think it's that bizarre of an objection. Why is it unreasonable to assume companies won't act with your best interests at heart? I mean, when some business online asks me for your email address and cell phone number [not as a necessary part of doing business], do you just hand them over and say "Sure, why not"? Who's to say Microsoft doesn't collect some data from this always-on video camera and use it for their own purposes, that might not be in your own interests? I mean, imagine they have it keep track of the people who sit in front of the TV. Easy to do, as it has face recognition already. It also knows who those people are demographically, from the user accounts. OK, so now it can send the TV networks data on how often people of different ages watch TV. That's not a horrible thing, but it's not something they ought to be doing without consent, either.

I don't say I think Microsoft will do that, but I don't know that I can say they won't, either; and the presumed benefit (being able to turn on the xbox with a voice command, etc.) isn't all that high compared to the detriment of the invasion of privacy for a lot of people.

[snoopy369]

...and it's locked down with a combination of HW & SW encryption, and it forces users to constantly be up to date with the latest fixes. A massive distinction between a regular computer and a console.

Sorry, that doesn't fly as a reason to ignore the possibility. There isn't an encryption that can't be hacked, either by finding backdoors/exploitable weaknesses or brute force, or both. I'm sure [insert bank that was hacked here] thought they had locked down systems also.