“Microsoft is currently testing a modified version of Internet Explorer 9 on its Xbox 360 console, according to our sources. The Xbox 360 currently includes Bing voice search, but it’s limited to media results. Microsoft’s new Internet Explorer browser for Xbox will expand on this functionality to open up a full browser for the console. We are told that the browser will let Xbox users surf all parts of the web straight from their living rooms.” So, when did browsing on your TV turn into something that isn’t useless?
Maybe when TVs are relatively high res and large enough, so you can actually see such content with reasonable clarity? (and sitting distances, and so on)
Or: when large part of browsing is visiting Facebook (with its short text snippets and photos on timelines), YouTube, Twitter?
It’s not like having that option will be harmful – X360 is already quite a bit more featured than the gaming consoles of old days. And generally, it seems to have the most healthy long-term prospects, among the existing lines of home entertainment systems (I kinda hope MS will release, in the upcoming months, some small X360 games using a wifi-connected WP7 handset as their controller – essentially what Wii U is supposed to bring, before its Q4 launch)
Came here to say that.
There’s downsides and upsides to having a browser on a TV. Here’s my story:
I read this article on my TV and now I am writing this reply from the comfort of my couch.
I have a 42″ TV located about 3 meters from my couch. I have the zoom set at 175% in the browser and have increased the DPI in Windows 7. Screen resolution is set to max so my HD movies look as good as they can.
So, here’s the backside:
Some applications don’t care about DPI or let me change font settings (photoshop, winamp, foxit for example). I can most of the time see the content, but the font in the chrome is unreadable.
Some website lock down the font size. LinkedIn do this. It is also a problem whenever I stumble upon website that use Facebook comments for their articles. When I zoom in the website their articles get larger but the text in the Facebook comments stay at the same small, unreadable size.
A few years ago I used my PS3 as my main “media experience” on the TV. I really tried to make it work, but it never cut it. The browser was horrible, slow, didn’t have tabs (only windows). The music player didn’t have a search function, it couldn’t play all my video files (like my HD mkv files) without me having to do some serious conversion or try to find a DLNA compatible server with on-the-fly conversion.
I gave up, I took some spare parts and built a cheap computer, hooked it up to the TV and installed Windows 7 on it. I have a bluetooth keyboard and mouse which works fine in the whole room (even at the dinner table which is located in the other corner of the room). I can write documents, surf the web, watch movies, listen to music, even do some web programming when I feel like it. All with comfort.
That’s my experience.
Now, off to continue through the day’s RSS feed with a cup of coffee.
Cheers!
Some website lock down the font size
Why are you still using an idiotic browser that honors website preferences over user preferences? From memory the only browser that let sites lock font sizes was that piece of crap from microsoft. If you’re using it, then you deserve everything you get!
Edited 2012-05-11 13:28 UTC
I’m using the latest stable version of Chrome.
EDIT: Seems like LinkedIn now zooms the text properly but “Powered by Facebook”-comments still show at 100%. Could be some kind of iframe-thing. No idea. All I know that it is yet another reason for me to hate Facebook comments on websites.
Edited 2012-05-11 20:57 UTC
I don’t even remember the last version of IE that acted that way, perhaps it was 3? maybe 4? Either way, that sort of behavior is not something IE does. IE has lots of reasons why it sucks, we certainly don’t need to make up more.
Edited 2012-05-11 22:31 UTC
Wait, what? Why would you still use Winamp yourself – while developing, offering for download, promoting among others your own Stoffi audio player?
(and generally, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10-foot_user_interface is for 3 m scenarios)
Actually that’s one of the reasons why I started Stoffi (to create a music player with an interface that respected DPI settings).
But thanks for bringing up Stoffi.
But I must note how… you don’t deny still using Winamp!
Edited 2012-05-12 16:11 UTC
I’m not using it anymore. Just noted it didn’t respect DPI when I last used it (which was about two year ago, but I don’t think they’ve fixed it since).
ephracis posted…
This! Totally this! I #@%* hate this so #$&@ much!
On Firefox NoSquint and changing the fonts in the preferences to use my choices only help mitigate this to a degree, but then I usually end up breaking the page.
Why in this day and age are website developers still trying to force everyone to browse at their preferred resolutions and fonts? If they need that much control of the text they want PDF, not HTML!
–bornagainpenguin
as far as I know the ps3 browser is quite popular, especially since it does support flash so it’s easy to watch sites like youtube or twitch, if ie for 360 won’t support flash it might not be that useful though
youtube has html5 support, should work on ie9 even without flash
yeah I think there is a youtube app for the 360 as well but not all websites use html5 yet
Also, not all videos on YouTube use HTML5 yet.
The fact when Hulu and Youtube/google turned retarded and started preventing content from being viewed outside a desktop.
Especially the infamous hulu “web” only crap.
If this gets around that, great! If not, Microsoft might want to get it’s act together.
I was browsing the internet on my Dreamcast back when it was out. Dial up connection, and it was low res (though websites were designed for lower resolutions at the time), and Flash player was a few versions behind, but it worked. I could even use the light gun to move the cursor and try to “shoot” links to follow them! Good times, especially since it meant I could browse the internet in my room without another family member asking to use the computer.
Yep. The Dreamcast was definitely ahead of its time. I had this really hot friend on college (not your average cute geek girl; more like one of those hot girls most guys dream about) that once told me that she used her Dreamcast to chat on IRC. I was thoroughly surprised that not only she figured how to use Dreamcast, inherited from an older brother, for internet herself (and she didn’t strike me as the ~A 1/4 ber smart geek kind) but to chat on IRC of all things!
I mean, I work for one of the big Fortune 500 companies with people that have worked on IT for a lifetime that have a heck of a hard time to even understand what IRC is about and this hottie comes out of nowhere saying that she uses her game console to chat on it…
Today the fact that a game console will be internet-enabled is taken for granted but back in the day that was impressive. I really regret for not having bought one back when I had the chance.
I really miss my Dreamcast! I bought one at launch and kept it all the way until I lost it in a divorce in 2010. I was fine with it going to her children (my step-children) as they loved it, but I still miss it greatly. To this day I maintain that it was the most innovative and forward-looking console ever made.
The Xbox 360 is slowly catching up, but a lot of what it has grown to over time was already there with the Dreamcast 12 years ago.
I’ve always thought the browser on the Wii was quite reasonable, given the machine it is… It has wifi, a port of Opera, and Flash support for Youtube etc. The resolution is low, but usable with component cables and a decent TV. The controller’s also great for clicking links and scrolling, and it can take a USB keyboard if you don’t like the on-screen one.
Other than that, I had a Linux-based cable TV decoder about 6 or 7 years ago which had a browser built in. It was awful…
It’s kinda incredible that the Xbox360 has gone this long without a browser to be honest. I would’ve thought Microsoft would have been trying to push their IE brand as much as possible given the market share that Chrome and Firefox have gained over the past few years.
We will need MSE for the damn thing now.
Edited 2012-05-11 10:25 UTC
I browse on my TV now, but I do have an Acer Revo 3700 attached to a 1920×1080 50″ plasma with Firefox set to 24 point size. Works well with the wireless keyboard/mouse that comes with the Revo, though it’s a shame the BBC News site sets its line height at 24 pixels when you use a 24-point font – duh! Just installed XBMC too for video/music playback in a gorgeous interface.
The plasma is a Panasonic Viera Smart TV, so I’ve wired that up too – gets me iPlayer, BBC News (inc. video), YouTube, AP News, weather forecast, Eurosport News, Viewster (bad/old movies with ads) and some games – all for free and work nicely with the Panasonic remote.
Edited 2012-05-11 10:46 UTC