Report: Xbox set top device coming next year

Will the Xbox play a role in a Microsoft cloud TV service?

Microsoft is readying anXbox set top box focused on casual gaming and streaming video, The Verge reported today.

According to the report, several sources told The Verge that Microsoft is planning on releasing the new device next year as an inexpensive alternative to its longstanding hit console, the Xbox 360. The set top box is expected to offer the ability to play casual games and stream videos, and will be sold alongside the existing Xbox.

"The device will run on the core components ofWindows 8 and support casual gaming titles rather than full Xbox games typically found on a dedicated console," wrote The Verge. "Although hardware specifications aren't fully locked down, we understand Microsoft will use a chipset to enable an 'always-on' device that boots quickly and resumes to provide near-instant access to TV and entertainment services."

The Verge argued that the new Xbox device is just one element of a "broader effort to ensure its core architecture for the next-generation Xbox is scalable enough to be put together to run on a number of devices." Among those devices could be a phone able to run Xbox Live. Microsoft is also said to have considered offering the Xbox functionality to television manufacturers interested in selling an Xbox TV set, The Verge wrote.

When the Xbox was released in 2005, it was unclear how Microsoft's second full-scale video game console would sell. In the seven years since, it has sold tens of millions of units, and helped Xbox Live become a dominant home for streaming games, movies, TV shows, and more.

Microsoft may have hinted at its planned moves with several recent job postings for engineers for its Interactive Entertainment Business that would be hired to work on a "new cloud-based TV platform."

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Report: Hollywood big shot Peter Chernin set to join Twitter's board

According to AllThingsD, Twitter plans to name Peter Chernin, a well-known Hollywood executive, to its board of directors. Chernin would take the spot on the board vacated by Flipboard CEO Mike McCue.

Rumors have been flying for months that Chernin, who has held top slots at News Corp., and who helped start Hulu and is on Pandora's board, would become a Twitter director.

Twitter's current board members are CEO Dick Costolo, co-founder Evan Williams, Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures, co-founder and chairman Jack Dorsey, vice president of product Jason Goldman, Bijan Sabet of Spark Capital, and Peter Fenton of Benchmark Capital.

Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.

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Report: Microsoft working on 7-inch Xbox Surface gaming tablet

The Verge has reported today that Microsoft is creating a 7-inch gaming tablet called the Xbox Surface.Sources supposedly confirmed the plans, with the company already in development of the tablet.

The tablet will run a version of Windows 8, but not Windows 8 Pro since the tablet will be based on an ARM SoC. It is unclear whether the tablet will pack Windows RT, however.

Specifications of the alleged tablet are an ARM-based Texas Instruments processor with 288MB of RLDRAM 2 and a resolution of 1280 x 720. The rest of the supposed specs are posted below.

Adds Tom Warren of the Verge:

Microsoft has developed a secret hardware production process for its Surface tablets that is separated from partners that traditionally manufacturer the company's Xbox console. We're told that the Xbox Surface will likely be manufactured in the same factory, but that any future "Xbox 720" console will be manufactured in mass quantities by companies like Pegatron or Foxconn.

We've learned that part of the Xbox Surface is being developed at Microsoft's offices in Silicon Valley. The software giant recently locked down several Xbox-related buildings, limiting employee access to the company's Interactive Entertainment Business division. The lock down is likely related to Microsoft's increased testing of the tablet, providing a way for other parts of the Xbox team to build games and software for the device. Providing the project doesn't get killed in favor of a full 7-inch Windows tablet, in the same way Microsoft axed Courier, expect to see the Xbox Surface debut ahead of Microsoft's future Xbox console.

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