Rumours of Xbox 360 Successor Surface
It was talked about during episode 233 of the Windows Weekly show, a podcast with Leo Laporte, Mary Jo Foley and veritable Windows boffin Paul Thurrott and currently retains its status as nothing more than a rumor for most of the web.
Apparently, the Metro UI found in current Windows Phones will be all over this console, tying in with more WinPho intregration, similar to PlayStation 3′s PSP connections and Wii’s DS and 3DS connections. Microsoft’s Silverlight application framework, which makes some websites look like wizards are in fact a thing of this realm, would also be featured in the new console along with some of their other assets like Bing search and Live TV.
Microsoft released the original Xbox in 2001 and the 360 in 2005, so we’re technically due another one soon. Industry sources, however, believe we won’t get to play on Redmond’s new baby until 2013.
Google has decided that its users of their well-liked Google Maps service will begin becoming charged a fee for utilizing their service. Websites that are going embedding a Google Map of their location will be charged a fee for usage.This new Google Maps fee is going to hit mostly the bigger companies, particularly the Travel industry. I suspect that certain websites that are the heaviest users would be websites like TripAdvisor and Expedia.