There have been rumours about the Zune HD 2 seemingly ever since the first Zune HD was released but over the past few months these rumours have centred around any future Zune HD running on the Windows Phone 7 OS. It certainly makes for an interesting idea but not one without major issues.

We all know that the iPod Touch is doing great even though it lacks only the phone functionality of the iPhone. Therefore Microsoft would be silly not to release a newer Zune HD to sit alongside Windows Phone 7 device just like the two Apple products do; or would they?

I’m sure that having Xbox Live, Bing, IE, Office, camera etc all on a device that doesn’t require would be great and I’m sure this is the best thing for Microsoft to do. However there is a down side this. Apple makes both the iPhone and the iPod so they aren’t too bothered about which device sells just so long as something sells. Microsoft have a different strategy though with Windows Phone 7 in that Microsoft will only make the software and will let its partners design and make the hardware (which minimum specification from Microsoft though). Microsoft believe this to be the best way to offers phones as it provides a single mobile OS for a range of different hardware types and designs.

With a Zune HD 2 there is very little need for such a choice of hardware as this is a product likely to be a much smaller deal for the company and consumers. Perhaps two device types would be all that is necessary; a slate design and one with a slide out keyboard. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense for Microsoft to licence Windows Phone 7 OS (without phone functionality) out to partners as there would be little demand for a wide range of devices.

This then leads me to think that Microsoft will again design and have made its own Zune HD 2 hardware. If this is the case then another issue exists. Microsoft will want the Zune HD 2 to be best in class that means the device will need to pack a punch and to do this it might make the device more powerful than some of its partners Windows Phone 7 devices. If this happens partners are likely to get annoyed and not want to sell Windows Phone 7 devices which Microsoft can’t afford to let happen. This is why I believe we won’t see a new Zune HD for at least a year.

Microsoft wants Windows Phone 7 to do well in the market and I think it will. If it does and more handset makers get on board with Windows Phone 7 then I think we can expect to Microsoft release an updated Zune HD. By that point Windows Phone 7 will have proven its economic worth to companies and I think unlikely that if the mobile OS is popular that any company would stop making devices which run the OS.

When thinking about this idea some more it reminded me of what Google did with the Nexus One. The company released their own designed and specified devices to encourage Android device manufactures to design and make higher spec’d hardware. It was feared by some that this approach would alienate some devices markers from making Android phones and Google who provided the OS was competing the devices manufacturers. However, whether through weak sales or other reasons Google does seem to have forced its device makers to create better hardware whilst not losing of them.

Microsoft in turn can force their hardware partners to keep the devices highly spec’d by releasing a powerful Zune HD 2 device. If this device is more powerful than some of the partner devices then people might decide to buy a Zune HD 2 for the Windows Phone 7 OS functionality and buy another phone to actually call people. This should allow Microsoft to indirectly keep its partners innovating and providing cutting edge devices without alienating its own partners.

In short I think Microsoft, as they have long been rumoured to be doing, will release at least one more Zune device and it should more than likely run Windows Phone 7 OS. But, I don’t think we can expect to see it any time soon, Microsoft’s mobile partners just wouldn’t want it in the market and Microsoft is doing all it can to entice its partners to make handsets for Windows Phone 7.

If you are interested in Zune and want to know what I think lies next for the entertainment service in terms of functionality then why not read the article.

About this time of year last year Microsoft announced the Zune HD and new Zune software for the PC and I would expect the company to announce improvements to their Zune service sometime soon. In this article I am going to share with you some of the ideas I have as to what we might expect from Microsoft.

With 90% of Microsoft does this year being “all in” with the cloud I believe that most of what might be new for Zune will actually be as services within Zune.net and not necessarily a load of new features for Zune connected devices.

Free streaming of music you already own

One of my main hopes is that Zune, as a service, will identify all the music a user has in their collection, via the Zune PC Software or integrated experiences on their other devices. The music that they have on their devices could then be matched to the same music within the Zune library to allow playback of their music wherever Zune is via Zune.net or integrated experiences. (I don’t know much about the music service Lala which Apple bought last year but I think this service did a similar thing.)

I know that the Zune Pass allowed users to stream music from the Zune library but this costs money and if you own a track but don’t happen to have it on your PC or phone why should you have to pay money to stream it. (I know it’s not pay-per-track but a monthly subscription.) Wouldn’t it be great if Zune offered functionality to stream the music you own to any of your devices for free, this would surely make it an attractive music service for many people. This idea also helps with the restriction on mobile devices of limited storage as I know I can only hold a fraction of my music on my phone but if I could stream any of my music via Zune.net it would be great. People do love free things after all and it is likely people would like the streaming model to such a degree that they decide to purchase a Zune Pass too.

Share playlists across Zune.net

Another idea I have had for some time is to share playlists created on one’s PC or device on Zune.net so that the playlists are accessible wherever the user may be. Seeing as nearly all the music in one’s playlist should be in the Zune library on Zune.net it should be an easy thing to do and would allow users to not have to sync their devices so often with their PC.

Another positive of this would be to allow users to share their own playlist with their friends either on Zune.net, Facebook or Twitter. If a friend had a Zune Pass then they would be able to listen to the entire playlist (so long as all tracks were in the Zune library) but if a user didn’t have a Zune Pass then using my first idea they could still listen to the music that they owned which also appeared in the playlist.

It would also be good to access playlists on the Xbox 360 which will be getting access to the Zune music library later this year and by sharing a user’s playlist through the whole Zune service/network would be excellent.

As good as showing how many times users have listened to an artist or song I think that socially interactive music needs to also be about sharing music and not just stats.

Bringing Zune to Windows Live

Over the past year Microsoft have done a great job of integrating more into Windows Live such as Office and soon to be Windows Phone but there are still a few products that Microsoft offer that aren’t in Windows Live. I think Zune could be integrated into Windows Live through SkyDrive.

I have yet to really need access to Office in the cloud, although it’s an extremely useful feature, as I don’t often need to edit it there. There have been times when it has been useful to check an Office document in the browser though and also to use the online storage to access the document from anywhere. I think music could be treated in the same way, after all Windows Live now provides excellent viewing capabilities for most things other than music.

I know it would be great to have access to music that isn’t on the Zune servers by storing it in Windows Live SkyDrive. But, more than that wouldn’t it also be great if you could upload any music to SkyDrive that Zune couldn’t find in its library and then seamlessly stream music from there just as easily as it is to stream music from Zune.net.

I am not sure technically how possible it would be to listen to a playlist (my second idea) and to have Zune stream music from its servers when it can and then to stream music from SkyDrive if it didn’t have the music all without any interruption to the listen. It’s certainly something I think would be a great way to combine a music service of a few million tracks with the breath of music people actually own.

Another positive this would have would be to download music owned by a user to their devices which might be very useful for some devices which might not always have internet connectivity so can’t always stream music from the Zune service. Windows Live Mesh could potentially be used to sync the songs that are stored on SkyDrive access all of a user’s PCs. The sync software could also share the Zune application data across multiple PCs such as the chosen background used on the software.

My first three ideas try to combine the music a user owns with the streaming functionality of Zune whilst not allowing people to individual tracks. Obviously record labels would not want users sharing tracks but I don’t see why they would have a problem with users sharing playlists with each other and listening to music they already own or via the Zune Pass.

More integration between Bing and Zune

The last time I predicted anything for Zune it came true within weeks, I’m not sure I will quite so on the money this time but I’ve already had some more ideas about my last prediction. A few months ago Microsoft integrated the Zune service into Bing to allow track previews within search listings (Its only in the US at the minute though). However I think this idea can be expanded upon, in a financial way.

Zune does a pretty good job of selecting related artists within the Zune PC software and on Zune.net but perhaps it could bring a similar functionality to the Bing search listings too. There must be so many related artists and songs to the music searched on Bing that it would make sense that Bing could suggest music in the same way it sells website suggestions.

I know this would distort the accuracy of the music suggestion system but currently Microsoft has the only search engine that offers such great music integration within search results and the company stands to make some money from this. It might also encourage record labels to take more notice of Zune (they are always keen to increase sales through adverts) which could help to increase the music library Microsoft currently has.

The best way to implement this would be to have two areas on the right of search results one where companies have paid to have their related music shown and where Zune shows related music. Therefore allowing Microsoft to make more money and allowing it to keep the accuracy of Zune’s suggestion system intact. This could also exist on Zune.net but I think it best on Bing.

Zune on more platforms

I believe over the past year Zune really has become an entertainment service, before then it only really existed on Zune devices and the PC. By the end of the year Zune will be accessible on the PC, Zune devices, KIN devices, Windows Phone 7 devices and on the TV through the Xbox 360 (this will be all areas of Zune and not just films).

I think that to really show how much of an entertainment platform Zune is Microsoft need to take it to other platforms. We have seen that Microsoft is not nearly so averse to bringing other services to competing platforms such as Bing on the iPhone and Android and I think an official Zune app for both mobile platforms would be great. I reckon Mac users would also love to access Zune via an application and not just Zune.net.

If Microsoft can improve the functionality within Zune and bring it to many platforms then it really does stand a chance of fighting iTunes and even reducing any impact Google’s much rumoured music service might have on the entertainment distribution market.

Additions to Zune device software

If Microsoft is too add any of my idea to the Zune service then they will need to add some new functionality to the Zune software and integrated experiences. There would need to be a way to created and share playlists through Zune.net and with friends on social networks. I think perhaps that the Zune software should feature Facebook integration to “like” songs and artists. There would also need to be an easy way to upload music to Windows Live SkyDrive both within the software and on SkyDrive.

I also think that Microsoft need to allow the exact same functionality that is found within the Zune PC software on all platforms that Zune is available including Zune.net. It would be great to create playlists in the browser just as easily as in the software but also to be able to create SmartDJ playlists anywhere. I don’t think there will be much new within the Zune PC Software as people have already had a look at 4.7 which seems to really only add support for Windows Phone 7.

Apple was expected to make some major announcements last week with iTunes and many feel they feel short. Microsoft, on the hand, is not expected to make any such announcements but could easily stun many people if they were to only introduce a few of these ideas; fingers crossed.

With Zune going international within the next few weeks (I can’t wait!) I think we could expect an announcement from the Zune team at anytime.

Not having full access the the Zune experience might mean I wrong about some things or that they already exist, if so I am sorry but that’s Microsoft fault for taking so long to roll out Zune to the world.

Apple’s media event yesterday saw the arrival of a music orientated social network, Ping. However, the event also disappointed some as the rumours, as is often the case, were more exciting than what Apple actually announced. Some rumours were along the lines of music streaming of the vast collection of music Apple has. Do you know what service has had a music focused social network and music streaming functionality for some time? Zune.

Apple also announced a rehashed Apple TV which allows streaming of films on your TV but to do this you have to have iTunes running on a PC or Mac in your network before you do anything with the set top box. Guess what service allows you watch whatever program or film (so long as its in the marketplace) you like on your TV if you have purchased it. That’s right Zune.

Then there are increasing rumours about Google planning to announce and launch a music service over the coming months which may or may not allow users to stream music on any device and does not currently have any record labels signed up to it. I expect you know where I am going with this… which service currently provides music streaming for mobile devices (Zune HDs and KINs), PCs and TVs? Zune.

There are other positives in Zune’s favour too such as its integration on the highly anticipated Windows Phone 7 devices, its Zune Pass feature allowing users to listen to as much music they like a month and the fact that users can buy (or rent) a song, TV show or film on any platform and play it on any other one when they like.

There are, however, a few complaints with Zune; its really only available in the US and doesn’t have such a vast catalogue of music as Apple does. But you would think that with only a small number of cons to the service that actually it would be a popular brand of consumers and commentators alike as it provides many features people want to see in other entertainment services. But its not.

Reading most tech blogs today I see no mention of Zune at all, despite offers some of the features that iTunes and Ping offer, allowing better streaming than Apple announced with its Air Play feature for iOS devices and providing users with some of the most hotly discussed rumours for Apple to announce. There is in fact more talk of Google unannounced music service and how that will compete with iTunes and Apple than there is about Zune and how well that currently competes.

I have now got fed up of the media’s lack of coverage of Zune, it doesn’t have to be gushing affection for the entertainment services but at least compare what it does with its current and future competitors. Therefore I have come to the conclusion that we the Microsoft follows (not necessarily lovers of the service) should rally behind Zune and publish a shed load of articles this coming Monday (6th). These articles can be news, reviews, hopes, rumours, speculation, wish lists etc etc, pretty much anything that can help raise Zune’s profile even if just for a day.

I hope that some of the Zune focused sites and communities can help out with this and even independent bloggers who may or may not work for Microsoft. You know you want to help out.

One of the few services of Windows Live that has received no attention from Microsoft in the Windows Live Wave 4 update is Windows Live FrameIt. In fact this service has actually been down graded as the CSS for the site seems to have gone AWOL.

Windows Live FrameIt, for those that don’t know, is a website and service built to allow online photo albums to be shown on digital photo frames. Photos could be pulled from social networks and photo sites like Flickr and Windows Live Photos. This service doesn’t work with all digital photo frames as some have no internet connectivity. I don’t know if the service has been popular or not but one thing I do know is that Microsoft have given it very little attention over the few years it has been around.

I find it odd that Microsoft haven’t done anything with FrameIt, I think its a good idea for a service. I am seeing more and more digital photo frames in homes and I even think that Windows Live is in a great position to really make this service popular. Now that Windows Live integrates with so many web services and so extensively with the likes of Facebook and MySpace that FrameIt could be unrivalled as a digital photo frame service.

Just looking at Windows Live it could obviously pull photos from photo.live.com allowing users to just choose individual albums or the entire photo collection. But the service could also use the people tags when photos are uploaded with Photo Gallery to have only people or specific people shown on the photo frame. The same could be done for people’s photo collections on Facebook and MySpace now that Windows Live offers more integration to the social networks. Some people probably wont want only people on their digital photo frame so I think FrameIt could also use the geo tags on photos to only show photos from a specific location. This could be photos from several holidays at the same place or photos that fiends have taken on social networks. I think that the high level of integration Windows Live has with social networks could allow for some excellent photos to be shown on photo frames that aren’t possible with any other service.

Then there is obviously Flickr which will offer the same breath of choice for photos but perhaps lack some of the more social elements for a photo stream.

I know I’d love to use FrameIt on a digital photo frame if it would easily pull the photos I wanted it too from my social networks through such filters as people tags and geo tags. Just looking at photo.live.com’s Messenger Social stream suggests such a great source of photos for a digital photo frame.

Thinking on this idea some more I also thought about other areas of Microsoft that could add to FrameIt. Some of Bing’s Visual Search galleries are stunning and obviously it has it home page photo everyday. It would be great to get all of Bing’s home page photos on a photo gallery, I really don’t think I have seen a bad photo on that website.

Then I thought a little more and thought about the vast collection of music images that Microsoft have with Zune. Its unlikely that all people will want a collection of pictures of a single artist (or a collection of artists for that matter) shown in their living room but the way meta data is delivered over the top might be interesting to some people. Data such as the album and photo name could be overlaid along with the location and the names of any people in the photo. The way the photo moves or zooms on the screen is also excellent as it attracts the eye with movement but its only a still photo.

One final point I think should be made is that FrameIt shouldn’t be such a separate service but actually part of Windows Live Photos/Photo Gallery. Windows Live Video Messages has been rolled into Messenger and I believe this service should be merged too, it should make a much more discoverable function.

Now that people are using social networks more and more and because Windows Live does such a great job of unifying all the updates from various web sites and services into a single place it makes a lot of sense to me that they should serve these streams to the places that can best show them. Therefore with photos digital photo frames would obviously be that place. I also think digital photo fames should be more, well, digital. Having still photos is great but I could just as easily print photos off to do that with but instead they should move and be interactive with information on them.

I hope Microsoft don’t abandon FrameIt even if I have never used the service as I really think it could be an excellent way for people to browse photos without having to actually browse through photos.

I was just watching the below video on wmpoweruser.com and noticed something I hadn’t seen before; now that I have seen it though I have a feeling it will bug me every time I do see it.

At the start of the video the pictures and Zune (0:20) hub are shown off before the gaming hub and Xbox Live features are demoed. What I noticed is that in the Pictures hub (and indeed all hubs and apps on Windows Phone 7) the screen is populated by elements moving in from the right on a horizontal plane and then when clicking on elements with the hub and drilling further into the Pictures app everything rotates about left screen; this is actually explained in great detail on one of the Design Day videos. However, on the Zune app when an element is clicked the item actually moves down the screen and the elements fill the screen up from the bottom along the vertical axis.

This might seem a trivial issue to many but to me Metro UI, specifically those parts that Microsoft are in charge of, are meant to be uniform which this animation within the Zune hub is not. Despite being a very subtle difference it is immediately irritating, well from watching the videos anyway.

I tried thinking of why Microsoft may have decided to implement the animations with the Zune hub this way, all I can think of is that perhaps when browsing in the Zune software its more likely users will need to scroll up and down the page more so than swiping left or right; by bringing elements in from the bottom it does suggest that there is more content off the bottom of the screen. I suppose this could be beneficial but when all other hubs and apps have horizontal animations the vertical ones in Zune just feel wrong, very wrong.

I know the build in the video is not yet final so there is still a chance that this might be tweaked to make it more consistent but I fear that this is how the hub will ship.

If anyone knows or finds out why the Zune hub is different I would be very interested to know.

Paul Thurrott has just published a review of the next update to the Zune PC Software. The main changes and new features are understandably focused around Windows Phone 7 with the devices only able to sync to a PC via the Zune software; without this software or later versions it is not possible to sync a device with a PC.

Within the update Windows Phone 7 devices will be treated just like Zune devices within the software. There is a new section within the Marketplace for Windows Phone 7 apps. The Movies section of the software now differentiates between DRM-free movies/videos and purchased ones, as part of this the Zune service will now track all purchased movie content, allowing them to be streamed or downloaded at any time on any Zune device. Another addition to the software is lots of helpful pieces of text throughout the program that explains what features do and how to use them, they disappear over time. It doesn’t sound like there is much else new with the software.

Paul Thurrott does find complaint with the software though because it is the only way sync Windows Phone 7 devices with a PC, it would indeed be useful if Windows or indeed other pieces of software could access files stored on the devices.

There is little else known about this software at the moment but it is thought that it will be released sometime over the summer, possibly accompanied by the international roll out of the full Zune service, including the Zune Pass.

You can read the article here.

During the week I was unable to blog but as you might have seen there was a fairly large leak of what Microsoft has planned for Windows 8. There are some very interesting possible new features for Windows 8 but at the same time this leak could have some negative implications for Microsoft. I shall just focus on a few key points from the leaked documents and expand upon what we know, obviously though what we do know could all change.

One of the most interesting features planned for Windows 8 is the Windows Store which, as you can guess, is similar to Apple App Store for iOS devices but this one will have many applications for Windows. Its an interesting idea as Microsoft wont be forcing developers to use the store to distribute software but will use it to showcase some of the best applications and allow consumers to have a single, reliable and trustworthy location to buy their software. I am expecting Microsoft to use the Zune PC Software and the way that distributes applications for the Zune HD and soon to be Windows Phone 7 devices as a test for how the Windows Store will operate. This should mean that there shouldn’t be any issues at the launch of the Windows Store, it should also be heavily tested during the Windows 8 beta, not that there is too much to go wrong.

If, as indeed they should, Microsoft uses the Zune PC Software to model the Windows Store around then its like the store will use the Metro UI for its design, which should be good; the concept image also points to this UI being used.

The potential benefits of the Windows Store are quite large but I am intrigued to know if Microsoft plan to incorporate some of its other stores into this one too. Microsoft could quite easily decide to offer mobile applications and music for its mobile devices through the same store however I hope they don’t. I think it best to keep all its various stores separate even if it isn’t as easy for consumers to download something, there of course could be deep linking between the stores. By keeping the stores separate it should allow for a much more efficient way to browse applications, having too many types in one store would quickly become cluttered.

I can also see Microsoft improving the online Microsoft Store to feature details and downloads (through the necessary store) for more than just its products but also everything that can be brought through the Zune Marketplace and Windows Store.

Another very interesting aspect of Windows 8 is thought to be the Kinect technology being used in the operating system, this is something I have been hoping for since I first heard about Project Natal. It sounds like Microsoft plan to turn the PC on when someone walks into a room using motion detection and then log the user in using facial and maybe voice recognition. This sounds excellent but I don’t see why it should stop there.

I am hoping Microsoft will take this technology further and allow interactions with more the OS and applications. Some applications would already be well suited to Kinect such as Media Center and it would take a huge amount to alter other programs to work very well with Kinect, Internet Explorer for example already has good touch controls and coupled with voice recognition its not too difficult to imagine browsing the web with no physical input.

However, despite there being lots to be interested about in Windows 8 there was one thing missing which I was hoping to hear about and that is Windows Live ID integration with the OS. This could and should allow users to log into any internet connected PC and have a few set up automatically and allow quick access to files stored online, most likely through SkyDrive. I have mentioned this idea before and if Google Chrome OS starts to take off in the next few years then Microsoft would have been very foolish not to make Windows 8 more connected with the cloud.

Obviously any of the features Microsoft had mentioned in the leaked documents could change but its likely we will see some of these additions when Windows 8 is released. The problem here though is that its at least another 2 years before Microsoft ship Windows 8, that gives the likes of Apple and Google plenty of time to implement their own versions of some of these features before Microsoft which could make Windows 8 appear outdated before it even ships. Another concerning aspect of the leak is where they appear to have come from, Microsoft’s own partners. If partners are starting to leak very classified documents that Microsoft have shared with them then there could be implications for the whole partner ecosystem.

I look forward to hearing more about Windows 8 but I hope it wont be for a good time yet so Microsoft have at least had a chance to start implementing some of the new additions before everyone gets to hear about them.

Yesterday Bing unveiled many new features for the decision engine as part of their first year update.

iPhone app update – The first thing that Bing did was to update their app for the iPhone with many new and great features.

• Social – This allows users to connect their Facebook and/or Titter accounts to the Bing app allowing the user to see a stream of updates, see friends updates within search results and even allows a user to share Bing results on social networks.

• Visual Scanning – A new and what I think is a quite surprising feature allows users to take pictures of barcodes and find more info about the product from Bing including description, reviews, prices and links to where to buy the product. More than that though its also possible to take pictures of books, DVD, album, etc and Bing will identify which product it is from the cover and again pull up the information about the product.

• Movies – Microsoft also made improvements to the movies section to bring more video trailers for films and easier access to showtimes.
• Shopping – Tweaks allow users to find products faster and with more information such as prices and links to where to buy.

It does seem odd that Microsoft are releasing this app with these new features on the iPhone before anything like this for Windows Mobile, however there are many more people using iPhones to access the internet than there are on Windows Mobile so it makes a lot of sense to me. I also believe that whatever Bing features are found in the iPhone app will also appear on Windows Phone 7 and it will be on that Microsoft mobile OS that Bing release new features before anything else.

Bing gets a fresh look – Bing have been testing this new UI out for a few months but yesterday they went live around the world. The UI introduces Quick Tabs which sit right below the search and replace some of the sidebar navigation. The Quick Tabs indicate that Bing has very high quality results for a search, therefore searching for something which shows tabs for images and videos will mean there are a lot of highly viewed images and videos in the respective tabs; different searches will have different Quick Tabs.

Microsoft have also worked hard on creating the best viewing experience for each different kind of search to create the best viewing and reading experience possible. This is also true on mobile devices with Bing’s new mobile UI.

A New Entertainment Experience for Bing – Perhaps most importantly Bing have unveiled their latest search vertical, Entertainment. This allows users to find the best information about music, TV, film, games, etc from around the web on only a few pages. Unfortunately some of the best aspects of this new area of search only really work in the US as its pulls content from the Zune Marketplace

• Music – Now when searching for a specific artist, song or album users are presented with some new Quick Tabs such as Songs, Albums and Lyrics. In each of these tabs is a whole host of new features, in songs and albums its possible to stream a whole song from the artist/album, after listening to it once users can only listen to 30 seconds subsequently, and in Lyrics the lyrics for a lot of songs are presented. Its great to see Zune integrated into Bing and its something I predicted only a few weeks ago.

• Gaming – Its now possible to browse a lot of information about games including cheat codes, trailers, etc, and even play online games within Bing. I wish I hadn’t started to play Bejewelled earlier, its wasted a lot of time already this morning.
• TV – Bing is now pulling content from across the web for the TV Quick Tab from providers such as Hulu and CBS and allows users to watch over 1500 shows including HD content and a comprehensive TV guide. This obviously is only working 100% in the US.
• Movies – As you can probably guess from the above information Bing have worked hard to bring in more content about Movies such as trailers, reviews, social information from twitter and Facebook. There is also information pulled from other areas of Bing to provide directions, nearby restaurants and parking information.

There are some excellent updates here and quite why some things haven’t been implemented before I’m not sure but its good to see them here now.

Bing have also made improvements to other areas of the site such as finance and autos although these have only been fairly minor tweaks.

I am very pleased to see Bing still able to innovate and go from strength to strength and am still looking forward to Zune Marketplace going global so I can make the most of Bing.

Over the next few days Bing will be documenting some other new features they have released and I will keep you posted on any major ones.

Last week I wrote an article on Michael Gillett Online about how the Zune team should look to do next to bring the entertainment platform to more people. My main idea was for Zune to provide lots of music, film, etc, information as the first thing searching on Bing as if someone is looking for a specific artist or song they will want to hear it and buy it, well it would appear Bing and Zune were already planning this…or they read my blog and worked bloody quickly to implement it.

My idea for a search is shown below.

When searching for Beyonce in Bing the following page is now displayed.

As you can see above it possible to see the artists songs and albums and its possible to play songs by clicking the play button next to the song name. Currently a pop up appears when clicking the play button however its says the feature is coming soon.

However, and this is a big however, I have not been able to try this feature as what I see is this.

It would appear that this feature is only available where Zune Marketplace exists, I have even tried the search out with Bing set to the US. This new integration would appear to go some way to explaining why the Zune service was offline for most of today and is expected to be officially announced by Microsoft later today as part of a larger announcement.

This is great to see, I am always a big fan of Microsoft integrating its various services and this one makes an awful lot of sense and is another reason why I can’t wait for Microsoft to take Zune global. I’d also like to see Zune provide more info on Bing about TV shows and films.

By the way I don’t want to say I told you so with the new Zune/Bing integration but, well, I told you so which you can read about.

Thanks to Mary Jo Foley and @tromboneforhire for the info and pics.

Microsoft just did something staggering, it was one of the best announcements I have ever and I’ve seen a few over the past few years. I think it best if I just list everything that was announced, so here goes:

• Microsoft announced that there are 25 million Xbox Live members
• Sign In to the Xbox 360 with Kinect is achieved by waving at the device
• New dashboard for Kinect, almost Metro inspired I think, to allow easier access to applications with Kinect
• Voice control can be used in menus and applications, some examples shown were to pause and replay a sporting event and to enter and then leave an application
• Zune music to feature on the Xbox as well as the movies with access to the entire entertainment collection
• Voice and gesture controls work in all applications such as Twitter, Facebook, Last.fm etc
• Video Kinect was announced and demoed, allows chats with Kinect and Windows Live Messenger users, also possible to browse news, sports, TV, movies and music and share them live with the online contacts through Bing
• Kinect has a motorised stand so can track someone around the room if they move
• ESPN and Microsoft are partnering up, offering live and on demand sports for no extra cost for Xbox Live Gold subscribers
• Several Kinect specific games from Microsoft were announced and demoed
• Kinectimals – A game aimed at children who look after a cat and can play, tickle and hide from it
• Kinect Sports – Allowing users to act like they are really taking part in the sport, including hurdles, boxing, football (soccer to you Americans), volleyball, bowling and ping pong
• Kinect Joy Ride – A game featuring several race modes including stunt mode, stunts are achieved by moving one’s body
• Kinect Adventures – Several different adventure type games including a mine cart and white water rafting
• Ubisoft announced a Kinect game, Your Fitness aimed at bringing fitness to the living room, feature lots of great uses of Kinect such as individual fitness regimes
• Dance Central was announced which teaches people how to dance
• Kinect will be launching on November 4th 2010, its unknown if this will be US only
• There will be 15 Kinect games ready at the launch of the device
• Microsoft and Lucas Arts are working together on a Star Wars title for 2011, it features light sabre fights control by the user pretending to wield the weapon and "gestures that mimic Jedi using the Force
• Forza Motorsport was announced featuring Kinect controls for driving
• Microsoft unveiled a new design for the Xbox 360, calling it “Sleeker, smaller, whisper quiet”, it features a 250GB hard drive and WiFi N and is the same price as the Xbox 360 today, $299
• The new Xbox 350 will be on sale in US stores by the end of the week, rest of the world will be over the coming months, in the UK and Europe they will go one sale on July 14th
• There was no mention from Microsoft about the pricing of Kinect, however there are reports across the internet saying that it will cost $149.99 and there will be bundles with the new Xbox in November
• Some information has come out since the announcement of things that weren’t mentioned such as Netflix will receive search and the ability to customise one’s queue

Quite the hour and a half of announcements, there were other announcements too about new games and exclusive titles such as Halo Reach and Fable III. If I hear anything else over the next hours I’ll be sure to let you know.

If you want to see pictures of the event then Engadget have great collection from their live stream, there doesn’t currently appear to be a way to watch the announcement its now possible to watch the announcement on xbox.com. You can check out the new Xbox 360 design from these pictures shared by Major Nelson.

Aside from all the great announcements today one thing I am very pleased to see is the level of integration between various Microsoft products with Zune now fully featured, access to Windows Live Messenger contacts through Kinect Video and Bing searches all built into the Xbox. What with Windows Phone 7 integrating so many Microsoft services deep within the OS its very encouraging to see this trend continue.

If the wait for the new Xbox 360 and Kinect are too much for you then you can always download two new Xbox 360 wallpapers I made, featuring the new green “wave/flare” or by adding the Xbox 360 and Kinect Twibbon to your Twitter picture.