Archive for the ‘Zune’ Category

Zune Hackers Create Toolkit to Make Apps, Games

A team of three developers has created a toolkit that can bypass Microsoft’s limitations on developing programs for the Zune. The kit allows independent programmers to create applications for the digital music player.

“This is the first Zune hack that works,” Glenn Anderson, one of the creators of the toolkit told Wired.com. “People can now bypass all of Microsoft’s limitations and develop for the platform.”

The toolkit called OpenZDK will allow developers to make new games, port old ones, create emulators and even have a rogue app store on the device. It will work on the original Zune and Zune HD.

OpenZDK could let people make applications on par with Microsoft-published games such as PGR: Ferrari Edition and Audiosurf Tilt. It could also spark a healthy homebrew community that would offer programs that are much better than what is available on the Zune now. 

Microsoft launched the Zune music player in 2006 and a HD version of the device last year. Zune, though, has barely made a dent in the market that Apple iPod consistently dominates. Zune reportedly has a market share of about 2 percent.

Earlier efforts to make Zune apps relied on a Microsoft kit called XNA development tools. In 2008, Microsoft released XNA Game Studio 3.0, which supports Zune development. But some developers say that XNA’s sluggish performance and lack of 3-D or internet access make it difficult to produce quality apps.

The OpenZDK toolkit could allow programmers to get around the limitations Microsoft has placed. The OpenZDK crew met on ZuneBoards, a popular online Zune development community, where they go by usernames Netrix (aka Anderson), Nurta and itsnotabigtruck. It took them a few months to work around Microsoft’s protections, Anderson said, and they have been testing it for the last two weeks.

But since OpenZDK has just launched, there are no apps or games based on it available yet. Getting started is easy enough, though, by following the steps on the OpenZDK wiki.

Microsoft’s newly announced Kin phones will also be running some of Zune’s software, but the OpenZDK team says it won’t be possible to simply port the hack onto the phones, because Microsoft has “locked the phone down.”

Which isn’t to say Kin is unhackable. “That remains to be seen,” Anderson said, hinting it could be possible in the future.

Photo: Zune

Zune Pass troubles? Users report Zune purchases are busted

Zune down! The Zune support forums are awash with users claiming various issues with Zune subscription media. Songs are not showing up, or if they do, they aren’t playing. Sounds like an authentication issue to me, and those happen every once in a while — but for weeks on end?

Any of you fine folks out there having trouble? I’ll see if I can scare up any info from the Zune team and post an update later. [Thanks, Aditya]

Zune HD stops syncing playcounts with nary a firmware fix in site

This isn’t exactly the same magnitude as last year’s Z2K scare, but it’s still an all-around bummer for all you Zune nuts. According to a spate of complaints posted to the Zune.net forums as of late, certain Zune HD units are not syncing their playcounts properly with the user’s PC and Zune Social accounts. To be a little more specific, it seems that if you let a song play through on the device it will not be counted as played — but if you skip to another tune before it has a chance to complete (but after 20 seconds or so), the play will be counted. A real pain, right? Of course, this is not only bad news for obsessive list keepers, but for Zune Social fans as well: if your listening habits aren’t being properly tabulated, how are you supposed to make new friends and discover new music? Certainly not by going to noisy rock clubs and talking to people! Apparently a Microsoft Zune support team member has acknowledged the issue, but the company has made no statement relating to the bug — or possible firmware fix — as of yet. We’ll keep you posted.

[Thanks, Jon]

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Zune HD stops syncing playcounts with nary a firmware fix in site originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Steve Ballmer: The Uncut Interview [Ballmer Interview]

Most of you may not have 16 minutes to spare on this, and probably don’t care anyway, but I promised to post the full video, if only so you can understand the context of our five highlighted segments.

Watch it, share it, do what you like. And if you just want the short and sweet, here again are our five featured bits (shot and edited by Mike Short):

Steve Ballmer Exclusive Interview Series:
Part 1: Ballmer Talks Natal, Says Blu-ray Add-On for Xbox Coming
Part 2: Ballmer on the Smartphone Race: “It Doesn’t Matter What the Critics Say”
Part 3: Ballmer on Zune: Sometimes You Get It Right The Third Time?
Part 4: Ballmer on Those Crazy Ballmer YouTube Videos
Part 5: Ballmer Optimistic About Win 7, But Says Vista Is “Very Popular”

Confirmed: Zune Integration Coming in Windows Mobile 7 [Ballmer]

Ballmer just confirmed to Engadget that Zune integration IS coming to Windows Mobile 7, as was implied by these leaked screenshots earlier this year. [Engadget]

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