Comments on: The X in Xbox http://futureoftheinternet.org/the-x-in-xbox Jonathan Zittrain is Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and co-founder of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:14:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Tethered Appliances : péril en la demeure « Le monde change…et pourquoi pas? http://futureoftheinternet.org/the-x-in-xbox/comment-page-1#comment-3749 Tethered Appliances : péril en la demeure « Le monde change…et pourquoi pas? Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:54:05 +0000 http://futureoftheinternet.org/?p=390#comment-3749 [...] telle fonctionnalité est beaucoup plus pernicieuse lorsque les utilisateurs n’ont pas vraiment ce choix, comme [...] [...] telle fonctionnalité est beaucoup plus pernicieuse lorsque les utilisateurs n’ont pas vraiment ce choix, comme [...]

]]> By: Ben R. http://futureoftheinternet.org/the-x-in-xbox/comment-page-1#comment-2015 Ben R. Tue, 09 Dec 2008 18:19:52 +0000 http://futureoftheinternet.org/?p=390#comment-2015 It is unfortunate the 360 is such a closed device. The first Xbox had security issues that led to it being easily opened up to all sorts of functionality by even casual computer users (given proper instructions). I've been using that as a general media center for years with XBMC. The worry is, of course, piracy. But it doesn't have to be. "Homebrew", as user created content on consoles is generally known can exist without mass copyright infringement (and copyright infringement is alive and well on the 360 from what I hear). An example of this is the Wii's Homebrew Channel. For my most recent home media setup I went ahead and just bought a small computer I put together myself that cost about the same amount. The front end is Boxee, an open source social media center - based on XBMC - currently in a remarkably stable alpha stage. It will play old games I already own via emulator, play HD content, and connect up to Hulu, internet TV stations like Revision3, major network streaming content (CBS, BBC), Youtube, internet radio stations, and many pod/vidcasts. Not everyone can put together such a computer by themselves, but you can load Boxee on the AppleTV as well for a pretty decent media box. I expect more set tops with something like Boxee will undermine the current cable company/dish network channel packages. It is unfortunate the 360 is such a closed device. The first Xbox had security issues that led to it being easily opened up to all sorts of functionality by even casual computer users (given proper instructions). I’ve been using that as a general media center for years with XBMC.

The worry is, of course, piracy. But it doesn’t have to be. “Homebrew”, as user created content on consoles is generally known can exist without mass copyright infringement (and copyright infringement is alive and well on the 360 from what I hear). An example of this is the Wii’s Homebrew Channel.

For my most recent home media setup I went ahead and just bought a small computer I put together myself that cost about the same amount. The front end is Boxee, an open source social media center – based on XBMC – currently in a remarkably stable alpha stage. It will play old games I already own via emulator, play HD content, and connect up to Hulu, internet TV stations like Revision3, major network streaming content (CBS, BBC), Youtube, internet radio stations, and many pod/vidcasts.

Not everyone can put together such a computer by themselves, but you can load Boxee on the AppleTV as well for a pretty decent media box. I expect more set tops with something like Boxee will undermine the current cable company/dish network channel packages.

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