Microsoft Zune Development Platform RELEASED!!!!! (CTP)

Why is this not news? Do people really not care about Zune. With this release it will be interesting to see what new apps we can load on our devices.

Anyway, as predicted the Microsoft Zune Development Platform has arrived. I'm thinking cardless card games :).

Officially, this is a gaming platform. Unofficially, it's a development platform.

Check out the Zune blog here.

Keep in mind the full platform will not be released until Holiday 2008.

If you are desperate for the CTP direct download from Microsoft try clicking here.

I'm downloading tonight and will report on my development experiences on this blog.

Over and Out

Microsoft Zune Dev Platform coming soon???

I bought a Zune 2 80GB media player because I believed in Microsoft when they gave the Zune 2.0 software update to all the Zune 1 users.

In February, Microsoft stated (on their XNA Team blog) that Zune game development would be possible in XNA Studio 3.0.

"A preview release of XNA Game Studio 3.0 will be available in the Spring 2008 timeframe, with a final release scheduled for the holiday 2008 season."

Moreover, they went even further to suggest the following api functionalities:

"Keeping with Zune media experience, XNA Game Studio 3.0 integration includes discoverability and access to user’s music allowing the user to customize background soundtracks or create real-time visualizations. In addition, the XNA Community Games Platform team has announced the ability to have multiple Zunes wirelessly engage in an ad-hoc gaming experience."

I visited the XNA Creators Club site today and they are showcasing Zune development (picture above right). Does this mean the Game Studio release is right around the corner? Or have they not updated their site since February?

I have to say, I may be a minority, but I really like my Zune!

Over and Out

Google Analytics Data Sharing and Benchmarking against Industry Verticals

I do not have much time for a blog today, but thought I'd share this new Google Analytics data sharing feature with you. I am a tiny bit hesitant to believe that it's a good thing Google is trying to take on this vertical - but heck - what can't they get into - Microsoft Max?? I feel this is just another attempt from the giant to capture more information from its users - especially more granular information - and I'm not going to participate. My second question is - they will do something drastic with this info - what is that, and what are these so called New Google Products and Services. Hmmm ...

The below is the announcement email the Google Analytics team sent out this morning, happy reading:

Dear Google Analytics users,

We are writing to let you know about a change in our service offerings. If you have logged into your account recently, you may have noticed that you can now choose to share your Google Analytics data. By providing data sharing options, we hope to provide you with transparency, control, and new services based on your preferences.

To learn more about data sharing settings, visit our FAQs: http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?answer=87515

We're also happy to announce industry benchmarking as the first new feature available to those who opt to share their data. Benchmarking lets you compare your metrics against industry verticals.

To enable this optional new feature, an administrator on your account will need to make the following selections on the Google Analytics data sharing settings page:

1. Log into your account. You'll see the yellow data sharing settings box on the Analytics Settings page.

2. Click the "More data sharing options" link within the yellow box.

3. Select the second checkbox to specify that you want to share your data "Anonymously with Google products and the benchmarking service". You can also choose to share your data "With Google products only" to take advantage of advanced Google advertising products and services as they become available.

The industry benchmarking feature is currently in beta. Once you have enabled benchmarking, it may take up to two weeks before the categorized, aggregated and anonymized benchmarking data shows up in your reports.

For more information on the benchmarking service, visit our FAQs: http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/topic.py?topic=13909

In addition to the new benchmarking service, opting to share your data will also enable you to take advantage of new advanced Google products and services as they become available. We think these services will offer greater insight and sophistication to users who have opted to share their data. However, if you would prefer not to use these services, simply specify on the settings page that you don't want to share your data.


Sincerely,

The Google Analytics Team