NYT.  Microsoft's Xbox plans focus on social gaming.  For many reasons this is going to be a massive $1 b flop.  The PC is the device connected to the broadband connection in all US homes.  Most of the PCs that are connected don't have a home network.  The only way to shoehorn this into the home is to sell a home server with a built-in wi-fi hub (Homestation) and connect the Xbox to that network as a satellite device.  This is putting the cart before the horse.   [John Robb's Radio Weblog]

This is something that I had not even considered, I take it as a given that people who want it have a broadband connection. This is not the case, as both writers I know of and people I know will gladly tell me. I once worked for a company that paid one of it's programmers ISDN bill every month because the town he lived in had neither cable modem nor DSL service.

Further, I just taught myself how to run cat 3 phone lines as well as coax, and will be learning how to crimp my own cat5 this weekend from a friend. While I consider these to be vital skills for any self respecting homeowner, (or in my case, renter) I forget other folks are not as hands on. Wiring up a network is no mean feat, and is also a skill that the average platform gamer probably does not have.

9:58:12 AM