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Microsoft's Origami Project Slowly Comes into Focus
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posted by: Chris Martin
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date posted: 03:35 PM Wed Mar 1st, 2006
last revision: 03:40 PM Wed Mar 1st, 2006


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Click to read.It was only a matter of time before Microsoft joined the handful of offering portable multimedia devices. Microsoft\'s Origami Project will feature portable gaming (including the ability to play Halo), music, and all other things digital entertainment. Could this be the heralded \"Xboy?\" While we\'re still waiting for \"Week 2\" to arrive, here is a catch-up on all things \"Origami.\"

Like Microsoft\'s previous hype tactics (ourcolony.net, ilovebees.com, etc), www.origamiproject.com doesn\'t really tell us much. Not yet, anyway, as it seems we\'re only a few days away from more unveiling. The flash animation starts out with a bubble and the words \"touch me.\" Upon clicking the bubble morphs into a spidergraph with the words \"do you know what I can do?\" followed by \"and where I can go?\" and then the intriguing, \"Or how I can change your life?\" Of course we don\'t, that\'s a rhetorical question. \"You will,\" says the video. Which then informs us we\'ll learn more on 3.2.06.

Really...

Cliche as it is, tomorrow will be the day. And part 2 out of 3 of the flash animations will be revealed. What does this mean? Is this little device going to really change your life? Microsoft knows that they can get away with promising worlds. Still, this campaign more or less has my interest. I would love to know what about a handheld multimedia device will change our lives, or, more importantly, what kind of cool little things it can do.

A video had previously surfaced on the site of video production firm Digital Kitchen. While the video has since then been removed, YouTube.com has been cool enough to have it posted on their site: here. While the video is older, it does show the words \"be free\" over and over on different people\'s \"Origamis.\" What this video does show is how big the proposed device is (about the size of a DVD case) and it shows that gaming on it will be possible. This wouldn\'t be too big a deal, except Microsoft\'s magnum opus \"Halo\" is shown in the commercial.


Features of the Origami appear to include tablet-PC functions (touch screen), linking with a computer, photo editing, music functionality, and GPS. Simply, Origami has a lot of potential...and a lot to live up to. Will it be similar to the PSP? Will it be easier to integrate media than the PSP? We\'ll have to see.

Keep your eyes on the Origami, because we\'ll have information on the next part of the teaser when it comes out tomorrow.

For more on the Origami, check out the Engadget article here.

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