Internet Explorer comes to your lounge with Xbox update
An update to the Xbox 360 dashboard brings the Internet Explorer browser to your living room for HTML 5 fun.
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Internet Explorer will soon be winging its way to the giant telly in your lounge, via your Xbox console, thanks to an update to the 360's dashboard.
The IE browser will be available as an app directly from your Xbox home screen. It fully supports HTML 5 to play web-based videos that previously relied on the rather unstable Flash player. That means interactive content such as IE poster boy Brandon Generator can be used through your TV. It's ditched Flash though, so embedded videos on sites that haven't made the switch to HTML 5 won't play.
It also lets you pop down your favourite websites as icons on the home screen for you to easily navigate to in the future. Obviously your first icon will be CNET UK, followed closely by our excellent Facebook page.
Operation is fairly standard -- type in your URL and hit go, or a search term and have Bing bring up the results. Exactly how fast the browser is remains to be seen when it turns up on our consoles.
The app will also support Microsoft's new Smart Glass gubbins, meaning you can use your Windows Phone blower or any of the new Windows 8 tablets to type and navigate around. That's not going to be much help if you're an iPhone or Android user though. Instead, you'll have to type stuff with your Xbox controller, which is always a tedious chore.
Internet Explorer is due to arrive to all Xbox Live Gold subscribers any time now. I shouted over to my colleagues at GameSpot, who told me that the update hasn't made it's way to the UK yet, but it should be arriving any time from now. Keep checking your Xbox for system updates over the next 24 hours and you should hopefully see it appear.
Internet Explorer may not be anyone's everyone's favourite browser, but with integration into your games console and the neat Windows 8 version with gesture-based controls on the way, Microsoft is evidently doing its utmost to claw back the users who fled to Firefox and Google's Chrome browser.
Have you got the new update? What do you make of Internet Explorer in your living room and are you keen on navigating around using a Windows 8 tablet? Let me know in the comments below or over on our Facebook page.