Well, watching patents is proving interesting.  While there's a LOT of stuff that would put even the biggest geek to sleep, there are others that are extremely...enlightening.

For instance there are a number of patents related to Microsoft's Xbox TV service.  Patents on how to manage advertising programs, insert localized audio into a stream (i.e. stream video with an audio stream based on the location, provide a guide for content, etc.  In addition there have been some indicators that Microsoft has been working on a social network, however these may be related to their aquisition of a social network service for businesses.  Lastly, there have been a ton of patents related to Skype or products that could work with Skype. 

And those are just the ones that interested me.  Microsoft receives 100 or more patents per week.  Not to most, but a high number of patents.   It ends up being a lot of stuff to read, try to understand the functionality, then try to understand how it would fit into one or more product lines, if any.  Some of the iconography they patent, I'm not sure where it works.  In one specific example, there is a new icon I've never seen used in the electronics industry.  Have no idea what the importance of it is.

One of the more interesting recent patents was for a see-thru LCD display, either that or it's a dual display with a front and back display through a single LCD.

As for the ones I've labeled Xbox 8 specific, I think some of them have been applied to the Xbox 360, just not yet seen in an available product.  Others are definitely NOT a part of the current Xbox 360, but could be planned for an update which the Xbox 8 would share.  As an example, there is a patent for the UI that is not currently used in the UI.

Lastly, a patent doesn't mean it'll be use in a product.   The above animated splash screen as an example.  If intended for the Xbox 8, it could still see some design changes between now and the release, and we might not see the related patent for it approved until the console gets released.  That seems to be key with a lot of approved patents, they seem to release in time for a product released. 

Sony's patents have proven much dryer than even Microsoft's.  So dry that I got a nosebleed from the low humidity.  Microsoft's research is very high level, where as Sony's is very much low level.  I have to really go through Sony's, it was just 2 AM the last time I tried, and at 2AM reading the technical details of a new capaciter design would put anyone to sleep.

not official but rumored, kinda catchy, and makes sense overall.

OT - i don't think i get what i'm looking at.

If you have used it on a surface and feel that it is a "PoS" than I must respectfully disagree with your opinion. Even apple fan boys are generally happy to admit that as a touch UI windows 8 is fantastic, and I think so as well. 

now saying it is bad on a laptop or desktop I could get behind more so., though I imagine the next xbox UI will be very similar and use kinect as a sort of "virtual touch" .  

I agree, I don't think Microsoft had any intentions to as well as anyone seriously thinking they would.  Other people came up with Xbox 8 because of the tie to Windows 8, but with the relationship to the generation, Xbox 8 works. 

Looks lame. Maybe when it's final and has some color and logos..but right now its fugly.

Maybe I'll post some of the frame stills.

Essentially it starts out with a tiny holes with these elements that seem to be coming out of it.   Eventually it collapses and the elements begin orbiting in a concentric circle.  Then a second bubble forms in the center.  Once again elements begin coming out of it, once again building up.

The GIF is from the order of the images/stills I put into sequence.  The problem is that even mine are out of sequence, though better than the patent application.   The question is, what does this have to do with the Xbox and I think honestly there are elements missing from the patent.  It wouldn't be the first one I ran into that was that way.  There was one for a UI that featured completely blank screens. 

I personally like the second patent's animation better than the first one.  It's much simpler, but essentially the same idea.  

I love the name Xbox 8.

That gif didn't look like anything to me.

In part I agree.   If you have a TIFF viewer, you can look at images and there is more detail with respect to what is coming out of the center, but it is missing logos.  If this is infact related to Xbox 8, it'd be nice to see it in color and fully animated with the final presentation.

As it is, I think it offers a lot of possibilities

If you're running, click Start > Run, type "WinVer" and then click OK, or click Start > Search, type "Winver" and then click on "WinVer.exe"

What version of Windows are you running again?  If it's Windows XP it'll be version 5.1, Windows Vista is version 6.0, Windows 7 is version 6.1, and Windows 8 is 6.2.

It begs the question, what's in a name?  Obviously the kernel version doesn't determine the number on the OS, so why should it matter whether or not there is an 8 after Xbox?  It's the 8th Generation and the OS behind the scenes is reportedly Win 8.  The only downside would be if Microsoft maintained a 10 year lifecycle. 

The reality is, Microsoft will likely use a word name.  Microsoft's hardware consumer products tend to have names over numbers. 

It looks stupid... but a boot screen doesn't matter, I havent seen the boot screen on my 360 and PS3 in ages, everytime i switch the tv to the consoles I'm already in the menu.