The future of television is now.

Xbox LIVE recently unveiled the next generation of TV entertainment with its redesigned dashboard and new custom apps from world-leading TV and entertainment content providers. High Road helped kick-off the launch with a breakfast media event at Xbox 360 Central in Toronto.

Despite the wet weather, the space was buzzing with anticipation. Glenn Purkis, Xbox LIVE Product Manager, unveiled the new dash and left the crowd awe-struck after demonstrating the new voice-powered navigation features. That’s right: users can now navigate by simply speaking to their Xbox. With the power of Kinect, you say it, Xbox finds it.

Check it out:

Following the presentation, media chatted one-on-one with Purkis and representatives from content partners including Rogers On Demand, Disney XD, Real Sports, UFC, Crackle, YouTube, Vevo, Zune, and MSN.ca.

The highly-anticipated event drew more than 30 media from tech, gaming, sports and lifestyle outlets.

Not to brag (okay, maybe a little), but High Road has an amazing group of employees with creative, strategic thinking, problem solving, time management, and all-around awesome skills. As a company who likes to work hard and party hard, we thought we’d consult the pros at Toronto Institute of Bartending and add another skill set to our resumes – martini madness bartending skills!

Some of High Road’s keenest learners recently headed over to TIB for a lesson on how to make the best martinis and cocktails. Our instructors Brad and Clint started us off strong with a Vesper Martini (from Bond girl Vesper Lynd) and a Manhattan, and progressed into sweeter drinks like the original Cosmopolitan (not to be confused with the bright pink, too much cranberry juiced version from Sex and the City), to the interesting Spiced Breakfast Martini (which involved a spoonful of marmalade and a piece of orange peel lit on fire!) to the crowd pleasing “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” created by Ernest Hemingway during his time in Cuba, which involved freshly squeezed grapefruit juice and amber rum.

Some key learnings we discovered:

• Always use fresh juices whenever possible (grapefruit, lemon, lime), it makes a world of difference
• Sometimes the most interesting or odd ingredients make the best drinks (marmalade, egg whites)
• Homemade pickled celery sticks are perhaps the best Caesar garnish ever
• The easiest way to impress your guests is to slice off a small piece of orange peel, squeeze it, and hold a lighter up to it – the oils will create a large flame and caramelize the garnish

Cheers to that!

What do you get when you combine pro athletes, gamers and Xbox? One kick-butt media launch event for Kinect Sports: Season Two — that’s what.

October 24 was no ordinary Monday night on Queen West. Xbox 360 Central was transformed into a world-class sports arena, complete with AstroTurf, and played host to Toronto Blue Jays Catcher JP Arencibia, and recent CFL Hall of Fame inductee Damon Allen, as they engaged in some friendly competition in many of the six new sports featured on the soon-to-be best-selling title.

Toronto media from outlets like TSN, Sportsnet, The Score, Toronto Star and National Post turned up for the fun and went toe-to-toe with the athletes and Xbox Canada’s Jeff Rivait.

Two lucky gamers from the East coast also attended the exclusive launch event and got the pro-athlete treatment as the winners of Kinect Sports: Season Two’s All Star Challenge. They were flown to Toronto, put up at a luxury hotel and had the chance to meet and play with JP Arencibia and Damon Allen. “This is awesome; we don’t have anything like this in Fredericton!” exclaimed Scott Mazerall after stepping up to the plate with Allen and Arencibia.

You can check out all the fun in this video.