MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Forget about the Google Phone already: the Nexus One is merely a blip on Google's long-term strategy for the rise of mobile computing.
One could be forgiven for assuming Google was about to knock over the smartphone market--two and a half years after Apple did just that--with one quick blow going into Tuesday's Android event with a phone designed by Google and sold at retail by Google. After all, that's what the Internet said would happen leading up to the event.
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The Zune HD, Microsoft's rival to Apple's iPod, will hit stores in September and cost $220 (R1 772) for the 16-gigabyte model and $290 for the 32GB version, the company announced on Thursday. comparable iPod Touch players are priced at $299 and $399 respectively. a 16-gigabyte player typically holds about 4,000 songs. More...

iTunes 9 was announced today at this year's annual music event from Apple. Named the "It's Only Rock and Roll event" Apple rolled out the return of Steve Jobs, upgraded (and cheaper) iPod Nanos and Shuffles, and plenty of new iPhone app demonstrations from third-party developers. As many predicted, iTunes 9 (Mac and Windows) was also on the agenda and it received a number of cool new feature enhancements to make navigation and syncing to your devices easier. iTunes 9 is available today, but has not yet been added to Apple's software update service. More...

Controversy trailed SpiralFrog while it existed and continues to hound the company, even after closing down.
Some shareholders of SpiralFrog, the ad-supported music download store that shuttered its site on March 19, are unhappy with how the company's assets are being sold. Separately, several site users have complained that they weren't warned they could lose their music if the site closed down. More...

In celebration of the launch of iTunes to Westnet Freezone, Apple provides 1,000 songs to give away to Westnet members. Tell your friend about 12 days of christmas and you can win 1000 free songs. More...

Creative today announced the Creative Digital Wireless Gaming Headset HS-1200 and Creative HS-450 headset. The lightweight and high-quality Creative Digital Wireless Gaming Headset HS-1200 headset is the first wireless USB headset designed for online gaming communications and VOIP applications. It utilises a proprietary bi-directional 2.4GHz Digital Wireless technology to deliver high-fidelity uncompressed stereo audio and crystal clear voice communication. More...

Samsung Electronics was the top global retailer of flash memory products in the first half, according to the company Wednesday.
Samsung's flash memory sales stood at US$7.51 billion in the January-June period, or 30 percent of global flash memory sales, the company said, citing a recent report from market researcher iSuppli. More...

Digital music sales for RealNetworks Inc. remained flat in the second quarter. But company executives say they are encouraged by the reception for a new service introduced at the end of the quarter.
In Q2 RealNetworks, No. 89 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, posted music sales of $37.2 million, an increase of 1% from $36.8 million in the second quarter of 2007. For the first six months of the year, digital music sales reached $75.1 million, an increase of 6% from $70.9 million in the prior year. More...

Apple's digital music store has topped again the US music retailers. According to the latest results released by The NPD Group, the company that tracks the music sales in the United State, Apple's iTunes is leading the pack in the first half of this year.
Apple's achievement is remarkable because unlike its main competitors, Wal-Mart and Best Buy, iTunes sells only music to download, while the other two are also offering music in CD format. Earlier this year, Apple surpassed Wal-Mart in terms of sales for the first time. More...

Apple managed to hold onto the top spot among music retailers in the US during the first half of 2008, according to new data from market research firm NPD Group. NPD, which continuously gathers data on music-purchasing habits of consumers over the age of 13, says that it believes Apple will continue to lead the retail music market while CD sales continue to slow. However, Amazon's success in the MP3 space is an indicator that the company may eventually challenge iTunes' top position. More...

Seven months after Google began testing a service called Knol, a Wikipedia competitor, the company on Wednesday finally rolled it out.
The search expert Danny Sullivan aptly describes Knol as "Like Wikipedia, With Moderation." Articles on various topics are penned by individuals, and in many cases, experts — not collectively by the anonymous masses. Knol authors can choose to benefit from the "wisdom of the crowds" by letting others edit or supplement their articles. But those changes make it into Knol entries only with the author's permission. More...

Apple sold 1m 3G iPhones during the handset's opening weekend, the computer maker said yesterday, as customers in 21 countries rushed to get their hands on the new version of the popular touch-screen device.
Steve Jobs, chief executive, hailed what he called a "stunning opening weekend" for the new device.
News of the performance sent Apple's shares up 1.1 per cent to $174.52 in New York. More...

Google today introduced a 3D chat room plug-in called Lively that is easy to embed in websites and blogs. Ars Technica went hands-on to see if Google actually has introduced us to "another dimension of the web."
Unveiled on Google's blog with the disclaimer that it was a "20 percent" project, Lively is designed to be a portable 3D space where users can build rooms and interact with visitors via avatars. "Second Life in a web browser" is an applicable analogy, though Google appears to have made sure that rooms and user activities remain in the G to PG range. More...

A new gadget for Google Desktop called Google Media Server allows you to take content found on your computer or online Google services like YouTube and Picasa Web Albums, and shares it with UPnP compatible devices like the PS3. Unfortunately, as explained in the discussion group, Google Media Server does not work with Xbox — they integrating is technically possible, but their legal department won't let them do it. More...

A lot of people complain that Microsoft has become an overly bureaucratic, unimaginative, lumbering behemoth that tends to trample on the rights of its customers and competitors.
Having a federal government-sanctioned "technical committee" oversee the creation of the next version of Windows is apparently going to solve those problems.
According to Microsoft Watch, the Department of Justice is still overseeing software development at Microsoft, under the terms of the 2001 antitrust settlement: More...

Many people have celebrated Apple's announcement that it has sold 5 billion songs on iTunes and it's the world's largest music retailer. Almost everyone in the world is calling this a major victory for Apple and one that we should all recognize as a milestone that deserves our praise.But I don't.To me, Apple's success with iTunes and its ability to sell 5 billion songs since its launch is an awful event. In fact, it's probably one of the worst stories I've read all year.As just one of the millions across the globe who's being treated poorly by the music industry, why should I embrace this news and try so desperately to put a smile on my face? More...

The Dvorak is an alternative to the standard QWERTY keyboard that rearranges the keys so that typing on it is much quicker and more efficient. Yet few outside of hardcore computer programmers use it because replacing the existing QWERTY standard would be too costly and difficult. For much the same reasons, alternative digital music formats face an uphill battle replacing the tried-and-true MP3. More...

When I read Joe Wilcox's Microsoft Watch missive on Apple's use of DRM on AppStore applications for the iPhone, I have to admit, my initial (and continuing) reaction was: "So what?"
What exactly is the reason for the DRM?
It is not to keep people from using the application on other (non-Apple) devices, as this is a nonissue. Since the application is specifically written for the iPhone, which runs an operating system that no one else uses, it's not like you can directly port it over to an AT&T Tilt or BlackBerry. More...

Apple is to start offering movies such as I am Legend, The Matrix and Batman Begins on iTunes in the UK for the first time.
The technology company is making more than 700 titles available to UK iTunes customers from today, having secured deals with Hollywood studios including 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney, Warner Bros, MGM, Sony Pictures and Lionsgate. Universal Pictures has not signed up as yet.More...

Napster's big switch from selling Windows Media files wrapped in Microsoft's copyright protection to selling unprotected MP3s is good news for those of us who have been waiting upward of 10 years for a digital music market in which companies that don't happen to sell the top MP3 player in the world can compete.However, the big losers whenever a music store abandons DRM are existing customers of the store.More...

Napster's big switch from selling Windows Media files wrapped in Microsoft's copyright protection to selling unprotected MP3s is good news for those of us who have been waiting upward of 10 years for a digital music market in which companies that don't happen to sell the top MP3 player in the world can compete.
However, the big losers whenever a music store abandons DRM are existing customers of the store. More...

SonicStage CP supports all NWA, NWE, NWHD & NWMS series WALKMAN
We are pleased to announce the release of SonicStage CP. Click 'More' for details.SonicStage CP (Version 4.3) download service We are pleased to announce the release of SonicStage CP (Version 4.3). This software is the latest version of SonicStage, and it can be used as an alternative software to CONNECT Player as well. More...

On paper, the Samsung YP-S2 is just another shuffle-beater, a 1GB player for $39. But in person, it's the most stylish of its class, in five colors, including those below and a white with faux marble grain.(Sadly Samsung didn't have that one on hand.) It charges via a removable USB dongle that plugs right into the 35mm headphone jack, saving space—just don't lose the extra piece. More...

Sony BMG boss, Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, was just quoted in an interview saying that Sony BMG is "working on an online music subscription service." The service would cost between €6 to €8 per month (about $9 to $12) when launching later in the year and provide full access to its entire music catalog. More...

In this article, I will discuss a series of DRM Removal software and some advice is provided for you to select the best DRM Removal Tool. DRM stands for digital rights management. It claims to protect digital media from piracy. However, DRM does nothing to stop copyright pirates. The main purpose of DRM is financial. It prevents lawful user from making back up of purchased music and enjoying music on third-party players. It may also cause some security issues, because DRM controls your computer, automatically connects to Internet. More...

A recently discovered patent filed by Apple in 2004, seems to point to a new feature that could help protect your portable electronics from getting stolen. By utilizing the accelerometers built into devices such as the iPhone or MacBook, this new feature can look for certain movements that are characteristic of theft. In the event of your iPhone or MacBook being stolen, it could either turn on an alarm, lock itself up or even a combination of the two. More...