Price comparison between Windows Vista and XP

Everyone on web has been talking about Windows vista pricing after Amazon started taking pre-orders for vista. But comparing prices of Vista to XP when XP was released in 2001 shows that pricing has remained almost same.

Windows XP Home : $199 for a new copy and $99 for Upgrade
Windows Vista Home: $199 for new copy and $99 for Upgrade
But what's with the vista Home Premium: $239 new and $159 Upgrade why extra for Premium there should be only one Home version.
Compare it to MAC OS X there is only one version for the OS, I do understand the need for Windows Professional edition but why two versions for home. Its like showing that Vista is better then XP but if you want all the features then you should have paid $40 more or $60 more for upgrade.

Windows XP Professional Edition $299 for new and $199 for upgrade
Windows Vista Business: $299 for new and $199 for upgrade
Again here the prices are same but as before there is a Ultimate edition which includes Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption and Network Capabilities like Group Policy. Why additional $100 for these capabilities which should have be included in Business version. I know Microsoft will justify there pricing but do you think that a OS should cost $400.

Toshiba releases Gigabeat V

Toshiba has released Gigabeat V for US it is same V30T from Japan but without TV tuner. This gigabeat gets many feature from Gigabeat S series. The Gigabeat V runs on Portable Media Center software and supports WMV9, WMV10, PlaysForSure video, MP3, WMA, WMA lossless, WAV and Windows DRM 9/10. The screen is 3.5" TFT LCD and the battery life is 8 hours for video and 25 hours for music. The price will be around $400 for 30GB and it can be pre-ordered but won't be available till October.

Philips has added 9" digital photoframe

Philips has added 9" digital photoframe to its previous 7" photoframe. The frame has dual card reading support, it has internal memory also. The frame comes in a "modern" and "classic" look and the frame can be wall mounted.

Safari 3

A video has been posted on youtube showing Apple web browser Safari 3. Rumors are that you will be able to rearrange tabs, break tabs off into new windows, move tabs from one window to the other, merge separate windows into one tabbed windows or create separate window from one tabbed window.

Link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=j2WY3inouhw

Apple MAC OSX Leopard preview update

Apple has released update which improves overall speed, stability and compatibility for it MAC OSX leopard which was distributed to developers at WWDC. Apple has not put any documentation with the update but changes are show in application like address book, Expose, spaces and time machine. All though there is no major change in look and feel of the OS but Stability has increased.

Samsung Q1P gets HSDPA

Samsung Q1P has again got a update, this time they have added HSDPA for 3G internet access and a via processor. The UMPC will have better battery life and will have several interface addition. It will be released in Q4 this year.

Rumors: Apple to introduce 23" iMac

Macosxrumors.com has posted that apple will release a 23" iMac on 12th September the first day of AppleExpo. The iMac will be upgraded to Core 2 duo processor.
Source: www.macosxrumors.com

Samsung SGH-Z720 mobile phone

The slider style Samsung SGH-Z720 is the new top end HSDPA phone. It has a 3 megapixel camera, 1.9" QVGA resolution TFT LCD display. it is just 13.8" thick. There is a camera in front for video calling and it also has a microSD slot.

Samsung SGH-Z620 mobile phone

Samsung added Folder style Samsung SGH-Z620 mobile phone to its ultra edition range. The phone is a HSDPA phone and is the slimmest 3.5G handset measuring just 11.8mm. A 2 megapixel camera is used for both photo and video calling. It has a 2.3" QVGA resolution display and microSD slot.

Samsung SGH-Z370 mobile phone

Samsung SGH-z370 is the thinnest 3G phone measuring 8.4mm and weighing 71 g. It has a 2 megapixel camera and a VGA resolution camera for video calling. The phone has 1.9" display and a microSD expansion slot.

Samsung YP-K5 MP3 Player

Samsung YP-K5 mp3 Player is a flash based player with 1, 2 or 4Gb memory. With 1.7 inch OLED screen touch sensitive controls, FM tuner and integrated speaker. Samsung plays Mp3, WMA, JPG, ASF and OGG format. Quality of integrated speakers is a big question. Its battery life is 6 hours with the speaker and 30 hours with headphones. It uses USB 2.0 to charge in 5 hours.

D-Link launches DNS-323 network storage enclosure

D-link has launched DNS-323 network storage enclosure for $229.99, which has dual bay for 3.5" SATA drives. The storage can be accessed through internet as it has a built in FTP server. DNS-323 can be used as RAID 1 system for backup. It also has UPnP AV support for audio video streaming and USB print server port. It doesnt have a WiFi capabilities.

SanDisk Sansa c200 MP3 Player released

Sandisk has released sansa c200 its successor to c100 series player. Its a music player available 1 or 2Gb memory with colored screen, FM radio, photo viewer and microSD slot. Both the players support playback of MP3, WMA, WMV and WMA DRM files. The player has 15 hours of battery life and its screen is 1.4 inch.

Windows Vista pre-Release Candidate 1 is faster then beta 2

Microsoft has released Windows vista Build 5536 or pre-release candidate 1, there are many improvement in this built compared to previous releases, over all speed has improved, stability has also improved when compared to build 5472. Still the biggest problem remains and that's drivers, finding drivers for vista is still a problem and if there are drivers they are not as good as for XP. For example performance of nvidia driver is slow and games give less frame rate when compared to Windows XP drivers. There is improvement in memory utilizations but still you atleast need 1GB RAM to make it work properly, A computer with 512MB RAM just cries for help, in fact vista is not at all usable for anything less then 1GB RAM.
Microsoft Windows Live service has be integrated into system, where Microsoft includes numerous shortcuts to various Windows Live service. Documents, pictures, favorites and music folders are color coded to differentiate them from other folder. Now you can update all Microsoft programs using windows update program. Using windows media center is also faster. Over all it a huge improvement over previous builds but still there are things which needs to be corrected or improved.

Microsoft releases Windows Media Player 11 Beta 2

Microsoft has released beta 2 of Windows Media Player 11 for download by US customers, it requires Windows XP and Service pack 2. Microsoft has made changes to player interface, Urge music service gets a bolder look, Player control are arranged nicely and are easy to use still there is no support for Podcasts and Urge music service still needs some work to be done on it. Over all the performance has improved.

Microsoft starts manufacturing Zune

Microsoft has Started manufacturing Zune media player which will compete against Apple's iPod. Zune is a 30Gb media player with Wi-Fi enabled and will be manufactured by Toshiba for Microsoft. It is believed that it will be priced at $299.
Microsoft aims to release it before holiday season begins.

New Apple iPod rumors.

Rumors are going around that Apple will introduce new iPods in second week of September. Apple is planning to host a event on September 12th, where it will introduce new iPods and iTunes movie service. According to an article in Macdailynews Australian retailer are giving larger discounts on the iPods.
Apple's iPods were last updated in October, 2005 and there are rumors that iPod Nano will be update with new design and higher capacity. Apple might also introduce iPod video with touch screens, full front of the iPod will be screen and the controls will appear on screen when you take you finger near the screen.
Reference links:
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2009