Best Buy Lists Zune HD's Pricing and Release Date

Gizmodo has posted images of Best Buy inventory system that shows the price and release date for upcoming Zune HD media player. The 16GB model is listed for $220 and the 32GB model is listed for $290. According to the inventory system, Zune HD will be in stock from September 8th.
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iPhone 3GS Shortage Continues Around The World

Since the launch of iPhone 3GS, Apple has been struggling to meet demand for the device. Just two weeks after launch of iPhone 3GS over 75 percent Apple Stores in US were experiencing shortage. Similar reports also came from UK in July, where iPhone 3GS supply was lagging behind demand for the new device. Singapore iPhone 3GS launch last month saw over 3,000 people standing in line for hours to get the new device. Read More

Top Tech News This Week (08-03-09 to 08-09-09)

In this section we will highlight the top tech stories of past week. Every Sunday we will publish links to top 10-12 tech stories that were published during the week not only on our website, but also on other websites.
This week belonged to cameras as two new technologies were for the first time integrated with compact digital cameras.

• First it was Sony that added back-illuminated “Exmor R” Sensors to Cyber-shot WX1 and TX1 digital cameras. Back-illuminated CMOS sensors will make low light photography piece of cake for anyone who can hold a camera in their hands.

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Apple iTunes 9 Will Bring Blu-ray And App Organization

Every time Apple updates its iPod lineup new version of iTunes software is also announced that adds new features and supports the latest iPods released. This time also BGR believes that Apple will release iTunes 9 when they update the iPod line in September. According to BGR, Blu-ray support and app organization will be the two main features of iTunes 9. BGR says: Read More

Next Generation iMac To Offer Two Compelling New Features

AppleInsider is reporting that next generation iMac will have two new features to increase its value proposition. Kasper Jade wrote:

“One of those features is said to have long been on the wish-lists of many Mac users while the other is expected to cater to the semi-professional audio/video crowd. This is according to cryptic tips from people often familiar with the Mac maker’s future product initiatives, but who declined to elaborate because they were not authorized to discuss the matter in detail.”

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Windows 7 Benchmarks Show Mixed Results

CNET has posted results of in depth test of Windows 7 RTM, which was released for testing last month. CNET compared performance of Windows 7 (32-bit) against Vista SP2 and XP SP3. All the testing was done on Inspiron Desktop 530 running 2.20GHz Core 2 Duo E4500 processor, 4GB RAM, 128MB NVIDIA 8300 GS graphics and two 320GB 7,200 RPM hard drives. Read More

Sony Debuts World’s First Digital Cameras With Back-Illuminated “Exmor R” Sensor

Sony today announced Cyber-shot DSC-WX1 and TX1 first ever digital cameras to use back illuminated ‘Exmor R’ CMOS sensors. The new Exmor R CMOS sensors provide greater light sensitivity by illuminating the backside of the silicon substrate, in contrast to conventional CMOS image sensors based on front illumination technology. The new technology significantly enhances imaging characteristics, including nearly twofold sensitivity and low noise. Read More

Critical Windows 7 Bug Could Delay Launch

Microsoft is planning to launch Windows 7 on October 23rd, however InfoWorld is reporting that a critical memory leak bug could derail product launch plans. Randall Kennedy of InfoWorld writes:
“The bug in question – a massive memory leak involving the chkdsk.exe utility – appears when you attempt to run the program against a secondary (that is, not the boot partition) hard disk using the “/r” (read and verify all file data) parameter."
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More Apple Tablet Rumors

Ars Technica has posted image of USBDeviceConfiguration.plist found in iPhone OS 3.1, which was released to developer recently. The plist adds new device reference iProd1,1. The first reference to iProd was discovered in iPhone OS 3.0 beta, which was released in March. Initially the device was identified as iProd0,1 in iPhone OS 3.0. Both the iProd references have different productID indicating that there might be two different products or two different versions of the same product. Read More

Nikon Unveils World’s First Camera With Projector And Three New Compact Cameras

Nikon has unveiled world’s first compact digital camera Coolpix S1000pj with built-in VGA resolution projector. Along with Coolpix S1000pj, Nikon also announced three new S-series compact camera S70, S640 and S570. The Nikon Coolpix S1000pj can project a 40 inches diagonal image at up to 2 meters distance. It comes with a remote control to make viewing slideshows easy. The other features on the camera are 12.1-megapixel camera, 2.7-inch LCD screen, 5x optical zoom, ISO sensitivity up to 6400, image stabilization, 16 scene modes and four movie modes. Read More

ARM Processor Based Smartbooks Coming To Market In Q4 2009

Smartbooks is the name given by NVIDIA and Qualcomm to the netbooks based on ARM processors. Many companies including Acer, Foxconn, Pegatron Technology, Compal Electronics and Inventec Appliances are planning to launch smartbooks in fourth quarter this year. The smartbooks will be based on either Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platform or NVIDIA’s Tegra platform. Read More

Analyst Claims To Have Seen Upcoming “Slate-Style” Apple Computer

Barron’s is reporting “One veteran analyst who has seen first hand a prototype slate-style computer from Apple says that the device could be announced in September for release in November.” The analyst also said that the device has better than average movie experience, when you hold it in your hands. Read More

Nikon D300S and D3000 Digital SLR Announced

Nikon has announced two new digital SLRs D300S and D3000. The D300s is a DX format 12.3-megapixel DSLR with CMOS sensor, 51-point autofocus and 7 frames per second continuous shooting mode. The camera will also shoot 720p video at 24fps and it has external stereo microphone input along with in camera movie editing. The startup time for the camera is 130 milliseconds and shutter release time is only 49 milliseconds. D330s also features dual card slots for CF/SD memory cards. Read More

Creative Unveils Touchscreen Zii EGG For Developers And OEMs

Creative today introduced touchscreen Zii EGG and Plaszma platform for developers and OEMs. Creative says Zii EGG is world’s first handheld based on StemCell Computer technology developed by the company itself. The device features 3.5-inch 480 x 320 LCD screen, 10-point multi-touch display, 3D hardware graphics acceleration for OpenGL ES, 256MB Mobile DDR RAM, up to 32GB internal memory, front and rear facing cameras, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, Accelerometer and SD card slot. Read More

Panasonic Reveals Four New Digital Cameras

Panasonic today introduced four new Lumix digital cameras DMC-FZ35 super zoom, DMC-FP8, DMC-FX65 and DMC-ZR1. The first camera in the lineup is 12.1-megapixel Lumix DMC-FZ35 super zoom digital compact camera with 18x optical zoom lens. The DMC-FZ35 features an AVCHD lite high-definition movie recording (720p) capability along with faster Venus Engine HD processor. Other features on the camera are Power O.I.S lens shift stabilization, ISO Sensitivity range of 80 to 6400, 14 shooting modes including Intelligent AUTO, various picture and movie modes, 2.3 fps continuous shooting mode and 2.7-inch LCD monitor. The Lumix DMC-FZ35 will ship in September. Read More

Review Roundup: Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch

Apple updated MacBook Pro 13-inch models by adding built-in battery with up to 40 percent longer battery life (up to 7 hours), LED backlit display with greater color intensity, illuminated keyboard, SD card slot and FireWire 800 port. Apple also reduced the starting price of the notebook to $1,199 making them more affordable while adding new features.
Below we have added links to nine most comprehensive reviews available online for MacBook Pro 13-inch:
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Is iTunes Support On Palm Pre Turning Into Cat And Mouse Game?

A new chapter in iTunes war was added this week when Palm released the new Palm webOS 1.1 software update and posted on its blog mocking Apple - “Oh, and one more thing: Palm webOS 1.1 re-enables Palm media sync. That’s right – you once again can have seamless access to your music, photos and videos from the current version of iTunes (8.2.1).”

Apple last week updated iTunes software disabling sync feature of Palm Pre. Apple continued to maintain its stance on the topic after Palm’s software update and said, “As we’ve said before, newer versions of Apple’s iTunes software may no longer provide syncing functionality with unsupported digital media players.”

Palm went one step further by notifying the USB Implementers Forum about improper use of the Vendor ID number by Apple. Palm said, “Openness and interoperability offer better experience for users by allowing them the freedom to use the content they own without interference across device and services, so on behalf of consumer, we have notified the USB Implementers Forum.”

Two things Palm is doing wrong here are one – Palm is hacking iTunes to work with its hardware even though it has no legal permission from the software maker, and second – Palm complained to USB Implementers Forum even though it is wrongly using USB Vendor ID to identify Pre as Apple’s device.

Apple isn’t stopping customers from using their DRM-free content across various devices. In fact you can play a DRM-free song bought from iTunes on any device that supports AAC codec. You can simply drag and drop those songs on the device that shows up as USB drive on the computer or you can use the syncing software that came with the device. What Apple is doing is stopping Palm from using Apple’s proprietary software iTunes for their gain. If Palm had developed a media syncing software for Pre that run on your computer, Apple wouldn’t have blocked it.

Apple has never claimed that iTunes works with various devices. Syncing is a feature of iTunes software (which is proprietary) and not a feature of content customers bought from iTunes store. Basically, Palm is using 10 years of hard work that Apple did building iTunes and advertising it as a feature on Pre. If Palm continues like this, the cat and mouse game will end in a court and Palm’s customers who bought the Pre thinking it has iTunes support will be the one’s to suffer because of Palm.
[Via TechzTalk]

Microsoft: It a Mistake If You Think Apple is Going to Run Mobile Industry

Steven Hegenderfer, group product manager of Windows Mobile believes that the mobile industry is still in its “infancy”. He said, “Anyone (who) thinks that Apple is going to run this thing, they are sorely mistaken. And I am not talking from like a pompous point of view. We are so early in this industry… we are barely scratching the tip of the iceberg. And this is exciting… it is like a wild west land rush, there is gold in them there hills." Read More

Apple Partnering with Verizon to Release Apple Media Pad / Tablet

Scott Moritz of The Street reported yesterday that Apple would release a larger version of iPod touch that features 9-inch to 10-inch touchscreen and possibly a keyboard by holidays this year. Verizon will subsidize the device, but Apple and Verizon “Won’t be as tightly integrated” as Apple’s iPhone exclusivity deal with AT&T. our source says that the work on the device is almost complete and it can hit the market as early as October. Read More

Palm Pre Needs More Than Web Apps to be Successful

Last week, Palm released the Mojo Software Development Kit (SDK) for WebOS Application development. The new SDK uses web standards like JavaScript, CSS and HTML for application development. However like we wrote in January when Palm announced Pre and WebOS, web standards can be used for applet development not true application development.

When Apple launched the iPhone in 2007, it allowed only web apps on the device that used HTML and CSS. There were about few thousand web apps available on Apple’s website, but those apps were slow and limited in functionality. The iPhone application development jump-started after Apple released true SDK in 2008. Application (applet) development using web standards is easier but it offers limited hardware access resulting in limited functionality.

Web standard (Palm’s SDK) can’t access graphics hardware via OpenGL and access to other hardware features like accelerometer is limited, as was observed by Craig Hunter. Accelerometer data sample rate is limited to 4Hz on Pre’s SDK, whereas most games or applications need at least 20Hz for smooth inputs. This would hinder in development of games and applications that would offer unique features related to hardware of the device.

Another problem with web standards based SDK is that it would limit development of accessories for the device. iPhone’s SDK offers various APIs for accessories that can add new features or functions to the device. For example, Tom Tom’s upcoming car kit will offer enhanced GPS performance, clear voice instructions and hands free calling on the iPhone.

If it was 2007 Palm’s SDK would have been great, but it is 2009 and Palm has to compete with iPhone 3.0 SDK, which offers sophisticated iPhone applications and not web apps.

[Via TechzTalk]