You have probably heard it already, but the Xbox 360 has dropped by up to 80 Euros in Europe (derr). It is now cheaper then the Wii. Don’t expect those prices to live long though, because the rumoured 60GB Xbox is coming, and you can expect that to push the price up again.
For more info, click over to Engadget.
I am not always negative about technology, but the second announcement today has be to be viewed objectively. Asus has announced Windows XP for the EeePC.
It could cost an additional $US30-60 for the Microsoft OS, and will come pre-installed with software such as Live Mail, Messenger, Photo Gallery and Family Safety (for parental lock). These are all great, except that you will need to have internet to really take advantage of the ‘Live’ services.
It doesn’t come pre-loaded with office, and of course you will be stuck with IE, unless you install Firefox (or Opera). It also means that you have a OS that can do everything, on a machine that clearly wasn’t created to do everything. In other words I don’t think Windows XP should go anywhere near the EeePC.
It isn’t all bad news. Giving you the ability to install your favourite Windows applications to your portable companion is great. It opens up options to use peripherals that aren’t supported for Linux, and makes it easier to be hacked by the hardcore Windows geeks.
On the other hand, those things don’t balance the fact that Windows XP is a heavy OS that will take up a lot of space to do less then the Linux OS can do. It will need more memory and won’t run very nicely on a 900MHz Celeron processor.
There are advantages to many people to have Windows XP on such a device, but the device was never created for that purpose. Microsoft really need to make a lightweight OS that does a little less, but handles the lower speed processors and plays nicer with SSD’s. Meanwhile I will keep reading my Linux For F##king Idiots Books (adults version, with swear words and naked women).
For more info, click over to DailyTech.
Microsoft have officially dropped the price of some Vista packages. The highest price drop has been seen on Ultimate, which is now available for $US320, down from $US400. Does this mean you will buy it instead of downloading it from your favourite bittorrent site? Probably not.
For more info, click over to Engadget.
If you have heard all this hype about the new Dell XPS One desktop machine, which is basically an iMac that’s black and runs Vista, then you might have heard of the One (PRODUCT) RED. It was designed as a limited item that would give $US80 to Global Fund from every purchase.
There is one issue though, and that is the price. The standard Dell XPS One costs $US1299, which is expensive as is, comes with Vista Home and Works. The Red comes in at $US1599 and comes with Vista Ultimate and Office 2007 Student. You pay $300 more, but only $80 goes to charity?
On top of that, it seems someone over at Engadget has worked out that you could buy both those Microsoft upgrades for as little as $US200. This means, you are paying for the software, the charity and they still making an extra $20 on you.
This whole RED campaign to raise money for charity is fantastic, but to raise money for profits is pure bad. Dell and Microsoft, this is one of the stupidest things I have ever seen, and I hope that enough people about it before they blow their money on your cruel plans.
For more info, click over to Engadget.
The two leading manufactures of computer peripherals, may soon become one. Microsoft is rumoured to have a plan to scoop Logitech up with $US9 Billion take over. Even with the rumour in the air, Logitech shares have jumped up 12%, making some very happy investors.
What would Microsoft do with Logitech in their grips? Use them to make accessories for the Zune series, plus controllers and other tid bits for the Xbox 360.
If Microsoft is allowed to do this, it could affect the consumer quite considerately. While there are many competitors in the speaker market, the same can’t be said for the PC peripheral market, with items such as keyboards, mice and webcams. On the other hand, it may give an underdog a chance to pick up all the anti-Microsoft crowd.
For more info, click over to the Mobility Site.
I was Digging as I usually do when I’m extremely bored, and I came across a front pager about why an assortment of technology companies dislike Asustek. Normally I wouldn’t waste my time pointing out articles that only focuses on drawing in traffic, but this time I have to. The article is a very ridiculous call from a person who is supposed to be informative, not misleading them.
The article can be found on Datamation, and is titled The Most Hated Company In The PC Industry. To sum it up the writer discusses how Asustek and Intel are now chums, owing to the success of the EEEPC. He also states that the new technology is negatively effecting companies like Microsoft, Apple, Palm and Dell.
Firstly i would like to say the EeePC will have a minimal effect on Microsoft. The EeePC supports Windows XP and has even been seen running Vista. Xandos is a very powerful OS, and is known to be user friendly and intuitivel, but it has been around for years and hasn’t affected Microsoft’s OS market share in the slightest. Also, if you didn’t already know, Microsoft and Xandos have a collaboration, meaning it would be to Microsofts advantage if Xandos was to take market share from other Linux distro’s.
In the article the writer compares the price of an Apple iPod Touch (16GB model) to the 8GB EeePC, and concludes that the EeePC is slightly cheaper ($US69). Considering the devices are completely different and designed for such different functions, comparing them is just crazy. To even debate the comparison is a waste of the readers time.
It is true that Dell and other PC manufactures, who have a series of flash drive based notebooks, could be affected by the EeePC. That is, if their notebooks had not been designed for a completely different market. Ultra Mobile Personal Computers are usually designed to be used without a desk or while standing. Wrap your hands around the EeePC and you will quickly discover it is merely a tiny laptop. Examples of true UMPC’s are the Samsung Q1, Sony UX Series and Gigabyte U60, which all feature a QWERTY keyboard, and are engineered to be used on the move.
To further elaborate on Apple’s position, consideration must be given to their pre-established advantages over Asus. Apple have this thing called MacOSX which doesn’t natively run on anything but an Apple computer. Apple also get very good deals on NAND memory due to the fact they use over a quarter of the NAND memory produced worldwide. Apple also have this little program called iTunes, and does that run on Linux natively? No unfortunately it doesn’t .
Palm had to cancel their Foleo, not because of the Asus EeePC (though it could have been part reason), but because the Foleo had no way of reaching the hype that Palm had created. Match that with their ageing Treo series of smart phones, and financial difficulties and you get a cancelled product. Palm should hate themselves if anyone, because for a long time they were the best at what they did.
To me it seems that none of the companies in the article will be threatened by the EeePC. If anything Asus should be thanked for discovering another niche market. No doubt by the middle of the year you will hear about EeePC competitors that are all similarly priced and spec’ed.
The companies who could hold a grudge against Asus are Nokia and OLPC. Nokia have their N810, which is probably the closest thing to an EeePC (when you consider features and price). The OLPC should also be envious as the EeePC does more for the same price or less (though the OLPC is more technically advanced).
Intel and Asus have had a relationship for a long time, but Asus also has relationships with many of Intel’s competitors. Also, Intel have nothing to lose, because all their competitors (with the exception of OLPC and Nokia) use Intel insides to do a very similar thing.
Mike Elgan, if you’re reading this, I would like you to know your other articles are fantastic and you are usually right on the mark with your conclusions. Had you done a little more research behind the scenes I am sure you would have come to the same conclusion I have.
For the original article, click over to the Datamation Website.
Wouldn’t it be nice if every company that makes PMP’s and other portable entertainment machines gave you the ability to use the device as a MSC (Mass Storage Device Class). Though the Zune 30 can’t by Microsoft’s doing, it can with a little hackory. If you want to know how you will have to click over to the Zunerama Forum, and be warned, it could break your computer. Lets hope that this hack works on all the new Zunes as well.
For more info, click over to the Crunch Gear Website.
Come December the 2nd and the Xbox 360 will be able to do what both the Wii and PS3 have been able to do for months. The 360 will get a dashboard update that will allow it to download and play Xbox 1 games. The games currently announced are Fable, Indigo Prophecy, Crimson Skies: High Road To Revenge, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath Of Cortex, Burnout 3, and Halo: Combat Evolved.
The advantage that Microsoft has is that the Xbox 1 is a lot newer console when compared to the PS1 games you can get for the PS3 and the N64 and older you can get for the Wii. That also touches another problem though. The Xbox 1 had a DVD drive, so games were relatively large compared to the older generation consoles. This means you been have very fast internet and the Elite model (for the 120GB storage) or you may be up the creek. I guess in the end the deal breaker will be the price it costs to to buy the games.
For more info, click over to the Joystiq Blog.
If you didn’t know, and you wouldn’t if your only source of technology information was my site, the Zunes 2.0 have now been released into the wild. So it is expected that there are 1million reviews done by every walk of life. This particular review was done by the good fellows over at Digital Trends, and they have some good things to say about it, giving it a very good 7.5 out of 10. Not to take thunder away from them, they said “The new 8GB Zune Red is a sexy little MP3 player - certainly better than many competitive players on the market.” If Microsoft can’t win with quality, it can always just drop the price to a ridiculous low and get customers that way.
For the whole review, click over to the Digital Trends Website.
To answer the header, I would have to say it is pretty good. It isn’t amazing like the Cowon that can play audio for 60 hrs, but at least it can play audio for up to 30 hrs. It seems though that the video is kind of lacking on all the new Zune’s with only a maximum of 4 hours. It isn’t bad, but on the other hand it isn’t ground breaking. Engadget has more info after the jump.
To jump, go to the Engadget Blog.