Zune isn't the only Microsoft gadget group seeing changes.
Over at the Origami/UltraMobile PC team, group manager Dustin Hubbard and most of his team are being reassigned to a new secret project at Microsoft.
Hubbard, who started the crazy Origami hype last year, disclosed the changes on the OrigamiProject team blog at 10 p.m. Tuesday. Today the blog's RSS feed has been discontinued.
The UMPC project continues, however. Oscar Koenders will be the new product unit manager, Dustin said in his entry.
I wonder if the changes are good or bad signs. Microsoft seems to be waffling on its commitment to the UMPC project, at least compared with the mojo behind Zune.
If Microsoft and its partners ever get them right, UMPCs could be an interesting alternative to the iPhone. Maybe that's what Dustin's going to work on?

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Interesting news on the Zune front: a friendly tipster's buddy works at a Microsoft call center and handles Zune-related issues. Apparently they've received numerous reports of the Zune screen cracking for no apparent reason, after being left charging overnight. Our tipster's friend conjectures that the lithium ion battery -- which resides right behind the top half of the Zune's screen -- is expanding from overheating and putting too much pressure on the screen, causing it to crack. Unfortunately, Microsoft currently regards the issue as outside warranty coverage, leaving the victims with a broken Zune and nowhere to turn. Of course, this could all be off the mark, and it might turn out that a few Zune-droppers conveniently made up the same story to try and get a free repair, but if there is such a battery-expanding problem, we'd sure like to hear about it -- any of y'alls experiencing screen crackage of a similar nature? ...

The fanboys at Zunerama did a head-to-head comparison of search capabilities of iTunes and Zune Marketplace and made a couple of valid points. One, iTunes is unforgiving of spelling errors, while Marketplace will let you enter partial searches or misspell words and forgives you like Google does.
Two, Marketplace searches return everything in that artist's catalog, even songs you can't buy there. The testers also pointed out Marketplace's dynamic searching, working like Spotlight in Mac OS X, showing the results as you type. But was it more efficient that iTunes? We tried a test, and here's what we found:

A pretty good example was entering "van mor moon" and then being able to quickly filter down to Van Morrison's track, "Moondance." We tried it (see pic above) and Zune marketplace really did turn out to be more efficient than iTunes, which was confused by the cryptic search phrase.
When the Zunerama reviewers searched for 500 songs on each music store, the...

Ironically, one of the fairest reviews of Microsoft's Vista comes from Pete and Leander over at Wired's Cult of Mac blog. They tell us what the Vista experience is like on a Mac Pro using Bootcamp, with much praise.Vista really flies on this beast, and feels like it's faster than OS X - it boots faster, folders burst open and apps launch instantly...I'm especially delighted with Vista's "glass" Aero interface, which works in all its glory on this machine...The OS is dark and handsome. It's really quite exciting...Vista's icons are big and colorful, and frankly, a lot more logical and easy to read than some of OS X's, like the intelligible iWeb icon.
Of course, that speed is subject to OS operations only, but still. And Zune support works for him...wait, this is a Mac blog, yes?
Yes. Of course, in many ways it's the same old Windows. There are pop-up dialogs galore thanks to the new security features, and the Start menu, though slimmed down, is still a confusing mess. Maybe...

Although it took three months, Microsoft's Zune has finally entered the iPod realm of getting cheapo third-party knockoff MP3 players fashioned after it. In this case, it's an MP3/MP4 player advertised on Spanish TV.
If the tiny screen and lousy buttons weren't enough to warn you that is a complete turd, maybe the picture after the jump will.
Scotch tape armband anyone? – Jason Chen
Thanks Marco!
Zune [Gizmodo]

 If I were to compare the iTunes Store and the Zune Marketplace right now, the clear winner would be the iTunes store. I say this simply due to content such as Movies, Tv Shows and a large library of songs. But some of that may change very soon. It is likely that some time in 2007, Microsoft [...]

Dapreview has—what appears to be—concept renderings of the M8 PMP/cellphone from Meizu. No word if these are real or not, but something about it looks really familiar. I can't put my finger on it, but this player looks like something we have been covering non-stop for the past month or so. This is going to drive me crazy if I can't remember which fruity product the M8 looks like. I think it starts with eye-something. EyeJack? EyeZune?
This player runs WinCE 6.0, includes a 3-megapixel camera, 3.3-inch VGA+ screen, GSM support, TV-out and more. I don't know whether to think this is fake, or a real knock-off. This isn't the first time Meizu has borrowed design elements from another company. –Travis Hudson
Meizu M8, the Chinese iPhone [dapreview]

Blu:Sens' G14 took the Wi-Fi capabilities of the Zune and the Archos 604, added Bluetooth A2DP capabilities, and left the DRM in the gutter. Unlike the Zune, the G14 is expected to be able to share wirelessly with other media players, as well as your PC. Likely by windows file sharing. Good news aside, the G14 is only available in 1GB or 2GB models and has a measly 2" screen, an entire inch smaller than the Zune's. The G14 may support Mpeg4 and WMA video playerback, but with such small capacities what's the point? If Blu:Sens increased both the screen size and storage it might be worth the trip to Spain to pick one up. Until then, I've gotta pass. – Todd Haselton
Blu:Sens G14 [Musicgizmos]

  It’s been around on the Zune marketplace since it launch. But it does have a real advantage over iPods-iTunes connection, because it allows you to pick up music from any computer. If you are familiar with iPod+iTunes, you know that when you take it to a friends house and try to sync it, you’ll [...]

AOL/Musicnow is apparently dumping themselves and giving their users to Napster. This follows a similar move by Virgin digital. I'd make the same comments as I did then....
This highlights what's likely to be a trend - there's not really any profit
in running a standalone music service (Apple and Zune are likely to make the
money from hardware sales, not from service fees), so the standalone guys are
left with a real challenge. Expect to see more consolidations, shut-downs, and
outright acquisitions in this space over the next 12 months.