Filed under: Portable Audio, Wireless
For those music lovers out there who were eagerly awaiting entry into "the social" only to find out that the Zune's WiFi-enabled sharing feature was gimmicky at best, all hope is not lost: according to Wired News, a San Diego-based startup is poised to release a DAP that will not only let users get their share on, but actually enable direct-to-device downloads as well. While this as-yet-unnamed product sounds an awful lot like the promising-but-flawed MusicGremlin, the industry vets behind Broadband Instruments -- former Diamond Multimedia (makers of the Rio) boss Jim Cady, former MusicMatch CEO Dennis Mudd, and former iRiver America chief executive Jonathan Sasse -- may have enough experience and clout among them to ensure a successful implementation where others have previously faltered. Besides the wireless features, the BI device is also said to offer "a new type of integration with online radio stations," although so far details on this an...

Filed under: Portable Audio, Wireless

Whether it's for lack of interest or, we doubt, difficulty in completion, we just don't see a lot of Zune hacking going on around here. So even though we wish this one helped extend the range of our lonely, virginal Zune's WiFi to promiscuous new distances, we'll still take on a hack that at least boosts the range of our FM transmissions. Just be careful about the FCC and the RIAA, from what we understand neither are particularly keen on this whole wireless music transmission thing.

[Via hack a day] 
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  It appears that there is more information in the FCC document itself. The most important information that comesis that this device appears to emphasize TV Channels rather than phone capabilities. The document also doesn’t give any real confirmation that there will be phone capabilities (traditional or VOIP) in this device.   This is the image that was provided with the [...]

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gadgets/Debunk_Microsoft_files_for_Zune_phone_with_FCC_probably_not'; There's some buzz going around right now about a "Zune phone" filed with the FCC -- we did a little extra digging, and we're not really convinced that's what's at hand. We know a Zune phone is in the works, that much is abundantly clear, but what passed through the FCC was a pre-approval application document that ran down a list of questions the FCC had for a CE "coalition" consisting of Microsoft, Dell, Google, HP, Intel, Philips, who are apparently in on some device together. (Strike one. You really think Microsoft's gonna collaborate on the Zune phone? And with that many non-cellphone carrier companies?) From what we can tell, it'll be wireless (duh) with DTV signal detection and transmission (i.e. cognitive radio), and BPSK, WPSK (and likely QAM) modulation and OFDM. Doesn't mean a lot to most people, we know, but the FCC plainly asked the...

 Yes, news of the ZunePhone continues and this time it is regarding Microsoft sending the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) a prototype for a wireless device that is simalar to the iPhone.   Microsoft describes the wireless device as one that uses OFDM, which is generally regarded as a 4G wireless technology. OFDM allows the use of [...]

Despite being pretty certain that the Zune Phone was already in development, we haven't had many details about its featureset, timeline, or, well, anything else. Now we do.
The FCC Filing we saw yesterday from Microsoft looks to be actually for the Zune, allowing the music phone to use 4G WiMax to communicate. Not only communicate, but to use VoIP over the fast 4G network.
It gets better.
With the new 4G network, one of the main complaints, that there are no users to share with becomes a thing of the past. Now, under WiMax, Microsoft is going to allow you to share songs with anybody, as long as they have a Zune Phone and the same WiMax plan.
So who's going to provide WiMax for Microsoft? Or more succinctly, who's this phone going to launch under? It looks like Sprint/Nextel, who announced last year that they were going to build a WiMax network.
Other details say that there's going to be an official announcmenet before March 17, with a FCC fili...

This is for the creative people out there who like to dabble in Adobe Photoshop. If you really love your Zune that much and want to immortalize it on your computer screen, your in luck. AdobeTutorialz.com have made a pretty cool tutorial on how to recreate the Zune in 2d form in photoshop, and it [...]

Earlier this week we smashed a rumor that hinted at the possibility of a Zune phone. Today MarketWatch points out that the boys at Redmond have submitted a wireless device to the FCC for testing. Not just any wireless device, but one that can be used for talking over the Internet. Granted, the filing doesn't mention Zune, so we should take this with a grain of salt, but the mystery device will be able to route digital TV and voice calls. Whether it's a VoIP-enable Zune or something completely different, it does sound like MS has something interesting up their sleeves. – Louis Ramirez
Microsoft to Submit Wireless Device for FCC Testing [MarketWatch]

Popcap games, home of Bejeweled and office time wasters, seems to be heading to both the Zune and AppleTV—two devices that were rumored to have upcoming gaming features. Greg Canessa, formerly of Xbox Live Arcade and Apple gaming, just said this about his new position at PopCap:
I will help proliferate their titles on other consoles. It's a broad in scope role. It encompasses everything from vision and strategy to execution and marketing. It will all be part of my group and charter. Business development will be part of that as well. It will be about taking the stable of franchises and games out of PopCap's studio and adapting, customizing it for different platforms -- adding multiplayer, new play modes, HD, customizing the user interface and display for Zune, ipod, Apple TV, Nintendo DS, PSP.
Intriguing, yet this could just be preparing for the Zune and Apple TV in the event that they do allow games in the future. – Jason Chen
XBLA's Greg Canessa...

Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment
Back last September when Apple introduced the "iTV" alongside games for the iPod, we had to wonder to ourselves whether Apple would use iTunes and their new casual games relationships to make the device we now know as the Apple TV something of a competitor for Xbox Live Arcade. While there's no way of knowing whether Apple will again dive into living room gaming (remember the Pippin?) short of swiping their 12-month roadmap, we do find it rather interesting that casual games company PopCap (the studio that supplies titles such as Bejeweled and Zuma oh so many platforms -- including the iPod) might have slipped on some Apple TV plans. Greg Canessa, Xbox Live Arcade executive that recently jumped ship to PopCap, told Wired the following about his new job: "It will be about taking the stable of franchises and games out of PopCap's studio and adapting, customizing it for different platforms -- adding multiplayer, new play modes, HD, customizing t...