We've gotten such an overwhelming response to our request for pics to go into Richard Felix's SlickrFrame, he's decided to make a contest out of it. We're teaming up with him to give away lots of prizes to the creators of the five best photos.
C'mon, show us your best shots! Certainly you can do better than that pic above, one of the best we've gotten so far. Just kidding. Upload your pictures you'd like to enter on the Flickr photo sharing site, tagged with the word "slickrframe," and you're in.
Richard will be the judge, going through all the entries and picking out the 20 finalists. Then, we'll all vote for our favorites right here at the Giz, where the top five vote-getters will be the prizewinners. Jump for the contest rules and fabulous prizes.

You have until 11:59:59, Wednesday, April 11th, 2007 to tag your best Flickr pictures with "slickrframe" for them to be considered. If you already have, you're already entered!
Do not tag more than 50 ...

I am 100% in accordance with Pogue's reasons why TiVo Series 3 is still an important gadget that deserves your love. And David blows away last week's offtopic video with an animated deathmatch of Tivo vs Generic cable box. TiVo wins, all courtesy of broadband bits!
Here's why: In a day of Xbox 360 Elites and marginal iPod upgrades, TiVo is actually upgrading their boxes for little or no more money. Tivo, if you haven't been keeping track, can stream photos and music from your computer, accept programming from a Verizon cellphone, download movies from Amazon's Unbox service, and podcasts, as well as check movie, weather and traffic info. They even have lame guru advice video columns! (Wait a minute...)
Anyhow, the lack of new hardware may make you think that there's nothing significantly new. But you're wrong. But would you rather have incremental upgrades that require you to buy a whole new unit? (Xbox 360 Elite, iPod) or nice revisions every quarter (Xbox Live, Zune.) ...

Its been confirmed that the “baby pink” colored Zune will be coming out come May 1st but there are also rumors around on what is the other color Microsoft’s Zune team plan on releasing. It seems logical that it will be the orange colored Zune that was given to Zune team members and the 100 [...]

MS Tags Along With DRM-Free--Zune users will be able to download their own DRM free tunes, no word on when though.

First User Upgradeable Laptop--Everything from the CPU to the optical drive we be upgradeable in the Asus C90.
More Apple TVs?--If you check out the Apple TVs "Buy Me" page, you'll notice some interesting wording "Select your Apple TV", hmm...
Low End Theory--Cordless phones are a dime-a-dozen these days so why not check out the best of the gimmicky cordless phones instead.

The Littlest Dishwasher--Sick of cleaning your dishes by hand, but don't have enough space for a real dishwasher?
Get the other five after the jump.

Verizon+Blackberry 8830--Verizon will be the first carrier to pass out the new BB 8830.
iPhone Battery :-( --Rumor has it that the iPhones battery currently only lasts a paltry 40 minutes. That explains its short appearances.
Nintendo Aims To Kill Online Play Again--George H...

Microsoft, seeing all the good press Apple got for starting to sell DRM-free music in their store courtesy of EMI, has decided to do the same thing. In the near future, Zune owners will be able to buy songs from the Zune Marketplace in what we can only assume will be DRM-free WMA files.
There's no date or pricing set for when the big M is going to start doing this, but it will be interesting to see if they do the same higher bitrate/premium price baloney that Apple did or just replace the DRM'd versions with DRM-free versions and charge the same amount. In any case, it's pretty hot that the no-DRM movement actually has a bandwagon and major companies are actually jumping on it. Somebody pinch me! –Adam Frucci
CNET [via MobileMag]

You've probably already read our posts about the pink and orange Zunes that'll be rolling out in May, but the pictures we had at the time left a lot to be desired. Now the guys at Zune Scene have gotten their hands on some great-looking shots, emphasizing the Zune's unique (or is it?) "doubleshot casting" injection molding that gives the edges that uncanny two-tone glow.
Meanwhile, C|Net News says "a watermelon red version is slated for summer." Check out the gallery below for fo-reals pics of the pink and orange variety, and we threw in a simulation of the alleged red Zune by the Photoshoppers at Zune-Online. One thing's for sure, the Zune looks a lot better in these colors than it does in the currently available black, white and brown. – Charlie White
galleryPost('zune_colors', 6, 'Zunes in Living Color');
New Zune Colors and Marketing Strategy Coming in May [Zune Scene]
Vibrant Color is Watermelon Red [Zune-Online]

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
When will the madness end? While Microsoft ponders the future of its Zune line (free Zunes? We vote yes!), the whole "what mysterious color might we release the Zune in next?" song and dance is keeping us occupied surprisingly well. Apparently the next flavor to hit the shelves, after that fashionista-fave pink version hits on May 1st, is "watermelon red." Don't worry about that artist's rendition to the top, we're sure Microsoft's actual version will look much more watermelon-ish, just worry about how silly you're going to feel a few months down the road when you pull out your brown Zune and try to rock a few of your "so totally 2006" indie rock faves. 
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Microsoft might be taking a page from the mobile phone playbook, offering cheap or free Zunes for customers willing to sign up for a long-term service contract. Zune marketing director Jason Reindorp stated that they were looking at using the all-you-can-eat Zune Pass subscription like a phone contract.
This is a really interesting idea, and it could be the thing that finally makes the Zune stand out when compared with the iPod (besides the pretty useless "social" WiFi features). The idea of being able to download as much music as you want and getting a free or cheap player out of the deal makes a subscription service seem pretty sweet.
If given the option between spending $250 on a 30GB iPod that you need to fill yourself, or a free Zune that you're locked into paying what would work out to $360 for over two years (at current rates) that you get a subscription service with, what would you choose? –Adam Frucci
Zune for free with a phone-like plan? [Zune On...

Filed under: Portable Audio

So, we've finally gotten over that heap-big firmware 1.3 update hump, and now that Zune users can finally do fancy things like sync with their computers, it's about time to start looking ahead at what Microsoft has planned for its Zune ecosystem down the road. Of course, everybody has a personal wishlist, but Zune marketing director Jason Reindorp is hinting at a welcome development on the subscription front: "The subscription service was a solid move on our part. We've seen 65% growth in our subscription base, although the number is still small. It could be better and it could become different -- we're looking at what other flavors of subscriptions there could be. We've been looking at the subscription model where you pay a certain amount and you essentially get the cell phone for free." That seems to imply a cheap-or-free Zune, most likely a less pricey flash player, like the ones Napster has been giving away for a while. It ain't no W...

Along with the pink Zune, Jason Reindorp, the Zune's marketing director, confirms that there will also be another new color of Microsoft's music player hitting shelves. Our money is firmly on orange, since pink and orange were the two limited-edition runs for people on the Zune team, not to mention the secret limited edition run in stores. We'll have to wait and see if we're right (which we are).
But really? Orange? – Jason Chen
Orange Zune Pics [Zunescene]
Zune Online