After a lot of back and forth, rumors and denials, Microsoft has now confirmed that the name of its new brand of multimedia devices will be Zune. As expected, the project will focus on music primarily - at least for the time being. As hinted in an interview with Billboard Magazine, depending on the success of the devices, a gaming-oriented Zune product might eventually see the light of the day. But it's safe to say that for now, Microsoft aims to compete with Apple, not Sony and Nintendo.

Chris Stephenson, General Manager at Microsoft, commented, "Under the Zune brand, we will deliver a family of hardware and software products, the first of which will be available this year. We see a great opportunity to bring together technology and community to allow consumers to explore and discover music together.Â?

The first incarnation of Zune is set to arrive within the year, and employees working on the project have noted that with Zune, Microsoft is approaching multimedia in a holistic way, providing not only connectivity with as many Windows-powered devices as possible, but perhaps more importantly, trying to build a community, a social music network that enables users to connect with others to "discover new music and entertainment".

I love my PSP, but I've never purchased any sort of protection for the unit, I've always just used the soft carrying case it came with. Those armor type cases didn't make much sense to me because I wear cargo pants so I just slip the thing in my massive pocket, and I try to not make it a habit of dropping the device anyway. I've always kept an eye on screen protectors though, mainly because no one wants to scratch up their PSP's pretty surface, but I never got one because I didn't like the idea of seeing a sheeny, shiny screen of plastic laid over my regular screen, obstructing my vision and dimming the PSP's screen brightness. If you've felt the same way, you might want to keep reading, because there's a product on the market that should make you a pretty happy camper. Oh, and in case you don't own a PSP and are wondering what this story is doing on your fave blog, it's because the the InvisibleSHIELD can be custom cut to fit over 400 different devices, including PDA's the Nintendo DS, and yes, the iPod too.

Read the full review after the jump!

Imagine if you could conceptualize your own Apple product, and by that I don't mean simply customizing your iPod or MacBook, but actually conceptualizing the product from scratch. A nice but really challenging task. But since a lot of people are into taking challenges, it isn't surprising that people usually come up with concept products -- some are senseless, while some of them we wish could materialize in the shelves of Apple stores.

One of those concepts that I would pay good money for is the MacPod Pro which looks to me as a perfect mix of an iPod, UMPC, and a PDA. No, this is not a leaked Apple patent for some product or something of that sort. This one is from the UK Magazine called iCreate, an Apple magazine which has a "What if Apple made..." section.

Thus the birth of the MacPod concept which aims to be your one-stop portable device and a Mac for your pocket. Nifty contraption this one is, but I can't help but think of the Sony 's UX50 Handheld PC.

But still, this one will add to my long list of wishful thinkings. The concept MacPod can put 1000 songs in your pocket and has a built-in iSight and iLife. Perfect for anyone...who has the money to avail of such luxury. Too bad it's only an unofficial concept, but who knows, maybe Apple could get some ideas with this one.

Worried about who has access to your Mac and its files? While there are several software solutions to this conundrum, here's a novel, potentially fool-proof hardware answer. WARNING: performing this on your MacBook will VOID THE WARRANTY. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS unless you have an exceptionally steady hand and a very high "geek quotient."

That said, click on any of the images to get a better look, if necessary.

STEP 1: Cut a hole in the casing on the right as shown below. A high-speed precision drill like a "Dremel," using a cutting attachment, is best for this task.

Check out the Full Article for the rest of the procedure!

In a recent lawsuit filed by Apple in an E.U. court, the French government had been accused of "state-sponsored piracy." At the heart of the matter is an European Copyright law governing digital music downloads.

Despite Apple's cry of "foul!," the intention of this law would require that any music downloaded from any online music merchant needs to be playable on any digital music device. This could potentially rob Apple of a monopoly. On the other hand, it would be helpful to those downloading music if and when they chose to switch to a different portable music player, or transfer their downloads to a PDA or cell phones. The law is an attempt to create a standard music format that is playable on any device or platform.

Otherwise, users would be required to re-purchase the same tunes each time they wished to change devices.

The issue is far from simple; like laws in any democratic society, it must balance the needs and desires of both sides. From Apple's perspective, it is being forced to make its proprietary music format compatible with devices manufactured by rival companies. The French law does contain some loopholes; French artists whose performances are sold exclusively though iTunes may require that their works be made available solely in the iPod format. Additionally, the law must take patent protections into consideration. However, if Apple fails in its lawsuit, it may pull out of the French market.

Every new piece of technology that is developed is a two-edged sword. At one time, the ability to play music live was considered a valuable and useful skill. David was retained by King Saul to play the harp for him. In ancient Celtic society, bards were at the right hand of the King and could pass judgement on him. More recently (18th and 19th centuries), musicians were retained by wealthy patrons as household servants and nearly every town had its community band or orchestra.

Thomas Edison changed all of that. Now, anyone could have music any time - without the expense of live musicians.

The format in which recorded music has been kept has changed dramatically in little over a hundred years. Since 1900, we've come from bulky, spring-driven, wind-up machines the size of packing crates to slim, pocket-sized devices - and the sound quality has improved immeasurable.

Still, up until the compact disk, the format was uniform. A wax disk playable on an Edison gramophone was playable on an RCA Victrola. Audio reel-to-reels worked with players manufactured by Teac or Sony. CD's could be played on your JVC home stereo or your Sony Discman.

None of these companies seemed to suffer much from an interchangeable format. Quite the contrary, most of them prospered, and consumers wound up getting better and less expensive machines.

Considering that the "Law of the Marketplace" seems to drive everything and is fervently embraced by everyone nowadays, perhaps Apple should simply stop fighting the issue and let the marketplace decide what's best.

French lawmakers gave their final approval to the government-backed legislation that could force Apple to open up iTunes to rival MP3 companies. With this move, Apple may consider closing iTunes France and pulling its iPods from French retail shops.

The vote was the final legislative step before the copyright bill becomes a law. Apple may still be able to fight back if the last-ditch procedural challenge filed by the opposition Socialists and Greens gets a nod from the courts. The law can only take effect after the challenge is exhausted, a process that gives Apple several weeks to rethink its plans for the French market.

The law expects companies to share the required technical data with any rival that wants to offer compatible music players and stores. This means that any artist's work that is legally acquired should be playable on any digital device.

At present, songs purchased from iTunes can only be played on iPods. iPods can't play songs downloaded from its rivals store like Sony's Connect and Napster.

Apple has yet to comment on this development. Perhaps it's still mulling over the idea of abandoning France, or finding ways to take advantage of the Senate loophole that would allow the company to dodge data-sharing requirements by signing new deals with record labels and artists.

Consumer regulators in Europe claim that Apple places too many restrictions on consumers buying songs from the  iTunes store -- and the winds of discontent are blowing across the pond.

The Free Software Foundation carried out protests two weeks ago at Apple retail stores in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle. The issue is digital rights management technology (DRM) which limits what consumers can do with purchased content. These "Defective by Design" protests are aimed not only at Apple, but also at a  growing trend toward legal restrictions that bind digital content to particular playing devices.

"This isn't intended to attack Apple and its innovations, but really to draw attention to the existence of DRM technologies, and how they restrict what consumers can do with their music," says Ted Teah of the Cambridge Massachusetts-based FSF.

Leaflets were passed out at the protests in which Apple CEO Steve Jobs is quoted as saying, "If you legally acquire music, you need to have the right to manage it on all other devices that you own," suggesting that the company is being hypocritical in its use of DRM.

Last year, Sony BMG drew criticism when the company programmed CDs with a hidden code that secretly installed itself on users' hard drives, relayed information back to Sony, and left computers vulnerable to viruses. The result was the recall of  5 million CDs, customer boycotts and class action lawsuits.

Apple's use of DRM  isn't as invasive. Teah says those restrictions may become more onerous, however, and may be used as a basis of legal attacks against consumers by various music industry organizations which have sued consumers found to have downloaded pirated songs from the Internet.

"A teenage girl making a mix tape for a boy she has a crush on could become a target for an expensive lawsuit in the future," says Teah.

Michael Gartenberg, an analyst for JupiterResearch,  says that concerns about the iTunes DRM system are unfounded. "It's fairly innocuous," he says. "You can easily get around the restrictions by burning your songs to a CD, and then reimporting them as an MP3 or any other format you wish."

Nintendo has seen little competition in the handheld race since it started its dominance with the Game Boy over a decade ago. The only challengers they saw in the 90s were swept aside. The only device to pose a real threat was the Game Gear which, after initially gaining PSP-level sales, withered and died. In December of 2004, Sony's entry became the biggest threat Nintendo had ever received in the handheld world. Now, rumours are pointing to Apple making an entry as well. That's right, Apple. Apple and Nintendo were two companies that PSP was already competing with. The Video and Music capabilities were to combat the iPod while the gaming capabilities were there to do away with the DS. Now, Apple wants a share of all three of the PSP's selling points.

How did this rumour come about? An EGM article.

No, I'm kidding =) That was an April Fool's joke and if you thought so far that I was referring to that, I feel almost insulted! The rumours are stemming from a report that a software engineer turned down a job offer from a recruiter because he was being "heavily recruited by Apple." The recruiter then told GameSpot about this.

So what's this got to do with things? Well, according to the recruitee, Mike Lampell is the man who's heading up the group and he's looking for "C/C++ coders with a Â?gaming background.Â?" For those wondering, Lampell was a technical director at LucasArts on many large name projects.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again, the only two companies who aren't currently in the game industry and who'd definitely do well in it are Apple and Google. Now it looks like Apple is going to go for a piece of the pie. It's not too unthinkable, is it?

Hauppage has officially announced a new software suite that will make it possible for PC users to record television shows to transfer and watch on an Apple iPod. Called Wing, the software is available as a download on the company's website, or from selected retailers.

This comes as a worthy app for everyone who is tiring of paying $2 per show on iTunes. Though it remains to be seen how good the quality output is on the program, and its ease-of-use, the product is availble now.

According to Pocket-lint, the $24.95 package aims to complements Hauppauge's PC-based WinTV-PVR and HVR personal video recorders. Wing records in H.264, MPEG-4 and Divx formats, and also will record directly to a recordable DVD disk. The application can also be used to transfer shows and other media onto the Sony Playstation Portable.

[Via, Pocket-lint]

An article in Playful asks whether Microsoft would be wise to unveil a portable entertainment device, which would reportedly compete directly with the Apple iPod. Though Microsoft has made a splash in the gaming world with its Xbox and now with the Xbox 360, the author questions whether Microsoft has what it takes to compete in the portable arena.

After 6 years, the iPod continues to dominate the MP3 players market, despite the efforts on more entertainment-focused companies, such as Creative, Philips, Samsung, iRiver or Toshiba. For Microsoft, the digital entertainment market is still something new and even the fate of Xbox 360 is still unclear, until Sony will unveil its gaming console, PlayStation 3.

According to Peter Moore, one of the big-wigs at Microsoft, the company is poised to compete in the portable video game world as well, competing against Nintendo and Sony in a very competitive market. I don't know myself, but with shortage problems still plaguing the Xbox 360, and Microsoft with its hands plenty busy launching Windows Vista, I just can't see them launching a portable to compete with ANYBODY at the present time. What do you guys think?

[Via, Playful]