Microsoft isn't just yet ready to unveil Windows Vista but they want us to be hyped about it, hence, the Get Ready campaign. The said drive rides on the wheels of Upgrade Advisor - a downloadable tool used to help people determine just how Vista-ready an existing PC is.

The "Vista-capable" program allows machines that meet a minimum set of requirements to tout themselves as able to run the new Windows. That means your machine should have at least 800MHz processor, 512MB of memory and a DirectX 9-capable graphics card to fit into that category.

While "Premium Ready" are able to take advantage of higher-end features, such as Vista's Aero graphics, it must come equipped with a 1GHz processor, 128MB of graphics memory, 1GB of system memory, a 40GB hard drive and an internal or external DVD-ROM drive.

Ironically, the ultra-compact Mac desktop computer, Mac Mini, is the most suitable to run Window's Vista. According to the Upgrade Advisor, with its 1GB of memory, it is already Aero-ready so long as modest hard drive space is devoted over to the Windows partition.

So are you ready for Vista? Mac Mini sure is.

It seems that ExperCom is the place to go if you want to buy a MacBook Pro and run Windows XP on it. Especially if you're the non-techie type, or just plain don't want to fuss with all the Boot Camp process. ExperCom will pre-install Windows XP with Service Pack 2 using Boot Camp depending on the configuration of MacBook Pro that you order from them.

They are sure to point out that they don't support Windows, nor does Apple. There's also a reminder that Boot Camp is still beta software, so it's ultimately at your own risk. A base MacBook Pro with XP installed runs $2029 which is a pretty killer deal, considering it's only $30 more than you'd pay from Apple directly, and Windows XP Pro is like $200 or something like that. Not to mention they're partitioning and installing the Microsoft OS for you too.

This is the first I've seen of this service being offered, but it only seems logical. Especially once 10.5 ships, and Boot Camp [type] functionality is fully supported, and not just a beta situation.

An engineer from Apple Computer pointed out that we should not put much hope on easily running Windows on Intel Mac.

Although the Mac fans have been hoping that the incoming Windows Vista would be able to run on a Mac easier than the Windows XP, since Vista will be introducing the support of EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) besides the normal BIOS support, Apple Senior Software Architect Cameron Esfahani said he only know that the EFI will be present only in 64-bit versions of the Windows Vista. However, the current Intel Macs are all equipped with 32-bit Intel CPUs. Also, he pointed out that the implementation of Mac's EFI doesn't have much legacy support for the Windows system.

Apple won't stop users from trying to run Windows on Macs, but users should not put any hope on Apple's support on this. And on the other hand, Microsoft has stated that the initial release of the Windows Vista won't have EFI support at all.

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]

The rumblings are going around that Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, will be entering the portable music player arena in the near-future. Articles in major newspapers say that the Redmond, Washington company is planning on competing directly against Apple's hugely successful iPod.

Of course, as nothing has yet been officially announced by Microsoft, there is no word yet on capacity, size or cost. What is known, though, is that a reorganization at Microsoft last year has made it possible for the company to even think about entering the highly competitive MP3 player market.

According to an article in Information Week:

"Officially, nothing has been announced," a spokeswoman said. "I don't think anything has been officially decided."

Well, it looks as though Microsoft is heading into the realm of hardware if this turns out to be true. First the Xbox, then an iPod rival, what's next?

[Via, InformationWeek]

I once saw Steve Jobs at a coffee shop in Seattle, but I didn't look at him. Thought he might want to sue me for something if I did. Bought him a danish as a peace offering/settlement when my eye wandered over to see what he was playing on his iPod.

A new year, a new suit. Apple has filed a suit against Burst.com, a company it has been dealing with over the past few months in an attempt to quell charges by Burst that Apple is violating patents of theirs. According to Information Week, the suit is a pre-emptive strike in anticipation of Burst coming forth with those charges in court.

"Apple is seeking a declaratory judgment from the court that its products do not infringe upon patents held by Burst.com. Apple declines to specify which products are the focus of the dispute. Burst.com says it has been pursuing licensing for Apple's QuickTime, iPod, and iTunes products, including Apple's iTunes Music Store."

The article doesn't say which of Burst's patents Apple is reportedly in violation of, but Burst.com settled a similar suit against Microsoft last year for $60 million.

To Richard Lang, co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Burst.com, Apple's rejection of his company's claims represents something of a double standard. "Big companies love patents as long as they're not owned by someone else," he observes.

It seems Steve has met his match.

[Via, Information Week]

According to Forbes, who is not immune to discussing the limitless possibility of announcements that Apple may make in the near-future, Apple may be introducing a revamped iPod Shuffle. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster thinks good ol' Steve Jobs may make the announcement during his annual Macworld keynote address next Tuesday.

According to Munster, iPod may be preparing to unveil a new form factor for the Shuffle, possibly with a built-in screen to complement the new revision. Munster considers the evidence pointing to the new Shuffle:

"Evidence of this is the fact that Apple.com indicates that 1gigabyte iPod shuffles are sold out and supply will not be replenished until mid-January. 'We believe this is a sign that a new shuffle is coming at Macworld; otherwise Apple would likely have refilled the channel,' the analyst noted in research note today."

Guess the rest of us will have to wait until next week to see what it is Jobs has up his sleeve. With Microsoft announcing it wants to destroy iTunes, it may be an interesting speech indeed.

[Via, Forbes]

Microsoft has released information at this year's Consumer Electronics Show on Urge, its new music download service, which aims to compete directly against iTunes. The service, which will not be based on a per-song or per-album cost, will allow users unlimited downloads, with access to music videos and other content.

Urge is the result of a partnership between the big M and MTV, and is the first serious contender to Apple's coveted crown. The news is not as surprising as how obvious Microsoft is making its move, making the new service incompatible with existing iPods -- a truly daring move.

The new program will be built into all versions of the upcoming Windows Vista, Microsoft's new operating system, the successor to Windows XP. It will be interesting to see how Apple reacts to the news.

[Via, The Independent]

Microsoft has announced that the Apple iPod MP3 player will interface with the Xbox 360 console. Users will be able to browse the iPod playlists and play MP3s directly from the iPod through the Xbox 360 interface.

The iPod can be plugged directly into the USB port of the Xbox360 console, and thus this feature will be available to both buyers of the XBox 360 Core System and the XBox 360 Premium Edition.

The Xbox 360Â?s iPod connectivity will allow users to play music stored on the iPod through the sound system connected to the XBox 360 console, using a process commonly referred to as Â?streamingÂ?, namely the real time replay of audio (or video) data stored on one device and replayed on another.

In the past, owners of the original Xbox were able to rip songs from CD onto the built-in harddrive. Some games allowed to use ripped songs as background music during gameplay. The new Xbox 360 console doesnÂ?t require this ripping process - instead, MP3s stored on the iPod can be accessed directly through the XBox 360 interface and played through the sound system connected to the XBox 360 console.

Â?We see the Xbox 360 as replacing your CD player in your entertainment center, but also as the best digital media amplifier available,Â? said Xbox 360 Product Manager, Barry Steinglass. Â?With Xbox 360 youÂ?ve got one central place to listen to all your music on the best sound system in the house.Â?

In contrast to the original Xbox, the XBox 360 allows users to make personalized game soundtracks for ALL games played on the console. Users will be able to listen to soundtracks from either their hard drive or MP3s stored on the their iPod during game play.

PodPlus has replaced iPod Agent. It is a brand new program by Purple Ghost Software. It is written by the same developer that created iPod Agent but is written from the ground up to more easily support functionality that would have been impossible with iPod Agent.

PodPlus is now available! PodPlus allows you to realize the full potential of your iPod. With PodPlus, you'll be able to transform your iPod into much more than a simple music player.

You will have the ability to turn your iPod into an information repository. You'll be able to transfer all kinds of data to your iPod, including contacts, appointments, email, notes, tasks, podcasts, RSS news feeds, weather forecasts, daily horoscopes, movie showtimes and more!

You will also have the tools necessary to copy selected songs off your iPod and back onto your PC as well as create song lists in various formats (HTML, CSV, etc). New features will be frequently added and once you buy a licensed version, you'll be entitled to all new features at no additional cost.

- Transfer songs from your iPod to your PC and/or into iTunes while preserving play counts, user ratings and last played dates
- Transfer all you Outlook data to your iPod (email, appointments, contacts, tasks and notes)
- Store weather forecasts on your iPod
- Download Podcasts from the internet to your iPod
- Pull RSS news feeds from the internet and store them on your iPod for reading at your lesiure
- Get your movie showtimes for your local theaters stored onto your iPod
- Put your daily horoscope readings on your iPod
- Backup any set of files and/or folders from your PC onto your iPod for safe keeping
- Create a library of text files on your iPod for reading on-the-go - these could be e-books, recipes, bible verses, anything
- Create listings in various formats (HTML, CSV, plain text) of the songs on your iPod - this could then be used to post on a website or to print out a listing of all your songs

Requirements
Windows 98, 2000, or XP
iTunes 4.7 or later
Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1

You can get the trial version in our iPod Download section.
You can check out the official site [here].