Zune HD apps released
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Microsoft has released the first round of Zune HD apps to the market and bonus: they also include advertisements and long load times. Ars Technica clocked the chess app at a 30 second boot time during which video adds were shown. The advertisements are only included with games so far; the utilities, the calculator and weather apps, do not have ads.
Zune HD launches (and our first live show!)
It's official, the Zune HD is out! But just because it's been hyped a little more than we were expecting doesn't mean it's necessarily worth the price. We talk to Clayton Morris from Fox News, and Kevin Tofel from JKOnTheRun about the new portable media player, and whether it's worth it or worthless.
Also, we're broadcasting the show Live on Ustream... check daily at 3pm EST for a new show.
Guests:
Zune HD to launch, Microsoft rolls back the curtain
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The Zune HD launches today, and with that means Microsoft is rolling out the new Zune software, giving away 14 days for its Zune Pass service, and... oh yeah... you can pick it up in a store too.
We'll keep all our launch day news here, and add to it as it piles up. Next item up? Yes, there's a teardown.
Zune app store to be tightly controlled
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Sounds sad for developers, but Microsoft says it's planning to keep the newly launched Zune HD app store pretty tightly controlled. At the moment, it sounds like there's a Microsoft turf war going on internally, so the company is planning to keep most of the apps free and developed in-house.
Zune HD: App store importance?
It's a bit of a slow news day, so we thought we'd talk about our favorite topic of the moment: The Zune HD. When it's released on September 15th, with its beefy Tegra internals, we're expecting the device to be pretty impressive from a pure user experience perspective. On the other side of the coin, we're not really sure what to expect from the Zune's 3rd party application support. It's true, the device could have a great amount of secret developer support, but up to now there hasn't been much explanation about exactly how 3rd party apps will play on the device. How crucial are they to the platform's success? We ask Seth Porges from Popular Mechanics, and Marco Chiappetta from HotHardware their perspectives.
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Zune HD date and price leak, will it live up to the hype?
We've seen the videos, had leaked box art, and some lucky souls have had their grubby hands on the device, and now we're hearing the Zune HD will be hitting store shelves sometime in mid September. This launch is a notable one for Microsoft, in that gadget bloggers and technophiles are actually excited about the new touchscreen device. Is the hype warranted, and will the new media player be making an appearance in influential editors' pockets? We ask Joshua Topolsky from Engadget, and PCMag.com's Lance Ulanoff.
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Job posting leads to speculation about Xbox games on phones, Zunes
Ars Technica spied a job posting over on Microsoft's site asking for someone to manage Microsoft's "LIVE execution strategy across multiple platforms from Xbox LIVE to Windows Mobile." While this job posting sounds like the ability to take a gamer tag and use it on multiple platforms, one of TechVi's newest contributors, Jason DiOrio, already has written up on his personal blog about the technical aspects of creating a game that can be played on Xbox 360, Zune or Windows Mobile, so it'll be interesting to see what Microsoft is cooking up.
Zune pre-order packaging reveals September 15th release
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Gizmodo was lucky enough to have tipsters send along shots of the ZuneHD's preorder packaging, confirming a release date of September 15th. While it's all but a done deal now, Microsoft has yet to officially confirm the date.
ZuneHD rumored price: $220 and $290, launches Sep 8th
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According to some eagle eyed BestBuy inventory system snoops, the ZuneHD will launch for $220 and $290, for the 16gb and 32gb models respectively, on September 8th. The prices are about $50 less than the comparable iPod touch equivalent.
ZuneHD interface video leaks out
Microsoft has been keeping the ZuneHD interface under wraps, but a spy video shot at last week's SF GDGT party where Redmond was showing off the device has surfaced on YouTube, which we've embedded above.