More Zunes on the way in 2009

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Despite its poor retail performance over Christmas, Microsoft remains firmly committed to its Zune MP3 player, and a good thing too. It’s one of the few players in the market that has relentlessly innovated, and still packs features that are lacking on others, like wireless syncing and device-to-device song sharing.

Well, the pace continues. Marketing Director for Zune, Adam Sohn, has revealed to Cnet that “there will be new Zunes before the 2009 holiday season” and they’ll be a “surprising step up” from what’s currently available. That almost certainly means a touchscreen, but that isn’t ‘surprising’ so I wonder what he could mean…

Whatever happens, it’s unlikely to displace the iPod, but given Microsoft’s track record of new features, I can’t wait to see what they’ve got to offer.

Zune (via Cnet)

Related posts: Cause of mystery Zune shutdown revealed | New Zunephone Rumours

Fool your grandchildren into thinking you were at Obama's inauguration

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Unfortunately, the children of the future will be born with a filter in their brain that detects Photoshop tomfoolery, so it might only be your kids that you’re able to fool with this one. FotoFlexer has built a site that’ll let you moosh your face into Obama’s inauguration event.

Okay, you aren’t really going to be fooling anyone seriously with this, but it’s fun for five minutes, and a good marketing stunt by FotoFlexer. Go shop yourself into the inauguration here.

My Inaugural Photo (via TechCrunch)

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| Spammers take advantage of Obama’s inauguration

HTC's lineup for 2009 leaks

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HTC seems to be the anti-Apple. Its products tend to leak out months and months before their release, in direct contrast to Apple’s legendary product secrecy. Yesterday, HTC’s entire 2009 lineup made its way onto the internet somehow, which means we now know exactly what the handset manufacturer will be releasing this year.

Perusing the full list, there’s a few exciting models – most notably the Rhodium (pictured above) and Tungsten, which appear to be the HTC Touch HD Pro. We might see an announcement at Mobile World Congress later this month about that. Let’s hope so.

HTC 2009 Lineup (via WMPowerUser)

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Macworld 2009 Keynote live coverage: 5pm GMT today

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It’s the first keynote without Steve Jobs, and Apple’s last visit to Macworld (at least for now), so it’s one to watch.

What products will Apple announce?

Will Phil Schiller wear the same outfit as Steve? (not exactly the same one, I hope)

Will Steve Jobs make a guest appearance as “one more thing” ?

Which soft rock star will play out the keynote this year?

All this, and more, will be answered at 5pm GMT (9am PST), so come back then and enjoy the roller-coaster ride that is an Apple keynote.

BBC iPlayer programme downloads finally coming to Mac and Linux users via Adobe AIR

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Yes, that long-winded title pretty much sums up it up – Mac and Linux users who have been (im)patiently waiting for the BBC to develop software that will allow them to download programmes from iPlayer will soon see their wish come true.

The BBC has partnered with Adobe (makes a change from Microsoft) to launch an AIR version of the iPlayer software. As Adobe’s AIR platform is (allegedly) cross-platform, it should mean that any operating system capable of running it will be able to download content…

Sony planning to revise PSP again in 2009 – with proper "PSP2" to follow later

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Today we have yet more leaks from Sony’s gaming division to help inform your purchasing decisions – this time regarding the long awaited and much-needed proper sequel to the little portable PlayStation.

Sony’s tweaked its PSP numerous times before, adding the Slim & Lite model to the range last year, then tinkering with the screen a bit in this year’s 3000 model update.

Now, Eurogamer is telling the world that a further revised PSP – the model 4000 – will hit in late 2009, followed by a proper, all-new PSP2 at some random…