CYBER-SHOT DSC-H20/B BLACK DIGITAL CAMERA – LOWEST PRICE: $243.95

Zoom in on the 10.1-megapixel DSC-H20 Cyber-shot digital camera and intend the prizewinning shot. With its Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar wide-angle lense with a 10x optical zoom, it is cushy to getting the time with impeccable detail. A 3.0-inch contact concealment makes reviewing your shots a wind and the creative iAuto fashion takes the estimate discover of choosing the camera settings when you are not trusty which digit to pick. There is also built-in profession same Optical SteadyShot ikon standardisation that reduces alter and Smile Shutter fashion that automatically captures a grinning as it happens. Feel same transcription HD video? The H20 captures crisp, 720p recording that crapper be viewed on your HDTV. There is modify an anti-blink duty to support everyone countenance their prizewinning and in-camera picture retouching tools.
See all..

PS3 Slim vs. Xbox 360 Price Fight

Matt Peckham, pcworld
Sony's 80GB PS3 is $300 starting tomorrow and its similarly priced 120GB PS3 Slim is just a few weeks away, so how does a 25% price cut stack against the competition? Have a look at my chart below and see for yourself, and just remember, everyone has different wants and needs. Some people don't care about Wi-Fi and work around it with an Ethernet cable. Others think $50 a year for the "privilege" of playing online multiplayer is exorbitant. Don't assume those bottom line prices are necessarily your bottom line. Use the chart as a build-it-yourself tool.
Points of clarification:
1. I've baselined with the 120GB hard drive this time around (see last time) since in my view it's become the minimum standard for juggling downloadable movies, games, music files, etc. (In fact for me, 120GB is almost too small.) That said, you can certainly build out an Xbox 360 Arcade with the $50 cheaper 60GB hard drive if you like, or stick with the Xbox 360 Pro's default 60GB.
See all...

Brits to get Windows 7 for £65

After confusing customers with European editions and upgrade versions, Britain will be able to buy a full copy of Windows 7 for just £65 – a massive discount on the full price and what Americans will be paying.
At the moment on Amazon.co.uk, a Home Premium version of Windows 7 can be bought for just £64.98 – what the site calls a 57 per cent discount. The Professional version is on sale for £149.98, a discount of 32 per cent, while the Ultimate edition is available for £168.98, a discount of 26 per cent.
Those prices are significantly less than what’s on offer in the US. On Amazon.com, the versions are selling for $199.99 (£121.65), $299.99 (£182.48) and $319.99 (£194.64) – meaning the UK is paying less for Microsoft products than Americans, a change from the usual situation.
The pricing confusion follows efforts by Microsoft to keep the European Commission happy over competition complaints. First, Microsoft said it would be shipping a European edition of Windows 7. That version would not include a preloaded copy of Internet Explorer.
Because of that, European buyers would not be able to get an upgrade copy. Instead, they would have had to buy the full version. To keep things fair, Microsoft decided to offer the full version at an upgrade price – a decent discount.
Then Microsoft dropped the “E version” plans, deciding instead to run a browser ballot across its users, notifying them that other browers exist aside from IE.
That meant Microsoft could now sell the standard Windows 7 versions across Europe, but some people had already bought full versions of the new OS at a discounted price through pre-orders, leading to confusion over what exactly Microsoft was planning on shipping to them in October.
Adding to the confusion, the UK Microsoft store is still selling European versions of the OS.
Amazon has reportedly said its current pricing was “indefinite”, while Microsoft said it could not confirm any pricing details. Windows 7 is available at retail on 22 October.
Pre-order by amazon...

Apple iPod shuffle 4 GB Silver NEWEST MODEL

World's Smallest Music Player
The third-generation iPod shuffle is the talk of the music world. Not just because it's incredibly small--half the size of the previous generation. And not just because it holds up to 1,000 songs and supports multiple playlists. It's the talk of the town because it's the only music player in the world that talks to you. The new VoiceOver feature lets iPod shuffle tell you what song is playing and who's performing it. It also tells you the names of your playlists. With VoiceOver--and with the controls conveniently located on the earbud cord--it's even easier to navigate your music. You can do it without taking your eyes off your run, your ride, or whatever you're doing.
How It Works
A lot of work has gone into creating an iPod shuffle that not only talks, but says the right things. It all begins with iTunes and its seamless integration with iPod. iTunes reads your song information, then uses the new VoiceOver Kit to generate the announcements for the songs, artists, and playlists on your iPod shuffle. You'll hear different voices depending on what type of computer system you use when you sync your iPod shuffle. If you sync it with a PC or with a Mac running Mac OS X Tiger, you'll hear the English voice included in the VoiceOver Kit. And since Mac OS X Leopard already has an amazing English voice built in, that's the one you'll hear when you sync your iPod shuffle with a Mac running Leopard.

The Top 100 Web Sites of 2009

by Kyle Monson, pcmag
It's been a strange year on the Web. In the 12 months since our last installment of Top 100 Web Sites, I'm betting you signed up for a Twitter account (and likely abandoned it), browsed the Web on a mobile phone (if you haven't yet, you soon will), and read 3.4 online news stories about Michael Jackson and watched 5.8 MJ videos on YouTube (I like this one).
In other words, some things about the Web are changing incredibly fast, others seem like they'll stay the same forever. Our list of the Top 100 Web Sites reflects that: We've selected 50 classic Web sites that we all know and love, and 50 new and/or undiscovered sites that you may not have heard of yet.
Deciding upon our list of 100 sites is a months-long process. We solicited Web site nominations from every corner of the Web—PCMag and AppScout readers, Twitter followers, Facebook friends, our own staff, and more. A small committee of our own experts then evaluated each nominated site one by one, judging it according to its content quality, design, and originality, to arrive at our two lists of 50 Web sites.
We hope you'll enjoy these sites as much as we do!
Full story...

Your Child's First Phone

by Jamie Lendino, pcmag
Parental control and child locator services are more robust now than they were a few years ago. The 2005-era dedicated "kid phones" never panned out and largely disappeared from the market. But many of today's handsets let parents restrict content in Web browsers, or even control how much time their kids can use the devices—and are much better phones to boot.
There are two ways to approach the parental controls issue. Carrier-based services, like Verizon's Chaperone or Sprint Family Locator, are controlled via a browser interface from a desktop or laptop PC using a password-protected account. On-device settings, such as the ones found on certain Sanyo phones, are set up right from the phone and allow for more granular control of the address book and internal apps.
If you're shopping for your kid's first cell phone, here are the best handsets to use with parental control services. In a nod to the current recession, and the fact that there's a good chance whatever phone you buy could end up lost between the couch cushions in the basement, I'll stick with budget-priced phones for this roundup.
Read all...

Why Can't Smartphones Kill Netbooks?

by Sascha Segan, pcmag
Here's a great idea, and one you may have had: the shape-shifting computer. It's a little box, the size of a pack of cigarettes, or maybe it looks just like an iPhone. Maybe it is an iPhone. Pop it into a big screen and keyboard, and pow, you have a netbook. Slide it out, and you've got a smart phone. Attach a slim, stylish handset with Bluetooth, and you have a fashion-oriented voice phone.
Why hasn't this happened yet? I'm asking because several people have recently asked me why they can't netbook-ize their smart phones, which nowadays have fast processors and gigabytes of storage. I'm not talking about "smartbooks," which are just netbooks running ARM processors. I'm talking about true shape-shifters where you can bring along a full keyboard and big screen, or not, as you choose.
It looks like over the past decade, the industry has gone backwards on this issue. There hasn't been a new Bluetooth keyboard for smartphones since 2006. Phones with video-out ports for large displays come and go without much notice. I'd love to write articles using one of my smart phones the same way I did on a Palm III in 1999, but the Palm III had better keyboard options.
Three companies have recently attempted to make smartphones convertible. Celio has had the most success with its REDFLY, a brainless $199 laptop that you connect to a Windows Mobile phone. It works, but without music or video support, and it's clunky. I-Mate showed me an elegant handheld back in February that slots into a laptop-style body, but I haven't heard from the company since. Modu has been showing off little CPU units that fit into various interchangeable phone bodies for two years now; they're rumored to be launching soon, but only in Israel.
So why can't smartphones give netbooks a run for their money? Let's take processing power off the table, as that won't be an issue within a year or so. Here are some ideas.
See all...

MySpace to buy social-music company iLike

Austin Business Journal
MySpace said Wednesday it is buying iLike, a social music service. The purchase brings together two social-media companies that want to deliver content to users, MySpace said.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. iLike’s dominant music application on is iGoogle and Facebook, among other sites.
In an announcement, Beverly Hills-based MySpace said that the purchase won't change the iLike experience for iLike users and the artists that use the service. iLike will keep its Seattle headquarters.
Brothers Ali and Hadi Partovi founded iLike in 2006. In two years iLike has become the largest music application across all social networks -- with 55 million total users and 1.5 billion monthly impressions. No structural changes will be made among management or employees at iLike.
Technology blog TechCrunch reports that Facebook and Amazon made offers for iLike. Activision Blizzard and Microsoft were incorrectly rumored to be vying for the social-music service.
Rumors have circulated for months about iLike -- including speculation last year that RealNetworks and West Hollywood-based Ticketmaster were interested.