FCC filing for Zune phone?

Briefly: SanDisk has offered its own take on the DRM controversy started by Jobs' open letter on music DRM, saying that its line of Sansa media players offer consumer playback choice through compatibility with several music services; echoing the concerns of music execs, SanDisk chief Eli Harari said that "The answer is to protect the interests of everyone involved," Harari wrote, "not to chastise rights holders for trying to safeguard the entertainment they create and support.".... iHome recently has had a new iPod speaker system approved by the FCC: the iH85 iHome2Go includes a clamp that mounts the speaker to a bicycle, from which it can be controlled by puck-like remote (pictured) with play, pause, volume and track skip command, while the remote fastens to a bicycle's handlebar.

Games on Apple TV?

Games may be on the horizon for Apple's new set-top box, after the company recently updated its latest iPods to support games; one report claims that a key Microsoft Xbox excec left the company for PopCap Games, a company that may be looking to extend itself to a variety of different platforms, including Apple TV: It will be about "customizing [the catalog] for different platforms," he said, "customizing the user interface and display for Zune, ipod [sic], Apple TV, Nintendo DS, PSP."

MS FCC filing hints at next-generation Zune phone

Microsoft has filed for approval of a wireless device that may point to the all but confirmed Zune phone, according to an FCC approval request found by MarketWatch. The listing refers to an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) device to be used for "consumer broadband access and networking." OFDM is typically only used for wideband wireless signals, including large-scale WiMAX networks, digital video broadcasts, and select Wi-Fi formats, hinting that Microsoft is already completing parts of a new Zune player that would also have call functions.

by MacNN Staff