July 2 - 4:50pm EDT   MCS Music America has filed a lawsuit against Real Networks, Yahoo and Microsoft over alleged music copyright infringements earlier this week. The copyright administration company claims the defendants breached copyright on several pieces of music and their artists. MCS represents a large number of other plaintiffs and says streaming music services such as Rhapsody, Zune and Yahoo Music allow users to retain the copyrighted tracks for an extended period of time, saying the defendants are required to obtain the rights for such a form of distribution. [full story]

July 1 - 11:00am EDT   Microsoft has picked the ad firm that will represent its "Pink" smartphone interface, sources said Wednesday. AdWeek hears that a contract bid has been won by McCann Erickson's TAG group, trumping others. The leak doesn't include any details of what "Pink" involves but adds that McCann already handles advertising for Windows Mobile, supporting the phone connection. [full story]

June 29 - 3:05pm EDT   A major smartphone manufacturer is due to launch a phone based on NVIDIA's Tegra platform, the company has let slip in interviews. One of the "top five" smartphone producers should have a phone based on the advanced graphics technology before the end of the year. The company has also said in a discussion with CrunchGear that it should reach AT&T and T-Mobile for about $199. [full story]

June 26 - 11:40am EDT   Samsung may be triggering a sudden crunch in supplies of 1.8-inch hard drives through a strategic decision, Taiwan-area notebook builders reportedly said today. They claim that the Korean company has stopped development of the ultra-mobile disks in favor of solid-state drives, cutting the number of suppliers in half. Only Toshiba is left, DigiTimes says, and it's feared that prices might go up as the remaining producer tries to control demand. [full story]

June 26 - 9:30am EDT   When it ships later this year, the Zune HD could cost as much or more than the iPod touch by the time both updates are released this year, an additional leak said Thursday. An interview with a previous source on Neowin cautions that prices aren't "set in stone" but has the base 16GB model costing between $249 and $279, or at least as much as the Zune 120 does today. A current 16GB clickpad Zune costs $179. [full story]

June 25 - 1:05pm EDT   NVIDIA confirmed its plans to release its own netbook PC with its own Tegra chip before the end of 2009. The Tegra chip is so far only used in the Zune HD portable multimedia player and uses hardware acceleration of 720p resolution HD video while using up a minimum of just 150mW. While final specs are not known, NVIDIA is showing a prototype model built by Mobinnova which sports an 8.9-inch screen, Wi-Fi, a 3G data radio and a webcam. It currently runs on Microsoft's Windows CE operating system, but NVIDIA says the final product could run on Google's Android. [full story]

June 24 - 3:40pm EDT   A leak today of purported ad material from Microsoft appears to have clarified some of the company's launch plans for the Zune HD. The documents handed to Gizmodo show the player shipping only in 16GB and 32GB capacities; they also indicate that colors will be dictated by capacity and that the 16GB version will have a simple black while the 32GB model comes in the golden color seen in most previews. [full story]

June 17 - 8:35am EDT   NVIDIA staff are now known today to have confirmed that the Zune HD uses a Tegra processor at its heart. Mentioning the feature to PC Perspective at Computex, the graphics company has made its first deal for the use of Tegra in a major product and is necessary for the Microsoft player's namesake HD video playback. The all-in-one processor offers hardware acceleration of video and can consume just 150mW of power at full speed, giving it battery life like a regular media player in spite of the demands of 720p video playback. [full story]

June 5 - 9:50am EDT   Microsoft VP John Schappert today said that the company's frequently delayed Xbox Live Anywhere service still exists but is rolling out much more gradually than was originally planned. Shown as early as 2006, the means of directly checking and messaging Xbox Live friends is still alive but is being treated as an evolution "unrolled piece by piece" over time. The Games for Windows initiative, which gives users an app that shows both Xbox 360 and Windows players, is considered part of that effort. Only the mobile client is missing, Schappert tells Gizmodo. [full story]

June 3 - 8:50am EDT   A listing for the Zune HD has appeared on Amazon today that hints at broader support for software on Microsoft's media player. Its description indicates that owners can "play games and use apps" using the accelerometer, suggesting both the expected third-party games as well as possible third-party apps; notably, Zune HD images to date have shown a "more" option that suggests additional features. The possibility remains that Microsoft is referring to built-in utilities like the photo viewer and web browser, both of which use the accelerometer for rotation. [full story]

June 1 - 3:00pm EDT   Microsoft today launched a range of changes to the Xbox 360's video features. Now rebranded as a Zune service, the former Xbox Video Marketplace will now provide videos in full 1080p and promises an "instant-on" feature that starts streaming videos almost immediately on faster connections. The extension will be available in all countries and should come along with an expansion of video rentals and purchases to 18 countries from the current 8. [full story]

June 1 - 1:40pm EDT   The Zune HD portable audio player, recently unveiled late last week, is unofficially expected to be released on September 5th, according to a recent report by long-time observer Paul Thurrott. The device had already been rumored for fall but would now launch relatively early in the year, roughly in time with Apple's yearly iPod updates. [full story]

June 1 - 8:15am EDT   Samsung's Mobile Display group has unveiled a new display likely to improve the quality of touchscreen smartphones. The 800x480 AMOLED (active matrix organic light-emitting diode) screen has the resolution of the latest mobile LCDs but is far more color-rich, thinner and power-efficient. Despite the resolution increase, the panel actually increases brightness to 350 candelas and consumes 40 percent less power than an earlier 400x240 AMOLED display. [full story]

May 28 - 2:35pm EDT   Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer today surprised those at the D7 technology show with a brief demo of the just-confirmed Zune HD. The prototype shown to Engadget has the interface shown in early imagery and was found to have "gorgeous" video -- ironically demonstrated with pro-Apple firm Pixar's For the Birds -- on its OLED screen. Few unknown features were shown, though the video interface and the ability to use custom wallpapers remain intact. [full story]

May 26 - 8:40pm EDT   Microsoft tonight confirmed the existence of the Zune HD, its first-ever touchscreen media player. The company readily acknowledges that the player is meant to compete against the iPod touch and will have a 3.3-inch, 480x272 OLED screen with a multi-touch interface. It earns its name through the first inclusion of a portable HD Radio tuner for digital broadcasts as well as HD video playback through a special dock. For the first time on a Zune, the HD will also use its Wi-Fi to browse the web and should come with a special version of Internet Explorer designed for touch. [full story]