While retaining the same slim size, it now has a new LCD display with a better contrast ratio and can produce more vibrant colors. One major problem with the previous PSPs was reflectiveness of the glossy screen. Seeing anything out doors was almost impossible. The PSP-3000 now has “anti-reflection” technology to make it easier to view under direct sunlight. The other hardware feature that’s been added is the built-in microphone. Previously you had to purchase an accessory to be able to speak to others when using Skype or in a game. With this upgrade, you’ll have a fully functioning VoIP device at all times without any extra cables or headsets. (Just waiting on the webcam at this point!)

It is also expected that Sony will be rolling out some new firmware upgrades with new features in the near future. Unfortunately some new features will probably not be entirely backwards compatible. Sony has officially stated that the the price of the new version will be kept the same, $169 (MSRP). Some new PSP Entertainment Packs with a movie, a game, and a 1GB Memory Stick will become available later this year. This isn’t really that great of an upgrade, but it’s worth mentioning since it’s retaining the same price!

Links: US PlayStation Portable
Related: PSP-2000 Info

As stated by Skype earlier this year, free calls within the United States and Canada will be discontinued on December 31, 2006. PC-PC calls and chatting through the Skype software will not be affected and will remain free as always. If you wish to continue making calls Skype has a $15/year (not month, it’s year!) plan which will allow unlimited calls to the United States or Canada for 2007. Pricing will double to $30/year after Jan 31st, 2007, so make sure you sign up before it’s too late. SkypeIn numbers are also available to turn your computer into a digital “land line” for ~$38/year.

Along with announcing the year of free calls, they also released Skype 3.0. The new program includes an updated interface which has some performance improvements and a new look. Skype has also added “live” chat talk rooms similar to Yahoo’s feature. Another neat feature Skype includes is a plugin for Firefox, which automatically converts any phone number on a page into a special Skype link. When clicked on, the number will automatically be dialed in Skype right from within your browser. Skype is currently available for Windows, Macs OS X, and Linux. If you have a previous version we suggest updating since this is a major upgrade.

Links: SkypeOut | Download Skype
Related: Skype Press Release

In May 2006, Skype officially announced that all “Skype Out” calls to any landline phone in the United States would be free. To offer users another bonus, Skype will offer free international calls for three consecutive weekends. Starting this weekend, any Skype user located in the United States or Canada can call phone in the United Kingdom for free. The calls will be free on weekends as follows: U.K. on July 15-16, Mexico on July 22-23 and Japan on July 29-30. No action on your part is required, just login to Skype on the days mentioned above and make a call!

“This free international calling offer is yet another way Skype is making it easy and affordable for people in the U.S. and Canada to try Skype and discover the benefits … ” – Don Albert, General Manager

Skype, which is now a part of eBay, has become one of the most successful VoIP services. The free application is now available around the world in 27 languages and is constantly gaining more new features. Skype will run on Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and some Mobile OSs. By offering incentives to customers such as free “Skype Out” days, Skype has successfully attracted millions of users. Lets just hope Skype remains free of cost and advertising. And be sure to try this offer when it become available.

Links: Offical Skype Announcement | Get Skype
Related: Skype Out Calls Now Free (USA)

Today on May 15, 2006, Skype announced that all “Skype Out Calls,” which are PC to Landline calls, would be free in the United States and Canada until the end of this year. Starting today, anyone that lives in the U.S. or Canada will be able to make calls anywhere within either of the two countries at no cost. To utilize this feature, if you live in the U.S. or Canada, download the latest version of Skype and create a free account.

“Millions of consumers around the world are flocking to Skype every month … SkypeOut calling will rapidly accelerate Skype adoption … We’re very excited to be bringing Skype’s convenience & voice quality to so many people for free.” – Henry Gomez, Skype Manager

The Press Release stated that PC to PC will remain free, however “Skype In” (Landline to PC) and International calls will still cost money. Skype has been growing rapidly for over two years now, and as of May 1, 2006, Skype reached over 100 million members worldwide. Skype now is available in many languages and runs on Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and a few portable devices. As Skype Out will remain free until the end of this year, I suggest utilizing or at least trying out this service sometime.

Links: Skype | Download | Press Release
Related: eBay Buys Out Skype | Skype Out Info

1) iTunes v6.0.2 was released on 01/10/05. (Mac and Win) The program mainly includes fixes for stability issues that existed in v6.0.1. The update can be found on either Apple’s website or can be updated using the Update Feature in iTunes. This new version also has a new iTunes mini-store which is visible in the bottom menu while viewing your library. It also allows converting videos in your library into an iPod Video compatible format, which eliminates the need for 3rd party programs.
Link: Get iTunes | iTunes Home

2) QuickTime v7.0.4 released on 01/10/05 as well. It comes bundled with iTunes if you udpated that, but you can also update the QuickTime program from Apple’s website or the Update Feature built into the program. 7.0.4 has many bug fixes and H.264 decoding and encoding performance improvements. Apple reccomends that everyone updates to this version as soon as possible. *This progam is required if you want to use the video transcoding features in iTunes.
Link: Get QuickTime | QuickTime Home

3) Two new Google Earth editions have been released. The first one is for Mac OS X. This is the first release for the Mac OS and is obvioulsy going to be in BETA editions for a long time. (requires 10.4 or above) The second release is for Windows and infact this release marks the end of BETA for the Windows edition of Google Earth. Google reccomends running Google Earth on win computers that have at least a 32mb Video Card, 512 MB of RAM, 1.2GHz Processor and a High Speed Connection.
Link: Get Google Earth | Google Blog Announcement
Related: Hurricane Katrina Satellite Images

4) Skype v2.0 with Video support released. A BETA edition with video features was available for a long time, but this has finally been done. The entire interface has been updated and looks much better. Ton of new features have been added. Skype has also enabled many new API features. The program loads up and runs much faster than previous versions. The video quality in the new Skype is just as amazing as the audio quality is. But if you have both running at the same time, the quality of the audio might be reduced.
Link: Get Skype | Skype Blog | ChangeLog

5) Mozilla Thunderbird v1.5 has been released at last. It has been over a month since Firefox 1.5 was released. (This is a major update) First most important thing is the fact that you will no longer need to download 6mb files each time you need to update your program after you upgrade to 1.5. Future updates will be done through the program as “patches” and will only be about 0.5mb. Thunderbird now has SpellCheck as you type, Search through Folders, better Phishing detection, Podcast support and more… Another neat feature allows deleting attachments from messages to save space. The program also has improved security, program stability, interface, and filters. If you use Thunderbird I reccomend getting this new version as soon as possible. All content in you client will not be touched if you just download the new version and run it over the previous program.
Link: Get Thunderbird | Release Notes
Related: Get Firefox

1) Skype 2.0 BETA now has Video! – released to public on 12.01.05. There are major changes including thousands of features, changes, and bugfixes when comparing it to the current v1.4. (See Full Change Log) There were many 3rd party addons to enable video, but Skype has offically added it into the program themselves at last. (v2.0 BETA only available for Windows)
Link: Get Skype 1.4 | Skype 2.0 BETA | Full ChangeLog

2) TiVo has offically launched “TiVo Online Services,” which brings broadband enabled users live data from Yahoo and other providers. Starting now information from Yahoo Photos, Weather, Traffic, and other services such as Live365 Radio and Fandango will be available to everyone for FREE. (+ Podcasts) It may take a few weeks to recieve the update, but if you are in a hurry to try it out, submit your TiVo service number into the Priority List and you will recieve your update within three days. (Only for broadband enabled Series 2 units)
Link: TiVo Online Services | Priority List

SoftWare Updates:
a) VideoLan v0.8.4 has been released. Tons of features since v0.8.2.
Link: VideoLan | Download VLC | (See Full ChangeLog)
b) Azureus (Java BitTorrent Client) has been updated to v2.3.0.6
Link: Download Azureus | Java Required | (See Full ChangeLog)

Recent:
Gmail AntiVirus Soon? – gmail might get a virus scan soon
Mozilla Firefox v1.5 – a new major update for Firefox
Playstation Portable v2.6 – adds WMA and RSS support
Free PS3s Conga Line – get a free PS3 from FreePay

1) Firefox & Thunderbird 1.0.6 – Mozilla released another update for both Firefox and Thunderbird making both programs v1.0.6. They released such a quick update because v1.0.5 contained a buggy API, which didn’t allow many extensions to function properly. Only update if your extensions aren’t working, but there aren’t any other updates since 1.0.5.
Link: Mozilla.org | Firefox (changelog) | Thunderbird (changelog)
Related: Firefox and Thunerbird 1.0.5

2) MSN Messenger v7.5 BETA – Microsoft is currently testing a major update to the current v7.0. Some new features include voice clips (15-sec clips), new sign-on screen (sign on invisibly), and re-named buttons. This doesn’t say much, but they most likely also fixing major security flaws and bugs even though they haven’t announced any more yet.
Link: MSN Messenger | BETA News
Related: Gaim | Trillian

3) AOL Explorer 1.1… (BETA) AOL is working on a web browser to compete with IE, Firefox, and Mozilla. It currently includes a pop-up blocker, spyware scanner, tabbed browsing and a desktop search. I highly doubt this will become popular, they are just trying to get into the desktop search field, which Google, MSN, and Yahoo! are already in, and also going for a brand new browser, which IE makes up about 90% (FF is about 10%).
Link: AOL Explorer BETA | BETA News
Related: AOL Media Player | AIM Trition

4) Google Earth FREE Edition 3.0… BETA is out. This is an update to the previous version that had a few bugs. It is an amazing program, which should be installed by everyone. It had 3D images of many major cities and is gathering more and more satellite images from around the world every day! Google Maps also now covers more maps from around the world.
Link: Google Earth | Google Maps
Related: Google Labs | GlobeXplorer

5) QuickTime 7.0 Windows Public Preview 2 is now available. Apple has fixed many bugs since pre-1. It’s most important feature is the ability to play H.264, a video codec, which allows playing HD level content at low data rates. The file size is also suppost to be smaller than other formats of HD.
Link: Apple Quicktime | Windows Preview 2
Related: iTunes 4.9 w/ Podcasting Support

Note: (if you don’t already know) 2day is another FREE SKYPEOUT DAY

1) Google Maps now has plenty of High Resolution Satellite images from all around the world. Google recently also added in maps for the entire world, but currently only consists of country names.
Link: Google Maps | Google SightSeeing

2) Skyhook Wireless is using Wi-Fi to find lost laptops, smart phones, and all other Wi-Fi enabled devices. It can pin point any device and map it. It will work through out most major cities where they have setup plenty of WiFi access points.
Link: Information Week
Related: NetStumbler | PSP WiFi

3) Skype v1.3.0.51 is out. They have made many improvements to the program, mainly re-arranging the menus and buttons. They also modified the theme of the program. They also fixed the always “online” problem they had with many users.
Link: Skype (new website theme) | Download Skype | ChangeLog

4) Google’s Blogger service upgrades! Blogger has added in a new interface to allow uploading photos from your computer as well as the web. They have also allocated 300MB of space to store photos on your blogs.
Link: digg | +digg | GoogleBlog | Update Info 1/2/3

5) Digg 2.0 will be out soon, but digg has put out a beta version of how their site will be after they move to new servers and make some final changes. Just by looking at the interface it is easy to say that this might just become a “slashdot killer”.
Link: Digg Beta (un & pw: betatest) | Digg (Current Site)

Others:
iTunes songs are $1.05 instead of $.99 because of some new tax rules in some states. Not only applies to iTunes, but any type of paid downloadable service – link

Sony’s UMD Disc format was offically approved as a standard media format by the Ecma. A UMDs holds 1.8GB and are read by PSPs. Sony has sold 2.9 million units since March. – link

Yahoo! closes all user created public chat rooms due to large amounts of inappropriate discussions. Still allowed to create and invite users to your own rooms. – link