Content and news by Matt Serrano

As SSD prices continue to fall, we start seeing the drop in price from more and more OEMs. Apple’s long been notorious for keeping their price points on their Mac line until a product refresh, but competition no doubt forced their hand.

The top of the line MacBook Air dropped in price from $3,098.00 to $2598.00, a $500 discount. As our source points out, an Air with an SSD drive can be configured for as little as $2,398.00 without any external (refurbished or educational) discount. With OZC’s introduction of their more affordable solid-state drives, hopefully we’ll see prices drop even further for other products as well.

 With the price of NAND flash memory continuing its steady sequential decline, Apple Inc. this month cut the price of its Solid State Drive (SSD)-equipped MacBook Air by half a grand, AppleInsider has discovered.

There’s a bevy of options out there if you’re looking for an affordable docking speaker system for your iPod, but not all of them have the same design priorities in mind. Here’s our detailed look at XtremeMac’s Tango X2 iPod speaker system. Does the Tango X2 sound as good as it looks?

Microsoft will finally offer their Equipt service this month, a $70 yearly fee that provides Windows Live OneCare and online tools as well as Office Home and Student 2007. The idea is having a bundle where all applications are kept up to date in an affordable package. In this case, if the costs were taken for a year, the bundle is still cheaper than buying a boxed copy of office, with the benefit of antivirus protection built in (for reference, Office costs $150, and OneCare costs $50).

The service will be sold at Circuit City stores nationwide. As Ars points out, the company stresses that they will not be making a complete transition to subscription-based models.

Microsoft has released more details about its new software subscription bundle that went into testing in mid-April. The bundle has been officially dubbed Microsoft Equipt and will be made available in mid-July 2008 at nearly 700 Circuit City stores in the US. Equipt licenses will cost $70 per year and will include Windows Live OneCare, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, Microsoft Office Live Workspace, and Windows Live tools.

It’s been a long wait for PS3 fans who have ached for in-game access to the xross media bar and a comparable achievement system to Xbox Live. Be sure to check out Sony’s FAQ and our earlier post explaining the PS3’s trophies system if you have any questions.

There’s no doubt that the popularity of Ubuntu has been nothing short of overwhelming with Linux geeks and newbies alike. It’s constantly on the number one spot on DistroWatch.com, and new releases are treated like the second coming for many eager Ubuntu fans. But some shocking news accompanies its success.

Though their means of deduction are far from scientific (unless you consider Google Trends terribly reliable), CodingExperiments took a look at the rising and declining search trends for the major distributions. In short, Debian, RedHat and Slackware seem to be declining dramatically, while openSUSE and Fedora seem to either have spikes during releases, or are showing some growth.

It gets interesting when we come to Ubuntu’s history. You might have guessed that it has been growing more than any aforementioned distro, but its trends also show that it will overtake Linux as a search term. In time, this could mean a few interesting changes in the methodology and relevance of separate distributions in the Linux community, but it’s too early to make any drastic predictions.

So, what does this tell us? First of all, Ubuntu is pretty close to being considered the face of Linux. Second, it’s the newer distributions like Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, and Fedora that new Linux users are going for. Of course, it’s mainly Ubuntu, but I believe that there could be plenty of new users arrinving at the Fedora and OpenSUSE communities if both distributions work hard to become more user friendly.

Today, OCZ released their plans to push out their new Core Series SSD lineup. The new disks, available in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities, will sell for $169, $259 and $479 respectively, the cheapest we’ve seen so far. All of the drives will also have a two-year warranty.

The nice thing about these drives is their uncompromising speed. Read speeds are rated at 120 to 143MB/s, with write speeds at 80 to 93 MB/s. Though the technology is still fairly new, the SSDs are estimated to last for about 1.5 billion hours, rectifying the major complaint with the technology.

As SSDs continue to drop in price, we’ll slowly but surely see more products begin to adopt them. Given the alloted time frame thus far, it’s only a matter of time until we’ll see these products phase out traditional hard drives.

OCZ is looking to trump Super Talent push down-market with faster SSDs at even lower price points. The company today announced its new Core Series 2.5" SSDs which are the most affordable, large-capacity SSDs that we’ve seen to date. The 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB models are priced at $169, $259, and $479 respectively — the drives also feature a two-year warranty.

Starting July 1, California will finally fine motorists who talk on cell phones while driving without using a handsfree device. But, there’s an interesting loop-hole in the law that opens itself up to abuse. While it will be illegal to talk on a cell phone, using the phone for anything else, including  texting, surfing the web, and listening or watching media. Granted, most people aren’t, well, stupid enough do most of these things while they should be keeping their eyes on the road, I personally have heard some interesting stories secondhand.

One could argue that something such as this that is obviously dangerous to both you and the people around you should be avoided, however, it could leave the those caught breaking the law a gateway for them to argue their guilt. For example, a circumstance where someone is caught holding their cellphone in one hand while driving may argue that they weren’t calling anyone, even though they were still a danger to the people around them.

The good news is that, as a result of the measure, discounts can be found for headsets. One site, headsets.com, will even offer free headsets for people who have proof of a traffic citation for calling while driving. Also, California, as well as other states ban cell phone usage entirely for young drivers.

Currently, only Minnesota, New Jersey, and Washington ban text-messaging while driving.

Beginning July 1, adult California drivers talking on their mobile phones without a hands-free device are subject to a $20 fine and a run-in with the law. The Golden State’s new traffic ordinance follows similar versions adopted in Connecticut, New Jersey, Washington state, the District of Columbia, New York and the Virgin Islands.

While the fines aren’t wallet-busting, there’s a hitch. Except in Washington state, an officer can pull you over solely for talking on the phone without a headset.

It’s been a cool 33 years since Bill and Paul Allen founded (then) Micro-soft, and today’s the day Gates steps down from his job as chairman of the company. He will still have a part-time job at the company, but the days of his influence at Microsoft are over.

CNET has compiled a list of the most famous Bill Gates videos from throughout the year, exemplifying some of his best moments on video. A few of the best speeches, skits, and conferences are all here.

Well, it’s finally here: Bill Gates’ final, official day at Microsoft as a full-time employee.

To mark this historic moment–33 years in the making–we’ve been combing through our video archives to find some memorable stuff.

Though customers in Taiwan have been able to play around with the newest model Eee PCs for a while now, the wait for the U.S. release might not be that far off. ASUS’ pre-sales department is letting customers know that they can expect to be able to purchase an Eee on July 8th. Obviously this isn’t an official release date, but  it’s a better estimate than nothing.

The new versions offer many improvement’s over the brand’s predecessor, the 700 and 701, including a larger, higher resolution screen, faster performance, and better battery life. We will hopefully be able to get one in for review and provide our own input on how well the updated model competes.

Sure, you can already pick up an Eee PC 901, 1000 or 1000H in Taiwan. And the company’s been projecting a July 1st launch date for the UK for a while now. But up until this evening I hadn’t heard any word on a US release. But a reader contacted me today and let me know that he had called the Asus pre-sales department on a whim today and asked when the Eee PC 901 would be hitting the US. And without hesitating, the rep told him July 8th

Even though the news hasn’t been confirmed by both parties, two separate rumors have hit the internet. The first one involves a sequel to long-time fan favorite series, Diablo. The third game in the franchise, which has been all but confirmed. According to DiabloII.net, they have acquired information about the game’s announcement from "insider sources." Blizzard also purchased the domain diablo3.com, and "Diablo III General Discussion" forum has appeared on the Battle.net.

Blizzard design VP Rob Pardo revealed that the company does intend to announce a new title at the event at this weekend’s Blizzard Worldwide Invitiational in Paris, but declined to offer further details… Moreover, Diablo fan website DiabloII.net reports that Blizzard’s game announcement will be Diablo III, the long-awaited next title in Blizzard’s hack-and-slash RPG series.

Finally, in a bit of unrelated news, a K-Mart circular has hit the internet advertising a $299.99 Xbox 360 Premium. There was speculation about Microsoft dropping the price of the 360 during E3, but it’s possible the company might make the move a week earlier to compete with the PS3.

Sources: Shacknews, Slickdeals

Even though this is sort of a no-brainer, SDL Tridion, a web content management firm polled users for their opinion on the most annoying and most frustrating web experience. It may be hard to believe, but pop up ads came at the top of the list, along with "long introductions to web sites that cannot be turned off, the requirement to download new applications to view elements of a page, and a requirement to hand over a lot of personal information just to access company details."

A good example, in my mind, would be a promotional site for a cell phone. Sprint’s page for the Samsung Instinct, and RIM’s page for the BlackBerry Bold are both Flash based, but offer little in the ways of actual information or content. Yeah, I want to know the specs on the newest phone, but do I really have to sit for the transitions on the Flash

I’m curious, however, to what exactly denotes "clean" web design. Clearly, users prefer style with substance, but the actual science behind good web design can be the difference of making a good first impression or keeping a customer, or reader in our case. There are studies and principle on the case, but design is subjective in a lot of ways.

Web content management firm SDL Tridion has released the results of its research into what elements of web site design most turn off internet users, coming in top is pop up advertising. Seventy-eight percents of respondents said that this type of advertising was the most frustrating web experience, complaining that ads appeared at inappropriate times and were difficult to get rid off.

Even though the notebooks have been leaked before, Dell just officially announced the availability of their newest consumer-based notebook line. The new line offers a refreshed look, more customizability, and, interestingly enough, new applications.

The first new program to be included is Dell Video Chat, a sort of Skype and iChat competitor. The second is a Leopard-inspired Dell Dock application, which puts icons in a dock (hence the name) at the top of the window for easy access. There’s little telling weather or not these programs will actually be of use and efficient, or just more bloatware we’ve come to expect from manufacturers, but it’s a nice change to see a company try to move forward and give more to their customers.

The new notebooks are available now, and Notebook Review has a review of the 17" model, with a video highlighting its features.

The recording industry, in its all-knowing wisdom, has decided to take another stab at gaining revenue from radio broadcasters. Last Monday, the National Association of Broadcasters literally received a can of herring and a dictionary (along with some provocatively named music tracks) to help the recording industry’s point get across. And it’s simple. It’s easy to understand. They want more money.

A long standing agreement between the two parties came to the mutual settlement that radio broadcasters are free from paying performance royalties if the record label’s material is "promoted." And to an extent, that’s exactly what radio broadcasters do – promote music. However, the record label’s new rational claims that terrestrial radio is "a form of piracy" because the industry doesn’t agree with the new terms.

Now, personally, I’m split between the issue. On one hand, the relationship has remained constant throughout the years, and broadcasters are already feeling the pressure from new markets such as internet radio and music downloading, and the cost of supporting their arguably dwindling industry. Yet, on the other hand, I think there should be identical fees payed by terrestrial, internet, and any other form of broadcasting or sharing media. But changing the terms just because the labels want more money should not be an option.

The article adds that there are proposals on the issue for radio broadcasters to pay variable or a flat fee, depending on the bill and size of the station. A bill could be approved as early as this Thursday.

On Monday, the recording industry sent the National Association of Broadcasters — the trade group representing the $16 billion a year AM-FM broadcasting business — a can of herring to underscore that it believes its arguments against paying royalties are a red herring. The NAB says its members should not pay royalties because AM-FM radio "promotes" the music industry.

As June 27 gets closer and closer, technology pendants, competitors and fellow colleagues face the growing realization that Bill Gates will soon leave the technology industry and his position as chairman of Microsoft. It’s not entirely clear what impact the leave will have, but the entire incident remains to be a historical event worth noting.

The man, despite any personal grievances one may hold, has made many contributions to the technology and software industry, as well as to the world through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Although Gates will still have a part time job at Microsoft, he will not be there on a day-to-day basis and will instead focus his efforts on his charity.

It’s a nice thing to see fellow CEOs give their respects and say their goodbyes to the man who essentially changed the personal computer to be what we know it today. CNet has a collection of 13 technology leaders saying goodbye to Bill Gates, and his legacy.

As Bill Gates steps down from full-time work at Microsoft, well-wishing cheers and not-so-nice jeers are echoing from Silicon Valley. After 32 years of competition and acquisition, Gates managed to ruffle some feathers, while still making some famous friends. After the end of this month, Gates plans to spend only 20 percent of his time as a Microsoft chairman and the rest of his time will be devoted to the Gates Foundation and other pet projects.

Following on the heals of Firefox’s 3.0 release (albeit two days early), the Wine team released their 1.0 gold version of the popular open source software, which allows Windows applications to run on Linux (and Unix.. and OS X..) without the use of an emulator or virtual machine. The new version offers little more than grammatical error fixes in the application, but it’s awesome to know that the 15-year project finally hit its milestone 1 dot 0 release.

It’s a painful and frustrating process to reverse engineer the Windows API, and the developers who donated their time had to recreate the framework for Windows with little assistance. Hopefully their progress will diminish the barrier to entry for individuals and corporations who rely on Windows programs and allow them to take the dive into Linux.

Here’s to improving compatibility onward and to future releases.

The Wine team is proud to announce that Wine 1.0 is now available. This is the first stable release of Wine after 15 years of development and beta testing. Many thanks to everybody who helped us along that long road!

While compatibility is not perfect yet, thousands of applications have been reported to work very well. Check http://appdb.winehq.org to see the details for your favorite applications.

Mozilla aims to break the world record for the most downloaded software in 24 hours. A few hours ago, the browser was released, but the site had technical difficulties (go figure), but the site’s available now as this post is going up. Over 1.5 million people have pledged to download already, so if you haven’t already, head over to the download page and get some free software.

Firefox is available for all of the major operating systems in over 45 languages and is used in over 320 countries, and of course, is completely open source. Version 3 adds tons of new fixes and features. Remember, if you’re using RC3 (or two on Windows or Linux) and you want to participate, you must download from Mozilla’s site to have your download count!

With more than 15,000 improvements, Firefox 3 is faster, safer and smarter than ever before. The Web is all about innovation, and Firefox 3 sets the pace with dozens of new features, including the smart location bar, one-click bookmarking and blindingly fast performance.

It seems that Microsoft has some sour grapes about the failed Yahoo! acquisition the company recently attempted a few months back. Now that Google and Yahoo! have announced a joint advertising deal, Microsoft spokesperson Jack Evans suggested that the move offers less competition and will increase costs for advertisers.

On one level, I can sympathize with the software giant. After all, a Yahoo-Google "merger" of sorts was just the thing many analysts were considering in an effort to thwart off Microsoft. But on another, I can’t help but think the whole vocal opposition is a little childish. It’s hard to deny that Microsoft (understandably) wants inroads on any industry that can provide them with revenue, but they have been struggling for a while now on a "me too" basis. If the deal did go through, the acquisition would have created another monopoly, this time hailing under Microsoft’s control. The outcome is the same, essentially one company is left is a worse position.

So is the deal really bad for the online advertising industry? Yahoo! had a large opposition to letting Microsoft aquire them in the first place, and were quick to announce the cooperation with Google. It seems like the two are willing to work together, so time will only tell.

"Our position has been clear since April that any deal between these two companies will increase prices for advertisers and start to consolidate more than 90 percent of the search advertising market in Google’s hands," Evans said. "Legal and industry experts agree that this would clearly make the market less competitive."

You may remember that Intel acquired the software maker last year, but that won’t stop AMD from doing some harmless flirting. AMD plans to incorporate the technology in their graphics cards, and optimize their CPU performance with software that takes advantage of the company’s physics engine.

Since this could very well mean you’ll be seeing Havok’s physics being processed from AMD’s GPUs, I take this news as a good sign. Taking into account Nvidia’s purchase of Ageia, this could mean both companies would have a means of physics that would be (to some degree) offloaded from the CPU. If we can see a real world gaming performance increase, I’ll encourage it.

AMD will work with game giant Havok to tailor Havok’s game technology to AMD processors, the companies said Thursday. The plans call for optimizing game-physics effects utilizing AMD’s multicore processors and graphics processing units, or GPUs.

File this story under the “huh?” category. Metallica, who were apparently working on a new album, invited music critics to preview six new tracks and review them. Then, their management asked the music blog Blinded by the Hype to take down their review, even though the reviewer never signed a non-disclosure agreement to preview the songs.

As you probably recall, the band had issues in the past with their music being pirated (or even present) on the Internet. It’s sad to see things haven’t changed for the better. Personally, I won’t be picking up any new Metallica albums for the foreseeable future.

Given all that Metallica has done, said, and been through in the last 20 years, what could they still do that would lead bloggers to ask, "What the hell is wrong with Metallica?" In this case, the answer is fairly pedestrian but still dumb: censor bloggers.

The Mozilla foundation released another release candidate today for the Mac version of their Firefox 3 web browser. The update was released to fix a "showstopper" bug that would cause the browser to hang after updating an OS X machine from 10.5.0 to 10.5.3 directly. The new build will go through further testing, and the project’s lead developers have stated they are confident correct any remaining problems by the end of the week.

The Windows and Linux versions of RC3 share the same code as RC2, and are completely identical. Although an official release date has yet to be determined, I would expect the final version of the browser to be released in the next week or two.

There’s a reason for that, we’ve learned: Mozilla is preparing a public rebuild of its release candidate for Mac OS X, that addresses a bug uncovered by users. It cropped up as a result of the operating system update process. Specifically, when you set up a Mac with System 10.5.0, then use Apple’s update system to upgrade directly to 10.5.3. When that happens, Firefox 3.0 RC2 can hang after it’s been made the default browser, and when it’s trying to load its plug-in database. Users who upgrade only to System 10.5.2 don’t experience the problem.