For all the students out there: Get Windows 7 for only $30

Microsoft has launched an initiative to help all the money-deprived college students. For everyone in college and has a .edu e-mail address, you can pick up Windows 7 for only $30 at win741.com. All you have to do is make a login with you .edu address, verify the account, and voila, instant Windows 7 for $30. Some of the other things you can get with your order is a back-up of your copy for Windows 7, and/or a CD/DVD of the OS (extra costs though). Also, a little easter egg, you can ALSO get Ultimate instead of the Home Premium (the default for the deal). Right before you checkout, go to the bottom of the page and press "join my school's network" and you can get a FREE instant upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate. Now win741.com, although the main deal IS Windows 7, it also has a very good deal on Office '07 Ultimate as well, but that runs $60 instead of the $30. Well, college students, this is the perfect chance to upgrade your PC's without having to put out too much.

Window 7 Party Blog

The Latest of Tech's Windows 7 Party it's hosting will be documented on a separate blog. Pictures, videos, and blog posts of the upcoming night will all be documented on the blog: tlotwin7.blogspot.com. Be sure to go by on October the 2 to see the updates as they stream in.

Running Google Chrome in Internet Explorer

Google has released something to help all the people stuck on IE. In these current times, a lot of people are stuck with having to use Internet Explorer because of business compatibility. A lot of companies have integrated internal systems to work in IE only. Google has fixed the problem with the release of Google Frame. Google Frame basically "guts" the internals of IE and replaces it with the snappy engines that run Google Chrome. What that means for the consumer is faster speeds, better reliability, and easier to run pages. Now you don't have to be stuck with IE. Download Google Frame with this link: Google Frame

Windows 7 Party!

The Latest of Tech is having a Windows 7 Party! We will be having in on Oct. 2 so, tune in for pictures and videos from it!

The Latest in Devices: HD Release/Breakdown and 4.0 Pictures/Review

The Zune HD's big release was today. Microsoft's first touch-screen media device has a lot of promise. With the NVIDIA TENGRA chip in it, it is one of the first touch-screen devices to support full 720p (with video-out for sharing on external monitors/televisions. With an OLED screen, it also lowers the amount of energy so on the user side of things, that means a better battery-life. The big features in the HD are the HD capability, HD radio, internet web-browser, and support for apps/games. It currently comes in 4 colors (Only the 32g. The colors are: red blue green, and silver. The 16g only comes in black) and is able for custom engraving/Zune Originals (from the Zune.com store only). Also, Microsoft promises Xbox 360 integration to come soon. A breakdown of the Zune HD can be found at iFixit.com

The Zune software had a face-lift as well. With 4.0, some very well needed changed came with it. First-off 4.0 has complete compatibility with Windows 7, so for all you Zune users who were worrying about compatibility issues, be assured. Microsoft is one step ahead of you. Some of the new features to the software itself is a mini-player, smart DJ, pinning, and a taskbar player. For all that enjoyed the Windows Media Player mini-player and toolbar, it will be easy to figure out the new mini-player and toolbar as it is almost identical. Having the toolbar is useful when using other applications without always having to switch pages. The new opening screen hosts a few new features.

With the "Smart DJ" (Microsoft's counter to Apple's "Genius" feature) boxes for up to 5 smart DJ mixes, makes it easy to play entire playlists without having to go all the way into the software (now Smart DJ can have as many mixes as you want directly in the software, it's just boxes for 5 in the home-screen though). They also re-did the "background" page for when you are playing music. But that's just a small cosmetic change. On the marketplace side of things, the release of movies came finally. With a big catalog (and growing all the more), you can find your favorite movies now.

Finally an "app-store" is now built into the marketplace. With a VERY limited amount of apps, don't think this app-store will be the Apple app-store killer yet... It still has a LONG way to go before that. Hopefully Microsoft will come up with a way to submit apps for the store soon so third-party apps can start to be in development.
In summary, the 4.0 software is a really well-designed update. Some of the features were well needed. It's very easy to use, and visual friendly. As compared to the dull design of iTunes, the Zune software does have a lot of eye-candy. It will be interesting to see what Microsoft's future for Zune will be.

The Latest in Devices: Zune Preps for HD and 4.0 Release Tomorrow

The Zune.com and Zune.net are currently down this evening. This is because Microsoft is getting ready to release the Zune HD and it's 4.0 software. Rumors of what the 4.0 software contains is a big update to the video library (is the Zune marketplace going to FINALLY host movies now?) and updates to the marketplace. The software itself is going to go through an overhaul. What it will contain can only be guessed. Microsoft has a weird sense to add things that are unexpected (for instance the "music trivia game" on the Zune.com social website was a pretty unique and unexpected release). But for all you Zune users out there, be patient. 4.0 will be out soon enough and hopefully Microsoft will keep to it's word about keeping all legacy devices updated. Be expecting that nifty new firmware update in the morning! Until then, all Zunians await eagerly...

The Latest in Apps: Photogene App Review

Photogene is a iPhone picture editing program. It is one of those really handy apps to have if you enjoy taking a lot of pictures. Its very easy to use, and is a good, basic picture editor. Some of the features it the ability to crop, sharpen, exposures and color balance, add text bubbles, filters, and frames. All the features in the app are very clean, smooth, and work very well with the multi-touch. If you have an iPhone, or even a iPod Touch, this is a must have app. With all the picture craze these days, being able to edit any picture on the fly is very handy. And this app gives you all the editing power you need and more. Get it from the iTunes store by following this link: Photogene

The Latest in Apps: iPhone "Robot Head"

We saw this and thought this was worth posting on TLOT. Especially with all you iPhone users. A good home-project to work on. Note: iPod Touch users needs the headset with the microphone for this project.

Engadget Zune HD Video Review

iPod Announcements Today

Apple has released it's newest versions of the iPods today.

The release includes:

New prices on iPod Touches

64g iPod touch

New Nano with video/ recording capabilities, and built in speakers

New Nano colors

New Shuffles

New Shuffle colors

Adaptor for Shuffles to use any headphone

iTunes 9.0

iPhone/iPod touch 3.1 OS update