Google plans to sell E-Books.

According to the New York Times, following discussions last month with publishers, Google is leaning towards introducing its own e-book program that would enable publishers to sell digital versions of their latest books directly to consumers through Google.
As opposed to Amazon's, Google e-book program is planing to let publishers set their own prices.
Another difference from Amazon's e-book program, will be the option offered to consumers to read books on the device of their choice, as long it has Internet access.
The new program is set to start by the end of this year.

Garmin Oregon 550 is a hand held GPS that can snap photos.

Garmin's Oregon 550 combines rugged outdoor touchscreen navigation with a 3.2 megapixel digital camera. Add high-sensitivity GPS, barometric altimeter, 3-axis electronic compass and microSD™ card slot. The result? A multipurpose device that will make your biggest adventures even more memorable.
According to the New York Times, the Garmin’s $500 Oregon 550 can snap photos and geotag them.

The Oregon 550 is a waterproof hand-held device that’s perfect for hikers, bikers, backpackers and boaters. Its camera offers four-times digital zoom and 850 megabytes of internal memory; it also includes a microSD slot for additional photo storage. Every photo is automatically geotagged with the precise location where it was taken.
The Oregon 550 has a three-inch touch screen that Garmin says is readable in bright sunlight, and also includes a built-in compass. The device employs a barometric altimeter that can help you determine altitude (and, Garmin says, be your own weatherman by plotting barometric pressure to predict weather conditions).
The device comes loaded with a worldwide base map and enables you to add maps (via the microSD slot) that meet your navigational needs, including street maps that offer turn-by-turn directions and maps for rivers, lakes and oceans.
Garmin also unveiled the Oregon 550t, a $600 version of the navigator that is loaded with topographic data for the continental United States and a worldwide base map with shaded relief.

For more, see NYTimes.com

Virgin and Universal offer unlimited music downloads.

To help with struggling sales and illegal music download, two major players in the industry, Virgin Media and Universal Music Group have teamed up to offer a new music download subscription service. The service is described by the companies as a first and will allow Virgin Media's broadband customers in Britain to stream and download as many songs and as they like from Universal's catalog for a fee.
Talks are ongoing with other music labels to include their catalogs into the new service due to start later this year.
The music will be available to download in an MP3 format which will give users the ability to listen their selections on a range of devices including iPods, cell phones, PCs and other MP3 players.

For more, see news.yahoo.com

With the competition heating up in the smart-phone sector, Apple, the maker of iPhone, the market leader, is trying to keep its contenders at bay by offering frequent upgrades of its upstart product. So, just a year after the latest version, Apple is at it again with its new offering of the iPhone called iPhone 3G S.

According to a review in the Wall Street Journal, "it looks the same, but offers more speed, more memory, more battery life and a few new features, including video recording and a better camera for still photos."
The new phone comes with a new operating system called OS 3.0, the third version of the iPhone's operating system, and is standard on the 3G S.It can also can be downloaded free on all prior iPhones and Touches models.

Still according to the Wall Street Journal, the new phone " includes a much longer list of added features, some innovative and some long overdue catch-ups to other phones. These include such widely requested capabilities as cut, copy and paste; system wide searching; a wider virtual keyboard; and a feature called MMS that allows users to send photos and videos directly to other phones without using email."
To maintain its market share if not increase it, Apple made the decision to sell the new phone at last year model's price -$199- , and cut that model's price by half. The new phone is slated to go on sale June 19 starting at $199 for a version with 16 gigabytes of memory, and $299 for 32 gigabytes.

A two year contract with AT&T is still required and current iPhone 3G owners eligible for upgrade can do so at the current new price up until September 30.

For more, see WSJ.com

Early this month, Sony announced it's plan to introduce a new version of its hand-held PlayStation Portable console this fall.

The new version, called the PSP Go, is scheduled to debut in the United States and Europe in October and cost $249. The unit is smaller, lighter and more expensive than the current version, the PSP-3000, which costs $169.

While previous versions of the PSP have games stored on small optical discs, the PSP Go is meant to download games and store them in its internal memory. The bottom of the console slides out from the main body to reveal game-control buttons.

Sony said it would continue to manufacture and support the PSP-3000 even as it aimed the new version at Internet-savvy consumers who prefer to shop for their entertainment online

Palm Pre is an worthy alternative to Apple's iPhone.

The long-awaited Palm Pre lived up to the hype when it launched on June 6 with a responsive touchscreen and an engaging interface along with the company's much anticipated webOS operating system.

The Palm Pre which has had some buzz built up since its splashy lunch in January, isn't perfect but definitively does not disappoint.

The Palm Pre smartphone retails for $200 and comes with a two-year contract from Sprint .

For more, see engadget.com

Windows 7 to be released sooner on October 22.

Moving ahead of schedule, Microsoft Corp announced last week that its much anticipated new operating system called Windows 7 , will be available in stores on October 22 to replace its often maligned current one, Vista.
Quoting Yahoo tech, by October 22, people will be able to buy new computers with Windows 7 installed, or pick up the software off the shelf to install on their old computer
Also, Microsoft confirmed that it will run a program whereby people who buy PCs with certain versions of Vista before October 22 can get a free upgrade to Windows 7, but it has not yet released details, nor any information on prices.

For more, see PCadvisor.com