Gizmondo is claiming to have heard a bit of gossip from this years Game Developers Conference.  And that gossip says that a next generation Zune, with games enabled, will hit stores in August.  They dont’ cite a source or what not, but we know how these conferences are and people do talk.  Especially when they’re drunk.  So who knows, but it’s juicy nonetheless.

Source: Gizmondo

This is horribly irresponsible rumor-mongering, but we over heard this tidbit about the Zune over at GDC. Apparently, if the person was correct and our ears didn’t fail us, the next-gen Zune will be available in August. Unfortunately for the first-gen Zune team, the next version will feature gaming, which is supposedly making them feel dejected over working on a product (1st gen) that will be “abandoned”.

Srivats Sampath, former CEO of McAfee and current CEO, of a radio service called Mercora has come out into the light with claims of beating Microsoft to the whole ‘wireless sharing’ phenomena.  The service essentially allows your PC to talk with your Windows Mobile 5.0 enabled smart phone… that is if you have one. 

But nonetheless, it can stream the file to you, no matter where you are.  My question though is… how can I stream music from my PC when my PC is off when I’m out and about?  Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t read the details on how this works but hey, more power to them.

Here’s the direct quote:

“We’ve beat Steve Jobs to the iPhone. Our software delivers all the same capabilities. And we’ve beat Microsoft to the Zune,” said Sampath, because the device lets users share music wirelessly.

My Chemical Romance will launch the second leg of their extensive tour in support of their Number One Rock album, the RIAA gold-certified, The Black Parade. The second round of the U.S. arena tour, produced by Art Show - a national touring division of Goldenvoice - will kick off in Houston, TX at the Reliant Arena. Tickets are on sale Saturday, February 10, 2007 via Ticketmaster.

The Black Parade, an epic theatrical concept album about mortality, has been named “Album Of The Year” by Blender Magazine, stating “My Chemical Romance transcended the cliché…to craft a grandiose epic that just might make them the biggest band in the world.” Rolling Stone says “The Black Parade is the best mid-Seventies record of 2006, a rabid, ingenious paraphrasing of echoes and kitsch from rock’s golden age of bombast.”

The week after its release, The Black Parade claimed the Number One spot on SoundScan’s Rock, Alternative, Top Albums Retailers, Indy/Small Chain, Internet, and Digital Album Charts. It also shot to Number 2 on Billboard’s Top 200 album chart, selling more than 240,000 copies its first week of release. The first single, “Welcome To The Black Parade,” has enjoyed eight weeks at the top of the Alternative / Modern Rock Radio hits in the U.S. and the singles chart for two consecutive weeks in the UK.

If you shelled out some money on a tiny Zune remote you can get even more value by controlling your super-duper Xbox 360 with it.  ZuneInsider released a nice video showing the remote in action.  Considering the size of the media remote for the Xbox360, or the pain of using a regular controller, this is a pretty cool idea.  all you need to do is change your Xbox 360 settings to accept other remotes. All you need to do is change your Xbox 360 settings to accept other remotes and your rocking like Chesney Hawkes.

Video: Zune Wireless Remote Works with Xbox 360

Steve Jobs recent outburst against the record companies and DRM has provoked quite a reaction in the blogosphere.  He’s right (as always) when it comes to removing DRM from music - Free The Music should be the mantra, but I can’t help wonder if he’s a little annoyed with the coolest (and least used feature on Zune:  Social Music.  I guarantee if Jobs gets his way, which I know is a small chance, then Version 6 of iPod will have wireless sharing built-in.  I’m not talking about 3 plays/3 days junk we have to put up with, but real social-changing sharing.  98% of the world is honest, and if I received a song I valued, I’d certainly pony up $0.99 to make it my very own.  It’d be a bit like shareware - if I chose to be a dick and keep it for free, then Karma will be knocking on my door an kicking me in the balls (or at least, Lars from Metallica will be knocking).

Anyone else think Social Music will take off?

Here are a bunch of those infamous superbowl commercials showing off what advertisers are really capable of when a big budget is put infront of them.  A few of these include that Kevin Federline leaked Superbowl Commercial as well as a few others you might not have seen before.  Be sure to check back here when the Superbowl kicks off to view the 2007 Superbowl Commercials.

Nationwide: Kevin Federline Rollin’ VIP

Bryan Lee, the dude who was at the top of the Zune division of Microsoft has quit, wanting to spend his time on “personal interests” instead. Bryan’s title at Microsoft was corporate vice president for the entertainment and devices division and he’ll be bailing out of Redmond in a couple of weeks.

Zune debuted with a pretty good launch, grabbing 10.2% share in its MP3 player category. However, the device has since struggled - every time I walk into my local BestBuy I fail to spot a single Zune on display.

Microsoft is still estimating a total of one million units to have been shipped by the end of June. Currently, it is available in more retail stores than any other Microsoft product, including stores like Office Max and a few big chain supermarkets.

Lee also had responsibilities in the Xbox and IPTV markets at Microsoft, but after the Zune was announced, that became his primary area of focus. Microsoft has not yet said who will take over his position, but it would seem likely that J.Allard, the cunning silver fox who pushed Microsoft into the internet and then video games would be the likely candidate - if he’s not too busy racing his Ferrari or Mountain Biking…

Well, figuratively that is.  Microsoft’s Chief Executive Officer, Steve Ballmer was conducting a televised interview when he was asked what the thought about the iPhone.  Ballmer then goes on to explain how he feels it won’t be as big of a success or rather, how its not all that great and a bag of chips.  But it’s all good corporate humor right?  Check the video out on the inside.