Nikki Reed on Twilight Costars: "We're Still a Family"

Well, it wouldn't be an Los Angeles party without some Twilight girls in the mix.

Nikki Reed and Elizabeth Reaser hit up the Women In Film Crystal + Lucy Awards last night where stars such as Courteney Cox (with GF Jennifer Aniston in tow) and Zoe Saldana were being honored.

So in the spirit of all thing girly, we chatted with N.R. for a bit about which female Twi babes she's been hanging with over the hiatus.

Hint: Her initials are K.S.:

"It's not like we all separate," Miss Reed 'fessed, looking yummy in a black Marc Jacobs dress with her hair pulled back. "We still see each other all the time. Elizabeth [Reaser] is here. Love her, she's the best person ever. And I was moving recently and Kristen [Stewart] was awesome enough to come and lift wardrobe racks and boxes. You know, we're all still a family when we're not filming. We're all friends in real life!"

Enter the paparazzi kicking themselves for missing that photo op. So, even though the babes may not be on the same page for their jail movie K-11, sounds like all is good with the hottie stars. Happy?

Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth Split?

It’s been a while since we’ve seen Miley trooping around Hollywood with manbag of the moment Liam Hemsworth in tow — and with good reason; rumor has it that soon-to-be ex-Hannah Montana star and the Aussie hunk have called time on their romance.

“(We) are on a break,” replied dryly when quizzed by The National Enquirer on the status of her relationship with Hemsworth.

The stars met on the set of the coming-of-age drama The Last Song last summer, but the bliss hit a snag after an allegedly jealous Miley picked a fight with Liam late last month. Tabloid tattles claim Cyrus — whose new prostitot pop single “Can’t Be Tamed” has been panned by music lovers — is particularly disturbed by Liam’s quick rise to fame. The 20-year-old has been cast opposite Anthony Hopkins in the upcoming feature Arabian Nights. Liam, on the other hand, has grown tired of the 17-year-old’s parents interfering in their relationship.

“The result was a vicious fight – and Liam bolted. He said he’s tired of her folks’ interference, and that Miley’s jealous that his film career has taken off.”

Hemsworth, 20, has reportedly moved off of the Cyrus Family’s Hollywood estate and back into the Hollywood bachelor pad he previously shared with his brother Chris.

Dell Streak available in the U.S. next month for $500


We told those pesky grey marketers that they’d better get a move on if they were hoping to make a few quick bucks importing the Dell Streak into the U.S. Today at D8, Dell announced that it will be bringing its gargantuan 5″ Android smartphone/tablet to the U.S. on or around the end of July. At that time, $500 will get you unlocked Streak complete with a 5″ WVGA display, 5 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, GPS, 16GB of internal memory, 7.2Mbps HSDPA, and 1GHz Snapdragon processor and Android 2.1. It will be available directly from dell.com

New all-white iPhone pictures leak out


We’re not quite ready to concede that Apple will actually be unveiling an all-white iPhone next week at WWDC, but the evidence is pretty damning. PowerBook Medic took some snaps (more after the jump) of what appears to be the casing for a white next-gen iPhone, something it claims it got from one of its parts suppliers. It could easily be a fake, but for the sake of argument let’s assume it’s real. Are you digging it or not?

Actress Cecilia Cheung will return to work on June 28, just six weeks after giving birth to her second son Quintus.

According to Hong Kong media, Cheung will attend a promotional event for a bedding retailer for which she is its spokesperson.

"Cecilia will be attending a press conference in Shanghai for a bedding retailer. She is currently also reviewing scripts and may take on film of television projects in the future," said Cheung's manager.

The actress was recently spotted at a restaurant in Hong Kong with her three-year-old son Lucas, looking significantly slimmer and well on her way to regaining her svelte pre-pregnancy figure.

When reporters asked her about her speedy weight loss, Cheung attributed it to the work involved in taking care of her two children.

SISTAR releases Push Push MV

After releasing their teaser last week and their single album a few hours earlier, rookie girl group SISTAR has now released their title song MV, Push Push.


With a colorful funky concept and a catchy track produced by the Brave Brothers, the SISTAR girls have certainly got the ingredients to go far. They will begin their full-fledged promotions starting with Music Bank on June 4th.

Is Glee Nothing Without American Idol?

Can Glee get funky without American Idol? Can So You Think You Can Dance get its groove back? And can Jesse James save?

The answers—and more questions—in the latest TV ratings quiz:

1. How'd Glee do on its own? Last night's funkfest scored the series' best ratings without Idol around as its lead-in, Fox said. It was Tuesday's No. 1 show among adults 18-49, and No. 2 in overall viewers (9 million, per estimates), behind the premiere of America's Got Talent (12.3 million).

2. Did SYTYCD's failed fall version fell the franchise? Nope. Back in its rightful season—that'd be summer—it opened its seventh season right about where it opened its previous summer season, averaging a solid 8.2 million viewers.

Angelina Jolie Lies, Drug Use & Secret Lovers to Be Revealed, Break Brad's Heart!

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt enjoyed a relaxing weekend at a Malibu party as their kids played in the beach. It seemed so idyllic ... but is there trouble on the horizon?

Star would certainly have you believe so, and if there's one magazine whose stories you can take to the bank, it would be this one.


Supposedly, a tell-all by Andrew Morton will "blow the lid" off Angelina's scandals and secrets - drug use, other men, lies, being a psycho control freak and the like.

Is the movie star's carefully-cultivated image about to come crashing down? Will she be exposed as the evil, home-wrecking victim who ruined Jennifer Aniston?!

Google's Chrome OS strives to replace desktop culture

Google's Chrome OS is coming to a netbook near you sometime later this year. The Web-centric, Linux-based, open source platform will offer a lightweight, cost-effective alternative operating system for portable computing.

Eventually, Google plans to expand the scope of Chrome OS to take on Windows on the desktop as well--a goal that requires both a solid operating system and a significant culture shift.

Chrome is essentially a Web browser as an operating system. A media player app will be included that will facilitate offline music play and photo viewing, but aside from that the platform is designed to operate exclusively in the cloud and take advantage of the vast portfolio of services from Google.

The operating system seems ideal for the netbook crowd, or possibly even as a platform for tablet devices to compete with Apple's iPad. Netbooks and tablets generally lack CD or DVD drives and the smaller hard drive sizes of the diminutive portable laptops seem geared for storing only the core OS components.

An open source operating system that can reduce costs and make the hardware into more of instant-on, cloud-based device might be welcome among the netbook crowd.

Kno dual-screen tablet appears at D8 hands-on


Kno promised to launch a double-screened Linux-based e-reader designed for students at D8, and the undercover startup didn't disappoint -- believe us when we say it came out in a big way. That's big as in freaking big: the Kno reader features dual 14.1-inch capacitive IPS displays (1440 x 900 each), weighs 5.5 pounds, and offers six to eight hours of battery life, all in a package that's so comically large we thought it was a joke when we first saw the press shots. Kno says it'll offer both pen and touch support, and it'll come with a stylus out of the box. Under the hood, it's running a Tegra 2 chip with 16GB of storage, and the entire experience is essentially a WebKit instance. Yes, it's sort of like the Courier, but larger -- much, much larger.

Lee DeWyze Says There's Still 'A Lot To Prove' On His New Album

'I'm not here to change the music world,' the 'American Idol' champ tells MTV News.

It's been exactly one week, but Lee DeWyze still can't believe he won "American Idol." The words seem strange even coming out of his mouth.

"Yeah, it's weird to say it, man," he told MTV News on Wednesday (June 2). "I'm lovin' it, to be sure, but man, it feels weird to say ' "American Idol" champion.' "

To further illustrate that point, DeWyze said he can't really remember how he felt — or what he did — when "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest announced that he'd been crowned the champ of season nine. It's all just one rather glorious, delirious blur.

"I was lost, dude. I didn't know where I was! It was so crazy and intense, because everything we've done had led up to that point. And it was like, 'And the winner is ... ' And then there's like the six-month pause, and then he says my name, and I was like, 'Wow,' " he laughed. "It was just a big weight off my shoulders, and it felt amazing. I had it in my head what I would say or do if I won or if I lost, and all of that went out the window. ... I've watched it back, and I try to remember what it was like. There's some parts I don't really remember. I remember being up there, and then the next thing you know, I was in the room with the press. It was just really fast and nonstop."

Jennifer Aniston to Star in Scream 4?

JENNIFER Aniston is set to reunite with her former Friends costar Courteney Cox — on the big screen!

The pair will soon be working together again in Scream 4, according to reports!

Aniston, 41, will play a woman who’s killed off in the opening sequence, a trademark of the franchise. The role will be similar to Drew Barrymore’s killer part in the first film.

Neve Campbell, the lead in the 1996 movie, has also agreed to reprise her role as Sidney Prescott for a fourth outing. Julia Roberts‘ niece Emma Roberts has also joined the cast.

“Scream has always been an important part of Courteney’s life, and she wanted Jennifer to be a part of the production,” an insider told Star magazine.

The flick will hit theaters in 2011.

Cyndi Wang's Image Is Ilegally Used in Mainland, Endorses For Abortion

After living in a low-key life for 2 months, Cyndi Wang will start to record for her new album next week. But it's known that Baiyun Hospital in Mainland illegally used her picture in their painless abortion advertisement. At least two Baiyun Hospitals in Guangzhou and Hunan took off the advertisement after the news broke out. Cyndi's record company won't take further action and Cyndi expressed: "It's very immoral."

Many well-known female stars like Chiling Lin and Stefanie Sun became spokesperson of abortion advertisement in Mainland with no reason at all. This time it's Cyndi but fortunately her company handled it immediately. The hospital also took her picture off and didn't let the chaos grow.

HTC EVO 4G supplies arrive in Sprint stores

If you plan to buy a Sprint HTC EVO 4G this Friday (when it launches across the US) and fear that it might be quickly sold out, it looks like you shouldn’t, as Sprint’s apparently doing its best to make sure everyone can get the smartphone.


A user over at the Android Central Forums is reporting that Sprint Corporate stores “will have plenty of EVOs” on launch day. Stores will be open at 8AM, so if you want to be certain you get an EVO, try to pay a visit to a nearby store early in the morning.

These below are boxes full of EVOs found in a Sprint store, while the other photo shows accessories (cases, more exactly).

Nearly 5 million downloaded Skype iPhone 3G app

Nearly 5 million consumers have downloaded a Skype Web telephony application that launched Sunday, allowing users of Apple Inc's iPhone to use privately held Skype's service over the cellular network for the first time, Skype said on Wednesday.

Before the launch of the application for use on high-speed third generation (3G) networks on May 30, consumers could only use Skype on their iPhone when they had access to Wi-Fi, a short-range wireless technology found in venues like coffee shops, homes and offices.

"We've had millions of downloads to date," Russ Shaw, Skype's general manager for mobile, told Reuters, referring to global iPhone users. "That's really positive."

A Skype spokeswoman said the number of downloads of the application was nearly five million by Wednesday morning Eastern Time.

George Clooney's Girlfriend Denies Slamming Jennifer Aniston

Blame it on Twitter.

George Clooney's girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis has been accused of slamming Jen Aniston on Twitter -- by comparing Aniston to scrawny, bug-eyed rocker Iggy Pop -- but she says it's all a misunderstanding.

The Italian model and actress Tweeted on Tuesday: "I JUST READ ON GOOGLE That I TWEETED something bad about J Aniston,let me be clear,it's a complete LIE,I would never do that!!" (A rep confirmed to UsMagazine.com that the account is bonafide.)

The real story? On Monday Canalis re-tweeted someone else's catty comparison. Originally written in Italian, the dis read: "I'm browsing again through the pages of Rolling Stone. Iggy Pop on the cover looks exactly like Jennifer Aniston."

Drake “Thank Me Later” Album Leaked


In case you’ve haven’t heard, Thank Me Later, the eagerly-anticipated LP from Canadian hip-hopster Drake, emerged online on Wednesday — a full two weeks before its scheduled release date.

Despite the negative impact the pirating nightmare may have on his first week sales figures, the most raved-about rap star in recent memory is taking the hit in stride. Check out the message Drizzy posted to his Twitter page a few hours after the leak:

Nick Cannon Addresses Mariah Carey Pregnancy Rumors – Sort Of

Though wife Mariah Carey sparked speculation that she might be pregnant after pulling out of an upcoming film, Nick Cannon says the public shouldn't jump to any conclusions – yet.

"If & when my wife is ready to make ANY announcements about private matters she will do it personally," he Tweeted on Wednesday. "Thanks for being respectful. God Bless."

Cannon, 29, who revealed last week that one member of their family is indeed pregnant – Jack Russell terrier, Cha Cha – adds that he now sympathizes with other women who are watched closely in the spotlight.

"My heart goes out to any woman who has to deal with public scrutiny and speculation pertaining to their private life REAL TALK!," he said on Twitter.

Google Now Lets You Add Bing-Like Backgrounds To Search

Google is known for its spare, clean search homepage. A single search box, two buttons, and 28 words or less. Contrast that to Bing, which features a beautiful new background photo every day. Well, now you can add your own background wallpaper image to Google search.

Google is starting to roll out a new feature today which allows users to upload images from their computers or a Picasa Web album to personalize the search homepage. Call it Bing-envy, or just a case of Google loosening up its design strictures. But Google is going from spare minimalism to anything-goes design. Actually, opening up the design palette to users is more MySpace than Bing. But it is not the first time Google introduced user-controlled design option to one of its products. Gmail, iGoogle, and Chrome both have their own selection of themes, for instance.

Microsoft Project Natal Makes Appearance at D8 Conference, Looks Final

With E3 so close, and the official release date of the motion-controlled Project Natal almost confirmed, there shouldn’t be a doubt in anyone’s mind that Microsoft has indeed got some final builds of the new hardware running around. But, it’s probably a surprise to everyone that it would just show up without any warning on the stage of D8 today. Consider us surprised.


Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg got some time to play around with the new hardware from Microsoft, and while they didn’t let anyone else on stage to play around with it, the fine folks over at Engadget managed to wrangle up several photos of what looks like the final build of the peripheral. Although, it does say “developer unit” on it, but we imagine that’s just a necessity. And, it probably did come from a developer, somewhere.

HP CEO: "We didn't buy Palm to be in the smartphone business"

You'd think spending a billion dollars on a smartphone company would indicate a desire to, say, make and sell smartphones, but you'd apparently be thinking wrong: HP CEO Mark Hurd just told investors at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch tech conference that his company "didn't buy Palm to be in the smartphone business," and that he's not going to "spend billions of dollars trying to go into the smartphone business; that doesn't in any way make any sense." Yes, that sound you're hearing is Jon Rubinstein's heart breaking into a million tiny pieces. According to Hurd, HP was actually more interested in Palm's IP -- specifically webOS, which he wants to put on "tens of millions of HP small form-factor web-connected devices." Sure, that makes sense, and it lines up perfectly with HP's plan to "double down on webOS" and put it on everything from netbooks and slates to printers, but hey, Mark? You should really look into the smartphone business when you get a second, okay? Just trust us on this one.

Taylor Swift turns on the waterworks: Country superstar brings her act to a dramatic climax with an on-stage downpour


Taylor Swift has quickly become one of the country music scene's biggest stars and she has a extravagant stage show to match, as she proved when she performed in Toronto last night.

Not content with an array of different outfits, the 20-year-old incorporated a Singing In The Rain inspired routine into the show at the Air Canada Centre, which was part of her Fearless Tour.

Taylor performed her final song as a cascade of water poured from above, drenching her while she sang the final encore - Should've Said No.

Kristen Stewart: ‘My Family Stopped me From Ending up Like Lindsay Lohan’

KRISTEN Stewart insists her “amazing” family is the reason she hasn’t ended up like fellow child star Lindsay Lohan.

The Twilight actress says her mother and father have supported her during her meteoric rise to fame, so she hasn’t fallen off the rails.

“My family are amazing,” said the 20-year-old. “I had, like, the perfect upbringing.

“It sucks for people like Lindsay Lohan, but it’s not her fault that she’s so off the rails — and she’s smart, very smart.”

Kristen — who’s widely rumored to be dating her costar Robert Pattinson — recently revealed she’s being stalked by an acquaintance of one of her schoolmates.

“I have one crazy stalker,” she said.

“It’s not worth changing my number for. I’m pretty certain that it’s some girl who got my number from someone I went to school with.”

'Glee' Edges Out STP, Holds On To No. 1 On Billboard 200

Glee: the Music, Volume 3 - Showstoppers" holds at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart for a second week, while the new release schedule was light due to the "American Idol" finale. "Showstoppers" moved 63,000 copies (down 54%) according to Nielsen SoundScan.


In the runner-up spot, Stone Temple Pilots return with its first studio album since 2001 as its new self-titled set enters at No. 2 with 62,000. It's the quartet's sixth top 10 album -- the band's entire output of studio releases. STP is the Billboard 200 albums chart sole new entry -- the fewest since the chart dated March 13 when Johnny Cash's "American VI: Ain't No Grave" was the only top 10 arrival.

The 5 best features of the HTC EVO 4G


The EVO 4G is a great phone with the notable drawback of its short battery life. But apparently a lot of you don’t care judging by the comments on my full review. Fine by me. Even though it doesn’t have the battery strength to make it through a day of moderate to heavy usage, there are still some serious advantages to this phone over others. Enough so that some buyers are probably going to camp out their Sprint Store this Friday. Here’s my top five favorite features so far, including a few I didn’t touch on at all in my review.

AT&T’s iPhone 4G to feature tethering at launch; AT&T intros cheaper (non-unlimited) data plans

So AT&T has announced new wireless data plans called DataPlus and DataPro – they’re effective starting June 7 and will cost $15 and $25, respectively. DataPlus gives you 200MB per month, while DataPro gives you 2GB per month.


These plans will enable more customers to access mobile Internet, but at the same time they don’t offer any unlimited data option, like the current $30 per month plan does.

With the new AT&T data plans comes a new tethering option: smartphone owners who choose the DataPro plan can add tethering for $20 per month – and the great news here is that AT&T will finally enable tethering for iPhone, as soon as Apple unleashes iPhone 4 OS. And yes, this means the iPhone 4G (or whatever it’s called in the end) will have tethering at launch (launch expected to happen later this month).

Miley Cyrus' Hot 'n' Sexy Summer Tour Continues

Miley Cyrus has so much sexiness to show off.

In Portugal over the weekend, it was all about the boobs and legs. Then off to Paris for a show at the 1515 Club Tuesday, where Miles flexed those abs à la Britney Spears and Shakira.

Of course, it's framed by cool accessories: not one but three studded belts, a Cheap Trick tee and loads of bangles.

Love it or hate it, you have to admit the "Can't Be Tamed" singer is working her riskier new image as hard as she can.

But back to the burning question: Do you love it or hate it?

SNEAK PEEK: Lady Gaga's 'Alejandro' Video


The wait is almost over!

Fans of Lady Gaga, who've already mastered the dance sequences in the video for "Telephone," will be up for another challenge on Monday when the singer will reportedly release her latest video for the current single, "Alejandro."

A teaser clip that hit the Web Tuesday offers a glimpse of the video, which was directed by fashion photographer Steven Klein.

Microsoft counter Google security claims: “there is irony here”

Microsoft have snapped back at rumors that Google is moving to oust Windows based PCs from their employees’ desks, pointing to recent security research that suggests the company is in fact doing more to ensure system safety than rivals like OS X. In a post on the Windows Team Blog, Windows communication manager Brandon LeBlanc suggests that “there is some irony here that is hard to overlook” and points to Yale University’s apparent delay in switching to Google Apps services over their own security concerns.

LeBlanc also claims that “even hackers admit” that Microsoft are doing more to ensure Windows security than OS rivals, flagging up Marc Maiffret’s quote that the company is “the model for how to do it.” He also cites newer speculation that Mac systems are increasingly becoming the target for malware, and lists the ways – Windows Update, Firewall and IE8 – that Microsoft has moved to ensure security.

Motorola FlipOut with Android 2.1 and MotoBlur now official (video)

First appeared as Motorola Twist, the Motorola FlipOut has just been officially announced – and it should be available in Europe starting this month (no love for the US, it seems).


Targeted at young users, the Motorola FlipOut runs Android 2.1 and comes with enhanced MotoBlur features, including “Happenings and Messages widgets” and Data Manager.

The FlipOut weighs 120 grams and it’s rather thick (17 mm), but that’s because it has a full 5-row QWERTY keyboard. The handset also features social networking integration (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter – you known them), a 2.8 inch QVGA touchscreen display, full suite of Google services, Wi-Fi, A-GPS, eCompass, CrystalTalk PLUS, WebKit browser with Adobe Flash, 3.5mm headset jack, 3MP camera with Kodak Perfect Touch technology, 512MB of internal memory, and a 2GB card.

SISTAR releases singles album Push Push

Starship Entertainment’s new girl group SISTAR has been getting a lot of hype as of late. The group consists of members Bora, Hyolyn, Dasom and Soyou.


Back in March, they made their first appearance through Ceci Magazine. Last week they released photos from their album jacket and earlier this week they released a MV Teaser for their title track Push Push. Now, the girls have released their first singles album!

This new girl group seems promising, Push Push is a very catchy track. Check out the tracks from the mini album below and keep an eye out for the MV.

SS501’s Kim Hyun Joong made a six pack in 2 weeks

SS501’s hot bod Kim Hyun Joong revealed a secret about his body that will leave you wishing you had it too.


A lot of the members in SS501 are known for having well-built bodies but it seems like Hyun Joong’s is special.

Kim Hyun Joong is known for having ripped off his shirt at a recent SS501 concert. How did he have the confidence to do so?

Verizon Wireless currently testing Apple iPads


According to a highly placed source of ours, Verizon Wireless is currently testing Apple iPad devices on their network. We have been told that the model they are testing is a CDMA-compatible device, and while our source mentioned LTE in some capacity (possibly another model), we haven’t been able to independently confirm that part of it. It would appear like the gates of heaven have opened, as we’re probably going to see not only an iPhone but also iPad on Verizon very soon, huh?

Mozilla shows Firefox on dialog-box diet

The venerable dialog box, long a staple of software design, faces extinction or at least endangered-species status in Firefox.

Mozilla designer Stephen Horlander has published Firefox interface mock-ups that illustrate how the browser could look with some options set through a preferences tab rather than through a preferences dialog box.


The designs are experimental, but some of the work is proceeding already. For example, Firefox's new interface for managing add-ons uses this "in-content" interface, and Firefox's about:config controls have appeared in a browser tab for years.

Intel demos Android 2.1 on Moorestown smartphone (video)


Intel's barking up all kinds of trees (ones planted by Qualcomm, NVIDIA and ARM) with its Moorestown Atom platform, and while it'll be quite some time before we see an Atom Inside sticker gracing the face of a smartphone, the company's making sure the world sees what it has ramped up so far with reference builds here in Taipei. Aava Mobile was kind enough to build a number of prototypes for Intel to showcase at Computex, and while the vast majority were running Moblin, a couple were humming along with Android 2.1 underneath. We were able to get our hands around one here at the show, and while performance seemed decent enough, it certainly didn't floor us any more than a 1GHz Snapdragon has in the past. Granted, we weren't able to seriously tax it due to having no internet connection and no pre-loaded HD multimedia, but casual users probably won't notice a significant boost in screen transitions. Don't take our word for it, though -- jump on past the break for a video of Intel doing Eclair.

Sookie & Eric Heat Up 'True Blood' Season 3 Trailer

Let the countdown begin. On Tuesday night, the 'True Blood' season 3 trailer finally debuted as part of the Ultimate True Blood Fan Experience, a 50-city event that also featured a live simulcast Q&A with series creator Alan Ball and cast members and a screening of the season 2 finale. By the looks of things, Sookie and Eric will be heating it up this season, while actress Evan Rachel Woods reprises her role as Sophie-Anne Leclerq. 'True Blood' premiers on June 13 on HBO with an episode titled 'Pack of Wolves.'


SNSD's Seohyun gained weight?

SNSD’s Seohyun’s recent weight gain ranks as the hot topic on various online sites! As seen through the photos of before and after above, it is difficult to familiarize her mature and pure image in the latter photo.


Fans who have seen these photos have commented, “Her cheeks have become chubby,” “She must’ve been tired. Her skin doesn’t look good as it was before,” “I don’t know where but I think her face changed.” Several fans have went on to defend Seohyun by saying, “She did not look like that during the dream concert or on the latest shows. Why make a big fuss over her slight weight gain?”

Honestly, I just think that that photo was an unfortunate one captured of her. Even if she did gain weight, at least it shows that she is eating properly and being healthy.

Microsoft: Windows Phone 7 not planned to hit tablets, Courier was always a concept


Microsoft has been all over Computex this week, and we caught a few minutes with the software giant's OEM vice pres Steve Guggenheimer (aka the Guggs) after his keynote this afternoon. Obviously, tablets were top of mind for us and he reinforced that Microsoft plans to push Windows 7 hard for the category, just as we have recently heard. "People are looking for a premium experience and the benefit of Windows familiarity," he said. When we asked him about Windows Phone 7 scaling up into the larger-screened devices or even a tablet version of Windows 7, he was quite firm in saying that the current PC offering is the platform of choice. He cited netbooks being the record for the company, and that people want to use slates not only for "content consumption," but also creation. On the other hand, Microsoft also has its Embeded Compact 7 for ARM-based tablets and devices.

Google Chrome OS confirmed for late-fall 2010

Google has announced that it expects the first Chrome OS netbooks to launch in late fall, with Sundar Pichai – head of the Chrome project – using Computex 2010 to narrow down the previous “second half of 2010″ window. As the search giant has hinted at previously, they plan on being careful in how Chrome OS is delivered; “We will be selective on how we come to market because we want to deliver a great user experience,” Pinchai said, “we’re thinking on both the hardware and software levels.”

While Microsoft has previously dismissed Google’s open-source OS ambitions, Pinchai reckons their reasoning – that developers would need to create new versions of apps, and may be reluctant to do so – is unfounded since Chrome OS has at its core a standards-compliant browser. ”You don’t need to redesign Gmail for it to work on Chrome. Facebook does not need to write a new app for Chrome” he suggested.

Another Foxconn Employee Dies, After Working 34-Hours Straight

Another death at Foxconn's Shenzhen factory, only this time it wasn't a suicide attempt, according to reports. Instead, the 28-year-old man (who'd only married his wife, above, three months ago) died from exhaustion.


That's what his family is claiming anyway, as no official statement has yet been issued describing how he died. Apparently Yan Li was suffering from shortness of breath, and died in his rental house after a massive 34-hour-long shift.

Microsoft Windows Embedded Compact 7 explained, trial download now available


Microsoft certainly made a bit of splash at Computex with the introduction of Windows Embedded Compact 7, but it's not necessarily the easiest thing to wrap your head around right off the bat (or say three times fast). Thankfully, Microsoft has now come through with a site that explains the new OS in detail (complete with videos), and a trial download that will let you get a sneak peek at it yourself. The short of it is that the OS is aimed at devices that don't need or aren't well suited to the full-fledged Windows 7 (or Windows Phone 7, for that matter) -- like the Eee Pad pictured above -- which, incidentally, seems to address one of the major concerns from folks like NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang. That added simplicity also means that the OS won't run regular Windows applications -- it is a successor to Windows CE, after all -- but Microsoft does at least promise a "streamlined developer experience." That's not to say the OS isn't capable in its own right, though -- it boasts a full-range of media playback capabilities (including MPEG-4 and HD video), built-in support for Silverlight for Windows Embedded and Flash 10.1, a customized version of Internet Explorer with full multitouch, support for Open GL ES 2.0, support for the latest ARM v7 architectures and, of course, "seamless" integration with Windows 7, to name just a few highlights. Still hungry for more details? Then hit up the source link for the complete rundown and Microsoft's videos, and for all the information you need to download the preview release.

BlackBerry Bold 9650 coming to Verizon Wireless on Thursday


Alright, BlackBerry fans. It’s time to double-check your bank balance and when you’re current contract is set to expire, as Verizon has just officially announced it will be releasing the BlackBerry Bold 9650 tomorrow, June 3rd. To be available online only for the first week, brick and mortar stores will begin selling the 9650 exactly one week later on June 10th. The cost? $149.99 on a 2-year contract after a $100 mail-in rebate. Not too shabby. Anyone planning on picking up the successor to the tuh-tuh-Tour?

Viliv X10 tablet takes on iPad with 1080p, HDMI & more


We’ve a soft spot for Viliv, since the Korean company have actually managed to get more than one MID and/or tablet device onto the market rather than just push out renders, and so the company’s new Viliv X10 slate is all the more interesting. LaptopMag grabbed some hands-on time with the 10-inch 1366 x 768 16:9 capacitive touchscreen tablet, complete with an unspecified ARM-based processor that’s 1080p HD capable. Connectivity puts the iPad in the shade, too, with HDMI, an SD card reader, USB and WiFi, and Viliv reckon there’ll be options for 3G and WiMAX too.

Interestingly, while Viliv were showing an Android-based X10 – running OS 2.1 for Computex, but getting OS 2.2 Froyo in time for the slate’s launch – Microsoft had the same hardware running Windows 7 at their booth. No word on whether it will be offered alongside the Android model, or was just put together to bolster Microsoft’s line-up.

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