You can also add four 2-terabyte hard drives from the factory, for $550 a pop ($350 to upgrade the default drive to 2TB). Unfortunately, this is not an architectural change, just a speed bump. [AppleStore—Thanks Michael Fisher]

The Android 2.0.1 update should be out by the end of the year, but Droid owners (the only ones lucky enough to play with Android 2.0 at the moment) will also get an OTA update with a few Droid-specific fixes. We're told these include improved camera autofocus (thank God) and better voice reception (although in my experience the Droid's reception is stellar). We'll let you know when it's released, which should be before New Years. [Android via Engadget]

You'll be able to share game trophy and progress info, plus PlayStation store purchases on your Facebook news feed, and deeper integration is expected down the road. [PR NewsWire and Sony via Kotaku]

Firmware 3.10 also includes:

• The Photo category on the XMB has been revamped to make it easier to see more of your photos stored on the PS3.
• The PSN Friends List has been modified based on feedback we received after update 3.00. Additionally, you can now choose a color for your PSN ID on the XMB.

The update is actually pretty cool, as far as such things go, peppering status updates with Trophy information, purchases, and other in-game data that the developers can choose to include. It's a pretty minor update, really, but also includes better photo browsing and, um, different colored PlayStation Network profiles. Sweet, I guess. [Kotaku]

Apparently, a Microsoft spokesperson has confirmed that "you will not need to reinstall an older version of Windows before using an Windows 7 upgrade disk." Awesome right? No, not really. The problem is that you will not be able keep your current programs and data using this method. Instead, you are performing a "custom installation" that will herd all of your personal files into a folder labled "WINDOWS.OLD." The items in that folder are dead to the world, so you will have to reinstall—essentially making it more like a fresh install than an upgrade. However, since you don't have a full copy you would have to install XP or Vista first then upgrade to Win 7 should you ever have to reinstall down the line.

Yeah, it's kind of a hassle, but it is a little better than how the Vista RC upgrade was handled at least. Back then, you had to install a fresh copy of XP then upgrade to Vista. [TechBlog / Image via Aeroxp]

As we reported earlier, retail pricing puts the Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade at $50 with the Windows 7 Professional upgrade costing $100. Costco will give you $5 savings on each, putting Home Premium at $45 and Pro at $95. That's a 10% savings on Home Premium and a 5% savings on Pro...or about enough to take a healthy bite out of sales tax. [Costco Thanks Brian!]

UPDATE: They pulled the page we linked and jacked up the price. Lame.

AT&T's just loosened the restrictions in order to allow people to who are on the verge of being able to upgrade to do so now. If you're like most people who upgraded to the 3G last year at launch, you'll have to check your eligibility online to see if you qualify. If it doesn't fall within those three months, you'll have to wait until whatever date it says on your account.

I have the iPhone 3G—by the way, I paid an extra $500 deposit on top of the price tag because I didn't have US credit history back then—and I don't qualify for a subsidised upgrade. I have to finish my contract first, then renew to qualify for the subsidy. If I was in Spain or anywhere else in the world, it will be the same.

But I am not whining. Not because I am a fanboy—I hate AT&T with a passion—but because there are no logical arguments to support the whining.

Sure, it sucks to be me and pay almost-full price for the iPhone 3GS, but that's how life is. You don't get a reduced price on your new notebook just because you bought the old model a year ago. You don't get reduced price on cars, or anything else.

The fact is that the $199/$299 price tag for the iPhone is the result of AT&T's—or any other carrier, since the situation is the same all around the world—subsidy. Without subsidy—and tying you to a new two year contract—the iPhone is not different from something like the Nokia N97, which is $700 unlocked. Or the contract-free, unsubsidized iPhone 3G itself: The iPhone 3G costs $770 and $877 unlocked for the 8 and 16GB versions.

I hate to defend AT&T or any other carrier. I hate their guts. All of them. Their monthly fees are highway robbery, yes. Their roaming charges are unjustified and just outrageous. And while you—and I—may think that you are entitled to a discount because of those fees, that doesn't make much sense. I'm afraid that, this time, they are right. And on top of that, your carrier is actually giving you a discount already. Tiny, but compared to the full price of the unsubsidized iPhone, it's there.

You better get used to this too. These smart phones are really computers. And as applications get more and more complex—especially games—you will want to have the latest and fastest, whether is iPhone, Android, Palm, Windows Mobile, or Blackberry. Just like you upgrade your notebook or desktop computer or video game console.

With all of those brands, the situation will be exactly the same. Without a subsidy, you will keep paying full price for these tiny and wonderful machines. All of them. And that price will stay at around $600 for a long time to come. It happened before, and it's not going to change.

In other words: Drive through, people. Nothing to see here. If you are not happy, get a Pre. And when Pre 2 appears, jump back to the iPhone. If you must have something new because your ADD has got you tired of last year technology, then get Android, Pre, or whatever. But don't expect any company to give you discounted hardware when the next generation of Smartypantsphone X comes.

Or better yet: Don't buy a new phone. Who cares about "new." Does your iPhone 3G work now? Yes? Then get the free iPhone OS 3.0 and enjoy the speed boost from optimization and the rest of the apps. In this economy, you will do yourself a favor. This is exactly what I am doing.

In the meantime, do the rest of the world a favor and stop whining about what you are entitled to. We don't live in your pretty me me me ME world.

The big news is the adoption of Via's C7-M chip, with clock speeds between 400MHz and 1GHz, that'll add new possibilities like HD decoding and surround sound. But that's not the end of the upgrades.

XO-1's memory should get a bump to 1GB, and its storage will get pushed to 4GB or even 8GB as an option. The upgrade, which is being referred to as the XO-1.5 rather than a totally new model, should start shipping in late August. [OLPC News]

There are a lot of new toys for developers, including some kind of emulator configuration thing called Android Virtual Devices, or AVDs, that apparently will make developers' lives way easier. That's cool for them, but what do we get?

April 2009

The Android 1.5 platform introduces many new features for users and developers. The list below provides an overview of the changes.
User interface refinements

* System-wide:
o Refinement of all core UI elements
o Animated window transitions (off by default)
o Accelerometer-based application rotations
* UI polish for:
o In-call experience
o Contacts, Call log, and Favorites
o SMS & MMS
o Browser
o Gmail
o Calendar
o Email
o Camera & Gallery
o Application management

Performance improvements

* Faster Camera start-up and image capture
* Much faster acquisition of GPS location (powered by SUPL AGPS)
* Smoother page scrolling in Browser
* Speedier GMail conversation list scrolling

New features

* On-screen soft keyboard
o Works in both portrait and landscape orientation
o Support for user installation of 3rd party keyboards
o User dictionary for custom words
* Home screen
o Widgets
+ Bundled home screen widgets include: analog clock, calendar, music player, picture frame, and search
o Live folders
* Camera & Gallery
o Video recording
o Video playback (MPEG-4 & 3GP formats)
* Bluetooth
o Stereo Bluetooth support (A2DP and AVCRP profiles)
o Auto-pairing
o Improved handsfree experience
* Browser
o Updated with latest Webkit browser & Squirrelfish Javascript engines
o Copy 'n paste in browser
o Search within a page
o User-selectable text-encoding
o UI changes include:
+ Unified Go and Search box
+ Tabbed bookmarks/history/most-visited screen
* Contacts
o Shows user picture for Favorites
o Specific date/time stamp for events in call log
o One-touch access to a contact card from call log event
* System
o New Linux kernel (version 2.6.27)
o SD card filesystem auto-checking and repair
o SIM Application Toolkit 1.0
* Google applications
o View Google Talk friends' status in Contacts, SMS, MMS, GMail, and Email applications
o Batch actions such as archive, delete, and label on Gmail messages
o Upload videos to Youtube
o Upload photos on Picasa

Whoa. Soft keyboard, widgets, video recording (with YouTube uploading capabilities!), updated browser features like tabs, system-wide UI polishing... This is a killer upgrade. So, uh, thanks, Google! [Phandroid, thanks trigatch!]

The new update, referred to both as firmware version 1.1 and also "RC33" brings Voice Search, Google Latitude, and improvements to the update process in Android market (one of our G2/Android wishes has come true!), on top of bug fixes, etc. MobileCrunch has an easy guide to follow: don't forget to heed their warnings and back up any important files on your phone first.

Word to the wise though-you may want to hold off on this until tomorrow, because this Saturday's Giz how-to guide will give you all the new RC33 1.1 update PLUS several nicer surprises that are worth holding out for. So consider yourself warned, and come back tomorrow! [MobileCrunch]

A similar program was initiated just before the transition from XP to Vista to prevent a slowdown in sales, so it looks like the mid-2009 target for WIndows 7 is still on track. [Techarp via Sillcon Alley Insider]

T-Mobile warns that the manual upgrade isn't officially supported, so if you bork your G1 you're probably screwed, but it seems pretty foolproof. There's a big ol' thread discussing it at the T-Mobile forums, and users are reporting forcing the upgrade with no problems. It's not clear what kind of goodies the update brings, but if you're bored and a tiny bit risky, have at it. [MobileCrunch]

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