Microsoft and Viacom unit MTV have announced they plan to develop a joint digital music service called Urge for 2006.
The companies have revealed few details regarding the new service’s pricing, availability, or technical implementation, save that the companies expect the service to feature more than 2 million tracks for download from both major music distributors and independent labels, as well as original content and material produced for MTV Networks. Urge is expected to debut in the U.S. during 2006.
The companies plan to integrate Urge into a new version of Microsoft Windows Media Player, which may raise the spectre of antitrust issues for the Redmond software company, which recently settled antitrust allegations involving RealNetworks’ alternative music player and music services for $761 million. RealNetworks operates Rhapsody music subscription service; Urge would also potentially be competing with Apple’s market-leading iTunes Music Store, Yahoo Music, and possibly Microsoft’s own MSN Music service. Tying Urge to Windows Media Player could also mean Urge may only be available on the Windows platform.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.