Amazon have informed me they are having a stock clearance sale on their site, might be a great time to buy something before its gone

full details here --> http://www.amazon.co.uk/Clearance/b/...94&tag=dcemu21 ...

The future of the Zune as a standalone media player is still a little in doubt, but its future of being able to send crucially important e-mails and, in return, get a boatload of spam is now fully assured. A free e-mail app has been added to the Zune Marketplace supporting Gmail, Windows Live Mail, and of course good 'ol POP3 accounts. Unfortunately all we have to gaze upon is that tiny screenshot over on the right, but it certainly looks familiar enough to fit right into the Zune ecosphere without making any waves. Just make sure you don't go looking for your Steely Dan collection inside the unread folder.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/02/z...aiting-on-a-f/



...

Reports suggest that Microsoft has stopped introducing new versions of the Zune media player, although it will continue to use the software technology in its other hardware devices.
According to an unnamed sourced speaking to Bloomberg, Microsoft will now concentrate on using Zune software on its Windows Phone 7 line and on the Xbox 360, as the Zune hardware is gradually phased out.
Never released outside of North America, the Zune project was headed by former Xbox frontman J Allard. The first product was released to market in 2006, but never broke into the list of the top five-selling media players - where Apple then held a 77 per cent market dominance.
Responding to Bloomberg's article Microsoft refused to confirm or deny the story: "We have nothing to announce about another Zune device - but most recently have introduced Zune HD to Canada via the Zune Originals store and remain committed to supporting our devices in North America.
"We are thrilled by the consumer excitement for Zune across many new platforms, including Windows Phone 7 and Xbox 360. Our long-term strategy focuses on the strength of the entire Zune ecosystem across Microsoft platforms," added the company.
Bloomberg's source suggests that Zune hardware will continue to be sold in the short term, but that no new versions are expected following 2009's Zune HD.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-zune-hardware
...

Zune hasn't gotten much love from Microsoft as of late, but that might change over time -- ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley noticed that the company is staffing up for a cloud-based multimedia project (by a group known as "Ventura Media Services") directed at PCs, TVs and mobile devices. "The team is a tight group of music and video lovers that create services and experiences revolving around music/video discovery and consumption," read a series of job postings that date back at least as far as July of 2010, calling for software developers in Beijing and Redmond who are familiar with the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. (Two of them have "Zune" in the job title.) While it's hard to say if this project is a major focus for Microsoft no matter how often the job posting says "large scale" (we count four times) it'd definitely be nice to have some competition for Google and Apple when they start drawing the multimedia-streaming battle lines.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/08/m...-platform-hav/ ...

News via http://www.zuneboards.com/forums/dow...r-zune-hd.html

Name: Liberate
Version: 1.6.2 (Wi-Fi timeout fixed)
Author: Netrix, Microsoft (explorer.exe and wceload.exe)
Licenses: 'Free to distribute and modify, provided that credit is given' and Microsoft Windows Embedded CE 6.0 Shared Source License (explorer.exe and wceload.exe)

This app liberates your Zune HD's display to allow you to run applications and games that render using GDI, DirectDraw or OpenGL ES 2.0. However, many things will not work without adding additional libraries that they need in order to run. (The most common ones are included.)

To find software that has been found to work so far, please see the Liberate Compatibility List. If you find that software that works, please add it to the table.

Anything that was made to work on Windows CE devices (StrongARM or ARM CPU) has a chance of working. If it was made for MIPS or SH3/SH4, it will definitely not work. Also, Windows Mobile software might work, but has a much lower chance of working.

Users can use the File Deployer to deploy their own files to use with Liberate. Just add your files to the Content folder, and deploy it. It will run automatically. Your files will be deployed to /Flash2/Files. A shortcut to that folder will appear on the Liberate desktop after running File Deployer, however rebooting will cause the shortcut to disappear. Your files will stay in /Flash2/Files and you will still be able to access them by double-tapping "My Device", "Flash2", then "Files".

Developers could create OpenZDK games/apps (or port existing software) that use GDI or OpenGL ES 2.0 and create a shortcut in Start -> Programs so users could run this app, then launch software through the Start menu.

Update:
-Added Wi-Fi timeout fix. (Thanks to svxs.)
-Enabled multi-touch and accelerometer use within Liberate through a service. (Refer to the Multi-touch test to see how it is done).
-Any CABs can now be installed by double-tapping them.
-Two touches cause the next single touch to be a right-click. Three touches disable/enable this functionality.

Yet to come: (in likely order)
-Backing up of Start menu shortcuts.
-Backing up of apps' Registry entries.
-More options for right-clicking.

Note: When the app is run, Explorer will show and then after a few seconds, the screen will become black for a second. Try not to touch the screen while it is black. If you do touch it, it will stay black. In that case, simply press the Home button once to fix it. Also, avoid pressing the Home button when the screen is not black or holding the power button (except to reboot the Zune), as doing so might cause the input to stop working.

Regarding CABs:
To install them, double-click them. Install them to a folder on /Flash2, otherwise the files will disappear after rebooting and they might not even install properly.

If it says there is not enough space, click "no" and install it anyway. If it says that it is not compatible (but the program is supposed to be compatible with ARM), install it anyway.

If it says that it is "not a valid Windows CE setup file", that probably because it is compressed. In that case, you would need to find one that is not compressed, or try extracting the files with MSCEInf and see if they work.

Downloads:
Liberate v1.6.2.zip
Liberate v1.6.2 Source.zip
File Deployer v1.0.2.zip
File Deployer v1.0.1 Source.zip ...

News via http://www.zuneboards.com/forums/dow...ke-v1-0-a.html

This is my first foray into ZuneHD gaming and also my first publicly released game. All of the credits are given on the instruction page. It's completely functional and looks pretty good (thanks to CobaltHex).

I have a few ideas as to where it could go next, especially as far as convenience, but suggestions are welcome as well as reports of glitches.

You may notice a flicker of the number score the first time you view it. This is not your device, and it doesn't seem to be a result of my programming. It does not mean anything is wrong, at all.

Here are a few screenshots:



Finally, here are the download links. Have Fun!

Deployer: ZuneSnake Deployer v1.0.zip
Source Code + Deployer: ZuneSnake v1.0.zip ...

I have posted a new announcement throughout the forums for everyone who is unfamiliar with DCEmu's new way of handling news. I know a lot of coders and contributors were unsure on how to get their stuff on the front page so I thought I'd write a quick guide to using DCEmu's fantastic new CMS for posting front page news and releases.

Check it Out ...