Early plans for Microsoft store leaked

Microsoft confirmed late on Friday that store plans posted on Gizmodo are genuine, but represent the company's early thinking and that no final decisions have been made on how the company's retail stores will look when the first ones open this fall.

The designs, which include a giant video wall, Surface computers, and an "answer bar" were leaked to the gadget site, which wrote about them earlier Friday.

"As a part of our process in briefing creative agencies, we shared some early prototypes and concepts of our retail store plans," a Microsoft representative said in a statement to CNET News. "No final decisions have been made. As we previously announced, we are on track to open retail stores this fall."
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Two USB drives in a one package

I've seen a lot of designs for USB drives: The nerdy one, the credit card one, the key one, the prosthetic finger one, and the San Francisco cable car one. You've probably seen even more.

Now there's another one to add to the repertoire: A double-sided USB drive that's called the Split Stick.

Announced by Quirky, the Split Stick does just want its name states: It splits its storage into two. This is essentially two storage drives put into one housing. You can use one side for personal files and the other for work-related files.

Quirky is a community that engages participants to collaborate on product creation, where people can summit their ideas about different products. The Split Stick is the sixth product designed and developed by the Quirky community since its debut on June 2.
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iPhone and OS X to get AVG antivirus in 2010

For antivirus software maker AVG, the iPhone not only needs software to protect it from malware, but is on course to get some, hopefully by the end of 2010.

In an interview with CNET UK, JR Smith, CEO of AVG (pictured), discussed his vision for producing antimalware software for Apple's tellingbone, and also revealed to us that a full AVG desktop product will be coming to OS X next year.

"I'd love to see it towards the end of next year," Smith said of an AVG product for iPhone OS. "Really, it's less about AV [and more to do with] protecting and stopping anything from getting on there, in real-time. [Malware creators] will use the Web to propagate on to these devices as much as they possibly can."
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Vista Home Basic: Upgrade to Windows 7 without losing your data

In most Windows 7 coverage, Vista Home Basic users are left out because Microsoft does not offer a direct upgrade path to Windows 7. For this group of consumers, switching to the upcoming operating system (OS) requires a clean reinstall. However, this poses a problem. Besides the tedium of having to manually download and install drivers for the new OS, certain bundled programs such as media players or proprietary power management software are available only in the recovery CDs and cannot be downloaded.

But there is an alternative. If you upgrade Vista Home Basic to Home Premium for S$274.29 (US$197.54), you are eligible for a free copy of the Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade CD when it launches in October 22. This will allow you to keep your drivers and programs from your Vista Home Basic all the way to the new OS. However, though Microsoft claims that most Vista hardware drivers and software will work in Windows 7, there may still be compatibility issues. As such, we cannot guarantee that all your components and applications will port flawlessly to the new OS after the upgrade. we'd advise checking with your hardware vendor before performing the OS upgrade.
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Stream your digital audio with Creative's Sound Blaster Wireless for iTunes

Creative released the Sound Blaster Wireless for iTunes (US$150) this week , which allows music to be wirelessly streamed from a computer to the wireless adapter, using only USB dongle. According to a press release from Creative, the system works with virtually any music source, not just iTunes, on both Macs and PCs.

The Sound Blaster Wireless looks similar to Logitech's discontinued Wireless Music System for PC in that it enables you to stream audio from your PC using a simple USB transmitter. The transmitter, which appears to be about the size of a thumb drive, promises to work with any music software and service, including iTunes, Windows Media Player, Rhapsody, Pandora, and Last.fm. You can then stream music to the included receiver, which comes bundled with the device, and has both a headphone and left/right speaker outputs. The transmitter is also compatible with the Creative's own GigaWorks T20W speakers with built-in wireless receivers.
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