In a blog post earlier this month that didn't raise any eyebrows at the time it was released, Microsoft Windows Deployment team leader Chris Hernandez posted the results of an internal company study gauging the amount of time required by different profiles of Windows Vista-based computers for an upgrade to Windows 7. According to Hernandez' numbers -- which did not surprise me in the least; in fact, at the time, I didn't think they were significant enough to highlight here in Betanews -- Hernandez' team estimated it could take as much as 20 and one-half hours to complete a Windows 7 upgrade, for an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600-based system with 4 GB of DRAM, and a 1 TB Western Digital hard drive full of 650 GB of data, including 40 pre-installed applications. (For the record, that hardware profile is very much like the system I use for testing Web browsers.)

Hernandez' objective was to demonstrate that it takes less time to upgrade to Windows 7 than it did to upgrade from XP to Vista, usually on the order of 5%.

Nine is supposed to be greater than four. But when it comes to iTunes 9 and Zune 4, four is more. You disagree? That's what comments are for.

Microsoft released highly anticipated Zune 4 software today -- New Music Tuesday -- one week after Apple debuted iTunes 9. Zune HD also is available today, but I don't have the music player for testing.

We're standing on the cusp of a new chapter in video game history: the era of microgames, where titles $10 and under take on a starring role, and attach rates (that is, games sold per console) skyrocket.

The charge is being led by Apple with its iPhone and iPod Touch, two devices without gaming as their stated purpose, both of which have found unmatched success in the downloadable gaming industry. The other video game consoles have their own "app stores," where games can be downloaded directly to the system, but none have reached the heights that the iTunes App Store has...yet.

With the October 22 rollout of Microsoft's new operating system now little over a month away, Lenovo today introduced portable PCs with two unique screen options: a multitouch screen, enhanced by a new application called SimpleTap, plus a super bright screen visible even under the sunniest skies.

Lenovo is offering the new multiscreen technology with both its T400s laptop and X200 tablet PC. The super bright screens, however, will be available only with the X200 tablets, said Mika Majapura, worldwide segment manager for ThinkPad X-series, in a briefing for Betanews.

In the first public record of the contents of private European Commission hearings last July 22, only now being published (PDF available here), Intel defended itself against the EC's charge that it engaged in exclusionary conduct within the EU's boundaries. According to the official record, Intel argued that the EC failed to meet its own burden of proof -- specifically, the company said the Commission could not prove that Intel's alleged conduct actually did result in reduced competition.

If Intel is only guilty of intent to be anti-competitive, then the formula the EC used to compute its fines against the company of €1.06 billion, may not be applicable.

Call me crazy, but aren't Web apps just a kind of reversion back to the "Mobile Web" that was so furiously chastised when the full Web browsing experience came to smartphones?

I understand that our modern Web Apps are being rendered by a "desktop browser" engine, and not some junky WAP browser circa 2002, but I can't help but feel that an "application" designed specifically for a mobile phone's browser is the same thing as a Web site stripped down to mobile phone size and speed.

Just about four months after the WiMAX Forum published its White Paper on WiMAX Roaming Models, leading network provider Clearwire has announced its first international roaming partners: Russia's Yota and Japan's UQ.

This is an important step for Clearwire because even though the company has the largest footprint of any single WiMAX operator in the world contained here in the United States, WiMAX is spreading much more quickly in the rest of the world.

When a Web site takes reasonable measures to prevent the distribution of unauthorized videos, it's protected from infringement of copyright. That's the finding once again in another case against another of the "other" video sites, Veoh, which has been taken to court before and which has prevailed before.

This time, Universal Music Group alleged that Veoh did not do all that it could to prevent the spread of music videos uploaded by individuals, containing music belonging to UMG's portfolio. In a ruling in US District Court for Central California today, Judge A. Howard Matz upheld a lower court's finding, and sided with findings in other cases against Veoh. In a summary judgment requested by Veoh, the court ruled that it's protected by the "safe harbor" provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

One year ago, Lehman Brothers failed, setting off a disastrous downturn in the global economy. For the United States, there is no recovery in sight -- or so I assert. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is right to call any recovery a "reset" to a lower level. One question to ask: What is Microsoft's position -- and that of some other high-tech companies -- now compared to September 2008?

Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy a year ago today, Sept. 14, 2008. On Sept. 12, 2008, Microsoft's market capitalization exceeded Walmart: $252.18 billion to $245.52 billion, respectively. Metaphorically, Lehman Brothers' collapse pulled water from the shore, before sending a mountainous tsunami through global stock markets. The Sept. 29, 2008, U.S. stock market collapse washed away billions of dollars in public company value. That day, Barron's compiled a Top 10 list of tech losers, which combined shed $111 billion in market capitalization.

Last week, in what was probably an intentional promotional ploy, Microsoft showed off to some of its 40,000 employees and close colleagues, during an employee rally at Seattle's Safeco Field, some features of what it was touting as "Bing 2.0," with a warning that users everywhere could start to see these features go live as soon as today. While there is no official word of a "Bing 2.0" launch, one new feature has gone live today, and not quietly -- its curtain was officially raised during a ceremony at the TechCrunch50 conference in San Francisco today.

Visual Search is being described as a way to search for items by sight instead of by text. Shoppers will be able to locate digital cameras, for example, says Microsoft, by way of "an engaging visual experience without having to sort through page after page of links."

If you're one of those who have been waiting for a miraculous transformation at Palm, I worry you may be waiting forever. As much as I want the company to survive and thrive, to come back from a near-death experience driven by lack of compelling new products and the worst case of corporate ADHD this side of Motorola, I have a growing sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that it's just not going to happen.

This past June (ancient history in this business), I wrote about Palm's prospects as it launched its first webOS-powered smartphone, the Pre. At the time, I expressed optimism that the company had finally shaken its years-long funk to bring out a fresh, modern take on converged, wireless devices. I kept my fingers crossed that this slick new smartphone, packed full of fresh thinking, would help customers get over years of neglect and lost opportunity. Palm, after all, defined the PDA market in the late '90s, and later hit it big with one of the most successful early smartphones, the Treo. I wasn't alone in wishing it could recapture its mojo.

Many iPhone users today are reporting that they can now send and receive MMS messages, as AT&T promised to do by September 25 through software a software update.

While a lot of users now have MMS, for every single one who has confirmed his functionality upgrade on Twitter, there are five more asking how they check if they have it, what they have to do to get it, and what areas so far have gotten the update.

A recent Intel television ad uses the slogan, "Our rock stars aren't like your rock stars," and features Ajay Bhatt, a long-time company engineer who led the project to create USB. But during the company's conferences such as IDF where the execs are expected to really rock the house, it's been Pat Gelsinger -- who has held the title CTO at the senior vice president level -- who typically draws the crowd. Besides CEO Paul Otellini, Gelsinger has been the company's most visible and charismatic leader.

As of today, Gelsinger is no longer with Intel, having officially jumped ship to become President and COO of a company whose ability to "rock" ranks right up there with Lawrence Welk: EMC, the storage systems company whose acquisition of storage rock-star Iomega last year put a damper on that party as well.

Swirling amid the murky Apple rumor pit prior to last week's iPod refresh event was talk of an updated Apple TV, thanks to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster's observation that 40 GB Apple TVs were in low availability.

Today, the 40 GB Apple TV model has been removed from Apple's site entirely, and Munster's prediction of an Apple TV lineup change has come true. Now, there's only one Apple TV unit available: the 160 GB model, and that has dropped $100 in price.

Today, LG officially announced its Android-based GW620 slider, the same 3-inch touchscreen device that was shown off at IFA in Germany under the name "Etna" last week. Though LG didn't release any in-depth specs for the new Android phone, the company said it will be released in select European markets in the fourth quarter of the year.

But the specs of the GW620 aren't the important news with this release. The important news is that three of the top five worldwide mobile phone manufacturers -- Samsung, Motorola, and LG -- have each announced their own Android-based device. Samsung debuted the Galaxy in April; last week, Motorola premiered the the Cliq, and now with LG's GW620 on the way, it's time to look for an Android-based Xperia from Sony Ericsson.