The apple Ipod now has fierce competition from it's microsoft counterpart, The Zune. Mirosoft's answer to portable media and entertainment, the Zune was designed to be used with an online music store such as Ipod's Itunes. Zune quite frankly is the heavy weight underdog in the ring with the undisputed champion, The Ipod. With an extended viewing area and Wi-fi Zune to Zune access, The Zune is becoming the favorite runner up with the possibility to take out the competition. Those Apple Ipod users need to know, the Zune shows more maturity than one might think!

According to microsoft, The Zune connects to their version of the Itunes store called the Zune marketplace. microsoft has announced that it will purchase songs from Ipod users who are switching over in an effort to get them to convert sides in this portable multimedia war. Zune's marketplace places strong emphasis on the indie rock band as well as featuring tons of local artists. Music provided for the Zune marketplace is taken care of by big giants such as EMI, Warner Music Group, Sony BMG and Universal Music Group. Apple's storefront continues to grow in it's selection, however, With microsoft lavishing advertising dollars to buy Ipod users songs, Apple better not turn a blind eye to the supremacy microsoft is trying to set.

If Microsoft's extended marketplace was not enough, then letting users connect their Zune's to their xbox 360's just might sweeten the deal. Allowing the users to download their songs directly to their 360 is a rather genius move on Microsoft's part. You do not have to create two separate playlists when Zune user's can create it on their PC's once and once only. This can only supplement your party tricks as you can use the xbox visualizations as party eye candy without having to set up your music all over again on your xbox. With the Zune's player compatibility with it's cousin the xbox, downloading and sharing music throughout your home will be simply standard for any serious household entertainment system.

The reality of the situation, however, will lead users paying monthly for their Zune marketplace subscription. Songs can either be bought individually or have an unlimited download option for just a few extra dollars. With premium content and an emphasis on local artists, finding what you want to listen too will be a no brainer hassle. On the swing side, there are other distribution networks that only require a one time fee for an unlimited lifetime of downloads. These programs range in their prices and quality but still offer a gold standard in comparison to the Zune's default network. Having used Microsoft's store, users are continually switching to these options as viable sources to keep their Zunes and their wallets full. For a complete listing of these programs that offer the most, visit

¶ 10:33 AM 0 comments

xbox 360 is the next generation of the microsoft xbox. The xbox 360 can easily be compared to a computer designed for gamming. Most of the games available work on most of the newer microsoft platforms, (windows).

xbox 360

There are two versions of the xbox 360, the "xbox 360" and the "xbox 360 Core system".

The most important difference between the two is the detachable 20 Gb hard drive. This makes the use of previous xbox games possible.
As well as to play original xbox game, the xbox 360 enable you to play online.
The new xbox 360 offers very attractive incentives for game developers to release new titles.

Technical background

The xbox 360 can easily be compared to a media computer. The graphic card is a powerful ATI 500 MHz chip with 10MB of memory built on the chip.

The CPU itself, (actually 3 processors), is a 3.2GHz liquid cooled IBM using 512MB of memory, (shared between the graphics and the CPU).

The more expensive xbox 360 has a removable 20GB hard drive and both system use a 12x dvd-ROM unit. Up to four controllers can be connected to the machine, all wirelessly, and there are three standard usb 2.0 port too.

As a rule of thumb, what ever you can plug in your Windows XP machine usb port can be plugged into the xbox 360. That includes MP3 players, (like the iPod), digital cameras and so on.
This makes the xbox 360 a very powerful tool to add.

How many games are really available?

The xbox 360 was launched late 2005, (Xbox was discontinued in august that year), and there are well over 200 games available from the previous version.
As mentioned above only the version with the detachable hard-drive allows you to use the previous games created for xbox.
Otherwise the current xbox 360 only has about 15 games solely developed for the xbox 360. But with the microsoft muscle behind it, game developers are likely to rapidly develop new games for it.

Get a more detailed info on the Xbox 360.

¶ 1:12 AM 0 comments

The average golfer will hit many bad shots in a round but that does not need to be the case. Get a head start on your buddies with these two easy but effective drills that could reduce your errors by over half.

Commitment Builder

This simple drill works on making sure you totally commit yourself through the ball. A major fault of many amateur golfers is their inclination to come off the shot. This simply means not committing yourself all the way through the impact zone. Contact, after this fault has occurred is rarely solid. This basic drill is an effective way of improving your impact position and encouraging you to extend through the ball. The way to correct this is just place a tee about 6 inches in front of your ball (using a driver) and imagine you are trying to hit another ball off that tee.

Taking The club Back Smoothly

Seventy five percent of the average players bad shots are caused by getting out of position on the backswing. He or she gets out of position mainly for two reasons. Grabbing the club at the start of the backswing and starting back abruptly. When you take the club away from the ball abruptly, you destroy your normal tempo. This of course invariably leads to getting into improper position on the backswing. experience has taught me that whenever I hit a bad shot, its due to the fact that I put myself into a bad position on the backswing.

Thus the importance of starting the clubhead back smoothly from the ball cant be overemphasized. For the average golfer, this smooth takeaway is largely a matter of concentration. Before starting your backswing, you must think just what you want your hands to do with the club. This same discipline applies to grabbing the club at the start; you have to concentrate on not doing it. The average player is often too impatient. He is thinking of hitting the ball before he even gets the club back. A smooth takeaway, I might add, is just as important in putting as in driving. Youll find youll yip far fewer putts.

So, by following these two simple and easy drills, you could significantly reduce the number of bad shots you play on the golf course and lower your score.

Visit Think and Reach Par for more great free golf tips and advice,, or maybe treat yourself or the golfer in your life to a golf birthday gift like the Body Golf series.

¶ 12:37 AM 0 comments