If you haven’t spent your economic stimulus check yet, or you’re just looking for some bargains to ring in July 4th with, head over to PCMag.com to check out columnist (and all around awesome lady) Jen DeLeo’s column, Cheap Tech: The 20 Best Products Under $100.

She’s got a bunch of awesome gear that I wouldn’t have expected, too - a lot of really sweet stuff, like the Blackberry 8800, the 16GB Corsair Flash Voyager GT flash drive, and the Canon Powershot A460, that are all under a hundred bucks! So if you’re shopping for a new cell phone, a new digital camera, or some other nifty computer accessory, check out these July 4th deals and shop from home, instead of heading out to some stuffy car dealership!

[ PCMag :: Cheap Tech: The 20 Best Products Under $100 ]

Love your Starbucks coffee? Maybe those awesome breakfast muffins and wraps they have? Yeah, I do too. I also love the music they usually play in Starbucks, and wind up wishing I could get my hands on it. I’ve been known to peer at the CDs that most Starbucks have for sale while my coffee is being prepared, and to look interestedly at the iTunes gift cards that usually live in front of or next to the registers.

Well, according to the fine folks at the Cult of Mac blog, Starbucks is tired of taking the monetary hit that comes with trying to sell physical CDs in this market, and all of those things - with the exception obviously of the coffee and snacks - will be gone from most Starbucks stores by September. So say goodbye to all of the Motown compliations and Jazz CDs that adorn the displays next to the cashier.

The move isn’t entirely unexpected; Starbucks’s financial position has floundered a bit last year, and executives and shareholders are eager for the company to focus on what it knows how to do exceptionally well, and that’s make coffee. They’re not particularly interested in being the potential harbinger for a new age in decentralized music sales, for example.

That being said, Starbucks said they are interested in possibly taking their music sales online, a possibilty I would strongly encourage them to look into. I’ve always loved the music in Starbucks stores, and while I can’t say I frequently purchased their CDs (thus proving the point that they should stop selling them), I have lingered in a Starbucks with my laptop long enough grooving to a song that I would consider hitting up the iTunes music store and downloading a song from a Starbucks featured music page if the song I were hearing in-store were available.

[ Silicon Alley Insider :: Starbucks (SBUX) Dumping CDs, iTunes Gift Cards (AAPL) ]

The fine folks at Lifehacker have an amazing wrap up on ways to get files that you may have accidentally deleted back without having to resort to an expensive software suite that may or may not work.

Most commercial file recovery applications do essentially the same things that most free applications do, perhaps with a cleaner interface and some real-time file protection. Even so, keep hope! If you’re prone to accidentally deleting files that you realize a moment or two later that you really should have kept, there are ways to maximize the chances that you’ll get those files back in good order without having to pay a cent for the apps that’ll get them back for you.

First and foremost - whenever you realize you deleted something you actually need, stop working - the less you do the higher your chances that your system won’t overwrite the space on your drive where the file actually lived. From there, Adam Pash (Lifehacker Editor) has some tips on how you can find the right application to try and save that file. And when it’s all said and done and you actually do get that file back? Adam also has some tips to help make sure you don’t wind up in this situation again - and yes, part of that advice is settling down your itchy delete finger.

[ Lifehacker :: How to Recover Deleted Files with Free Software ]

Ah, another chapter in the “DRM Sucks” book. Microsoft, now all but finished screwing over its music customers (and no, I don’t mean with the very invention of the Zune - ZING!) with the fact that the Zune is crippled from a music sharing perspective and doesn’t support their own PlaysForSure DRM, has now announced that their old MSN Music service - the one that they’d rather scrap entirely instead of roll into the Zune Marketplace, is going away.

It was bad enough when MSN Music purchasers, whose music was loaded down with PlaysForSure, discovered that they couldn’t copy that music up to their shiny new brown Zune, and that they’d be out in the cold there. Now, the license servers that allow them to authorize computers to play the music they paid for are going under as well, which means that MSN Music owners will never be able to authorize another computer to play their DRM-ridden tunes again.

If they get a new PC and try to copy their music over to it? No dice.
If they upgrade their system to Vista from Windows XP? Nope, sorry.
If they have to replace the hard drive and copy data in from backups, or reinstall from scratch? Nuh uh.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not in the “iTunes is king” camp, and although I love the iPod, I think the closed Apple-to-Apple system of content purchasing is a little outmoded. I also don’t particularly care for Apple’s DRM, although they don’t particularly make it hard for you to remove. (Fact of the matter is, with any kind of DRM, no matter who the company is, if you, a music owner, have DRM protected music or movies, you can find yourself in this situation.) At the same time though, this is inexcusable. Microsoft is essentially telling their customers, “Thanks so much for all the money, sorry about loading you up with files you won’t be able to use, but hey, there’s always Zune Marketplace, where you can do this all again!”

No thanks. Complaints about the Zune aside (that article is a trip to read, by the way), this is kind of sad. If it bodes well for MSN Music owners, maybe Microsoft will compensate them somehow (although sadly I don’t hope it’s with more DRM-ridden music or discounts for it) or give them a way to unlock their music in the future (maybe free equal downloads from Zune Marketplace so they have updated copies with license servers that will hopefully be around at least a little while). In the end though, it’s just another reverberation of the deathknell for DRM. Most major labels are signed on to sell their tunes without it; you can even buy non-DRM tracks from iTunes. There’s no real excuse for the public to subsidize crippled media markets by buying protected audio anymore.

[ AppScout :: Customer Service 101: Microsoft Deletes MSN Music Servers ]

[ BoingBoing :: MSN Music Customers Lose *All* Their Music the Next Time They Buy A New PC ]

Popular Mechanics has something to say about the Mac hardware platform and Windows Vista:

“You guys are made for each other, you should totally be BFF.”

Or something like that. The definitive guide to mechanics and technology has announced that in its benchmarking showdown the Intel-based Macintosh is likely better suited to run Windows Vista than most PCs being sold with the OS already installed. So for those Mac users who are all about dual booting MacOS and Windows Vista? You’re on to something there. Vista on the Mac performed better than several comparably priced and configured retail PCs doing everyday tasks like browsing the web, editing and opening documents, and playing music and movies.

While there were some differences, the Gateway desktop and Asus notebook were evenly matched with their Mac counterparts — an iMac and MacBook, respectively.

“In both the laptop and desktop showdowns, Apple’s computers were the winners,” the magazine said.

Surprisingly to the magazine, Apple’s user interface for its OS X Leopard didn’t outshine Vista among the testers, who liked the look and feel of both operating systems, but showed a slight preference toward OS X. The real differences were in the speed trials, where Leopard “trounced” Vista in important tasks such as boot-up, shutdown and program-launch times.

“We even tested Vista on the Macs using Apple’s platform-switching Boot Camp software — and found that both Apple computers ran Vista faster than our PCs did,” the magazine said. “Simply put, Vista proved to be a more sluggish operating system than Leopard.”

Another surprise was the price of the systems. While the Apple Mac is often seen as more expensive than the PC, Popular Mechanics found that the Asus M51sr cost the same as the MacBook, and the Gateway One cost $300 more than an iMac.

“That means for the price of the Gateway you could buy an iMac, boost its hard drive to match the Gateway’s, purchase a copy of Vista to boot — and still save $100,” the magazine said.

Ouch! That’s going to put a sock in a lot of Apple criticism. Most likely the “OMG MACS R EXPENSIV” argument, and the “WTF APPLE OS IZ TEH SLOW” argument. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of people with their panties in a bunch over it though and running their own tests; which is only a good thing - more evidence can never be bad.

In the end though, the Mac v. PC battle will rage on in the seedy underbelly of Internet flamewars, but it’s nice to know that someone serious has done some real side-by-side testing, and the old arguments used against Apple just don’t stand up anymore. Now if you want to tackle Apple on the topic of closed architectures and such, now we have a real discussion topic.

[ Information Week: Macs Run Vista Better than PCs, Popular Mechanics Says So ]

Not every tech news site is made alike, as you can certainly tell just by looking around here. But at the same time, sometimes I want something a bit more inclusive and with a broader audience, focusing on news, reviews, tips, tricks, and more. Hey, even I have to have sources. Thankfully, Geek.com, a small but well put together tech news and info site, comes to the rescue.

A clean site design certainly doesn’t hurt, and Geek.com delivers on that at the very beginning. The topics of interest are clearly laid out, and diving into any one of them opens up a host of information written by fellow geeks who also stay up all night to fiddle with their computers, and wouldn’t dream of buying a boxed machine unless they were absolutely sure it was a good bargain for the power they need and the money they’d spend (otherwise, building it yourself is the only option!).

So whether you’re looking for some Apple news without the anti-Apple tint that a lot of tech news sites have taken to heart (suddenly it’s cool to hate Apple now that they’re doing well), or you’re looking for gaming news without every other comment being “OMZ LOLZ U NUB,” Geek.com might be a good place to go - after all, it may be made by and for geeks, but it certainly doesn’t exclude the non-geek from enjoying it.

[ Geek.com ]

What’s wrong with this picture? If you guessed that half of the keys on this keyboard have the paint worn off of them and several others have holes eaten through the plastic, you’d be right - but you’d be wrong in thinking this poor keyboard came out of a chemistry lab somewhere. In fact, the poor thing was used by a medical transcriptionist whose typing skills are apparently legendary. I’m generally pretty hard on my keyboards, but I’m nothing compared to this.

Check out the link at BoingBoing for more photos and the type of legendary keyboard that made this all possible.

[ Medical Transcriptionist Melts Keyboard with Fingertips ]

Okay, I’m a fan of amazing, over-the-top home theatres, mostly because it takes a lot of time, energy, love, and probably money to build some of the more excessive ones I’ve seen. Over at DeputyDog, there’s 10 of the finest home theatres I’ve ever seen; themed movie theatres that could put actual movie soundstages to shame with the amount of detail and work that was put into them.

It’s not surprising there are a bunch of sci-fi inspired ones, with at least two of them being Star Trek based, but because I’m that kind of geek, I appreciate those ones too. The one with the actual bar on the side is a winner in my book, even if the one with all the black furniture is a little sleeker. But the Trek fans aren’t alone - there’s a remarkable Batcave theatre, and the pirate cove theatre is really cool too.

[ Deputy Dog :: 10 Stunning Ultra-Geeky Home Cinemas ]

Over at UneasySilence, the author just got his hands on a new toy; a shiny new Macbook Air! I know, I know, I’m not too thrilled about it myself outside of the fact that it’s gorgeous, but unboxing photos are always fun to look at, and this set is pretty cool to look at.

One question though; if the Macbook Air doesn’t have an optical drive, why does Apple ship it with optical media…that you can’t use? I know, I know, there’s a utility that allows you to share the optical drives of other Macs in the vicinity, but that just reinforces the notion that the Macbook Air will never be a primary Mac. And still, isn’t that kind of backwards? Why not ship your media on bootable USB keys or something?

[ UneasySilence :: MacBook Air in the House, Unboxing Photos ]

A lot happened at MacWorld 2008, without a doubt. And as usual, some of the best and most important announcements (in my opinion anyway) didn’t get nearly as much coverage as they probably should have. A lot of press is obviously focused on the Macbook Air, which is kind of natural; it was definitely the show stopper. But announced at the same time was the Time Capsule, a wireless base station that can store up to a terabyte of data. Also announced were updates to the iPhone that will bring true GPS, SMS messaging, and more to the device, iTunes movie rentals were unveiled, and a new AppleTV was released that doesn’t need to be tied to an iTunes library on another computer and can download movies from iTunes independently.

There were certainly enough announcements to keep everyone busy, but let’s cover the highlights.

Macbook Air

Let’s start with the obvious, the Macbook Air. The smallest, tiniest notebook ever, the Macbook Air is absolutely gorgeous, and an amazing piece of hardware design. Wireless is integrated, you can get either an 80GB PATA hard drive or a 64GB solid-state drive, the features are pretty solid for a device that fits into a manilla envelope easily. All that and it’s only three pounds. Perfect for the on-the-go traveler, or the person looking for a mac but who also wanted an ultraportable device.

The downside is that it sacrifices a great deal of functionality in order to make that gorgeous form factor. The battery is completely non-replaceable, the RAM is soldered onto the board so it can’t be upgraded, there’s only one USB port, no built-in ethernet, the list goes on. The lack of functionality - the fact that you can’t connect the USB port to a 3G cellular wireless device, the fact you can’t change the battery without sending it to Apple, the fact that literally nothing in it is upgradable or easily swappable, and the fact that there’s no optical drive, have made some people nervous about the Air, calling it the Macbook Err instead. I don’t totally blame them; the Macbook Air wasn’t designed for power users like me, or the people who would want a lot of I/O on it; it was literally designed for people who care about size over all else.

At my last job, researchers and government officials who traveled around the globe often would ask me to reccomendations on ultraportable laptops. I’d tell them about the Sony Vaios that I knew about, and those were still too bulky for their tastes. They vastly preferred the micro-laptops that companies like Sony and Samsung make for Asian markets; the type that are full computers but are small enough and light enough to fit in a woman’s purse. They’re also the type of user who isn’t concerned with the fact that there’s no optical drive on the Macbook Air, for example.

Similarly, the other people who might be interested in the Macbook Air are people who were in love with the 12″ Powerbook and were unhappy with the fact that Apple discontinued it. The Macbook Air is lacking when compared to the 12″ Powerbook - so those people, if they enjoyed the power and I/O available on the 12″ Powerbook they’ll be dissapointed with the Macbook Air. Still, if the size was the most important, they might be impressed. The Macbook air starts at $1799 and goes up to $2499.

The Macbook Air is starting to hit consumers, so if you’re looking for a good review, check out MacWorld’s analysis.

[ MacWorld Review :: Macbook Air ]

Time Capsule

The item unveiled at the show that makes me the happiest is the Time Capsule. Essentially a wireless NAS that you can stash anywhere in your home that holds up to a terabye of data. The lower end model sports 500GB of storage for $299, and the higher end model gives you 1TB for $499.

The Time Capsule works as a wireless base station using 802.11n, and will back up your system wirelessly as well. It’s a fire-and-forget backup device; it sits in a corner and gets information wirelessly from your Mac via Time Machine. You don’t have to think, all you have to do is let Time Machine back up your Mac to your Time Capsule, and the little thing will even extend your wireless network. Seriously, for $499 you can get similar products with 1TB drives, but none of them are wireless and none of them function as base stations. This one’s a winner.

iPod Touch and iPhone Updates

Both the iPod Touch and the iPhone got software updates at MacWorld 2008. The iPhone got real GPS mapping after working with Google to make the iPhone location aware; now you can fire up a Google Map and see what’s nearby using your iPhone. You can also customize your home screen with links to your favorite websites and blogs. The iPhone also got a proper SMS client, which allows you to send messages to multiple people at the same time. There’s a firmware update for the iPhone as well, and both the new apps and the firmware update are available for free for iPhone users.

iPod Touch users get some of the same apps, but their update costs $20. Yowch! My money’s on that update being out there on the web any time now for free. Their apps on the other hand are a mail client (woefully missing at launch), maps with wi-fi sensitive locations, and a few other handy widgets for your iPod touch, like a weather app and a stock tracking tool.

AppleTV Updates and iTunes Movie Rentals

Perhaps one of the most expected announcements was that Apple was planning to announce movie rentals via iTunes. After updating iTunes, users can buy movie rentals, download them directly to their Macs or AppleTVs, and watch them within 24 hours. You get 30 days to start the movie, but once you start you have to finish in 24 hours. Add to this the fact that the movie rentals are affordable at only $2.99 for regular def and $3.99 for HD movies, and you’ve got a strong model for movie downloads.

The trouble, Steve Jobs says, that once you have a good model for delivering movies to the desktop, you have to find a way to get them to your TV. That’s where the new AppleTV comes in. The device works wirelessly and you don’t need to sync it up with a computer running iTunes to get your rented and downloaded movies. You can, of course, but you can also download and rent movies directly from the AppleTV, download them right to the AppleTV, and play them from the AppleTV. This is functionality that a lot of analysts wanted in the AppleTV when it launched originally, but it’s good that it’s there now and makes the AppleTV a far stronger device than it was even when it was launched.

[ PC Mag :: Macworld: Jobs Unveils New Apple Movie Plan, Notebooks ]

==

So that’s about it. This year’s MacWorld Expo was definitely interesting (I’m sad there were no Macbook Pro updates! I guess I have to wait a little longer before buying a new one), although I don’t think the Macbook Air is going to change the game or anything. The iPod Touch and iPhone updates are a long time coming, and owners of those devices will definitely enjoy them, and it’ll make them more attractive products for people considering buying one - especially the iPod Touch.

The real winners here in my opinion are the Time Capsule and the new AppleTV, especially considering their price points (and the fact that the AppleTV got a price break) and their feature lists. Add iTunes movie rentals into the mix and Apple is really stretching out. The company isn’t just interested in your desktop or laptop anymore; the iPod proved that, but what’s also coming into focus is that Apple’s interested not just in your ears and your computers, it wants to be a part of your entire computing experience and be a live in your living room.