New Zune Stuff for Fall
The first-generation Microsoft Zune audio player was…well, it was mostly the butt of jokes. The second generation isn’t bad, but it just doesn’t get much attention, pro or con. Doesn’t sound like there’s anything in Microsoft’s announcements to change that. A new feature will let you tag songs on the Zune’s FM radio, then buy them; you’ll also be able to buy songs from Microsoft via Wi-Fi. New capacities include 120GB for the hard-drive Zune and 16GB for the flash model. You’ll be able to buy audiobooks for your Zune. Oh, and you’ll be able to play Texas Hold ’em. It sounds like a respectable lineup of improvements to what was already a respectable audio player…but the one thing that Microsoft has been unable to add to the Zune is iPod-like cachet.

Read more at: Silicon Alley Insider, Digital Daily, Gizmodo

Esquire: It’s Electric!
Esquire has released its 75th anniversary issue–the first magazine in history with an e-ink cover–or to be precise, a cover that’s partially e-ink, since the electronic part of the it consists of a fairly small rectangular area. Make’s teardown shows all the circuitry inside, and there’s talk of whether the display is hackable. I’m going to try and track down a copy, but my guess is that the issue isn’t the start of a publishing revolution. Actually, it reminds me more of short-lived gimmicks like magazine ads with the same music-playing chips as those annoying greeting cards.

The Secret Inventor of the iPod? Um…
In 1979, Briton Kane Kramer designed a digital audio player which, in the design he draw, looked a lot like an iPod. He was never able to get it off the ground, but he recently testified in Apple’s defense during a patent case. It’s a fascinating story, but the flurry of stories dubbing him the secret inventor of the iPod is just plain weird: The case can be made that he invented the digital audio player, but there was a lotta history in between his design and the iPod, including the first popular digital audio player, Diamond’s Rio PMP300. Calling Kramer the inventor of the iPod is like referring to Henry Ford as the inventor of the Toyota Camry. Or something like that.

More Privacy From Google
When you do stuff on Google, it stores your IP address on its servers in logfiles, a move that could potentially be used later to identify what you were up to. It’s been keeping those logfiles for 18 months, then anonymizing them as a privacy measure. Now it’s announcing that it’s cutting that in half, and will anonymize them after nine months. The announcement says that it’s a response to government concern over privacy issues, and it’s a little grumbly–Google says that it uses these logfiles to improve search quality and fight fraud, security attacks, and spam.

Read more at: Cnet, The Register

Chrome Tips Galore
Lifehacker has published a nifty roundup of tips for Google’s Chrome Browser. It’s a must-read if you’re using Chrome as your primary browser, or merely dabbling in it. And judging from the traffic to Technologizer’s Chrome coverage, a lot of you are at least giving Chrome a try right now. Actually, I just checked–during the last week, Chrome has been the most-used browser by Technologizer visitors, with about 41 percent of all visits to the site. That won’t last, but it’s still an amazing factoid.