Skype Coming to Comcast TV's Later This Year

Later this year, Comcast will offer a Skype bundle including an HD webcam, an adapter box with Skype pre-loaded, and a modified cable box remote with a QWERTY keyboard.

FOX News reports that Philadelphia-based Comcast Corp will be providing Skype to its subscribers later this year. The VoIP software will be bundled with a high-quality HD webcam, an adapter box that plugs into the customer's HDTV, and a modified Comcast cable box remote with a built-in QWERTY keyboard.

Samsung Beats Nokia As Largest Smartphone Maker

Nokia is expected to suffer a major blow this quarter as Nomura analysts said that the company will lose its rank as largest smartphone manufacturer this quarter.

For the first time in 15 years, Nokia will drop below competitors: Samsung will take the lead, followed by Apple and Nokia, Nomura said.

Nokia maintains that it will be launching Windows Phone 7 devices later this year, but the company has been criticized that it virtually destroyed its current sales potential by telling consumers that it will phase its Symbian operating system out. All current Nokia phones have, at least as far as platform support is concerned, little to no value. Nokia's credibility is badly damaged these days and its sales appear to be in a free fall, as the company is not even providing a business outlook anymore. However, Microsoft will depend on Nokia to make Windows Phone 7 a success.

Developer Bringing Windows 8 UI to Windows 7

Indie developers inspired by tiles.

The Windows 8 tile interface that Microsoft showed off a couple weeks ago has been a big hit. The video that Microsoft released has hit 3.7 million views to date. (Click here to see that bit of news.)

While not everyone is thrilled by the tablet inspiration, Microsoft has made it clear that the new interface simply just exists on top of the current, familiar Windows desktop.

With that in mind, some independent developers are working to bring that tile-based UI to Windows 7.WinRumors has highlighted the early work of Italian developer Sergio James Bruccoleri, who is working on a public beta of a Windows 8-like interface that will layer on top of Windows 7.

Bruccoleri says that this demo is in a pre-beta state, and that a public beta will come with "effects and some cool stuffs."

ASUS Says Wintel PC Era Is Over

It is not really secret that both Intel and Microsoft have exploited their market dominance over the past two decades and not always treated system vendors in a friendly way.

It appears that the current PC era can't end fast enough for some PC makers and break free from Wintel.

Asustek chairman Jonney Shih told reporters that the Wintel era is "over" and that no CPU or OS vendor will be able to dominate PCs, tablets or smartphones as it was the case in the past. New platforms are fueling the hope that PC makers will have much more say and power over chip makers once the tablet has gained traction.

HP Wi-Fi Tablet Arriving Next Month for $499

The Wi-Fi version of HP's TouchPad will officially arrive next month. In the meantime, HP will begin taking pre-orders starting June 19.

Thursday HP said that the Wi-Fi version of its upcomingTouchPad tablet can be pre-ordered directly from HP or from participating retailers nationwide (and in Europe) starting June 19. The tablet won't actually launch here in the United States until July 1, 2011. The 16 GB model will retail for $499.99 and the 32 GB model for $599.99.