Bloomberg reports that the Nintendo Wii outsold the Sony PS3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 in the U.S. last month. 666,000 Wii consoles were sold compared to 405,500 for PlayStation 3s and 219,800 for Xbox 360s.

Wii has gained popularity among people who don’t play traditional shooting and racing games. It is designed for easy-to-play games and equipped with a motion-sensitive controller that can be swung like a racquet or sword.

Six of the 10 best-selling games in June were titles made for Nintendo, including “Wii Fit,” which ranked fourth, the company said. The exercise game is sold with a balance board for use in workouts and games that simulate skiing and soccer.

Why is Wii Fit so popular? Check out our previous posts:
Wii Fit Workout starring Cyber Girl Jo Garcia
Wii Fit Hula Hoop Underwear Girl is YouTube Sensation

Popularity: 3% [?]

Microsoft and One Laptop per Child (OLPC) jointly announced the signing of an agreement that will make Microsoft Windows operating system available on OLPC’s low-cost laptops, the XO laptops, specifically designed to introduce computing for the world’s poorest children.

XO laptops with Windows will cost $206 to $208. Only $3 is for Windows, while $15 to $17 covers the cost of adjusting the machines to run the operating system.

They are scheduled to begin their trial stage in June, but could to be released as early as September.

Windows XP will not be replacing the original Sugar Linux, they will both be available, and there might even be a model that dual boot with both Sugar Linux and Windows XP.

Here is a video demonstration of XO Laptop:

Popularity: 3% [?]

Microsoft’s WorldWide Telescope is officially launched.

This free web based service provides access to images from the universe to users around the world.

Computer users can browse through the galaxy on their own or take guided tours of different outer-space destinations developed by astronomers and academics.

The software is available free from WorldWideTelescope.org. The estimated download time is 1 hour (56 Kb), 10 minutes (DSL 512 Kb). The program is graphically intensive and runs only on the Windows operating system. Review the program’s requirements to ensure the best experience.

Below is a video on Microsoft’s WorldWide Telescope:

Popularity: 3% [?]

Gears of War 2 continues the story of Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad, locked in an increasingly desperate battle against the nightmarish Locust Horde for the survival of humanity. Gears of War 2 is an larger-than-life saga of survival, loss, and retribution.

This highly anticipated sequel to the blockbuster Gears of War delves deeper into humanity’s struggle for survival against the nightmarish Locust Horde, and takes the high-definition visuals to a whole new level.

Gears of War 2 is developed by Epic Games for Microsoft Game Studios and joins a growing list of must-have Xbox 360 exclusives. Look for Gears of War 2 when it storms onto retail shelves this November.

Popularity: 3% [?]

The official release of Windows XP Service Pack 3 may be just a few days away, but it is already receiving a large numer of post-instalation complaints. Apparently, the up-date causes a series of problems, from random blue-screens to continuous reboots.

The reason why you end up in the endless rebooting scenario is SP3 causes the computer to crash during boot, and Windows XP, by default, is set up to automatically reboot when it crashes.

The easiest solution is to go to safe mode and disable the “automatic restart on system failure” option.

Installation of the XP SP3 will not allow you to downgrade from Internet Explorer 7 to IE 6.

So, before you install XP SP3, think carefully.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Opera Mobile is regarded, by many mobile users, as the best mobile browser available on the current market. It may has its strong point but it’s not free. It cost USD$24.00 Useless you have too much money to spend, read on.

Opera Mini is free but it works on GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) which cost you money when transferring data over airtime. If you connect to internet through WiFi, you can forget about Opera Mini (correct me if I am not as I cannot get it to work on WiFi.)

Internet Explorer Mobile, by Microsoft Windows, is the default browser that comes with Windows Mobile Pocket PC and Smartphone. If the classic browser loading speed is slow, do not expect the mobile browser to be fast.

Mobile FireFox, codenamed Fennec, is expected to released in the later part of the year. 2 versions under developement, Touchscreen and non-touchscreen. Mozilla, FireFox creator, actually has a Minimo project but seems to stop developing it.

SkyFire is more for US users, so I have no chance to test it. If you are a US mobile users, sign up for the private beta invitation, try it and share with us what you think.

jB5 Mobile Browser is free and actually quite fast. Try it and share with us what you think. I will do another Mobile Test Post using jB5 Mobile Browser.

NetFront™ Browser v3.5 for Windows Mobile Concept Version is new and available for trial till 31st May 2008. After that, you might have to download again. I have no idea if it will be free when they actually released it later. Surprisingly, it’s a touchscreen mobile browser. The Bookmark is cool too.

Iris Browser, by Torch Mobile, is based on the WebKit rendering engine, the same KHTML-derived rendering engine in Safari used in iPhone. It’s free and you can update the browser from your mobile set. The touchscreen scrolling does not work as smooth as NetFront.

Deepfish, under development by Microsoft, is a lightweight client application that leverages a powerful server side technology for delivery of content such as web pages to a Windows Mobile device. Content is displayed in a familiar desktop format that requires no additional work by the content or site author.

My choice is Opera Mobile if it is free after the 30 days trial. Till Mobile FireFox and Microsoft deepfish are available, NetFront is good but you might have to download again after 31st May. jB5 and Iris are not bad but Minimo is out. If all fails, Internet Explorer Mobile by Microsoft Windows is always there.:)

So, which is your preferred mobile browser and why is it so?

Popularity: 6% [?]

Yahoo! Microsoft witthdrew its bid for Yahoo, opting against raising its offer $5 billion more or pursuing a hostile takeover.

On Feb. 1, Microsoft offered to pay $44.6 billion or $31 a share for Yahoo. Since then, Microsoft said it agreed to raise its bid by $2 per share, but Yahoo wanted another $4.

Shares of Microsoft closed Friday down 16 cents at $29.24. Yahoo! shares ended the session up $1.86 at $28.67.

Analysts believe the Microsoft bid was propping up Yahoo’s stock price, which will plummet now that the offer has been withdrawn. Yahoo’s stock price would plunge and the firm’s board of directors would take fire from unhappy shareholders, and then Microsoft would offer to buy the company for the same amount of money or less.

So, the game is probably not over yet.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Microsoft has cut the prices of its Xbox 360 console by up to $121.

The Pro version of the console now costs $499 (previously $620), the Elite version costs $699 (previously $799) and the Arcade version costs $399 (previously $459).

The company’s aggressive price-cutting strategy is part of Microsoft’s efforts to make the Xbox 360 “more accessible” and to gain market share.

The Xbox console lacks the coveted Blu-ray high-definition drive that rival console PlayStation 3 touts.

This is not the first time Microsoft has slashed prices of its console. Last August, it reduced the price of the Xbox 360 by $40.

Sony, on the other hand, has increased prices of its PlayStation 3 (PS3) console to $599 from $559 since April 21.

Nintendo has no immediate plans to tweak prices for its Wii console, which retails at $659 and comes bundled with three games.

But Microsoft might want to heed the demands of gamers and release a console with a Blu-ray drive soon if it is to make any headway in the gaming console space.

Mr Eric Chua, an account executive, said: “I don’t mind paying more for the PS3 because it has a Blu-ray drive. It means the games and movies that I buy will be future-proof.”

Popularity: 5% [?]