We’ve seen plenty of Microsoft’s Zune HD, but the company just shared some awesome images of the new PMP, which show off black and silver versions of the device, both of which are things of beauty.

Just pictures. Nothing too spectacular, but they give you a good idea of the design and what the UI looks like. If nothing else, they will let you drool and anticipate the device even more than you thought possible.

There’s a select group of people living among us that make no sense at all. Like this guy, who is willing to endure a painful and permanent tattoo in order to win a Palm Pre. Hell, just buy the phone. It’s not nearly as painful and in a few years you’ll be on to the next big phone.

Obviously the dude wanted his fifteen minutes of fame. It looks more like 15 minutes of lame. This guy and the Zune guy need to get together and talk about their next project. They would make quite a team.

Peter Bale, executive producer of MSN recently spoke to the Telegraph and announced that Microsoft will launch a streaming music service “imminently”, by the end of July. Bale said the service will be similar to Spotify, a streaming music service that offers both an ad-supported listening option as well as a premium subscription service with no ads. Bale also added that Microsoft is considering extending the service to the Xbox 360, but he didn’t give any other details.

They are still examining a business model. Apparently the service would let users stream tunes for free as long as they listen to ads every half hour or so. It will be interesting to see how this initiative will tie-in with the company’s Xbox 360 and Zune.

With Microsoft nearly ready to unleash the Zune HD on the masses, now Dell is working on a device to compete with the iPod Touch, according to reports. The device will play music and videos just like the iPod Touch, but will be based on the Google Android mobile OS and also function as a MID.

In size it will likely be slightly larger than the Touch. The device needs to compete with not only the Touch, but also with the Zune HD. It will be interesting to see what features end up in the device and whether it ends up being a true competitor or falls short.

According to an alleged “software engineer” on the Zune team, the 16GB Zune HD should cost between $249 and $280 this September (a date that lines up with previous rumors.)

There are a lot of interesting rumors in the interview, like the fact that Microsoft is thinking about not only 16/32GB models but a 64GB Zune HD too. We have no idea what the price would be for that one.

The guys over at Gizmodo got a tip about the ZuneHD. “Internal Microsoft docs” point to a September 8 launch of the Zune HD. Their tipster also says that the device will be available in 16GB and 32GB versions.

One thing we don’t have is a price. We do know that the HD has Nvidia’s Tegra inside, so it’s a high powered, high performance device with HD output. How all of that affects the final price remains to be seen.

It’s official. Zune HD will be powered by NVIDIA’s Tegra processor, making it the first PMP in the world that can claim that honor. NVIDIA confirmed it themselves. The all-in-one processor offers hardware acceleration of video and can consume just 150mW of power at full speed, giving it a battery life like a regular media player in spite of the demands of 720p video playback.

The new Zune is likely using an APX 2500 or 2600 processor, which combines an ARM11 processor with a GeForce-based graphics core and controllers for memory and output. It has just enough performance to display 720p at full resolution when using HDMI and also supports 3D rendering performance much faster than most handheld devices.

At E3 today the big M announced a bunch of upgrades to Xbox Live. The biggest news is the relaunch of the video service, now Zune-branded with 1080p instant-on streaming content in 18 countries. XBL will also now integrate with Facebook, which is great news for all of you social butterflies out there. Your Facebook account can be linked to your Gamertag, and games will support Facebook Connect for sharing online content.

That’s not all. You’ll also be getting Twitter and Last.fm. Yes, these updates are huge. There’s more. Netflix users will now be able to browse the entire catalog instead of just loading their queue, and since Microsoft has gotten its Party Watch system down, you’ll be able to diss videos with your online friends.

According to Microsoft “guru” Paul Thurott, the Zune HD launches on September 5. You should keep in mind that this info is coming from the Zune forums, so take it with a huge grain of salt. We think that the launch window sounds about right, but there’s nothing official. That is all.

Almost true to rumors, along with the press release from Microsoft late Tuesday about the new Zune HD release, the company announced they will be extending the Zune video service into Xbox LIVE this fall as well.

“The Zune music player is an integral part of the overall Zune experience, and we’re proud to be growing and extending our offering beyond the device,” said Enrique Rodriguez in the Microsoft press release on Tuesday. Rodriguez is the corporate vice president of the Microsoft TV, Video and Music Business Group.

Microsoft made the official announcement late Tuesday that the Zune HD, the next generation of the Zune media player, would indeed be hitting the market in the near future. The Zune HD packs some new features including built-in HD radio, high-def video out, OLED multi-touch screen, WiFi and an included internet browser.

Here’s a rumor that we’d all like to see come true. A handheld portable that combines the Xbox 360 with the Zune. The project is codenamed “xYz,” and is said to feature a WVGA touchscreen. It will let you play music and movies on the device as well as the Xbox 360.

Team Xbox claims to have sources inside Microsoft who are working on just such a device. We’re talking about a connected handheld gaming system with sweet multimedia features. Obviously we want. But will it ever come to life?

Here’s some more Zune/Windows Mobile rumors. According to Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet she has specs for Windows Mobile 7 Chassis 1, the heart of that rumored “Pink” smartphone. Here’s the rundown.

Chassis 1 phones will all have 3.5-inch or larger multitouch displays with ARM v6+ processors and OpenGL ES 2.0-compatible graphics hardware, 256MB or more of RAM and 1GB or more of storage, as well as at least a 3 megapixel camera, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, compass, and accelerometer. And a 3.5mm headphone jack is required. Get this. NVIDIA’s Tegra platform is specifically listed as meeting the core CPU requirements, as well as TI’s OMAP 3 platform and “Qualcomm 8k,”.

Another Zune phone rumor has surfaced. If it all pans out we may have a Zune phone this June. It all started with a Twitter update from the Microsoft Office 2010 team that stated, “June 2009 will be an important month for Zune lovers”, followed by another tweet mentioning “New product launch, that’s all I’m allowed to say. Hold off from buying an iPhone/Pre. ”.

That suggests that this is more than a new Zune portable media player. Something to do with E3? That’s about all we know at the moment. At any rate, looks like it will be Zune this June.

When Microsoft launched its Zune DAP it hoped that the device would dethrone Apple as the leader in the digital music category. That failed to happen and Microsoft languishes in third spot in sales behind Apple and SanDisk.

Microsoft has announced a new exclusive animated series for the Zune that the software giant hopes will lure digital content fans to the Zune platform. The series is called City Council 3050 AD and the pilot episode will debut in Seattle later this month.