Over at CNET, they had a look at a recent build of the Zune HD. Apparently the device is getting close to a final product. The hardware received some praise as well as video playback and a the music player, which has been refined. They really liked the Zune HD’s browser and found it to be excellent.

It was built by the IE team, which is good news for prospective Windows Mobile 6.5 users, and it’s comparable to the iPhone in features as well as speed. You get pinch to zoom, accelerometer-based reorientation, and a decent onscreen keyboard. No Flash though. All in all it sounds fairly awesome.

Supposedly Microsoft is working on a Google Chrome OS counter. This could be the Gazelle browser, which wants to treat the browser itself more like an OS. The Gazelle prototype supposedly will to do things like protect webapps from each other, and isolate different browser tabs (like Google Chrome does and Firefox is going to do).

It’s just one of many research projects Microsoft is working on, but it would make sense for them to unveil this one next week, to show that they’re not taking a backseat to Google. It won’t replace IE, at least not for awhile.

When it comes to browsing the Internet on a mobile phone, not all browsers are created equal. I hate the type of mobile browser that breaks a site out of its PC format and gives you a big long page of text and links to read.

The latest version of Bolt mobile called Beta3 launched and in the first 24 hours the new version was available the browser rendered over 1 million pages. According to the company behind the browser, it has been growing at a steady rate of 50% per month since it debuted in February.

The Moxia sphere is a folding multitouch display with an always-on internet connection and gyroscopic elements that can also be used folded flat. It will be able to display the world, browse web pages or control interactive games. All in a device about the size of an apple.

The device can be recharged by opening one of the petals and can also display an interactive world map like Google Earth. It sounds very promising, but will likely be a while in coming.

The Sony Cybershot G3 is a true first. It boasts direct web browsing from the camera via WiFi. The camera can upload photos and videos to Web sites through any public hotspot via its built-in Web browser. It comes with complimentary AT&T WiFi access to Sony’s Easy Upload Home Page all the way up until Jan. 31, 2012. It includes Wi-Fi access at thousands of AT&T hotspots across the United States, including participating coffee shops, some bookstores and quick-serve restaurant locations, plus hundreds of upscale hotels and airports. Some specs on the camera include a dedicated WLAN button, direct links to photo sharing sites like Shutterfly and Picasa Web Albums; video sharing sites like YouTube and Dailymotion.

The Sony Cybershot G3 also features a high-resolution 3.5-inch (921,600-dot) LCD screen, support for DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) guidelines, 10-megapixel sensor with 4x optical zoom Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens, 4GB of built-in storage (optional expansion is Memory Stick only), and Intelligent Scene Recognition feature with Face Detection technology. Sounds pretty sweet to me.

Here’s an odd one from Nikon, but it’s no camera. The Media Port UP300 and UP300x video headset aims to be a wearable computer. The device basically looks like a pair of headphones with a small display, but has some nice specs. It features up to 8GB of flash memory for videos, music and file storage, Wi-Fi, and even, get this, a full internet browser.

The 300x model, even sports motion control. Browsing may be a challenge, who knows. You can also use the Wi-Fi connection to download audio and video content directly. The 300x will cost you $587. Looks like we are now on our way to becoming the Borg. If the next one requires that you dock yourself in a borg ship, I’m heading for the hills.

Mozilla CEO, John Lilly has hinted in an Interview that we may be seeing Firefox Mobile in a few weeks time. If the reports are true, we may see an alpha version of Firefox Mobile very soon. An excerpt from the interview:

“We want to make sure that the Web on mobile is more like the Web than what the mobile industry offers today, which is closed, separate networks and not a very good information-getting experience for the user. The first thing is to bring Firefox to mobile devices. We’re working on that, and we’ll see some alphas in a few weeks.”

Google has decided to get into the browser business. Meet the Google Chrome browser. They will release the browser in beta, refining it as they go just like Gmail. Google’s plan is to simplify the interface while simultaneously improving it’s inner workings. Will it eventually take on IE, Firefox and Opera? It says Google doesn’t it?

It should be released by Wednesday, if you can believe the rumors and should be available on Windows only, while Mac and Linux versions will be available later. Some of the features include: A UI that places the tabs above the address bar, Incognito mode, which allows users to browse the web in privacy, without recording any your activity, and a new JavaScript engine for speed.

Some strange things are happening on this planet. Are we being visited by a superior intelligence? How can one possibly explain the mysterious images that have appeared recently? First there was the Firefox logo spotted in deep space. Then things started to hit closer to home. This ominous design appeared out of nowhere recently. Now we have the latest message pictured above. What does it all mean? My theory is that it’s an intelligence test sent by beings who are far superior to us.

Think about it. All intelligent creatures love Space Invaders, just as any intelligent creature would use Firefox over IE. I think we are safe as long as some drunk idiot in a field doesn’t send them a response by way of a Windows Vista logo. If that happens, we can kiss our gadget-lovin behinds goodbye.

Skyfire is a new mobile browser that promises a nicer browsing experience on your mobile phone as well as speed and simplicity. Right now it’s in private beta mode and just available to those with a US phone number.

According to the site, the browser can go anywhere and get anything, which would make it a nice step up in mobile browsing. Supposedly it just like browsing on your PC. Check out a demo of Skyfire after the jump. If it’s even half as good as they claim, users are going to be very happy indeed. At least it has a cool name. Things always sound cooler with fire.