Gizmodo has the skinny on the Pink.Project Pink is Microsoft’s new phone for regular joes. We heard rumors about the software months ago, but the hardware, as well as who’s making it has been a mystery. Anyhow, check out the first pictures of these Pink phones, the Turtle and Pure.

The phones will be made by Sharp and Pink will be aimed at the same market that uses the Sidekick. The Turtle kind of looks like a toy Palm Pre, while the Pure seems like your typical standard slider. Both are very…round-ish, with soft angles. Obviously plastic.

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.

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.

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?

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.

Spring has sprung so why not celebrate the season with a new spring-themed Zune Original? Unless you are waiting on the Zune HD. Microsoft is offering a collection of custom engravings inspired by the spring season.

There will be six new pieces of art in total for this collection, all by artist duo APAK and individual artists Carolina Melis and Linn Olofsdotter. The patterns are free and apply to any of the flash or hard drive-based Zunes. The spring Originals don’t replace any existing artwork and sit alongside the Artist, Tattoo and Zodiac collections.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.
You can’t make this stuff up. It doesn’t speak very highly of Microsoft’s Zune, when this thief takes everything on the desk, spots the Zune, unplugs the earphones and takes them, then throws the Zune back onto the desk before leaving. Yeah, that’s not a ringing endorsement for the device.

Here’s more news for all of you Zune 30 owners who feel betrayed by your now frozen PMP. Microsoft has finally acknowledged the snafu and here is their explanation:

There is a bug in the internal clock driver that causes the device to bite the dust on the last day of a leap year. But don’t worry, even though they won’t be releasing an update for the device any time soon, it should resolve itself when January 1, 2009 comes around. Do you feel better now?

We covered the Zune Pink project rumor regarding a Zune phone by Microsoft; however, the latest rumors indicate is that the mobile arena isn’t looking at a single Microsoft branded mobile handset, but an instead an entire software and services platform.

The news is that Project Pink may include Zune Mobile support, which may render into a Zune Mobile software package for Windows Mobile that could well be more robust media support than any previous Microsoft powered mobile phone, and could also predict a mobile downloads store.

Price cuts aren’t the only thing Microsoft is using to reel in shoppers, they are also introducing some new colors in order to snag your holiday dollars. The big M has just made blue and red versions of the little PMP available on its Zune Originals site.

Prices start at $249, and the they suggest placing orders by the 19th so you can get it by Christmas Eve. It may not be the Gears Of War 2 edition, but hey, it’s in red and blue. Beats boring black.

It’s a rumor that refuses to die. The Zune phone. We last speculated about it back in July. Now the Zune Phone is looking very likely. A legitimate news organization, CNBC had something to say about it. Jim Goldman says that according a “good source,” Microsoft is “ready to give a major facelift to the company’s Zune music player that could mean its evolution into a new smart phone from the company.” It’s codenamed “Pink” and “will combine the company’s Zune and technology from Microsoft’s purchase of Danger Inc.”

Are you excited? Microsoft has dropped some hints that it wanted to combine Danger’s consumer-friendly OS expertise with the Zune. It makes sense. A ZunePhone made by Danger might be a Microsoft smartphone that is actually worth the wait.

Microsoft will announce price cuts across the board for its flash Zunes tomorrow. Good news if you are bargain shopping. hey aren’t Earth shattering deals, but every bit helps right? The 4GB model will drop to $100, the 8GB will go for $140 and 16GB for $180. The price drops make them all cheaper than the equivalent iPod nanos.