Microsoft has pulled its Windows 7 discount pricing after apparently overwhelming demand lead to its online store crashing and has continued its EC hissy-fit confirming that their will be no Vista to 7 upgrade option. Microsoft claim that they sold more copies of Windows 7 in the first eight hours than it did in 17 weeks in 2006 with a simliar offer for Windows Vista. The blogosphere is already awash with rumours that actually, Microsoft were going to do it all along, to the fan the flames of hype around 7. Hype which hasn’t been seen for a Microsoft OS since Windows 98. And after pulling IE 8 from the Euro version of 7 following their EC anticompetitive fine, Microsoft have also said that there will be no Vista upgrade option in Europe. Although Windows 7 will be released in Europe for the price of an upgrade package in the rest of world. Microsoft’s Leila Martine said: “What we are saying is ‘we don’t care as a consumer if you had Windows Vista or not because we can’t tell that and we don’t want to penalise you for our decision to take IE8 out of the Wndows 7 E version and to not give an upgrade option.” You can still download the release candidate which will work until late next, and which I have partitioned onto my macbook HD. Aren’t I cool? I’m not cool. (Via PcAdvisor)

Following Google’s Chrome OS announcement yesterday, there is much speculation on the web today that Microsoft is going to make a big announcement of their own at their conference on Monday. The rumours began after notorious tech-blogger Robert Scoble claimed via FriendFeed to have some information regarding a possible announcement to his pal Diego. “Diego, no, it’s one of Microsoft’s primary businesses,” he wrote. “Did you know Microsoft has 14 billion dollar businesses?” Reports are now suggesting the Microsoft may be announcing a new version of Office that not only syncs via the cloud, but will work in the cloud without the need for any actual software to be installed. If true, this would be a major attack on Google Docs. It’s interesting to note that the domain office.com has recently been sold and is currently unoccupied. I wonder….. Be sure to visit Tech Digest on Monday where we’ll be bringing you any important news from the Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans. (via TechCrunch)

It seems like only minutes ago that we were reporting on Nokia’s possible Android-based smartphone. Oh, it was only minutes ago. Nevermind, you can never have too many Android smartphone rumours on a Monday morning – that’s what I always say. The latest company to eye-up Android, give it a sly wink and cosy-up to it is Sony Ericsson. And a Danish website has the proof – or so they claim. They’ve released a potentially leaked picture showing an Xperia-branded handset that supposedly will be running the Android OS. Codenamed Rachael, the smartphone is said to be powered by a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and has HSPA. There is also an 8.1-megapixel camera, like the Sony Ericsson W995. No sign of a slide-out keyboard though. No details of a release date or prices yet but, as ever, when we know we’ll tell you. We promise. (via Engadget & Mobil)

The secret behind what makes the iPhone 3G S tick is out the bag this morning after the Dutch carrier of the latest Apple phone spilled the beans on their website. The three phrases that come into my head are “whoops”, “ha ha ha” and “nice”. As it goes, they’re pretty much what we expected from the rumours all those weeks ago and I’m rather chuffed on my guesswork in the super smartphone comparison feature I put together yesterday. All the same, I’m sure Apple is none to pleased that T-Mobile wasn’t quite with the program. Personally, I don’t see what there was to hide. A 600MHz processor and 256MB RAM is a perfectly respectable chipset. It could be something to do with all the iPhone 3G handsets that are about to be pelted at O2 execustives. (via Wired)

Martin Stiksel, Felix Miller and Richard Jones, the three men who founded last.fm in East London in 2003, have today left the company. Last.fm has been owned by American media conglomerate CBS since May 2007 after they bought it for £140million, netting the trio around £19million each at the time. Rumours are bound to circulate that their departure has got something to do with the US blog TechCrunch’s recent posts, claiming that CBS had possibly handed over last.fm customer data to the RIAA without the site’s agreement. It might also be worth noting that it is almost exactly two years since the trio agreed the deal with CBS. It might therefore be possible that there was a two year handover period in place. Details of the departure should be coming clearer in the coming days. What is clear is that Stiksel, Miller and Jones’ idea has played a major role in the dramatically altered landscape of music distribution. With streaming music become more poplar and more commercially viable with services like Spotify, it is fair to conclude that these three developers will be remembered as pioneers of digital music. Plus, they’ve all got millions of quid in the bank, so it’s not all doom and gloom. (via Music Ally)