Ever wonder how David Pogue's Broadway musical background could qualify him as the tech pundit for the New York Times? Us too, until now. Pogue digs deep (well, not that deep) into his theatrical bag of tricks to pull out the all singing, all geeking musical entitled, "I want an iPhone." Absurd as it is endearing, he deftly pokes fun at the device's flaws while simultaneously expressing devotion. Hell, he even unites iPhone haters (rolling your eyes right now) and cultists (if you end up singing along) alike with a high-larious jab at AT&T -- after all, who ever heard of an AT&T fanboy?

Sure it's shiny under glass and on those expertly groomed Keynote slides of Steve's, but David Pogue got a good hour with the iPhone yesterday, and he seems to be a fan. Yeah, Pogue's a bit of an Apple fanboy already, but we still trust him to give this thing a fair shake. Oddly enough, while RIM's stock is taking a nose dive upon the iPhone announcement, David is pretty well convinced that Blackberry-addicts won't be tossing out those QWERTY thumbpads anytime soon, since the lack of tactile typing on the iPhone is less than optimal. Luckily, the typing software does feature some predictive functionality based on which key you "meant" to hit and matching words from a built-in dictionary. As for overall feel, Pogue is pretty hot for this thing, thanks to the thin design and stainless-steel edges. Apparently the screen isn't the total fingerprint magnet you'd expect, since Apple played with the glass a while to get it just right, but you'll still be contributing plenty of smudges to the purty facade, which Pogue says you can just wipe off with a sleeve. Software is a bit of a mixed bag. The browser is currently ultra-sluggish, even during WiFi browsing, but apparently the touch operation is quite slick. The camera operation is fun with that full 3.5-inches of screen to preview your shots, but the refresh is a bit slow -- though some of these slowdowns are being blamed on incomplete software. We'll reserve our own judgment until we get this thing in hand, typing could definitely be a big drawback, but for the most part it looks like Apple's iPhone is almost as much of a winner in person as it is on paper.

After having already seen photo galleries, video walkthroughs, and endless spec sheets focused on Microsoft's upcoming Zune player, there's no real need to hear Walt Mossberg's and David Pogue's take on the attempted iPod-assassin -- but we'd be lying if we said that we had absolutely no interest in learning the opinions of two of the day's most influential tech journalists with regard to one of the most hyped consumer electronics products of the year. In their thorough write-ups, both Pogue and Mossberg tell us what we pretty much already knew about the device, and which can best be summed up by this variation on a famous political retort: "Mr. Ballmer, I served with the iPod; I knew the iPod; the iPod was a friend of mine. Mr. Ballmer, your Zune is no iPod."

Specifically, each of these esteemed reviewers found the Zune lacking in terms of portability ("The Zune looks big and blocky, sort of like a prototype for a gadget, rather than a finished product," said Mossberg), battery life (less than the iPod's, or even Microsoft's own claims), and content selection (there are currently no movies, TV shows, or podcasts available on the Zune Marketplace, although a last-minute deal with Universal does bulk up the offerings somewhat). Furthermore, Zune's one potential "iPod-killing" feature -- music sharing over WiFi -- is judged to be a complete dud; instead of truly helping the consumer discover new music, Pogue opines that "you can't shake the feeling that it's all just a big plug for Microsoft's music store." Mossberg goes on to knock the Marketplace's point system -- you can only buy points in $5 blocks -- and both gentlemen lament the dearth of accessories and the perceived "screw you" to all parties who have already invested in the PlaysForSure microcosm.

So, is there nothing positive to say about the ol' Zune? Of course not: the device gets high marks for its smooth syncing, polished GUI, intuitive navigation, ability to dock with an Xbox 360, and solid build quality. The problem is, these niceties don't outweigh the missing or frustrating features -- so although it may be a decent player on its own merits, it falls far short in the inevitable comparisons to Apple's darling. Still, we're reminded once again that this is only the first generation of Microsoft's entry into portable audio hardware, and like so many other products from Redmond, it promises to only get better with time.

Read- Pogue
Read- Mossberg

Following last month's deal with web video publisher Brightcove, TiVo has announced another round of partnerships that will bring various on-demand video clips to broadband-equipped Series 2 owners, with a new service called TiVoCast. The company has been making moves in this direction for some time now, but this is the first time we're being offered content that we'd actually bother watching, including NBA and WNBA highlights, New York Times-produced video (featuring David Pogue's often-humorous reviews), advice from CNET, and a dose of hip hop culture from H2O, along with male- and female-targeted programming from Heavy.com and iVillage, respectively. The new content -- accessible from the "Showcases" screen when it begins appearing next month -- will not be available to everyone, however, as USA Today is reporting that neither DirecTV subscribers nor Comcast customers will have access to any of these value-added TiVoCast downloads.