WD has been shipping a 320GB laptop hard drive for months now, but its latest line of alternatives features a few niceties reserved for the Scorpio Black label. Available in 80/120/160/250/320GB sizes, the 2.5-inch drive boasts a 7200RPM spin speed, SATA interface and 16MB of cache. The units are destined for use in OEM systems as well as by end-users looking to upgrade their current rig, and beyond the specs listed above, you'll also find IntelliSeek, SecurePark, ShockGuard and WhisperDrive technologies alongside a built-in free-fall sensor. The whole lot is available now, with the 320GB edition topping out at $249.

[Via I4U News]

Here it is, direct from a trusted source close to the situation -- a Zune 1 running firmware 2.1, which will bring all the Zune 2 software goodies and UI tweaks with it when those bad boys are announced on Wednesday. That's right, we also have confirmation that Microsoft will be making the Zune 2 announcement on Wednesday, which should give the Zune tattoo guy plenty of time to get some new ink before the holidays.

Update: We're now being told that while Microsoft will announce and discuss the Zune 1 firmware update on Wednesday, it won't be available until sometime later -- presumably when the Zune 2s hit the market.

Well, we'd heard new Zunes were coming tomorrow (or maybe October 16th) and it looks like retailers are starting to receive display units -- everyone, say hello to the new Zunes. Barring some Photoshop trickeration, it looks like we're getting two flash models and a slimmed-down hard drive edition, but we'll leave it to you to figure what this all means in the comments.

Update: We're also hearing that a Zune 1 firmware update rolled out today -- interesting. We'll dig out our Zunes and let you know what (if anything) got updated ASAP.

Update 2: False alarm on the firmware update -- but we do know that we'll be hearing about one when the new Zunes are announced Wednesday.

[Thanks, Nate]

Heads up, Zune fans -- some new product is heading your way sooner rather than later, and we suspect there's more than a couple of things to get jazzed about. According to reports from a "source" inside Microsoft, a new batch of Zunes (AKA Zune 2, Draco, Scorpio, etc.) are due out on October 16th (just in time for the holidays), in both flash memory- and hard drive-based forms. The new, smaller, flash Zune (the Draco) will be hitting shelves in pink, red, black, or army green colors, will have a 4GB or 8GB capacity, and will feature a "squircle" (the source's term, not ours) for navigation, which won't have a center button but can be pushed, "From any side." The hard drive-based player (the Scorpio) will be available in 80GB, sports the soon-to-be infamous "squircle," and touts a screen which the source claims is "awesome" for video. We can safely say that there is at least one man out there who is going to be very, very excited about this.

[Thanks, Tyler]

According to a super-secret, top level official inside Microsoft's megaplexing-hyper-bunker in Redmond, the Zuneinites are readying an 80GB Zune 2.0 called the "Scorpio", which will be a companion to the also-rumored 4GB or 8GB flash-based "Draco". The rumor additionally proffers that production on the Scorpio will begin towards the end of July, although we can't recommend any fancy breath holding. The diabolical naming convention apparently stems from the original Zune codename "Argo" and its WiFi component, called "Pyxis." Regardless, if Microsoft was trying to make their products sound less Satanic, it isn't working.

Late last year, Western Digital decided to make the leap to the land of perpendicular magnetic recording with its 160GB Scorpio, and now the firm is stepping it up to a full quarter terabyte with its latest rendition. The 2.5-inch SATA drive fits nicely within the confines of most lappies, sports 8MB of cache, a 12-millisecond access time, spins at 5400RPM, and touts the company's WhisperDrive technology so you'll barely know its there. Additionally, the ShockGuard and SecurePark systems tag team to keep your data safe during turmoil, and the IntelliSeek system reportedly "calculates the optimum seek speed of the read / write head actuator to help reduce noise and power consumption." So if you're looking to up the storage capacity of your mobile machine, you can snag WD's latest right now for a penny under $200.

[Via MacWorld]

Better late than never, right? Apparently Western Digital is just fine with this mantra, as it finally got around to releasing its very own perpendicular hard drive, the 2.5-inch SATA Scorpio. This 160GB HDD matches Fujitsu's MHW2160BH, but lacks the space found in Toshiba's offering, though we're certainly not ones to complain about more competition. The specs aren't anything extraordinary, as it sports 8MB of cache, 150 MB/s transfer speeds, and spins along at 5,400RPM. WD does attempt to add an element of distinction by marketing it as the "quietest 2.5-inch hard drive" around, care of its "WhisperDrive" technology, and the "ShockGuard" feature should enable it to handle the bumps of everyday life just fine. While there's nothing definitive concerning pricing or availability, the WD1600BEVS should check in just below competing alternatives, and will likely pop up in notebooks everywhere real soon.