Lookout! Sony's Netbox streams Netflix, YouTube and other internet stuff for $130

We can't say there's a real shortage of streaming, set-top boxes on the market, but that doesn't mean we won't welcome Sony's addition with open arms. Not to be confused with a netbook or a nettop, the Netbox streams Sony's Bravia Internet services -- YouTube, Netflix, DailyMotion, etc. -- as well as supports a "wide range" of video formats including DivX and MKV. Although it's got 802.11n WiFi baked in, the rather compact box has an Ethernet port around back as well as an USB jack on the front for hooking up an external hard drive for watching any of your legally-downloaded (obviously!) videos. Sadly, when we got to check out the Netbox earlier today it wasn't connected to a network -- go figure, with all those connectivity options -- but the software was up and running, and we got to take a peek at the remote app on an Xperia X10. Fret not, the free app will be available for the iPhone and other Android phones. Look, we'd understand holding out for a BRAVIA with Google TV, but all in all for $130 we wouldn't blame you for heading off to Sony right now and picking one of these little guys up.

Reviewed by Joanna Stern of Engadget

HTC Evo 4G is here!

The good: The HTC Evo 4G delivered respectable 4G speeds, and the mobile hot-spot feature lets you connect up to eight devices. The smartphone has a front-facing camera for video chats and also comes with an 8-megapixel camera with HD-video-recording capabilities. The Evo ships with YouTube's HQ video player, Android 2.1 with HTC Sense, and an HDMI port. Other highlights include an extra-large 4.3-inch touch screen and a 1GHz Snapdragon processor.

The bad: Sprint's 4G network is limited at this time, making the mandatory $10 premium data add-on tough to swallow for anyone outside of the coverage area. The Evo lacks support for Bluetooth voice-activated dialing. Battery drains quickly with 4G.

The bottom line: The HTC Evo 4G is easily Sprint's best smartphone and one of today's top Android devices. It also shows the promise of 4G, which will grow as Sprint's WiMax network expands, but until there's broader 4G coverage, it's hard to agree with the mandatory premium data add-on fee.

Ever since it was first introduced at CTIA 2010, the anticipation and hype surrounding the HTC Evo 4G has taken on a life of its own. Come June 4, we will finally see America's first 4G smartphone become a reality. Of course, this type of device comes with a whole set of expectations, which can either be met with joy or disappointment. Fortunately, for Sprint and HTC, it's more of the former than the latter, but we certainly have our gripes about the handset, too. Overall, the HTC Evo 4G is, hands-down, the best smartphone that Sprint has to offer and certainly ranks as one of the best Android phones on the market today. It's feature packed and powerful, and shows the promise of 4G. Admittedly, we had higher hopes for 4G speeds, but it made good on Sprint's claims and is definitely a step up from 3G.

That said, it's a shame that only a limited group will be able to really enjoy the full potential of the Evo 4G at launch, given the limited reach of Sprint's 4G network, but what's worse is the mandatory $10 premium data add-on. It's not the $10 charge for WiMax that upsets us; that is a completely fair price in our opinion. However, making it mandatory for everyone, regardless of whether you live in a 4G market or not, seems unfair. Yes, in the grand scheme of things, Sprint's data plans are much less than its competitors' plans, and there is no data cap with the premium add-on, but still, it's a bit maddening to have to pay for something you're not getting. Why not just make it a requirement for those in a 4G coverage area and offer it as an a-la-carte option for those who live in 3G markets and might travel to a 4G market?

Again, the Evo 4G is Sprint's premier smartphone and you'll get a great device regardless of our quibbles. We just hope Sprint starts to light up those 4G markets faster, so everyone can take advantage of the 4G capabilities and get their money's worth. The HTC Evo 4G will be available June 4 for $199.99 with a two-year contract and the aforementioned data plans. Though Sprint requires a $100 mail-in rebate, Best Buy and Radio Shack do not, so you get the $200 price tag instantly.

Cut from the same cloth as the HTC HD2, the HTC Evo 4G isn't what you'd call a dainty phone. It measures 4.8 inches tall by 2.6 inches wide by 0.5 inch thick and weighs 6 ounces, so you're dealing with a good chunk of hardware. It's right on the cusp of being too big, but HTC was able to keep the Evo relatively thin, making it more manageable.

Plus, you might be willing to overlook the large size once you get a glimpse of the smartphone's massive display. Like the HD2, the Evo 4G rocks a 4.3-inch capacitive touch screen that's downright mesmerizing. The extra screen real estate makes a huge difference when viewing Web pages and reading text, and the Evo supports the pinch-to-zoom gesture in a number of apps. The display shows vibrant colors and the sharp WVGA 480x800-pixel resolution makes everything look crisp. There is a built-in light sensor that will automatically adjust the backlight based on the ambient light; we were able to read the screen in most environments, but it did wash out a bit in bright sunlight.

Another benefit of the large display is a spacious keyboard that rivals the iPhone's in ease of use. Even in portrait mode, we were able to quickly punch out a message with both thumbs (none of that pecking at the keys with one finger) with minimal mistakes. As you can imagine, the landscape keyboard is even roomier, but most times we found we could get away with just typing in portrait mode.

Below the screen, you get four touch-sensitive navigation controls: home, menu, back, and search. A long press of the home key will bring up a list of your most recently used apps. There's a volume rocker on the right side, and the top of the device features a power button and 3.5mm headphone jack. On the bottom, you'll find a Micro-USB port and an HDMI port. Be aware that the latter is a Type D connector, so you'll have to get a compatible cable to hook the phone up to your TV. Of course, you can watch video and view photos right from the phone, and there's a handy kickstand on back so you can prop the phone up on a desk.

Sprint ships the HTC Evo 4G in an environmentally friendly package, but the included accessories are pretty sparse. You get an AC adapter, a USB cable, an 8GB microSD card, and reference material. For more add-ons, please check our cell phone accessories, ringtones, and help page.

Though there will be purists who prefer the standard Android skin, in most cases, we'd choose a device running HTC Sense. Out of all our custom skins for Android (Motoblur, TouchWiz, etc.), Sense is our absolute favorite, as it gives Android a more user-friendly interface. In many cases, it improves on the core functions by better integrating the features, which is why we're glad to see that Sprint had the sense (sorry) to go with Sense on the Evo 4G.

Just like the Droid Incredible and the HTC Legend, the Evo 4G runs the newer version of HTC Sense, which was announced at Mobile World Congress 2010. This includes a revamped mail widget that can take you to a list view of all your e-mail instead of just one message at a time. (This view, however, is only one of several choices.) Once in the mail app, there's a handy tabbed interface at the bottom that lets you view unread messages, attachments, meeting invites, and more with a simple touch. The Agenda widget also now displays your whole agenda on the screen, and, like the latest HTC devices, you get an animated weather widget right on the home screen that automatically displays the current conditions based on your location.

You also get a new Group Contacts widget, which lets you organize your contacts by groups. For example, you can set up one for work colleagues, another for friends, and another for just family--whatever you please. The UI looks good, and it's simple to add contacts to a group, though removing them requires a few extra steps.

Sense also makes it easy to access as much information as possible within the contact management system. If any of your contacts have Facebook updates, it will display them right next to their pictures in the contact database. You can also see all your exchanges (text messages, call logs, etc.) with a single person from his or her contact card, and all your contacts are accessible within the phone app. However, we still had multiple instances of duplicate contacts and had to go back and manually link them together.

Another feature, called Friend Stream, provides a single place for all your social-networking needs, piping in updates from Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr. Unlike Motoblur, it's not server-based; the phone connects to the sites and pulls information directly from there.

By far our favorite new feature, however, is the Leap screen. Pinching the home screen (or pressing the home button if you're on the center panel) brings up a thumbnail view of all your home screen panels, so if you have your favorite apps and widgets on those screens, you easily "leap" to the screen you want. The Evo 4G offers seven home screen panels, and there are different "Scenes," which presents a whole new set of seven home screen panels that you can customize by the theme of the Scene (Social, Work, Travel, Play, and so forth). Admittedly, it can be overwhelming, but the best part is that you can use as many or as few of the features as you want; the device is completely customizable to your needs.

Sitting underneath HTC Sense is Android 2.1. This is the latest version of Android currently available, so aside from the standard Google services and Android apps, you're also getting such features as Google Maps with Navigation, voice-to-text entry, and live wallpapers. However, if you follow Android developments at all, then you know that Android 2.2, aka Froyo, is on the way, bringing support for Flash 10.1, among other things. We asked Sprint whether the Evo would get an Android 2.2 update and a representative said the company was not announcing anything at this time, but any news would be communicated closer to availability. We can only hope that Sprint will be a bit more swift this time around than it was with bringing Android 2.1 to the Samsung Moment and the HTC Hero.

That aside, you are still getting an action-packed device that's focused around the 4G and multimedia experience. The Evo 4G is the first phone to take advantage of Sprint's WiMax network, and the smartphone ships with a handful of features that really take advantage of 4G. For one, the Evo will be the first handset to ship with YouTube's high-quality player, and also includes the aforementioned HDMI port so you can stream videos and photos in HD quality from your phone to your home theater system.

The Evo also has a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera, in addition to an 8-megagpixel camera that can shoot HD-quality video, and will come with a Qik video chat application, so you can make video calls. Now, video calling and Qik isn't new. Video conferencing has long been available in international markets and front-facing cameras are the norm on Nokia's higher-end smartphones, but the Evo 4G is the first handset with a U.S. carrier that really makes video chatting a viable option. Unlike AT&T's Video Share service, the recipient isn't required to have a compatible phone. Qik has a PC client so you could video chat with someone via PC and Webcam. Unfortunately, we weren't able to test the video-chatting capabilities, since our review unit didn't come preloaded with Qik Chat, though Sprint says it will provide us with access next week. The Qik video chat service is free, but if you can also upgrade to a premium service for $4.99 per month, which gives you higher resolution

Other voice features include a speakerphone, speed dial, smart dialing, voice commands, conference calling, visual voice mail, and text and multimedia messaging with threaded chat view. Bluetooth, 3G, GPS, and integrated Wi-Fi are also onboard, and you can use voice and data simultaneously, provided you're in a 4G market.

As a Sprint phone, the Evo supports a number of the carrier's services, such as Sprint TV, Sprint Football Live, Nascar Sprint Cup Mobile, and Sprint Navigation. HTC also throws in a few of its proprietary apps, including the Peep Twitter client and Footprints, which uses the phone's GPS to capture favorite locations and lets you chronicle trips with geotagged photos and notes. Of course, additional apps are available in the Android Market. As with all Android phones, you can only save apps to the phone's main memory. The Evo 4G offers 1GB of internal memory but the microSD expansion slot can accept up to 32GB cards.

It's clear that the HTC Evo 4G is one of the most powerful Android smartphones on the market, but what makes it different from the rest--and we're talking all smartphones, not just Android--is the 4G capabilities.

Our 4G wireless resource guide provides a more in-depth explanation of the technology, but in short, what this means for you is faster data speeds for Web browsing, downloads, streaming media, and uploading photos--all from your smartphone. In addition, the Evo lets you share these speeds with up to eight devices using the mobile hot-spot feature. What kind of speeds are we talking? Well, Sprint says its 4G WiMax network can provide wireless speeds up to 10 times faster than today's 3G, with average download speeds ranging from 3Mbps to 6Mbps and peak download speeds of up to 10Mbps and upload speeds of 1Mbps. Compare that with 3G's average download speeds of 600kbps to 1.4Mbps and peak download speeds of 1.3Mbps.

Sounds great on paper, but what about real-world results? Since 4G isn't yet available in New York, we ventured down to Philadelphia to get a taste of what Sprint's WiMax network really has to offer. We were able to get consistent 4G coverage throughout the city, though signal strength varied. CNET's full site loaded in 19 seconds, whereas CNN and ESPN's mobile sites came up in 5 seconds and 4 seconds, respectively. Downloading apps from the Android Market took just a few seconds, and downloading individual tracks from the Amazon MP3 averaged around 15 seconds or less; an entire album took 7 minutes to download.

We also streamed shows from Sprint TV, but the experience was disappointing. Despite having a 4G connection, there were some breaks in the clips and audio and videos weren't always synced up. On a brighter note, we had better luck with YouTube videos; playback was continuous and there was only one instance when we noticed a slight gap between audio and video.

To get a better measure of speeds, however, we tried out the mobile hot-spot feature and used the Evo 4G as our only source for getting online during our time in Philadelphia. Setup was a breeze with the preloaded Sprint Hotspot app, allowing us to connect the Evo to our Lenovo T61 laptop and iPod Touch with no problem. We used Speedtest.net to measure the Evo's download and upload speeds throughout the day, and the Evo averaged download speeds of 3.42Mbps and upload speeds of 0.93Mpbs and reached a peak speed of 4.76Mpbs. Using a 4G connection, we were able to upload a 2MB picture in 18 seconds, and a 93.9MB zipped music file took 5 minutes and 20 seconds to download. We also watched a couple of Hulu videos, which required a few seconds to load, but played back without interruption; it was the same with YouTube videos, and the difference between YouTube HQ and standard definition videos is noticeable and much appreciated.

If you're in a 4G market, you can use simultaneous voice and data, so the mobile hot-spot function should keep its connection even if a call comes through. Though this scenario never presented itself during our testing period, we were able to make a call on the Evo while still surfing the Net on our laptop. That said, during peak hours, the Internet connection dropped several times in an hour and though it would reconnect within a minute or two, it was nonetheless frustrating.

For comparison, we switched to 3G, ran the same test, and averaged download speeds of 0.77Mbps and upload speeds of 0.35Mbps. The same 2MB picture we used for our 4G test took 56 seconds to upload over a 3G connection, so you're definitely getting a nice bump in speed. If there's no 4G available, the Evo will automatically revert to Sprint's EV-DO Rev. A network, which might happen more often than not, since Sprint's 4G is currently live in only 32 cities, covering around 41 million people. Sprint said it will expand the service with partner Clearwire to Miami, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, New York City, Houston, Boston, Washington, D.C., Kansas City, Denver, Minneapolis, and the San Francisco Bay Area by the end of this year, at which point Sprint says its 4G network will cover 120 million people (44 markets in total).

Returning to the hot-spot feature briefly, it does come at a cost of $29.99 per month, which hurts when you add that to the $80 you're already paying for the data plan and Premium Add-on, but at least there is no data cap. Still, don't think of this as your only choice. We'd recommend doing a little online research and checking out the Android Market for some free tethering utilities, such as PDANet from June Fabrics Technology.

We tested the dual-band (CDMA 800/1900; EV-DO Rev. A) in New York and Philadelphia using Sprint service and call quality was great. Our friends' voices came through loud and clear, with little to no background noise. On one occasion, we made a call using the AT&T BlackBerry Curve and were met with static and patchy audio, so we called back using the Evo 4G and it was like night and day. Our callers also reported great results, noting in particular that there was no kind of voice distortion and plenty of volume. Speakerphone calls were decent. Though there was plenty of volume to hear our buddies even in louder environments, there was a bit of tinny audio quality.

We had no problems pairing the device with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset and the Motorola S9 Bluetooth Active Headphones. We also plugged in our Bose On-Ear Headphones and enjoyed rich-sounding tracks with a nice balance of treble and bass.

CNET's Jeff Bakalar took a closer look at the Evo 4G's HDMI-out capabilities, and you can read his full hands-on report here. And what about video recording? After all, the Evo's 8-megapixel camera can capture video at 720p HD quality. We wouldn't go ditching your camcorder just yet, though. The Evo certainly did a better job than most camera phones, capturing action with minimal blurriness or pixelation. That said, there's still a slight grainy quality to the videos. Picture quality, on the other hand, was great, whether we were shooting indoors or outdoors. Images were sharp and color tones were pretty true to life.

Equipped with a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8650 processor and 512MB RAM, the Evo 4G was able to keep up with our demands for the most part. It wasn't nearly as zippy as the Droid Incredible, but we were still able to launch and work in apps with minimal delay. That's not to say that it was all roses and peaches. The phone did have to be reset twice during our testing period. Actually, the first instance wasn't even our doing; we went to launch the Sprint Hotspot app and it just decided to power down. The other time was when we were downloading a song from the Amazon MP3 Store. The backlight had timed out during the download process, so when we went to go unlock the screen to check on the status, the display froze and we had to remove the battery to reboot the phone. We haven't had any mishaps since, so hopefully, they were just isolated incidents.

The HTC Evo 4G ships with a 1,500mAh lithium ion battery, but Sprint did not release its estimates for talk time or standby time. But with moderate use and a 4G connection, we were able to get the smartphone to last about 12 hours before needing a recharge. With heavy usage, we were running for an outlet within a few hours and the mobile hot-spot feature definitely drains the battery quickly, so keep your charger or extra battery handy. In our battery drain tests, the Evo 4G provided 5.5 hours of continuous talk time over 3G. According to FCC radiation tests, the smartphone has a digital SAR rating of 1.03 watts per kilogram.

Reviewed by Bonnie Cha from CNET.com

Opera 10 beta is here!

The Opera 10 browser is now ready to download for Windows, and Mac, and Linux, three months after the beta first emerged (hands-on Opera 10 beta review).
If you've been keeping up with the beta updates, the final build of the cross-platform browser shouldn't surprise you. Opera Turbo, the browser's much-publicized compression engine for slow-poke connections, remains a feature highlight. Opera claims that Opera Turbo runs the browser up to eight times faster on suffering connections than do competing browsers.
The refreshed user interface is also noteworthy. Joining the new default skin (changed from version 9.6), are changes to tab bar behavior. The conventional tabs double as thumbnail images. Double-click the thin gray bar below the tabs (indicated by dots) or click and drag to expand open tabs into preview windows that you can navigate by clicking among them.
Other enhancements include an expanded Speed Dial (a feature that has later been adopted and adapted in Google's Chrome browser) that shows more commonly visited Web pages than in previous Opera browsers. You're also able to customize it with a background picture. You'll see that spell check will be applicable to any text field (for 51 languages), and that Opera's incorporated e-mail client takes a page from Google's books by threading e-mail conversations.
Developers get access to a newer version of Opera Dragonfly, the publisher's online development tools, but everyone can benefit from the speedier rendering engine that, according to Opera, makes version 10 up to 40 percent faster than version 9.6--before switching on Turbo's compression.
Despite all the additions that Opera hopes will keep Opera 10 competitive, there are still two notable omissions for this final release. The first is Opera Unite, which uses your browser as a Web server for sharing your content with others. The second is the Carakan JavaScript engine that promises to process JavaScript about 2.5 times as fast as the engine used in Opera 10 alpha.

Palm Pre is impressive: Too little too late for Palm

The Palm Pre unveiling stands in my memory as one of the most refreshing moments in modern history. Palm had done it—they had created a great phone Nokia would kill for. But today, that's just not enough. As Palm teeters on the brink of either ruin or acquisition, let's take stock of what they did right:
• They abandoned an entrenched but aging platform for something new an innovative, and they didn't half-ass it: Palm OS was dead, WebOS was here.
• WebOS was actually good. If you discounted the lack of apps at launch, it was arguably more capable than anything else on the market.
• The Pre was totally buyable. It's one of the few smartphones I'd consider buying, and would also recommend to the rest of my family. And the hardware didn't suck.
• They got huge buzz, and they earned it.
Sure, their app ecosystem was slow to develop, and their TV ads were underwhelming at their best, and creepy at their worst. But that's not what really matters, right? Palm accomplished something with the Pre, and we could all see that. The Pre's spell was such that it made everything else feel old. Palm made something different—and it was something we would have paid obscene amounts of money for just a year prior. More than anything, Palm succeeded wildly at reinventing its products, its company and its image, by its own standards and by ours.
The problem is, it's not 2006 anymore. Those standards don't apply. There was a time when it was enough for a company like Palm to release a fantastic phone, and for years, that's exactly what they focused on. But today, to fight in the smartphone wars is to fight against multi-platform giants. And the rules of engagement have changed: It's no longer phone vs. phone, or mobile OS vs mobile OS. Today there are apps, and even if a phone maker nails that ecosystem, they have to integrate it into the company's other stuff: desktops, tablets, the living room, the workplace, the bathroom, the car—not to mention all the music, movies, TV and other media consumption any given human expects to be able to tap into on a new device.
The era of the standalone smartphone company is over. To say it plainly: If you want to make the best smartphone these days, it's just not enough to make the best handset, or even the best OS. Pour one out for the indie phone makers—I, for one, am sorry to see them go.

Microsoft soon to release Zune Phone

To anyone who has looked at Microsoft's highly rated Zune HD portable media player and wished it were a phone, your prayers have been answered. Yesterday, at Microsoft's press event for MWC 2010, the long-rumored "Zune phone" was finally thrust into the spotlight and treated to approving nods by many in attendance.

To be fair, the Windows Phone 7 Series is more than just a Zune HD with a phone slapped in. We're finally looking at a portable device that melds some of Microsoft's most successful products, including Windows Mobile, Zune, Xbox, and Microsoft Office. But make no mistake, there's a whole lot of Zune in the Windows Phone mobile OS. Everything from the touch-screen keyboard to the "twist"-style user interface looks and behaves just like Microsoft's latest Zune HD portable media player.

As a longtime fan of the Zune player, software, and services, I have mixed feelings about the Zune's evolution into Microsoft's flagship smartphone OS (I felt the same sting when the iPod gave way to the iPhone). The standalone Zune media player is no longer the center of the Zune story, but rather, the prologue.

Mostly though, I'm relieved. I've always felt that one of the biggest stumbling blocks Microsoft has faced trying to market a portable media player geared around sharing and social music features was the fact that there weren't a whole lot of other Zune users out there to share with. If nothing else, the inclusion of Zune services on Microsoft's latest smartphone software will mean an explosion in the population of registered Zune users. The Social may finally become, well, socialized.

In fact, lost in the shuffle of all the Windows Phone 7 Series announcements is the fact that the Zune's music and video services will suddenly be available internationally once the supported phones are available around the 2010 winter holidays. Currently, aside from some limited international exposure of the Zune Video Marketplace for the Xbox 360, Microsoft's Zune software and music services are strictly confined to the United States. Microsoft's Cassey McGee wouldn't disclose exactly which countries will receive Zune services, but definitely indicated that the Zune music and video service will be available outside the U.S. "...in all countries where Windows 7 Phones will ship."

It still remains to be seen whether the international availability of Zune software and services will translate into Microsoft selling its Zune HD portable media player overseas. Unlike the parallel tracks Apple has established with the iPhone and the ever-popular iPod, Microsoft could choose to pull up its stake in portable media players, acknowledging that the future of portable entertainment is entirely in phones.

If Microsoft decides to continue selling and developing the Zune HD hardware, it will be interesting to see how it answers the inevitable pleas from Zune HD users to update the product with Windows Phone 7 Series features, such as Xbox Live integration and broader mobile app support.

Apple may replace Google With Bing on the iPhone

According to two people familiar with the matter, Apple could make Bing the default search engine on the iPhone, BusinessWeek reports.

Microsoft and Apple have been in talks for weeks about replacing Google with Bing.

It's all part of the new rivalry between Apple and Google. Says a BusinessWeek source: "Microsoft is now a pawn in that battle."

Google wouldn't be wiped off the iPhone altogether. Instead users would have to adjust settings to make Google search a default for Safari.

As Microsoft becomes more willing to pay for search, and Google stomps deeper into Apple's turf, a Bing-iPhone partnership is more likely than ever. As long as Bing delivers a good user experience, and it's willing to pay extra, we don't see why Apple wouldn't at least consider it.

However, even if Bing becomes the default engine, sources tell BusinessWeek Apple has a "skunk works" looking at its own search engine for mobile, because "Apple isn't going to outsource the future."



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6 Years Old...Facebook Surges To 400 Million Users

It’s been six years to the day that Facebook launched, and the company’s massive growth is showing no signs of slowing down. Minutes ago, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a note to the site’s blog celebrating the milestone. In it, he says that Facebook will cross the 400 million user mark this week. And it’s been less than five months since the social network hit 300 million.

To celebrate, the company is holding its own version of a party — it’s Hackathon time. That means all of the company’s engineers are about to embark on all night coding seessions. Previous Hackathons have given birth to things like Facebook Video and its new HipHop PHP converter. Zuckerberg also says that we’ll be seeing some new product launches tonight.

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Myspace Changes it's Music Label

Myspace Records, the indie record label that’s a joint venture between the social network and Interscope Records, is going through some changes. Not to be confused with MySpace’s popular MySpace Music free streaming portal, MySpace Records is a small record label designed to help promising new artists get early exposure. Earlier this evening, LA-based radio station KROQ that MySpace Records may have been disbanded. We’re hearing from multiple sources that that isn’t entirely accurate: A handful of people were let go from the label’s small team, and the label’s GM Jay Scavo has to Hollywood Records. But all artists currently signed to MySpace Records will remain on the label, and the partnership with Interscope remains.

That’s sure to be good news for the label’s artists, which include Pennywise and Nico Vega. The label has also previously featured a handful of artists who were eventually promoted to the main Interscope label, including Kate Voegele and Mickey Avalon. However, while the current artists are safe, we’re hearing that the direction of the label and its future structure are still up in the air.

When MySpace Records launched, MySpace planned to leverage its then-recent acquisition by News Corp to turn the label into a jumping off point for hot new bands (former CEO Chris DeWolfe was as saying they’d get the bands into Fox movies and TV shows). Obviously it hasn’t performed as well as everyone hoped, but MySpace has still managed to help kickstart the careers of quite a few well known bands. Likewise, its site continues to perform well despite MySpace’s slowdown in other areas.