TechBytes: Amazon Adds Same-Day Delivery

Oct. 16, 2009— -- Amazon will soon offer customers instant gratification. The online retailer is adding same-day delivery in seven cities, with more to follow. The service will start out in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, Baltimore, Las Vegas and Seattle. It costs $6 dollars per item for Amazon Prime members and up to $19 for non-members, depending on the item. For more information visit Amazon.com

Microsoft releases its new Windows 7 operating system next week. The company claims the software is a big improvement from the much maligned Vista. So is it worth upgrading? USA Today's Ed Baig says it's a giant leap forward from Vista.

"It's faster, it's easier to navigate, it's more compatible, and it won't nag you very much." Grobart says. "You'll love the fact that you can pin the programs you use most often as icons on the task bar. Home networking is a lot simpler, and there's a lot of things that just make it a much smoother and more pleasurable experience. .. It took Microsoft a while to get here, but Windows 7 is a winner." You can read Ed's full review on USAToday.com

Sony is launching a version of PlayStation 3 with a larger hard drive to store more games, movies and music. The $350 console will have a 250 gigabyte hard drive. That's more than twice as big as the recently launched PS3 slim. The new console goes on sale Nov. 3.

The classic board game Clue is getting a clue from the digital age. A new version called "Clue: Secrets and Spies" uses text messages as part of the game. Hasbro says it's the first board game in the company's history to incorporate this technology. At the beginning of the game, players send a text message from their own phones and Hasbro sends six texts back to move the action along. The game costs $25, plus any charges for texting. View a trailer of the game on hasbro.com.