Want to install Windows 7 on your Windows XP netbook, but don’t feel like buying the Windows 7 installation disc and a USB DVD drive to do it? Microsoft is now offering netbook users a way to download the operating system directly to a PC and use a USB Flash drive to install it.

Here’s how it works. First, you visit the Windows 7 for Netbooks page and purchase and download the version of Windows 7 you’re interested in. You can choose Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, or Windows 7 Ultimate. Windows 7 Starter isn’t an option.

Once you’ve downloaded disc image, you can use the new Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool (WUDT) to copy the installation files to a 4GB or larger USB flash drive and then use that USB stick to install the operating system.

via CNET and ZDNet

Like tiny computers? Then you might like other tiny things, like tiny USB peripherals. And nobody’s making them smaller than Buffalo these days. The company put out a ridiculously small 16GB USB them drive in June. And now Buffalo has announced a MicrosSD card reader that’s about the size of a MicroSD card, which is to say, really small.

The USB MicroSD card reader barely sticks out from your USB port, and can handle a standard MicroSD card. The reader also has 16GB of built in storage, which kind of makes me wonder why you’d really need to insert removable media, you know, unless you wanted to copy some data from your camera or something.

The only down side is that this little guy comes at a price. Geek Stuf 4U is taking pre-orders for ¥15,500, or about $159 US.

via Engadget