Microsoft puts itself at the hub of the home

The chunky black original Xbox might not have been the most aesthetically pleasing thing to put in your front room, but with 20m sold worldwide, Microsoft's machine has truly earned a place in today's entertainment culture. By Rhianna Pratchett.

Microsoft takes on BlackBerry

Jack Schofield: On Tuesday, Microsoft unveiled a new version of its mobile phone operating system, code-named Magneto, and showed off a sexy Samsung i300 phone with a scroll wheel, Windows Media Player 10, and a hard drive loaded with a thousand songs.

Xbox fault found

The software group Microsoft yesterday recalled the power leads for more than 14m of its Xbox games consoles amid concerns over safety.

PC sales grow by double digits

"Double-digit growth in worldwide sales of personal computers for the fifth consecutive quarter was driven largely by strong demand in Europe, according to a research company that tracks sales. PC sales increased 15% over the year-ago quarter, with 39.7 million units shipped, led by the strong demand in Europe, as well as better than expected sales in Canada and Latin America, according to Framingham, Mass.-based IDC," reports AP.

Toshiba notebook for TV watchers

"Toshiba Corp plans to announce a new laptop model next week that allows users to watch TV on it without having to boot up the computer's Windows operating system—the first in what analysts say will be a new crop of multimedia notebooks to come," reports AP.

Searching times

Microsoft has just unveiled a preview of its new search technology, Jack Schofield assesses its chances of success.

Microsoft patches Windows IE exploit

"Microsoft Corp released a free software update yesterday to close vulnerabilities that left users of its Internet Explorer browser open to attacks by hackers. The security breach, discovered last week, made it possible for users of Microsoft's ubiquitous Web browser to have their passwords and private account information stolen when they logged on to banking sites," reports The Washington Post.

Bill may start blogging

"Yes, the world's richest man may start his own blog, one of those online diaries that have been the rage among techies for the past three or four years. Bill's blog won't be all business, either. He's expected to share personal details such as tidbits from recent vacations, according to tech pundit Mary Jo Foley's Microsoft Watch newsletter. Citing unnamed sources, she reported yesterday that Gates is about to start blogging 'real soon now'," reports The Seattle Times.

Windows IE hole — less alarming than billed [updated]

Microsoft has posted and revised a security update, What You Should Know About Download.Ject, that makes the recent furore about Internet Explorer (below) sound a little overblown. It turns out that the vulnerability to Web servers had already been fixed by patch 835732 in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-011. Most rational companies would already have installed this to block the Sasser worm. People running AutoUpdate in April would have got the patch.

Corporate Web sites may no longer be safe for Windows IE users

"Security researchers warned Web surfers on Thursday to be on guard after uncovering evidence that widespread Web server compromises have turned corporate home pages into points of digital infection. The researchers believe that online organized crime groups are breaking into Web servers and surreptitiously inserting code that takes advantage of two flaws in Internet Explorer that Microsoft has not yet fixed. Those flaws allow the Web server to install a program that takes control of the user's computer," reports CNet.

Microsoft confirms HPC plans

Yesterday, Microsoft confirmed rumours that it will produce a high performance computing (HPC) version of Windows for parallel computing. Information Week reports: "The software, due in the second half of 2005, represents a different approach to high-end computing than the company's currently available DataCenter edition of Windows. DataCenter is designed for use on symmetric multiprocessing servers, where a single version of Windows can run on up to 64 processors. Microsoft's in-development High-Performance Computing platform will split the workload across many smaller machines, each of which has its own imprint of Windows.

Dirty war for hearts and minds

Microsoft should concentrate on trying to offer better products at cheaper prices instead of debunking its competitors, says Jack Schofield.

IE holes not fixed by latest patches

IDG News Service reports: "Four new holes have been discovered in the Internet Explorer Web browser that could allow malicious hackers to run attack code on Windows systems, even if those systems have installed the latest software patches from the Redmond, Washington company, security experts warn.

Yahoo adding Pest Patrol

Yahoo is beta testing Anti-Spy for the Yahoo Toolbar, which "allows users to identify potentially unwanted software that creeps into personal computers," reports Reuters. Yahoo's technology is based on a commercial program, Pest Patrol, rather than the popular Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-aware programs. Presumably the toolbar version of Pest Patrol will offer Windows users the chance to upgrade to the full package, but as long as it offers to remove any parasites it finds, that seems a fair trade to me.