Dell College Gaming League Becomes First Official Amateur League Partner for Championship Gaming Series

Exclusive Deal Gains College Gaming League Worldwide Exposure and Brings CGS to Hundreds of U.S. College Campuses

Dell’s College Gaming League (CGL), the community for avid PC and Xbox 360 collegiate gamers and Championship Gaming Series® (CGS), have joined forces and established the CGL as the first Official Amateur League Partner of CGS.

The College Gaming League was founded as a joint venture between Dell, Intel and Microsoft as part of the Dell University program, which offers educational discounts and customized PC bundles for students, faculty and staff at thousands of participating schools across the country. League membership is free and open to all college students in the U.S. Benefits include access to public game servers for all members, exclusive offers on systems and games, member communication tools, weekly “Play with a Pro” game nights, open- and closed-ladder tournaments, a Premiere Division for top performers and a national championship tournament where school teams compete.

Microsoft unveils Windows Live

On Tuesday Microsoft made its Windows Live Suite available for download off the Internet for the first time.

The product consists of a group of internet applications which includes photo sharing, instant messenger, a family web-browsing application, email and so forth. Windows Live also has a range of built-in security features, according to Microsoft, that will protect users surfing the internet.

Sumeet Khanna, director of Windows Live, MSN Canada, said: "With these enhancements to Windows Live, we're integrating cool, new experiences with digital photos, event planning and sharing and web publishing with our popular services like Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger, and Windows Live Spaces." Now users will be able to bundle their online networks together and have a single user name and password, Mr Khanna added.

Microsoft's overall goal is to make its Windows Live product so advanced that users can perform all their desired internet-related tasks through it.

Microsoft charts phishing success

Every year approximately 0.4 percent of users of the internet divulge personal information in phishing scams, according to research from Microsoft.

The research could not determine on average how much money victims that fell prey to phishing scams lost, reports PC World. Microsoft presented the research at the recent Anti-Phishing Work Group summit in Pittsburgh. Researchers Cormac Herley and Dinei Florencio co-wrote a paper on the findings. The software giant monitored 500,000 internet users who had downloaded Phish Detective and tracked password reuse among them.

Phish Detective comes with the Windows Live OneCare Advisor for the Windows Live Toolbar. Mr Herley told PC World: "The problem with phishing is it's easy to get an accurate estimate of people who are going to vote one way or the other, but when you're trying to estimate something that's rare it gets hard." Meanwhile, the number of phishing attacks increased worryingly during September, according to recent research from MessageLabs Intelligence.

Microsoft and Bungie Studios to Evolve Relationship

Companies to forge new long-term relationship.

Microsoft Corp. announced a plan for Bungie Studios, the developers of the "Halo(R)"
franchise, to embark on a path to become an independent company. Microsoft will retain an equity interest in Bungie, at the same time continuing its long-standing publishing agreement between Microsoft Game Studios and Bungie for the Microsoft-owned "Halo" intellectual property, as well as other future properties developed by Bungie.

The critically acclaimed Xbox 360(R)-exclusive "Halo 3" achieved $300 million in global sales in its first week. Released on Tuesday, Sept. 25, "Halo 3" is the fastest-selling video game ever and already one of the most successful entertainment properties in history.

"Our collaboration with Bungie has resulted in 'Halo' becoming an enduring mainstream hit," said Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios. "While we are supporting Bungie's desire to return to its independent roots, we will continue to invest in our 'Halo' entertainment property with Bungie and other partners, such as Peter Jackson, on a new interactive series set in the 'Halo' universe. We look
forward to great success with Bungie as our long-term relationship continues to evolve through 'Halo'-related titles and new IP created by Bungie."

"This exciting evolution of our relationship with Microsoft will enable us to expand both creatively and organizationally in our mission to create world-class games," said Harold Ryan, studio head for Bungie. "We will continue to develop with our primary focus on Microsoft(R) platforms; we greatly value our mutually prosperous relationship with our publisher, Microsoft Game Studios; and we look forward to continuing that affiliation through 'Halo' and beyond." Bungie Studios will remain in its current location in Kirkland, Wash.

Global Entertainment Phenomenon 'Halo 3' Records More Than $300 Million in First-Week Sales Worldwide

Xbox 360 console sales more than doubled; nearly 3 million gamers play online via Xbox LIVE.

Interactive entertainment will never be the same, with the launch of one title that has changed the way the world thinks about video games. "Halo(R) 3" has captured the attention of consumers worldwide and has made history as one of the biggest entertainment launches of all time.

Microsoft Corp. today announced that "Halo 3" has officially become a global phenomenon, garnering more than $300 million in sales in the first week alone. The critically acclaimed Xbox 360(R) exclusive, which was released worldwide on Tuesday, Sept. 25, is the fastest-selling video game ever and already one of the most successful entertainment properties in history.

Initial reports from retailers worldwide show console sales have more than doubled compared with the weekly average before the launch of "Halo 3." With games such as "Halo 3," "Madden 08" (EA Sports), "Mass Effect" (Microsoft Game Studios) and "Rock Band" (Harmonix), Xbox 360 has the greatest lineup in the history of video games and is the only console where consumers can play all the year's biggest blockbusters.

"'Halo' is truly a cultural phenomenon, and the launch of 'Halo 3' is an important milestone for Xbox 360 and for video games as entertainment and as an art form," said Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft. "'Halo 3' embodies our vision for the future of entertainment, where some of the world's greatest creative minds will deliver a new generation of interactive storytelling."

Microsoft Unveils Pricing for Small Biz VoIP System

By Jennifer Hagendorf Follett, CMP Channel

While solution providers anxiously await the release of Microsoft's unified communications product portfolio later this month, the company in the meantime is making strides to bring its small business VoIP wares to market.

Microsoft on Tuesday said it has released its Response Point phone system to manufacturing, meaning that OEM partners D-Link and Quanta Computer will soon have general availability for products based on the software. Microsoft also said both partners will be pricing their products below $3,000.

Microsoft joins vendors such as 3Com, Cisco Systems and Digium in recently targeting VoIP systems at small businesses.

The systems, which include VoIP call processing and features such as voicemail, call forwarding and integration with Microsoft Outlook, are targeted at small-business customers with up to 50 users, though they will scale higher, said Jeff Smith, senior product manager at Microsoft, Redmond, Wash.

Microsoft's small business VoIP move comes two weeks ahead of the planned launch of Microsoft's Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007 and other communications products at a launch event in San Francisco on October 16. Smith noted that Response Point systems were built from the ground up as small business solutions and are not designed to work as branch office systems off of larger OCS deployments.

Two OEM partners, D-Link and Quanta, are preparing to ship product bundles within the next few months that package Microsoft software with their base hardware units, gateways and phones.

Firefox fixes flaw

Mozilla, the maker of the popular Firefox browser, has released a fix for a vulnerability in QuickTime which was flagged up last week.

A patch for the same flaw was originally issued by Mozilla back in July, however it proved to be incomplete. The flaw is in the way the browser deals with JavaScript code in QuickTime files. Malware could conceivably be disguised as files like .mov and .mp3 which could be installed through QuickTime. Petko Petkov, a security researcher, highlighted the fact that Mozilla's original patch was not enough.

In a security advisory Mozilla stated: "On his blog Petko Petkov reported that QuickTime Media-Link files contain a qtnext attribute that could be used on Windows systems to launch the default browser with arbitrary command-line options. "When the default browser is Firefox 2.0.0.6 or earlier use of the -chrome option allowed a remote attacker to run script commands with the full privileges of the user." Firefox is currently posing a challenge to Microsoft's Internet Explorer to be the most popular browser.

New worm hits Skype

A new worm has hit the internet and is being delivered in the form of an instant message on the popular internet phone service Skype.

The worm accesses the host PC by utilizing Skype's application programming interface and then deactivates any security software before proceeding to mail itself to people on the victim's Skype list. It then starts accessing any passwords or personal information on the infected computer.

The instant-message chat invitation the worm is concealed in, reads: "Hey, where I put ur photo ;-) now u populr. oops sorry please dont look there. look what crazy photo Tiffany sent me, looks cool." Finnish security software company F-Secure has dubbed the worm W32/Skipi.A. Symantec meanwhile is calling it W32.Pykspa.D.

The company claims that the worm is one of a new family called Pykspa which have been surfacing recently in various forms on the internet. On August 16th this year the Skype network went down for the first time, due to millions of users rebooting their PCs at the same time following a Microsoft security update.

Microsoft to release four patches

In its monthly security update, Microsoft is to release four patches later today, the company has announced.

Only one of the patches has been labeled "critical", the highest security rating for a Microsoft patch. Three other patches have been deemed "important" by Microsoft. One of these is designed to remedy a privilege escalation bug for Unix applications.

The other two patches are for Visual Studio and MSN Messenger, to fix weaknesses that could possibly allow remote code execution. Microsoft has not been specific about what the fourth, critical patch pertains to, though it is a part of Windows 2000 SP 4. Neither Windows or Vista are affected however, Microsoft has claimed. The company was to have released five patches today, but will now only release four.

Eric Schultze, a security architect at Shavlik, told SCMagazineUS.com: "[The revision] means it hasn't passed their testing. There is a beta patch test group that will do all of the testing of the security patches about five weeks before they're to be released." September's release will contain the fewest patches of those in the last several months.

Computer Virus Reaches 25

It has been 25 years since the first officially recognized computer virus was unleashed.

Dubbed Elk Cloner, the virus was created in 1982 by ninth-grade computer enthusiast Rich Skrenta . He is quoted in the London Free Press as saying: "It was some dumb little practical joke. "I guess if you had to pick between being known for this and not being known for anything, I'd rather be known for this. But it's an odd placeholder for [all] I've done."

Since Elk Cloner there has been a plethora of other viruses, some highly damaging, to hit PCs around the world. The Associated Press today compiled a list of some of the more damaging viruses over the years, including the Brain virus, released in 1986. Brain has the dubious honor of being the first virus to appear on computers running Microsoft products. In 1999, the world was hit by Melissa, one of the first viruses to be disseminated over email.

The most recent virus on the list is the notorious Sasser, which hit computers in 2004 and caused computers to repetitively crash and reboot.

Microsoft Releases Important Bundle Of Patches

A set of nine patches aimed at securing 14 bugs has been released by the software giant Microsoft.

The company has stated that six of the patches fix weaknesses that are "critical" and could be used by a cyber criminal. Windows Vista was the target of two of these patches. None of the bugs that have been patched have been acknowledged by Microsoft in the past. Don Leatham, director of solutions and strategy with PatchLink Corp, told IDG News: "People should definitely cancel their dinner plans and make sure they take this one seriously because both the breadth and impact of these are important.

"This is an intense month." The patch release is the second largest by Microsoft so far this year. Experts have said that the most critical flaw that was patched was the one in the graphics rendering engine. This flaw could potentially result in hackers fooling users into opening an email containing malware.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has announced that it has bought the ad company aQuantive for the sum of $6 billion.

Government Rejects Internet Device

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has rejected a new device that several computer companies claim could beam the Internet over unused television airwaves.

According to the regulatory body, the device was not accurate enough in telling which television airwaves were unused, which could have ended up causing interference. However, the companies behind the device, which include Microsoft, Dell and Google, are convinced that it is accurate.

A representative of the coalition of companies, Edmond Thomas, said: "We intend to work with the FCC in order to identify the discrepancies in their tests with the tests we've done." The FCC has stated in the past that it would like to develop a way to send high-speed Internet over the unused television airwaves, known as white spaces.

By using white spaces, the Internet could be brought to those in rural areas and create more innovation. As a rule the use of white spaces is not popular with television broadcasters, as they fear interference. Recently, the FCC also ruled that all wireless carriers must allow their customers access to roaming for a reasonable cost.