A man in Florida was sentenced to six-years in prison after being convicted of several conspiracy and copyright infringement charges. The man made millions off his website selling software titles such as Adobe and Macromedia. The FBI is currently investigating where he obtained the serial numbers which he sold with the software. Prosecutors say the man cost the industry more than 20 million dollars, but some say it could be more.

When Microsoft revealed the next version of Office, one of the most talked about upgrades was the "ribbon" menu system. I personally liked the ribbon interface, but Microsoft was hit with many complaints about it. In the next technical refresh of Office 2007 the ribbon menus will be set to automatically minimize when not in use. This is very similar to auto-hiding your taskbar in Windows. There will also be other menu improvements in the next beta scheduled to be released to testers soon...

And so it continues..... Apple today announced the recall of 1.8 million batteries, mainly affecting iBook G4 and Powerbook G4 laptops sold between October 2003 and August 2006. While no reports of laptops catching on fire, as with Dell, users have complained of minors burns and excessive heat from their computers. Sony has confirmed the batteries used in the Apple laptops are the same faulty battery cells that were used in the Dell batteris. If you have one of these Apple laptops ...

Microsoft has released RC1 of IE7. Download The release notes for this build can be found at the link below. Link

A Microsoft Senior Desing Anthropologist said job seekers will think twice about working for a company who locks down the internet during work hours. She says, "These kids are saying: forget it! I don’t want to work with you. I don’t want to work at a place where I can’t be freely online during the day." I'm sure people will take different stands on this issue because businesses say that allowing open internet will cause less work to be done throughout the work period. Others seem to sa...

Microsoft plans to roll out its "Office Live" service in mid-November. Office Live, which doesn't include any online Office programs, is a set of online business services such as e-mail and web hosting. Over 100,000 people have enrolled in the beta which was unveiled earlier this year. Office Live Basics (free) will include 500MB's of storage, and 25 e-mails accounts with 2GB of storage available. There are also several other paid plans which include extra services such as a business conta...

Today, Microsoftreleased Windows Media Player 11.  This final release includesupdates and fixes to the previous public betas in which many havepreviously downloaded.   Microsoft has addedcompatibility with the Microsoft Zune, and more musicplayers.  They have also updated content and integration tothe URGE online store.

A couple of months ago I posted a story about a researcher at the "Black Hat" convention who showed how to bypass some security measures in the upcoming Windows Vista. Joanna Rutkowska, a Polish researcher, tried her exploit on the recently released Vista RC2 and discovered it no longer worked. However, she apparantly feels there could be some problems with Microsoft's "fix". Rutkowska said on her blog, "This is good news, but it might hold some problems. Microsoft appears to have thwa...

Google plans to build a solar-powered electricity system at it's Silicon Valley headquarters. When finished it will be the largest U.S. corporate complex powered by solar energy. The rooftop system will reportedly supply 1.6 megawatts of electricity to nearly a third of it's 1 million square foot complex. Read more at the article below.

Since Vista will obviously not be released for this upcoming holiday season, they have come up with a coupon plan to ease the minds of new computer buyers. Microsoft reportedly plans to offer coupons with new PC purchases valid for either a free upgrade to Vista, or a discounted upgrade. The upgrade program will begin on October 26, and will run until March 15. Only PC's cabable of running Vista will be eligible for the upgrade coupons. So if you plan on buying a new PC for the upcomin...

An EU review panel is investigating whether to bring antitrust charges for "unfair competing" against AMD. The Commission has been considering charges for months, but has been delayed because of doubts about the case. In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission has shown little interest in pursuing this case. AMD has also sued Intel in the United States, and is also pursuing cases in other countries.

Halloween Skins Halloweenisapproaching and I wanted to put a list together of some great Halloweeninspired skins.  Please feel free add any you think are"scary"enough.   Bootskins HalloweenHades Halloween CursorXP HalloweenPumpkins MyHalloween HalloweenCursors Creepers DesktopX CreepersDesktop HalloweenLights AeroHalloween 2004 ...

At this years Tokyo Game Show , Sony President Ken Kutaragi announced the price cut of the PS3 in Japan by 20%. The 20GB model will sell for $429 (U.S. dollars), down from the original $515. It was also announced both models will feature the high-definition HDMI connector, which was originally only slated for the higher end model. This price cut is currently for the Japanese market only, but there was wide speculation on whether this will translate into a price cut for the U.S. also. So...

AT&T will apparantly bring back 2,000 jobs to the U.S. that were previously done by outside call centers. The Communications Workers of America union seemed to have a part in this by negotiating wages, benefits, etc. We often hear about companies outsourcing jobs to foreign call centers, so I am glad to see AT&T at least making some effort to return jobs back to the U.S.

Microsoft unveiled it's new media player which will arrive just in time for this holiday season. The Zune will be available in three colors, feature Wi-fi, and will be able to share songs with other Zunes which are nearby. It will feature a 30GB hard drive, and a 3-inch screen. While no pricing information was released, it has been rumored that Microsoft was hoping for a $299 price point.