Microsoft and Mitsubishi are taking handheld PC's to the next level. LucidTouch, as the technology is called, allows users to control the touch screen PC with both hands, while previous touch-screens required some form of support (usually a hand) to hold the touch-screen up. LucidTouch technology poses a rather interesting question: Where is the PC part of the touch-screen PC going? Any manufacturer using LucidTouch will have to take low-profile to a new level, and somehow cram all the important hardware to the sides of the screen.

One of the major changes between the Windows Genuine Advantage software found in Windows XP and the version found in Windows Vista is the Vista's version's ability to "phone home". Unfortunately, this caused a disaster when a bunch of copies which did "phone home" recently phoned a faulty server. And so, what did hundreds, perhaps thousands, of legitimate Vista copies do? Flag themselves as pirated, and dip into "reduced functionality mode". Most of the victims were none too pleased at this. A common feeling of most of the users:

This is inexcusable, I am not a software pirate, I paid good money for both my copies of Vista, and due to poorly implemented anti-piracy measures, I am prevented from using my own PC!

Microsoft has made available the following Windows Vista KB940105 hotfix. All NVIDIA GeForce 6, 7 and 8 series users should install this update in order to resolve potential Graphics Virtual Address problems that may occur when running Windows Vista OS. This hotfix resolves abnormal application behavior such as crashes and extremely low frame rates when running some 3D applications at very high graphics settings. This issue has been most commonly noticed on high-end graphics cards and the following applications: Battlefield 2, Battlefield 2142, Civilization IV, Company of Heroes, Half-Life 2, Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth II, Supreme Commander, and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas. In order for this hotfix to be effective, GeForce customers must also update to the latest ForceWare Release 163 drivers.

Gabe Newell, one of the more popular directors of Valve Steam, recently berated Microsoft on it's choice of making DX10 Vista exclusive. A recent Steam survey shows that only 2% of gamers own both at least one DirectX10 capable graphics card and Microsoft Windows Vista. Newell also pointed out that none of the next-generation consoles use DirectX 10 features, limiting DX10 support. It would seem as though there is a general consensus among gamers and developers is nicely summed up by The Inquirer:

(DirectX 10) fractures an already-diverse PC gaming market even more, making consoles look even more attractive. One only has to look at Bioshock - the PC version has staggering requirements, barely any image quality upgrade under DX10/Vista, as well as installation issues - whereas the Xbox 360 version plugs in and works.

It seems as if there is no end to the Master Chief franchise. Microsoft recently developed an Xbox 360 specifically designed around Halo 3. £280 will get you an Xbox 360 Premium with a painstakingly detailed paint job. This console comes with a 20GB hard drive, a wired headset, a component-video AV cable, an Ethernet cable, an HDMI cable, an appropriately themed wireless controller, and exclusive Xbox Live content. Unfortunately, this console does not come with an actual copy of Halo 3. There is no reference as to when we can expect to see this console on store shelves.

Microsoft today announced that it is recalling all the Xbox 360 Wireless Wheels manufactured during 2006 - 2007. The company is taking the step after reports of a component in the $129.99 controller overheating and releasing smoke when using the AC-DC power supply. Owners of the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel should stop using the AC-DC power supply until they have obtained their retrofit. Owners may continue to operate the Wheel using battery power. While operating in battery mode, the force feedback feature will not be available. To have the wireless wheel replaced, please go here.

Proving continued industry support from among some of the best games companies from around the world, Microsoft Corp. today announced new games, hardware and accessories that will exhilarate fans of the world's most popular gaming platform. At the German Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany, Microsoft announced that top video game publisher Ubisoft Entertainment was the latest to join the Games for Windows branding program. The first title Ubisoft will deliver is "The Settlers: Rise of an Empire."

Microsoft Corp. said on Tuesday it plans to introduce a computer mouse designed for PC gaming, in an effort to capture a growing segment of the computer peripheral equipment market. Microsoft's new SideWinder mouse, which will target hard-core computer video game fans, allows nearly 5,000 different adjustable settings, including weight, materials and touch. The new mouse comes with a small liquid crystal display between the thumb and index finger to keep track of game functions and settings. The SideWinder mouse will sell for $79.95 when it becomes available in October.

According to a Belgium source, Microsoft plans to revise the Xbox 360 Core system with a superior version without any change in pricing. The new entry-level system, called "Xbox 360 Arcade: Just Play," will still lack a hard disk drive, but will be packaged with a 256MB memory card. Its namesake comes from the fact that the new system will come with five Xbox Live Arcade games. Additionally, the new Core system will come with a wireless controller, replacing the current wired one. The Xbox 360 Premium system will be tagged with the words "Go Pro," while the Xbox 360 Elite will carry the words "Go Big."

Microsoft today announced an estimated retail price drop for its Xbox 360 family of consoles in the UK, as well as confirming the availability of the Xbox 360 Elite. On August 24, new estimated retail pricing will come into effect for Xbox 360 in the UK. The Xbox 360 Premium will be reduced by £30 ($60) to carry an estimated retail price of £249.99 ($497). The entry-level Xbox 360 Core console will also be reduced by £20 ($40) to carry an estimated retail price of £179.99 ($358). Xbox 360 Elite will carry an estimated retail price of £299.99 ($596) when it launches in the UK this Friday. Earlier this month, Microsoft slashed the price of its Xbox 360 console for the U.S. and Canadian region.

Americans have been able to buy the Xbox 360 Elite (for a premium) for quite some time now, while PAL territories and Asia make do with the Xbox 360 Premium. Microsoft decided to make a PAL version of their Xbox 360 Elite, which will make a European debut on Friday, August 24th. It should come with no disabled features, unlike the PAL version of the PS3. It should cost £50 more than the Xbox 360 Premium, which is still £95 more than the PAL version of the PS3.

Microsoft has upped the capacity of its free Windows Live Hotmail to 5GB. The new capacity will be more than double the previous amount of storage offered by Hotmail. When Windows Live Hotmail launched earlier this year, it offered users 2GB of e-mail space. Gmail, which has literally been increasing user e-mail storage every day for over a year, currently offers around 2.8GB of free storage. Microsoft also offers connectivity between Hotmail and its other applications like Outlook, and an enhanced e-mail security applet for users to see immediately if any messages post a serious risk to their computer.

At Gamefest 2007, Microsoft made a speech regarding just how successful Xbox Live is. Microsoft's Game Developer Group general manager Chris Satchell says that there are currently 7.1 million paying Xbox Live users, who have downloaded 45 million things off of Xbox Live. Furthermore, the attach rate for Xbox Live Arcade titles is over 7 titles per user, on average. Satchell points out that the Xbox Live Arcade attachment number has doubled in the past four months.

Microsoft has a pleasant surprise for all Xbox 360 Premium buyers that got a console made after July 4th 2007. "Yes, we are offering an HDMI port for Xbox 360 simply as another choice in Xbox 360 owners' games and entertainment experience. Retailers are gradually introducing HDMI-enabled Xbox 360s into the channel to meet demand". Unfortunately, HDMI will only be on the Xbox 360 Premium and Elite. Microsoft has no current plans to put an HDMI port on the $279 USD core version of the Xbox 360.

Back in February, when Vista was just starting to gain momentum in the PC world, people got a nasty surprise when installing Vista Home Premium or higher on a 'Vista Capable' PC (instead of a 'Vista Premium Ready' PC): if it installed at all, it ran as slow as molasses, and features that people paid for such as Aero and Windows Media Center did not work, due to higher system requirements. This misconstrued marketing angered consumers over time, and now Microsoft is facing a class action lawsuit. Microsoft asked for the case to be thrown out, but a Federal judge agreed to hear the case just last Tuesday. The trial is scheduled for October, but we should see Microsoft settling this case long before then.

When Google was sued by pornographers for letting anyone who typed in "porn" at the Google Image Search prompt peek at pay-per-view porn, the courts upheld Google's rights to do just that. Now, Perfect 10 recently accused Microsoft's MSN search engine finding and posting porno that was hosted by an illegal distributer of Perfect 10's porn. Perfect 10 also is also accusing Microsoft of letting people successfully find passwords to their pay-per-view materials using MSN search. Perfect 10 has tried to sue both Google and Amazon with similar cases, and both cases were thrown out. Perfect 10 is appealing the court's decision while waiting for the results of this suit.

The current version of Windows XP Service Pack 2.0b is currently running very low on product keys, due to piracy the surprising longevity of the product. And so, to combat the lack of product keys, Microsoft is creating a fresh batch by releasing Windows XP Service Pack 2.0c. There should be no major differences, other than the latest patches built in and the new abundance of keys.

This version of XP will only be available to OEM system builders, and will only be in the market until Windows XP's official EoL date: January 31st 2009. Retail copies of Windows XP will stop shipping on the January 31st 2008.

Things are still a little cloudy, so take this with a pinch of salt, but a number of Microsoft's software testers claim to have received an early version of the first service pack for Windows Vista. Apparently a few testers have given ZDNet a tipoff, although each tester has come forward with a different build number, which suggests that Microsoft could even be using them to track down anyone who gives away information about new features, but it's equally possible each tester is just running a different build. The screenshots below are from WinBeta and supposedly show a version of Vista with the service pack installed, although there is still very little which will be of interest to most people. The private beta had been rumoured for mid-July, with a public beta following soon afterwards and a final version coming as soon as November this year, although Microsoft has not given any official confirmation of this. Hopefully more information will become available soon, but it looks like the first service pack could be here soon.

Given the relatively high failure rate for Xbox 360s, it's no surprise that Microsoft has taken steps to make the repairs process a little easier. Anyone with a defective Xbox 360 living in the USA can now "speed things along" by visiting service.xbox.com to register your console and setup a repair, as well as being able to track the progress of your repair online. And to sweeten the deal a little bit, Microsoft is even offering a $5 discount for repairs on out-of-warranty consoles if you use the new website, with any machines still inside the warranty period receiving free repairs. Apparently there is also a European equivalent on the way (and possibly a similar site for other areas) but there is no indication of when this is expected to go live yet. You will need a Windows Live ID to use the service, although this is free and relatively easy to setup - anyone who uses Windows Live Messenger or other Windows Live services should already have one.

Despite there once being rumours of Microsoft dropping service pack three for Windows XP, the software giant has now confirmed that it still intends to keep its old operating system up-to-date with at least one more service pack. Although no information about major changes has yet been leaked, a Microsoft spokesperson said the following:

We're currently planning to deliver SP3 for Windows XP in the first half of calendar year 2008. This date is preliminary, and we don't have any more details to share at this time.

By that time, service pack two (which was quite a huge security update) will have been around for about four years, and given the slow start for Windows Vista, Microsoft may have no choice but to continue supporting its larger consumer market for a few years yet if it doesn't want to upset millions of customers. However, considering that Windows XP is now very secure and stable, the next service pack could turn out to be little more than a bundle of Windows Update patches - unless Microsoft intends to integrate features from Vista such as user account control, which is very unlikely.

Microsoft has released two beta hotfix's for windows vista which are recommended to all gamers and desktop users. However they are not recommended to companies since they are in a beta state.

938194 Vista Compatibility and Reliability Pack
This update resolves a number of individual issues which may be affecting some computers running Windows Vista. These issues have been reported by customers using the Error Reporting service, product support, or other means. Installing this update will improve the reliability and hardware compatibility of Windows Vista in a variety of scenarios. Some examples of the improvements contained in this update are:

It's no secret that as of late, Microsoft's Windows Vista isn't doing very well. Despite Microsoft claiming record sales figures, buyers have all too much negative feedback, which is severely affecting investors confidence in Microsoft. Steve Balmer, the CEO of Microsoft, recently had a figurative pep rally (Microsoft's annual financial analyst meeting)to regain investor confidence. Balmer first addressed investor confidence in Vista. "Vista doesn't get done by three people in a garage in three days," said Steve Ballmer. The company is making big bets, and some of them will take time to develop. "A great misconception in the tech industry is that most successes happen overnight," he said.

Steve Balmer then reminded investors of recent company successes that Microsoft intends to build on, which includes advertising and devices. "We are hell bent and determined to allocate the talent, resources, money, and innovation to become a powerhouse in the advertising business."

A certain number of KB articles from Microsoft offer a hotfix which can be obtained by calling Microsoft Support to authenticate your version of Windows and to check whether you need that hotfix or not. Microsoft now offers a new way with which you can now download a hotfix without having to call a Microsoft representative. With this way you will receive a form mail in response, and in it will be a link to the http site where you can download the fix from.

NEW YORK - July 25, 2007 - Massive Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corp. and a leading network for video game advertising, and Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) today announced the incorporation of five premier titles from EA. All the titles will be live in the Massive Network this year. The EA titles joining the Massive Network include the year's most anticipated new releases and perennial best-sellers in their respective categories:
•"Madden NFL 08" (Xbox 360 and PC)
•"NASCAR 08" (Xbox 360)
•"NHL 08" (Xbox 360)
•"Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 08" (Xbox 360 and PC)
•"SKATE" (Xbox 360)

Process Monitor is an advanced monitoring tool for Windows that shows real-time file system, Registry and process/thread activity. It combines the features of two legacy Sysinternals utilities, Filemon and Regmon, and adds an extensive list of enhancements including rich and non-destructive filtering, comprehensive event properties such session IDs and user names, reliable process information, full thread stacks with integrated symbol support for each operation, simultaneous logging to a file, and much more. Its uniquely powerful features will make Process Monitor a core utility in your system troubleshooting and malware hunting toolkit.Process Monitor runs on Windows 2000 SP4 with Update Rollup 1, Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP1, and Windows Vista as well as x64 versions of Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 SP1 and Windows Vista.