30GB Zunes mysteriously begin to fail at 12AM, December 31st -- day of reckoning to follow

URL: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/WQjg569P1NU/

Do you have a Zune 30? If so, does the thing look something like the above? That is to say, stuck at a loading bar and completely non-functional? If so, you are not alone. We've been flooded with tips about users whose 30GB players started locking up at midnight last night, essentially bricking themselves without any help from their owners. The failures are coming 24-hours ahead of the big '09 changeover, but that hasn't stopped Zune aficionados from dubbing this unfortunate flaw "Z2K." No official word yet from Microsoft, but we're guessing a made-for-TV doomsday movie staring Louis Gossett Jr. can't be too far off. Trailer after the break.

Update: Jim wrote in to let us know that someone at Microsoft has apparently finally woken up and checked their e-mail (yikes, imagine that inbox). The official Zune site now has a message stating that Redmond's best are aware of the problem and "are working to correct it." We'll keep you posted.

Update 2: Major Nelson just tweeted that anyone with an issue "should be good to go." Exactly what that means, however, remains to be seen, as there's still no word of an official fix on the Zune site.

Update 3: Oops, sorry for getting your hopes up. Seems the Major was wrong and is now indicating the team of Zune developers is working like mad to figure it out. Somebody had better order in lunch for those guys -- it's going to be a long day.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading 30GB Zunes mysteriously begin to fail at 12AM, December 31st -- day of reckoning to follow

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

30GB Zunes mysteriously begin to fail at 12AM, December 31st -- day of reckoning to follow originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report Accuses Microsoft of Purposefully Leaking Windows 7 Beta

URL: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=13822

Who leaked Windows 7? Was it Microsoft? Or hackers? Or the 1991 Denver Broncos?...

Microsoft Says Purportedly Critical WMP Vulnerability "No Security Risk"

URL: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=13813

Microsoft insists flaw in Windows Media Player is harmless, independent security experts say otherwise...

Windows XP Retirement Postponed, Again

URL: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=13757

Microsoft again extends Windows XP retirement showing OEMs and consumers still not fond of Vista...

Microsoft promete liberar hoje a solução para falha no Internet Explorer

URL: http://redir.folha.com.br/redir/online/folha/informatica/rss091/*http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/informatica/ult124u480341.shtml

A Microsoft prometeu para esta quarta-feira (17) uma solução de emergência para a falha encontrada no Internet Explorer. Batizada de "zero-day", a vulnerabilidade, tida como grave por especialistas, expõe milhares de computadores ao ataque de criminosos virtuais. O "zero-day" foi identificado na última semana, depois de criminosos terem recrutado vítimas para infectar sites. Os usuários não precisam fazer qualquer tipo de download para que seus computadores sejam infectados --e é justamente isso que torna a falha tão perigosa. A Microsoft disse que uma atualização de segurança em caráter "crítico" para o browser será liberada na quarta-feira. Pessoas com o Windows Update ativado em seus computadores receberão automaticamente a atualização. Leia mais (17/12/2008 - 10h04)

Documents suggest Microsoft knew Xbox 360 could damage discs all along

URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/3iKWRYH0N7M/

Microsoft long ago fessed up that the Xbox 360 was capable of scratching discs, and it even offered a (somewhat limited) exchange program for damaged games, but some recently unsealed documents from an ongoing lawsuit now suggest that the company was well aware of the issue for about as long as the console has been around. According to The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Microsoft first discovered the problem in September or October of 2005, and it even went so far as to send a "team of engineers" to stores across the US to determine the best course of action. Apparently, they came up with three options, two of which proved to be impractical, and one of which (installing small bumpers in each and every console) proved to be too expensive, leading Microsoft to offer the disc exchange instead. What's more, the documents apparently also revealed that some Microsoft employees thought that the warning labels on the console were insufficient, and that the company has received complaints about the problem from more than 55,000 customers as of April 30th of this year. No word on any movement just yet in the lawsuits themselves just yet but one of them, filed back in July of 2007, is seeking class-action status on behalf of everyone that's bought an Xbox 360.

[Thanks, Lyons]

Filed under: Gaming

Documents suggest Microsoft knew Xbox 360 could damage discs all along originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Warning to Internet Explorer Users

URL: http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2008-12-15-022-35-OP-CY

An alien's viewpoint: "There is currently a very bad security problem in Internet Explorer that is actively being exploited by the bad guys and that threatens to make the Internet even more infested with compromised machines that the bad guys can then use for their nefarious purposes. "

Vista To XP Upgrade Triples In Price, Now $150

URL: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/noTk8vrCYgs/article.pl

ozmanjusri writes "Dell has tripled the charge to upgrade Vista PCs to XP. Under current licensing 'downgrade' agreements, system builders can install XP Pro instead of Vista Business or Vista Ultimate; however, Dell has opted for a surcharge of $150 over the price of Vista for the older but more popular XP Professional operating system. Rob Enderle says the downgrade fees could potentially be disastrous for Microsoft: 'The fix for this should be to focus like lasers on demand generation for Vista but instead Microsoft is focusing aggressively on financial penalties," says Enderle. 'Forcing customers to go someplace they don't want to go by raising prices is a Christmas present for Apple and those that are positioning Linux on the desktop.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Microsoft: Hole Exploit Endangers All IE Versions

URL: http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2008-12-13-011-35-SC-MS

CNet: "A Microsoft spokesman said he could not say when a fix would come. The next Patch Tuesday is scheduled for January 13."

Oops! Missed One Fix - Windows Attacks Under Way

URL: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/T4HUwOjZEh4/article.pl

CWmike writes "Microsoft says attackers are now exploiting a critical Windows bug that it didn't get around to fixing in its biggest batch of security patches in more than five years, issued yesterday. Microsoft said that 'limited and targeted' attacks are in progress by hackers exploiting an unpatched vulnerability in the WordPad Text Converter, a tool included with all versions of Windows. If Microsoft patches the WordPad problem on its monthly schedule, the first opportunity for fixing the flaw would be Jan. 9, 2009."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Trumpet Windows Loudly--- Except When It's Malware Outbreaks

URL: http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2008-12-03-003-35-OP-MS

Linux Today Blog: "Ever notice how Microsoft plasters the Windows name on everything it can reach? Splash screens, stickers on computers, and advertising everywhere. There is no escaping it. Except when it's yet another malware outbreak-- then all the news organization go inexplicably deaf, dumb, and blind, as this latest story demonstrates:
Virus hits nearly 75% of systems on Afghanistan military base."

Windows tem menos de 90% dos usuários pela primeira vez na história

URL: http://redir.folha.com.br/redir/online/folha/informatica/rss091/*http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/informatica/ult124u474234.shtml

O sistema operacional Windows, da Microsoft, teve sua participação no mercado reduzida a 89,6% de usuários no mês de novembro. Neste ano, a empresa detinha mais de 90% do mercado, com pequenas variações percentuais. De acordo com dados divulgados nesta terça-feira (2) pela empresa estatísticas Net Applications, é a primeira vez na história da Microsoft que o sistema operacional fica abaixo do índice de 90% na preferência dos consumidores. Dentre os sistemas operacionais mais utilizados, os da concorrente Mac cresceram pouco mais de 0,8% em relação ao mês de outubro. Leia mais (02/12/2008 - 16h30)