Microsoft never officially comments on its internal redesigns of Xbox 360 hardware, but it is no secret that the company does periodic revisions to make its console perform better, fix bugs and lower production cost. And now, with the holiday shopping season in full swing, many of you will be happy to now that the latest such revision is finally starting to become available in stores – or so it seems.

For years Microsoft has provided the operating system for use on a wide range of handsets by different manufacturers. This might be about to change. If you believe recent rumours, then Microsoft is allegedly going to launch a mobile phone based on Nvidia's new Tegra CPU which would be annoucned at the forthcoming GSMA Mobile World Congress in February 2009. Microsoft has used the annual event to introduce previous versions of Windows Mobile.

Microsoft confirmed not only that malware attacks designed to take advantage of a Server Service vulnerability affecting both Windows client and server versions of the platform, are no longer isolated and targeted cases, but also that infections with malicious code have been detected. On November 25, Bill Sisk, Microsoft Security Response Center Communications Manager, and Ziv Mador, Senior Program Manager and Response Coordinator, revealed that the company is aware of a new wave of attacks targeting a vulnerability rated as Critical for which Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-067 has been release in October as an out of band patch.

I thought it captured well Ozzie’s challenges in winning over the “old guard” inside Microsoft, while pushing ahead with his new agenda. But the part which most intrigued this Microsoft codename watcher was the bit about from where the codename “Red Dog” emerged.

Zune, Microsoft's digital music and entertainment service, today announced landmark agreements with major and independent music labels to bring significant new value to the subscription music model. The Zune Pass subscription service currently gives consumers on-demand access to millions of tracks for $14.99 per month. Starting today subscribers will also get to select 10 tracks per month to keep and add them to their permanent collection (an estimated $10 value).