Centercode is looking for individuals based in the United Kingdom to participate in a new portable wireless product beta test. Although no details are available on the specific product, eligible candidates will need to have PDA and GSM experience.

Applicants must subscribe to a wireless provider which offers GPRS service and own or have previously owned a smart phone or PDA. The beta test is open to all operating systems, but testers with Mac OS X and Windows NT 4.0 are specially requested.

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UPDATED Microsoft this week released the second major upgrade to Office XP, a collection of security and bug fixes the software giant has issued since Service Pack 1 debuted last December.

Service Pack 2, which Microsoft says is a comprehensive update, weighs in at 15MB. In addition to previous patches, SP2 also includes numerous tweaks to improve the performance and reliability of Office XP.

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RealNetworks on Tuesday released the second iteration of its RealOne Player, which originally debuted last year as a revamped combination of the company's RealPlayer and RealJukebox applications. RealOne Player 2.0 adds support for numerous formats including Windows Media and QuickTime MPEG-4, prompting RealNetworks to brand the update as "the world's first universal media player."

"Today’s announcement truly changes the rules of digital media for both consumers and the industry. With only one player, consumers can now get all the media they want just click and it plays," said RealNetworks CEO, Rob Glaser in Tuesday's announcement.

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In September, Microsoft will begin beta testing the third service pack for SQL Server 2000 and has opened registration for a limited number of outside participants. SP3 will feature numerous security and bug fixes Microsoft has issued since the release of SP2 last November.

Microsoft notes that applying to participate does not guarantee placement in the beta test. Testers are also reminded that the service pack may contain bugs and is not recommended for production use.

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After two and a half years of development, AOL Music this week released the much-anticipated final version of Winamp3, the next-generation media player from Nullsoft. Winamp3 serves as a complete departure from its predecessor, rewritten from the ground up on an open coding platform dubbed Wasabi. New features in Winamp3 include video playback, free-form skinning, and a media library.

On the outside, Winamp3 keeps the familiar Winamp look, but the similarities end there. The new Wasabi platform enables developers to completely redesign Winamp's interface using XML-based skins and build custom component plug-ins that add new functionality to the media player. Users browse through installed components through a new window called the "Thinger."

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Microsoft on Tuesday posted the final version of Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, a much anticipated update that entered beta testing last November. Although Premier Customers were given first access to download the release, links to SP3 quickly began circulating the Web. Microsoft will make SP3 available to the public Thursday via Windows Update, as well as on CD.

"SP3 is a well-tested collection of updates that focuses on a variety of customer-reported concerns with the Windows 2000 family of operating systems," a Microsoft spokesperson told BetaNews Tuesday afternoon.

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Monolith and Disney Interactive are preparing a beta test for the upcoming first-person action adventure TRON 2.0, and are seeking out qualified gamers. TRON 2.0 matches the look of the twenty year-old movie, but takes place in present day. Applications will be accepted until August 7, whereupon testers will be selected at random. Both single- and multi-player modes will be trialed throughout the beta phase.

To apply for the TRON 2.0 beta test, simply send an e-mail to jetbradley@go.com containing your gaming background and the following required information:

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At Wednesday's .NET briefing, Microsoft announced that Windows .NET Server has reached the much anticipated Release Candidate 1 milestone after two and a half years of development. RC1 marks the final phase of testing before the new operating system is released to manufacturing late this year. Beta testers will be given access to the RC1 code starting tomorrow.

Windows .NET Server is a significant upgrade over Windows 2000, with increased stability and performance in high-end business environments. More importantly, Windows .NET serves as the core to Web services on Windows and is essential to Microsoft fulfilling its .NET vision.

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With digital audio quickly becoming a staple in connected households, it is no surprise that organizing a virtual music library has become quite a chore. Hard drives reaching epic proportions and families with multiple computers have led companies to create centralized music storage devices that integrate with stereo equipment.

Microsoft will even debut a version of Windows later this year -- called Windows XP Media Center Edition -- specially designed for digital media.

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A beta version of Windows Media Player 9 leaked out onto Internet sites Friday, providing an early glimpse at Microsoft's upcoming Windows Media 9 Series platform. Although the leaked build -- numbered 2601 -- appears to be from late January, its new features showcase Redmond's digital media plans.

Version 9 appears almost identical to its predecessor on the outside, but adds DVD copying, improved encoders and better plug-in management. Cross-fade and normalization plug-ins have been included as standard offering in the new Windows Media Player.

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Firing its latest assault on AOL's Internet stronghold, Microsoft today unveiled MSN 8, the new version of MSN offering improved browsing, productivity software and new parental controls. A limited beta of version 8 will ship to testers this week with a final release expected this fall, right in time for the holiday season.

According to Yusuf Mehdi, vice president of MSN, "MSN 8 will be the most significant version of MSN we have ever released due to the thousands of hours of feedback we are gathering from people about their everyday problems using the Internet. Armed with this feedback, we are building MSN 8 to make the Web a more useful place."

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Microsoft this week offered insight into its upcoming incremental upgrade to Exchange 2000, code-named Titanium, and Outlook 11 - both slated to ship in mid-2003. Titanium, which is likely to be called Exchange 2003, is designed around feedback Microsoft has received from customers and will be fully .NET-enabled.

Outlook 11 will tightly integrate with Titanium and offer a new user interface that is designed to better manage large amounts of e-mail.

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Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 is on track to make its summer deadline despite numerous delays that pushed the long-awaited update from a planned early 2002 release. Indicating SP3 is near completion, Microsoft today made available to testers a release candidate refresh, marked build 3.151.

"Thank you for all your help in testing Windows 2000 Service Pack 3. We are getting very close to our final build and would appreciate it if you could download and test our current release candidate, build 3.151 without delay," Microsoft's Sustained Engineering Team wrote in an e-mail to beta testers. "Since we are so close to the end of this product cycle, we will need your feedback in the newsgroup right away."

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Microsoft today formally unveiled the fifth version of Windows XP, dubbed Media Center Edition. Previously code-named Freestyle, Windows XP MCE is designed to turn a standard PC into a full-fledged entertainment center integrating digital music and video, photos, DVD playback, live television and PVR capability - all accessed via remote control.

"The PC has evolved from a tool for productivity to a device capable of entertainment, communications and so much more," said Microsoft's vice president of the Windows eHome Division, Michael Toutonghi.

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Microsoft on Monday announced that its next-generation digital media platform, code-named Corona, would go by the official moniker Windows Media 9 Series. A public beta release, including new audio and video compression, a streaming server, a new encoder and software development kit will be released September 4 at a launch event in Los Angeles.

"Digital media has the potential to redefine the possibilities for new experiences and services over the Internet, in the living room and in companies around the world," said Microsoft's vice president of the Windows Digital Media Division, Will Poole. "Windows Media 9 Series is designed to deliver the major step forward in functionality and performance the industry needs to realize this potential."

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