Microsoft: Excel Flaw a Windows Bug

Microsoft's Security Response Center said in a blog posting on Wednesday that it was investigating reports of a second vulnerability affecting Excel, and had examined a PERL script that demonstrates the flaw. The company says the problem actually lies in hlink.dll, a Windows component.

The DLL handles operations involving hyperlinks and could affect other programs beyond Excel. However, Microsoft notes that a user would need to open a malicious file and manually click the link. "We have not found any way to attempt to exploit this vulnerability that involves simply opening a document: a user must locate a click a hyperlink in the document," said MSRC's Christopher Budd. He adds that it is early in Microsoft's investigation and "we have our teams working hard on it."

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FCC Adds Fees to VOIP, Cell Phones

The Federal Communications Commission voted Wednesday to increase the amount that cell phone providers must pay into the Universal Service Fund (USF), while also requiring VoIP providers to contribute for the first time.

The increase in fees would likely mean higher monthly bills is in the cards for the millions of cellular and VOIP subscribers. Often when fees are increased, communications providers pass on the added costs to their customers.

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Netflix Mulls Movie Download Service

Responding to a report in Variety, Netflix late Tuesday acknowledged that it was exploring the idea of allowing users to download movies over the Internet, but said it had no firm plans. The explanation came in a regulatory filing intended to clarify remarks made on Friday.

At the Independent Film and Television Alliance production conference on Friday, Netflix vice president of original programming Eric Besner commented that the company was developing a set-top box that could be used for digital downloading. Netflix has long said movie downloads was part of its future plans.

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Microsoft Office Gets Creative Commons Add-In

Microsoft and non-profit licensing organization Creative Commons said Wednesday that they had struck a deal to allow Office users to add the group's licensing to their documents. Although the two companies have worked together in the past, this latest agreement is the most significant project to date.

The first document to be licensed through the Office tool is a speech by Brazilian Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil, which will be made at the Creative Commons iSummit in Rio de Janiero, the two companies said.

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Creative Debuts Zen V MP3 Player

Struggling electronics maker Creative pressed on late Tuesday, introducing the Creative Zen V Plus, its latest music and video player. The device is small enough to fit in the coin pocket of a pair of jeans, and includes a 1.5-inch color OLED screen.

The Zen V Plus is also PlaysForSure compatible, meaning it supports subscription music services. The player also includes a line-in port for direct recording from audio devices and FM radio, and a voice recording feature.

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Tech Firms Call for Privacy Legislation

Twelve companies joined forces Tuesday to call on legislatures to consider comprehensive consumer privacy legislation. In addition, eBay CEO Meg Whitman and Hewlett-Packard Chief Privacy Officer Scott Taylor also testified on Capitol Hill saying action was needed to "unify today's crazy quilt of laws."

While they do not support consumers gaining the right to sue companies for violations of privacy statutes, the companies are advocating a central agency with the power take action if companies are lax in protecting the privacy of their customers.

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EA Buys Online Game Firm Mythic

Electronic Arts said Tuesday that it had reached an agreement to acquire Mythic Entertainment, maker of the massively multiplayer online game "Dark Age of Camelot." The deal is expected to boost EA's reach in the rapidly expanding MMORPG market. Terms were not disclosed.

EA said that Vivendi's "World of Warcraft," which boasts almost 6 million users, has proven that MMORPG's aren't just a niche market. The company will form a game development studio where Mythic is based, with the new company called EA Mythic. The studio is currently developing a new game title dubbed "Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning."

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Windows Live Head Leaves Microsoft

Less than 24 hours after the launch of Windows Live Messenger, Microsoft corporate vice president Martin Taylor, who oversaw the product's launch, has made a surprise departure from the Redmond company. Taylor was a 13-year veteran of Microsoft and a top advisor to company CEO Steve Ballmer.

Before becoming a corporate VP of Windows Live and MSN in March, Taylor spearheaded Microsoft's "Get the Facts" campaign that responded to the threat from Linux and open source. He was expected to play a major role in shaping the Windows Live strategy, and was featured in a Microsoft Q&A on Monday.

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Microsoft Security Pricing Irks Partners

When Microsoft first hinted that it would enter the security software market three years ago, the company's partners began to worry behind closed doors about the implications. With Microsoft's security push now in full swing, the doors have opened and once bedfellows have turned adversaries.

Apprehension began to surface after Microsoft purchased GeCAD Software in June 2003, acquiring the company's RAV antivirus technology. In August of that year, Microsoft launched its PC Satisfaction trial, which would later morph into Windows Live OneCare.

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Second New Flaw Discovered in Excel

As Microsoft scrambles to fix one security flaw in its Excel spreadsheet program, security researchers have uncovered another. First disclosed by Symantec on Monday, the problem could cause Excel to crash after a malicious file is opened.

While a code execution and system takeover risk is also possible, it has not been confirmed, said Symantec. However, security firm Secunia disagreed, saying successful exploitation would allow the execution of arbitrary code.

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Microsoft Previews Windows for Robots

Microsoft released a preview of a new Windows-based platform Tuesday that would allow for the easy development of robotics applications in academic, hobbyist and commercial environments. Called the Microsoft Robotics Studio, the technology was showcased at a robotics conference in Pittsburgh.

The company says that it sees great potential in robotics, thus it began work to provide an easier method of creating new robotic applications. The Robotics Studio is a result of that work. With improvements in processors and lower-cost sensors, development in robotics is expected to soar.

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Apple Updates Shake, Drops Price

Apple is bringing its high-end compositing software tool to the masses with the release of Shake version 4.1, which is now a Universal Binary for running on Intel-based Macs. Pricing for Shake has been dropped by 80 percent to $499 USD, and current version 4 owners can upgrade for $49.

Shake 4.1 works alongside Final Cut Studio, featuring 3D compositing, keying, image tracking and stabilization. The tool is used by a number of major movie studios, and helped create the visual effects in "King Kong." “Now Final Cut Studio customers can retouch their shots with Shake’s optical flow technology or add photo realistic visual effects to their productions, even on a shoestring budget," said Rob Schoeben, Apple's vice president of Applications Product Marketing.

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Motorola Introduces 'Motomobile' Line

With market saturation becoming a problem for the mobile phone industry, attention has turned to emerging markets where penetration is still relatively low. Motorola said Tuesday it was doing just that, introducing its "Motomobile" line of phones.

All phones within the brand are adapted to the needs of non-developed regions. With electricity sometimes at a premium in these countries, phones would have up to two weeks standby time, and a lantern feature that would allow use at night or in dark environments.

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Microsoft Warns Over Excel Flaw

Microsoft on Monday issued a security advisory for the vulnerability in Excel that was disclosed by the company's Security Response Center on Friday. According to Microsoft, Zero-day attacks are being carried out against a vulnerability in Excel 2000, 2002, 2003 and Excel 2004 for Mac.

The exploit, currently being sent via e-mail, could give an attacker the same rights as a user, which could lead to a full system compromise. Although Excel 2002 and 2003 prompt a user before opening a potentially malicious Excel file, Excel 2000 does not.

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Opera 9 Web Browser Unleashed

Opera Software on Tuesday rolled out version 9.0 of its free Web browser across 25 languages on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X platforms. The release adds a number of major new features, including widgets and support for BitTorrent downloads.

Widgets are small mini-applications that typically run inside another program. The basic idea is to enable developers to quickly build useful applications with simple scripting languages like JavaScript and DHTML. Opera notes that its widget support can be used for multimedia, news feeds, games and more.

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