Mozilla has put out a call for developers to help extend the features of its Firefox browser through a new program called "Extend Firefox." The company hopes that the contest will bring hundreds of new extensions to the browser, and further solidify its role as the de facto alternative to Internet Explorer.

Three grand prize winners of the contest will receive a special edition Firefox PC and a prize pack, while eight runner-ups win an iPod Nano and O'Reilly books. The contest is scheduled to end on January 6, 2006. Interested developers can learn more about the categories at the Extend Firefox Web site.

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European Union Court of First Instance President Bo Vesterdorf told reporters Friday that the court planned to decide Microsoft's antitrust case by early spring. Microsoft has appealed to the court hoping to overturn a 2004 ruling by the European Commission that found Microsoft engaged in anti-competitive behavior.

As a result of the 2004 decision, Microsoft was forced to create a special version of Windows XP without Windows Media Player and pay a 497 million euro fine. "Hopefully, we will have a ruling in early spring - hopefully before April," Vesterdorf said to reporters at a conference, but made no other comments.

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While they may not leave behind a paper trail, e-mails and BlackBerry messages can be just as damaging, former FEMA director Brown learned this week. His electronic correspondence during the Hurricane Katrina crisis was released by a Louisiana congressman, and highlights a lack of leadership amidst an unfolding tragedy.

"Can I quit now? Can I go home?" Brown wrote in an e-mail to Cindy Taylor, FEMA's deputy director of public affairs, the morning Hurricane Katrina hit. "If you look at my lovely FEMA attire you'll really vomit," he followed up. "I am a fashion god."

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A California man was arrested by federal authorities on Thursday, accused of running a 400,000-computer network for illegal activities. This network, called a "botnet," contains systems that have been compromised by a hacker who can upload files or control them remotely through an IRC channel.

20 year-old Jeanson Achenta spread a trojan horse application called "rxbot" to the machines, which most notably infected government computers in the Weapons Division of the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center. He also is accused of uploading adware onto the compromised systems.

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Potentially trying to avoid a PR disaster after suing a 67 year-old Wisconsin grandfather for $600,000 because his 12 year-old grandson downloaded four movies, the MPAA has offered Fred Lawrence a deal: pay $4,000 over 18 months to settle the case. But Lawrence says he doesn't have the money.

Lawrence was contacted earlier this year when the MPAA tracked an IP address downloading and sharing four movies on the P2P service iMesh to his home computer. He says the family actually owns three of the movies and his grandson had no intention of breaking, nor knowledge of copyright laws.

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As part of it's monthly Patch Tuesday next week, Microsoft says it will fix a critical flaw affecting Windows, along with two non-security related updates on Windows Update and a third available through Microsoft Update. The company offered no other details on the upcoming patches.

Per usual, Microsoft's Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool will be updated with new definition files to detect the latest malware. In October, Microsoft releases nine security fixes after canceling the critical update it had scheduled for September. The Redmond company will be hosting a webcast on November 9 to discuss the updates.

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The FCC on Thursday unanimously voted to begin an investigation into local video franchise rules, and to decide if some municipalities may be unreasonably delaying the availability of new video services -- such as Verizon's FiOS TV -- by refusing to award franchises to applicants.

The commission will now seek comment from the public on the matter through a Notice of Proposed Rule Making. Telephone companies say that the franchise process is more difficult than it should be, takes too long and some municipalities are making unreasonable demands.

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Oracles chief financial officer and co-president Greg Maffei will leave the company to pursue a "terrific professional opportunity," the company confirmed late Thursday. Maffei's abrupt resignation confirms weeks of speculation that he was leaving Oracle after only a four-month tenure.

Maffei was hired by Oracle in late June, and his selection was announced with much fanfare. He had previously worked at Microsoft in the late 1990s as chief financial officer.

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Microsoft may be afraid to show its sidebar, but Google apparently has no such qualms. The company on Thursday rolled out the final version of Google Desktop 2.0, its venerable search utility that has morphed into a full-fledged desktop application with scriptable plug-ins.

The free Google Desktop combines search with the Google Sidebar, which can be custom tailored with news, weather, stocks and more. Users can add their own content via RSS feeds and create a photo slideshow using local images or those from a Web site.

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Nokia has completed a new Web browser for Series 60 based Symbian phones, which is built upon the WebCore and JavaScriptCore components of Apple's Safari browser. The result is the smallest open source rendering engine for smartphones that can access standard Web sites and those optimized for mobile devices.

In June, Nokia announced intentions to build its browser using the Safari Web Kit code base, which Apple has offered under an open source license. The technology was originally based on KHTML and KJS from KDE's "Konqueror" open source project. Nokia has promised to contribute its work back to the community.

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Amazon said on Thursday that it was developing a new program to allow customers to purchase the rights to view either portions of or an entire book online.

The effort could be viewed as a response to Google's announcement that it had significantly expanded its online book searching service, while taking an approach that is more acceptable to authors and publishers.

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Social networking site MySpace announced Thursday that it would create its own record label in an attempt to promote many of the bands that have used the service to draw attention to their music. The first album to be released from MySpace will be called "MySpace Records: Volume I" and include a mix of major label and independent artists, as well as unsigned acts.

The MySpace label has already signed one group, the Hollywood Undead, to release a full album towards the middle of next year. The Los Angeles rock and rap act has used MySpace for promotion since June. Altogether, some 550,000 artists and bands use the service. According to MySpace president Tom Anderson, at least four other bands could be signed to the label in the coming months.

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Microsoft has begun advocating for privacy legislation at the federal level. In a speech to the Congressional Internet Caucus, Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith argued that such legislation was needed to protect consumers and provide businesses with clear guidelines on how to protect sensitive data.

Three factors have contributed to Microsoft's decision to get behind federal legislation. A mish-mash of laws at the state, federal and international levels creates confusion, Smith explained. While the laws mean well, they can overlap or be inconsistent from state to state, and, in some cases, not be strong enough.

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AudioGalaxy founder Michael Merhej is now a Microsoft Employee with grand plans. On Thursday, Microsoft announced it had acquired Merhej's new company, FolderShare, which provides software to remotely access and synchronize files. Microsoft will incorporate the technology into its Windows Live services.

With its launch in 1999, AudioGalaxy pioneered P2P technology and quickly became the number-one file sharing service online with over 80 million users. But after Napster came crumbling down in 2000, AudioGalaxy was a prime target for the RIAA and Merhej opted to close up shop rather than face the legal attack hounds.

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Internet service provider NetZero entered the highly competitive VoIP market Thursday, introducing a new service called NetZero Voice that it says opens the technology to dial-up users. According to research, an estimated 45 million dial-up users still exist in the United States.

The service will allow for free computer-to-computer calls between NetZero Voice users, similar to the way Skype operates. The company will also offer a calling plan that includes free domestic long distance for a $3.95 or $14.95 USD monthly fee - depending on the amount of minutes desired.

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