UPDATED: Microsoft 'iPod killer' will launch this year

The first devices to run Microsoft's Portable Media Center software will be released in Europe later this year. The devices - from Creative and iRiver - will be able to play movie content as well as music, and have been described in some quarters as 'iPod killers'. The iRiver PMC-100 and Creative's Zen Portable Media Center will both be available in the second half of 2004. ...more

Apple strikes FireWire deal with Panasonic

Apple and Panasonic have announced the results of a collaboration that will see FireWire included in a number of Panasonic's professional video products and Final Cut Pro support for its new mini-DV camcorder. FireWire support will be included in 'upcoming' Panasonic DVCPRO50 and DVCPRO HD tape decks, removing two requirements: for a connected computer to have a PCI capture card and for video to be decompressed before transfer. The new tape decks will be 'the world's first' to support full ITU-601 digital 4:2:2 quality video at 50Mbps and high-definition video at 100Mbps. ...more

Service Pack 1 delivered for Office XP

Microsoft has batched together a number of patches and fixes in the shape of Office XP Service Pack 1 (SP-1). The pack includes some security fixes. These involve a bug that allow malicious code to execute within Excel, PowerPoint, or Word. ...more

Wurmark-D virus tempts users with Happy New Year email

Sophos says it has spotted a new mass-mailer using nudity as the bait to entice victims to run it. The UK security company says that so far, reports in the wild of Wurmark-D have been relatively low. The worm in question arrives as an email with the subject line 'HAPPY NEW YEAR' and the message 'All the best in new year from our family here is a litle attachment to make you smile in new year email me back haha. ...more

AOL takes on the spammers

AOL has taken its fight against spam email to new extremes, with the launching of five separate lawsuits against companies and individuals it alleges are responsible for more than one billion junk emails. The company claims that these emails generated over eight million individual complaints from its members, via AOL 8.0's Report Spam button. ...more