Microsoft and LucasArts have joined forces the force and have just unveiled a limited edition Xbox and Kinect bundle at Comic-con.  These guys know there are enough nerds and geeks in North America to make this work and you better believe people will be camping outside the doors of stores to be the first to purchase this.

The package will include a RD-D2 themed 320 GB Xbox 360 game console featuring sounds from the Star Wars films, a Kinect sensor in white, and a golden C-3PO themed Xbox 360 wireless controller. This nerdy package will also have a copy of “Kinect Adventures” as well as a copy of “Kincect Star Wars”. The Star Wars game for the Kinect will allow the gamer to experience what Jedi training is and how to use the Force all without any controllers or devices on hand.

The bundle is to be released December 31^st, 2011 at a cost of $450.

Torrents of Microsoft COFEE have been springing up everywhere and the hype is ridiculous.  Obviously, it’s illegal to pirate software.  Furthermore, the EULA for this particular software is limits it’s use to law enforcement officials only.  Other than that, most everything else you’ve heard about this stuff is false.

COFEE, or Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor, is a set of tools and a GUI that Microsoft has created to assist undereducated law enforcement officials with basic computer forensics.

An officer with even minimal computer experience can be tutored—in less than 10 minutes—to use a pre-configured COFEE device.

This is not some wild, as-seen-on-tv, NSA creation.  It’s just a compilation of tools (about 150 or so) for information and evidence gathering.  A rootkit and some automation. Most everything included with COFEE is available, in some form, all over the internet.

The YoYo recovery process over @ Danger may be coming to an end.  Microsoft announced that it should have most contact information restored this week, with other stuff like to-do’s, notes and photos “shortly thereafter”.  Although I’m sure there are a few Sidekick users left, I wonder if this isn’t too little too late?

Microsoft is releasing 13 updates (of which 8 have been deemed “critical”) and Adobe will be releasing an update to plug a zero-day flaw that’s now being actively exploited.

Microsoft’s update day will supposedly be the biggest ever.  It will include fixes for the SMB & FTP vulnerabilities.  Adobe has (for better or worse) aligned their update schedule to coincide with MS’s monthly releases, & they’re releasing an update to Acrobat & Acrobat reader that will fix a hole whose exploit for the Windows environment tipped up over the weekend.

Updaters to the ready, boys ‘n girls…

Don’t turn off that Sidekick! As if the ongoing Sidekick data disruption wasn’t bad enough, it now seems Danger, Inc. (Owned by Microsoft) may have lost your online data. Users that turn off their sidekicks, or let the battery run out, will probably loose the contacts, calendar entries, to-do lists and photos still on the phone.

I find it hard to believe that something like this could happen — but it seems that Danger, Inc. has lived up to it’s name…  T-Mobile issued the following statement:

Sidekick customers, during this service disruption, please DO NOT remove your battery, reset your Sidekick, or allow it to lose power.

Updated: 10/10/2009 12:35 PM PDT

T-MOBILE AND MICROSOFT/DANGER STATUS UPDATE ON SIDEKICK DATA DISRUPTION

Dear valued T-Mobile Sidekick customers:

T-Mobile and the Sidekick data services provider, Danger, a subsidiary of Microsoft, are reaching out to express our apologies regarding the recent Sidekick data service disruption.

We appreciate your patience as Microsoft/Danger continues to work on maintaining platform stability, and restoring all services for our Sidekick customers.

Regrettably, based on Microsoft/Danger’s latest recovery assessment of their systems, we must now inform you that personal information stored on your device – such as contacts, calendar entries, to-do lists or photos – that is no longer on your Sidekick almost certainly has been lost as a result of a server failure at Microsoft/Danger. That said, our teams continue to work around-the-clock in hopes of discovering some way to recover this information. However, the likelihood of a successful outcome is extremely low. As such, we wanted to share this news with you and offer some tips and suggestions to help you rebuild your personal content. You can find these tips in our Sidekick Contacts FAQ. We encourage you to visit the Forums on a regular basis to access the latest updates as well as FAQs regarding this service disruption.

In addition, we plan to communicate with you on Monday (Oct. 12) the status of the remaining issues caused by the service disruption, including the data recovery efforts and the Download Catalog restoration which we are continuing to resolve. We also will communicate any additional tips or suggestions that may help in restoring your content.

We recognize the magnitude of this inconvenience. Our primary efforts have been focused on restoring our customers’ personal content. We also are considering additional measures for those of you who have lost your content to help reinforce how valuable you are as a T-Mobile customer.

We continue to advise customers to NOT reset their device by removing the battery or letting their battery drain completely, as any personal content that currently resides on your device will be lost.

Once again, T-Mobile and Microsoft/Danger regret any and all inconvenience this matter has caused.

Lots of digging on LinkedIn turned up some interesting info on Windows 8 (which may or may not pan out).  Ars details the findings of Windows 8 News, along with a lengthy write up on all of the current info churning in the Windows 8 rumor mill.

A LinkedIn profile, which has already been taken down, for a Robert Morgan, Senior Research & Development at Microsoft, has shone a sliver of light on the possibility of 128-bit support coming to Windows 8.

You’d think that the majority of people that use a computer and a web browser know what a web browser is… Guess not.

“Some folks at Google” decided to create a little website to help those that can’t tell the difference between a PC, a browser and a web site.

Wonder if some folks at Microsoft could come up with one of these to help my parents understand the difference between Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office…  That would be sweet.

Yep, thats right.  We’re almost 100% sure that we’re Windows 7 Compatible.

This new sticker will appear on devices that “have passed Microsoft designed tests for compatibility and reliability with Windows 7.”  Unlike the “Vista Capable” sticker scheme that merely required a machine be capable of running Vista Home Basic, the Windows 7 stickers is supposed to indicate that you’ll be able to run ALL versions, including 64bit versions, of Windows 7.

Gizmodo is showing off a “booklet” PC and reporting that this is Microsoft’s take on the future of tablet computing.

Courier is a real device, and we’ve heard that it’s in the “late prototype” stage of development. It’s not a tablet, it’s a booklet. The dual 7-inch (or so) screens are multitouch, and designed for writing, flicking and drawing with a stylus, in addition to fingers. They’re connected by a hinge that holds a single iPhone-esque home button. Statuses, like wireless signal and battery life, are displayed along the rim of one of the screens. On the back cover is a camera, and it might charge through an inductive pad, like the Palm Touchstone charging dock for Pre.

Read more about it, and check a video over at Gizmodo.

Image via Wikipedia

In an article sure to rile up teh intarwebs, NetworkWorld details the results of some testing (by Microsoft, no less) in which the major browsers were exposed to known malware sites to see if they correctly identified & blocked them.  The tests showed IE8 blocking 8 out of 10 sites correctly.  The article goes on to say that the results of the rest of the browsers all depend on the way they use Google’s SafeBrowsing API.  AdblockPlus+ NoScript works just fine for me, thxverymuch….