Using a mobile phone to buy movie tickets and check showtimes is one thing, but Sprint offers the whole movie.

Sprint Nextel Corp. is expected to announce on Monday that it has begun selling a service which allows users of its mobile video phones to watch full-length movies, television shows, concerts and comedy specials.

Provided by vendor MSpot, the service offers unlimited shows and movies for a monthly flat fee of $6.95, on top of regular service charges.

Source: Reuters

If you have a hardware firewall, or you are connected to a network already protected firewall, you might want to disable Windows XP’s built in firewall. The problem with that is that windows will start nagging you with a balloon pop-up display from the taskbar’s notification area reminding you that your computer might be at risk.
Fortunately, you can disable the Windows Firewall nag.
Follow these steps:

• Open Control Panel and click on Windows Security Center.
• Click the Recommendations button in the Firewall section.
• Select the I Have A Firewall Solution That I’ll Monitor Myself check box and click OK.
• Check to see that the Firewall section is now marked as Not Monitored and you can close the window.

A Microsoft investigation into the sale of counterfeit software on eBay has led to the closure of an online operation responsible for the sale of over £3 million worth of fake Microsoft software.

The activities of internet trading outfit Zoobon first came to light after Microsoft received a number of complaints from Zoobon customers unhappy with the quality of the products they had been sold.

In an investigation lasting over a year, Microsoft, in collaboration with eBay, identified the sources of the counterfeit software and the people behind the operation.

Following the investigation, an out-of-court settlement was reached with the individuals behind Zoobon, under which they have ceased trading and given undertakings not to sell counterfeit Microsoft software in the future. They have also paid very substantial damages to Microsoft.

Source: The Register

Standards body Ecma International accepted on Thursday Microsoft Corp.’s application to produce a standard for office productivity applications that is compatible with Microsoft’s Office Open XML Formats.

“At the General Assembly meeting held in Nice on December 8, 2005, Ecma International has created Technical Committee 45 (TC45) to produce a formal standard for office productivity applications which is fully compatible with the Office Open XML Formats, submitted by Microsoft,” Ecma International Secretary General, Jan van den Beld, said in a prepared statement.

“The aim is to enable the implementation of the standard by a wide set of tools and platforms in order to foster interoperability across office productivity applications and with line-of-business systems. The TC will also be responsible for the ongoing maintenance and evolution of the standard,” he said.

Source: eWeek

A leading service that attempted to dissuade people from using file-trading networks like Kazaa, by planting millions of fake files online, is being shut down.

Seattle-based Loudeye said Friday that it is shuttering its Overpeer division, effective immediately, in an attempt to bolster the parent company’s bottom line.

Executives did not immediately return a request for comment. However, in a filing with federal regulators in November, Loudeye said the Overpeer division had seen declining revenue through much of 2005 and that a major client had dropped its services at the end of the second quarter.

Source: News.com