Blockbuster Inc the No. 1 U.S. video rental store chain, has withdrawn its lowest online subscription price and is testing a program to allow Blockbuster Online subscribers to exchange DVDs at company stores as well as by mail.

Blockbuster, which has waged a price-cutting war against Netflix Inc and others, decided to end a test plan of $5.99-per-month online subscriptions that allowed customers two DVDs per month, one out at a time. It had touted the plan as matching the lowest-priced plan offered by Netflix.

Spokesman Randy Hargrove declined to give the reason for ending the plan.

Source: Reuters

Microsoft has blocked the attack vector used to slip unsigned drivers past new security policies being implemented in Windows Vista, according to Joanna Rutkowska, the stealth malware researcher who created the exploit.

Rutkowska, who demonstrated the exploit at the Black Hat conference in August, said she tested the attack against Windows Vista RC2 x64 and found that the exploit doesn’t work anymore.

“The reason: Vista RC2 now blocks write-access to raw disk sectors for user mode applications, even if they are executed with elevated administrative rights,” Rutkowska wrote on her Invisible Things blog.

Source: eWeek

Google’s third-quarter profit nearly doubled from a year ago as sales of keyword-related advertising continued to grow for the world’s top Web search engine.

“Business is very, very good here at Google. We had an excellent quarter in all respects, especially in international,” Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said in a conference call Thursday after the results were released.

During the quarter, Google saw strong user growth and improvements in search quality and ad sales, Schmidt said.

The news sent Google’s stock up shares rising nearly 8 percent to $459.51 in after-hours trade, after closing at $426.06. The earnings announcement was made right after the market closed.

Source: News.com

Microsoft said on Friday that security software firm McAfee’s criticism of its provision of security information on the new Vista operating system was “inaccurate and inflammatory”.

McAfee is one of several software security firms concerned that Microsoft will wait too long to give information they need to protect customers using Microsoft’s new Windows 64-bit Vista.

Source: Reuters

Google Inc.’s YouTube.com removed 29,549 video files from its popular Web site after receiving a demand from a group of Japanese media companies over copyright infringement, an industry group said on Friday.

The television, music and movie clips had been posted without the permission of copyright holders, the Tokyo-based Japan Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers said in a statement.

Source: Reuters

As the countdown to its Nov. 17 U.S. launch neared, Sony Corp. showed off its PlayStation 3 game console Thursday and named 22 titles that will be available at the same time.

The games at launch will run the genre gamut, from racing and war games to updated, more powerful versions of popular sports titles - “the most robust game lineup” of any new-generation game system, boasted Kaz Hirai, president and chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment America.

Sony’s own in-house developed titles, such as a first-person shooting game called “Resistance: Fall of Man” will be $59.99.

Other games that will be available for download directly onto the PS3 will be priced at $14.99 or less, Sony officials said.

Source: AP

Video game console leader Sony Corp. said on Thursday the online service in its upcoming PlayStation 3 would let players compete and chat online and download games, music and movies.

Gamers have been waiting for months for Sony to release details of its online system.

Source: Reuters