Microsoft has announced a line of Webcams that work with its Windows Live Messenger program for video messaging or calling. The LifeCam VX-6000, a silver Webcam tentatively priced at $99.95, is capable of 5-megapixel (interpolated) still photography and 1.3-megapixel high-definition video. A 71-degree wide-angle lens allows for more than one person in the frame.

The responsibility for protecting Windows systems against ever-increasing threats is in new hands. Ben Fathi, a software engineer by trade, took over from Mike Nash as corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Security Technology Unit on June 1. The change is part of a recent shakeup in Microsoft’s executive ranks, which also put someone new in charge of Windows. For Fathi, the changing of the guard is a perfect time to start looking beyond Windows Vista, the yet-to-be-released successor to Windows XP.

Microsoft has issued patches for 21 flaws in its software, saying all but two of them could let an intruder run malicious code on a compromised computer. The company sent out a dozen security bulletins on Tuesday as part of its regular monthly patch cycle. Eight of the bulletins are labeled "critical," which is Microsoft’s highest risk rating. They cover problems with Windows, Internet Explorer, Word, PowerPoint and Exchange Server.

Marcelo Thalenberg, author of the recently released Managing your Business with Outlook 2003 for Dummies released a free Outlook download for the 2006 World Cup soccer championships. The download has all of the first-round games listed and scheduled in Outlook. The calendar is not only useful for sport fans but also for executives doing business with countries that are competing in the games. Instead of making a phone call during game time, managers can check the schedule and avoid conflicts. The Free Outlook download will show you when each country is playing. Plus, the Outlook calendar has an automatic adjustment for local time zones–no matter if you are in Melbourne, Australia, London, Arizona or in the Amazon jungle, you will know when the game is afoot.

The world’s most famous corporate blogger, Robert Scoble, credited with helping to break down a siege mentality at his employer, Microsoft, confirmed that he is leaving to join a recently formed Silicon Valley Internet media start-up. Scoble, 41, said in a phone interview that he will join PodTech.net, a Menlo Park, Calif., start-up that earlier this year began podcasting video interviews recorded with technology industry luminaries.

Microsoft’s message to developers: Online services aren’t just for consumers. Microsoft Chief Technical Officer Ray Ozzie on Sunday said the company is creating Internet-delivered services for corporate customers to complement its on-premise software. Ozzie, speaking at Microsoft’s TechEd 2006 conference for business technology users, described some of the online services Microsoft intends to offer to businesses, including single sign-on and network management.

Microsoft is cutting the cord on its antipiracy tool. The software maker this month plans to update the Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications program so that it only checks in with Microsoft once every two weeks, instead of after each boot-up, a company representative said Friday. By year’s end, the tool will stop pinging Microsoft altogether, the representative said.

Microsoft has re-branded its WinFX technologies as .Net Framework 3.0 to clarify the naming convention for its developer framework. .Net Framework 3.0 is planned for inclusion in Windows Vista, due out in early 2007. The framework features the Windows Communication Foundation Web services platform, the Windows Presentation Foundation presentation layer technology, Windows Workflow, for workflow, and the newly renamed Windows CardSpace, for identity management.

Bound by regulatory requirements and spooked by a wave of data theft, companies are increasingly finding it necessary to monitor employees’ business email and Internet activities to ensure nobody’s leaking sensitive company data. But employees may not realize some of their colleagues may have been hired specifically to keep an eye on them.

Instant messaging, the quicker-than-e-mail alternative for online communication, is moving rapidly from teenagers’ bedrooms to mainstream America. And with it, IM is bringing a dark new legion of computer security problems that could eventually be worse than the worms, viruses and other Internet maladies that already haunt email.