As the launch of the second generation Zune, or Zune 2, from Microsoft nears the rumors are flying at full steam regarding pricing and the features that the new media players will house. From what we’ve ascertained the launch is scheduled for October 3rd at midnight and will bring three new models of the Microsoft Zune player along with new features and content on the Zune Marketplace (iTunes for Zunes).

Along with some FCC leaks showing 4GB and 8GB flashed-based Zunes (codenamed “draco”), ZuneScene has the skinny on pricing along with some additional juicy details. These are still in the rumor stages mind you, but it looks like a new 80GB version will be going for $249 with an 8GB model going for $199 and a 4GB model for $149. The 8GB and 4GB models are expected to come in black, red, green or pink but the thinner 80GB will come in only black.

Today Microsoft launched Office Live Workspace, a web-based service allowing users to share their Microsoft Office documents on the web. The new service allows users with an installed version of Office to upload as many as 1,000 documents to a place on the web were they can access it from different locations connected to the internet as well as share them with others.

Office Live Workspace, which is currently in beta and free to use after registering, saves the online documents in a secure environment where users can send invites to others who enter a password and view the documents. Users without Office installed on their computer can still log on and view documents online and even comment on them, but cannot edit them or add new documents.

Microsoft appears to have given in a little bit in response to concerns and complaints about their new Windows Vista operating system. The company’s original plan was to have the original equipment manufacturers (OEM’s) stop selling the Windows XP operating system with new computers as of January 31, 2008. Custom builders would get another year giving them until January 31, 2009. After that it would be all Vista and no more XP.

Since that original plan was made the sales of PC’s with the new Vista OS haven’t been quite as good as Microsoft and the manufacturers had hoped and OEM’s have asked the company to extend XP a little longer. Due to this Microsoft has announced that OEM’s can continue to sell XP pre-installed on their computers for 5 additional months, putting the end date out until June …

Microsoft is happy with the tally of “Halo 3″‘s first day of release. The software giant has released a statement saying that sales figures for America alone for the first day of release for “Halo 3″ turned out to be $170 million dollars. That exceeds the $125 million in first day sales that the earlier installment, “Halo 2″, accomplished in 2004. It also gives Microsoft the bragging rights to claim that “Halo 3″ earned more on its first day than any previous Hollywood movie ever made on its opening weekend.

“‘Halo 3′ has become a pop-culture phenomenon,” said Shane Kim, the corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios. “Not only is ‘Halo 3′ setting sales records, it’s also redefining entertainment. Within the first 20 hours alone, we’ve seen more than a million Xbox LIVE members come online to play ‘Halo 3′ – that makes September 25 the most active Xbox LIVE gaming day in history.”

Whether you’re a gamer or not it’s hard to ignore the recent build-up to what just might be the largest game rollout in history – the release of Microsoft’s “Halo 3″. Any closet hardcore gamers in your office could very possibly be outed on Tuesday as more than 10,000 retailers across the nation plan to be open at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday morning for the launch. Retailers participating in the Halo 3 “Midnight Madness” include Best Buy, Circuit City, Game Stop, Wal-Mart and more. Most of them will also be hosting special promotions along with the launch.

You don’t need to frequent one of these popular gaming retailers to catch some of the hype, though. More than likely you’ve already been exposed to the Halo 3 nation through places like Burger King or 7-Eleven who have Master Chief plastered on their products. Even NASCAR is getting into the frenzy with the No. 40 car at the Dover 400 Nextel Cup Series race featuring a Halo 3 paint theme in today’s race.

With billions of dollars up for grabs all based on the perception of who’s winning the next gen console war is it any wonder that representatives from Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft will use every chance they get to drop sales figures to the press? The latest salvo comes from the big M touting their Xbox 360 horn. According to gaming mag Next Generation Microsoft has sold 11.6 million consoles in 37 countries and more 360 games have been sold (24.3 million units) than all of the PlayStation 3 and Wii games combined (19.8 million units.) The company’s Xbox Live service is the largest social network in the living room with 2.6 million IM, text and voice messages sent over the service every day. To underscore their bragging rights, a new Xbox Live subscriber joins the network every 8 seconds.

Microsoft also provided the top ten most played Xbox Live games, the most downloaded demos and the most popular arcade downloads. We’ll show you the top ten most played Xbox Live games but to find out who made the top of the charts for the other two you will have to follow our link to the source site after the jump.

The first rumor of a new Zune in development came our way in June and then last week a photo suggesting that a second version Zune was soon to be a reality surfaced. Now comes the biggest bit of gossip yet about the reality of Zune 2 courtesy of Zune Scene: their inside source tells them that Zune 2 will go on sale starting October 16. Isn’t that less than one month away? Hey Microsoft, you better wake up and announce this thing officially or are you just waiting until that wave of “Halo 3″ mania passes us by?

Zune Scene further establishes that the new Zunes will come in 4GB, 8GB and 80GB versions and that they will be available in red, black, pink and a green that best resembles the one found on …

Microsoft has announced the launch of its new Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000 designed for use with notebook computers providing wireless mousing without the need for any transceiver sticking out of your USB port.

According to Microsoft, over half of the notebooks shipping next year are likely to have Bluetooth built-in, and a wireless Bluetooth mouse makes connectivity even more convenient than a traditional wireless mouse that requires a separate piece plugged into your notebook to receive the signal.

In a seemingly surprising twist, Sun Microsystems has announced that it will start building servers with its once-rival Microsoft Windows Operating system pre-installed. According to a statement by the company, they will start installing Windows Server 2003 on its servers that run Intel 64-bit processors and they will be available for purchase in about three months.

Due to the history Microsoft and Sun share of being bitter rivals this news comes as a surprise to many, although in reality Sun seems to have changed its strategy in the matter to a more opportunistic one by being the providers of an OS that often would end up on the servers either way. The move will also allow them to better service their customers by providing the OS installation service up front. Microsoft will also likely see …

Microsoft is out today with some new Web cams which are tied into an online feature which lets consumers share digital photos with friends and family and see their reactions in real time. One of these cameras is the LifeCam VX-7000, available this month for around $100.

The Microsoft LifeCam VX-7000 makes use of a feature called Photo Swap, which lets users share digital photos live during a video conversation. This joins other online features this LifeCam and others use, such as one-touch video calls and a simple on-screen control. Hardware features of the VX-7000 include a slim and glossy design, 2.0-megapixel sensor, unidirectional microphone and 71-degree, wide angle lens.

Repeat after me…Microsoft Mobile Memory Mouse, Microsoft Mobile Memory Mouse, Microsoft Mobile Memory Mouse. Tongue tied yet? Silly name aside Microsoft unveiled today what could be an interesting notebook mouse – the Mobile Memory Mouse 8000, priced at around $100 and available next month.

The Microsoft MMM 8000 (not real model number but I’m tired of typing out the title) is designed for those who want to cut down on excessive USB port hogging on their laptops. The mouse has 1GB of flash memory on board for storing files, uses a magnetic charging system for keeping it up and running as you work and can connect to a PC wirelessly via 2.4GHz wireless or Bluetooth. All that and it looks pretty to boot.

Doing our fair share of feeding the rumor mill today, a pricing sheet has been circling the blogosphere which lists Zune accessories appended by “V2″ (version 2), leading many to believe a second version of the Zune media player is in the works.

We did see a recent price cut of the existing Zune player which is a common practice to make room for the next model, which for us makes a Zune 2 rumor that much more plausible. (And of course the poor-quality photo always makes us feel like it’s a planned rumor.)

If you keep hoping that the day will come when you can stop your TV broadcast in mid-stride and pick it up again from a different room there is a company located in Redmond, WA that you should know about. It’s called Microsoft.

The software giant is hoping on the day after the big Apple news to steal a little bit of the tech crowd’s attention with its announcement of Extenders for Windows Media Center, a range of applications for Windows Vista that Microsoft promises will make it easier for you to have media convergence in your home.

Interestingly enough, Microsoft made a decision to give the Zune a price cut by $50 the day Apple’s making an announcement about what many are expecting to be a new iPod. The company stated that this price cut is just part of the normal product life cycle and that some recent research indicated a 94% customer satisfaction result with the 30GB product causing them to lower the price so more customers can experience the Zune.

Does this mean we going to see a new Zune soon? Maybe that Zune phone we heard so much about?

Zune Price Cut

Microsoft has announced that it will release Service Pack 1 containing updates and fixes for the new Windows Vista operating system in the first part of 2008, putting a date to a milestone that many companies look for when upgrading Microsoft products.

The company, consistent with earlier announcements, is planning on releasing a beta version of the SP1 for Vista in a few weeks to a limited number of users in somewhat of a cautious manner.

“A small group of testers has been putting a preview of the SP1 Beta through its paces to help prepare for broader release. We made the choice to start with a very small group of testers because we think it’s better for both our customers and for Microsoft to keep the beta program small at the start.”, wrote Nick White, a Microsoft product manager.

The Vista …