Windows has had it’s share of vulnerabilities in the past, so now Microsoft is offering more than $250,000 in cash and prizes for contestants who can come up with new ways to mitigate exploits. Anonymous and LulzSec are out there after all, taking companies down.

Microsoft will pay $200,000 for the best “novel runtime mitigation technology designed to prevent the exploitation of memory safety vulnerabilities.” Two runners up will also receive $50,000 and a MSDN Universal subscription valued at $10,000. I’d say that is lots of incentive to come up with some new tricks, wouldn’t you?

Fans of Black Ops have something to be very happy about. The latest map pack titled “Rezurrection” will be coming to the Xbox 360 followed by PC and PlayStation 3 later. Sadly these maps will not be multiplayer maps though.

You get a new map level called “Moon” along with four re-mastered zombie maps: “Nacht der Üntoten,” “Verrückt,” “Shi No Numa” and “Der Riese.” They should be released on August 23rd for the XBox, with PS3 and PC following later.

The Verizon Fascinate was the last Samsung Galaxy S variant to hit the U.S. and the carrier is doing its best to keep the phone up to date with software updates, even though some of them caused problems for users. Interestingly, Verizon is now listing the phone with a “retired” label.

You can see the red watermark embedded all over the device page. It says the phone is retired and so has already been removed from the carrier’s online store. So what would they replace it with? Probably the Galaxy S II variant for Verizon (whether it will be called Samsung Galaxy S II, Function, Fascinate II or Stratosphere).

Say what? Sony’s new handheld console already passed through the FCC and the rumor was that it had an October release date. But now it looks as if Santa has let us down this year.

Bloomberg is reporting that Kazuo Hirai says the Vita won’t launch in the US and Europe until early next year, but Japan is still getting the device before Christmas. We hope this is not the case. It’s like getting coal in our stockings several months early.

Gaming and driving? At the same time? Awesome. Garnet Hertz’s augmented reality-based OutRun project marries a concept car to Sega’s classic driving game with an electric golf cart, allowing players to navigate their way around real-life courses. It’s like driving an arcade cabinet.

Hertz outfitted the system with cameras and customized software that can see in front of the car to automatically reproduce the route on the screen. The map is displayed in the same 8-bit rendering as the original OutRun, with perspectives changing with the steering. It only hits 13 mph, but it’s awesome even at that speed.

Just because these speakers come in a gas can form, doesn’t mean they will cost you a fortune on gas to run. They will just cost a fortune. These Jerrycan Gas Can Speakers are a gas. My jokes have run out of fuel at this point.

They will cost you £285 ($470) and weigh about 55 lbs, and are even available in a variety of colors.We’ll let you decide if they are worth it.

We know that you can’t wait to get yourself a Droid Bionic and you’ve no doubt been wondering about the specs. Well, they are on Motorola’s developer site. It features a TI OMAP 4430 1GHz dual-core CPU bundled with 1GB RAM, a 4.3-inch qHD display with 960 x 540 resolution, HDMI 1.4, 8 megapixel rear camera and a VGA front-facing camera.

Other specs include 1080p HD video capture, webtop capabilities, and LTE radio. No GSM / EDGE of course. At least now we know some more of what it’s offering.

We all want higher resolution for better image quality, especially on smaller screens. The good news is that Samsung Mobile Display will be developing a new 7-inch AMOLED display with a higher resolution.

This AMOLED display will feature a resolution of 1024×768. The previous AMOLED display had a resolution of 1024×600. But you won’t be seeing the new displays on tablets this year. When we hear more we will let you know.

How smart is your washing machine? Not as smart as LGs latest. It comes equipped with an app for Android phones that allows you to control the washing machine right from your Android smartphone.

The app has several functions offering a status check of the laundry, changing the scheduled time, preventing wrinkles and more. The LG Smart Washing Machine will be released in South Korea for about $165,000.

Here’s a great dress for the geek girl in your life. These tube dresses will make you look like a life-size Nintendo Game Boy. Each dress is made from a jersey knit fabric, in colors that match the Nintendo Game Boy.

You even get the felt A/B buttons, as well as Start and Select, but you might get slapped if you get too button happy and touch the wrong area. It was actually sold yesterday, but Etsy shop HereandThereVintage will continue to offer some pretty cool clothing just like this one.

According to Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, the company is planning to implement paid downloads for both the 3DS and Wii U. Iwata said that developers will have access to the system for the 3DS by the end of the year and he said Nintendo was thinking about extending the life of some games by making new levels available.

Iwata said that Nintendo will not support low quality content either, as in unlocking keys or stat increases. Don’t worry though, he also seemed to indicate that free games won’t have added chargeable content later.

Like most disasters, the tsunami and earthquake have faded from the headlines and so faded from people’s thoughts. Just because it isn’t the top headline doesn’t mean those folks are just fine now. They still need aid.

Incubot, in conjunction with World Events Productions and CustomUSB, have created a line of Japan Relief custom 2G USB drives. These are limited edition, fully licensed, and in colors that honor the japanese flag. The best part is that 100% of profits go to Japanese Red Cross Society and to Safecast radiation monitoring efforts.

Haven’t gone 3D yet. You are far from the only one. But if you want to get your 3D on, ViewSonic is offering this 24-inch V3D245 monitor. It features a 1080p LED-backlit panel, an NVIDIA 3D Vision wireless emitter and a pair of 3D Vision glasses.

Other features include a 120Hz refresh rate, two millisecond response time, HDMI 1.4 socket and 300 nits of brightness. There’s also a three-year limited warranty. It will cost you $499 later this month.

If you are looking for a budget-friendly Android tablet, why not check out the TBT-10C Mercury Pad. The device features a 7.0-inch 800 x 480 capacitive multi-touch screen, a 1GHz Samsung S5PV210 ARM Cortex-A8 processor, and 512MB DDR2 RAM.

Other features include 4GB/8GB/16GB of storage, a microSD card slot (up to 32GB), a 0.3MP front-facing camera, a 2.0MP rear-facing camera, a G-sensor, 1080p Full HD video playback support, 3G module support, WiFi, a 3.5mm headset jack, an HDMI port, built-in speaker, a 2250mAh battery and Android 2.3 is running everything.

The Sharp FX Plus is an Android powered QWERTY-slider smartphone with entry-level specifications. It’s the successor of the original Sharp FX messaging phone. It will be shipping pre-installed with Android 2.2 Froyo, which is dissapointing and it’s powered by a 600MHz processor.

Other features include a 3.2-inch HVGA touchscreen display, 512MB RAM, a landscape sliding-out QWERTY keyboard, 3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, 802.11 Wi-Fi b/g/n, microUSB 2.0, microSD card slot for memory expansion up to 32GB, Android Market, audience’s earSmart noise cancellation technology, and a bunch of Google and AT&T services.