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?

Microsoft got themselves in some hot water after a small PR account for Xbox told followers to remember the deceased musician Amy Winehouse by purchasing her last album on the company’s entertainment marketplace, Zune.

Maybe not the best of ideas. After about an hour of retweets with comments that showed that people did not appreciate the tweet, the account tweeted a follow up, apologizing.

Microsoft has already announced that they will stop supporting Windows XP within the next 3 years, and now Vista is in it’s crosshairs. Microsoft has made it known that it will stop supporting Windows Vista SP1.

If users want to keep getting support, they will have to upgrade to Windows Vista SP2, though Microsoft suggests it would be better for you to upgrade to Windows 7. Better for them too of course. The company is trying to get everything in order for the arrival of Windows 8 in 2012.

Sorry Windows Phone 7 fans. Microsoft has announced that there will not be any tablets running on the Windows Phone 7 operating system. The company views tablets as more of a personal computer, not a mobile device.

All hope is not lost though. A Windows based tablet might show up using the Windows 8 operating system, which should arrive in 2012, and this will be the only tablet OS to be issued by the company. I’m sure it will be worth the wait.

Here’s something that Star wars fans will love. It looks like Microsoft is prepping a limited edition R2-D2 Xbox 360 console with Kinect sensor that will launch with the forthcoming Kinect Star Wars.

The machine will likely not be droid shaped, but it will be in a blue and white paint job as well as the Kinect sensor itself. You are going to want to trade in your old XBox for this one for sure.

Sony and Nintendo have embraced 3D, but Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has yet to actively support it. Xbox senior product manager David Dennis says that the company is taking a wait and see approach and you can’t really blame them.

He says that Microsoft will not implement 3D in the 360 until 3D proves its staying power and gamers demand it.

The Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 3000 offers both curves and comfort, true to it’s name. It is designed for a more natural wrist position. The keyboard features quick keys, allowing you to control your music, videos, and do stuff like open the calculator with one key.

The slim, glossy design saves space on your desk and is better for you than normal keyboards. The Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 3000 is $24.95. Who wants one?

Microsoft is planning another hardware update for the Xbox 360. This new update is all under the hood and won’t affect the look of the machine very much if at all. New Xbox 360 slim consoles will come with a new System on a Chip that will put the CPU, GPU, system memory and I/O logic all on the same piece of silicon.

This should make the console quieter, allow it to have an even smaller power pack and also generate less heat. It will actually be cheaper to manufacture than the old multi-chip system, so Microsoft will make more profit on each console sold.

Looks like the recent rumors were true. Microsoft has announced a new streaming TV implementation for the Xbox 360 today. The Kinect and Bing-powered voice search which can pull in content from online sources like Hulu, Netflix and Xbox Live Marketplace, will also work with live TV from IPTV partners.

Great news for the console. Right now that list only includes Sky in the UK, Foxtel in Australia and Canal+ in France, but users there will be able to search across those services and view them directly through the console. No info on any US-based partners.

We love choice. That’s why we have so many flavors of ice cream and it’s also why our gadgets come in so many colors and with so many varied options. Now that we are all hungry for ice cream, I’ll get to the point. Rumor is that Microsoft will offer at least four different versions of Windows 8 for devices with ARM processors. According to Renee James, Intel’s senior vice president and general manager of Software and Services Group, Windows versions that run on ARM devices will be focused on tablets and other mobile devices.

Are you tired of Microsoft having too many versions of their OS? This might be a problem for them. We will have to wait and see. But I think most of us just want one or two options for the OS, so we can make a hassle free choice and be done with it.

Looks like Sony isn’t the only gaming giant having problems. Microsoft’s new disc format will allow for an extra 1GB of storage space for new games and hopefully stop piracy, but there is a problem. It looks like some consoles contain drives that can’t read the new XGD3 discs. Opps.

The email pictured above has been confirmed as real by the Xbox Support Twitter account, but now it’s responding to inquiries by saying that the replacements are in response to a previous update and not the upcoming one that has been in beta.

Facebook. It’s everywhere. You can’t escape it. That’s great if you are a fan, and not so great if you hate the social network site. And now Microsoft has announced that it will be integrating Facebook into its search results, and into their search algorithm, which will change the way that Bing search results are created.

Search results will now show you personalized results, with results that your friends have liked. This includes news stories and other items. It will also show faces of your Facebook friends, with up to three displayed next to a search result. So now you will never be far away from your friends, even when searching.

Art, like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But I can tell you what art definitely is not. It’s not a plain and boring mouse. And to cure this Microsoft has launched a new wireless mouse, the Microsoft Mobile Mouse 3500 Artist Edition, which features some fresh designs from five artists from around the world.

The artists who designed the new Microsoft Mobile Mouse 3,500 Artist Edition include Kirra Jamison, Matt Moore, Linn Olofsdotter, Mike Perry and Jonny Wan and there are six different designs to choose from. There should be something for most everyone.

Microsoft has now officially confirmed their acquisition of Skype, in a deal which is said to be worth $8.5 billion. The big M announced the deal on their website and they say that the deal is worth $8.5 billion in cash, and that includes taking on Skype’s debts. The deal was approved by both the board of Microsoft and the board of Skype.

Does this mean that we should start calling them MicroSkype or Skypesoft? The rumor had been that Google and Facebook were looking to buy Skype, but it seems like no one guessed that Microsoft would be acquiring them.

According to a scan of the June issue of OXM, Hulu Plus will launch on Xbox 360 on April 29. That’s this Friday. We knew it was coming, but the last official word we had heard was “spring”.

If this turns out to be a true scan of the magazine, it looks like Microsoft will promote the launch with a contest each week from April 29 through May 30. Prizes will be awarded to randomly chosen Hulu Plus users. Some of the prizes include Beaches Resort trips and free Xbox 360 bundles as well as Hulu Plus subscriptions.