www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_txF7iETX0

When it comes to modern gaming consoles Microsoft is clearly in the lead with the Xbox 360, and they are not content to just let it be awesome. They are obsessively updating it and tweaking it to make it better. Sure there are always things for people to complain about but that is just natural.

This last week has been one of announcements and rumors for the Xbox team. First came Sky Player for watching live TV in the United Kingdom and then the rumors about a Hulu player coming for those in the United States.

As if this news was not good enough, today at E3 the following was announced:

• Twitter on the XBOX!!!!!! (Yet another reason to buy a 360 Messenger Kit)
• Facebook!!
• Full Downloadable Games!!!!!
• 1080p Instant Video Streaming
• Zune Video Marketplace
• Project Natal, a full body motion control system with speech recognition
• Metal Gear Solid: Rising

These announcements today is yet another example of Microsoft climbing it’s way back to the top. First Windows 7, then Zune HD, Bing, and now Xbox 360 enhancements, this is turning out to be a very good season for Microsoft.

UPDATE: Last.FM streaming music will also be available to Xbox Live Gold users

Check It Out> Twitter, Downloadble Games, Project Natal, Metal Gear Solid,

Twitter is an awesome tool but it is amazing how many mistakes are made on it.  People still have the illusion that things on the Internet are anonymous even when people are using their real names. One rather large mistake was made this past weekend when @LogicommInc (Jim Van) decided that it was acceptable to tell people that he and others were testers for the Palm Pre.  He also commented that the release date of the Pre is April 30th in this tweet:

“We do a lot of betas 4 Sprint. Also testing WiMax fones. Not sure if Pre is final. Release dte of 4/30, so I’m told..”

As is with everything on Twitter people are always listening no matter how few followers a person has.  Shortly after he posted this and a few other comments they were quickly picked up by numerous Palm Pre sites including MyPre.  His comments spread very rapidly and resulted in Mr. Van making his Twitter account private so only his allowed friends could see his updates.

Whether or not his information is factual remains to be seen but one thing is for sure, he violated any Non-Disclosure Agreements that he may have had in testing the Palm Pre.   Someone in his position should have more respect for NDA’s and the companies he is testing for.

UPDATE:: As suspected the rumor is false. It was confirmed by a few people to be not true.  The biggest tip off apparently is that Palm has always announced new product releases on Sunday, April 30th is on a Tuesday.  Apparently even Palm does not have a date scheduled, only a window of time.

Check It Out> MyPre

More and more companies are now using Twitter, some of which are good at it and others need some work.  One of the best groups of companies on Twitter to follow are Security and Anti-Malware companies.  When there is an outbreak they can help you to stay informed and get you the information to either stay uninfected or for how to clean the newest malware out there.

I have compiled this list after quite a bit of research and while I am sure I have found the bulk of AV/AS companies on Twitter I would appreciate others adding to it as well.  If you know of any that are missing from this list please leave their usernames in the coments section or send me a message @pfoty.

@AdAware – New account with only a Hello World post but expected to be very active soon.
@Atribune –  Has not been used  in 6+ months
@AviraAntivir –  Mostly software update information
@avgsecurity
@officialAVGnews – Almost all marketing information
@bitdefender – Very active and has excellent information
@CASecurity – Lightly used and mostly just CA related updates
@CiscoSecurity – Not just information about Cisco , includes a lot of security information.
@clamav – Only sends out updated deffinition information. Does not follow back.
@comodogroup
@DriveSentry – New account but off to a very good and active start
@Fortinet
@kaspersky – Relatively active account with lots of good information
@lavasoft – Marketing information and rarely used
@Malwarebytes – Protected and un-used but might be used in the future
@McAfeeAvertLabs – Active account deffinetly worth following
@McAfeeNews – McAfee related news updates
@Panda_Security – Very active account and has been around longer than most of the others
@PandaSecurityZA – South Africa branch of Panda but different content and less active
@PandaTechSup
@PCToolsDoctor – Not currently very active
@PCToolsSupport
@ScanSafe
@SophosLabs
@SPAMfighter – Extremely active account and is not exclusively about Spam
@SpybotSD
@Sunbelt_Support
@sunbeltsoftware
@symantecnews
@threatpost – Kaspersky site  feed
@TrendMicro – Relatively active account with good information
@webroot
@websenselabs
@WinPatrol

Many companies such as Symantec and Sunbelt have a lot of employees on Twitter that are very active but as of yet do not have the most active of corporate Twitter accounts.  I spoke with some employees of the companies on this list and most of them indicated that their companies Twitter accounts were going to be very active in the next couple of months but were waiting for resources to be dedicated to it.  This is good news especially when it comes to accounts like Lavasoft where the accounts are brand new with little to no content yet.

I have tried to limit this list just to actual security AV/AS companies but I will be adding another list this week of excellent people to follow in the malware industry.  Many of these people such as  @MalwareCity are websites dedicated to malware information and really offer a wealth of information for those seeking it.

As always if you would like to follow me on Twitter you can do so by going to @pfoty.  Following a lot of people on Twitter can be difficult but as someone who follows 700+ people I think the best way is with a program like Twirl.  It installs to your computer and makes it more like an instant messenger client rather than just a website.

UPDATE:: I have added Drive Sentry, ThreatExpert and PCToolsSupport to the list.  As people send me others I will continue to add them to the list so make sure you check back and get the updates.