In another step to make use of its gaming hardware, Sony will be soon releasing Skype on the PlayStation Portable, as seen in this picture. According the press release, however, the new Skype feature is claimed that it will only work with the new slimmer and light PSP models.

A system update is scheduled for sometime in late January that will add a Skype icon to the Network category in the home menu. Users will be able to use all the main features of what you would get with the main Skype software, such as free Skype to Skype calls, calls to phones using SkypeOut and receiving calls with SkypeIn.

Those already with Skype accounts will be able to access their existing contact lists, as well add new contacts using the PSP’s interface. New Skype users will also be able to sign up to the service directly on the PSP.

The claim that it would only work with the new models was made by DailyTech, as they suspect that the added RAM will play an essential role in the new software.

Photo from Famitsu, via DailyTech.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, a Japanese electronics conglomerate, has unveiled on Monday a 150-inch plasma television; saying it is the world’s biggest television ever made.

The new plasma TV boasts four times better resolution than the current full high-definition picture quality, 1080p, and offers a screen size of nine 50-inch plasma televisions. It was shown to the public at CES in Las Vegas by Toshihiro Sakamoto, president of Panasonic AVC Networks Co.

The new screen, which measures 12 1/2 feet when measured diagonally, tops the previous record of a 103-inch plasma made by them as well. The 103-inch plasma has sold over 3,000 units over last year alone.

The new screen will be available in 2009 at a price that is yet to be disclosed. The new plasma would be mainly used for billboards.

Microsoft has now acknowledged that it had made a mistake over a “security advisory” it released with the latest service pack for its Office 2003 product. The advisory, which was released in December, said that certain older file types were blocked as they were deemed “insecure”.

It also provided a workaround for users who wanted to unblock the file types; but made it complicated, requiring users to make changes to the registry - which could have made computers inoperable if it was done incorrectly.

On Friday, Microsoft admitted that the information it had provided was wrong, and had underestimated how many users were affected. It now says that instead the file types being insecure, it is the parsing code that Office 2003 uses to open and save the file types that are less secure.

Speaking to ZDNet.co.uk last week; Reed Shaffner, the worldwide product manager for Microsoft Office, confirmed that the advisory provided was incorrect and the registry fix that it provided had been difficult to implement by users.

Microsoft has released four downloadable updates that would unblock the file types. One update was provided for each of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and CorelDraw file types. The new updates should prove to be much easier that the manual registry fix, which is still up on the updated advisory.

It has also provided four downloadable updates that would do the opposite of what was said above - reblock the file formats. “For IT administrators, we recommend that they use the (registry) fix that was there before. For end users, if they frequently use the older formats, this (the downloadable update) is the way,” Shaffner said to ZDNet.co.uk.

He suggested that if you do not use the older file types frequently, then you should apply the new update.

USA Today is reporting that Sony BMG, the no. 2 record company after Universal Music, will sell plastic cards called “Platinum MusicPass” to replace individual albums for a price of $12.99. Buyers then enter a code to a new music site, MusicPass.com, to download that card’s album, DRM-free.

“The bigger picture is to make our music available in many different formats, through many different channels, in many different ways,” said the president of Sony BMG’s global digital business and U.S sales, Thomas Hesse.

Best Buy, Target and Fred’s stores will sell them first on January 15; and by January 31, Winn-Dixie, Coconuts, FYE, Spec’s and Wherehouse will sell them. Like all gift cards, they will be activated at the store.

Sony BMG will initially offer cards by 37 albums by performers including Alicia Keys, Carrie Underwood and Celine Dion. Buyers can also download a digital booklet, like those from its album counterpart, and bonus tracks and videos.

As well, for a price of $19.99; Sony BMG will offer cards for Kenny Chesney’s album Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates and Celine Dion’s Taking Chances that will allow users to download a second album by the same artist.

Hasse have said that they hope that other music companies will offer album cards as well; and expects that MusicPass cards will be sold in additional stores and possibly in concert venues. No plans were announced for an international release.

The Workplace Ombudsman has begun an investigation claiming that some employees over at Telstra were made to sign Workplace Agreements last year..

The allegations first arose last Novembe, after the new Rudd government promised to abolished WorkChoices.

“When we met with employees we found that there was a considerable amount of pressure applied to some to sign up to a new AWA by Telstra’s defined date,” Len Cooper, president of the Communications Workers Union (CWU), told ZDNet Australia.

According to Cooper, many employees were given misleading information by the telco that they would not be able to engage in enterprise bargaining and that their pay will suffer if they went with a union.

Telstra has denied the allegations made by the CWU and the parent union, the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU). “The claims by the CEPU are complete nonsense,” a Telstra spokesman said.

However, Cooper has said that the allegations have been occurring since 1998, when the agreements were introduced by the telco. “Up until now, the problem has been proving it,” he said. “A lot of people just weren’t willing to come forward back then.”

As many as 19,000 workers are under the AWAs, but the number of complaints relating to the CWU’s allegations are unknown. “At this stage we don’t know how many workers are going to come forward,” a spokesperson for the Workplace Ombudsman said.

Cooper believes that the company’s intention to sign as many employees that are with an union before possible industrial action takes place. However, a Telstra spokesperson said the decision to sign an AWA remains with the employee’s choice.

Security firm Fortinet has warned that Facebook users face certain dangers and maybe an infection from spyware if they attempt to find their so-called “Secret Crush” invite.

Recipients of the invite are then lured to install the application that promises to find the so-called sender’s identity, which the applications hints that it will only tell the person after they accept the terms and conditions - giving the developer access to all of your personal information - and then invite five friends to install the program as well.

Following the procedures, rather than telling you the identity, it installs a horoscope-based “Crush Calculator” application; which “delivers advice” on the compatibility between different users who installed the application.

Fortinet has claimed that the improper behaviour centre on the alleged installed spyware that is packaged by Zango, an adware company. In November 2006, Zango (formally 180solutions) was forced to give $3 million to the FTC after it labelled the amount as “ill-gotten” gains. It also lost a lawsuit against Kaspersky, an antivirus vendor, after it claimed that Zango’s software was a threat to users.

Zango has denied the claims, saying that it is a victim of circumstance since its iFrame advertisement has became associated with the application due to a third-party partner, which sets the ad to appear on Facebook when the user installs the application - a practise which Zango claims that it is “completely legitimate”.

“At no point in adding the Secret Crush widget to a Facebook profile does the widget install either spyware or Zango software, or even attempt to do so. Any suggestion that Zango software is being ’secretly installed’ is simply not true,” Zango responded on its blog.

Fortinet estimates that around three percent of Facebook users currently have the application installed.

UPDATE - Facebook have now banned the application, saying on Monday in a statement: “Facebook is committed to user safety and security and, to that end, its Terms of Service for developers explicitly state that applications should not use adware and spyware.”

“We have contacted the developers and have disabled the Secret Crush application for violating Facebook Platform Terms of Service.”

New York Times and TechCrunch is reporting that a group of investors is set to takeover CNET Networks, which could mean employees being sacked from all operations worldwide.

The group, consisting Sandell Asset Management, Spark Capital, and entrepreneur Paul Gardi, sent a letter to the Board of Directors but it was rejected. The letter has not been published and a number of anti-takeover provisions are hampering the group to gain control of the board.

With 2,600 employees; the company is now starting to fall into a downward spiral. Profits weren’t increasing and also traffic has slumped. Also, only two out of the 18 Wall Street analysts have only bought shares into the company. It’s currently worth $1.3 billion; but that is currently disputed by many analysts, including TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington.

In recent years, CNET is slowly progressing being less technology-centric. It has begun buying out entertainment and gaming sites; and has bought FindArticles for $45 million for it’s BNET site. It sold of Webshots to American Greetings for $45 million. Most of the growth has been seen in its international markets.

Bill Gates has presented his last ever keynote for CES in a move to prepare himself to slowly transition himself for his role as part-time and advising products.

In the keynote, he noted that Vista sold 100 million copies; and start talking about the first “digital decade” and Microsoft’s involvement. As well in the speech, he said that PC base has grew to 1 billion.

A video was shown to the press “detailing” Bill Gates’ final day at Microsoft; with guests like Bono, Al Gore, Hilary Clinton and Brian Williams. Shown as what Engadget called it “The Office style”, it shown employees talking about Bill Gates transition.

Continuing back to his speech, Bill also said that there were 10 million users using Windows Mobile and hopes that it would double by next year. As well, he also noted that 420 million are currently using the Windows Live suite of software and web applications.

Windows Live was first shown as a demo, and detailing different software/web applications that could be used to plan a party. Using Windows Live Calendar, Events, Photo Gallery, Spaces, Video Search and Mobile; it showed that Microsoft is dedicated in integrating many of its services as online applications.

Surface was next up and was being shown by Bill Gates as he was looking to buy a new snowboard. In this demo, it shows us how Surface could work with many different applications by using touch to resize, change a colour, add handwriting and drag and drop. Also in the demo, it showed an integration between Windows Live and Windows Mobile by placing your device on the Surface table.

Silverlight was presented next and said that it had a great response in it’s first version. As well, he announced that NBC has partnered up with Microsoft and will use Silverlight to use to on its online video footage. The new partnership will bring High Quality video and interactive features.

Back to more statistics. The Xbox has seen impressive growth, with 17.7 billion shipped and $3.5 billion in business (more than the Wii and the PS3). Also, Xbox Live has reached the 10 million mark - 6 months earlier than announced. ABC and Disney have signed up to bring their TV shows on the Xbox Live download service; and also, MGM will bring their entire library of movies to Xbox Live.

Oh, and new Media Center extenders are being produced by Samsung and HP.

Finally, we reach to Mediaroom - Microsoft’s new IPTV service. They announced that 1 million people have now got Mediaroom and also announced that CNN, TNT and Showtime will bring interactive features using Mediaroom; with CNN using it to cover the 2008 Presidential race. The Xbox 360 will also be used as a set top box thanks to British Telecom (BT). BT will also sell the console.

The Zune had also reasonable success, with good reviews and responses with the newer versions. In the keynote; they showcased the brand-new Zune Social, a music social site. It has already have 1.5 million people using it.

They also demoed Microsoft’s Sync. Ford is set to sell 1 million Sync enabled cars this year. It was also announced that a new upgrade, called 911-assist, will be available. Once the airbags are deployed, it will automatically call the emergency services unless you tell it to not to.

Microsoft also said that Windows Mobile have outsold the Blackberry; and showcased a demo from TellMe’s new service called Say and See. This new application will use GPS and voice recognition to find what you would like.

Finally, Bill showcases a brand new technology that was just off Microsoft’s labs. This new technology brings contextual information from a camera pointing to the person or a building.

We will wait and see what CES brings for us in the gadget sense.

Terence Huynh is reporting from Melbourne. The content shown here was notes from him by a live stream provided by Microsoft. Additional reporting was from Engadget and CNET News.com.

TECH.GEEK sadly cannot cover CES nor Macworld. This is due to travel expenses.

A recent service pack for the 2003 incarnation of Microsoft Office has seen many users cannot access certain file types that were supported before the update.

Included in the lengthy list include word processing filetypes for Word 6.0 and Word 97 for Windows and also Word 2004 for the Mac. It also blocks filetypes from older versions of Excel, PowerPoint, Lotus Notes, Corel Quattro spreadsheet, and Corel Draw graphics suite.

On releasing the service pack, Microsoft noted that they decided to block them since they aren’t used for day-to-day use anymore and also for easer for it nteroperate with Vista, the latest version of the Windows product line, and Office 2007, the successor of Office 2003.

However, this block makes it harder to view archived material.

The changes were released in a support document, released in December; however, users weren’t given the warning of the effects of installing SP3. “By default, these file formats are blocked because they are less secure. They may pose a risk to you,” it said.

It has released a workaround. This, however, needs you to make some changes in the Registry; which could leave your computer unstable if performed incorrectly.

The buzz from the CES has come early, with news that the PSP will support VoIP in the United States, with Skype as the provider.

This comes after an announcement in August at the Leipzig Gaming Convention; however the plans were limited to PAL Territories - that includes Australia.

Jumping the gun, Sony’s CES website mentions that they will support Skype. “Call friends, talk trash to fellow gamers, or catch up with acquaintances via Skype for PSP system.” it says on a bullet point listing on the site.

We decided to take a screenshot, just in case they decided to remove it. (If you can’t read it, just right click and click “View Image”)