Upgraded Xbox 360 on the horizon

Microsoft is bringing out a new version of the Xbox 360 console, reports the New York Times Online. The Xbox 360 Elite will have a bigger hard drive and better high-definition video support.

The console will be available for sale in the US from the end of April and will list at about $180 more than the Xbox 360 basic. Elite will have a 120GB hard drive and a high-definition multimedia port.

The 120GB hard drive is available to gamers as a separate accessory for around $179.

Simplicita, a US start-up, has come up with a way for Internet service providers (ISPs) to offer customers a phishing shield, reports News.com.

ISPs can install free NXD software that will redirect customers to a Yahoo search page, including advertising and sponsor links, when they attempt to click on a known phishing site.

"Both Simplicita and the ISP get a cut of the revenue from Yahoo, generated when users click on sponsored paid search links," said a Simplicita representative.

Yahoo will, from May, provide unlimited e-mail storage to its quarter of a billion users, reports Reuters. "We are giving them [users] no reason to ever have to delete old e-mails," says Yahoo co-founder David Filo.

Yahoo used to have a limit of 1GB, Microsoft limits e-mail storage at 2GB, while Gmail caps at 2.8GB.

Yahoo says this is a response to the growth of multimedia sharing across mail accounts. The changeover should take about a month to complete.

After receiving death threats, prominent blogger Kathy Sierra has called on the blogosphere to combat the culture of abuse, reports BBC.

Several threats forced her to cancel planned public appearances and suspend her blog. Both the police and the blogosphere are investigating the threat campaign, which included a post of a picture of the author beside a noose.

She says, since going public on the issue, she has been overwhelmed by the support she has received.