*CBS* should be pleased with its choice to allow *Microsoft* to sync Xbox LIVE to Last.fm, as the partnership has already netted the streaming music service nearly a million new subscribers. Last.fm went live on Xbox last Tuesday, and both companies are already hyping the deal as a success in…

Four months after announcing the features, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) added social networking and music radio functionality to its Xbox 360 console on Tuesday, along with the first European foray for its Zune brand (see earlier reports from Tameka and I). Here are my initial explorations with each new service (turn…

*Microsoft* rolled out a slew of new social features for the Xbox 360 today, making its already popular Xbox LIVE network a much more comprehensive source of entertainment. The upgrade lets people post status updates to Twitter and Facebook, view and share photos, and even stream music from Last.fm. The…

The Zune portable media player still doesn’t exist in Europe, but that isn’t stopping Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) bringing the Zune brand across the Atlantic. Turesday’s Xbox Live service update that will add Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm support will, as anticipated, also rebrand the Video Marketplace section as “Zune Marketplace”, according…

Hundreds of thousands of Xbox 360 users who have illegally modified their console to play copied games have been disconnected from the online Xbox Live service as part of an annual drive to counter Xbox pirates. Guardian.co.uk puts the figure as high as one million of the service’s 20 million…

—BBC Canvas: Richard Halton, the man in charge of the BBC-convened open IPTV project Canvas, says the project’s partners are working on Canas could support social networking features to tie in with TV programmes. He says “people could play along against their friends, which could work well for entertainment formats.”…

—Sky-Xbox problems: The technical problems that beset the launch of Sky’s channels on the Xbox 360 have continued: Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has now suspended all access to the service and is running a gradual “revised rollout”. The company says: “Unfortunately due to the unprecedented levels of simultaneous demand, we did…

—Sky-Xbox glitches: After all the fanfare, Sky’s long-awaited Xbox 360 VOD service was pulled shortly after its full launch on Tuesday because of an “unforeseen technical issue”. Without elaborating further, Sky says: “Sky Player engineers are hard at work to resolve the problem - we expect to have the full…

It’s been more than four months since BSkyB and Microsoft announced an ambitious plan to delivery pay TV over the software maker’s Xbox 360 console. After eager interest shown by readers and viewers of our demo at the time, now they are finally nearly ready to go live with the…

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) is beta testing a multi-player video game version of Endemol’s TV game quiz show format 1 Vs 100 on Xbox Live - a move that could see an innovative new line in TV-style, appointment-to-play events for the console platform…

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) is following up its recent BSkyB Xbox deal by adding live and VOD shows from France’s Canal+ Group to the games console. Like the Sky deal, it seems Xbox users will need to already be Canal+ subscribers. The deal covers several suites of programming from the Vivendi-owned…