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Personal Tech

The buzz

By Times Staff
Published April 17, 2006

Movie previews coming to video game consoles

Coming soon to a video game console near you: high-definition movie previews. Paramount Pictures Corp. plans to offer high-def downloads for its upcoming films Mission: Impossible III and Nacho Libre through Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360. Paramount's experiment highlights the key role next-generation video-game consoles from Microsoft and Sony Corp. probably will play as more entertainment moves online. Last month, for instance, Epic Records said it would offer free music-video downloads from emerging artists on Xbox 360. Both efforts reflect the eagerness of entertainment companies to reach a young, elusive audience whose attention is sliced ever thinner by television, computers, game consoles and cellular phones.

Microsoft will stop support for Windows 98, 98 Second Edition and Millennium in July, the company said on its Web site (http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifean18) While online self-help information will be available on Microsoft's Web site until July 2007, the company is ending security updates and paid support by July 11. Microsoft says those versions of the operating system are outdated and pose security problems for users. It recommends people upgrade to a newer version of Windows. The next release of Windows is Vista, expected early in 2007.

For tech news throughout the week, join Times technology editor Dave Gussow at the Tech Times blog (www.sptimes.com/blogs/tech) We invite you to join the discussion by posting your comments and questions. Also, for more on the video game scene, check out Josh Korr's video game blog (www.sptimes.com/blogs/videogames)

- Compiled from staff and wire reports