Toshiba Storage Device Division (SDD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. and the pioneer in small form factor hard disk drives (HDDs), today announced a new family of high-performance 7,200 RPM 2.5-inch HDDs, including a top-end half-terabyte capacity.

The four-model line-up delivers more than a 13 percent performance improvement in disk operations compared to Toshiba’s previous 7,200 RPM family, while decreasing environmental impact by eliminating or reducing the use of certain toxic and hazardous chemicals. The series also carries the SATA-certified 3Gb/s logo, which indicates successful completion of stringent interface compliance testing defined by the Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO), the industry body responsible for setting the standards for Serial ATA interface technologies.

Microsoft Corp. and Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) today brandished the latest weapon to help gamers take to the battlefields for the global launch of the year with the announcement of the Xbox 360 Modern Warfare 2 Limited Edition Console. Infinity Ward’s “Modern Warfare 2,” the blockbuster sequel to the best-selling first-person action game in history, “Call of Duty(R) 4: Modern Warfare(R),” was the inspiration for the console’s high-speed, low-drag, battle-ready design, which is available for pre-order today at U.S. retailers and in other regions later this week.

Beginning with “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s” worldwide release on Nov. 10, fans can arm themselves with Xbox 360 Modern Warfare 2 Limited Edition Console, which features an exclusive design inspired by the epic thriller, more storage space than ever before in a 250GB Hard Drive, two Xbox 360 Wireless Controllers, as well as an Xbox 360 Headset and a Standard Edition copy of “Modern Warfare 2″ for an estimated retail price of $399.99 (USD).

Microsoft Corp. and M-Com today announced a solution offering that provides banks and payment processors with industry-leading mobile payments functionality — creating more opportunities for banks to offer mobile payments services to their customers and maximize their revenue opportunities. This solution clearly demonstrates that consumer choice and deployment flexibility for banks are key to the success of global mobile payments solutions for the financial services industry. The announcement was made at Sibos 2009, the industry’s premier global financial services forum.

Using Microsoft technologies, M-Com BankAnywhere provides a complete end-to-end mobile payments solution for the banking industry worldwide. The comprehensive solution provides best-practice security and risk management capabilities, ensuring that banks can effectively manage the exposure of their brands and services in the emerging market for mobile technology. As a fully integrated solution, it reduces the total cost of ownership (TCO) for the mobile channel for banks.

Zune, Microsoft Corp.’s end-to-end digital entertainment service and media player, today announced significant advancements for consumers. The new Zune HD touch-screen media player is now available at retail, and a powerful update to the Zune PC software is free for download. For the first time, standard- and high-definition (HD) movies can be purchased or rented(1) through the Zune Marketplace online store, and a new streaming music service on Zune.net lets Zune Pass subscribers listen to music from a Web browser. The updates to the Zune hardware, software and online services released today, combined with a new Zune video offering on Xbox LIVE coming later this fall, bring customers instant access to their favorite music and videos anywhere,(2) across their mobile device, PC and TV.

“With today’s announcement, the Zune business is growing into a comprehensive entertainment service that’s no longer tied to any one screen or device,” said Enrique Rodriguez, corporate vice president of the TV, Video and Music Business at Microsoft. “Zune lets consumers connect to their music, TV shows and movie content and enjoy it on the three screens they use every day.”