Microsoft has finally set the date that Windows Live Messenger will be no more, with the desktop version being replaced with Voice over IP (VoIP) service Skype on 8 April.

Microsoft said the upgrade will take a few weeks to roll out, hitting English language clients first and finishing up with Brazilian Portuguese on 30 April or later.

"Starting from 8 April, Messenger users, previously Windows Live Messenger/MSN Messenger, will find themselves unable to use the service," Microsoft said in a blog post on Thursday.

"But don't panic, this isn't the cause of a catastrophic technical fault, simply wait to be prompted to install Skype, or follow a few painless steps to get yourself on the way."

BitTorrent has announced the public beta launch of SoShare, a file delivery service that will take on the likes of YouSendIt, DropBox and others by allowing file transfers up to 1TB in size. The company says it is targeting creative professionals -- designers, photographers, musicians, and so on --  who handle large data files but have trouble sending them to others due to limitations with email attachments, syncing and delivery services.

SoShare is based on the BitTorrent protocol, as you’d expect, combined with cloud caching so recipients can access the files even when the sender is offline. As mentioned above, the service allows up to 1TB file transfers, regardless if that’s a single or multiple files. Copies of the files will be kept online on BitTorrent’s servers for up to 30 days, although you can set them to expire them sooner. Users need to install a browser plugin to upload or download files, but it’s not necessary to register in order to access shared files.

Adobe has announced that it will release emergency patches for two vulnerabilities that were found in its Reader and Acrobat software last week.

The company said on Wednesday that it was investigating a report by security firm Fireeye, which had received "PDF files tainted with malicious software" that could take advantage of a newly discovered flaw.

"Adobe plans to make available updates for Adobe Reader and Acrobat XI for Windows and Macintosh, X for Windows and Macintosh, 9.5.3 and earlier 9.x versions for Windows and Macintosh, and Adobe Reader 9.5.3 and earlier 9.x versions for Linux, during the week of February 18, 2013," the company said Saturday in its security incident response team's blog.

Western Digital has introduced My Book AV-TV external hard drive that features digital video recorder functionalitu, allowing customers to instantly enable their TV recording features to store and playback hundreds of hours of entertainment by simply connecting the My Book AV-TV drive directly to a compatible TV. Customers watching live TV with the My Book AV-TV connected can press pause and rewind, or fast-forward afterward, to control and enjoy live TV at their convenience.

WD My Book AV-TV is available in 1TB and 2TB capacities, easily connects directly to televisions with built-in recording capability to provide plentiful storage capacity for standard or high-definition entertainment programming. The drive inside is engineered for the audio/video market in order to optimize the customer experience with smooth video playback of recorded content. Additionally, the WD GreenPower Technology is engineered to use less power and stay cool even in a hot entertainment center full of electronics.

It's back. The U.S. House Intelligence Committee has reintroduced its controversial "Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act" in a second attempt to pass the bill. Originally unleashed last year, CISPA slipped passed Congress but was aborted by the Senate following a White House guarantee that it would be emphatically vetoed into oblivion. 

CISPA is a controversial bill which grants "certified entities" the ability to eavesdrop on electronic communications and freely access otherwise private information regarding individuals and organizations. Rather than granting new governmental powers which ignore privacy and civil liberties, the bill takes an inverted approach: it encourages private companies to share their users' data with security agencies and other certified entities.