20th Century Fox has struck a deal with Microsoft to make the first two seasons of the animated series “FamilyGuy” available for downloads on the Xbox Live service.

“Family Guy” represents the first Fox product to make it onto Xbox, which lacks an overall deal with the News Corp.-owned studio. In the battle of the electronic sell-through outlets, score one for Xbox over main rival iTunes, which hasn’t yet landed rights to “Family.”

Taiwan’s HTC has taken the wraps off a thinner, faster version of its Touch smartphone. “This is the much anticipated 3G version of Touch,” Peter Chou, CEO of HTC, said at a news conference in Tokyo.

From the outside the HTC-1100 looks much like the existing Touch handset, which was launched in June this year and is based on the same Windows Mobile 6 operating system. But there are some changes inside.

While the original Touch works only on second-generation GSM networks, the HTC-1100 works on both GSM and 3G (third-generation) WCDMA (wideband code division multiple access) networks. The data transfer capabilities include support for 3.6M bps (bit per second) HSDPA (high speed downlink packet access) networks.

Sony appears to be reliving its rootkit nightmare of 2005, when it had to yank its XCP digital rights management technology after security experts said the technology used malicious rootkit techniques to evade detection on Windows systems.

This time, three Sony USB fingerprint devices are planting hidden files for two separate rootkit-like programs, according to security vendor F-Secure, based in Helsinki, Finland. F-Secure reported on Aug. 29 that its DeepGuard HIPS (host-based intrusion prevention system) was warning about a USB stick software driver.

Creative has introduced the Creative ZEN, a credit card-sized music, video and photo player with a stunning 2.5-inch color screen that supports up to 16.7 million colors. The Creative ZEN is the first Creative player to support AAC music and unprotected iTunes Plus tracks from the iTunes store, in addition to MP3 and WMA formats. You can now listen to up to 4,000 of your favorite tracks that you have ripped from CDs through your iTunes software. The Creative ZEN can carry up to 60 hours of video or thousands of photos, and it features an SD memory slot, so you can add virtually limitless additional storage capacity and easily bring new music, video or photos to the player. The Creative ZEN will be available next month in 4GB, 8GB and 16GB models, priced at $149.99, $199.99, and $299.99 respectively.

SanDisk announced an 8GB model of its Cruzer Micro USB flash drive, double the largest capacity previously available in the Cruzer Micro line.

Only two inches long, a half-inch thick and weighing less than half an ounce, the 8GB Cruzer Micro nonetheless can hold a massive personal library–1,600 ultra-high-resolution digital pictures, 2,000 digital songs or five hours of high-quality home video.

LG Electronics’ battle to beat the iPhone is far from over. The South Korean electronics company has unveiled its second iPhone-like handset and this one packs several important features the iPhone doesn’t: 3G and high-speed cellular data networking.

The LG-KS20 bears a strong resemblance to the iPhone thanks to a shiny front-face that is devoid of almost all buttons. The phone is compatible with 3G WCDMA (wideband code division multiple access) networks, the 3G standard being deployed by most operators around the world. That means it will work in countries like Japan and South Korea, where the iPhone won’t at present.

Security pros are warning that distributors of the Storm Trojan are now using a YouTube video to lure users.

Contained in emails with subject lines such as “sheesh man what are you thinking,” the malicious link claims to go to YouTube.com, but actually goes to a URL harboring exploit code.

With the help of three new partners, NetSuite now provides extensions to its hosted mid-market applications suite so it will run on mobile devices. NetSuite’s integrated software-as-a-service online suite includes ERP, CRM and e-commerce functionality.

The partners–Antenna Software, Explore Mobile (a wholly owned subsidiary of Explore Consulting) and iEnterprises–have used NetSuite’s SuiteFlex application development and integration software to build extensions to the NetSuite apps so they can be accessed wirelessly by BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Palm Treo users. Pricing is up to the partners; NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson expects each extension to typically cost $25 per user per month.

NetSuite users can also now access the suite via their iPhones, as the much-hyped Apple device inches into enterprises. NetSuite 2007.0, the latest version of the SaaS suite, includes native support for the most recent release of Apple’s Safari Web browser, functionality that NetSuite has dubbed SuitePhone.

Garmin has launched the Edge 705 and Edge 605–the latest innovations in the popular line of integrated personal training systems for recreational and advanced cyclists. The Edge 705 and Edge 605 provide mapping capabilities, street navigation and a 2.2-inch color display in addition to tracking vertical profiles, climb and descent, altitude, speed, distance, and time.

The Edge 705 represents several breakthroughs in cycling technology, including SRM compatibility and wireless unit-to-unit connectivity. Through collaborative efforts with SRM–a pioneer in mobile power diagnostics for bicycles–Garmin for the first time gives cyclists the opportunity to monitor GPS position, power, heart rate, speed, cadence, altitude and gradient on the same display. And Edge 705 users will be able to share their information–including courses, waypoints and workouts–with each other through ANT+Sport wireless technology.

Skype has launched a new way to call anyone in the world with the new Skype To Go service. As part of the global roll-out of Skype Pro, users can talk to their best friend abroad from their mobile phone for as long as they want without it costing an arm and a leg.

A simple Skype download and sign up to the Skype Pro service means that Skype Pro customer’s will receive a Skype To Go number at no additional cost. To activate the Skype To Go number, users must choose the friend or family member they want to call who lives abroad. Then simply enter their international number and in return, Skype To Go will give users a local number to use instead.