Windows users upgrading to Vista were shocked to discover that music purchased from the iTunes store wouldn’t play after upgrading to Redmond’s latest OS. In response to the problem Apple yesterday released The iTunes Repair Tool for Vista 1.0–which allows music purchased from the iTunes store to play in Vista. The patch “will repair permissions for important files required by iTunes to play your iTunes Store purchases.”

InPlay Technologies announced that as the only pen input solution with digital stream communication available today, its unique writing pens and LCD digitizers are ideally suited for the new pen input features available in Windows Vista. According to Microsoft, the Windows Tablet Technology in Windows Vista delivers significant improvements to the pen navigation experience with a focus on making the pen an even more powerful and useful device. Among the new features, users of most versions of Windows Vista can assign key commands or actions to simple pen gestures called “flicks.” The Handwriting Recognition Personalization Tool allows users to tailor recognition results to their own personal handwriting style, and distinct hovering and tapping feedback enables the pen to be used as comfortably as a mouse.

A security firm has found a pair of security bugs in Microsoft’s Windows Mobile which, if exploited, could crash phones and other devices running the software. The vulnerabilities lie in Windows Mobile Internet Explorer and Windows Mobile Pictures and Video, Trend Micro, a Tokyo-based security vendor, said in a pair of security alerts. Viewing a rigged Web page or malicious JPEG image file on a Windows Mobile device will cause it to fail, according to Trend Micro.

PhatWare announced an upgrade to the popular Tablet PC and UMPC application–PenCommander. The new PenCommander 2.0 version for Windows Vista-based Tablet and Ultra Mobile PCs is a system utility application that features a powerful scripting technology and is now enhanced to support the Windows Vista operating system.

Turner Broadcasting plans to take responsibility for the “hoax devices” that were found at several locations in and around Boston Wednesday that forced police bomb units to scramble throughout the area. The incidents were part of a marketing campaign that involved a character from the cartoon show “Aqua Teen Hunger Force.” “The ‘packages’ in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger. They are part of an outdoor marketing campaign in 10 cities in support of Adult Swim’s animated television show ‘Aqua Teen Hunger Force,’ ” Turner Broadcasting, the parent company of Cartoon Network, said in a statement. The company said that they have been in place for two to three weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco and Philadelphia.

The Coast Guard searched the waters off Northern California on Wednesday for an award-winning computer scientist missing since a weekend sailing trip to scatter his mother’s ashes at sea. A cargo plane, a helicopter and six patrol boats have been scouring the Pacific since Monday for Jim Gray, who helped develop the technology behind popular computer mapping programs like Google Earth. Gray, founder and manager of Microsoft’s Bay Area Research Center in San Francisco, won the A.M. Turing Award — the “Nobel Prize of computer science” — in 1998 for research that paved the way for automatic teller machines, computerized airline reservations and online shopping.

BoxWave has released their FlexiSkin case for the Nokia 6288 and Sony Ericsson Z610i.

BoxWave has released their ClearTouch Crystal and Anti-Glare screen protectors for the Archos 404 and Samsung Q1.

Microsoft’s decision to incorporate Tablet PC features and functionality into the Windows Vista operating system is one that eWEEK Labs believes will help to convert Tablet PC skeptics. eWEEK Labs installed the operating system on two Tablet PCs–Lenovo’s ThinkPad X60 Tablet and Fujitsu’s LifeBook T4215–and found that Microsoft has delivered a much more practical and smoother tablet experience in Vista.

For the second year in a row, H&R Block, the world’s largest tax services provider, and Kingston are delivering tax software on a customized Kingston 256MB DataTraveler USB Flash drive. This innovative concept of delivering TaxCut Premium Federal + State 2006 on a USB drive gives taxpayers a convenient, portable and solid value for their tax preparation. Offered at $39.99, the software and USB drive combo is available now at major electronics and office supplies stores, plus mass retailers throughout the U.S.