Thursday Tech Reading - tech
(hx) 12:33 PM CEST - Jun,10 2004
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- Russia and China "behind current spam deluge" -
Organised criminals based in Russia are fuelling the rise in the amount of
spam sent over the Internet, according to a leading opponent of junk mail.
Steve Linford, director of The Spamhaus Project, warned on Tuesday that these
gangs are supplying US-based spammers with details of compromised PCs that can
be used to send out their unsolicited commercial messages, and creating
viruses that will create more of these open proxies. "There is a new
level of criminality in the spamming world," Linford told the Openwave
Messaging Anti-Abuse conference in London. "Russian gangs are creating viruses
and proxies and selling them onto US spammers." According to Linford, these
Russian gangs aren't constrained by any anti-spam or cybercrime laws in their
home country and have no respect for legislation implemented in other
countries. Linford also told the conference that some 70 percent of spam is
sent from China by American spam outfits who are hosting their servers with
Chinese ISPs. In many cases the spammers have set up firewalls so that the
ISPs can't actually see what's being hosted.
- IE flaws used to spread pop-up toolbar - An adware purveyor has
apparently used two previously unknown security flaws in Microsoft's Internet
Explorer browser
to
install a toolbar on victims' computers that triggers pop-up ads,
researchers said this week. One flaw lets an attacker run a program on a
victim's machine, while the other enables malicious code to "cross zones," or
run with privileges higher than normal. Together, the two issues allow for the
creation of a Web site that, when visited by victims, can upload and install
programs to the victim's computer, according to two analyses of the security
holes.
- Police to monitor chat rooms - Police around the world are to join
forces
to monitor Internet chat rooms in a bid to deter paedophiles from
"grooming" young victims online. The National Crime Squad (NCS) in the UK will
work with the FBI in the US and officers in Australia to keep tabs 24 hours a
day on chat room conversations and intervene if necessary, according to a
report by the BBC.
- Holes Found in Open Source Tool -
Six vulnerabilities were discovered in the Concurrent Versions System,
which is used to manage code on a number of leading open source software
development projects. CVS is also used by organizations developing proprietary
software. The holes could enable remote attackers to launch denial of service
attacks or run malicious code on systems hosting vulnerable versions of CVS,
according to an alert published by E-matters, a German security firm.
- Gamers blame Linksys in Firmware Soap Opera -
In a thread on the DSLReports.com forums, some gamers are complaining
about their sudden inability to participate in networked games after applying
the version 1.45.11 firmware. Complaints include getting disconnected from
game servers, "dropping the lease of the IP randomly", and other problems.
(thanks
TheInquirer)
- Cisco CatOS Telnet, HTTP and SSH Vulnerability -
Cisco CatOS is susceptible to a TCP-ACK Denial of Service (DoS) attack on
the Telnet, HTTP and SSH service. If exploited, the vulnerability causes the
Cisco CatOS running device to stop functioning and reload.
- Security Update for Windows XP Embedded with SP1 (837009) -
Microsoft has released
a new security update for Windows XP Embedded.
- Off-topic: Purdue mathematician claims proof for Riemann hypothesis -
A Purdue University mathematician claims to have proven the Riemann
hypothesis, often dubbed the greatest unsolved problem in mathematics.
- Anti-piracy film trailer unveiled -
A cinema trailer that compares the illegal download of films with other
serious thefts has been launched in Australia, it is reported. The anti-piracy
film likens such downloads to stealing cars, said film industry website Screen
Daily.com. It said 1,900 copies of the trailer had been distributed, and
the format would be adapted for use globally. An Australian court sentenced a
person to jail for the offence last week after a recent surge in piracy. The
trailer was produced in the US by the Motion Picture Association of America,
and adapted for an Australian audience - as it will be for nations throughout
the world.
- Malaysia Closes Karaoke Bar in Crackdown -
Authorities shut down a karaoke bar in the capital for allegedly keeping
thousands of unlicensed songs in its computer system, in the latest crackdown
on software piracy in Malaysia. Domestic Trade Department officials closed the
sing-a-long bar in downtown Kuala Lumpur on Monday after finding unlicensed
software and more than 5,000 pirated songs on a computer hard drive,
enforcement division chief Zainal Abidin Mohamed Noordin said. Under the
Copyright Act, the owners could face a minimum 10 million ringgit ($2.6
million) fine - 2,000 ringgit ($536) for each song not registered, he was
cited as saying by the Bernama national news agency.
- Off-topic: Record ice core gives fair forecast - As long as humans
do not mess it up, the
Earth's climate is set at fair for the next 15,000 years. That is
according to information extracted from the oldest ice core ever drilled. The
Antarctic core is the first to reach as far back as a warm period with
characteristics similar to our own interglacial. So it should help make more
accurate predictions about when to expect the next deep freeze.
- Off-topic: Quark experiment predicts heavier Higgs - The search for
the elusive Higgs particle has maddened physicists since the particle's
existence was proposed in the 1960s. And now they know why. A new analysis
indicates that
the particle is heavier than anyone expected.
- Big Brother invades your mobile -
Channel 4's Big
Brother is now available to users of video-capable mobile phones.Viewers
require a GPRS-enabled handset, smartphone or PDA to view the video stream,
which they can do by sending a SMS text message (VIDEO to 83188) or via
supplier Vemotion's website and other mobile content sites. Devices capable of
watching the show include the Nokia N-Gage 7650, 6600 and 3650, Sendo X,
SonyEricsson P900, O2 XDA/XDA2 and HP iPAQ. Charges start at L1 for 24 hours'
access, although some mobile operators will charge extra for GPRS usage.
- Megapixel Phones Encroach on Digital Camera Turf - Asia's top
mobile phone makers are
rolling out handsets equipped with cameras so advanced many consumers may
come to the conclusion they don't need a separate digital camera any more.
That prospect should worry digital camera makers like Canon Inc, which could
lose potential customers to a slew of snazzy new phones that take pictures
with up to three megapixels of resolution, analysts say.
- Apple Launches Faster Power Mac G5 Computer -
Apple Computer Inc. rolled out its fastest-ever desktop computer on
Wednesday with processors that run as fast as 2.5 gigahertz, but the company
fell short of its earlier goal to offer a 3.0 gigahertz chip-based system by
this month.
- ATI Radeon X800 Pro Review - VR-Zone Hardware has posted
a review of
the retail ATI Radeon X800 Pro graphics card.
- Albatron GeForceFX 5700P Turbo review - While the NV3x is not one
of nVidia's greatest achievements, the NV36 is definitely the star of the
show, particularly in Albatron's unique "Turbo" form. The FX5700 Ultra's price
tag is close enough to the 5900XT that you should probably just bite the
bullet and spring for the better one, but
Albatron's FX5700P Turbo at just over $100 provides plenty of performance
for today's games with reasonable settings, and wont strain your wallet too
badly.
- EPoX 8KDA3+ nForce3-250Gb Socket 754 Mainboard -
The board is targetted at the overclocking community as it has PCI/AGP
lock, voltage adjustments for vcore, vdimm, vagp and vchipset. On top of that,
it comes with nVidia Personal Firewall and 8 channel audio with nVidia system
mixer functionality. One of the most difference among the various chipsets for
Athlon 64 is the Direct to Hypertransport Gigabit Ethernet Solution with
Streamthru technology supported by this chipset. Basically it uses
Hypertransport to communicate with the CPU and hosted physical layer directly.
- Corsair TwinX1024-3200XL Pro Series Memory - The blister package
includes
a 1GB
TwinX matched memory pair. This consists of two CMX512-3200XLPRO memory
modules that have been tested together on numerous dual channel DDR
motherboards. A pamphlet is included which provides installation instructions
and product features.
- ASUS DRW-0804P DVD Burner - The results are telling.
The ASUS drive is a 40X drive, while the Pioneer and LG drives are 32X drives.
It doesn't matter if its a burned CD or its a pressed CD all the drives
perform almost the same. The ASUS has the speed advantage by about 3/4 of a
MB/s. Seek times are similar for the two drives that we got results for. The
LG drive gave consistent results of 2 or 3ms for all seek time tests, possibly
due to the fact that it is an external drive bay.
- MSI Megastick 1 MP3 Player Review - DesignTechnica has posted
a
review of the MSI Megastick 1 MP3 Player.
- 7200 RPM Silent-Style: The SmartDrive 2002 Copper Hard Drive Enclosure
-The
hard drive fits quite snugly into the container, but not so snugly as to
make it feel forced or compressed. Once re-built, the Smart Drive is designed
for installation into any 5.25” drive bay. The foam provides both noise
dampening and an additional degree of impact protection, though this doesn’t
make your hard drive fit for the local hockey circuit.
- Samsung's 910T 19 LCD Monitor -
The Samsung 910T is a great looking large-sized LCD monitor, and is
certainly one of (if not the) best 19” LCD screens we've ever tested. The 910T
has a sleek, industrial style which will look good on pretty much any desk,
has superb image quality (when used with a DVI connection), and is one of the
most flexible large-screen LCD’s on the market. Unfortunately, even with
high praise such as this, the monitor is still lacking in the area which most
of us are concerned about, gaming performance. Even with a fairly quick 25ms
pixel refresh rate, the 910T doesn't have the speed to compete with monitors
like the Planar PX171M and the Viewsonic VP201B. In comparison to other top
19” LCD screens, the Samsung 910T still performs well, but dedicated gamers
might want to look elsewhere. That's not to say the gaming performance is bad,
but it's just a bit above tolerable, which is not enough to give the monitor
an unequivocal thumbs up in our book.
- Samsung 172X: 12ms Response Time for 17" LCD -
The US
retail version of the LCD produces phenomenally better results than the
Hitachi CML174. If you are convinced that response time is the final factor
holding you back from getting an LCD, you may be fairly surprised with the
172X. Kudos to Samsung for producing the first 17" 12ms LCD, and doing an
excellent job with it.
- Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC50-S - Let's start with the basics,
the LC50 has a 3.2 megapixel CCD capable of producing images at a
resolution of 2,048 x 1,536. The Leica lens offers 3x optical zoom
functionality that’s equivalent to 35 – 105mm in 35mm language. There’s also a
9x digital zoom option, but as always I’d advise switching the digital zoom
off since you’ll get better results cropping and zooming under Photoshop or
PSP
- NV40 vs R420 -
Digit life continues their investigation of the recently launched GeForce
6800 Ultra from NVIDIA and Radeon X800 XT from ATI. This time include screen
captures from a few retail games to show the different techniques employed by
NVIDIA and ATI and they do not include any performance numbers.
- FPIO2 Mod Guide - Adrian's Rojak Pot has updated his
FPIO2 Mod Guide. "Many cases now come with front panels with USB ports and
speaker and microphone jacks. Connecting the USB ports is easy because most
motherboards come with extra USB headers. But how do you connect the speaker
and microphone jacks?".
- Ahead releases Nero 6 Ultra Edition Reloaded - Ahead Software
announced several new exciting updates to the Ultimate All-In-One Digital
Media Solution, Nero 6 Ultra Edition, including a newly designed package.
This reloaded version of Nero 6
Ultra Edition offers all of its applications along with unlimited MP3,
unlimited MPEG-4, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and Dolby 2 channel encoding,
Double Layer recording, and the all new Nero PhotoShow Express, the easy photo
management application.
- KDE 3.2.3 -
KDE 3.2.3 has been just released to the public.
- Xandros Desktop OS Open Circulation Edition -
The
Open Circulation Edition is a limited version of Xandros Desktop OS that
can be download at no charge and freely distributed to others. It is
strictly for non-commercial use, and no e-mail installation support is
included. It includes all the easy-to-use features of the Xandros Desktop OS
Standard, Deluxe and Business editions, including four-click install with
automatic disk partitioning, industry-leading hardware detection and
configuration, seamless file and print sharing on Windows networks, and
drag-and-drop CD burning in Xandros File Manager.
- OpenOffice 1.1.2 RC3 -
OpenOffice.org
(download
win32 ~
linux) is the open source project through which Sun Microsystems is
releasing the technology for the popular StarOffice productivity suite.
- MSN Messenger 6.2 build 0137 - Microsoft has released and updated
version of
MSN Messenger 6.2 build 0137
- Avant Browser 9.02 Build 031 -
Avant Browser (download)
is a free upgrade to Internet Explorer. No limitations. No Adware. No Spyware.
- Mozilla 1.7 RC3 -
Mozilla (download
win32 ~ linux)
is an open-source web browser, designed for standards compliance, performance
and portability
- Mozilla Firefox 0.9 RC1 -
The light version of the Mozilla browser (download
win32 ~
linux) previously known as Phoenix, Firebird has been updated to v0.9RC.
|
Updated:12:49 AM CEST Apr,25
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