SECURITY...

• Hackers strike at "soft target" small firms -Online criminals are increasingly concentrating on "soft target" small and medium-sized firms, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has warned.
• McAfee Enhances Spyware Protection - McAfee this week plans to announce an add-on for its enterprise antivirus products to offer increased protection against spyware. Users of McAfee VirusScan Enterprise Edition versions 7.1 or 8.0i next month will be able to purchase a new McAfee Anti-Spyware Enterprise Edition Module for $15 per desktop.
• A Possibility of Cookie Overwrite in MSIE - Microsoft Internet Explorer fails to check certain character strings when accepting cookies. If Internet Explorer accepts a cookie with a crafted Path attribute, it becomes possible to overwrite a cookie issued by another site under specific conditions.
• Eudora 6.2 attachment spoof - In version 6.2, they fixed some cases where attachments could be spoofed via base64 or quoted-printable encoded (plain-text, inline) MIME parts., however some cases remain un-fixed, as Eudora developers know and admit privately.
• What is encryption? - Data encryption has become a sad necessity for responsible data managers. However cryptography is jargon-heavy even by the discouraging standards of the IT world – symmetric and asymmetric cryptosystems, public versus private keys, digital signatures, hash algorithms, RSA, DES, Rijndael, PGP, MD5, SHA-1, https, secure sockets, Camellia, IDEA; what does it all mean? What are the differences? Relative advantages and disadvantages? Hopefully this article will clear some of the fog.
• How To Secure Windows XP Guide - This guide will show you how to secure Windows XP. While it covers the basics it also goes beyond them without going into "paranoid" mode. Protecting yourself from all the "bad guys" on the Internet requires a multi-tiered approach.

OFF-TOPIC...

• New claim on location of Atlantis - American researchers claim to have found convincing evidence that locates the site of the lost kingdom of Atlantis off the coast of Cyprus. The team spent six days scanning the Mediterranean sea bed between Cyprus and Syria using sonar technology. They believe they found evidence of massive, manmade structures beneath the ocean floor, including two straight, 2-km (1.25 mile) long walls on a hill. They say their discoveries match accounts of the city written by Plato.
• NASA tries to set air speed record - NASA on Monday postponed its attempt to set an air speed record with its pilotless X-43A "scramjet," saying it will attempt the feat on Tuesday instead. The X-43A will attempt to reach 7,000 mph, or 10 times the speed of sound (Mach 10) over U.S.
• Genetic variation gives a taste for alcohol  - People with a gene variation that dulls their taste buds to bitter flavours drink twice as much alcohol as those with more sensitive palates, suggests a US study. The discovery may assist doctors in the battle against alcoholism, which is strongly connected to early drinking behaviour. People generally fall into three categories of taster. Supertasters have an acute sensitivity to bitter chemicals, while nontasters only sense bitterness at higher concentrations. Medium tasters fall in between.

TECHNOLOGY...

• MSN Denies Competition With Google Search - The highest-ranking official who was willing to discuss the move was Adam Sohn, director of sales and marketing for the MSN Web portal. He said Microsoft's intention was not to compete with Google, currently the Internet's dominant search engine, but instead to "delight" its own customers.
• Adobe Readies Acrobat 7.0 - Adobe Systems by the end of the year will release version 7.0 of its Acrobat products, including a new free Acrobat Reader that now includes reviewing capabilities, the company plans to announce this week. Acrobat 7.0 Professional users can create PDF files and allow those to be reviewed and commented on by Acrobat Reader 7.0 users. The reader features a new reviewing toolbar that can be enabled when the PDF file is created in Acrobat Professional, according to Adobe. Included with Acrobat 7.0 Professional is Adobe LiveCycle Designer, a tool to design PDF forms that work with back-end enterprise systems using XML. These special forms allow organizations to automatically process data sent in PDF forms, so there's no need to re-enter the information into their own back-end systems
• MSN Desktop Search Images Surface - Screen shots of an early version of MSN's desktop search application began circulating on the Web on Monday, indicating that Microsoft Corp.'s Internet division plans to release a product with deep connections to Windows.
• Are DualDiscs Safe? - A cloud has appeared on the horizon for DualDisc - the innovative disc technology which marries the DVD format on one side of a disc to CD audio on the other.  Onkyo is the latest major consumer electronics manufacturer warning customers it may not be safe to play the hybrid CD/DVD discs. Onkyo has announced it will launch an investigation into the suitability of the discs. DualDisc, debuted by Warner Music, have DVD content on one side and CD content on the other. The issue is with the CD side which has failed to license the Compact Disc logo as it does not meet the appropriate specifications.
• Pioneer Eyes 510GB Optical Discs - Pioneer has developed a technology that could allow it to cram 510GB of data onto a disc the size of a DVD, a company representative says. While Pioneer has no immediate plans to commercialize the technology, it believes it could be used to make both recordable and read-only discs with more than 100 times the capacity of today's 4.7-inch DVDs.
• Soyo to quit motherboard business - Second-tier motherboard maker Soyo Computer plans to phase out production of its motherboards and instead focus on development and distribution of computer-related upstream components and plastic materials, according to company spokesperson Dave Liu.

HARDWARE...

• Alienware AuroraCity 17 announced - Alienware announced the availability of the Alienware Aurora City 17. This exclusive limited-edition gaming system was developed with advice from Half-Life 2 developers Valve in order to deliver the best possible experience for this holiday season's PC blockbuster. The Aurora City 17 specifications include the killer combination of an AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 processor and ATI RADEON X800XT graphics for jaw-dropping performance. In related news, Alienware hatched the Bot, a small desktop PC that starts at $579 after a $150 mail-in rebate. 
• Niob Nb110 mp3 player -  The only flaw I could find was the headphones felt like they would break anytime; otherwise the sound quality was good and the radio was able to find the channels without any problems. The player itself is great and the battery time is what it should be, but of course you have to think that different volume and song quality will use the battery a bit more
• Evesham Axim Xcelsior review - TrustedReviews have posted a review of the Evesham Axis Xcelsior, the PC system based on the Athlon 64 4000+ and the FX55.
• Giga-Byte G-Max Cube CA2 SFF PC - The CA2 is a barebones SFF system that measures 184 x 160 x 275 mm. Its small form factor motherboard features the SiS 661FX chipset and Socket 478 CPU support, 2 184-pin DDR400 SDRAM DIMM, AGP 8x slot, and 1 PCI slot. Features 1 3.5" drive bay, built-in 6-in-1 card reader, DVD+/-RW combo drive, and front I/O ports.
• Gigabyte nForce4 previews - There're two preview/reviews (@PCStat and @AnandTech) of the Gigabyte K8NXP-9 motherboard.
• Soltek K8TPro-939 motherboard -  This new motherboard adopts the VIA K8T800 Pro chipset rather than the NVIDIA nForce3. Titled the K8TPro-939, this motherboard is a member of the elite Soltek "Pro" series. Although this is a high-end motherboard featuring the new K8T800 Pro chipset, its retail value places it in the low-end market. Valued at roughly $110 US, makes the K8TPro-939 a tremendously affordable 939-pin motherboard.
• NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT & Radeon X800 Pro Video Card shootout - On the whole, there is not a lot to pick between the HIS Excalibur X800Pro IceQ II VIVO Edition and the XFX GeForce 6800GT, and both are well worth the L300+ asking prices for these video cards - there really isn't a bad choice at the top end at the moment. In general, the XFX GeForce 6800GT provided a slightly better gaming experience down to the fact that the X800 Pro's struggled to deliver performance that was close to the competition in Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War and Rome: Total War.
• TI M28 vs GeForce Go 6800 - Last week nVidia launched its GeForce GO 6800 chipset, and raised the bar on mobile gaming. TrustedReviews managed to get their hands on a pre-production machine running the ATI Mobility Radeon X800 chipset (codenamed M28).
• ATI HDTV Wonder Video Card - The bundle you receive with the ATI HDTV Wonder is of a pretty standard affair, basically all the necessities one needs to get the most use out of the product. A favorite from the bundle among HTPC enthusiasts will be ATI's Remote Wonder remote controller, the same one bundled with other multimedia products from ATI.
• Seagate 7200.7 SATA (NCQ) - I am happy to say that there is some, albeit small, performance boost while using the NCQ technology over the LCQ technology. While most motherboards still do not support this technology, all Intel 900 series chipset based motherboards do support this technology. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like this technology will make itself available on AMD motherboards for a while to come.
• Thermaltake BigWater Water Cooling Kit - As for performance, this kit is surprising. The 5/16 inch tubing is very small, but it does not hold back the performance of the Bigwater Kit. The Bigwater is made to fit all the popular processors, the Intel P4 socket 775, P4, AMD K8, and AMD K7, and designing a waterblock for one size-fits-all is another example of ingenious design. With the decrease in temperatures you might suspect an increase in noise, but Thermaltake designed this kit to be near silent at low speed and just audible at the high speed.
• Arctic Cooling ATI Silencer 4 - The ATI Silencer 4 is a great cooler that will definitely increase your overclocking ability greatly when compared to stock cooling and most after market air VGA coolers. The only way you will be able to match the temperature drops put forth by this cooler is to go out and buy a high performance water cooling kit. The first thing I noticed before I even took the cooler out of the package was that it was quite heavy. The cooler is 332 grams, but at the same time it is also quite large with dimensions measuring 218.5 x 100 x 34.8 mm.
• Cooler Master Hyper 48 -  Delta (#NFB0912L) 92mm fan ships with the Hyper 48, and is rated at 1400rpm. While the speed is on the low end of the scale, keep in mind that given the larger size, it can move a fair amount of air at less volume (rated at 18.5dB) than an equivalent 80mm fan.
• Ultra Products X-Connect 500W Modular PSU - The X-Connect is nothing short of awesome. It performed extremely well in my packed rig, keeping the rails close to perfect almost nonstop. But above all the X-Connect delivers something that no other PSU can deliver and that is a modular cable system like no other. The workmanship on the cables and connectors is fantastic and the mirror on the main unit is superb.
• AcBel 450-watt "Intelligent Power Series" PSU - With plenty of power, excellent stability under load and compatibility with modern technologies, it has a lot to offer for those looking for a PSU for their enthusiast rig.
• Antec Phantom 350W PSU - The Antec Phantom is definitely quiet, very very quiet, dead still quiet, I mean we are talking zip for noise. The Phantom seems like a great solution for everyone looking for a noiseless and reliable power supply for just about any machine. The Phantom has solid construction, reliable and stable power, and looks good as well.
• IntelliMouse Explorer for Bluetooth - The IntelliMouse for Bluetooth is not an inexpensive mouse by any measure as it carries a retail price of $99.99. That makes it twice as expensive as a MS wireless mouse. However, if you price in the cost of the stand alone Bluetooth receiver, it's not a bad deal.
• Logisys Dracula Case. - The Dracula case is a mid-tower ATX with an acrylic side window lit up with an LED fan so you can show off your hardware with style.
• The Holiday Buyer's Guide 2004 - Are you confused about what to give for the holiday season? Over the last several weeks, we have reviewed some of the most exciting, expensive and sometimes strange electronic gadgets. The result is this easy guide to help you decide what toys to buy - and to dream about. 

SOFTWARE...

• UNIX For Dummies Guide -  know that, to new users, UNIX may look like a totally new language to you. But if the basics are taught, it’s actually quite simple. That is why in this guide I hope that I will be able to teach the basic commands of a UNIX system.
• Firefox Smoothwheel Mozilla Extension - The SmoothWheel extension will scroll the page smoothly with the mouse wheel. SmoothWheel utilizes several smart algorithms for smoothness and adaptive behaviour. It can enhance/replace the internal Gecko smoothscroll (how to disable) which was introduced on 2003-03-24. It's also working with older versions of Mozilla/Netscape/Phoenix/Firebird.
• Solaris v10.00 - News.com is reporting that Solaris 10 has been released. Improvements include a performance-enhanced TCP-IP stack to shed the "Slowaris" moniker and their much-vaunted ZFS (Z File System).
• Opera for Windows without Java 7.60 Build 7321 Preview 3 - Opera's new looks are complemented with exciting features such as the Personal Bar and Pagebar, hotclick, improved window handling, bookmarks search, redesigned preferences, new shortcuts, extensive drag and drop, and support for Unicode and LiveConnect. (download ~ changelog)
• Emsa Port Blocker 1.0.15 - Emsa Port Blocker is a TCP blocking utility. What it does, is blocking unwanted tcp access from/to your computer. It is not a firewall, but up to some extent it could be regarded as a similar tool. Its purpose is to prohibit TCP access on certain ports and ip addresses. IT can also be used as a TCP monitor because it shows TCP connections currently active on the machine.
• FirePanel XP 1.5.3.0 - FirePanel XP is an extension for the new firewall found in Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server2003 SP1. It modifies your Windows Firewall, with features not normally available to users. You can set rules, monitor your firewall activity, filter packets, watch logs, and keep realtime tabs on what exactly your connection is being exposed to.
• TCTool: Compact Start Panel Patch 1.0  - This will turn your Start Panel in all themes to compact taskbar style (Only icons, no text). But it works on only default pane size (0, 0, 380, whatever for top pane and 0, 0, 190, 336 for middle-right pane).
• Coolbits 3D - Coolbits 3D unlocks many extra options in the nVidia control panel/driver, including but not limited to - Overclocking, AGP & Hardware settings, Fan control, Temperature settings, Debugging, Twin View, Video Mixing Renderer, OpenGL 2.0 support, 3D viewer types (for 3D Stereo drivers), and more. This tweak is intended for use with GeForce/Quadro cards and ForceWare 55.xx - 7x.xx 3D Stereo drivers
• ATI Optimized driver 1.7 - 24 hours before Valve unlocks one of the most anticipated games ever, TechConnect hooks you up with two new sets of ATI drivers that meant to boost Half-Life 2 & Counter-Strike source performance by about 5-20% and ofcourse it also improves OpenGL for old and new games by about 20%.
• 1by1 1.47  - 1by1 (+mpglibdll 0.92 is a very small sized player which is not only small: It plays whole directories without any playlist.
• VideoLAN Client 0.8.1 - The VideoLAN Client can read the stream from the network and display it. It can also be used to display video read locally on the computer : DVDs, VCDs, MPEG and DivX files and from a satellite card. It is multi-plaform: Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, BeOS, BSD, Solaris, QNX, iPaq... The VideoLAN Client and Server now have a full IPv6 support.
• TMPGEnc 2.524.63.181 - TMPGEnc converts *.AVI file to MPEG1, the format which is used in VideoCD. Using variety of option in TMPGEnc, you can compress your video file in high quality. TMPGEnc enables us adjust bitrate, quantize matrix, GOP structure, Interlace and many other parameter so that you can create most appropriate movie file depends on your purpose.
• CPU-Z 1.25 - CPU-Z is a diagnostic tool that provides information on your CPU, including: processor name and vendor, core stepping and process, processor package, internal and external clocks, clock multiplier, partial overclock detection, processor features, supported instructions sets, L1 and L2 cache information, location, size, speed, and technology.
• VIA Vinyl Stylus Audio driver 5.70d - VIA has a new Vinyl Stylus Audio driver online version 5.70d. This one works for the following chipsets: VT82C686A/VT82C686B/VT8231, VT8233/VT8233A/VT8233B/VT8235/VT8237 and other chipsets that are based on AC97 VIA codec.