SECURITY...

• Malicious Trojan Identified For Nokia Smartphones -  A malicious trojan for phones based on Nokia's Series 60 smartphone platform disguised as shareware was revealed late last week. The Skulls trojan is being distributed via download sites as an Extended Theme Manager for the Nokia 7610 phone, according to security vendor F-Secure. The trojan replaces existing applications with non-functional versions, according to a warning posted Friday by security vendor F-Secure. The trojan received its name because it then replaces the icons for the non-operative applications with an icon of a skull.
• Hacked European Ad Server Infects IE Users - A hacked server in Germany fed malicious code to unsuspecting Internet Explorer users at an unknown number of Web sites for several hours over the weekend, a banner ad-serving company acknowledged Monday. The affected Web sites included trusted sites in the U.K., the Netherlands, and Sweden, according to the Internet Storm Center of the SANS Institute. Users who visited one of the impacted sites stood a 1-in-30 chance of being infected with a worm that exploits the still-unpatched IFRAME vulnerability in Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6.0.
• Linux Phishing Attack Circulates on Net - A  fake security bulletin purporting to be from Red Hat resurfaced, warning Linux users of a "critical-critical" security hole. A security bulletin circulated on the Internet late Friday and warned Linux users of a "critical-critical" security hole that could compromise systems and allow root access to a remote attacker. The message and its "patch" were the return of a phishing hoax aimed at Linux users.
• GFHost PHP GMail remote command execution exploit - There's GFHost PHP GMail remote command execution exploit that achieves webserver id privileges.
• DVD fast forwarding to be banned - The US congress is considering making fast forwarding through video advertisements a crime. Lawmakers in the land of the free have decided that it is costing their chums in the movie industry far too much money and want video fast-forwarders placed in the same league as pirates.According to NBC news the new law allows families to use new DVD technology self censor explicit scenes of sex and violence but forbids them to edit out advertisements.

OFF-TOPIC...

• NASA launches cosmic blast hunter - A new space observatory has been launched to hunt down and study the most powerful explosions seen in the Universe since the Big Bang itself. The Swift satellite will detect and analyse gamma-ray bursts - very intense but fleeting flashes of radiation. Scientists think they may signal the birth of black holes which are created when giant stars fall in on themselves. Swift - a combined US, UK and Italian mission - was launched on a Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
• Russia Looking to Moon and Beyond for Future Space Base in 2020 - A Russian automated base may be established on the Moon in 2020-2025, an official of the Russian Space Agency has said.
• Here comes the Sun: Stirling engine boosts solar efficiency -  The last leg of a two-decades-long effort by the U.S. Energy Deaprtment to unleash superefficient solar power by 2011 is homing in on the so-called Stirling engine, which is being used to drive solar generators. DOE test site measurements suggest the setup could bring the cost of solar power on a par with traditional fossil fuels and hydroelectric sources — assuming the project engineers can balance the separate power feeds from farms of thousands of simultaneously online 25-kilowatt Stirling solar dishes. The heart of the design, the engine itself, was invented by the Scottish minister Robert Stirling in 1816.

TECHNOLOGY...

• ICQ Launches Improved E-Mail Service - The company has teamed with Mail2World and launched an improved version of ICQmail, a free e-mail service that will offer virus scans, spam filtering, instant e-mail translation in up to seven languages and several other features.  In addition to the ICQmail upgrade, the Israel-based outfit also announced the launch of a new premium mail service that will offer 2 gigabytes of storage and give users the ability to record and send video e-mails that can be viewed on Windows-based PCs. The service will cost $19.99 per year.
• AOL cues up free video - The new services will feature on-demand video entertainment, with advertising spots similar to those on broadcast television. Some clips will be freely accessible over the Web, while others will be available only to AOL members. Bosco said AOL expects to create an audience of 100 million or more per month for all three video services together.
• Kazaa Offers Unlimited Free Internet Phone Calls - Sharman Networks Ltd., distributor of the Kazaa file-sharing software, on Monday launched its latest version which enables users to make free online calls anywhere in the world. Kazaa v3.0 includes the integration of Internet telephony software from Skype Technologies SA and also offers advanced search capabilities and a free weblog trial.
• Microsoft gives developers a glimpse of Avalon - The Redmond, Wash.-based software powerhouse released what it calls a "community technology preview" of the Avalon presentation engine for Windows. It's not a full beta, or test, version, but rather an incomplete set of code that lets developers test certain features and pass along their thoughts to Microsoft.
• Movie pirates face Christmas crackdown - The UK Film Council is examining ways to clamp down on rising levels of internet and traditional movie piracy, and has promised to publish a report on the topic shortly

HARDWARE...

• Nintendo DS Review - The new Nintendo DS gaming handheld, launched in the United States yesterday, is interesting in many ways. With this impressive new gaming device Nintendo has set it's target age group for the twenty and above crowd and not teenagers. With built-in Wi-Fi, dual ARM processors, dual LCD screens, chat collaboration software, included stylus, and built-in microphone for future voice recognition all at a price of $149 it seems like the Big N might just have grown up. PDA manufacturers might want to heed attention to what Nintendo has done here.
• X850 pricing, availability and performance are here - The X850 XT Platinum edition will be available for $549. ATI just manage to break all the limits of common sense with this pricing. I believe that they want to ensure that not many people will go out and buy them. Many people would like them, but only a few can afford them. ATI certainly wants to make some revenues from these babies. The X850 XT will cost $499 when available, and just like X850 XT PE will have dual DVI slots, TV out and sixteen pipelines. Just a slightly different clock.  The X850 PRO and its twelve pipelines, DVI, VGA and TV-out connectors will cost $399.
• Lite-On IT debuts 160GB HDD + DVD recorder - Lite-On IT on November 18 unveiled a new DVD recorder equipped with a built-in 160GB hard disc drive (HDD + DVD recorder) with the code name LWV-5045. The LWV-5045 will be formally launched in the Taiwan market at an initial retail price of NT$26,800 (US$816) sometime next month.
• Plextor Introduces 16X DVD±R/RW SATA Drive - Plexto today announced the new PX-716SA series DVD±R/RW drive. Featuring a native Serial ATA (SATA) interface and high-speed 16X DVD+R and 16X DVD-R recording, the internal drive combines fast performance, 150 MB/sec bandwidth, and recording features that ensure reliable, high-quality results across a broad spectrum of media. The drive achieves blazing fast 16X CAV performance on recommended 8X DVD+R media, and burns a 4.7GB DVD in less than six minutes, one minute faster than leading ZCLV competitors.
• SLI Is Coming: Time To Analyze PCI Express - The result is even more interesting in light of the anticipated nForce4 SLI chipset, which will be available by Christmas time. This beauty either operates one PCIe graphics card in x16 mode or two similar ones (same chip and memory) at x8 PCIe each. Even though it isn't possible to double the 3D performance by using two graphic cards, there is no doubt that PCI Express will not be a bottleneck in this arrangement, not even if it is set up to operate at a slower speed such as x8 PCIe.

SOFTWARE...

• phpMyAdmin 2.6.0-pl3 (Patch Level 3) - phpMyAdmin (changelog) can manage a whole MySQL-server (needs a super-user) but also a single database. To accomplish the latter you`ll need a properly set up MySQL-user who can read/write only the desired database
• Google Toolbar 2.0.114.8  - The Google Toolbar increases your ability to find information from anywhere on the web and takes only seconds to install. When the Google Toolbar is installed, it automatically appears along with the Internet Explorer toolbar.
• WinDVD Platinum 6.0 B06.083  - WinDVD Platinum 6 (download) is the ultimate DVD software player, providing you with the finest quality video and audio playback. Watch movies with a theater experience right on your computer or laptop. WinDVD Platinum 5 is loaded with features.
• AnyDVD 4.1.1.2  - A new version of AnyDVD is available. This tool allows you to decrypt CSS protected DVD movies on the fly, so you are able to watch region protected DVDs even if your drive is region locked. This new version adds Sony ARccOS protection type 4 support.
• Sisoftware Sandra Standard 2005.1.10.37  - SiSoftware Sandra (download) is an information & diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software, and other devices whether hardware or software. It provides similar level of information to Norton SI, Quarterdeck WinProbe/Manifest, etc. The Win32 version is 32-bit and comes in both ANSI and native Unicode formats. The Win64 version is 64-bit and comes in native Unicode format.
• A-Tuner 1.9.12.6693 - A-tuner is a small tool for changing the Anti-Aliasing (including all unofficial modes), Anisotropic Filtering,  and Vsync
  MipMap LOD (Level Of Detail) Bias settings on your ATI and Nvidia cards and should work with Nvidia Detonators 23.11 - 66.93 and ATI Catalyst 3.0 - 4.11 (not with CCC) for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP.
• NVTweak (Coolbits 3D) - NVTweak 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 Radeon DNA-drivers 3.4.4.11 -  These are modified/hacked ATI Catalyst drivers, use them at your own risk. The drivers have been optimized with two things in mind, better Image Quality and more/stable frames per second when compared to the Beta Catalyst drivers from ATI.