SECURITY...

• Computer Worm Exploits Tsunami to Spread Virus - A mass e-mail posing as a plea for aid to help the victims of last month's Asian tsunami disaster is actually a vehicle for spreading a computer virus, Web security firm Sophos said Monday. The worm appears with the subject line: "Tsunami donation! Please help!" and invites recipients to open an attachment called "tsunami.exe" -- which, if opened, will forward the virus to other Internet users. It could also initiate a denial-of-service attack against a German hacking Web Site, Sophos said, in which the site's server would be bombarded with messages, putting it out of action.
• Microsoft will patch Windows Media Player to fix the DRM exploits - One week after saying it had no plans to change the way WMP (Windows Media Player) handles the download of DRM licenses, Microsoft now says it will release an update in the next 30 days to help thwart the threat of spyware infection. The about-face comes amid reports that malicious hackers are rigging .wmv files and using the anti-piracy mechanism to infect computers with spyware, adware, dialers and computer viruses
• Worm poses as porn-purging program -  A new mass-mailing worm which tries to scare naive users into running it by saying pornographic content has been found on their PCs has begun doing the rounds. Users are told that adult material on their PC can be hidden by running an attached program called "Evidence Cleaner", actually the Baba-C worm. Baba-C turns the frequent trick of offering malware posing a XXX-material on its head by offering to remove adult content from Windows PCs. The end result is much the same though. Users duped into running Baba-C further the spread of the worm and open up backdoor access to their Windows system.
• Experts warn of trick to bypass IE download warnings - The warnings came after the hole was identified on the Bugtraq Internet security discussion list by someone using the name "Rafel Ivgi." The hole affects Internet Explorer Version 6.0.0, including the version released with Windows XP Service Pack 2. The vulnerability allows malicious attackers to bypass warnings designed to inform users when a file is being passed to their computers using a specially-crafted HTML Web document.
• Word and Excel have RC4 flaw, claim - According to this this report (PDF), there's a serious security flaw in Microsoft Word and Excel. The stream cipher RC4 [9] with key length up to 128 bits is used in Microsoft Word and Excel to protect the documents. But when an encrypted document gets modified and saved, the initialization vector remains the same and thus the same keystream generated from RC4 is applied to encrypt the different versions of that document. The consequence is disastrous since a lot of information of the document could be recovered easily.
• Linux fights off hackers - Linux systems are getting tougher for hackers to crack, security experts have reported today. A study by not-for-profit IT security testing organisation Honeynet Project has shown that, on average, Linux systems today take three months to fall prey to hackers, up from 72 hours in equivalent tests conducted between 2001 and 2002.
• State bill could cripple P2P - A bill introduced in California's Legislature last week has raised the possibility of jail time for developers of file-swapping software who don't stop trades of copyrighted movies and songs online. The proposal, introduced by Los Angeles Sen. Kevin Murray, takes direct aim at companies that distribute software such as Kazaa, eDonkey or Morpheus. If passed and signed into law, it could expose file-swapping software developers to fines of up to $2,500 per charge, or a year in jail, if they don't take "reasonable care" in preventing the use of their software to swap copyrighted music or movies--or child pornography.
• FBI stops using Carnivore wiretap software - The FBI has effectively abandoned its custom-built Internet surveillance technology, once known as Carnivore, designed to read e-mails and other online communications among suspected criminals, terrorists and spies, according to bureau oversight reports submitted to Congress. Instead, the FBI said it has switched to unspecified commercial software to eavesdrop on computer traffic during such investigations and has increasingly asked Internet providers to conduct wiretaps on targeted customers on the government's behalf, reimbursing companies for their costs.

OFF-TOPIC...

• Bill Gates 1983 Photo Shoot - The Monkey Methods blog has posted two images it characterizes as "Teen Beat" photo shoot that Mr. Gates underwent in 1983 :) (thanks Bink.nu)
• Micromachine grows its own muscles - A micromachine that walks using muscles that it grew for itself has been developed in a US laboratory. The remarkable device could eventually lead to muscle-based nerve stimulators that let paralysed patients breathe without a ventilator, or to nanobots that clear away plaque from inside the walls of a human coronary artery.
• Nostalgia Central - Most families own a box or a scrapbook full of tokens and mementoes of their lives. Every object unlocks an attic in the mind, a storehouse of reminiscence. Nostalgia Central is a scrapbook providing a trip from the Swinging Sixties, via the Mirror-balled Seventies, to the Day-Glo Eighties.

TECHNOLOGY...

• Picasa Goes 2.0 - Picasa, the Google-owned photo-sharing service, has gone live with version 2.0 of its software. The service's new edition includes some basic photo-editing tools, including the ability to brighten dark images; CD burning; integration with Blogger; a collage-generating tool; and the ability to send pictures easily through Gmail.
• Seven Longhorns to debut in May 2006? - According to one Redmond watcher, the next version of the Windows operating system, Longhorn, will be ready for manufacturing in May 2006 and will ship to the public in seven different versions.
• Software Remotely Controls PCs by Cell Phone - Toshiba has developed software to remotely operate a PC using a mobile phone over a cellular network. The software, called Ubiquitous Viewer, is installed on the mobile phone and on a client computer running Windows. The software recreates the desktop of a PC or notebook PC on the mobile phone's screen. The user can use the PC via the mobile phone to complete tasks such as reading e-mail messages and editing documents.
• More Details about NVIDIA and Sony Joint Developments - X-bit Labs have conducted an interview with NVIDIA's Vice President of Corporate Marketing, David Roman, who kindly agreed to answer a few questions about the cooperation with Sony and about the situation with Playstation 3 related projects.
• N-Gage to quietly dis-Ngage? - The INQ's Nordic mole claims Nokia is plotting to get rid of its entire Bochum, Germany facility by Q1 2006. That's not just N-Gage R&D we're talking about, it's the production facility as well. Nokia was refusing calls at press time. Sven Mole was pretty much adamant that this is the end for the N-Gage as we know it, although Nokia could easily switch N-Gage production elsewhere.

HARDWARE... 

• Stolen AMD CPUs spotted in Croatia? -Crotian journalist Theo Valich claims that you can buy stolen AMD CPUs in his home land of Croatia. You can buy Athlon XP 2600+, 2800+, 3000+ and 3200+ B grade CPUs all based on the Bsrton core. They are all about %15 to $20 cheaper than you would have to pay for non "B grade" CPUs.
• NVIDIA Ships Entry-Level GeForce 6 for AGP Bus - NVIDIA Corp. quietly announced it had begun shipments of its entry-level GeForce 6200 visual processor units for AGP 8x bus.
• Intel's dual-core CPUs to set new record high in power consumption - Intel's upcoming dual-core processors once again will test the limits of power consumption. According to documents seen by Tom's Hardware Guide, the Smithfield CPUs are rated at a thermal design power of 130 watts, an increase of 13 percent from today's Prescott processors.
• Ultra High Performance Memory Roundup A64 Socket 939 - While socket 754 is certainly not dead, the upgrade path to socket 939 was eased with the rollout of Winchester core CPUs coming in at price points starting at $150. The Athlon 64 for socket 939 enjoys a dual channel memory controller versus its 754 brother that makes due with a single channel controller. While the single channel controller is not the performance albatross that some might think, every little bit helps, and a few percentage points here and there can add up in the end.
• AOpen i855GMEm-LFS motherboard - TrustedReviews take a look at the AOpen i855GMEm-LFS which is a motherboard for Pentium M processors.
• GeForce 6600 GT Video Card Round-up - Personally, I felt MSI offered the best all round packages sporting the best performing cooling solution on one of the best looking PCB boards. The card also comes at a very affordable price tag of $210 US and easily offers the biggest range of software titles. The MSI NX6600GT-VTD128E really is an impressive board that is well worth every penny.
• Albatron GeForce 6600GT PCIe - Albatron GeForce 6600GT comes in two flavors, the PC6600GT and the PC6600GTV, the only difference between the two being the PC6600GTV's VIVO capability. We'll be reviewing the PC6600GT and comparing it to the XFX GeForce 6600GT, as well as ATI's mid-ranged Radeon X700 Pro graphics card.
• ATI RADEON X800 XL - However, this is one of these value for money products that will kick your PC's gaming ass for real. It offers twice the performance over the Radeon 9800 Pro series for example.
• OCZ PowerStream 520W PSU - Legit Reviews has posted a review of the OCZ PowerStream 520W PSU.
• Zoom ZoomTel X5v 5565 VoIP ADSL Router - The most impressive aspect of this Zoom is the quality of the VoIP calls, although I only made a few VoIP calls - this was due to the fact that I only had one other person to call, and that was thanks to Zoom supplying me with two units. All the calls were crystal clear with no background noise. Add to this the fact that you can use a normal handset, and not have to even power your PC on, and the ZoomTel starts to look pretty attractive.
• Logitech MX1000 - Please note that the CCD sensor in the MX1000 is the same as in the MX510. It has a resolution of 30x30 pixels and a "processing" rate of 5.8 MPixels/second. 5,800,000 / (30 * 30) = 6444 images captured and processed per second. Not bad. The MX300/500/700 samples 5250 images/second. The movement information is broken down into a stream of 125 packets/second to the host pc. Typical cordless mice run at 60 packets/second or less.
• Belkin Wireless Keyboard and Ergo Optical Mouse  - Dev Shed take a look at the Belkin Wireless Keyboard and Ergo Optical Mouse, which they hope will remedy the situations described above.
• PistolMouse FPS - Despite its shortcomings, the PistolMouse is an exceptional mouse for $39.99. But when it comes to features and software, this unit is as basic as a mouse can get. So those who love to tweak their mouse to their liking outside of a game or running program, you may want to look elsewhere. However, if you just want to have a sturdy, reliable mouse, that just oozes cool, then the PistolMouse is a welcome addition to any gaming rig.
• Saitek Cyborg Evo Wireless Joystick  - TheTechLounge checked out the Saitek Cyborg Evo Wireless Joystick
• Samsung SyncMaster 711T 17" LCD Monitor - Compared to the multifunctional Samsung SyncMaster 192MP 19" Display reviewed earlier on BFR, the 711T gets back to the basics offering just two input modes at an extremely high contrast ratio of 1000:1. For those unfamiliar with the term, the "contrast ratio" is the measurement of the difference in light intensity between the brightest white and the blackest black. While most 17-inch LCDs today offer 600:1 contrast ratios, the SyncMaster 711t provides a super-high 1000:1 contrast ratio.
• Vosonic Xs Drive Super VP6210 - Not only is the VP6210 a music and video player, but it is also a portable storage device capable of reading over 10 types of portable digital data cards. Capable of playing four video formats (to include MPEG, MOV, and AVI) as well as four audio formats, this Multimedia Viewer is capable of fulfilling the needs of most high demand users. With amazing features and capabilities, the VP6210 is amazing; however, if anything is lacking in this product it is battery life.

GUIDES...

• Athlon 64 Overclocking - AuphanOnline.com has posted an article on Athlon 64 Overclocking.
• Driver XP - A Windows XP Driver Guide v1.0.1 - Installing the latest drivers improves system performance and application compatibility. Updated drivers include numerous bug fixes as well as system optimizations.
• Catalyst 5.1 Driver Comparison - TweakTown compared Catalyst drivers 5.1 against the two previous versions (4.11 and 4.12) in their usual array of benchmarks.
• ATI CATALYST 5.1 Performance Analysis - Also Hexus.net has posted its "ATI CATALYST 5.1 Performance Analysis". Yet another comparsion can be found on rage3d.
• RAIDers of the Lost Benchmark  - XYZ Computing has just posted a new article called "RAIDers of the Lost Benchmark".

SOFTWARE...

• Total Commander v6.50 final - Total Commander (download ~ changelog) is a file manager for Windows. This new version features "Two file windows side by side", multiple language support, enhanced search function, compare files / synchronize directories function, Quick View panel with bitmap display, ZIP, ARJ, LZH, RAR, UC2, TAR, GZ, CAB, ACE archive handling + plugins, Built-in FTP client with FXP (server to server) and HTTP proxy support, Parallel port link, multi-rename tool, Tabbed interface, regular expressions, history+favorites buttons and humbnails view, custom columns, enhanced search.
• Picasa 2 - Picasa is software that helps you instantly find, edit and share all the pictures on your PC. Every time you open Picasa, it automatically locates all your pictures (even ones you forgot you had) and sorts them into visual albums organized by date with folder names you know. You can drag and drop to arrange your albums and make labels to create new groups.
• Harden-It - Harden-It is a Network and System hardening tool for Windows, by hardening the IP stack your Network can sustain or completely thwart various sophisticated network attacks.  The program allows you Harden your server's TCP and IP stack (Netbios, ICMP, SYN, SYN-ACK..), Protect your servers from Denial of Service and other network based attacks,Enable SYN flood protection when an attack is detected, Set the threshold values that are used to determine what constitutes an attack, etc.
• TaskInfo 6.0.1.130 (shw)-  TaskInfo2003 is combination of Task Manager and System Information Utility, It visually monitors different types of System information in Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP
• FileZilla 2.2.10 - FileZilla (download) is powerful Open Source FTP/SFTP client with many features. It includes a site manager to store all your connection details and logins as well as an Explorer style interface that shows the local and remote folders and can be customized independently.
• Nero Burning Rom 6.6.0.6 - Whether you're an Expert or Standard user, Nero 6 Reloaded (mirror1 ~ mirror2 ~ mirror3) makes your digital media projects a breeze to complete. To get the major update of Nero 6 Ultra Edition Major Update – Version 6.6, you will have to download all 6 update-packages. If you are only interested in the update of Nero Version 6.6, please download package 1 and package 2 in order to get the full functionality.
• Codec Pack 1.8.0.141 - X Codec Pack is an small/essential codec pack for viewing/encoding movies. It includesDivX Codec, XviD Codec, AC3 Filter, DivX AntiFreeze, DivXG400 and Video Inspector.
• VideoInspector 1.2.2.72 - VideoInspector is a tools designed to provide you with as much information as possible about your video files.
• DU Meter 3.0.7 Build 196 - DU Meter is an award winning utility from Hagel Technologies which provides an accurate account of the data which is flowing through your computer`s network connection at any given moment. This readout is presented in both numerical and graphical format, in real time.
• Style XP 3.0 (shw) - Style XP (download) is theming software that helps customize the way your Windows XP, Windows XP Service Pack 1, Tablet PC, or Server 2003 system looks.
• Intell Installation Utility 6.3.0.1007 - A new release of the Intel Chipset Installation Utility is now available which includes latest software for Intel USB, PCI, IDE, ATA and AGP chipsets.
• VIA Vinyl Stylus Audio driver v580a - This driver supports all VIA southbridges with integrated sound plus several audio codecs.
• VIA Audio (Envy 24 Family only) driver v442a - This driver supports VIA Vinyl Envy24 controllers: MT/DT/GT/PT/HT-S ( Envy24GT Envy24HT-S Envy24MT Envy24PT )
• VIA Ethernet (VT82xx) driver 40F - This driver supports South Bridge integrated VT8231, VT8233, VT8235 & VT8237 ( VT6107 VT610731 VT8233/A/C VT8235 VT8237 ) and VT6107 Rhine Fast Ethernet Controller ( VT6106H VT6106L VT6106S
• VIA Ethernet (VT6105/L/LOM and VT6106) driver version - 24 - This driver supports VT6105/L/LOM and VT6106 series Rhine Fast Ethernet Controllers ( VT6105 VT6105L VT6105LOM ).
• Intel Pro 100/1000 drivers 9.2 -  Intel has released version 9.2 (Win2k/XP ~ Win9x/ME ~ NT40) for their Pro100 and Pro1000 series network adapters.
• ATI Optimized Driver v1.9 - TCMag designed this driver to provide the maximum performance and Quality. Features: Based on the offical Catalyst WHQL 5.1, Removed OpenGL selection prompt (avaliable in the start menu), OpenGL Driver switcher has been updated, Few Bug fixes, Installer has been fixed, Added ATITool 0.23 to the package.
• Forceware 67.66 Win2K/XP official beta - For Windows 2000/XP, this is an official Beta NVIDIA release as found on their FTP servers.