SECURITY...

• Antivirus Tools Fool XP's Security Center - Microsoft's Windows XP Service Pack 2 is supposed to improve security. Its Windows Security Center should alert you when your antivirus software is missing or out of date. But in PC World Magazine tests, both McAfee's Internet Security Suite 2005 and Symantec's Norton Internet Security 2005 crippled SP2's ability to deliver accurate alerts immediately after installation. McAfee and Symantec acknowledge that their products intentionally disable the Windows Security Center's messaging feature.
• Mutated Worm Spreads Through MSN Messenger - A new variant of the Bropia worm is fast spreading through popular Internet chat program MSN Messenger. Computer security companies AhnLab and Hauri said Thursday that they found a variant of the virus which infects users of MSN Messenger by sending itself as a picture file. Infected computers slow down to a crawl. The virus automatically sends itself to others in the users list of contacts.
• Limited buffer-overflow in Painkiller 1.35 - The bug is about the buffer that must contain the Gamespy cd-key hash for the online server-side authorization. This buffer is limited to 100 bytes (the Gamespy cd-key hash is long 72 chars), so if an attacker uses a longer hash will be able to overflow the buffer.
• Microsoft: SP2 shimmy's not a flaw - Responding to a Russian security company's claim that it found a way to beat a protective element of Microsoft's Windows XP Service Pack 2, the software giant on Tuesday said it does not believe the issue represents a vulnerability. In fact, the company said the technology highlighted by Moscow-based Positive Technologies was never meant to be "foolproof" and added that the reported flaw does not, by itself, put consumers at risk.
• The "hacker tool" worm that gurned - The Wurmark-F worm, a variant of Wurmark-D which began spreading last month, arrives as a zipped email attachment and displays a picture of an old man pulling an impressive gurn. Meanwhile the worm installs itself in the Windows system folder, along with a new version of the Rbot worm, which spreads via networks without the need for user interaction.
• Heise.de under DDoS attack - German tech publication Heise.de has been targeted by a persistent and determined denial of service attack, it says. The origin of the attack is unknown so far, and Heise's publishing house is offering a €10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the attacker.
• Student Logs Teachers Keystrokes - A 16-year-old student has been charged with a misdemeanor for rigging a keystroke-recording device onto a teacher's computer. School district police received a tip from students that the boy was trying to sell answers to final exams. The District Attorney's Office has charged the teen with breach of computer information, a Class B misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $2,000 and up to 180 days in.

OFF-TOPIC...

• Antarctic ice sheet is an "awakened giant" - The massive west Antarctic ice sheet, previously assumed to be stable, is starting to collapse, scientists warned on Tuesday. Antarctica contains more than 90% of the world's ice, and the loss of any significant part of it would cause a substantial sea level rise. Scientists used to view Antarctica as a "slumbering giant", said Chris Rapley, from the British Antarctic Survey, but now he sees it as an "awakened giant".
• Mirror that reflects your future self - In Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, the eponymous subject keeps his youthful looks while the vagaries of age are visited upon his portrait in the attic. Now a digital version of Wilde's idea is being developed to show you what you will look like in five years' time if you take no exercise, eat too much junk food and drink too much alcohol. At Accenture Technology's lab in Sophia Antipolis, near Nice in France, a flat-screen LCD TV linked to a set of cameras and a powerful image-processing computer replaces the portrait described in Wilde's novel.
• Sex and the single robot - Scientists have made them walk and talk. There are even robots that can run. But a South Korean professor is poised to take their development several steps further, and give cybersex new meaning. Kim Jong-Hwan, the director of the ITRC-Intelligent Robot Research Centre, has developed a series of artificial chromosomes that, he says, will allow robots to feel lusty, and could eventually lead to them reproducing. He says the software, which will be installed in a robot within the next three months, will give the machines the ability to feel, reason and desire.
• UPN Cancels "Star Trek: Enterprise" - UPN and Paramount today jointly announced the show's cancellation. The show's series finale, which may feature Jonathan Frakes (William T. Riker) and Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi), will air on Friday the 13th of May. The show's fate was probably sealed when last Friday's episode reached only 2.5 million viewers - but even so, the people at EnterpriseFans.com are still trying to raise money for a fan campaign to save the show." 

TECHNOLOGY...

• Microsoft Goes It Alone With MSN Search; Bill Gates Writes Open Letter Online - Microsoft yesterday unveiled its first, 100% Microsoft-built search engine, MSN Search. Prior to this, Microsoft had relied upon Yahoo's algorithms and search results. MSN Search uses search technology developed by Microsoft alone. They are however still using Yahoo's sponsor advertisement mechanism powered by Overture.
• T-Mobile & Microsoft launch first 3G device - Today, at the T-Mobile International Press Conference in Bonn, Germany, T-Mobile and Microsoft announced the MDA IV - the first Windows Mobile based 3G device. The T-Mobile MDA IV, is just 100 centimeters squared and offers users access to Pocket Outlook, Pocket Word, Pocket Excel, Pocket Internet Explorer and a choice of GPRS, UMTS and W-LAN connectivity options. The device is expected to be available this coming Summer, prices will be available around that time too.
• Sun Launches Vision of "The Network is the Computer" - Sun have announced their plans to offer businesses a simple way of doing I.T., by utilising the power of grid computing. For the price of $1 per cpu hour, business customers can tap into massive computer grids run by Sun
• Gainward drops out of graphics card business - Taiwan-based TNC Industrial has decided to sell the Gainward brand and branch Gainward Europe GmbH to Palit Microsystems for US$1 million and the net worth of the branch office at the end of 2004 (as certified by a CPA).
• Get 1GB of wireless data for $10 - A new variation of its OFDM based wireless data technology, known as Flexband, has been launched by America's Flarion. The company estimates Lexband will enable existing cellular operators to offer subscribers up to 1GB per month for just $10 per month. That figure assumes around 600 users per cell.
• MP3.com alum to launch DRM-free music service - The brains behind the original MP3.com and Linspire is gearing up to launch a new online music service called MP3tunes that offers DRM-free downloads
• HP's 'Crossbar Latch' to Replace Transistors? - Researchers at HP have come up with a new signal technology they claim could replace transistors in computers one day. In a paper published in Tuesday's Journal of Applied Physics, three members of HP Labs' Quantum Science Research (QSR) group demonstrated what they call a "crossbar latch." A latch consists of a single wire acting as a signal line, crossed by two control lines with an electrically switchable nanoscale junction where they intersect. The technology is so small, HP claims thousands of the strands could fit across the diameter of a human hair.

HARDWARE... 

• Gigabyte to introduce new dual-GPU graphics cards in February - Gigabyte Technology plans to introduce a series of dual-GPU graphics cards built using Nvidia GeForce 6600 chips, following the December launch of its first dual-GPU model, the GV-3D1, according to market sources.
• OCZ Technology & GeIL Shrinks DDR2 Latencies, Boosts DDR2 Performance - OCZ PC2-5400 DDR2 Enhanced Bandwidth Platinum Edition are designed to function at 667MHz speeds with CL4 2-2-8 latencies, which is significantly lower compared to the company's previous-generation PC2-5400 flavour that could operate with CL4 4-4-12 settings. Also GeIL offers 533MHz DDR2 memory modules with CL3 3-3-8 latency settings in capacities of 256MB, 512MB and 1GB for single-channel packages as well as pairs of such modules as dual-channel bundles. Pricing for such memory is unknown.
• 1GB OCZ EL DDR PC 3700 Gold Rev. 3 dual channel memory - If you are not looking to spend too much too much money on high end RAM, want to run your FSB at around 230-260+MHz, and don't have a lot of Vdimm to spare, then the OCZ PC3700 Gold Rev.3 is what you want. Reasonable price, great overclockability with great timings, and great looks.
• GeCube SilenCool X700 PRO 256MB - GeCube pull off silent X700 PRO running with aplomb, for competetive money, by not going overboard on the bundle. If it lies in your price range and silence appeals, be sure and consider it.
• GeCube Radeon X800XL & X850XT Graphics Cards - TweakTown compare the performance of two new ATI Radeon high-end graphics chips - the Radeon X800XL & X850XT through retail cards from GeCube. After examining each card they compare the performance of each against an nVidia GeForce 6600GT and 6800 Ultra which are what ATI's new cards are aimed at competing against.
• Leadtek PX6600GT Extreme Version 6600GT PCI-E VGA - Overclockers New Zealand has posted a review of Leadtek PX6600GT Extreme Version 6600GT PCI-E VGA.
• HIS X700 Pro IceQ Turbo VIVO - The point of HIS's IceQ line of boards is providing this high-performance cooling so that the board does not have to be modified to get every last bit of performance out of it. Bjorn3D has already taken a look at a couple (X800 Pro and X800 XT) of these solutions from HIS, and today I am pleased to present another one - the X700 Pro IceQ Turbo VIVO.
• SapphireTech Hybrid X800 256MB PCIe Video Card - The X800 comes stock clocked at 390Mhz Core and 350 MHz (700MHz effective) memory. I can already tell you that the Samsung GDDR3 RAM on this card is seriously under-clocked at 350MHz since it is rated for 500MHz (Samsung Part#: K4J55323QF-GC20). With a healthy overclock and the extra 4 pipelines this should be a nice card.
• NCQ-enabled SATA hard drives comparison - Maxtor DM10 vs. Seagate 7200.8 - The Seagate Barracuda 7200.8, unfortunately, is somewhat disappointing to us. While the drive performs fairly well, only about 5-10% slower compared to our DiamondMax 10, there are no killer features here which elevate the 7200.8 over Seagate's previous generation drives. The drive still just performs “ok”, and was audible louder during testing compared to the DiamondMax 10. While the drive does boast a terrific five year warranty, it can't make up for the fact that the drive runs louder, slower, and is more expensive compared to the DiamondMax 10.
• SunbeamTech Light-Bus & Laser LEDs - When the loud noise of your water cooling radiator fan rig or high performance heatsink fan bothers you a lot, the fan controller (rheostat) will come to the rescue. When your modded case does not have enough lighting or too much lighting, Sunbeamtech has the Light-Bus for you. In fact, this Light-Bus serves a dual purpose duty in controlling the fans and light intensity plus more.
• Dlink DWL-2100AP Wireless Access Point - D-Link's latest DWL-2100AP wireless AP claims to push the standard 802.11g 54Mbps speed up to 108Mbps when a compatible D-Link card is used.
• Logitech MX 3100 Cordless Desktop -  The mouse, keyboard and software are all damn good. Yes, there are improvements that can be made on the software side, but I expected that it will happen sooner rather than later. The keyboard on the other hand, could use a little work. The buttons were really too small, and detracted from what would otherwise be a very good package.
• Microsoft Optical Desktop with Fingerprint Reader - The really clever thing, though, is that whenever you come across a dialogue box or frequently used website that requires a username and password you can do the same. Just dab one of your registered digits onto the reader, fill in the boxes and whenever that logon presents itself again, all you have to do is scan your finger and the software fills in the username and password boxes for you.
• Samsung CLP-550 Laser Printer  - ipKonfig.com takes a look at the Samsung CLP-550 Laser Printer.
• AJP G220 laptop - This G220 is based on a Celeron M processor running at 1.5GHz. This, in combination with the Intel i855GME chipset and the Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG 802.11b/g wireless network card, means that it gets the Centrino branding. Perhaps AJP could have put together an even more affordable machine if the G220 had used a different chipset and wireless solution, but the fact is that the Centrino branding sells.
• Japanese Rechargeable USB Flashlight - Japanese Sanwa is selling a USB powered portable flashlight. About the size of a flash drive, the miniature flashlight powers a single LED light for four continuous hours that can be controlled by an On / Off switch, with an even longer charging time of 4.5 hours.

GUIDES...

• Top Ten Survivor Tips for Active Directory - This 6-page white paper is an easy-to-read compilation of practical information from BMC Software's customers and its own technical staff - including information that you won't find in Microsoft's Knowledge Base. This is for IT managers who dream of really controlling their Active Directory environments.
• Using Visual C++ Express to Build Secure Applications - Review some of the new language and library features available in the Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition that will help you to more efficiently produce secure and reliable code.

SOFTWARE...

• VIA Releases Automated Game Updating Tool - VIA Technologies and GameShadow today announced the launch of VIA Grease Monkey, an easy-to-use desktop application that ensures up-to-the-minute updates for all of the most popular PC games, eliminating time-consuming online searching and waiting for important updates to download. By simply clicking on the desktop icon, VIA Grease Monkey carries out a comprehensive scan of a user's library of PC games, automatically generating a list of the latest patches, maps, drivers and other key gaming information necessary for the ideal gaming environment. VIA Grease Monkey then provides direct downloads of all the selected updates through a high speed connection, simply and efficiently.
• Unofficial Windows 98 SE Service Pack 2.0 RC1 - It contains all Windows98 SE updates from Windows Update site and more. It is a self-extracting and self-installing pack like Microsoft's update files. Thus, you cannot choice files individually. However, the pack installs only required fixes for your system.
  Uninstallation is possible from Add-Remove Programs,
• Microsoft Terminology Assistant 1.0 - Microsoft Terminology Assistant (requires the 1.1 NET runtime) is an windows-based assistant tool to find the translated terminology and its definitions. The TA tool can grab the text on your screen and you can use your mouse cursor to point to the words you are going to query. The tool provides "Dictionary" feature as well. You can input any text you'd like to find and see the definition immmediately.
• Promqry 1.0 - Promqry can accurately determine if a modern (Windows 2000 and later) managed Windows system has network interfaces in promiscuous mode. If a system has network interfaces in promiscuous mode, it may indicate the presence of a network sniffer running on the system.
• Weather Pulse - Weather Pulse (download) is a weather monitoring tool that that displays detailed weather information for selected US cities, as well as popular satellite images from around the globe. It includes weather alert options, 10 day forecast, hourly forecast, detailed forecast and more.
• SkinStudio 4.5 - SkinStudio (download) makes it easy to create new visual styles, you can even draw up your ultimate masterpiece and import it as a template, highlight each part with the mouse to modify virtually any part of the Windows XP interface
• CCleaner v1.17.90 Final - CCleaner (Crap Cleaner) (download) is a freeware system optimization tool. That removes unused and temporary files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster, more efficiently and giving you more hard disk space.
• Tray Helper 4.7 - Tray Helper it's freeware application with many features (f/e: email checker, auto mail responder, anti-spam, popup-killer, event reminder and more).
• MSN Toolbar Suite 2.0.1.1203 Beta - The MSN Toolbar Suite combines several great programs that speed up your search tasks and help you surf the Web. There's now an MSN Toolbar for Microsoft Office Outlook, the MSN Deskbar in the Windows taskbar, and an MSN Toolbar that works in both Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer.
• MuzicMan v5.0 Build 023 - MuzicMan (download) makes your MP3 music more accessible and easier to manage than anything else around.
• DU Meter 3.07 Build 200 - DU Meter (download) 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.
• BlindWrite Suite 5.10 - Blindwrite Suite (download) is the best set of tools to reproduce or clone any CD, even protected ones. Blindwrite Suite is the most powerfull tool to create a perfect copy from your original CD for personal private copy.
• DropToCD (DataCD/DVD) 3.04 - DropToCD (DataCD/DVD) is a very easy to use tool to create a data CD/DVD based on drag & drop technology. Just drag & drop files and folders to a little window and hit 'Burn disc' from popup menu to burn a CD or DVD. Simple as 1, 2, 3. You can create and burn multisession, bootable disc or ISO images, erase rewritable, view and extract sessions from multisession discs and more.
• AnyDVD 4.5.7.2  - The new version 4.5.7.2 fixes a problem with unrecognised disk changes and disables the information window by default.
• Realtek ALC AC97 Audio Driver v3.69 - Realtek has a new AC97 audio driver online in the version of 3.69. The driver supports all ALC series audio chipsets from ALC100 up to ALC850 mainly used as onboard sound on various motherboards.