SECURITY...

• Virus Top Twenty for August 2005 - NetSky.q and Mytob.c have been fighting for first place in our ratings for several months now. These worms are very different: they exploit different vulnerabilities and were created a year apart. NetSky.q was fighting for supremacy against Mydoom and Bagle versions: judging by the results, NetSky seems to have won this war.
• Phone virus spreads through Scandinavian company - A mobile phone virus recently hit a small company in Scandinavia and spread from one handset to another, according to security vendor F-Secure Corp. It was the first time F-Secure has seen a mobile virus make serious headway into an enterprise after showing up on an employee's phone, said Ero Carrera, an antivirus researcher at Helsinki, Finland-based F-Secure. The outbreak lasted about a day as dozens of employees received the virus and about 20 of them opened it on their phones, causing it to spread, according to a Web log entry on F-Secure's site.
• IIS Information Disclosure - It is possible to remotely spoof the "SERVER_NAME" Microsoft Internet Information Server 5.0, 5.1 and 6.0 server variable by doing a modified HTTP request. Thus potentially revealing sensitive ASP code through the IIS 500-100.asp error page, the spoof also opens up a potential range of exploits in third party web applications and web services.
• [!] Update for Windows XP (KB897663) - Install this update (direct link) to ensure that a firewall exception created via the registry (yesteday story) is listed in the Windows Firewall interface the same as if the exception was created in the interface itself. After you install this update, you may have to restart your computer.
• A Wormy Zen - Creative has shipped approximately 3,700 Zen Neeons that are infected with a worm in their file system. According to the company's site, the problem has affected the 5GB Creative Zen Neeon with serial numbers between 1230528000001 and 1230533001680.
• Symantec Anti-Virus Tool Puts Server Passwords in Danger - Symantec is investigating a report of a security hole in a version of its corporate anti-virus product that could expose sensitive username and password information, the company acknowledged. The reported security hole affects Symantec Anti Virus Corporate Edition Version 9 and could allow an attacker or nonprivileged user to obtain sensitive server log-in information. Details of the vulnerability were posted on the Bugtraq mailing list Wednesday.
• Fake Yahoo site phishes for identities -  A web site designed to look like an official Yahoo service offering free games, but is most likely designed to facilitate ID theft, has been discovered by Internet security firm Trend Micro.
• DVD Jon hacks Media Player file encryption - Norway's best known IT expert, DVD Jon, has hacked encryption coding in Microsoft's Windows Media Player, opening up content broadcast for the multimedia player to alternative devices on multiple platforms.Jon Lech Johansen has reverse engineered a proprietary algorithm, which is used to wrap Media Player NSC files and ostensibly protect them from hackers sniffing for the media's source IP address, port or stream format. He has also made a decoder available.

TECHNOLOGY...

• Billion-Dollar Baby Dot-Coms? Uh-Oh, Not Again - Jim Breyer, a top Silicon Valley venture capitalist, knows that the $12.2 million his firm paid for a modest stake in Facebook, an online service immensely popular with the college set, is a lot of money.  So he's not surprised that some are pointing to that deal as proof that inflation is back in the venture world - a development that can't help but stir memories of the late 1990's.
• Virgin launches new digital music service - Sir Richard Branson today appeared in London via a hologram recording beamed to his flagship store as he launched Virgin's new digital music download service in the UK.
• Gateway Ships Easy-Care PCs - The new systems are available in several configurations on Gateway's Web site. For example, the S-5000S desktop costs $449 with Intel's Celeron D 331 processor, 256MB of DDR2 SDRAM, a 40GB hard drive, and a CD-RW drive.
• Toshiba May Delay HD-DVD Launch - Toshiba is reviewing the launch schedule for HD-DVD, a next-generation optical disc format for high-definition video, and could delay its U.S. launch until sometime next year, it says.
• T-Mobile EDGE Network Nearly Complete - T-Mobile today said they have already launched EDGE data on 90% of their GPRS network. Yesterday changes on the carrier's website revealed they expected to complete their EDGE network by the end of September.
• Cordless videophone for broadband - Philips is to launch a cordless home videophone designed for making live video and Voice over IP calls via broadband Internet. The VP5500 looks like a type of DECT phone, but works by sending and receiving wifi-signals to and from an ADSL or cable modem. The phone, which cannot be used for regular GSM calls, has an integrated VGA video camera capable of rotating through 240-degrees so that users can see what they are filming. The Privacy Cam Key ensures privacy, and users can easily select between just voice or video calling.
• Microsoft to Stop Releasing Services for Unix -  Microsoft will stop releasing any new versions of Services for Unix - from what the article hints at, Microsoft wants Unix interoperability integrated into the OS. Microsoft says that this integration couldn't be done with past architectures.
• Firefox 1.5 beta due next week - Firefox 1.5 Beta 1 will be available next Thursday, according to a posting in the section of the foundation's Web site devoted to developer news.
• World's First Built-In Wi-Fi -Enabled Digital Cameras - Nikon is redefining the digital camera shooting experience with the announcement of two new revolutionary Wi-Fi enabled models. The Coolpix P1 and P2 are the world's first built-in Wi-Fi-enabled (IEEE802.11b/g) digital cameras to hit the marketplace
• Philips to unveil "rollable display" at IFA 2005 - Readius is the world's first prototype of a functional electronic-document reader that can unroll its display to a scale larger than the device itself. With four gray levels, the monochrome, 5-inch QVGA (320×240 pixels) display provides paper-like viewing with a high contrast ratio for reading-intensive applications, including text, graphics, and electronic maps. Using a bi-stable electrophoretic display effect from E-Ink, the display consumes little power and is easy to read, even in bright daylight. Once the user has finished reading, the display can be rolled back into the pocket-size (100×60×20 mm) device.
• BFG to make PhysX cards - AGEIA has announced that BFG Technologies will build physics cards based on the PhysX PPU.

HARDWARE... 

• CPU - AMD Athlon64 X2 4800+

• Motherboard - Intel 955X SLI / ABIT AN8-SLI (NF4 SLI) / ASrock 939Dual-SATA2 P1.20 BIOS / ECS KN1 SLI Extreme / Foxconn 955X7AA-8EKRS2 / Foxconn WinFast NF4K8AC nForce4 / MSI's P4N Diamond

• Complete / SFF Systems - Silverstone LC11M HTPC Case
• RAM - Kingston HyperX DDR2 750MHz / OCZ EL DDR PC-3500 Gold GX Dual Channel
• Storage - OCZ releases speedy USB stick / Synology Disk Station DS-101g+ / Samsung WriteMaster SE-W164 16x16x DVD-RW
/ NEC ND-3540A 16x DVD±RW
• Video - Albatron 7800GTX / Galaxy Dual BIOS GeForce 6600 GT / GeForce 7800 GT: XFX Overclocked / Gigabyte 7800 GTX GV-NX78X256V-B / MSI ATI Theater 550 Pro PCI / PowerColor Radeon X800GT / XFX GeForce 7800 GTX Overclocked
• Monitor - Dual Dell UltraSharp 2005FPW 20.1" LCD Monitor
• Cooling - asetek VapoChill Micro(1) / Asetek Vapochill Micro Family of CPU Coolers(2) / Thermalright V-1
• WaterCooling - Asetek WaterChill AMD & Intel water cooler system / Cooler Master Aquagate Mini R120 Water Cooling
• Case - Antec P180 / Lian Li PC-767 Aluminum Case (1) / Lian Li PC-767 Case (2) / Case gallery @ TechPoweUp / Vantec NexStar 3 USB2.0 HDD Enclosure / Zalman CNPS7700-Cu CPU Heatsink-Fan
• PSU/UPS - Calmer Fanless 300 Watt PSU / Enermax Whisper II 2.0 NVIDIA SLi Certified 535W Power Supply / MGE Magnum 500W
• Sound - Creative Xtreme Fidelity (X-Fi) / Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS Notebook / HDA Digital X Mystique 7.1 Gold Sound Card / JavoEdge JAVOeBuds / Sharkoon Audics 5.1 Speakers
• Peripheral - A4Tech Wireless Battery-Free Optical Mouse / Logitech V200 Mouse
• Printer - Xerox Phaser 8550DP Printer
• Network - Synology Disk Station DS-101g+
• Modding - Silverstone SST-FP52S Fancontroller / ThermalTake Xray
• Notebook / Bluetooth - Jabra - BlueTooth headset shootout (1) / Jabra BT250v Bluetooth Headset (2)
• Cameras, MP3/DVD players - Archos' AV700 PVP / Creative Zen Vision and Muvo Vidz Launch / Samsung DigiCam SC-D455 Digital Camera
• Cell/VOIP phones/PDAs - Hyundai H-MP728 GSM phone /  Archos PMA430 PDA / Palmax GDA

GUIDES...

• Real Gaming Challenge: Intel vs. AMD - ExtremeTech put a variety of games across several different genres on similar Intel- and AMD-based systems, and then measured performance during real playing.
• Gaming System Buyers Guide August 2005 - Zombienexus.com has an article on buying the best parts for a good gaming system.
• Microsoft Windows Server Update Services Operations Guide 2.0 - Comprehensive guidance on the major tasks involved in administering and troubleshooting Microsoft Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), including synchronization and managing computers and computer groups, as well as viewing, approving, testing, and storing updates, and running reports.
• Microsoft WS-I Basic Security Profile 1.0 Reference Implementation - The Microsoft WS-I Basic Security Profile 1.0 Reference Implementation is a preview release of the work being done by the WS-I Sample Application Working Group members to demonstrate interoperability of secure Web services
• PodCasting 101: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started - BonaFideReviews has posted a new article on PodCasting.
• Delete Hiberfil.sys in Windows XP before defragmenting - If you use the Windows XP's Hibernation feature on your laptop, you may want to delete the Hiberfil.sys file from the hard disk before defragmenting.
• Hacking Firefox: Speed Up Your Browser - This is an excerpt from the ExtremeTech book, Hacking Firefox: More Than 150 Hacks, Mods, and Customizations. This chapter shows you how to speed up page rendering, tune Firefox to your CPU, optimize memory and caching, and more.

SOFTWARE...

• DTCPing.exe 3.0 - This tool is designed to assist with troubleshooting MS DTC Firewall Issues.
• MS Products Key Finder v1.0 - This little utility will let you find the CD-Keys (download) of some of Microsoft products installed on your computer. This tool comes handy when you lose your CD cover and there is no way to know CD-Key.
• WinAmp 5.1 Final - Nullsoft Winamp (download full / lite) is a fast, flexible, high-fidelity media player for Windows. Winamp supports playback of many audio (MP3, OGG, AAC, WAV, MOD, XM, S3M, IT, MIDI, etc) and video types (AVI,ASF,MPEG,NSV), etc. This new version includes CodingTechnologies AACPlus encoder.
• JetAudio Basic v6.2.2 - JetAudio (download free basic version) is integrated, multimedia software made of a single compact rack. Not only does it play various music and video files, it also has features such as CD burning, recording, and conversion to other file formats. You can create your own Internet broadcast by using JetCast, provided with JetAudio, and you can play all major file formats, including WAV, MP3, MP3Pro, OGG, WMA, MPEG, AVI, WMV, MIDI, RM, and video and audio CD tracks.
• Fresh UI v7.42 - Fresh UI is the fresh solution for configuring and optimizing Windows.
• DVDFab Decrypter 2.9.3.8 - DVDFab Decrypter - previously named DVDFab Express (Free Edition) - is a simple version of DVDFab Express.
• CleanCache 3.1 - CleanCache is a free, very powerful Internet Explorer 6.0, Mozilla, Netscape, Firefox and Windows 2000/XP cleaner.
• Win32Pad 1.5.9 - Win32Pad (download) is a feature filled text editor that is written with a programmer in mind.
• WinZip 10.0 Beta - The first WinZip 10.0 beta adds Explorer style view Navigate your Zip files in the familiar Explorer-style view, making it much easier to work with large, multi-folder archives and  improves compression.
• Skype 1.4.0.47 Beta - A new beta is out.
• XTreme-G Drivers - TweaksRUs released two XTreme-G drivers sets: XG 77.56-HD based on nVidia Forceware 77.56 WHQL and XG 78.11-HD based on Forceware 78.11.