Thursday Tech Reading - tech
(hx) 04:17 PM CEST - Sep,08 2005
- Post a comment / read (2)
SECURITY...
- Symantec Patches Security Flaw -
Symantec has issued a patch for a vulnerability in its corporate antivirus
software that could allow an unauthorized person to access a company's
servers. The flaw, in version 9 of its AntiVirus Corporate Edition product,
exposes the server login name and password used by the administrator who
authorizes updates to the software, Symantec says.
- Microsoft Windows keybd_event validation vulnerability - As is
Known, with the current Microsoft Security Model, applications that share the
destkop are able to send messages between them. Every Desktop application is
able to obtain the handle of every process executed in the same desktop. This
feature and
the possibility of any application to emulate a virtual keyboard by
sending key strokes, allows every process to send messages and keys as if
there were an interactive user.
- Cisco IOS Firewall Authentication Proxy for FTP and Telnet Sessions
Buffer Overflow - The Cisco IOS Firewall Authentication Proxy for FTP
and/or Telnet Sessions feature
in
specific versions of Cisco IOS software is vulnerable to a
remotely-exploitable buffer overflow condition. Devices that do not
support, or are not configured for Firewall Authentication Proxy for FTP
and/or Telnet Services are not affected. Devices configured with only
Authentication Proxy for HTTP and/or HTTPS are not affected. Only devices
running certain versions of Cisco IOS are affected.
Affected devices are those running IOS versions 12.2ZH and 12.2ZL, 12.3,
12.3T, 12.4 and 12.4T. Users can log-on to their Cisco device and enter the
'show version' command to determine which version of IOS it is running.
- Internet satellite imagery under fire over security concerns -
Asian governments have expressed security concerns about easy access
to detailed satellite
images on the Internet, such as those used by rescuers in New Orleans,
saying
the technology could endanger sensitive sites.
OFF-TOPIC...
- News Corporation buys game sites for $650 million - IGN
Entertainment, the owners of super-popular gaming website IGN.com, has
signed a
definitive agreement to be bought out by Murdoch's News Corporation. News
Corp will pay $650 million for a set of sites. For those not in the know,
sites under the IGN network include IGN.com, GameSpy, GameSpy Arena,
FilePlanet, TeamXbox, 3D Gamers, Direct2Drive, GameStats.com and a handful of
sites under the Vault and Planet networks.
- Scientists develop 'clever'
artificial hand -
Scientists have
developed a new ultra-light limb that can mimic the movement in a real
hand better than any currently available. The new hand, called the
'Southampton Remedi-Hand', can be connected to muscles in the arm via a small
processing unit and is controlled by small contractions of the muscles which
move the wrist.
- $1bn pirates -
The music industry will push for more than $1 billion in damages after its
landmark court victory over internet music pirates Kazaa. The Sydney-based
internet file-sharing company has had $30 million of its assets frozen as
record companies try to recoup some of the estimated $3 billion lost in
pirated music.
- The BBC releases early videos for public use - The
BBC has finally made good on its long standing promise
to release its video archives on the internet - for free. Almost 100
clips, mostly from documentaries and science shows, were made available to the
UK public for free - with an encouragement to viewers to mix and match the old
footage for new creative endeavours.
TECHNOLOGY...
- ATI Radeon X1800 "R520" -
Interestingly,
there are 16, 24 and 32 pipes versions but there are only 10 pieces of the
32 pipes versions exist currently. The core clock of the card is 650Mhz+ and
memory at 1400Mhz. The R520 card uses 1.26ns GDDR3 memories. The 32 pipes R520
performance will exceed the GeForce 7800GTX. Another quick look at a REV02
sample of ATI's upcoming R520 graphics chip can be found on
HKEPC
- S3 Graphics Announces
Chrome20 Series -
The Chrome20 series of products use 90nm process technology. S3G have gone
for low voltage and cool operating temperatures with Chrome20. They're also
claiming the 'highest core clock of any GPU to date'...heh.
- Logitech
Unveils Smart Mouse -
The new fangled mouse is capable of two-way communication with the PC, it
can inform users when their mouse battery is low, and notify them when they
receive an email or instant message. Other features include laser tracking, 10
buttons, volume control and probably too many other things.
- Hefty hardware requirements
for Windows Vista -
Hardware vendors are going to love the news that Windows Vista is going to
need very beefy hardware to run well. Nigel Page is a strategist with
Microsoft Australia. He told APC that Vista would work best on a video card
with more than 256MB RAM, 2GB of DDR3 memory and a S-ATA 2 hard drive.
-
Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer webcasts from Microsoft Business Summit - Bill
Gates Shares Microsoft's Vision for Helping Midsize Businesses (56
Kbps /
100 Kbps /
300 Kbps) / Steve Ballmer on Delivering Business Value to Midsize
Companies (56
Kbps /
100 Kbps /
300 Kbps)
- iTunes 5 announced -
iTunes 5:
Available today the player that has 85% market share globally will come with a
new refined look. Users will be able to organise folders of playlists, Sync
with Microsoft Outlook for contacts/calendar, parental tags and album reviews
amongst the many new features.
- iTunes Phone announced - iTunes
phone: Available in the US today with Cingular and due to hit globally by
the end of September the iTunes Phone (Motorola ROKR) features an iTunes
client inside. The phone has quad band GSM, camera, 100 song capacity and
instant access to iTunes.
- Harry Potter iPod announced - Available
today the
latest addition to the iPod family is the "potter pod". The iPod has the
crest engraved on the back and Apple are exclusively distributing Harry Potter
audio books via the iTunes Music Store.
- iPod nano announced - Available today Jobs has announced
a new flash based
iPod Mini. The iPod nanois equiped with a color display and can support
photos, uses a grey click wheel, and is 80 percent smaller in volume than the
original iPod. The new device is flash based and will plug-in to existing iPod
accessories. The device will include a 14hr battery and will be released in a
4GB version ($249) and a 2GB version ($199).
- D-Link unveils wireless 'G' DVD player with Flash reader -
The D-Link
DSM-320RD supports component video, optical digital audio and coaxial
digital audio connections. The MediaLounge DVD Player also sports a
Multi-format Flash Card Reader. The device can play DVD, DVD±R/RW, Video CD,
Kodak Picture CD, Music CD, MP3 and WMA audio files on CD-R/RW.
- Father
of Athlon 64 leaves AMD - Fred Weber, the chief technology officer at AMD
and one of the executives often cited as being behind the company's
turnaround,
is leaving to invest in start-ups.
- DVD reaches speed barrier -
Panasonic and Hitachi-LG Data Storage have introduced 16x DVD-Ram drives for
PCs, while Panasonic and Hitachi Maxell have introduced 16x DVD-Ram media.
However,
this looks to be the upper limit of DVD recording speeds for the time
being.
HARDWARE...
GUIDES...
-
Everything You Need to Know About Chipsets - Everything you need to
know about chipsets is covered in
this
tutorial.
-
PCI Express Bus Tutorial - Everything you need to know about
PCI
Express bus.
-
Putting together a system for Media Center - Bit-Tech has published
a 7-page guide to putting together a self-build system to run Windows
Media Center.
-
Benefits of Upgrading Notebook Memory - With memory being quite
cheap at the moment compared to times of the past,
now is a good time to consider adding extra memory to your notebook or
desktop system.
-
The Different Levels Of RAID & What They Do -
Techzone
list all the RAID levels available and explain what they do.
-
Audio Restoration 101 - If you have dusty vinyl, crusty cassettes,
disco-era 8-tracks, reel-to-reel tapes, or any other music media that need a
digital face-lift, fear not;
breathing
new life into old formats is easier than ever.
-
VoIP 101 - At this point most people have probably heard of VoIP, and
many may have used it, but they may not fully understand the basics of this
rapidly expanding technology.
This Tech Tip will take a look at some of the basic features, modes of
operation, and other background information on one of the latest ways
technology can be used to connect people.
-
Battlefield 2 Optimization Guide -
The range of cards used in the guide is completely different this time
around. Battlefield 2 is a very graphically intensive game requiring a fairly
powerful CPU, a good amount of memory, and a strong graphics subsystem.
SOFTWARE...
-
PHP 5.0.5 Final -
PHP 5.0.5 is
now available for download. This version is a maintenance release, that
contains numerous bug fixes, including security fixes to vulnerabilities found
in the XMLRPC package.
-
Fiddler 1.0.1 -
Fiddler is a
HTTP Debugging Proxy which logs all HTTP traffic between your computer and
the Internet. Fiddler allows you to inspect all HTTP Traffic, set breakpoints,
and "fiddle" with incoming or outgoing data. Fiddler is designed to be much
simpler than using NetMon or Achilles, and includes a simple but powerful
JScript.NET event-based scripting subsystem.
-
Paint.NET 2.2 Alpha 2 -
Paint.NET is a photo and image editing tool designed for computers running
Microsoft Windows XP or Windows 2000.
-
Remote Printer Manager ($50) -
Remote Printer Manager (demo)
is a sophisticated network management tool that allows network administrators
to add, modify and remove printers on any Windows-based computer on their
network.
-
ACDSee 8.0 (shw) -
ACDSee (download)
digital photo software makes it easy to import, view, organize, print,
enhance, share and archive your digital photos.
-
XnView for Windows 1.80.3 -
XnView is an efficient multimedia viewer, browser, and converter. It
supports more than 400 graphic file formats (PNG, JPEG, TARGA, TIFF, GIF, BMP,
and more). This utility also supports animated GIF, multipage TIFF, multiimage
icon and MPEG, AVI, WAV, AIFF, and QuickTime files.
-
FastStone Image Viewer 2.24 Beta Build 2005-09-06 -
FastStone Image Viewer (download)
is an image browser, viewer, converter and editor with an easy to use
interface and a nice array of features that include resizing, renaming,
cropping, color adjustments and more.
-
QuickTime 7.02 -
QuickTime 7 (download)
is Apple's cutting-edge digital media software for both Mac and Windows-based
computers delivers unparalleled quality for creating, playing and streaming
audio and video content over the Internet. Besides playing MPEG-4 and MP3
content, it supports timecode tracks as well as MIDI standards such as the
Roland Sound Canvas and GS format extensions
-
Apple iTunes 5.0 -
iTunes 5 (download)
lets you enjoy all sorts of sounds, from podcasts of your favorite radio shows
to new music to bestselling audiobooks.
-
Jet-Audio 6.22 -
Jet-Audio (release
notes /
download) features an impressive home audio system interface, including
independent A/V components for Digital Signal Processor, Audio CD Player,
Digital Audio (MP3, RA, etc.), MIDI (MID, MOD etc.), and Digital Video (AVI,
MPG, MOV, etc.), along with a Mixer and a Remote Controller.
-
DVD Region+CSS Free 5.9.4.0 -
DVD
Region+CSS Free enables you to watch and copy any region code
CSS-encrypted DVD movies on any DVD drive! It fully supports region-protected
(RPC2) DVD drives, and does not require any firmware modifications. It will
work, even if you can not change the DVD drive's region anymore.
-
ratDVD v0.76 -
ratDVD is
rapidly becoming popular on the internet. The software takes a full featured
DVD movie and puts it into a highly compressed .ratDVD container format file -
while preserving all the features of the original DVD. This release adds an
ISO Image Plug-In, new playback components and of course some bug fixes.
-
Winamp 5.1 Surround Edition -
In this release they have
added 5.1 surround sound, aswell as new encoders (ACCPlus & WMA). Also they
have added a new playlist generator
-
ZoneAlarm Free 6.0.667.000 -
ZoneAlarm includes five interlocking security services that deliver
easy-to-use, comprehensive protection. Unlike any other security utility, it
incorporates a firewall, Application Control, an Internet Lock, dynamically
assigned Security Levels and Zones. Combined, these elements yield the
strongest security possible
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Updated:12:41 AM CEST Jun,04
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