SECURITY...

• Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for January 2006 (Updated) - Microsoft has updated the Security Bulletin Summary for January 2006.
• Netscape 8.1 takes aim at spyware - Netscape 8.1 offers (download) built-in spyware and adware protection that scans files that Web users try to download as well as those that are sent to them without their interaction. The updated browser will also let consumers run complete memory and disk scans. Other security features include an updated blacklist of potential phishing sites and a security center people can access to see if they need to take action on their computer.
• Zone Labs says its firewall is no spy - Zone Labs claims the communications detected by Infoworld boffin James Borck between its Zone Alarm Firewall and a bunch of remote servers are benign.
• Cisco Aironet Wireless Access Points DoS  - A vulnerability has been identified in Cisco Aironet Wireless Access Points (AP) running IOS, which may be exploited by remote attackers to cause a denial of service. This flaw is due to an error in the management interface that does not properly handle spoofed ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) messages, which could be exploited by an attacker who has successfully associated with a vulnerable device to exhaust all available memory resources and cause a denial of service.
• Editing tips from the NSA - The 13-page paper (PDF) is called: "Redacting with confidence: How to safely publish sanitized reports converted from Word to PDF."

CRIME/LAW...

• Major Piracy Bust Against Top Providers - At approximately 10 AM yesterday, local police in a wide spread coordinated effort raided over 300 homes and offices associated with top warez providers. The raids took place in Germany, Austria, Holland, Poland and the Czech Republic. According to GVU (translated to German Federation Against Copyright Theft), over 30 individuals were arrested in the raids.
• 'Rent-a-Zombie' Ringleader Pleads Guilty - A man who leased networks of infected computers to criminals to carry out denial of service and spam attacks has pleaded guilty and could receive six years in jail. Twenty-year old Jeanson James Ancheta of California faces felony charges after making $61,000 from renting the infected machines and infecting US military computer systems. After his sentencing on May 1st he stands to lose his BMW and more than $58,000 in addition to jail time.
• MPAA is accused of piracy for unauthorised copying of a movie - The Motion Picture Assn. of America, the leader in the global fight against movie piracy, is being accused of unlawfully making a bootleg copy of a documentary that takes a critical look at the MPAA's film ratings system.
• US Tops Spam List - Q4 of 2005, the US was the source of 24.5 percent of reported spam, with China coming in second at 22.3 percent. While still coming in third, South Korea's spam output dropped dramatically, down to 9.7.
• Google launches censored China site - Google Inc. launched a search engine in China on Wednesday that censors material about human rights, Tibet and other topics sensitive to Beijing - defending the move as a trade-off granting Chinese greater access to other information.

OFF-TOPIC

• Eye Scan Technology Comes to Schools - Parents who want to pick up their kids at school in one New Jersey district now can submit to iris scans, as the technology that helps keep our nation's airports and hotels safe begins to make its way further into American lives.
• Scientists Discover World's Smallest Fish  - Yahoo news is reporting that scientists have found the world's smallest fish in Thailand. It wins the prize by 0.1 mm, being 7.9 mm in length.
• Scientists solve puzzle of flu virus replication - Scientists have solved the genetic puzzle of how influenza A viruses--including the H5N1 bird flu--replicate inside cells, which could help to speed up the development of new drugs to avert a pandemic.
• New Gravity Theory Dispenses with Dark Matter - According to New Scientist, a theory of modified gravity, which has no need of dark matter, has just explained why the Pioneer 10 probe is 400,000 miles off its expected course as it leaves the solar system. It sounds pretty convincing, although in dispensing with dark matter, they've had to utilize the theoretical particle, called a graviton, which appears from the vacuum of space wherever stars are densely packed, making gravity stronger. (thanks Slashdot.org)
• Microsoft bans best Xbox 360 Video ad ever - Heard about the Xbox 360 advertisement that Microsoft is refusing to air?

TECHNOLOGY...

• Microsoft: "Xbox Support to Continue Through 2006" - Rumours circulating the Internet suggesting that Microsoft has ceased manufacturing of its Xbox console and shifted its focus entirely towards its next-generation machine have been dismissed by the company.
• Disney Acquires Pixar - It is official: Pixar has been sold to Disney. Steve Jobs will join the Disney board, and John Lasseter is now Disney's Chief Creative Officer.
• Microsoft opens up Windows source code - Microsoft's general counsel Brad Smith today announced that the software giant is offering to license its Windows Server source code in a bid to end its long-running antitrust battle with the European Union. The company is making this "voluntary move" in order to address all the issues raised by the European Commission.
• Windows Vista Build 5270 impressions - We were quite surprised by the amount of disk space the installer required. It needs a minimum of 8GB+ of free disk space, which goes on to show Microsoft's capitalization of cheap storage.
• Microsoft Office 12 will be Office 2007 - Now with Office Online Beta the name Office 2007 appears again, so we can expect to launch as Office 2007.
• 14% of Internet Uses iTunes - According to the BBC, Statistics gathered by Nielsen NetRatings shows that traffic to Apple's iTunes Music Store grew by 241 percent in 2005.
• Intel Says 45nm Process On Track - Intel has created test chips made using the 45nm fabrication process and expects to see processors, flash memory, and other products based on the technology available in the second half of 2007, according to director of process architecture and integration Mike Bohr.
• Intel ships 1m 65nm dual-core chips - Intel has shipped more than one million 65nm dual-core processors, the chip giant announced today. That figure comprises all the Core Duo chips, 'Presler' Pentium D 9xx parts and the Pentium Extreme Edition 955 that have gone out to makers of notebook and desktop PCs, not to mention the products Apple's using in its latest iMac and upcoming MacBook Pro.
• MSI ships GeForce 7300 GS - MSI has reportedly begun volume shipments of its GeForce 7300 GS graphics card. It's unclear when the cards will actually be available in North America, but they're expected to sell for around $110.
• Nokia develops crime-buster handset - Nokia is seeking a US patent for a mobile phone feature allowing users to summon help at the touch of a button. An alarm is triggered by pushing two buttons on either side of the phone. The handset then speed dials an emergency centre while recording pictures and sounds of the surrounding events for transmission to a pre-arranged location. GPS technology integrated into the phone automatically keeps track of the victim's location.

HARDWARE... 

• CPU - AMD vs Intel and ATI vs Nvidia in 3D Mark 2006 / A survey of 40 Intel and AMD processors
• Motherboard - ATX Foxconn 6150K8MA (AMD64) / ECS PF5 Extreme (1) / ECS PF22 Extreme (2) / EVGA nForce4 SLI ATX Intel Motherboard / MSI P4N Diamond nForce4 SLI X16
• Memory - Crucial Ballistix GB (2*512) Kit / OCZ PC2-5400 EL Gold / OCZ EL DDR2 PC2-4200 Gold GX XTC
• Storage - Hawking Technologies HNAS1 Net-Stor Network Storage Center / GeIL DAViD 100 Series Dual Channel USB Pen Drive / X-Micro Mini DisGO 20GB Portable Hard Drive
• Video - ASUS and Gigabyte Geforce 7300GS PCI-E 128MB / ATI RADEON X1800 XT CrossFire Edition / Club 3D Radeon X1900 XTX  / Gigabyte GeForce 7300 GS PCIe 128MB / HIS Radeon X1800 XT 512MB OC Edition / HIS X1600XT IceQ Turbo DL-DVI, DVI 256MB / MSI RX1800XT-VT2D512E (Radeon X1800 XT 512MB) / PowerColor Radeon X1900 XT 512MB / Sapphire Radeon X1800 XT 512MB (Normal/Platinum Edition) / XGI Volari 8300
• Video ATI 1900 launch - AnandTech / Beyond3D / bit-tech.net / Digit-Life / DriverHeaven / FiringSquad / Guru3D / HardOCP / Hexus / HotHardware / LegitReviews / NeoSeeker / PC Perspective / SiliconFactor / T-Break / Tech Report / THG / TweakTown
• Monitor/TV - DoubleSight DS-1900 Dual LCD / Sony Bravia KDLS40A12U LCD TV
• Cooling - 5.25" bay system cooler with silent 12cm fan / AMD Athlon 64 Stock Heatsink with 4 Heat Pipes / Coolermaster Susurro Athlon 64 Heatsink / Coolink Swif Silent Fan / Scythe Ninja Plus CPU Cooling / Thermaltake Blue Orb CPU Cooler
• Case - I-Star Nitro AX S-10000 Full Tower Case / Micro ATX Case Shootout / Raidmax RX-9 ATX Gaming Case / SilverStone LC09B Mini-ITX Case / Thermaltake's BTX Form Factor Cases / Xion II ATX PC Case
• Modding - Logisys LED Lazer Lights
• PSU - Cooler Master Real Power 550W Power Supply / PICO-PSU (smallest psu worldwide) / SilverStone Strider 600w ST60F / Zalman ZM460-APS 460W (video-review)
• Sound - Altec Lansing iM616 headphones / Ministry of Sound StikAx
• Peripheral - BlueTake BT510 Bluetooth Mini Mouse & BT009Si Bluetooth USB Adapter / Logitech G5 vs Razer Copperhead gaming mouse comparison  / Logitech diNovo Laptop Keyboard Mouse / Saitek Gamers Keyboard / Xbox 360 Controller (for Windows)
• Miscelanous - Panasonic Oxyride Extreme Power Batteries / Targus Urban Series Messenger Laptop Bag
• Networking - Asus WL-550gE Wireless Router / Hawking Technologies HNAS1 Net-Stor Network Storage Center
• Notebook - MacBook Pro
• Camera, MP3/DVD players/recorders - Nikon D200 / Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T5 Digital Camera || Olive Symphony Media Receiver / SanDisk Sansa m230 512MB MP3 Player
• Phone/PDA - Nokia N90 3G Handset / Orange SPV M5000 / Palm LifeDrive / X-Micro Stereo Media Phone (Bluetooth)

GUIDES...

• Setting Up a Portable Office on a USB Drive - To do this all the things you will need are: a USB flash drive (practically any size) and a few minutes. When you get to your destination you will simply need a Windows computer, something which can be found in almost any library, office, hotel, or internet cafe any in the world.
• Running high VDIMM & low VCORE you risk to killing your Athlon 64 CPU - check it out

SOFTWARE...

• The Netscape Browser 8.1 - download
• Damn Small Linux 2.2 RC1 - DSL (download) is a very versatile 50MB mini desktop oriented Linux distribution.
• Winamp 5.2 build 359 Beta - WinAmp supports playback of many audio (MP3, OGG, AAC, WAV, MOD, XM, S3M, IT, MIDI, etc) and video types (AVI,ASF,MPEG,NSV)...
• AM-DeadLink 2.8 Beta 1 - AM-DeadLink (downloads) detects dead links and duplicates in your Browser Bookmarks. If a Bookmark has become unavailable you can verify it in the internal preview and delete it from your Browser. Additionally you can download FavIcons for all your Favorites and Bookmarks.
• Blender 2.41 - Blender, the open source software for 3D modeling, animation, rendering, post-production, interactive creation and playback.
• GAIM 2.0.0 Beta 2 - Gaim (download) is a multi-protocol instant messaging client for Linux, BSD, MacOS X, and Windows. It is compatible with AIM (Oscar and TOC protocols), ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, and Zephyr networks
• DC++ 0.6811 - DC++ (download) is an open source C++ client for the Direct Connect protocol. Direct Connect allows you to share files over the Internet without restrictions or limits.
• Skype 2.0.0.76 - Skype (download) uses P2P (peer-to-peer) technology to connect you to other users. Not to share files, but to talk with them for free.
• ATITool 0.25 Beta 12 - ATITool is an overclocking utility designed for ATI and Nvidia video cards
• XTreme-G 83.20.v2 - This set started out as a Laptop driver from ASUS with International language files and has been modded into the latest XTreme-G modded Forceware driver.
• [!] Creative Sound Blaster Audigy, Audigy 2 and Audigy 4 series Driver 02.08.0004  - Creative has released new Soundblaster drivers for its family of sound cards (Audigy series). Download: Driver v.2.08.0004 for Sound Blaster Audigy, Audigy 2 and Audigy 4 (34.26MB) / Creative MediaSource DVD v.2.00.75 for Audigy 2 and Audigy 4 (20.3MB)