SECURITY...

• Virus infecting Neo-Nazi political spams circulating on the Web - Sober.q, an email virus that sends neo-Nazi spam, has attacked thousands of computers last week and has been circulating over the Web ever since. Targeting email addresses stored on infected computers, the virus sends messages that contain links to news stories with topics that ‘smells of right-wing political rhetoric’, said security specialist McAfee Inc’s Vincent Gullotto. Some of the email messages have links to a Web site that tries to infect the computers of those visiting the site. According to Gullotto, Sober.q is the most successful variant of the Sober family of viruses.
• Malicious Bots Hide Using Rootkit Code - Computer viruses and remote control programs called bots are adopting features from stealthy programs called rootkits to avoid detection, according to researchers at Finnish anti-virus software company F-Secure. New versions of Rbot, a malicious and ubiquitous remote control program, have features copied and pasted from a well known open-source rootkit called FU. The new features make Rbot invisible to system monitoring tools.
• Commwarrior virus marches on -The cell phone virus Commwarrior recently surfaced in Italy, in a sign that destructiveness of the Symbian OS nemesis is reaching a boil after simmering for months. As feared, the virus is showing its propensity for spreading. Italy is the third nation in only three weeks to suffer Commwarrior attacks, according to security experts F-Secure. The other nations are India and Oman.
• Security Update for MSN Messenger 6.1 or 6.2 (KB890261) - A security issue has been identified that could allow an attacker to compromise your Windows-based system and gain control over it. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft
• Apache HTDigest Realm Command Overflow (Exploit) - htdigest is "a utility included with Apache Web Server, useful to create and update usernames, realms and passwords for digest authentication of HTTP users". Due improper testing of bounds by the htdigest program, an attacker that is able to invoke the program can cause it to execute arbitrary code.

OFFTOPIC...

• Nuclear battery will last 10 years - US researchers have claimed a breakthrough that promises nuclear battery technology with a lifespan measured in decades. The project, which is in development at the US University of Rochester, has demonstrated an enhanced fabrication method that "in its roughest form" is already 10 times more efficient than current nuclear batteries.
• Manufactured diamonds move closer to nature - Researchers at the Carnegie Institute have come up with a way to produce 10-carat diamonds measuring a half-inch thick that are also colorless, an attribute that has bedeviled diamond makers until now. Manufactured diamonds--which some believe could play a large part in the industrial and jewelry market--are generally produced through the so-called high pressure/high temperature (HPHT) method, similar to how diamonds are created in nature.
• Star Wars Ends With Solid Sith - Aside from a number of impressive set pieces (the movie's got light-saber showdowns galore), Sith's best feature is that it finally answers all those nagging questions about the galaxy from long, long ago, particularly about the role of the clones/stormtroopers in the future Emperor's monumental conspiracy to gain power. Here we get to see exactly how the clone wars go down, what happens to the Jedi, how the Republic turns into the Empire, and how earnest Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) plays the ultimate pawn in all of this. It's a long way from Attack of the Clones to A New Hope, but Lucas deserves credit for getting us from point A to point B -- logically (for once), and in just 138 minutes.

TECHNOLOGY...

• Xbox 360 will include built-in Windows Media Center Extender - Microsoft today announced it will release a free software update to Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 that will enable customers to take advantage of the Media Center Extender technologies built into Xbox 360  gaming systems to access and enjoy digital entertainment anywhere in the home. Every Xbox 360 will have Media Center Extender functionality built in and available out of the box.
• Xbox 360 will play old Xbox games - As for backwards compatibility, Microsoft is hedging its bets. Currently, the company is only promising that Xbox 360 will be compatible "top-selling" Xbox games, and not the entire catalog of first generation games. The problem, apparently, is that Xbox 360 runs on a completely different hardware platform than the original Xbox, and Microsoft will have to custom-create software fixes, or shims, that will let Xbox titles run normally on the new system. Continue At Source
• Games Get AIM - AOL today announced a new kit that promises to make it easier to integrate its AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) into video games. The new AOL Messaging Software Developer Kit (SDK) offers developers the opportunity to AIM- or ICQ-enable their games. An integrated buddy list will let gamers see when their friends are online and ping them to play a game. The SDK also allows for IM integration within live play, including game-specific AIM expressions, icons and sounds.
• Creative Xtreme Fidelity claims to make MP3's beat CD quality - The Xtreme Fidelity features a 24-bit DAC, minimum SNR of 110dB and multi channel sound experience on headphones. Its processor is capable of 10k+ MIPS, or 24 times the performance of its predecessor. For gamers, this means that with less audio processing load on the CPU, more processing is spent on the game itself thus leading to faster refresh rates as well as the advantage of more realistic audio.
• IE 7 to take a cue from Firefox - Microsoft has confirmed that its upcoming version of Internet Explorer will include tabbed browsing, a feature made popular by competitors Opera Software and Firefox. In a Microsoft blog, IE product unit manager Dean Hachamovitch told consumers not to expect too much from tabbed browsing in IE's beta offering.

HARDWARE... 

• ASUS' Intel 945P Mainboard Supports Multi-GPU Mode - ASUSTeK Computer is showcasing a mainboard based on yet unreleased Intel 945P chipset which is believed to be designed for performance-mainstream PCs. The mainboard has two PCI Express x16 slots and officially supports multi-GPU setups, such as NVIDIA SLI, which, in case such mainboards are affordable enough, will enable platforms supporting two graphics cards for customers in budget.
• PowerNotebooks PowerPro A 2:21 Laptop - While you can configure the the A 2:21 for the most part, the 15.4 inch WSXGA screen is locked in stone, as is the GeForce Go 6600. Otherwise, you have a range of processors from 1.6 to 2.13 Ghz; hardrives starting at 40GBs and going as high as 100; 512MB of RAM to 2 GBs; Combo DVD/CDRW drive or a DVD +/- R/RW drive, and a spare bay you can use for an additional battery or hardrive. Oh, and the Arctic Silver option.
• AMD's Athlon 64 3800+ "Venice" processor - The Venice core typically offers a bit of a performance advantage over the previous Newcastle core, and it does so while consuming less power at idle and under load than any of the processors we've tested alongside it. In some cases, like 3DMark05's CPU test, Sphinx speech recognition, and video encoding with Windows Media Encoder Advanced Profile, the Venice version of the Athlon 64 3800+ even outruns the older-rev Athlon 64 FX-55. Such events may become more common in the future, as SSE3 becomes more widely used.
• OCZ EL PC-3200 Gold Series Dual Channel Kit - I would recommend not getting these if you’re still on the 478 P4 platform though, unless you have some massive voltage available for your VDIMM. Considering that you can pick a set of these up for about $200 bucks, they are also very competitively priced.
• EPoX 9NPA+ Ultra (nForce 4 Ultra AMD) Motherboard - EPoX has done a pretty good job with the 9NPA+ Ultra, with only a few design layout flaws, Twektown recommends this motherboard as one of the better non-SLI AMD configurations which they have tested so far.
• BFG GeForce 6800 Ultra OC 512MB - If it indeed turns out that the performance seen herein is what you can expect from a 512MB GeForce 6800 Ultra, BFG has a tough sell on its hands at an MSRP of $999. Out of the box overclocking is exciting, as are BFG’s warranty, tech support program, and accessory bundle. But even after ratcheting our test bed’s resolution up to 1980x1200, there is still no discernable difference between the 512MB and 256MB GeForce 6800 Ultra cards in the tests run herein.
• ASPIRE X-QPACK-AL/420 Black/Silver Aluminum MicroATX Case w/ 420W PSU - At 420 watts and a 25 amp +5 volt rail, this power supply should be plenty good enough for all but the most demanding systems and a power cord is included. I wasn't able to get any other specs for this PSU, but I assume it lacks PFC and other features desirable in a higher-end power supply.
• I.Tech Bluetooth Virtual Keyboard - Looking like an extra terrestrial black monolith may be part of what makes the i-Tech cool, but it's actually the functionality that's the really cool part. Stand the i-Tech on a desk/table/any flat surface and press the button on the side - instantly the image of a keyboard will be thrown onto the surface in front of it. Press the button again and the keyboard disappears - magic! Of course just having a keyboard projected onto your desk isn't much use unless you have some kind of device connected to it. Here i-Tech has pulled the stops out and gone for a Bluetooth connection method, allowing the keyboard to be connected to a multitude of devices, without the shackles of any wires.
• Logitech Z-5500 THX Certified Digital Speakers - The Logitech Z-5500 Digital speakers are well designed, and produce jaw dropping high quality sound.
• SonicWALL TZ 150 Wireless - The TZ 150 showcases SonicWALL's experience in security matters to a tee. It may be no bigger than a video cassette but it’s packed full of features that few, if any, vendors can match, let alone beat at this price. Wireless security options are better than most and the Security Gateway Suite upgrade is well worth having for the price. The web content filtering options in particular are far better than those offered by Watchguard and are also geared up to enforce AUPs in the workplace.
• Lite-On LVW-5045 160GB HDD+DVD Recorder - If you aren't quite ready to have a PC in your living room, then a TiVo or other hard drive recorder would make a great DVR (digital video recorder) for you. With its 160GB LVW-5045, Lite-On enters the hard drive recorder market with an affordable offering that has a lot of potential. The LVW-5045 not only features recording to hard drive but also to DVD and CD media, building on the capabilities of the LVW-5005.
• Sony PlayStation 3 coverage - More PS3 coverage can be found on AnandTech, DesignTechnica, Bytesector.

GUIDES... 

• Getting Started with 64-bit Windows - ExtremeTech has posted a Windows XP Professional x64 installation guide.
• A Guide To Audio Cables - Do They Sound Different? - One of the most common questions asked by consumers faced with purchasing cables for their audio or home theater system is, "What is so important about cables anyway?" They can cost as much or more than some of the hardware in the system and to many it is difficult to understand why wire isn't just wire.
• Controlling peer-to-peer applications with Cisco routers - Networks Today has posted a new article about controlling peer-to-peer applications with Cisco routers
• ATI Catalyst 5.5 performance comparison - Check this article for the results.

SOFTWARE...

• Unofficial Windows 98 SE Service Pack 2.0.1 - 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.
• DVD Region+CSS Free 5.85 - DVD Region+CSS Free is an unique, effective DVD tweaking tool. It allows you to watch all region DVDs on any DVD drive even if it has been locked.
• Real Alternative 1.38 - Real Alternative will allow you to play RealMedia files without having to install the official RealPlayer
• FileZilla Server 0.9.8 - FileZilla is a fast FTP and SFTP client for Windows with a lot of features. FileZilla Server is a reliable FTP server
• Hmonitor 4.2.1.3 - Hardware Sensors Monitor (download) has been updated. Hmonitor has much more functions than MotherBoard Monitor, for example, including thermocontrol features and COM/PerfMon API support (quoted from the author). Please check its homepage for additional information. This new version adds suport for Windows 2003 x64 edition (for AMD64/EM64T).
• EVEREST Home Edition v2.00 - EVEREST Home Edition is a freeware hardware diagnostics and memory benchmarking solution for home PC users.
• Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS series x64 driver 2.03.0002 - This standalone driver adds Windows XP Professional x64 Edition support for Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS series internal audio devices.
• NGO nVidia Optimized Driver x64 v2.7671 - The NGO NVIDIA Optimized Driver is a tweaked version of the nVidia Forceware driver. The main purpose is to satisfy the users with a better performance and better image quality. The Driver has support for all Geforce cards. These drivers are for Windows Server 2003 AMD64, Windows Server 2003 IA-64, Windows XP AMD64, Windows XP IA-64. This release is for the 64 bit versions of Windows only !
• NGO nVidia Optimized Driver v1.7300 - The NGO nVidia Optimized Driver is a tweaked version of the nVidia Forceware driver. The main purpose is to satisfy the users with a better performance and better image quality. The Driver has support for all Geforce cards. These drivers are modified Forceware drivers, meaning they are NOT supported or endorsed by nVidia, or any 3rd party OEM manufacturers.
• MATROX Parhelia, Millennium drivers 1.09.01 - This driver supports Parhelia 128MB/256MB AGP, Parhelia PCi 256MB, Millennium P650, Millennium P750, Millennium P650 PCIe, the QID series boards, G550 Low-Profile, G450MMS and Millennium G450.