SECURITY...

• Mobile Phone Virus Found in United States - The world's first mobile phone virus "in the wild" has spread to the United States from its birthplace in the Philippines eight months ago, a security research firm said on Friday. The virus, called Cabir, has spread slowly into 12 countries and marks the beginning of the mobile phone virus era, which could one day disrupt the lives of many of the world's 1.5 billion mobile phone users.
• Another Form of Encryption Goes Down for the Count - The findings are that SHA-1 is not collision free and can be broken in 2^69 attempts instead of 2^80. This is about 2000 times faster. With todays computing power and Moores Law, a SHA-1 hash does not last too long. Using a modified DES Cracker, for the small sum of up to $38M, SHA-1 can be broken in 56 hours, with current computing power. The scope of the problem is enormous. Virtually all application and server software that incorporates SHA-1 into its functions--including Web browsers, e-mail clients, instant messaging programs, secure shell clients, and file- and disk-encryption software--will need to be replaced or upgraded.
• Yahoo! Messenger File Transfer Filename Spoofing - Secunia Research has discovered a vulnerability in Yahoo! Messenger, which can be exploited by malicious people to trick users into executing malicious files. The problem is that files with long filenames are not displayed correctly in the file transfer dialogs. This can be exploited to trick users into accepting and potentially executing malicious files. Solution: Update to version 6.0.0.1921.
• Multiple vulnerabilities in Glftpd v1.26 - v2.00 default zip - The exploit is not in glftpd itself, instead inside a suite of zip based plug-ins that come with the glftpd package by default, these plug-ins are widely used in installations of glftpd. This advisory will focus on the plugin sitenfo.sh, a script to allow users
  to read .nfo and .diz files from within zip archives("SITE NFO" by default). Although the exploits are synonymous with all the .sh scripts listed above. Due to improper input validation several flaws exist in the script that can allow for unprivileged access to files within the glftpd chroot and information disclosure of private files. (thanks Paul Craig)
• Phishing hole found in IE and OE - Another major vulnerability has been found in Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. The flaw is in the way that these applications can be manipulated in simple HTML code to display an URL other than the one specified in a link, to be displayed in the status bar.
• Experts beat script kiddies at their own game - Script kiddies could be easier to defeat than at first thought, security experts have claimed. Iain Thomson at the RSA Conference in San Francisco explained that hackers would formerly spend time investigating specific systems, spending hours researching their targets, going through office litter to find information and then launching attacks based on that background work. In contrast, today's script kiddies simply download tools from the internet and scan automatically to try and find vulnerable systems, finding targets of opportunity rather than tackling specific companies.

OFF-TOPIC...

• NASA Plans Discovery Launch May 15 - More than two years after losing the space shuttle Columbia and its seven crew, NASA said Friday it has set May 15 as its target date for once again launching shuttles into space.
• The Top 100 Gadgets of All Time - Whether they're strapped to our belts, sitting on our desks, or jammed in an overstuffed closet, we absolutely love our gadgets.
• Study Points to Sixth Sense in Humans - While some scientists discount the existence of a sixth sense for danger, new research from Washington University in St. Louis has identified a brain region that clearly acts as an early warning system -- one that monitors environmental cues, weighs possible consequences and helps us adjust our behavior to avoid dangerous situations.
• Huge "star-quake" rocks Milky Way - Astronomers say they have been stunned by the amount of energy released in a star explosion on the far side of our galaxy, 50,000 light-years away. The flash of radiation on 27 December was so powerful that it bounced off the Moon and lit up the Earth's atmosphere.
  The blast occurred on the surface of an exotic kind of star - a super-magnetic neutron star called SGR 1806-20. If the explosion had been within just 10 light-years, Earth could have suffered a mass extinction, it is said.
• Reno 911 goes fantasy - FiringSquad posted a funny downloadable video clip (3.3 MB ~ WMV).
• Paranormal Photography - This website offers some Paranormal Photos and Videos.
• Cameras Capture Oxnard Train Accident -  A man who set up videocameras near an Oxnard rail crossing to gather evidence in a traffic dispute inadvertently captured dramatic footage of a passenger train slamming into a semitrailer loaded with strawberries, authorities said Thursday.
• Gibson says her Playboy pics better than Tiffany's - Eighties pop music sensation Debbie "Shake Your Love" Gibson says she's still hotter than longtime rival Tiffany. And skeptics need only eyeball the March issue of Playboy to see why.

TECHNOLOGY...

• Firefox breaks 25 million downloads in less than 100 days - On February 15th, exactly 99 days after it was released, Firefox 1.0 smashed through the 25 million download milestone.
• Are Wine Users Just "Whining" About Microsoft's Anti-Piracy Plans? - Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) program has had its share of critics. But this week, a number of open-source advocates joined the ranks of those questioning Microsoft's methods for thwarting software piracy.
  On Wednesday, a developer of Wine, an open-source implementation of the Windows application-programming interface that allows Windows applications to run on Unix and Linux, said he discovered that Microsoft's Windows validation tool checks for Wine and generates an error when it is found.
• Typing Style Can Be Password - The way you type is as unique as your eye color or speech patterns and can be used instead of a password to protect your computer, researchers at Louisiana Tech and Penn State say.
• Microsoft Smartphone with QVGA display - MSMobiles.com has posted the first photos of Microsoft Smartphone that has QVGA display, i.e. 240x320 pixels, instead of usual 176x220 pixels.
• Intel promises light-speed computing - According to the chip giant, the technology could bring relatively inexpensive, high-quality lasers and optical devices to mainstream use in computing, communications and medical applications. The breakthrough centres on using the so-called Raman effect and silicon's crystalline structure to amplify light as it passes through the material. When infused with light from an external source the chip produces a continuous, high-quality laser beam.

HARDWARE... 

• Archos hits 100GB for portable video player - The company announced on Friday its Pocket Video Recorder AV4100, as well as $50 price cuts to other devices in its AV400 series. The AV4100 will cost $800 and will be available in retail stores by the end of February. The 20GB AV420 now costs $500, and the 80GB AV480 costs $750. The devices can play back MP3, WMA or WAV files.
• Intel Pentium 4 EE 3.74 to arise on Feb 21st - Intel decided to introduce this CPU on the 20th/21st of February. This new member will feature 2MB of L2 cache.
• ATI's Radeon X800 256MB and Radeon X850 PRO - They're effectively the same GPU, built on different process nodes at TSMC, ATI's discrete GPU fabricator. Both are natively PCI Express, both have four fragment quads (groups of four fragment units), a sextuplet of vertex units to feed them, a 256-bit wide memory bus and all the core R4xx series technologies that define ATI's latest parts. That includes support for anti-aliasing at ever higher resolutions, 16X angle-adaptive anisotropic texture filtering and bilinear texture samplers (one per fragment unit), to name just a few.
• Gigabyte 3D1 (2xGeForce 6600GT) and K8NXP-SLI Motherboard - What suggested the idea to combine two GeForce 6600GT processors on a single PCB? The product will require a motherboard with SLI anyway! I have been thinking hard about the expedience of such a solution, and nothing but marketing and advertising considerations crossed my mind.
• Abit Fatal1ty AA8XE - This motherboard, based on the i925XE chipset for LGA775 Pentium 4 processors, has a very complete feature set and an excellent array of overclocking options.
• Trinity PC6600U - PC Stats takes a look at the latest 6600 variant by Albatron, the Trinity GeForce PC6600U.
• Western Digital's WD3200JB: 320 GB - The drive also offers very good performance as well, as its data transfer rates can be compared to those of the WD320 Raptor. The 36GB Raptor still offers a higher minimal transfer rate and lower seek times, but other than that the 320GB Caviar SE combines the performance comparable of the first 10,000 rpm drive with the pleasanter general framework of a 7,200 rpm drive.
• Philips unveils 16x DVD writer with LightScribe support - DVDR16LSK is the model name of Philips' first DVD writer featuring support for LightScribe. In case you somehow have missed what LightScribe is, it's a technology developed by HP that makes it possible to burn a label on specially coated discs using the DVD writer's laser. Besides burning nice labels the DVDR16LSK also supports writing 2.4x DVD+R DL, 16x/4x DVD+R/RW, 8x/4x DVD-R/RW and 40x/24x CD-R/RW.
• Wireless Trust Televiewer V2 - Xtreme Computing has posted a review of  the Wireless Trust Televiewer V2.
• Zalman VF700-AlCu - Taking a look at another VGA cooling solution from Zalman, the VF700-AlCu has a lot to offer in terms of performance and noise reduction. Overclocking was no problem for this unit...

GUIDES... 

• America's Army Tweak Guide Version 2.3 - TweakGuides.com has updated their America's Army Tweak Guide.
• 17 Inch LCD Display Buyer's Guide - The Buyer's Guide is going to take a look at some of the many 17" LCD display out there so as to help consumers learn a little bit and get a point to start from. The selection of 17" LCDs is almost unlimited so this is easier said than done, but if you know what you are looking for its not as daunting a task as it may seem.

SOFTWARE...

• GameVision SDK 2005  - Big Daddy Games announced the release of the GameVision SDK 2005, offering a 2D rendering API for Windows that's aimed specifically at 3d hardware using Direct3D.
• Love Invaders 1.0i - Love Invaders is a free retro game in which you may re-enact the famous "battle of '78" in space with your alien friends. It is simple to play, in classic style. Love Invaders supports systems with correctly-configured OpenGL
• xprobe2 v0.2.2 - Xprobe2 is a remote active operating system fingerprinting tool which uses advanced techniques, some which where first to be introduced with Xprobe2, such as the usage of statistical analysis ("fuzzy logic") to match between probe response(s) to its signature database and others, in order to provide with accurate results regarding the underlying operating system of a probed element(s).
• MySQL 4.1.10 - MySQL (changelog / download) is the world`s most popular open source database, recognized for its speed and reliability.
• AVG Free Edition 7.300 Build 456 - AVG Free Edition is designed and made available for individual home PC use and may not be used in business, commercial or organizational environments.
• Pimpzilla theme Firefox - Pimpzilla is a theme for the browser Firefox. It's also probably the most tacky & overdone piece of GUI design out there, aimed solely for true internet-connaisseurs. If you are into fur and lot's of bling, this is the theme for you.
• FileZilla Server 0.9.5 - FileZilla (download) is a fast FTP and SFTP client for Windows with a lot of features.
• World Wind 1.2e - Zoom from satellite altitude into any place on Earth ~ download
• ICQ 5.03 - A new version/build of ICQ client (changelog) is available.
• Gaim 1.1.3 - Gaim 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.
• DVD Region+CSS Free/LiTE v5.70 - DVD Region+CSS Free enables you to watch and copy any region code DVD movies on any DVD drive! It works in the background to make DVDs appear region free and unprotected for DVD player and copy software automatically.
• The Codecs 2.7 - This version (lite / full) includes the following codecs: Divx (5) Free, DivX ;-) MPEG-4 Video (Fast&Low), XviD Koepi's build, ffdshow filter, Intel I.263 Video Driver, Huffyuv lossless video codec, AC3Filter (Audio), MPEG Layer-3 Audio Codec, InterVideo Audio Decoder, Moonlight Odio Dekoda, Ogg Vorbis Filter, and MM Stream Switcher.
• SpeedFan 4.21 - SpeedFan is a freeware program that monitors fan speeds, temperatures and voltages in computers with hardware monitoring chips. SpeedFan can even access S.M.A.R.T. info and show hard disk temperatures too, if supported
• NiBiTor v2.0 - Extremetheme has just released a new version of NVIDIA BIOS Editor (NiBiTor) software. This tool allows users to tune and edit the NVIDIA GeForce BIOS. This to gain some extra performance and stability on the NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards.
• NVIDIA nForce RAID driver 5.06 - ASUS has released some new nForce RAID drivers (nForce1/2/3 | nForce4). Both are for Windows 2k/XP and Microsoft WHQL Certified.
• nForce2 C0/C1/C2 Cooling Patch V2.1 - Allow nForce2 chipset based motherboards with AMD CPUs to use C2/C1 idle state (S2K bus disconnection without HALT detection) reduce idle/load temperatures by 1-10c degrees!
• Overdrive 67.66 Final (ForceWare 67.66) - These are 3d party modified drivers based on ForceWare 67.66 Changes (67-65 to 67-66) and mainly targeted at the GeForce 4 series. Modified drivers simply means that the author takes official or beta drivers from the manufacturer and starts to tweak them for either better image quality and or performance.