SECURITY... 

• Hackers publish code for critical IE bug - Security experts are warning Internet users to be careful where they click, thanks to a nasty unpatched bug in the way Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer browser handles the JavaScript computer language. The bug is of particular concern because security researchers in the U.K. have now published "proof of concept" code showing how hackers could exploit the problem and possibly take over a Windows system.
• Google fixes glitch that unleashed flood of porn - With the filter turned off, the amount of adult content on Google Base was staggering considering Google only launched the tool a week ago. A News.com search on the terms "XXX" and "XXX webcam" turned up more than 14,000 results each, including numerous listings under "XXX teen webcam." Several bloggers were also surprised by the amount of porn on the new service.
• Macromedia Flash Plugin Buffer Overflow - A buffer overflow vulnerability discovered in Macromedia Flash Plugin ActiveX, the following exploit code can used to determine whether your system is vulnerable or not.
• Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) - Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) is a security technology that helps protect Windows users from spyware and other potentially unwanted software. Known spyware on your PC can be detected and removed.
• Sober variant causes new security hangover - The latest virus epidemic continues apace, with F-Secure raising its threat-level to one, and Sophos reporting that more than 5 per cent of email traffic infected by the latest variant of the Sober worm.
• AirMagnet's WLAN analyzer goes remote - Laptop Analyzer 6.0 allows remote scanning over any LAN or Internet connection and can run on a Centrino-equipped laptop without a separate Wi-Fi card.
• Gartner: piece of tape defeats any CD DRM - The highly controversial XCP digital rights management (DRM) technology bundled by Sony BMG on 52 of its audio CD albums can be defeated by applying a small piece of tape to the discs, according to analyst firm Gartner. Applying a piece of opaque tape to the outer edge of the disk renders the data track of the CD unreadable. A computer trying to play the CD will then skip to the music without accessing the bundled DRM technology."

CRIME/LAW...

• BitTorrent Creator and MPAA Reach an Agreement - In a deal aimed at reducing illegal Internet traffic in pirated films, Hollywood reached an agreement Tuesday with the creator of the popular file-sharing software BitTorrent. The agreement requires 30-year-old software designer Bram Cohen to prevent his Web site, bittorrent.com, from locating pirated versions of popular movies, effectively frustrating people who search for illegal copies of films. BitTorrent must remove Web links leading to illegal content owned by the seven studios that are members of the Motion Picture Association of America.
• Texas Sues Sony Over Rootkit - Under its new anti-spyware law, the State of Texas has sued Sony BMG Music Entertainment, on the grounds that its much-maligned XCP anti-piracy software included on numerous recent releases has left customers' computers open to attacks.
• IFPI files 2,100 lawsuits against P2P users across the world -  The IFPI has filed 2,100 lawsuits against P2P users across 3 cotenants. The IFPI has filed action against P2P users in Europe, Asia and for the very first time SouthAmerica.

OFF-TOPIC

• Untelevised Xbox 360 ad hits the web - The untelevised Zero Hour ad for the 360 has been spread on the web, and you can now check it out via this mirror and torrent. (thanks Joystique)
• Scientists discover singing iceberg - Sound waves from the iceberg had a frequency of around 0.5 hertz, too low to be heard by humans, but by playing them at higher speed the iceberg sounded like a swarm of bees or an orchestra warming up, the scientists said.
• More CO2 Now Than Past 650K Years - There is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today than at any point during the last 650,000 years, says a major new study that let scientists peer back in time at "greenhouse gases" that can help fuel global warming.

TECHNOLOGY...

• Maxell to offer 300GB holographic discs 'late 2006' - Maxell will ship its first holographic storage system late next year, the company has pledged. The storage specialist will initially offer a removable system based on 300GB media and capable of transfering data at a rate of 20MBps, Maxell said. However, the company said the technology, designed by InPhase Technologies, is capable of achieving 1.6TB per disk - and that's uncompressed capacity - with a 120MBps bandwidth.
• DVD Forum Rubber Stamps Rewriteable HD DVD Formats - Re-recordable HD DVD discs will be branded 'HD DVD-RW', the DVD Forum confirmed at its most recent steering committe last week. But in a move which would seem to be calculated to win support from as many firms as possible, the Forum also said re-writeable discs will be branded 'HD DVD-RAM'. They were originally supposed to be called 'HD DVD-RW'.
• Microsoft loses $126 per Xbox 360 sold - BusinessWeek has the breakdown on how much it costs for Microsoft to make an Xbox 360 - and the numbers aren't pretty.
• Xbox 360 launch marred by unit stability problems - Screenshots are available at Xbox-Scene, and a video of the crash can be downloaded here. Coverage is also available at 1UP and Arstechnica, for those of you who want to stay abreast of the situation. Remember, however, that there's no proof that the Xbox 360 has a widespread problem or issue. (thanks TechReport)
• Microsoft Reports Isolated Xbox 360 Glitches -  Microsoft said Wednesday it had received isolated reports of technical problems with its popular new Xbox 360. Spokeswoman O'Donnell urges anyone with Xbox problems to call 1-800-4myXbox or go to http://www.xbox.com. If the problems can't be resolved immediately, Microsoft said it will pay to ship the console overnight to a repair center, overnight it back once it's fixed, or ship a replacement.
• AMD to Intro Brand for Multimedia Computers - AMD is set to introduce a special brand-name for entertainment-oriented personal computers (PCs) running certain chips from the company as well as certain chipsets from the manufacturer's partners among core-logic designers.
• Ageia PhysX cards not quite ready yet - A source close to ASUS forwarded our attention to a few images of the actual PhysX expansion card online, but confirmed that the cards depicted in those images were not functional. Moreover, the source said, ASUS will debut the card in February 2006 when more games become available to take advantage of AGEIA's innovation. Apparently the manufacturer, ASUS, feels that the market isn't ready for the card yet. With all the Xbox 360 buzz around at the moment, it's not suprising they feel this way. The fact that they've apparently had very little support from game developers probably didn't help either.
• Apple to Launch "Black Friday" Sale & MS Office Promotion - The promotion which will offer special deals on select Apple merchandise is being held both in Apple retail stores and online. Apple has also launched a special Apple Store Microsoft Office promotion which offers mail-in rebates and discounts of up to 50% on Microsoft Office products. The Apple Store Microsoft Office promotion is good through January 31st, 2006.
• Microsoft to Standardize Office Formats - The company, which dominates the market for desktop productivity software, plans to hand over the technical specifications of Office 12 file formats to ECMA early next month.

HARDWARE... 

• Motherboard  - Epox EP-8NPA SLI / EPoX EP-9NPA+ SLI vs. Tyan Tomcat K8E (in German) / Sapphire Pure Innovation PI-A9RX480
• Complete / SFF Systems - Alienware Aurora ALX system / Dell XPS 600 - SLI
• Memory - Corsair TWINX 2048-4000 memory / GeIL Ultra PC2-5300 DDR2-667 / GeIL ONE Winbond BH5 1GB Dual Channel Kit / OCZ EB DDR PC-4000 1024MB Platinum Edition memory / OCZ EL DDR PC-3200 Gold GX XTC Dual Channel memory  / OCZ Rally 512MB USB Flash Drive / OCZ EL DDR PC-3500 Gold GX memory
• Storage - Western Digital Raptor WD740GD / Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB HDD / Bytecc Backup Star One-Touch Backup External Enclosure || Lexar JumpDive Secure II 'File Shredder' drive / OCZ Rally 512MB USB Flash Drive ||  Toshiba 6x burn speed dual layer drive (Model SD-R5472)
• Video - Asus EN7800GT 2DHTV-256M-OSP-A / Asus GeForce EN7800 GT / ATI All-In-Wonder X1800 XL(1) / ATI All-In-Wonder X1800XL (2) / EVGA e-GeForce 7800 GT CO / HIS X800GTO IceQ II Turbo PCI-Express / NVIDIA 7800GTX 512MB / Sapphire Radeon X800 GTO² / XFX GeForce 7800 GTX 512MB DDR3 XXX Edition(1) / XFX GeForce 7800 GTX 512 XXX Edition (2) || Overclocking the 512MB 7800GTX
• Monitor - ViewSonic N3250w 32 Inch LCD TV
• Cooling - Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU AMD64 cooler / Arctic Cooling ATI Silencer 5 VGA cooler / Lighted Blue Card Cooler XT / MIPS RAM Freezer / Nikao Dragonfire Case / SilverStone FN81 and FN82 fans / Tuniq Tower 120 CPU Cooler / Zalman CNPS9500 LED High Performance Quiet CPU Cooler (video-review)
• Watercooling - 5-Way Radiator Round-Up (Part 1) / Thermaltake Big Water SE cooler
• Case - Antec P150 Case / Antec P180 Case / Silverstone LC16M HTPC case / Silverstone LC17 HTPC case  / PrimoChill X-QPack H2O SFF case / Voyeurmods X-QPack H2O Case / Zalman TNN300 Fanless Aluminum Chassis
• Modding - Matrix Orbital MX610 Front Panel
• Sound - Creative T6060 5.1 speaker system
• PSU - Cooler Master RealPower 550W / Coolmax CXI-600B PSU / Ultra X-Finity 500W ATX Power Supply
• Peripheral - Logitech G7 Laser Cordless Mouse / Logitech G5 Gaming Mouse / Razer Green Copperhead Gaming Mouse / Saitek Eclipse Illuminated Keyboard
• Network - ZyXEL ZyAIR AG-225H WiFi Finder
• Printer - HP Photosmart 422 printer & digital camera bundle
• Notebook - Panasonic ToughBook CF-29 Rugged Notebook
• Cameras, MP3/DVD players/recorders -Kodak CX7530 5.0MP Digital Camera / Olympus SP-350 8 Mpixel digital camera / Samsung SC-M105 Miniket 6 in 1 Multifunctional Digital Camcorder ||  Cowon iAudio X5 (20GB) Media Player / Oakely Thump 2 MP3 Sunglasses / X-Micro Mini DisGo 20 GB
• Misc - Compro VideoMate U900 - Tiny USB TV Box / SV411KA KVM switch / Vantec NexStar GX USB2.0 Hub & HDD Enclosure / Xbox 360 /  Xbox 360 Fan Stand
• Phones/PDAs - LG VX-8100 / Palm Z22 Handheld / Sony Ericsson W600i

GUIDES...

• Mobile GPU Comparison Guide Rev. 4.2 - Currently covering over 40 mobile GPUs, this comprehensive comparison will allow you to easily compare 14 different specifications for each and every GPU.
• Buying Guides - Holiday 2005 Gifts at DesignTechnica / The 12 Days of Christmas Bona Fide Style at BonaFideReviews
• Digital Signal Processing Explained - It happens that many people have no idea what Digital Signal Processing means, although they hear more and more often these words, today.
• Emergency Spyware Guide - Is your computer slowing down? Are you getting unsolicited ads? Or are you being redirected to unknown sites? If so, please continue to read on because I'm going to show you how to remove them and how to prevent it from happening again.
• How Chips are Manufactured - Learn how chips like microprocessors, video processors, memories, chipsets etc are manufactured.

SOFTWARE...

• phpMyAdmin 2.7.0-rc1 - phpMyAdmin can manage a whole MySQL-server (needs a super-user) but also a single database. To accomplish the latter you`ll need a properly set up MySQL-user who can read/write only the desired database.
• Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware 1.0.701 (Beta) - Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) is a security technology that helps protect Windows users from spyware and other potentially unwanted software.
• Microsoft Power Toys (with a couple of new ones) - Download these 14 power tools separately or as a package. They now include Color Control Panel Applet, SyncToy, RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer, ClearType Tuner, HTML Slide Show Wizard, Open Command Window Here, Alt-Tab Replacement, the fabulous Tweak UI, Power Calculator, Image Resizer, CD Slide Show Generator, Virtual Desktop Manager, Taskbar Magnifier, and Webcam Timershot.
• Opera 8.51 - Opera's latest release addresses the security issue in the Flash Player (thanks NeoNSX)
• AIM Triton 1.0.2 Final - AOL AIM Triton is the next generation release of AOL Instant Messenger. It is an all new user experience with an elegant, tabbed look and feel.
• KoolMoves 5.1.4 - KoolMoves (download) is web animation software that creates Flash movies and frames for animated gifs. It is powerful yet easy to learn and easy to use.
• Azureus 2.3.0.6 - Azureus (download) offers multiple torrent downloads, queuing/priority systems (on torrents and files), start/stop seeding options and instant access to numerous pieces of information about your torrents.
• BitTorrent 4.2.0 Final - Another original BitTorrent release (download / changelog)
• µTorrent 1.2.1 - µTorrent is an efficient and feature rich BitTorrent client for Windows sporting a very small footprint.
• Google Toolbar for Firefox 1.0.20051104 - When the Google Toolbar (download) is installed, it automatically appears along with the Firefox toolbar. This means you can quickly and easily use Google to search from any website location, without returning to the Google home page to begin another search.
• CCleaner v1.26.218 - CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history.
• MemTest 3.3 - MemTest is a RAM reliability tester. It evaluates the ability of your computer's memory to store and retrieve data.
• Logitech G5 Laser Mouse Firmware Update v1.1  - Logitech has released a firmware update to their recently launched G5 laser mouse, targeted at gamers. This update allows the G5 to track on more surfaces.
• NVIDIA nTune Performance Application 3.00.14.05 - With NVIDIA nTune your system can automatically adjust to maximum performance settings for intense gaming or will detect that you’ve inserted a DVD and will set the system to quiet operation. This intelligent application offers the safest way to change bus speeds, memory timings, and even tweak voltages.
• Official VIA Hyperion Pro drivers v5.06a - VIA Tech has posted new, updated set of VIA Hyperion Pro set (release notes) of chipset drivers.