SECURITY...

• Microsoft Security Advisory (904420) MyWife- Microsoft wants to make customers aware of the Mywife mass mailing malware variant named Win32/Mywife.E@mm. The mass mailing malware tries to entice users through social engineering efforts into opening an attached file in an e-mail message. If the recipient opens the file, the malware sends itself to all the contacts that are contained in the system's address book. The malware may also spread over writeable network shares on systems that have blank administrator passwords.
• Nyxem Countdown Begins - Anti-virus companies are advising that everyone scan their machines before February 3, when the destructive virus known as Nyxem will delete a multitude of filetypes. The virus has picked up a few names along the way, and is also known as: Blackmal, MyWife, Kama Sutra, Grew and CME-24. Spread by email attachments promising pornographic material, the virus will wait till the 3rd of each month to wreak its havoc. Once a machine is infected the virus searches email address books for targets, and even other PCs on the local area network. Files will be deleted if they are of the following types: DMP, DOC, XLS, MDB, MDE, PDF, PPS, PPT, PSD, RAR and ZIP.
• Hackers Lurk in AMD's Web Site - Customer support discussion forums on the forums.amd.com site have been compromised and are being used in an attempt to infect visitors with malicious software, an AMD spokesperson confirmed Monday. According to F-Secure's Hypponen, attackers are exploiting a widely reported flaw in the way the Windows operating system renders images that use the WMF (Windows Metafile) graphics format. This flaw was patched on January 5.
• Serious security hole patched in Winamp version 5.13 - Secunia has posted that a nasty, buffer overflow type exploit, was discovered in recent versions of Winamp 5. It is highly recommended that if you are using this software, to head on over to FileForum and snag the update 5.13, which states: Fixed [in_mp3] extremely critical security vulnerability.
• Microsoft Readies Second Anti-Spyware Beta - Windows Defender Beta 2 will add support for Outlook, a new interface, and automated updates to the spyware definitions and scanning engine. Where Beta 1 has been available only for Windows XP, Beta 2 will run on other Windows versions.
• Microsoft's OneCare offers malware loophole - The firewall in Microsoft's forthcoming OneCare security suite fails to stop two potentially harmful data streams, security expert Roger Grimes has alleged.

CRIME/LAW...

• Software file sharers next to be sued in the UK - Ten internet service providers have been ordered to hand over the details of 150 UK customers accused of illegally sharing software.  The High Court order follows a 12-month covert investigation by the Federation Against Software Theft (Fast). Among the internet providers are BT, NTL, Telewest and Tiscali. Over the next two weeks, they are expected to provide the names, addresses and other personal details of the alleged file-sharers.
• France: Warner music ordered to pay fine for DRM use - Just before the French Parliament begins the new examination of the P2P French Bill on February 8th, proponents of the "Private Copying Exception" have achieved a new victory : on January 10th, Paris District Court ruled against the presence of DRM mechanisms on Warner Music's "Testify" CD from Phil Collins. Warner Music will have to pay 59,50 euros in remedies for the plaintiff's damages, and 5000 euros as a punitive fine.
• AT&T sued over NSA spy program - The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in San Francisco's federal district court, charges that AT&T has opened its telecommunications facilities up to the NSA and continues to "to assist the government in its secret surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans."
• Politicians deface Wikipedia - However, Wikipedia editors have compiled a list of more than 1,000 edits made by Internet addresses allocated to the US Senate and House of Representatives. Apparently they are so childish that Wikipedia has blocked the US Senate and House of Representatives IP addresses.

OFF-TOPIC

• Google stumbles with first earnings miss - The company posted fourth-quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates, although revenue, at $1.29 billion, rose from the same period a year ago and was in line with expectations. In after-hours trade on Tuesday, however, the stock fell as much as 19 percent, a loss of more than $24 billion in market value, before easing later in the day. The stock was trading at $381.50, down nearly 12 percent, at 5:38 p.m. PST.
• Thirsty People Feel More Pain - Being thirsty makes you more sensitive to pain, according to a recent study.
• Tax man uses special computer for Bill Gates - Bill Gates has revealed that the US taxman cannot process his tax return on its standard computers.
  Speaking to a Microsoft conference in Lisbon, Bill said that his fortune was too large and pendulous for the tax office computers. Apparently they just run screaming when they see his bulky dossiers.

TECHNOLOGY...

• Sony Takes Aim at Xbox Live - Sony is apparently readying a strong online service that will meet or exceed the features of Xbox Live.
• OSx86 10.4.4 leaked - As usual, the recovery disc is being seeded via torrent on a major bit torrent site. The following oh-so-brief note accompanies the .dmg file: This is the Mac OS X 10.4.4 Restore Disc included with all the Intel iMacs. It's unpatched so don't bother trying to install it. No word yet as to the integrity of this file, nor is it known the method with which Apple will keep hackers from breaking their hardware restrictions
• Borland Delphi 2006 preview - Delphi 2006 is not only a bug-fixed version of the previous release, but adds in C++Builder, a Win32 development tool that marries the C++ language to Delphi's Visual Component Library. I won't dive into the sad story of C++Builder X, but enough to say that C++Builder is back; to the delight of C++Builder developers, who finally have an update they can use. For more information visit Borland product page
• EU Had Warned Microsoft that Source Code Release Wouldn't Be Enough  - The "Wall Street Journal" has obtained a confidential document sent from European Union (EU) antitrust regulators to Microsoft last month, warning the software giant that a release of its Windows source code would not meet the EU's requirements. In related news, the European Union's antitrust chief says Microsoft cannot charge licensing fees for software blueprints that it is offering to share with competitors unless it can prove the computer code is innovative.
• Warner Bros. Debuts P2P Service - Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group has announced the formation of a joint venture with arvato mobile, In2Movies - a new digital download platform for the electronic sell-through of motion picture and television.
• Hard cell by Gates? Computer phone - Microsoft founder and Chairman Bill Gates believes cell phones are a better way than laptops to bring computing to the masses in developing nations, according to a published report. The New York Times reports that Craig Mundie, the No. 1 software provider's vice president and chief technology officer, told the paper that both he and Gates believe that turning a specially configured cell phone into a computer by connecting it to a TV and a keyboard is the best way to spread the power of computing..
• GeForce 7600 Series Slated For March Launch - VR-Zone reports that GeForce 7600 GT is 12 pipes and is now at A2 revision. There is another version called the GeForce 7600 GS which is probably 8 pipes similar to the mobile offering. GeForce Go 7600 runs at 450MHz core and 1GHz for memory so we can expect higher clocks for the desktop series. GeForce 7600 GT and GS will be launched a few days after CeBIT so we can expect Mid March timeframe.
• North Dakota Explores Balloon Wireless - North Dakota, former Governor Ed Schafer is backing a plan to loft wireless network repeaters on balloons high above the state to fill gaps in cellular coverage
• Peugeot Citroen to sell diesel hybrids in 2010 - French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen on Tuesday unveiled two demonstration vehicles powered by diesel-hybrid engines and said it wanted to sell tens of thousands of them annually from 2010. The two demonstration cars - a Peugeot 307 and Citroen C4 -- are in the highly competitive compact car segment and their fuel consumption is cut to 3.4 litres per 100 kilometres (69.2 miles per gallon). For the moment, however, the cars are too expensive.

HARDWARE... 

• CPU - CPU Performance Test Procedure 2005 / Pentium Extreme Edition 955
• Motherboard - AOpen I915GM-m-HFS / Asus's A8R-MVP / Foxconn WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS / Gigabyte 8N-SLI Quad Royal
• Complete / SFF Systems - Thermaltake Bach and Mozart HT
• Memory - Corsair TWINX2048-4000PT memory / Corsair TWINX2048-3500LLPRO DDR memory / Mushkin 2GB XP2-5300 3-3-3 Memory / OCZ Gold GX PC3500 XTC 2x512 (translated) / OCZ Gold 1GB PC2-5400 / Team Group Memory Roundup
• Storage - Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 500GB and Western Digital Caviar RE2 400GB Hard Drives / 160GB Seagate Momentus 5400.3 2.5" Hard Drive || ASUS DRW-1608P2 16x DVD±RW / NEC ND-4551A DVD writer || Corsair Secure Digital 133x / Corsair Voyager 4GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive / Toshiba 512MB TransMemory
• Video - ATI All-In-Wonder X1900(1) / All-In-Wonder X1900(2) / All-In-Wonder X1900 PCIe (3) / NVIDIA Quadro FX3400 / PowerColor Theater 550 Pro PCI Express / PowerColor X800GTO16 / Asus EN7800GT Top Silent / Sapphire Radeon X1900 XTX 512MB / Sapphire Radeon X1800XT 512MB / Sapphire Radeon X800GTO2 Limited Edition / Visiontek Radeon X1900XTX
• Monitor/TV - Do You Want a 16:9 LCD Monitor Now? (roundup) / Dell UltraSharp 3007WFP LCD / HP L2335 widescreen LCD display / LG Flatron M1910A - LCD TV/Monitor
• Cooling - Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 / Noctua NH-U9 and NH-U12 CPU coolers  / Noctua NH-U12 AMD & Intel air cooled heatsink / Noctua NH-U9 Heatsink / Sytrin KuFormula VF1 Plus / Thermalright HR-01-775 (video-review) / Titan Vanessa Cooler / Thermaltake Hardcano 14 / Xilence X2 Case
• Case - Antec P180 / Chieftec BH02 Black Case (in German) / Cooler Master CM Media 250 HTPC Case / Cooler Master Ammo 533 case  / Cooler Master Centurion 540 mATX case (1) / Coolermaster Centurion 531 case (2) / NXT Lexa Case / Sansun SN-C001 Bat ATX Case
• Watercooling - Coolermaster Aquagate Mini R80
• Modding - Thermaltake CircleFire Panel
• PSU - Antec Phantom 500W PSU / PC Power & Cooling 1KW PSU / Spire RockeTeerV 500W EZ-Cable / Zalman ZM460-APS Noiseless Power Supply(1) / Zalman ZM460-APS (2)
• Sound - Diamond Multimedia Xtreme Sound 7.1 soundcard || Blueye Cyclops Bluetooth Stereo Headphone
• Peripheral - Logitech MX518/MX1000 / Logitech MX 3100 Desktop / Logitech MX610 Cordless Laser Mouse / Optical MicMouse, ear phones
• Miscelanous - Jackson Armor Card
• Networking - ZyXEL Prestige 660HW
• Prinnter - TallyGenicom 9022 Mono Laser
• Notebook - Notebooks Rev Up With Dual-Core Tech / Why Your Next PC Should Be A Laptop / NEC Versa S5200 Centrino Duo Notebook || Targus ChillHub Laptop USB 2.0 Cooling Pad
• Camera, MP3/DVD players/recorders - Nikon CoolPix P1 Wi-Fi Compact Camera || Oakley THUMP 2 1GB MP3 Sunglasses / Sony CDX-DAB6650 In-Car DAB Head Unit
• Phone/PDA - Fujitsu Siemens Pocket LOOX N520 (with Navigon Mobile Navigator 5) / MBridge Multimedia PDA with Hi-Speed USB OTG / Orange SPV M5000 - 3G Smartphone

GUIDES...

• All Xeon Models - A series of quick reference tables containing the main specs of all Xeon processors released to date, including Pentium II Xeon, Pentium III Xeon, Xeon, Xeon MP and dual-core Xeon.
• How To Build A 1-Terabyte Desktop PC - Interesting article over at InformationWeek on how to build yourself a terabyte PC.
• Super Bowl XL HDTV Buyers Guide - Check out this HDTV Buyer's Guide to find out exactly what you need to do to get your hands on the coolest (and possibly most expensive) TV you may ever purchase. The good news is that they're now more affordable than ever.
• Influence of CPU speed on various benchmarks - check it out (in German)
• Setting up a Backup Server - This article will show you how to setup a backup server using samba client and rsync, and explain the importants of backing up not only your important files, but ALL your data.
• Video Compression Basics - Learn the basics about video compression: what delta frames and key frames are.

SOFTWARE...

• Microsoft IE7 Beta 2 Public Preview - download
• Total Commander 6.54 Beta 4 - Total Commander is a file manager for Windows, a program like Windows Explorer to copy, move or delete files. Total Commander 6.54 Beta 4 is available now and fixes all previous bugs.
• Norton Removal Tool Updated - This tool now removing the following programs:Norton AntiVirus 2004/2005/2006, Norton AntiVirus Professional 2004, Norton AntiVirus 3, 5 and 10 User Pack 2004/2005/2006, etc, etc...download SymNRT.exe here, you will probably need to download and apply this registry patch: SYMMSICLEANUP.reg and this MSI cleanup batch file: MSIFIX.bat.
• SeaMonkey 1.0 - SeaMonkey v1.0 (download) has been released. Mozilla.org's open source internet suite features a state-of-the-art web browser and powerful email client, as well as a WYSIWYG web page composer and a feature-rich IRC chat client.
• Stella v2.1 - Stella  (changelog / downlad) is a multi-platform Atari 2600 VCS emulator released under the GNU General Public License (GPL).
• Nokia releases Python S60 source code - Nokia released the source code for its Python for S60 Platform software package to the global community of open source software developers.
• Sony PSP Homebrew Loader Now on All Firmware Versions! - Sony PSP Homebrew 'celebrity' Fanjita and his partner Ditlew released now eLoader Beta for GTA that works on all Sony PSP Firmware versions (2.01, 2.50 and 2.60).  To run homebrew code you only need Grand Theft Auto and the eLoader Beta for GTA
• Picasa 2.2.0 Build 28.08 - Picasa (download) is software that helps you instantly find, edit and share all the pictures on your PC. Every time you open Picasa, it automatically locates all your pictures (even ones you forgot you had) and sorts them into visual albums organized by date with folder names you will recognize.
• AIM Ad Hack 5.0 Beta 18 for AOL Triton IM Beta - With this small file (download) you can effectively remove all the ads from AIM
  you must be using
• DivX Browser Plug-In Beta 4 - The DivX Browser Plug-In lets you embed high quality DivX video in your web pages without using special streaming servers or installing any server-side software.
• ConvertXtoDVD v2.0 - VSO ConvertXtoDVD (dowload trial) allows you to convert and then burn your video files that were originally only playable on your PC so that they are now playable on any DVD Player. ConvertXtoDVD handles your everyday digital multimedia life, extending support beyond AVI files, XVid, MPEG 1/2/4, VOB, MOV, and now WMV 3 and HD formats and more. This new version adds support for subtitles ( .SRT or .SUB/IDX).
• CloneDVD Mobile - Slysoft has launched a new product called CloneDVD mobile which allows you to convert DVD movies to a format used on your mobile entertainement devices such the Sony PSP, Apple iPod Video, iAudio X5, Creative Labs ZEN Vision, etc. etc. With the software you can also convert your DVDs to other file formats, such as DivX, XviD, AVI, MP4, etc.
• Winamp 5.130 - Nullsoft Winamp is a fast, flexible, high-fidelity media player for Windows. This new verison fixes [in_mp3] extremely critical security vulnerability.
• VisualRoute 2006 10.0g - VisualRoute (download) delivers the functionality of key Internet "ping," "whois," and "traceroute" tools, in a high-speed visually integrated package
• Jet-Audio 6.25 - Jet-Audio (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.
• Nero 6.6.1.14 - download / changelog
• nLite 1.0 RC6 - nLite is a GUI for permanent Windows component removal by your choice. After removal there is an option to make bootable image ready for burning on cd or testing in virtual machines.
• ForceWare 83.40 Win2000/XP - These drivers where released by videocard manufacturer Sparkle. The drivers have been WHQL tagged, which means that Microsoft took a peek at them and labeled them to be "ok".