SECURITY...

• Microsoft Drops Blaster Virus Writer Fine -  Minnesota man will do community service rather than pay a US$500,000 fine to Microsoft for damage caused by his Blaster virus, the St. Paul Pioneer Press said. Jeffrey Lee Parsons, 19, of Hopkins, Minn., whose Blaster virus variant infected 50,000 computers in 2003, will serve the 225 hours of community service over three years after he is released from prison. He was sentenced in January to serve 18 months.
• Symantec details flaws in its antivirus software - In a notice posted on its Web site this week, Symantec detailed two similar vulnerabilities found in its Norton AntiVirus software, which is sold on its own or bundled in Norton Internet Security and Norton System Works. The flaws, which could lead to computers crashing or slowing severely if attacked, are limited to versions of the software released for 2004 and 2005.
• Security fears scupper Mac hacker challenge - Apple Macintosh peripherals maker DVForge has cancelled a $25,000 (L13,900) challenge to hackers to write a virus against the Mac operating system after being warned by Apple it could encourage real attacks on users. Angered by a claim by anti-virus company Symantec that the Mac operating system was increasingly prone to security exploits, DVForge issued the challenge to hackers on the internet.
• German bloke earns $2,500 with Firefox bugs - Mozilla said it coughed up $2,500 to German bloke Michael Krax after he found five bugs in its Firefox browser. The payment comprises five 'bug bounties' that the Foundation offers to users who report bugs in its software so that they can be fixed.
• Microsoft plans "safer ID" system - "Info cards" will help people manage personal details on their PCs to make online services safer, said Microsoft. Microsoft's two previous programs, Passport and Hailstorm, aimed to protect users but were criticised.
• Movie industry grilled in P2P court case  - Movie studios want the US Supreme Court to rule that the developers of the Grokster and Morpheus P2P software should be held responsible for the illegal trading of copyrighted software using their technologies. Judges expressed concern that making P2P software illegal could have a major detrimental effect on future software innovation and asked where the entertainment industry would stop in its pursuit of file sharers. Would they consider suing Apple because iPod users may be carrying around illegally acquired music, they asked. The court is considering whether ruling for the movie studios would fly in the face of a 21-year-old established legal benchmark for technology.
• Cisco VPN 3000 Concentrator Vulnerable to Crafted SSL Attack - The Cisco VPN 3000 series concentrators are a family of purpose-built, remote access Virtual Private Network (VPN) platforms for data encryption and  authentication. A malicious user may be able to send a crafted attack via SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) to the concentrators which may cause the device to reload, and/or drop user connections. Repeated exploitation will create a sustained DoS (denial of service).
• LimeWire File Disclosure Exploit - This script exploits recently reported vulnerability in LimeWire Gnutella client, LimeWire Gnutella Client Directory Traversal and File Disclosure. The script allows fetching text files from system running vulnerable versions of LimeWire.

OFFTOPIC...

• "Trauma Pod' Robot to Save Soldiers" Lives on the Battlefield - Imagine an automated medical treatment system that does not require onsite medical personnel on the front lines of battle, and is ready to receive, assess, and stabilize wounded soldiers during the critical hours following injury.
• "Miss Congeniality 2": armed and very, very fabulous - Rare is the sequel that lives up to the original. "Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous" had every right to fail horribly. It could have been two hours of overused humor spewed out by a bunch of overexcited characters – could have been, but wasn't. Instead, "Miss Congeniality 2" is every bit as hilarious and enjoyable as its predecessor. After all, failure is not a word in Special Agent Gracie Hart's vocabulary
• Frustrated consumers make things worse after computer crash - According to the survey, more people commit some act of computer violence than call for help when faced with a crisis, according to a survey conducted by New York-based Ontrack Data Recovery. Fortunately, violence isn't the only response. About 13 percent of survey participants said they attempt to sweet-talk their computers into coughing up any lost data, said Todd Johnson, vice president data recovery at Ontrack.
• Injecting crack cocaine is surprisingly common - Crack cocaine is being injected - not just smoked - by a significant number of US drug users, reveals the first large survey of the practice.

TECHNOLOGY...

• Playstation 3 Showing Cancelled at Last Minute In Japan - Reuters in Japan has confirmed speculation that the PlayStation 3 was slated to be shown in Japan during last month. However, the long-awaited first glimpse of what Sony Computer Entertainment.
• Free Nero Digital version available in April - Free Nero Digital consists of three separate applications: Nero Recode 2 CE as a 30-day trial, which allows users to create Nero Digital content; Nero ShowTime 2 CE, which allows users to play back Nero Digital content; and Nero MediaHome CE, which allows users to share Nero Digital or other content to UPnP devices or across their home networks. In addition, Nero Recode 2 CE supports chapter and subtitle encoding directly from DVD titles; up to two subtitles and two multi-channel audio tracks; and has profiles for CE device compatibility, including Mobile, Portable, Standard, Cinema, and HDTV. Other features include support for recording to CD/DVD with file splitting and Fit-to-disc options.
• Toolkit Helps With Windows XP SP2 Compatibility - Microsoft has released an upgrade to its Application Compatibility Toolkit that's intended to help business customers migrate applications from earlier releases of Windows to Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Windows Server 2003. Key components of ACT 4.0 include updated versions of the Microsoft Application Analyzer, which handles application inventory and compatibility reporting; Internet Explorer Compatibility Evaluator; and Compatibility Administrator, for accessing fixes needed for older applications.
• SourceLabs AMP Stack Integrates Apache, MySQL and PHP - The SourceLabs AMP Stack integrates Apache, MySQL and PHP in an integrated stack that has been tested under the CERT7 testing program, Sebastian said. SourceLabs is providing its stack free of charge.
• MSN Video Service offers Video Downloads to Mobile Devices - Microsoft has launched a video download service primarily targeted for use on mobile devices. The MSN Video Downloads service offers daily television programming, entertainment clips, music videos, and other digital video content for viewing on Smartphones, Pocket PCs, and Portable Media Centers. The service first appeared at CES this past January in Las Vegas, users were able to downloaded mobile formatted content to their PCs and then transfer it to their Windows Mobile software powered device. The service is only available to US customers for a fee of $19.95 for one year.
• Toshiba Battery Charges in One Minute - Impatient people may find Toshiba's latest invention something that would fit their lifestyle. The company announced Tuesday that it had discovered a way to recharge a Lithium-Ion battery to 80 percent in only one minute. Currently, the fastest batteries take approximately an hour to recharge to the same capacity. In addition, Toshiba scientists have found a way to extend the usable life of the battery, claiming it will only lose 1 percent of its capacity after 1,000 recharging cycles.

HARDWARE... 

• AMD64 Dual Core Physical Design Specs and Photo  - AMDBoard has posted the AMD64 Dual Core Physical Design Specs.
• ATI R520 "Fudo" has 24 plus pipelines - According to The Inquirer, ATI's future R520 chip will end up with a minimum of twenty four pipelines. ATI placed 32 pipelines inside, but there is a chance that it will enable just 24 for a start. It will be a pure marketing decision but technically every R520 "Fudo" will have full 32 pipes. ATI can just keep these extra eight pipes for the later chip and enable them if necessary. If ATI's czars decide that they need more performance they will go with full 32 pipes.
• PC Drive Reaches 500GB - Hitachi's 500GB drive will be available in two versions: a $500 drive featuring the older parallel ATA interface and an 8MB data buffer, and a $520 model with a 16MB buffer that uses the 3-gigabits-per-second Serial ATA II interface (which is backward-compatible with the 1.5-gbps SATA interface).
• Sparkle launches three Nvidia GeForce 6 series graphics cards - The PCI-Express (PCIe) SLI (scalable link interface) Sparkle GeForce 6800 Ultra with 512MB of GDDR3 RAM is Sparkle's first graphics card with 512MB of memory and will retail for around US$849. The Sparkle 6800 PCIe graphics card sporting 128MB of DDR memory will also support SLI, and will be priced at around US$349.
• Wintec AMP-X PC2-5400 DDR2 Memory - XtremeResources owner/reviewer Frank "Gooch" Haraguchi had the recent opportunity to test and evaluate Wintec's newest offering in the DDR2 flavor, their AMP-X PC2-5400 ram modules. Frank takes the RAM through it's paces aboard an Asus P5AD2-E Premium with an Intel Pentium 4 530J 3.0GHz aboard with some top notch results.
• Patriot PDC1G3200+XBLK 1GB DC Kit - InsaneTek has posted a review of the Patriot PDC1G3200+XBLK 1GB DC Kit.
• Dual Layer DVD Shootout - ASUS vs. Gigabyte 16x Recorders - Tweaktown take a look at two of the latest DVD burners to emerge from two large Taiwanese companies, ASUS and Gigabyte. Both drives support DVD burning at 16x and both support Dual Layer burning. If you're on the market for a new DVD burner, one of these might be what you're looking for.
• LiteOn SOHW-1673s - Today Overclockers Online has a brand new DVD±RW drive in from LiteOn! If you're looking to upgrade your current drive, or are looking for a new one, look to see how LiteOn maintain's its legacy with their latest 16x DVD±RW Drive.
• Thirteen PSU Roundup - It's a little unfair to pick one "winner", because as mentioned in the introduction we had no stated critera for these PSUs. They're a random sample that have been sent to us over time and collated in this article simply because they were at hand. They're aimed in some cases at different markets and have a range of stated power ratings. However, the one standout for me is the Antec NeoPower 480W. The "modular" aspect is very cool, although admittedly there are other manufacturers with modular PSUs. The low noise technology is good, but other PSUs have that and one tested today was even totally fanless.
• Logitech MX518 - Everything USB published an in-depth review on the Logitech MX518.
• CH FighterStick/Pro Throttle and Saitek X52 - For those who put their sticks through more of a workout and have more refined performance tastes - and damn fancy ergonomics - the CH Products line-up is ideal. More expensive than the X52, it is the ultimate in reliability, and the single finest stick this reviewer has had the pleasure of flying with. To say that the CH FighterStick is accurate is to understate the issue considerably. It's smooth, accurate, refined, linear... and did I say accurate? There is no hesitation in the response, no quirky jerking, no spikiness - it just does what you want.
• Creative Labs Gigaworks S750 7.1 Speakers - Guru3D has posted a review of the Creative Labs Gigaworks S750 7.1 Speakers.
• Amacrox Telephoto Mobile Phone Camera Lens - 3DVelocity reviews one of the Amacrox Mobile Phone Lens range
• Actiontec VoIP Phone Wizard for Skype - Skype is a popular choice among the laundry list of VoIP services because it provides free in-network calling, meaning calls routed over the Internet between two systems incur no cost.
• Samsung D500 D500C - The Samsung SGH-D500 is definitely one of the better phones from Samsung. With a large memory of 96MB memory, 1.3 mpixel camera and bluetooth capability, it is the first Samsung phone that puts it on par with the big boys who are dominating the market with their bluetooth phones.

GUIDES... 

• Study of Athlon 64 Overclocking Techniques - To summarize, memory dividers are a perfectly acceptable way of maximizing system performance, as CPU clock is the factor around which everything revolves, HT link speed is not of great importance (even 600 MHz ought to be enough for 99% of users), and the absolute best way to squeeze performance out of your K8 system is to avoid the use of a memory divider, though that requires high-end memory.
• Voice over IP for Beginners - The Tech Zone has posted a beginner's guide to Voice Over IP.
• Use index sheets to quickly navigate in an Excel workbook - When working with large workbooks in Microsoft Excel, you can spend a good deal of time navigating through dozens of sheet name tabs to find the one you need. One method for making this task easier is to build an index sheet that contains hyperlinks to every worksheet in your workbook.

SOFTWARE...

• Paint .NET - Beta 1 - Paint.NET is image and photo manipulation software designed to be used on computers that run Windows XP or 2000. Paint.NET is jointly developed at Washington State University with additional help from Microsoft, and is meant to be a free replacement for the MS Paint software that comes with all Windows operating systems.
• eXeem 0.23 Public Beta - eXeem is a brand new Peer-To-Peer program, which is based on the BitTorrent idea.
• QuickTime Alternative 1.44 - QuickTime Alternative will allow you to play QuickTime files (.mov, .qt and other extensions) without having to install the official QuickTime Player. It also supports QuickTime content that is embedded in webpages.
• Real Alternative 1.34 - Real Alternative will allow you to play RealMedia files without having to install RealPlayer/RealOne Player.
• K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 1.27  - This package is a combination of three codec packs: K-Lite Codec Pack Full (a slew of different codecs like Divx, etc.), QuickTime Alternative, Real Alternative and other encoders/decoders.
• ASUS SMART Doctor 4.68 - The innovative SmartDoctor technologies from ASUS include Fan RPM Monitoring, AGP Power Level Monitoring, SmartCooling Technology, OverHeat Protection, and Dynamic OverClocking.
• Plextools v2.21 - Plextools 2.21 has been released by the Plextor developers in Europe.