SECURITY...

• Trojan poses as war death notice - The emails were first detected last night and claim to contain a report from The Guardian on the death of 140 US Marines. The email contains a link to the 'full story' but leads users to a bogus web page with two Trojans built in. The Cgab-A and Borodr-Fam Trojans can be downloaded through an improperly patched version of Internet Explorer. Once on the PC the Trojans will allow full control, harvesting personal information and using the computer to spam more copies of the Trojan.
• Antispyware firm warns of massive ID theft ring - Officials at Sunbelt Software, a Clearwater, Fla.-based vendor of antispyware tools, said the company stumbled upon a massive ID theft ring that is using a well-known spyware program to break into and systematically steal confidential information from an unknown number of computers worldwide.
• How to bypass Citibank Virtual Keyboard Protection - The Virtual Keyboard concept can be easily defeated by using Win32 APIs to access HTML documents.
• Another way past Windows antipiracy found - According to the Thursday posting, all a PC user apparently has to do to have GenuineCheck.exe generate a valid code on a machine with pirated Windows XP is to run it in Windows 2000 compatibility mode. This is done by downloading the tool, right-clicking on the file and selecting "properties." Then select the "compatibility" tab in the menu and change the compatibility mode.

OFF-TOPIC

• Thompson Targets Killer 7 - Florida attorney Jack Thompson is back in the public eye! This time Thompson is petitioning the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) to change its M (Mature) rating to an AO (Adults Only) rating for Capcom's Killer 7, a stylized psycho-thriller for Nintendo GameCube and Sony PlayStation 2.
• The Truth About Violent Youth and Video Games - Here's pretty intereresting article on Games inciting violence (thanks Duncan)
• Trapped Russian mini-sub, crew rescued in Pacific - Rescuers cut free a Russian mini-submarine ensnared in deep-sea cables on Sunday, saving its seven crew with British help, after a three-day ordeal at the bottom of the Pacific with dwindling oxygen.
• Chemist Tries to Solve World's Energy Woes - Daniel Nocera, 48, is working to achieve an old, elusive dream: using the bountiful energy in sunlight to split water into its basic components, hydrogen and oxygen. The elements could then be used to supply clean-running fuel cells or new kinds of machinery.

TECHNOLOGY...

• Toshiba, Clariant Team on 30GB Recordable HD-DVD - A triple-layer version capable of storing 45GB is going through the standardization process. There is also a rewritable format called HD-DVD-RW that has been standardized at 20GB. A future version of the rewritable disc that can hold around 32GB is under development.
• NEC Develops Backup Battery With Organic Compounds - NEC Corp. of Japan has announced it is developing a high-power organic radical battery to protect IT equipment such as desktop PCs from losing data during power supply interruptions. The film packed battery, measuring 55 X 43 mm x 4 mm thick, produces 35 watts. Its four series connected cells are capable of driving a 140-watt class desktop PC.

HARDWARE... 

• 2000dpi Razer Copperhead mouse - The Copperhead offers tracking precision at up to 2000 dpi and the first mouse to utilize Full Speed (12MBps) USB [1.1]. The 2000 dpi laser sensor uses a 16-bit data path and samples at 1000Hz, compared to other mice that poll at 125Hz.
• HP - Compaq TC4200 Tablet PC - Directly from HP, the TC4200 comes in two base models priced at $1,599 and $1,849. The major difference is that the first is loaded with a 1.73GHz Pentium-M 740 Dothan processor and a 40GB hard drive, while the latter uses a 1.86GHz Pentium-M 750 Dothan with Bluetooth and a 60GB hard drive.
• AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ - Going at a price of US$902, it is cheaper than Intel's top-end Extreme Edition 840 which is at US$999. Comparing the performance of these two high-end dual-core processors, it's without a doubt that AMD's Athlon 64 X2 4800+ is the better choice.
• Crucial Ballistix PC4000 (DDR500) 1GB Memory Kit - With the emergence of DDR2 and other high-end components, this RAM is better suited for people not wanting to make the jump yet to PCI Express, DDR2, and other high-end components.
• OCZ Platinum PC4800 Elite Edition 1GB Dual Channel Memory Kit  - The TCC5 PC5000 DFI Special reached 313MHz while the TCCD PC4800 Elite Edition reached 320MHz. The difference between the two is 7MHz, and to overclockers, that is a big difference. For the extreme hardcore enthusiasts who absolutely need neck breaking performance, the Elite Edition would definitely be the top choice.
• AOpen i915GMm-HFS Motherboard - AOpen's i915GMm-HFS is a very feature rich i915GM based motherboard. The memory selection flexibility, plethora of video output options, and SATA RAID features make it quite attractive for power and quiet computing users. However, the lack of Dolby Digital Live encoding with a high definition audio codec makes the board less attractive to HTPC enthusiasts.
• Asus P5WD2 Premium Intel 955X Motherboard  - The Asus P5WD2 Premium BIOS is top notch offering a lot of overclocking options and tweaking features for the enthusiast community. The Intel processor line up is known for very high FSB overclocks and Asus has catered to them with FSB increases up to 450 MHz and voltage increases for memory that should help you get to a very high speed indeed.
• Epox EP-9NPA+ Ultra Socket 939 Motherboard - The Epox EP-9NPA+ Ultra offers users a very flexible nForce 4/PCI Express platform, and has some useful integrated peripherals like a 8-channel audio, 10 USB2.0 ports, IEEE 1394a, and Gigabit LAN.
• ABIT Fatal1ty X800 XL 512MB - The goodness of a 512MB framebuffer simply does not show too well in the benchmarks, even when conducted at 1600x1200 with 6x Antialiasing and 16x Anisotropic Filtering. What we see is an X850 XT 256MB, and generally a GeForce 6800 Ultra 256MB, ahead in practically all the tests. Right now, then, L275 can be better spent on faster hardware.
• Albatron GeForce 7800GTX - The unit PCSTATS tested was a decent overclocker, reaching a modest 479 MHz core and 1347 MHz memory. Considering the mounting holes on the Albatron GeForce 7800 GTX are in the same location as the previous generation, enthusiast upgraders can port over their existing cooling hardware easily!
• EVGA e-GeForce 7800 GTX - As for the subject matter of this review, the EVGA e-GeForce 7800 GTX graphics card really has higher default frequencies than the reference GeForce 7800 GTX: 450/490/1200MHz against 430/470/1200MHz.
• Gigabyte GV-NX78X256V-B GeForce 7800GTX - The Gigabyte GV-NX78X256V-B is based on the reference nvidia design, and is very quiet in operation as a result. While it's a single slot solution, the GV-NX78X256V-B videocard does generate a lot of heat - you'd best have good airflow in your case if you plan on getting a GeForce 7800 GTX videocard.
• Compro VideoMate TV Gold Plus2 Video Card - Compro Videomate TV Gold Plus II is good choice for casual users who want to turn there PC into a multimedia moster. The Noise Reduction and the Video Smoothing technologies allow the increase in audio quality and better looking video and we also like like the Timeshifting and Power up functionality. While snapshot works good with most movies and TV programs, it cannot handle fast speed motion well which ends ghosting the picture.
• Samsung Spinpoint SP2004C SATA II 200 Gigabyte NCQ Hard Drive - The Samsung SP2004C 200 Gigabyte SATA hard drive was a very welcome suprise. Though it couldn't beat the Maxtor with its massive 16 megabyte cache, it more than made up for this by being extremely quiet and boasting faster seek times and a higher average read speed. This drive would be an excellent choice for a quiet pc project or that home theatre PC due to the very noticeably quiet operating noise.
• Western Digital Passport 80GB External USB2.0 HDD -
• Antec TX1050B Black SOHO Tower Case - The included Smart Power 500W modular PSU is a nice addition to an already great case. The combination of a modular design along with all cables having black mesh sleeving should help to keep everything neat and tidy
• Microsoft Optical Desktop with Fingerprint Reader - Setting up the fingerprint for each website is fairly simple; just navigate to the webpage and scan your fingerprint, which will bring up a form for you to input your login info. Once your login data is saved for the webpage, navigating to it and authenticating is extremely simple and works well.
• Cambridge SurroundWorks 200 Speakers - Sound quality is terrific for a system of this type. Aside from the remote control, setup and use is a breeze, but the remote isn't a deal breaker. This little system rocks.
• Logitech MM22 Portable iPod Speakers - They won't blow away your regular stereo sound system, but they will do a good job of what they are designed for - letting you un-tether from your headphones while listening (and perhaps sharing) your music, anywhere you want.
• Samsung 193P+ LCD Monitor - When you are out looking for this display, make sure you do not purchase a 193P by accident. The two have the same MSRP and look identical so check out the packaging and the specifications. There are a good deal of 193Ps left over so the Plus models are still tough to find.
• Nikon Coolpix 7900 Digital Camera - The onboard flash on this camera is fairly limited in its maximum range, but it does a great job at making sure it doesn't completely wash out colours. For situations where the flash is disabled, the camera automatically uses its Best Shot Selector (BSS). This makes the camera take three separate photos with the hopes that one of the three will have a minimal amount of motion blur to it.
• Nokia 3230 Mobile Phone - The handset is a standard 2.5G phone with Tri-band coverage at 900, 1800 and 1900 frequencies. It supports GPRS, but there's no 3G shenanigans going on here. As such it makes sense that there's only a single camera on the back. This has a resolution of 1.2Megapixel count rather than the now more common 1.3Megapixel.
• Samsung SGH-Z500 GSM Triband-WCMDA Camera Phone - The built in camera takes pretty good pictures with various resolutions up to 1152x864 (mega). The video recording can be done in sub QCIF (128x96), QCIF (176x144) modes. Size limit can be set to MMS limit or unlimited ~ 60mins. There is no built in flash led on the phone.

GUIDES...

• Basic System Buyer's Guide - August 2005 - HardOCP has posted their August recommendations for a $400 budget system, including a GeForce 6600.
• Update of the interactive AMD SocketA Rating and product ID (OPN) guide - With this interactive guide it's possible on the basis of numbers and characters on the Socket A CPU to get the Vcore, CPU temperature, size of the L2 Cache, the officially given FSB and the multiplier of the CPU within a few seconds.
• Anatomy of a Hard Disk Drive - Ever wondered what is inside a hard disk drive?
• How to Unclog Epson Print Heads - It's unbelievable how Epson printheads get clogged. No matter how good they are, they get clogged for no reason and don't unclog by themselves. Either you change the head or manage to unclog it by using a liquid made by Epson, which costs a small fortune – when you get to find it. So the poor technician has almost no chance to repair such printer.
• Voice Over IP for $60, or $200, or $0 - All you need for VoIP communication is software, and the best software is free
• F.E.A.R Demo Tweak Guide - Koroush Ghazi has published this brief guide as a holding point for known tweaks and tips for the FEAR Demo.

SOFTWARE...

• SyncToy for Windows XP - SyncToy (download), a free PowerToy for Microsoft Windows XP, provides easy and flexible copying, moving, and synchronization of files in different directories.
• CPU-Z 1.30 - CPU-Z (download) is a freeware detection program base on the Panopsys hardware detection engine. It allows to get some information on your system.
• 7-Zip 4.26 beta - 7-Zip (download) is a file archiver with high compression ratio
• eXeem 0.27 Public Beta - eXeem (download) is a brand new Peer-To-Peer program, which is based on the BitTorrent idea. eXeem eliminates the need for trackers as nodes in the program will be taking their role
• AIM Ad Hack 4.11- With this small file (download) you can effectively remove all the ads from AIM (Updated for AIM version 5.9.3857)
• VisualRoute 9.3g (shw) - VisualRoute (download) delivers the functionality of key Internet "ping," "whois," and "traceroute" tools, in a high-speed visually integrated package.
• Gmail Notifier 1.0.25.0 - The Gmail Notifier (download) is a downloadable Windows application that alerts you when you have new Gmail messages. It displays an icon in your system tray to let you know if you have unread Gmail messages, and shows you their subjects, senders and snippets, all without having to open a web browser.