SECURITY...

• Security Update for Internet Explorer for Windows XP Service Pack 2 - Security issues have been identified that could allow an attacker to compromise a computer running Internet Explorer and gain control over it. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
• An update available for a security vulnerability in the Javaprxy.dll COM object - The vulnerability in the Javaprxy.dll COM object may cause Microsoft Internet Explorer to stop working. This vulnerability may also allow an attacker to run arbitrary code and to gain control of the computer. The Javaprxy.dll COM object has the following class identifier (CLSID): 03D9F3F2-B0E3-11D2-B081-006008039BF0. This security update sets the Kill bit for this COM object.
• Flaw Found in Adobe Acrobat - Adobe has warned of a serious flaw affecting one of the most widely distributed client applications, Acrobat Reader. The flaw leaves users open to attack via maliciously crafted PDF files, which can be spread via e-mail attachments web page links, and can be used to take control of a system. Solution: Update to Adobe Reader 7.0
• New Trojan Knocks Out Symbian Phones - Users of Symbian Series 60 smart phones should be aware of a new Trojan horse that, if not removed within one hour, can cause complete data loss in their wireless devices, security experts warn. Several owners of Symbian-based handsets have caught the Trojan Doomboot.A. after downloading unauthorized mobile phone games containing the malware, says Anton Von Troyer, marketing manager of Finnish antivirus vendor F-Secure. F-Secure warned users on Friday on its Web site that Doomboot.A was in the wild.
• DVD-Audio's CPPM can be got around with a WinDVD patch - It was not long ago that DVD-Audio playback software came to the PC. For example Creative's SoundBlaster Audigy 2 comes with a DVD-Audio as well as WinDVD 's DVD-Audio add-on. So, rather than try to compromise the DVD-Audio's encryption itself, someone has succeeded in making a patch that uses WinDVD to perform the decryption and playback, but instead pipes the decrypted audio output to the hard drive instead of the sound card. The patch which includes several tools requires WinDVD 5, 6 or 7 to work.
• Longhorn locked down to fight hackers - According to Detlef Echert, Microsoft's chief security advisor in Europe, there are several key elements designed to boost security in its next OS. Hardware locking via a dedicated chip is combined with "hardening" of the OS to restrict how memory can be accessed. Security will also be boosted using a technique dubbed User Account Protection, which aims to ensure that computers can be locked so that local users are not given full administrator access by default.
• MS UK defaced in hacking attack - Microsoft's UK web site was defaced late on Tuesday night with a message in support of Venezuelan hacker Rafa. Defacement archive Zone-H reports that well-known defacer Apocalypse hacked into Microsoft's UK web site (microsoft.co.uk) and uploaded a picture with the message "FREE RAFA - HACK IS NOT A CRIME" (recorded in an archive here). The site has since been restored to normal operation and the offending GIF removed.
• Accused Sasser Worm Author Confesses in Court - Sven Jaschan, a 19 year old man on trial for authoring the Sasser Worm, has reportedly confessed to writing the malicious code which caused extensive damage to business and personal data all over the world, according to a German court
• Man Arrested for Using Open Wireless Network - Richard Dinon saw the laptop's muted glow through the rear window of the SUV parked outside his home. He walked closer and noticed a man inside. Then the man noticed Dinon and snapped his computer shut. Maybe it's census work, the 28-year-old veterinarian told his girlfriend. An hour later, Dinon left to drive her home. The Chevy Blazer was still there, the man furtively hunched over his computer. Dinon returned at 11 p.m. and the men repeated their strange dance. Fifteen minutes later, Dinon called police. Police say Benjamin Smith III, 41, used his Acer brand laptop to hack into Dinon's wireless Internet network. The April 20 arrest is considered the first of its kind in Tampa Bay and among only a few so far nationwide.

OFFTOPIC...

• I Set My Siemens C45 Cell Phone on Fire! - I had a Siemens C45 cell phone that didn't work right, in my opinion. I could barely hear who was talking to me and the person on the other side listened what I was saying even worse. It was impossible to have a conversation without at least one “I couldn't understand you, can you repeat please?” Besides that, C45 menu was insupportably slow and confusing.
• Astrologer sues NASA for Tempel 1 'moral trauma' -  Russian astrologer is suing NASA for $300m in damages for "moral trauma" after the agency's Deep Impact mission successfully slammed a probe into comet Tempel 1. Marina Bay has filed suit in a Moscow court claiming that "any variation in the orbit or the composition of the Tempel comet will certainly affect her own fate". She also reckons that NASA has recklessly endangered the future of civilisation. Her lawyer, Alexander Molokhov, told the BBC: "Nobody has yet proven that this experiment was safe. This impact could have altered the orbit of the comet, so now there is a chance that the Tempel may well destroy the Earth some day!"
• Poor diet + pollution = brain damage - Biomedical researchers in the UK are planning new research into the links between poor diet in children and their susceptibility to brain damage caused by pollution, particularly in the developing world. It is known that blood levels of around 10 micrograms of lead can cause a drop in IQ levels, the researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University explain. They hypothesise that low levels of iron can actually increase the absorption of other metals into the bloodstream.
• Some people are profiting off of MMO gold - How does it work? The macros for World of WarCraft, for example, control a high-level hunter and cleric. The hunter kills while the cleric automatically heals. Once they are fully loaded with gold and items, the "farmer" who's monitoring their progress manually controls them out of the dungeon to go sell their goods. These automated agents are then returned to the dungeons to do their thing again. Sack's typical 12-hour sessions can earn his employers as much as $60,000 per month while he walks away with a measly $150.

TECHNOLOGY...

• Europe rejects patent proposal - A government representative said that 648 out of 729 members of the European Parliament voted Wednesday to reject the proposal, called the Computer Implemented Inventions Directive, which would have widened the extent to which software could be patented.
• Nokia to Offer Free Blackberry-style 'Push' E-mail - Nokia is planning to offer free "push" e-mail on all its handsets, according to software vendor Seven, in a bid to boost the use of mobile e-mail. The free service will forward email to the phone as it arrives, making POP and IMAP email easier to use on a mobile phone. If it takes off, it will be a useful revenue boost for mobile operators -- only the application service is free, and users will pay normal GPRS rates for the data sent and received.
• Microsoft tempts developers with Visual Studio 2005 - Andrew Lees, corporate vice president of server tools at Microsoft, said during his keynote address at the TechEd conference in Amsterdam that Visual Studio 2005 would cut the amount of new code by up to 70 per cent by automating processes. He added that applications could be configured to automatically update themselves from a website to ensure fast, automatic distribution of patches and revisions.
• Opera Embedding BitTorrent Client - The next version of Opera, 8.02, will have an embedded BitTorrent client. Opera has released today a Technical Preview of this new version on its FTP directory, though they have made no official announcement as of yet.
• Google Plans to Release Firefox-Ready Tool Bar - After years of offering its browser tool bar only for Internet Explorer, Google is planning to join its competitors in supporting the open-source Mozilla Firefox browser. The tool bar for Firefox will include most of the same features as the Internet Explorer version except for pop-up blocking, which is already built into the Firefox browser.
• How much ATI really paid for its Half Life 2 deal  - According to The Inquirer, ATI gave Valve $2.4 million in cash for the deal. ATI also invested $1.2 million in marketing this great game. And last, but not least, was a cool $4.4 million that ATI and its partners spent for bundles. That amounts to some $8 million dollars. This is a lot of money, I can agree, but ATI never sold so many mainstream and high end cards in its long history as when it bundled them with the justly famous voucher. It sold an incredible lot of 9800XT and 9600XT cards just because of the nice voucher.

HARDWARE... 

• AMD to cut Sempron prices, debut dual-core CPU priced at US$345 - AMD has informed motherboard makers that the unit price (for 1000 unit lots) for its Sempron CPUs will be adjusted downward in early August, with Sempron 2500+ prices dropping more than US$7, according to sources in the motherboard industry. AMD also plans to launch a dual-core Athlon 64 X2 processor on August 1 priced at US$345, a third less than its current lowest priced dual-core CPU, the sources indicated.
• Nvidia Preps More GeForce 7 Graphics Chips - NVIDIA Corp. may be preparing a new GeForce 7-series graphics processors in addition to already launched GeForce 7800 GTX product, as the firm's unofficial drivers already list a chip code-named G72, which may turn out to be a more affordable GeForce 7 family member
• ATI Expands All-In-Wonder Lineup - ATI Technologies said Tuesday it has expanded its family of multimedia graphics cards with All-In-Wonder X800 XL. ATI's All-In-Wonder X800 XL features ATI's latest TV-Tuner, which is based on RF technology from Microtune and can receive up to 125 PAL and SECAM channels in addition to FM radio, additionally, the set of connectors also includes SCART support for customers in Europe, as well as THEATER 200 chip that handles Video-in, Video-out features.
• ATI Crossfire Sneak Peak with DFI - Hexus.net compared some Crossfire benchmarks they snagged at Computex with some benchmarks from other cards on a similarly-specced system. Using Supertiling, the default mode for Crossfire under Direct3D, shows that 6800 Ultra SLI is faster. However that's just in 3DMark05, not a modern game title, and that's using a beta driver that might not be there in terms of the performance that ATI have today, internally. It'll be interesting to see where performance is when Crossfire is launched using an official driver, along with NVIDIA hardware running any new driver that NVIDIA may or may not have planned for their hardware.
• $299 Linux PC hits US shelves - Systemax has unveiled its first desktop PC pre-installed with desktop Linux. The budget model is selling in the US for $299. The system builder chose Linspire's operating system for its Venture L335 system which comes with an Intel Celeron D processor, 40GB hard drive and 256MB of RAM.
• G.Skill Extreme PC3200 2-2-2-5 1GB Kit - OCTools take a look at G.Skill's Winbond UTT offering, the F1-3200BWU2-1GBGH. These modules are based on the Winbond UTT chips that are capable of very high frequencies at ultra low latency timings. Specifically targetted for motherboards with high memory voltage options, these modules were made with overclocking at extreme latencies in mind.
• nForce4 Ultra Roundup: Charting the Mainstream - The Epox 9NPA+ is the fastest board in the roundup at stock speeds. It was also the highest overclocker at stock speeds, and the second highest overclocker when the bus was overclocked. The Epox is an incredible value whether you are looking for a board that will run fast with stability at stock speeds or a board that will satisfy almost any Athlon 64 enthusiast.
• HIS X700 iCooler Dual DVI VIVO 256MB PCI-E - Much like the PowerColor Bravo X700, this HIS X700 iCooler was good, but not breathtaking. Power and performance simply can't come from an X700, no matter who you buy it from. What we have here is a card that's perfect if you're the occasional gamer, someone who loves their dual LCD displays or a home theater enthusiast who just needs their HTPC projected on to a HDTV.
• Hitachi 7K500 - 500 GB SATA 2 Hard Drive - Currently Hitachi is testing 3 Gbits/sec controller on the Silicon Image 3124, Intel ICH7, NVIDIA Nforce 4 and Promise Technology TX300, 2300. one other thing worth mentioning is drives 16 megabytes caches, when playing games such Halflife 2 or Doom 3 where prior to installing the drive the games would hesitate or lag, when the new drive was installed and the games were played under the same settings the games ran perfectly.
• ASUS WL-HDD 2.5 - NAS and Wireless AP - The ASUS WL-HDD is NAS (Network Attached Storage) and AP (Access Point) all in one, at an affordable price. The device supports 2.5 inch hard drives and 802.11g Wireless Networking. It is designed to allow you to add file sharing storage to your network with ease and provide Wireless Networking to a wired network.
• Razer Diamondback Plasma L.E - Razer Diamondback is a high quality mouse with great performance. The higher dpi will benefit professional designers and gamers alike. The design is great, and the Plama LED adds a lot to the appearance. Even though the mouse seems a little small it has good grip thanks to the anti-slip coating and the rubber side rails.
• XFX Xgear Dual Reflex Controller - This is the gamepad that comes bundled for free with GeForce 7800 GTX from XFX, which we have already reviewed. Its layout is similar to Playstation 2 controllers, with two analog sticks, one digital pad, eight buttons, vibrating mode, macro mode, turbo mode and three shortcut buttons (select, start and clear). It uses USB connection and it comes with a very long 10-feet (3 meters) cable.
• Nissan Technology DV-100B DVD Player - With the tumbling prices in this market segment, the one thing that made it stand out - the card reader - was ultimately not executed well enough to make the DV-100B a huge success. On the other hand, the DiVX playback and other capabilities of this player mean that it's a recommended overall package that can be found well below RRP already.
• Ricoh Caplio GX8 Digital Camera -  Its key selling points, apart from its sheer pixel-power, are its 3x optical zoom, 28-85mm (35mm equivalent) lens and its high-speed performance. It is ready to take  pictures in just 1.3 seconds from a cold start, and is equipped with a hybrid autofocus system that can lock onto a subject in one tenth of a second, virtually eliminating shutter lag. Its shot-to-shot times are equally impressive.

GUIDES...

• Introduction to FB-DIMM Memory: Birth of Serial RAM? - FB-DIMM memory (short for Fully-Buffered Dual Inline Memory Module) is a variant of standard DDR2 memory designed for server applications where both large amounts of memory and memory co-ordination and accuracy at high speeds are essential. FB-DIMM memory combines the high-speed internal architecture of DDR2 memory with a brand-new point-to-point serial memory interface which links each FB-DIMM module together in a chain.
• Water block fun: demonRed, the DIY water cooling setup - Guest writer djivesp shows us how he build a complete water cooling setup from scratch, using parts from his old Toyota, and making himself water blocks for CPU, northbridge and his NV6800LE, the last one features 3-barbs and packs quite a punch.

SOFTWARE...

• Microsoft Student 2006 - Microsoft Student 2006 includes the following features: Learning Essentials for Students helps students get to the heart of the assignment by customizing Microsoft Office to meet their unique needs.2 Learning Essentials for Students provides toolbars, templates and tutorials to help teens with a variety of subjects and assignments, from history reports and English papers to physics projects and foreign languages, using Microsoft Office Word, Microsoft Office Excel and Microsoft Office PowerPoint. The Microsoft Student 2006 DVD3 is scheduled for availability in July 2005 for an estimated retail price of $99.99.
• Global Contact Access for windows mobile - You can now download Global Contact Access for windows mobile here, but even better than this - Ewan has already done a blogcast showing how it works.
• Memory Leak in Windows XP Tablet PC Edition - A memory leak in Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 causes a gradual decrease in available system memory. This loss in available memory causes degradation in system performance. When this behavior occurs, the user must restart the computer
• Microsoft Money 2006 Deluxe Trial - Microsoft Money 2006 makes it easy to stay on top of your finances. You get all your finances, all in one place. Money 2006 works with your checking, credit card and brokerage accounts. Money also helps you understand spending, manage your bills and organize for tax time.
• phpMyAdmin 2.6.3-pl1 - 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.
• About 1.2.0 Firefox Extension Update - Adds the following "about:" options (install) to the Help menu: about:config, about:plugins, about:, about:buildconfig, about:cache, about:cache (Disk), about:cache (Memory), about:credits, about:kitchensink, about:mozilla
• FastStone Image Viewer 2.15 - 7/4/2005 Beta Build - FastStone Image Viewer (download) is an image browser, viewer, converter and editor with an easy to use interface and a nice array of features that include resizing, renaming, cropping, color adjustments, watermarks and more
• Real Alternative 1.42 - Real Alternative will allow you to play RealMedia files without having to install RealPlayer or RealOne Player from Real Networks. Supported are: RealAudio (.ra .rpm), RealMedia (.rm .ram .rmvb .rpx .smi .smil), RealText (.rt) and ReadPix (.rp). It also supports RealMedia content that is embedded in webpages. The very user-friendly installation is fully customizable, which means that you can install only those components that you want.
• Inmatrix Zoom Player 4.50 - After over 10 months of developments, Zoom Player v4.50 (download) has gone final. The complete change list is over 500 lines long and contains numarous new features, functions, fixes, improvements, optimizations, tweaks, and pretty much the kitchen sink. So make sure to check it out!
• SuperEdi 3.7.2 - SuperEdi (download) is a text editor with syntax coloring and build-in FTP client. The build-in directory tree helps you locate files quickly without opening the Windows Explorer. Context sensitive information is available via keyword lookup in any Windows help file.
• Skype 1.3.0.55 - Skype (download) uses P2P (peer-to-peer) technology to connect you to other users. Not to share files, but to talk with them for free. The technology is extremely advanced, but very simple and easy to use.
• 7-Zip 4.24 Beta - 7-Zip (download) is a file archiver with high compression ratio
• Alcohol 120% v1.9.5.3105 - Alcohol 120% (download / changelog) is a combination of both Alcohol 52% and Alcohol 68%. It enables users to both copy and emulate real or virtual CDs & DVDs
• XPepius 2.0.7 - XPepius is a free tools suite for tweaking, optimizing and tuning of Windows XP It helps you increase performance and manage your system using various tweaks and utilities. In addition to the tweaks, the program also offers several tools (Utilities) that include a Start-Up Manager, Uninstaller, Cleanup Center (includes registry cleaner).
• HDDlife 2.5.59 - HDDlife (download) can work in the preventative mode when it checks the health of your hard drives at regular intervals and informs you about the results of these checks in an unobtrusive way. If you get warned about a possible hard drive failure , you will protect yourself against losing your naturally priceless personal data.

SECURITY...

• Virus Top 20 for June 2005 - Mytob. Mytob was flavor of the month in June. We had Mytob with worm and bot capabilities, Mytob without bot capabilities, Mytob packed with one, two or three packers and so forth. In short, Mytob variants dominated email traffic this month.
• Hackers crack two-factor security - IT experts warned today that, contrary to popular belief, two-factor authentication is not secure enough to curb internet banking fraud. "The latest generation of spyware not only includes key-loggers that trap passwords, but screen-grabbing software. This takes multiple images of what the user is doing and sends it straight to the hacker."
• Microsoft Internet Explorer "javaprxy.dll" COM Object Exploit (Unpatched) - A vulnerability was identified in Microsoft Internet Explorer, which could be exploited by remote attackers (workaround) to execute arbitrary commands. This flaw is due to an error in the "javaprxy.dll" COM Object when instantiated in Internet Explorer via a specially crafted HTML tag, which could be exploited via a malicious Web page to compromise and take complete control of a vulnerable system.
• 12 minutes to PC infection - If your Windows computer is not properly protected, chances are it will take all of 12 minutes before it becomes infected, a major security company says
• Today's Hackers Code for Cash, Not Chaos - Marc Sachs, director of the SANS Institute's Internet Storm Center, chats with Ziff Davis Internet News about network worms, browser vulnerabilities and the general state of Internet security.
• Computer simulate terror attacks - According to the Washington Post, the computers are running countless Sim cities inhabited by millions of virtual individuals who go to work, shopping centers, soccer games and anywhere else their real life counterparts go. And there are virtual power grids, oil and gas lines, water pipelines, airplane and train systems, even a virtual Internet.
• Man convicted for chipping Xbox - The Cambridge graduate was sentenced at Caerphilly Magistrates Court in Wales to 140 hours of community service. The man had been selling modified Xbox consoles which he fitted with a big hard drive containing 80 games. The court also seized his equipment - three PCs, two printers, three Xbox consoles and 38 hard drives.
• Prince of Piracy Convicted in Los Angeles - Johnny Ray Gasca, AKA "The Prince of Piracy" was convicted of addition charges in addition to copyright violation. Mr. Gasca has an extensive rap sheet that dates back to 1986. His convictions include grand larceny, possession of stolen property, and attempted murder. Although starting in 1992 he served several years in prison for attempted murder, things appeared quiet during the turn of the century. However, Mr. Gasca was indeed busy recording theatrical movies, and according to the DOJ, making $4,500 a week for their sale. From the April 2003 FBI press release.

OFFTOPIC...

• NASA probe collides with comet in brilliant blast - A NASA spacecraft collided with a comet half the size of Manhattan late Sunday night, creating a brilliant cosmic smashup that capped a risky voyage to uncover the building blocks of life on Earth.  "We hit it just exactly where we wanted to," said Don Yeomans, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The spectacular collision, 83 million miles away from Earth, unleashed a spray of below-surface material formed billions of years ago during the creation of the solar system. It was the first time a craft came in contact with a comet's nucleus.
• New RIAA anti-p2p campaign - Chances are, if your downloading music online and not paying for it, your taking food out of the mouths of the musicians who wrote the songs. At least that's the claims of the RIAA and 4 major record companies around the world...OMG!
• Clinic Opens for Online Gaming Addiction - In China, the first officially licensed clinic for Internet addiction has opened its doors and the majority of its patients are suffering from addiction to MMOGs
• Star Destroyer Built Before Your Eyes - These people spent 10 hours constructing their very own Imperial II-class Star Destroyer from LEGO and capturing over 7000 frames of the process with their webcam.
• 26 million text messages sent backing Live 8 - More than 26.4 million people from around the world sent text messages Saturday in support of the Live 8 campaign to cancel the debts of the poorest countries, setting a world record, organizers said.
• Ray Kurzweil 2001-2003 essays Available as a PDF - The Ray Kurzweil Reader is a collection of essays by Ray Kurzweil on virtual reality, artificial intelligence, radical life extension, conscious machines, the promise and peril of technology, and other aspects of our future world.
• EBay Bidder Pays $351,100 For Lunch With Warren Buffett -  A bidder on EBay Inc. has won a power lunch with billionaire investor Warren Buffett for $351,100

TECHNOLOGY...

• US seeks to retain control over web traffic - The United States seeks to retain its control over the top-level domain and addressing system (DNS) of the Internet, thus enhancing its historic role in Internet management.
• AOL launches video search service - AOL Video Beta, launched Thursday, grants users the access to over 15,000 licensed and original videos from Time Warner, including music videos, news segments from CNN & MSNBC and Warner Bros. movie trailers
• World's First Self-Playing Audio Book - Playaway is the world's very first "pick up and go" self-playing audiobook solution, and it comes packed with features. Half the size of a pack of cards, the device squeezes in volume control, control over speed of narration, skip and jog forward/backwards, bookmarks and it even houses a small LCD panel.
• Deutsche Telekom 'may sell T-Mobile USA' - Deutsche Telekom is reportedly toying with the idea of either selling its US mobile arm T-Mobile or upgrading the operator's network to be more competitive. Reports suggest that selling T-Mobile USA could potentially net the German telecommunications firm up to $30bn. However, if Deutsche Telekom holds on to the US mobile subsidiary it will need to re-vamp its network at a cost estimated at around $10bn.
• Laser pulses could power quantum logic gate - An exotic light-wielding computer that should be capable of immensely complex calculations has been designed by a team of British and Japanese researchers. Computers that perform calculations by harnessing the bizarre properties of quantum physics - such as the superposition or entanglement of particles - could one day operate at extraordinary speeds. Quantum computers should, for example, be able to perform multiple calculations at once simply by exploiting the fact that quantum particles can simultaneously occupy two distinct states.

HARDWARE... 

• Athlon 64 FX55 San Diego Overclocked 1GHz To 3.6! - So what better day to do some overclocking than the 4th of July? I can't think of one. Of course when it is 100 degrees outside you want to cool your CPU down to -40 degrees Celcius with a Prometia Mach II setup 3.1GHz, and decided to push it to 3.6GHz for a 1GHz overclock
• 500GB HDDs trickle out - Hitachi have got a new 500GB hard drive (photo) on the market, images of which have shown up at Akiba in Japan. The drive is branded Deskstar, as you'd expect, and is Parallel ATA, rather than SATA. However, there is also a SATA II version which appears here. Both drives are 7,200RPM, so fall short of the raw performance offered by a 10,000RPM Western Digital Raptor - although obviously beat the daylights out of it for storage capacity.
• Next GeForce 7800 to be a GT? - NVIDIA is preparing for hard launch number two, as it will have Geforce 7800GT in the shops available the moment it releases it. Geforce series seven will get its slower but cheaper. It will be a slower clocked version of the same G70 chip that we all see as the Geforce 7800GTX series. We suspect that it will be just a slower clocked card with same number of pipelines but we could not confirm this at press time.
• HighSpeed PC Tech Station 2 - HighSpeed PC's Tech Station 2 is a very niche product. Few people will have use for it, but those who do constantly tinker with PC components will find it to be one of the best solutions out there. If you can muster the funds, it's worth the premium. Construction is solid and components will fit great.
• Athlon 64 FX-57 - Athlon 64 FX-57 is the latest and fastest single-core CPU from AMD. In this review HardwareSecrets compare its performance with the previous model of Athlon 64 FX, FX-55, with Athlon 64 4000+, which is the fastest single-core CPU on Athlon 64 line, with other CPUs from AMD and also with some CPUs from Intel.
• Intel's 955X Dual-Core Chipset Better For Business Users Than NVidia's nForce4 - If you compare benchmark results from the 955X and nForce4 Intel Edition chipsets, you'll see a slight advantage goes to Nvidia. Especially in gaming benchmarks the nForce4 IE sets itself apart from the 955X. The 955X, on the other hand, takes its rightful place among multiple business segments thanks to its flexible RAID support and stronger RAID performance, as well as its AMT capabilities.
• Leadtek 6600GT Extreme: Factory Overclocked - The Extreme version is definitely helpful when you are stressing out the GPU, but other than that we recommend opting for a regular 6600GT and overclocking it at a price tag that brings more value per dollar
• MSI NX6600GT-V2TD128E Diamond (GeForce 6600 GT) -  After all, other competitors like the ASUS Extreme N6600GT and the Gigabyte GV-NX66T128D were both capable of reaching up to 580/1160MHz and 580/1180MHz respectively. Their overclocked GPU speed of 580MHz is even 20MHz higher than what we got with the MSI card.
• XFX GeForce 7800 GTX Graphics Card - Coupled with the 256-bit memory interface, the XFX card should produce memory bandwidth of 40GB/sec compared to the 38.4GB/sec offered by the stock nVidia settings.
• NEC ND 3540A DVD writer - There is no doubt that this is a good general purpose drive. It is available at a price of 50 euros or less and so is accessible to the masses. Burning dual layer media at 8X speed is nice but dual layer media is still quite expensive. The drive's support for 32X speed CD-RW media is also a nice point which personally means I can stop using my CD-Writer for that purpose alone. The drive is also speedy with it's rewritable DVD support, it's just a shame that you can't buy the media as quick as these drives keep coming out.
• Vantec ION2 460 watt PSU -  If you've been looking for a new quality power supply that has plenty of voltage along all rails and also comes in at a very agreeable price, then you'll want to take a good look at this Vantec offering
• CoolerMaster NotePal Notebook Cooler - It is ironic that laptops these days are not recommended for use on a lap; those who try may certainly get a burn or an "unpleasant feeling". Cooler Master promises to solve that problem with the NotePal and also help with another thing or two.
• Dell Laser Printer 1100 - The Laser Printer 1100 is designed for small and home offices, but it's also destined to end up on students' desks. Technical features of the printer are relatively basic, although you can't be too hard on a printer that costs so little in terms of initial financial outlay. A skimpy 2MB of RAM also means the printer struggles with large images and fancy fonts (most budget lasers carry at least 8MB), so you shouldn't be seduced by the price tag if you plan to subject the printer to heavy use.
• D-Link Securicam DCS-5300G - IP Camera - General picture quality is above average with the best results coming from the 352 x 240 pixel resolution. The highest resolution of 740 x 480 pixels wasn't as sharply focused and this setting also drops the frame rate to a maximum of 10fps.
• Transcend T.sonic 610 MP3 Player - T.sonic 610 player can play WAV, MP3, and WMA files. It has a spectacular LCD screen and design. It is compact and portable beyond belief. It arrives with various types of straps to make the MP3 player even more comfortable to carry around. Not only can it play MP3 files, it can be used to listen to any local FM radio station. Furthermore, it can record sound with the microphone on the top left corner of the LCD screen.
• Nikon D50 camera - The D50 also features an improved autofocus system; in sports mode (one of its six scene presets), for example, it can track a subject as it moves. The D50's rubber eyepiece is larger and more comfortable than the D70's.

GUIDES...

• Cell Inside, the Future of Processor Architecture - The Cell processor represents an incredible leap in computing technology, and it is debuting in the consumer market next year inside the Playstation 3. So how is the Cell processor so different from AMD’s and Intel’s x86 chips?
• FiringSquad on building a high definition HTPC - A lot of people think about HTPCs as something to do with "spare parts," but in this article, we're going to help you see how you can building a high-end HTPC with quality components can result in a device that lets you do things that you normally cannot do.
• SNES Emulator comparison - AEP Emulation Page did an interesting SNES emulator comparison for Windows.
• Podcasting - How and Why - Interesting two part series on what Pod Casting is and how you (yes you) can become a Pod Caster.
• Anti-aliasing and Anisotropic filtering explained - The article is pitched at everyone that knows that AA and AF increase the quality of their in-game image, but aren't really sure how!
• NVIDIA ForceWare tweak guide (updated) - This guide refers to the latest Official Nvidia Forceware drivers Version 77.72.
• Defrag Your Boot Files (XP) - In order to make sure that your system continues to start as fast as possible, you should verify that your computer is defragging the boot files on start up. A boot defragment puts the boot files as close together as possible, making startup time faster.

SOFTWARE...

• Cuttermaran 1.64 - Cuttermaran (download) is a cut program for MPEG1 or MPEG2 video streams. The streams can be cut without recalculation. The asynchronous between audio and video will be minimized.
• VirtualDub 1.6.8 Stable - VirtualDub (download / download AMD64 version / changelog) is a video capture and processing program. It features fast capturing, process files larger than the 2 gigabyte limit, optimized for linear editing, support for Motion-JPEG, MPEG-1 video and layer 3 audio, real-time and near-realtime video processing, video job queues, and much more.
• nHancer (NVIDIA Profile Editor) - The programmer of this handly little tool was very rather unhappy with nVidia's own control panel, especially with its game profile editing module.
• New Development 80.40 Forceware Driver leaded - Try only at your own risk!

SECURITY...

• A COM Object (javaprxy.dll) Could Cause Internet Explorer to Unexpectedly Exit - Microsoft is investigating a new public report of a vulnerability affecting Internet Explorer. We have not been made aware of any attacks attempting to use the reported vulnerability or customer impact at this time, but we are aggressively investigating the public report. Another article can be found here.
• Soldier of Fortune II DoS Vulnerability - The /ignore command is used for saying to the server that the client don't want to receive the messages of a specific user. The command is followed by a number that identifies the ID of the client we want to ignore. This client ID is then used by the server for positioning into the g_entities array composed by 1024 entities so if we specify a big ID like 123456789 the server will crash immediately because it tries to access a zone of memory not allocated.
• Advertiser Sues Google Over Click Fraud - Google knows that click fraud is rampant in its pay-per-click advertising program and hasn't seriously attempted to prevent this practice of individuals clicking on ads with malicious intent, an advertiser has charged in a lawsuit filed against Google.
• FBI cracks down on "warez" piracy sites - The operation targeted 22 warez groups, including Myth, TDA, HellBound, Corrupt, Gamerz, NOX and Goodfellaz, the DOJ said. The DOJ accused these groups of pirating software such as Autodesk Inc.'s Autocad 2006 and Adobe Systems Inc.'s Photoshop and movies such as Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Apparently, an FBI agent was working undercover, being a "Site Op" of 4 gbit "topsites" with more than 27TB of pirated material. Griffen, his "scene" nick, played a crucial role on the busts. More than 70 searches in the United States and 20 overseas were executed, in just 24 hours!
• MPA Shuts down pirate movie website - Armed with a new computer hacking charge against Mr. Lupis, the Jakarta Police had all the evidence they needed to not only raid, but also arrest Mr. Lupis. The arrest occurred just before midnight of the same day. According to the MPA, the Jakarta police seize his computer and approximately 5,000 pirated DVDs
• BitTorrent Whiz Extolled Piracy? -  BitTorrent programmer Bram Cohen may be in legal jeopardy after the discovery on Wednesday of an old agenda buried on his website saying he creates programs to "commit digital piracy."

OFFTOPIC...

• Statham, Sobieski in 'Dungeon Siege' movie - Jason Statham and Leelee Sobieski are set to headline the cast of director Uwe Boll's $60 million adaptation of the sword-and-sorcery video game "Dungeon Siege," which begins filming Sunday in Vancouver, British Columbia. Statham, whose credits include "Cellular" and "Collateral," plays the film's hero, Farmer, and Sobieski, who credits range from "Eyes Wide Shut" to "Max," has been cast as Muriella, daughter of the court sorcerer Merrick, who will be played by John Rhys Davies, who appeared in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
• Video gamers may have quicker eyes - Researchers found that gamers who devote much of their free time to Grand Theft Auto and Super Mario may be able to scan their environment and spot the target of their search more quickly than non-gamers can. In experiments with college students who were either hard-core video game players or novices, the researchers found that players were quicker to detect target objects on a busy computer screen than their peers were.
• Undead: The Spierig Brothers - The brothers talked to ComingSoon.net about the making of their movie when they came to New York for the film's premiere.

TECHNOLOGY...

• Microsoft considers licensing Xbox 360 software - CNN is reporting that Microsoft may license the software behind its upcoming Xbox 360 game console.
• New engine may beat Google - Gates - Microsoft's new search engine may rival or even surpass the world's most popular web tool Google, Microsoft co-founder and chair Bill Gates said on Thursday. In Bangkok to unveil a deal with the Thai government, Gates said his company was developing products to make the internet easier to use.
• New tax for broadband customers?-  Many broadband customers will pay new universal service taxes akin to those on their telephone bills if Congress bows to suggestions from rural legislators.
• IBM Wins $850M Settlement vs. Microsoft - The courts have ruled that Microsoft has to pay 850 million to IBM for not playing fairly!
• Adult Site Sues Amazon Over Sexy Images - Adult magazine publisher Perfect 10 is suing Amazon.com, alleging that the e-tailer's search engine is violating copyright law by displaying thousands of images from its Web site without permission.
• Philips Develops Platform for $20 Cell Phones -  By the end of this year, Philips intends to deliver a sub-$5 system, called Nexperia Cellular System Solution 5130, that integrates all the electronics needed for a mobile phone. The Nexperia-based phone will be capable of making calls and sending text messages via Short Message Service (SMS). It will have a monochrome screen and be able to play polyphonic ring tones.
• Hitachi Releases Slim Hard Drive with Video Streaming - Hitachi Global Storage Technologies has introduced a 2.5-inch hard drive with several features that company executives predict will make it a leading contender in several segments of the notebook market, as well as the consumer electronics market. The 4,200 rpm Hitachi Travelstar 4K120 hard drive uses new technology developed by Hitachi that makes power consumption more efficient.

HARDWARE... 

• ABIT Fatal1ty X800 XL 512MB Details - The Fatal1ty X800 XL 512MB is, as we've come to expect from all Falat1ty branded ABIT products, designed with gamers in mind. An essential prerequisite to overclocking is, of course, cooling. The Fatal1ty X800 XL 512MB has a single slot cooler design with a copper base to quickly conduct heat away from the GPU and a 6cm fan to dissipate the heat.  512MB of uber-fast 1.6ns DDR3 RAM sits on the PCB of this card, providing ample memory for high-res gaming.
• Evesham Acumen DC10 Workstation - Evesham's new Acumen DC10 workstation stands big and tall in a matt black Chieftec DX-01B Dragon case. Inside there's acres of space for the E-ATX Asus K8N-DL motherboard with its pair of Opteron 275 processors, and taken together the case and motherboard provide plenty of scope for expansion.
• Athlon 64 FX-57 vs. Pentium 4 670 - Both platforms are very capable of working in the multitasking environment, but in this area the Intel 670 outperformed AMD's FX-57. The Intel system also was able to run multiple programs simultaneously with less hesitation before the various applications were opened than the AMD system.
• 1GB Mushkin HP3200 Redline dual pair  - With a stock speed of 200 MHz and conservative timings of 2-3-2-6, the Mushkin HP3200 Redline doesn't look like anything special at first glace, but educated users know better. In our case the Mushkin HP3200 Redline test sample was able to hit an amazing 261 MHz while keeping 2-2-2-5 memory timings, but at a high voltage of 3.5V. At this voltage/speed, the HP3200 Redline got very hot and we definitely recommend users to actively cool the memory! With lax memory timings, the memory could run at a respectable 276 MHz, still very good.
• XFX GeForce 7800 GTX - HardwareSecrets has posted a review of GeForce 7800 GTX from XFX, which comes overclocked and with a free gamepad.
• HIS X850 XT IceQ Turbo - With Radeon prices shortly poised for freefall, how does the card hold up? The chaps at Bit-Tech put it through a series of real-world gameplay tests, including Battlefield 2 and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.
• HP LaserJet 1022nw -  The main thing about the "nw" variant of the LaserJet 1022 is that it has 802.11g wireless networking built in. This means anybody with a home or office wireless network can print to the 1022nw without any physical data connection.
• Navicore Personal GPS navigation system - The Navicore box consists of a GPS receiver that connects to your phone over Bluetooth, an in-car charger and a set of Tele-Atlas based maps provided on a MMC card. This is 256MB in size. The maps only take up around 143Mb on the card leaving over 100MB of free space, and as most phones will come with a smaller capcity card, you're gaining in this regard. The maps are compatible with phones running the Symbian Series 60 operating system, which in the main consist of Nokias.
• Standalone DVD Recorder roundup - Two products stand out from our selection - the Sony RDR-HX910 and the Lite-On LVW-5045. The former is the most technically advanced; the HX710 version with a 160 GB disk is the best choice due to lower cost. The Sony's ergonomics and picture quality put it on the top shelf, while its compatibility with both recording formats is an undeniable plus, as is its automatic chaptering function. The Lite-On, on the other hand, offers an unbeatable quality-to-price ratio.

GUIDES...

• Over 20 DVD Media Discs Tested with Four DVD Burners -  In the DVD+R category, the Digitex 8x, TDK 16x and Verbatim 16x have performed well. The RIDATA 16x can be put in here, too, but none of the four optical drives could burn it at 16x, and only one drive did the burning at 8x. This must be due to the drives' firmware, so it would be too hasty to reject this medium altogether. The discs of the DVD-R format have been in the focus of this review due to the arrival of blanks from TDK and Verbatim rated for 16x. Both these discs have performed well. We have no concerns as to their quality. We have no such concerns about the 8x blanks from Digitex, TDK and Verbatim, either. In the DVD+RW category, high-quality media are Imation 4x, Fujifilm 4x, L-PRO 2.4x, Sony 4x, Philips 4x, Verbatim 4x. Indeed, the rest of the participating discs aren't hopeless, either.

SOFTWARE...

• Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) 2.0 - Version 2.0 of MBSA (download) includes a graphical and command line interface that can perform local or remote scans of Windows systems. MBSA runs on Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000, and Windows XP systems and will scan for common security misconfigurations in the following products: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Internet Information Server (IIS) 5.0, and 6.0, SQL Server 7.0 and 2000, Internet Explorer (IE) 5.01 and later, and Office 2000, 2002 and 2003.
• GIMP 2.2.8 - The GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It works on many operating systems, in many languages.
• Quintessential Media Player Beta Build 103 - Quintessential Player (download) brings a huge arsenal of quality features, and uses simplicity as its decoy. It is truly the most unique player available. Supports MP3, CD Audio, Ogg Vorbis, WAV, VQF, MP+, Windows Media, and streaming audio including SHOUTcast.
• FFDShow MPEG-4 Video Decoder 2005-07-01 - FFDSHOW is a DirectShow decoding filter for decompressing DivX, XviD, WMV, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 movies. It uses libavcodec from ffmpeg project for video decompression, postprocessing code from mplayer to enhance visual quality of low bitrate movies, and is based on original DirectShow filter from XviD, which is GPL'ed educational implementation of MPEG4 encoder.
• mp3DirectCut 2.01 - mp3DirectCut (download) is a non-destructive audio editor and recorder for MP3
• MSN Messenger 7.0.816 - download / there're no release notes.
• Internet Download Manager 4.05  - Internet Download Manager (download) is a tool to increase download speeds by up to 500 percent, resume and schedule downloads. Comprehensive error recovery and resume capability will restart broken or interrupted downloads due to lost connections, network problems, computer shutdowns, or unexpected power outages.
• Net Transport 1.94.280 - Net Transport is a fast and powerful file download tool. Net Transport can use multiple threads to download files. If a sites allows multi-threaded downloads, you can expect much faster speeds.
• Sisoftware Sandra Lite 2005.SR2a (10.61) - SiSoftware Sandra is an information & diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software, and other devices whether hardware or software.
• NVIDIA BIOS Editor (NiBiTor) v2.2a - NiBiTor v2.2a has just been released. This tool allows users to tune and edit the NVIDIA GeForce BIOS.
• Realtek AC'97 Sound System Software 3.73a WHQL  - Realtek released version 3.73a driver for their ALC AC97 audio chipsets.

SECURITY...

• Trojan masquerades as Microsoft patch - Web monitoring company Websense has issued a warning about the infected spam mails, which claim to protect against worm attacks. If an unwary user clicks on the link at the bottom of the email a new variant of the SDBot Trojan, as yet unidentified by antivirus companies, is downloaded onto their PCs.The email header is as follows: 'Microsoft Security Bulletin MS05-039: New patch against W32/Sober, W32/Zafi, W32/Mytob'.
• Hackers unleash industrial spy Trojan - IT security experts have detected a malware-based hack attack that attempts to gain unauthorised access to the networks of specifically targeted domains. Security firm MessageLabs, which discovered the attack, explained that the Trojan targets only a small number of email addresses - 17 in this case - rather than mass mailing itself to as many recipients as possible.The infected emails were transmitted to a highly targeted list of recipients at only four domains, suggesting that the hackers were using the malware for industrial espionage. The attack is designed to exploit a vulnerability in Microsoft Word caused by a buffer overflow when handling macro names.
• Virtual postcard spam delivers malware surprise - Windows users who follow the web link visit a website which exploits vulnerabilities in Microsoft's software and installs the Clsldr-D Trojan horse onto their computer alongside other malicious code (Troj/Delf-KP, Troj/Lofler-A, Troj/Siggy-A, Troj/Webdrop-A, Troj/Small-EM, and Troj/Divo-A). Troj/Divo-A is a phishing Trojan which grabs personal details as compromised users log into online banks.
• Fake news spreads email virus - The Kedebe-F worm spreads itself through email posing as breaking news stories about the supposed arrest of the author of the Mydoom worm and the death of Michael Jackson, warns anti-virus firm Sophos. Windows users who launch the attached file risk disabling their security software and firewalls and passing the infection onto other computer users.
• 'DVD Jon' Breaks Google Video Lock - Norwegian hacker Jon Lech Johansen has cracked the lock on Google's new in-browser video player. Johansen, also known as 'DVD Jon' for his work on decrypting DVD security codes, has created a patch for the Google Video Viewer - less than 24 hours after the search giant shipped the video playback plug-in, a tool based on the open-source VideoLAN media player. The patch, released on Johansen's 'So Sue Me' blog, effectively disables a modification Google made to the VideoLAN code to prevent users from playing videos that are not hosted on Google's servers. Johansen said the patch, which requires the .Net run-time framework, will remove Google's restriction and allow the playback of video files that aren't on the video.google.com server.
• Bluetooth Backers Offer Security Tips - Bluetooth security is essentially based on devices generating a secure connection through a pairing process. During this process, a user of one of the devices needs to enter a PIN code, which is used by internal algorithms to generate a secure key. This key is then used to authenticate the devices whenever they connect in the future. But the findings of the Israeli researchers suggest the technology may be even more susceptible to attack than previously known.
• RSS in Longhorn: The Security Question - Analysts warn that Microsoft's plan to bake content syndication deep into the belly of Longhorn will open new attack vectors for spammers, phishers and malware writers.
• Phishing gang jailed after stealing L6.5 million - Experts at Sophos have reminded internet users to protect themselves online, as two men who stole up to L6.5 million (US $11.8 million) as part of their involvement in a phishing gang were jailed for a total of ten years by a British court.

OFFTOPIC...

• Tarantino and Rodriguez make horror movie! - GRIND HOUSE is set to be released spring 2006. Tarantino and Rodriguez will each write and direct a 60-minute horror film, and the two films will be packaged together under the overall title GRIND HOUSE. Tarantino says GRIND HOUSE could be the first in a series of films.
• War of the Worlds: Spielberg & Cruise - Part I - The two stars made a rare appearance together in New York City to promote the film, so without further ado…Messrs. Spielberg and Cruise:
• Spider-Man 3 Start Date Announced - The third installment is scheduled for a May 4, 2007 release date.
• Exclusive X-Men Movie Update -  Today's Variety reports that X2 and X3 screenwriter Zak Penn has signed a two-year, first-look deal with 20th Century Fox, the studio behind the X-Men and Fantastic Four films. As part of this pact, the trade says Penn is "expected to develop a film at the studio to direct, possibly a spinoff of the X-Men franchise. The movie would not be the either of the currently in-development Wolverine or Magneto project." So which project might it be? Could it be that rumored Storm spin-off? Nope. According to reliable sources, Penn's project centers around a group of mutant youngsters at Charles Xavier's school for gifted children. Expect some of those young protagonists to probably include characters already established in the X-Men movies.

TECHNOLOGY...

• SBC offers three months free Net, TV service - The promotion, which SBC says could be worth up to $340 per customer, is the most aggressive attempt to date by a large local telephone company to lure customers away from cable. SBC's move comes a few weeks after it lowered the price of its high-speed Internet service to $14.95 per month for new subscribers in its 13-state region.
• Google Unveils Personalized Search Beta - Google has launched a beta version of its newly developed Personalized Search service, allowing the search engine to tailor results to the user. Google said that a fishing enthusiast, for example, would now get different results than a musician when entering the word "bass" as a search query. The service builds on the My Search History feature launched as a beta in April. The service "remembers" past searches, allowing users to quickly retrieve a recently visited page.
• T-Mobile to use Google to sell mobile Net - Deutsche Telekom's mobile arm, T-Mobile, will use Web search leader Google as the starting point for surfing the Internet on its mobile phones, T-Mobile said Wednesday.
• Java to Appear in Next-Generation DVD Players - "The Blu-ray Disc Association, the standards body for the format, has decided it will adopt Java for the interactivity standards," said Yasushi Nishimura, director of Panasonic's Research and Development Company of America, speaking at Sun's JavaOne trade show here. "This means that all Blu-ray Disc player devices will be shipped equipped with Java."
• Fujitsu Pushes Hard Drive Limits - Researchers in Japan have reported success in an advanced data-storage technology that could help yield hard drives with capacities of seven times or more than today's most advanced drives in as soon as five years.
• Group creates fuel-cell guidelines for mobile PCs - The new guidelines from the Mobile PC Extended Battery Life Working Group should help speed the development of longer lasting fuel-cell power sources for notebooks and other mobile computers, a development viewed as important for the growing popularity of Wi-Fi and other wireless Internet technologies.
• Microsoft updates Virtual PC with Tiger fixes - Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday announced the release of Virtual PC 7.0.2. The update to the PC emulation software for the Mac features fixes for Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger" that came to light during final testing. It's available for download from Microsoft's Web site. Virtual PC 7.0.2 provides fixes for Virtual Switch, Zero Configuration Printing and the Dock Start menu when running on Tiger, according to Microsoft. The update works with Virtual PC 7.0 and 7.0.1. System requirements call for G3/700MHz or faster, Mac OS X v10.2.8 or later, 512MB RAM, 70MB hard disk space.
• Microsoft to Release AJAX Framework - News.com is announcing that Microsoft has announced plans to release a javascript client framework library for use with ASP.NET 2.0 that makes AJAX style browser clients easier to code.
• Mercury Computer Taking Cell Chip Beyond Gaming Realm - Mercury, a Massachusetts-based maker of high-performance embedded, real-time digital signal and image processing systems, said it will integrate Cell into a variety of future products to improve the performance of its customer applications, which include radar, sonar, MRI, CT and digital X-ray applications.

HARDWARE... 

• Intel to cut Celeron D processor prices 5.4-13.5%, AMD to follow suit - On the heels of introducing support for extended memory 64 technology (Intel EM64T), or 64-bit memory addressability, to its Celeron line with the its Celeron D 351, Intel plans to cut the prices of its desktop-use Celeron D processors 5.4-13.5% on July 24, according to PC makers.
• Abit Fatal1ty AN8 - Based on the nForce 4 SLI, it comes with the micro Guru panel which goes into a spare bay. Built for overclocking and performance, it also offers some well chosen features like 8-channel sound, control over six fans and the SLIpstream technology for colling SLI cards.
• MSI P4N Diamond - Pentium SLI Motherboard - My absolute favourite feature on the P4N Diamond is the new digital SLI switch. Instead of the small piece of PCB that most other SLI boards use, MSI has incorporated a row of components that automatically detects if there is one or two cards installed. This is then reported to the BIOS, which sets the correct mode. Hopefully this is something that other manufacturers will adopt, to save users the trouble of opening up their case when they realise they've forgotten to flick the switch.
• Gigabyte GeForce 7800 GTX - Gigabyte have simply added their own touch to the heatsink, found some games that most people will probably never play, place them into a nice box and whacked a price tag on them - which are all things that the reference cards will never offer.
• MSI NX6600GT-VTD128SP AGP - This is a competitively priced graphics card with a sweet bundle and adequate gaming performance. If you are an average user that enjoys casual gaming, MSI may have what you are looking for. Let's take a look to see what MSI brings us this time around.
• MSI NX6800-TD128E SLI - The MSI NX6800-TD128E is actually quite an impressive card. In SLI, these cards maintained impressive average framerates across all benches @ 1600x1200 4xAA/8xAF. For Half-Life 2 the average was 38 frames per second and 44 frames per second when overclocked. For Doom 3 those averages were 36 and 45 frames per second respectively.
• Seagate 400GB Pushbutton Backup USB 2.0/FireWire HDD -  It is a stylish external hard disk drive based on a 8MB cache 400GB Seagate HDD spinning at 7200rpm. Backup is possible via the Bounceback express software. Heavy it is though at more than 1Kg and it is not cheap.
• Logitech z5500 Speakers - As a whole, the Z-5500 is a good buy for even music enthusiasts who don't have much interest in action gaming. I'm not entirely fond of how it handles dynamic shifts, particularly in the middle ranges, but it's definitely acceptable. When you stack it against comparably priced amp-and-speaker combinations, it more than holds its own, and the woofer is worth the price of admission. Paired with a relatively inexpensive DJ mixer, you can suddenly get a pretty darn good 5.1 surround system with tons of flexibility.
• Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P200 - The DSC-P200 is Sony's entrant into the relatively new market sector of seven megapixel snapshot cameras, competing alongside Canon's IXUS 700, Nikon's CoolPix 7900, the Olympus C-70, the Samsung Digimax V700 and the Casio Exilim EX-Z750 among others.

GUIDES...

• Intel Pentium M Overclocking, going for 100% OC on Dry Ice - Today we go for a 100% overclock with a 1.6Ghz Pentium M Dothan CPU, using Dry Ice to cool the CPU this might be possible. To make things more interesting we also push an ATI X800 to its limit running it at -52 degrees Celsia"
• CMP vs. SMP on Intel's Platform - The weak spot of server platforms from Intel is their memory system. Firstly, it requires registered DDR2-400 modules with ECC. Secondly, it's based on the older E7525 chipset, which memory controller is noticeably inferior to that in the new desktop i955X chipset.
• MR Tech's Mozilla/Firefox/Thunderbird Hacks Updated - check it out

SOFTWARE...

• Update Rollup 1 for Windows 2000 SP4 - Update Rollup 1 for Windows 2000 SP4 was released June 28, 2005. This update rollup contains a list of security-related updates produced for Windows 2000 between the release of Windows 2000 SP4 and April 30, 2005. April 30, 2005 is the date when the contents for Update Rollup 1 were locked down for final testing by Microsoft, external beta testing sites, and customer sites. Additionally, this update rollup contains several important non-security updates.
• Microsoft releases Package Installer update via Automatic Update - This update installs a permanent copy of Package Installer for Windows to enable software updates to have a significantly smaller download size. The Package Installer facilitates the install of software updates for Microsoft Windows operating systems and other Microsoft products.
• xplorer2 Lite 1.3.0.0 - The lightweight version of xplorer2 is not a crippled unusable salesman of the professional version.
• 7-Zip 4.23 - 7-Zip (download) is a file archiver with high compression ratio.
• PSPad 4.3.3 Build 2089 Free Editor - PSPad editor (download) is freeware programmer editor, usable for people who work with various programming environments,  like highlighted syntax in code, need a small tool with simple controls and the capabilities of a mighty code editor, looking for a tool to work with plain text,  want to save money and still have the functionality of professional products.
• QuickRip XP Professional-RC1 - QuickRip XP Professional (download) is a fast and stable Audio CD ripper. It can encode audio CD's to some of the most popular formats like WAV, MP3, OGG, APE and WMA.
• Skype 1.3.0.54 - Skype (download) is the next phenomenon from the people who brought you KaZaA. Just like KaZaA, Skype uses P2P (peer-to-peer) technology to connect you to other users - not to share files this time, but to talk for free with your friends.
• New BIOS for Leadtek 7800GTX - Leadtek has released a new BIOS out for the Leadtek 7800GTX. It increases the core to 450MHz and the RAM to 1.25GHz. This is of coarse supported overclocking by Leadtek's warranty. (thanks Bjord3D)
• ForceWare 77.70 Go - Here's a new set of Forceware Drivers in the shape of 77.70 for Windows 2000/XP for Nvidia's mobile chipsets! The files in the archive are dated: 09/06/2005.

SECURITY...

• First of 15,000 German warez buyers brought to court - The state prosecutor's office of Mühlhausen in Germany has started criminal proceedings against the first of up to 15,000 users who, according to the German society for the pursuit of copyright infringements, have knowingly paid for illegal content on the internet. It is one of the biggest cases of Internet piracy and illegal copying ever discovered.
• Stream/raped DoS - The following is a DoS proof of concept that can perform both stream and raped attacks. The stream/raped was a denial of service written a few years ago only for *nix machines, this is the porting for Windows. The basic idea of stream/raped attack is very simple. It's a flood of TCP raw packets with ACK flag set or no flag set. This flood isn't much powerful since ACKs are very tiny datagrams but when the target machine receives this kind of packets it replies with an RST packet. So the victim has to reply to all spoofed source addresses with a packet and moreover if the random generated spoofed address doesn't exist or is unreachable, when replying with RST the target machine will also receive an ICMP packet from the first router.
• Fresh Batch of Bagles Seeding Botnets - Virus researchers are raising the alarm over a new offshoot of the Bagle worm that is attempting to hijack computers for use in botnets. The latest attack was launched in a weekend spam run that attempted to trick Windows users into downloading an executable identified as Bagle.BQ or Mitglieder.CN.
• Supreme Court finds against file sharing - The US Supreme Court has found against file-sharing software provider Grokster in a ruling that potentially leaves other peer-to-peer networks liable for any illegal content shared by users.
• Wi-Fi Security Tool Puts Emphasis on Location  - Newbury Networks Inc. this week introduced the latest version of its Wi-Fi security software, which uses both location and behavior patterns to monitor a network for rogue access points. WiFi Watchdog 5.0 is server-side software that uses location technology for intrusion prevention and detection, client protection, and rogue access point containment.

OFFTOPIC...

• Space Ring Could Combat Global Warming - Though the debate continues around global warming, a new proposal suggests building an artificial space ring around the Earth to block the light of the sun and bring a balance to solar radiation, cloud cover, and heat-trapping greenhouse gases.
• New Quake For Cell Phones - id Software and publisher Pulse Interactive, is rolling out Quake for a new generation of 3D-enabled mobile handsets.Quake Mobile is in development by Bare Naked Productions for a new generation of mobile phone handsets which feature dedicated 3D graphics hardware. This new advancement allows the phone to display complex 3D environments and objects, representing a leap forward from current cell phones.
• Sin City DVD to Have Four Covers -  Video Business reports that Buena Vista Home Entertainment will release Sin City on DVD August 16 with four collectible covers--each devoted to one of the anthology-style movie's story lines.
• New Murderball Clip! - ComingSoon.net has your exclusive first look at a clip from Murderball, a new documentary from THINKFilm, MTV Films, Participant Productions and A&E IndieFilms. Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro directed the July 8 release.
• Beethoven symphony #6 free download available from BBC - Symphony 6 will be broadcast on Monday 27th June, and available to download from Tuesday 28th June to Monday 4th July.

TECHNOLOGY...

• Google Launches Next Generation Video Search - Today, Google officially launched video.google.com (download & install Google Video Viewer)Alongside the new site comes a new browser plug-in based on VLC, the open source video player. With the plug-in installed, users can search and view videos marked with a play button (example). Google describe the service as part of their mission to "organize the world's information, and that includes the thousands of programs that play on our TVs every day".
• Google Earth - Google Maps The World in 3D - Google today relaunched their Keyhole Satelitte Image mapping system as Google Earth. Google Earth combines 3D buildings and terrain wth mapping capability and Google search and is based on Keyhole technology.
• Future versions of Xbox 360 may include HD-DVD - Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has confirmed that the company is thinking about future revisions of the Xbox 360 hardware already, and may incorporate a HD-DVD drive into the console at some point down the line. While the addition of a HD-DVD drive to Xbox 360 would allow future models to play HD movies stored on the format, it seems unlikely that the extra capacity would be available to game developers, since their titles would then not work on first-generation hardware.
• Toshiba, Microsoft strengthen ties on DVDs - The two companies said Monday they would consider working together on the development of HD DVD players using Microsoft Windows software, a move that Toshiba hopes will help lower its development costs for the next-generation DVD player.
• AMD Files Antitrust Suit Against Intel - Advanced Micro Devices has filed a wide-ranging antitrust suit against Intel, accusing it of maintaining its monopoly in the PC processor market by illegally coercing customers around the world into using its products, AMD says. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, identifies 38 companies on three continents that were allegedly coerced by Intel, including large-scale computer makers, small system builders, wholesale distributors, and retailers, according to a statement from AMD, in Sunnyvale, California. The 48-page complaint alleges that Intel used illegal subsidies to win sales, and in some cases threatened companies with "severe consequences" for using or selling AMD products.

HARDWARE... 

• ATI's R5-Series Possibly Postponed to August - ATI Technologies confirmed during the last quarter's conference call that its forthcoming graphics processor code-named R520 has been delayed, however, reassured investors and analysts that this Fall it would have a lineup of visual processing units produced using 90nm process technology. ATI code-named R520 VPU is projected to support Shader Model 3.0 and other innovations, which requires a totally new graphics architecture from ATI. Still, general specifications of ATI's code-named R520 VPU are unclear at this time.
• Single 7800GTX Card Breaks 11K on 3DMark05 - The crucial 11K barrier on 3DMark05 for single card configuration has been broken with ASUS EN7800GTX card running at an insane 702Mhz/1506MHz. The benching rig is made up of AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 @ 3.56GHz, ASUS A8N-SLI Premium (modded), 2 x 512MB GSkill DDR600 and phase change cascade cooling setup.
• AMD to ship "Fastest overclockable gaming CPU" - AMD has just launched its latest gamer-oriented single-core processor, named the Athlon 64 FX-57. The new chip is to be priced at $1031 USD, and is available directly through AMD, or at most PC stores.
• Intel Introduces 64-bit Celeron D Chips - A family of Intel's value processors with 64-bit and Execute Disable Bit support includes Intel Celeron D processors 351, 346, 341, 336, 331 and 326 that work at 3.20GHz, 3.06GHz, 2.93GHz, 2.80GHz, 2.66GHz and 2.53GHz. Just like their brethren without EM64T, the new Intel Celeron D are equipped with 256KB L2 cache. The new microprocessors require a mainboard that sports 533MHz processor system bus, is equipped with Socket 775 and has a special BIOS that features EM64T.
• AMD Athlon 64 FX-57 CPU - Another reviews can be found on AnandTech, SharkyExtreme, Sudhian Media and X-bit Labs.
• Intel Extreme Edition 840 - With Intel's dual core processors, there's one minor difference between the Pentium D's and the Extreme Edition processor, and that is core support for Hyper-Threading. The Pentium D processors lack support for Hyper-Threading Technology, unlike the Extreme Edition series. Both these processors will operate off of an 800MHz FSB for the time being, though I'd hope to see a move to 1066MHz sometime in the 'near' future
• Foxconn WinFast 760GXK8MB Motherboard - WinFast 760GXK8MB is a socket 754 motherboard based on the SiS 760GX chipset, aimed to entry level PCs, since this chipset has on-board video based on Mirage 2 graphics engine from SiS (DirectX 8.1)
• ATI Radeon X850XT Platinum Edition Video Card  - The X850 fits right at the top of the current ATI offerings. With the introduction of the X850, the X800 XT drops out of the picture. With the current MSRP at $549, the X850 XT PE is no economical solution. It is a high performance card at a very high cost. Current street price has this at around mid $400 range which seems more acceptable for some buyers. ATI has marketed this card as the ultimate gaming solution and a must have for any extreme gamer.
• Sapphire Radeon X800 XL 'Ultimate' vs AOpen Aeolus 6800 - When it comes to game performance however, the Radeon X800 XL GPU showed its strength over the plain GeForce 6800. Across the board the Sapphire took the lead and once features such as FSAA and AF were enabled the 16-pipeline architecture really began to pull away. Perhaps most telling was how the Sapphire was faster than the AOpen in Doom 3, traditionally nVidia's strong suite. The most significant numbers are at the sweet spot of 1,280 x 1,024 with FSAA and AF enabled, with the Radeon a full 9 fps ahead, taking it from a barely playable 34.1fps to a more comfortable 43.1 And with Half-Life 2 the Sapphire numbers are playable at 1,600 x 1,200, though this is with an FX-55, which is unlikely to be paired with this sort of card.
• Simple Tech SimpleDrive Deluxe 250GB USB2.0/Fire Wire External Hard Drive - Concerning price, the evaluated unit can be purchased o­nline from many o­nline retailers at approximately $200 USD. It may not be the least expensive o­n the market for a 250GB external drive, but considering you are purchasing a product from a well known and respected manufacturer, portability, great performance, dual connection interfaces along with the StorageSync Pro backup and restore utility software, it is a good value in my opinion.
• Iomega REV Autoloader 1000 - The Autoloader 1000 combines a good storage capacity (350GB) with excellent performance making it a solid alternative to standard tape autoloader devices. It compares very favourably with DDS-4 and DAT72 based products and also brings into play good remote management features.
• NEC MultiSync LCD1980FXi - What this leads to is a display with a native 1,280 x 1,024 pixel picture that looks larger than it really is, and one that can be used in multi-monitor configurations where only a 24mm - 27mm internally conjoined bezel framework divides up the active screen areas. In other words up to 25 of these monitors can be stacked in a five-by-five matrix where the active pictures aren't too far apart.
• DISH Network Player-DVR 942 - The DISH Player DVR model 942 is a high definition satellite receiver capable of recording up to 25 hours of high definition or 180 hours of programming on a 250GB hard-drive. However, what really makes model 942 exceptional is the fact that it allows you multi-room capability via one satellite receiver. It also includes DISH's Video-On-Demand Service that provides the capability to 'pause' live TV, record any type of DISH Network programming, skip recorded commercials, and create 'instant replays'.

GUIDES...

• Understanding video codecs - A codec, in terms of the context of this article, is a software algorithm that compresses digital video and/or audio and also decompresses them for playing. The overriding goal of most codecs is to reduce file size whilst maintaining quality. Most users essentially install a plug-in for their players that decompresses only.
• CPU's - Just how do they work? - Somewhere deep within your processor, a gate opens, and electrons flow from one terminal to another. How the heck does that translate into a CPU?
• Firefox Tweak Guide - They cover every functionality aspect found in Firefox, from the very basic appearance and menu options, to advanced customizations in Firefox's behaviour such as caching, net connection handling, plug-ins and web page rendering.
• Battlefield 2: The Video Card Controversy - As a PC Gamer you expect to upgrade, you expect that at some point your hardware will not run the latest games acceptably. Battlefield 2 does not even give you that option. It attempts to make all non DirectX 9 compatible video cards obsolete. Which means all GeForce 4 and older video cards will not run Battlefield 2. You cannot even start up the menu. Neither Electronic Arts nor the game's developer DICE have any plans to fix this. Even though the GeForce 4 line of video cards has enough horsepower to render the game it is not compatible with Pixel Shader 1.4. Emulation to Pixel Shader 1.3 would easily make the game playable on these cards but redundant texture checks make this difficult to implement.

SOFTWARE...

• Microsoft Windows XP SP2 Outlook Express Patch - This update addresses an issue in which messages are improperly handled if the subject line contains the word “begin” and a display issue concerning watched threads in newsgroups. This update also addresses two issues in which Outlook Express stops responding. After you install this update, you may have to restart your computer.
• Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP - The Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP provides a simple and effective way to defend shared computers from untrusted users and malicious software, safeguard system resources, and enhance and simplify the user experience. The Toolkit runs on genuine copies of Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Home Edition, and Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.
• BOSS - BSI Open Source Security Suite - Germany's Federal Office for Security in Information Technology (BSI) has developed a free, open-source based security toolkit, aimed for public and private sector companies as solution for security auditing. The tool named BSI Open Source Security Suite (BOSS) is based on Knoppix Linux distribution and includes open source security tools : Nessus Open Source Vulnerability Scanner, Security Local Auditing Daemon (SLAD) which manages a range of security software, such as Tiger, John-The-Ripper, Tripwire, LSOF, ClamAV Antivirus and Chkrootkit.
• VideoLAN 0.8.2  - This new release (download Win32 / MacOSX)  features many imporvements including a full playlist rewrite, improved preferences, Mac OS X Tiger compatibility, a brand new Internet Explorer ActiveX plugin, a port to Pocket PC, mosaic picture in picture system, easy snapshots.
• MetaProducts Mass Downloader 3.1.607 SR1 - MetaProducts Mass Downloader (download) is a download manager application that allows you to download individual files (or lists of files) from Internet sites at the maximum available speed. Download resume is supported. Multiple channels technology significantly reduces download time.
• [!] Futuremark PCMark 05 - PCMark05 enables truly objective performance comparisons between the latest PC platforms and architectures and supports all the latest technologies. PCMark05 features tests with advanced threading which enable accurate benchmarking of the latest PCs with multi-core and hyper-threaded CPUs.
• Crazy Browser 2.0 - Crazy Browser (download) is a powerful Web browser. It provides many features that make surfing the web more comfortable and less confusing. Web pages are organized on tabs to prevent your screen from getting cluttered.
• KlipFolio 3.0a Beta - Serence KlipFolio (download) is a free information delivery and notification application that lets you view and manage Klip information services right on your desktop
• FileZilla 2.2.14b - FileZilla (download) is a fast and reliable FTP client and server with lots of useful features and an intuitive interface
• Riva Tuner v2.0 RC15.6 - RivaTuner (download) is the most powerful tweaking utility for NVIDIA and ATI display adapters running under Windows. The purpose of this utility is to give you access to all the undocumented features of ForceWare and Catalyst drivers.

SECURITY...

• Hackers probe Outlook Express flaw - The risk of an attack related to a flaw in Microsoft Outlook Express climbed this week, after underground hacking sites began circulating sample code for exploiting it. The exploit, which the French Security Incident Response Team drew attention to on Monday, is designed to take complete control of PCs with certain versions of the Outlook Express e-mail program installed on them, when users visit newsgroups controlled by the hackers.
• Fresh Javascript Browser Exploit - The latest problem centres around the ability to refresh a page other than the one currently open - if that page has loaded a popup in the first place. It would allow visitors clicking on a malicious link to Hotmail to initially be served with the correct page, before being transferred seconds later to one which looks identical on another server. If the URLs were similar, it's likely many users wouldn't notice the change.The exploit sample below only works on IE: however, tests seem to suggest it may work on other browsers.
• IE Pop-Up Spoof Won't Get Patched - In the attack, JavaScript is used to display a pop-up window in front of a trusted Web site. The pop-up appears to be part of the legitimate site, but actually is linked to a different, malicious site. A user might be fooled into sending personal information to the scammers. Although the pop-ups could be used by attackers, overlaying multiple windows in a Web browser is a feature, not a vulnerability, according to an advisory posted Tuesday on Microsoft's TechNet Web site.
• Nuclear secrets go global on the web - A Japanese power plant worker has inadvertently leaked nuclear secrets onto the web thanks to a virus infection. The unnamed employee had stored about 40MB of confidential reports on his home PC. When the system was infected with a virus the details were leaked.

OFFTOPIC...

• Kick Ass Kung-Fu - Kick Ass Kung-Fu is an immersive game installation that transforms computer gaming into a visual, physical performance like dance or sports. You can fight and defy gravity like kung-fu movie actors - only there's no wires or post-production needed, thanks to the real-time embodied interaction and virtual set technology.
• Study claims most parents ignore game ratings - BBC News is reporting that most parents don't seem to mind their children playing video games rated for adults

TECHNOLOGY...

• Internet Explorer 7 Screenshots - Bink.nu has just posted some screenshots of what appears to be Internet Explorer 7 running on a version of Longhorn at Gnomedex. The screenies highlight some of the new RSS features scheduled to be put in IE7, and were obviously taken by a digital/phone camera.
• Future of HD DVD vs. Blu-ray Battle Still Unknown - Actually, we won't have to wait too long to see who's going to win this battle. Although HD DVD players are expected to be in stores for the holiday shopping season, the backers of Blu-ray think they might still have an ace up their sleeve: Sony Corp. plans to include a Blu-ray drive in its hotly anticipated PlayStation 3 video game console. It won't arrive in the U.S. until next year, but the popularity of the PlayStation franchise might just prove to be sufficient for PS3 to be a smashing success.

HARDWARE... 

• NVIDIA Forceware 77.72 - SLI without bridge - In fact, even 6600GT, 6800GT and even the 7800GFX can run in SLI mode without the bridge. Although it works, there is a drop in performance. In fact, I heard that 6200 can be run in SLI too. Is this NVIDIA's strategy to ensure its position in both the graphics and platform chipset by introducing this software update ? The answer is very clear. We went ahead and tested our 6600GT with and without bridge on a NF4 SLI mainboard. Previously my system was running 71.89. I removed the bridge and 71.89 was able to allow SLI without bridge to work (preliminary)? Anyway, I installed the 77.72 and rebooted. On startup, it detected an SLI capable system and asked if I want to enable SLI. Yes of course. A pop up window says that Performance will be better if a bridge is installed.
• Kingston DDR-533 Modules - The Kingston HyperX DDR-533 modules tested demonstrate excellent compatibility with various motherboards on Intel 865P/G and 915P/G, VIA K8T800Pro and NVIDIA nForce 3 chipsets, average overclocking capacity in terms of timings (they allow 2.5-3-3 timings in DDR-400 mode), and good operating stability in these conditions.
• ABIT Fatal1ty AA8XE Motherboard - Considering this motherboard is made for gamers and overclockers alike - a niche market which demands performance and looks, the extras (and extra costs) are well worth it. For the average user however, this motherboard is a little much for what it costs.
• NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX Video Card - The single slot cooling solution on the 7800GTX is certainly more than pleasing and its power consumption stands on par of the 6800U. However, there are signs where NVIDIA could be offering a higher clocked G70 touted 7800 Ultra when ATI unveils their R520 "Radeon X900" end of next month.
• Powercolor Bravo X700 and MSI NX6600 - The MSI NX-6600 256mb is a great performer; whilst it didn't outscore the X700 in most of the tests it did provide excellent frame rates across the board. Stability was never an issue and display quality was always great. MSI's bundle is really first class and the volume of things you get with the card is very surprising considering the relatively low retail price of the card.
• Connect3D X700Pro 256MB PCI-E - The only bad things for this card is the VGA cooler, it was not good enough for a long hours of heaving loading 3D applications. So, a suggestion to change to other VGA cooler is highly recommended for increase the life span for the card and also for better cooling performance.
• ATI Radeon X800 XL - The ATI X800 XL is backed by 256MB of GDDR3 memory. A 512MB version is available also, but the extra memory does little in terms of real world performance. Like all other videocards currently on the market, the Radeon X800 XL supports S-Video/Composite TV-out as well as component output for HDTV owners.
• SATA II to the Power of 3.0Gb/sec: Three Drives Reviewed - So what do we think of Hitachi's T7K250, Samsung's HD160JJ, and Western Digital's WD1600JS? For now, SATA300 does wonders for multimedia and content creation. The higher transfer rates help in audio/video data throughput more than in office productivity applications due to the requirements for large amounts of data to be moved. In time, however, we should see improvements in drivers to help reach the true potentials for the new SATA standard.
• Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 Hard Drive - The Hitachi SATA II drive is a very fast and great performing drive overall, but it cannot nearly perform as a SATA II drive. Being realistic, the SATA II bandwidth (300GB/s) seems impossible to fill with the mere 7,200RPM mechanical drives; they are still unable to fill the bandwidth of SATA 1.0 to begin with. This drive will not stand a chance against a really fast drive, like the WD Raptor 10.000RPM drive, even though it is a SATA 1.0 drive
• Hitachi SATA II 500 GIG Hard Drive - One such drive (to tantalize you taste buds) is Hitachi's new SATA II 500 GIG monster. Not only does it offer 500 Gigabytes, but also SATA II - 3.0 Gb/s speeds and a 16MB buffer.
• Portable Storage from Seagate 5GB Pocket Size and 400GB External - Seagate has heated up the competition with a USB 2.0 5GB pocket drive which at first sight looks more like a yoyo and a monster 400GB external drive supporting USB 2.0 and Firewire with push button backup. The poor old 5GB pocket drive from Seagate is about 300% slower than the Firewire version of the 400GB external device but they are in a different league.
• BenQ DW1625 DVD burner - The drive supports a wide range of media brands and has not shown a conflict with any of the known brands used for this review. Its reading speed is quite good, both with the CD and DVD formats. Unfortunately, it does not support overburning and does not recognize 90mins CD audio.  discs. Error correction is very good and will satisfy most end user's needs, since it managed to flawlesly read all test media inserted, whether that be CD or DVD.
• BenQ DW1640 DVD burner - Copy protected games were not that easy to rip, but the drive managed to complete any task, especially with PSX games that reported the fastest performance. Unfortunately, the burner cannot back-up SafeDisc 2.9 and above. Burning quality was great, but the drive shows a small preference for the +R media format.
• LiteOn SOHW-1653SX DVD burner - The 1653SX can write up to 16X with DVD+R media, up to 12X with DVD-R media, and 4X with DVD+RW and -RW. It can also write DL media up to 4X burning speed.
• Sony DRU-800A DVD burner -  The drive can burn at 16X speed, both DVD+R and DVD-R media. With RW media, the supported speeds are 8X and 6X for the DVD+R and DVD-R respectively. The most important feature is DVD-R DL recording at 4X. DVD+R DL is also at the same speed.
• Teac DV-W516GB DVD burner - The 16X speed is supported for both formats. The drive's specs also report a 4X DL writing speed and an 8X speed for +RW media, while for -RW media the drive reaches the 6X burning speed.
• U.S. Robotics SureConnect ADSL Wireless Gateway - Similar to other products of type, the major benefit of the USR9106 is that it allows you to connect your PCs, laptops and other 802.11g or 802.11b devices wirelessly to the Internet and other network resources. The integrated 4-port Ethernet switch also lets you network 10/100 Ethernet devices/computers, and the device works with both Microsoft and Sony's online videogame platforms.
• eDimensional AudioFX Force Feedback Gaming Headset - The eDimensional AudioFX is certainly a very interesting headset. In addition to the usual functions of providing crystal clear audio reproduction and recording, it also produces vibrations in the earcups for added realism! While vibrating earcups may sound like a stupid idea, they do actually improve the gaming experience by letting you actually "feel" the sound. In addition, the intensity of the vibrations also vary according to the sound. This actually improves audio localization by strengthening the audio cues with vibratory cues.
• Sony MFM-HT75W 17in Multifunction Display - Dubbed a 'Multifunction' display, the MFM-HT75W offers pretty similar specifications to the likes of the Samsung and Toshiba but there are some major differences. As with the other two the screen has a 15:9 ascpect ratio 1,280 x 768 native widescreen resolution. However, Sony has employed its X-Black display technology, providing a high brightness, high gloss image.

GUIDES...

• The interactive AMD Athlon 64 / Opteron rating and product ID guide - The guide is really easy to handle: Simply select the line code of your Athlon 64 CPU over the dropdown fields and you'll get the proper values and descriptions in the fields below.
• Video connectors  - Everything you need to know about video connectors found in PC and CE products: RF, Composite (RCA), S-Video, Component, RGB, VGA and DVI.
• Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PS3 - A Hardware Discussion - This article really helps to have an understanding of everything you have read before.
• HardOCP $1500 system guide Q2-05 -  This system should offer competitive performance for both application and gaming users. Second, let's upgrade an already existing system in the tradition of our previous upgrade guides. This second system will offer a no-holds-barred attention on gaming performance.
• Apple's OS X 10.4 review - The user-interface is extremely elegant the little eye candy effects make you go wow every time. It seems fairly stable and robust and is designed to offer better protection against malicious software which can lower the costs of ownership over time.

SOFTWARE...

• Ten Free Games Worth Downloading - You can find plenty of games around the Internet that are completely free - and don't suck! Hard to believe, but read on.
• Sun Java J2SE Runtime Environment 1.5.0 Update 4 - Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE) (release notes) provides a complete environment for applications development on desktops and servers and for deployment in embedded environments. It also serves as the foundation for the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) and Java Web Services.
• Power Defragmenter GUI 2.0.105 - Power Defragmenter (download) is based on Sysinternals defragmentation "engine". Basically its just a very advanced GUI for the Sysinternals core application which takes defragmentation process to a whole new level.Very high defragmentation speed, efficiency and ease of use.
• Microsoft AntiSpyware BETA Refresh (Build 614) - 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. This download requires (WGA) Windows Genuine Advantage verification, the software is also free for all licensed Windows XP (SP2) users.
• Futuris Imager 5.2 - Futuris Imager (download) is a compact and simple image viewer. It is capable of opening more then 30 graphical formats, including all popular ones (GIF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, JPEG2000 and so on).
• DeepBurner 1.6.0.198 Free - The new version of DeepBurner (download) implements a couple of new features, brings some improvements and adjustments as well as fixes of known bugs and errors.
• PureVideo Decoder 1.02.145 - Watch videos on your desktop PC, notebook PC, or HDTV without the annoying artifacts and imperfections of traditional PC-based video solutions. NVIDIA PureVideo technology (download / release notes ~ PDF) delivers smooth HD video in all formats and with superb picture clarity. And the high-precision subpixel processing enables videos to be scaled to any size so that even small videos look like high-resolution videos.
• NGO ATI Optimized Driver v2.5.6 - The NGO ATI Optimized Driver is a tweaked version of the ATI Catalyst driver. The main purpose is to satisfy the users with a better performance and better image quality.The Driver has support for all Radeon cards.

SECURITY...

• MSN Hotmail Adds Safety E-Alerts for E-Mail Authentication - Microsoft deployed Sender ID e-mail authentication alerts via a new "safety bar" in the Hotmail user interface to further protect e-mail users from malicious spam and scams.
• Microsoft starts pushing AntiSpyware updates to some -  If you are running the Microsoft Antispyware Beta software to fight against trojan and spyware programs you probably know that the first version will expire 31 July 2005. "This morning I was surprised to see a notification on my desktop informing of an updated version being available. I immediately downloaded this update and installed. The new version is Microsoft AntiSpyware 1.0.613 and it now expires in 31 December 2005. The latest spyware definition file available is version 5727."
• Microsoft's anti-piracy program cracked - An Indian researcher has breached the much-touted "impenetrable" Windows Genuine Advantage of Microsoft. Bangalore-based Debasis Mohanty has cracked WGA through an "easy-to-exploit" weakness in the software for generating illegal copies of the Windows XP programme. Mohanty has posted a detailed proof-of-concept programme on the high-profile security mailing list of the software giant, showing how the WGA validation check can be tricked to generate key codes for use on illegal copies of the software.
• Mass TCP Port Attack Could Be Imminent, Analyst Warns - Researchers at Symantec Corp.'s DeepSight Network have detected a surge in scans on Port 445, an indication that malicious hackers may have already created exploits for a flaw in Microsoft Corp.'s implementation of the SMB (Server Message Block) protocol. In Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, Microsoft uses TCP Port 445 to run SMB directly over TCP/IP to handle the sharing of files, printers, serial ports, and also to communicate between computers. The vulnerability, which was rated "critical," was patched one week ago in Microsoft's MS05-027 bulletin, and the increased noise on that port could be the first sign that a password brute force attack is imminent, Symantec DeepSight warned.
• Spoofing Flaw Haunts IE, Firefox, Safari  (updated) - A newly discovered flaw in all the major Web browsers could allow Internet scammers to successfully launch phishing attacks, according to a warning from security research outfit Secunia Inc.  The vulnerability, confirmed on fully patched versions of Microsoft Corp.'s dominant Internet Explorer browser, can be exploited by malicious hackers to trick surfers into disclosing confidential information, including credit card and social security numbers. The only two browsers in which the flaw has now been fixed are Opera version 8.01 and the iCab version 3.0.
• Veritas Patches Flaws in Enterprise Data Backup Products  - Multiple security flaws in Veritas Software Inc.'s Backup Exec data storage product could put users at risk of privilege escalation and denial-of-service attacks, the company confirmed Thursday. Affected products include Veritas Backup Exec 9.x and 10.x, Veritas said in an advisory.
• Microsoft Tool Blocks Windows Server Update - As it did with Windows XP Service Pack 2, Microsoft is offering businesses a tool to block their machines from being automatically upgraded to Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1. The software tool, available from Microsoft's Web site, will block the software upgrade until March 30.
• Bank details sold in call centre scam - City of London police are investigating claims that an Indian call centre worker sold personal information on 1,000 UK bank accounts for L4.25 each. The worker told an undercover journalist from The Sun that he could copy more than 200,000 customer accounts a month, containing passwords, addresses, phone numbers and passport details.
• Microsoft sues German firm over spam - Microsoft has launched a case against a German man believed to be the linchpin of a spam gang. The software maker's legal complaint was lodged against an unnamed company in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany and its managing director, according to a statement (in German) on the Microsoft Germany Web site. Microsoft alleges that the company sent out millions of spam e-mail messages advertising Web site design services, online casinos and pornography.
• AT&T Plans CNN-style Security Channel - Security experts at AT&T are about to take a page from CNN's playbook. Within the next year they will begin delivering a video streaming service that will carry Internet security news 24 hours a day, seven days a week, according to the executive in charge of AT&T Labs.
• Pentagon Creating A Database Of Students - The Defense Department began working yesterday with a private marketing firm to create a database of high school students ages 16 to 18 and all college students to help the military identify potential recruits in a time of dwindling enlistment in some branches. The program is provoking a furor among privacy advocates. The new database will include personal information including birth dates, Social Security numbers, e-mail addresses, grade-point averages, ethnicity and what subjects the students are studying.
• Yahoo! Shuts Chat Rooms After Sex Allegations - The Yahoo! website portal has discontinued user-created chat rooms after a news report in Houston revealed that some of the chat rooms were being used to lure minors into having sex with adults.

OFFTOPIC...

• Bionic' Arm Brings Back Sense of Touch - Two way communication with prosthetic devices allows man who lost both arms in an accident to feel hot and cold, to sense objects and to actually move the prosthetic device to pick things up and put them down.
• Robot guards for shops and offices - The 109-cm tall robot will alert human guards via radio and by sending camera footage if it detects intruders, fires or even water leaks.
• Will Cell Phone Video Be A 'Wireless Babysitter?' - Streaming video on cell phones could become a babysitter, helping parents keep kids content while they're traveling, a researcher predicts.
• Jennifer Aniston resides in everyone's brain :-  - Researchers at the the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena have found that single neurons in people's brains react to the faces of specific people.
• Free downloads of Beethoven receive over 600,000 requests - Live performances of Beethoven's first five symphonies, broadcast as part of The Beethoven Experience on BBC Radio 3, have amassed an incredible 657,399 download requests during a week long trial..
• MPAA accused of slander - A company raided by entertainment cartel pseudo-cops and accused of being an "illegal DVD/CD replicating plant" vehemently denies the charge. "False allegations" have "slandered our name and reputation and damaged the business that my husband and I spent 14 years to build," says Jennifer Yu, owner of New Century Media.

TECHNOLOGY...

• Intel-Based Macs May Run Windows - Apple's decision to abandon IBM PowerPC chips in favor of processors from Intel raises the possibility of new, affordable Apple computers that could boot both Mac OS X and Windows. "Apple will not do anything to prevent it," says Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director with Jupiter Research in New York. But if you're hoping to load Mac OS X on an existing Windows PC, though, you'll be disappointed.
• Longhorn Preview - PCWorld tested the 64-bit version of the latest code released to developers (Longhorn build 5048) and have also viewed demonstrations of a subsequent build. The first beta version of the operating system is due for release
• Company offers workaround for Sony's CD copy protection -  A simple mechanical way for Windows users to defeat SunnComm's MediaMaxx copy protection scheme, used widely in audio CDs produced by Sony BMG, is being offered on request via e-mail by SunnComm itself, the company's vice president of marketing and sales, Scott Stoegbauer, told Tom's Hardware Guide today.  The scheme was developed by SunnComm through its MediaMaxx division in order to prevent listeners on Windows-based PCs from easily making copies of audio CD-based music as MP3 files. Other software currently produced by SunnComm does enable legitimate copies to be made in Windows Media format (WMV), which cannot be (easily) burned to CD.
• Microsoft Readies Web-Based Communicator - Microsoft is looking to extend the reach of its Office Communicator 2005 instant-messaging (IM) client via a new version that will be completely Web-based. Microsoft is set to kick off on July 15 a first private beta release of what it's currently calling the "Office Communicator Web Access" client, company officials said on Tuesday. The company expects to ship the final version before the end of calendar 2005, officials said.
• P2P still rules the download scene - According to NPD, P2P (peer-to-peer) downloads are still ruling the net despite increased interest by users in the pay-to download market. To give you an idea of just how skewed the landscape really is, in March of 2005 243 million songs were downloaded from P2P services compared to only 26 million songs that were actually purchased online.
• DoubleClick Warns Against Ad-Blocking Browsers - The end of free Internet content will come when Web browsers start blocking online advertisements by default, a DoubleClick executive has warned.
• Google CEO Confirms Online Payment System - Web search leader Google is developing an online payment system but not a direct rival to eBay Inc.'s PayPal, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said on Tuesday. Schmidt said Google does not intend to offer a "person-to-person stored-value payments system" like PayPal's, in which money briefly resides in PayPal's control during the transaction, but he did not give details of how the Google system would differ.

HARDWARE... 

• Asus cancels dual-chip GeForce 6800s  - Asus has cancelled the dual-chip GeForce 6800 graphics cards it has been showing off at recent trade shows.
• FX57: What you need to know - The two main differences between the FX57 and the FX55 will be the speed difference and the price. The FX55 currently costs $855 in 1000 pieces while the FX57 will cost around $1040. AMD now has two parts above the $1000 price barrier. The second is the smallish speed bump of 200MHz to 2.8GHz. Note that the FX55 will continue to be sold and not discontinued as it was the case with the FX51 and the FX53. So the FX57 could be seen as the "Extreme Edition" of its chips. Another more interesting and potentially controversial aspect is the fact that AMD is going to actively promote the FX processor as an overclocking processor.
• AMD adds 2.2GHz Turion - AMD is expanding its mobile offerings, announcing a new Turion 64 ML-40 processor. Although AMD's press release doesn't detail the chip's specs, PC Watch reports that it runs at 2.2GHz and has 1MB of L2 cache. The ML-40's 2.2GHz clock speed gives it a 200MHz advantage over the next fastest Turion, the ML-37. Both chips have a 35W TDP.
• NVIDIA to launch 'open driver'? - GeForce 7800 GTX has landed, adding to the range of SLi capable products, and at the mainstream end of the market 6600s now support SLi. NVIDIA's SLi is clearly becoming more flexible, but how can it compete with ATi's CrossFire, which supports using different cards together?
• eMachines offers cheap Media Center Edition PC - eMachines is entering the media PC business with a T6520 system running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. The system has an Athlon 64 3400+, Radeon Xpress 200 chipset, 200GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM, dual-layer DVD burner, and costs only $599-less than most Media Center Edition PCs.
• Rock Xtreme Ti 3.6 Laptop - Thinking of the Xtreme Ti in strict DTR terms, the overall impression is favourable. You can zip around Windows XP, thanks, in main part, to Rock's use of 2 60GB 7,200RPM laptop drives that are pre-configured in RAID0. Browsing around in 2D mode, the machine felt faster than Dell's Inspiron XPS Gen 2, which shipped with a single 100GB 4,200RPM drive. The screen is a hit-and-miss affair. You'll either love the high-contrast 17-inch (1680x1050) screen or immediately dislike just how reflective the X-Glass-equipped panel is. Rock's got most of the performance bases covered, too, with a fast Mobility Radeon X800 (now XT) card providing decent framerates at the laptop's native resolution. There's also plenty of memory and the optical drive is decent enough.
• Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Processor - There is no question that AMD has hit the bull's-eye with the Athlon 64 X2 4800+. This processor offers a superb combination of high-end gaming performance, multi-threaded speed, and desktop multi-tasking, all in a package that can run on current Socket 939 platforms. The Athlon 64 X2 4800+ owns the media encoding and multi-threaded tests, and is only a hair behind the 2.6 GHz Athlon 64 FX-55 in pure gaming performance.
• Athlon Dual Core: Overclocking the 4200+ - The point of this article though is OVERCLOCKING the 4200+, and there is more good news there. Our early 4000+ processors only overclocked about 11 to 12% at stock multiplier. We do have a later 4000+ (that is likely an FX55 at heart) that overclocks about 18% at stock multiplier, which is the one we use in memory reviews. This 4200+, a new speed grade, is doing 22.5% at the start, reaching 2.7GHz on air. That's a 500MHz overclock, and is 300MHz higher than the fastest x2 you can buy (2.4GHz 4800+ and 4600+). This kind of overclocking performance makes the 4200+ a much more attractive option at the $500 you will pay for it - since it will likely reach higher performance levels that a stock 4800+.
• NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX - NVIDIA's new card, the 7800 GTX, is not only faster than the 6800 Ultra, but also requires 50% less power from your PSU. The card has more than 300 million transistors, which is rediculous and makes it the most advanced Graphics processing unit (GPU) to come from NVIDIA so far. In some gaming benchmarks, the new 7800 GTX showed up to 2.3x the performance of a DUAL-slot SLI Based GeForce 6800 Ultra system. The 7800 only requires a single slot. The card uses the new M$ DirectX 9 Shader Model 3.0 engine and the new 128-bit floating core point which is supposed to provide film-quality vidual effects, such as high dynamic range (HDR) lighting and real-time frame rates. For HDTV fans, the new GeForce 7800 GTX is capable of 1080p HD output and supports both 3:2 and 2:2 pull down and advanced scaling and de-interlacing capabilities, so you can output HD to either a computer monitor or your television.
• Inno3D GeForce 6200A AGP - Priced at $69, the Inno3D GeForce 6200A draws from two different audiences. One of cost effectiveness and one out of want to get their HTPCs to operate as silently as humanly possible.
• Lite-On LVW-5045 HDD+DVD Recorder - The main major negative point is the very slow reading and writing performance when it comes to CD-R's and CD-RW's. Although most consumers are likely going to record directly from TV to CD anyway, it would be a very tedious task to build up a CD collection on the player as full each disc takes around 45 minutes to copy over and only full CDs (apart from data CDs) can be copied over.
• Hi-Touch 730PS - Photo Printer - This is not a normal printer. For a start, it uses dye sublimation to produce a print with no dots - not even under a magnifying glass. You operate it with a small, handheld controller and it rolls sheets of photo paper backwards and forwards under its print head four times for each print. It uses no ink and no toner, but you pay a constant price for each print, no matter how much of the paper is covered. Intrigued?
• Sipura Analog Telephone Adapter (SPA-2100) - The 2100 would be more accurately termed a VoIP router, since it has 10Mbps Ethernet WAN and LAN ports and contains a basic NAT router in addition to its extensive array of SIP V2 functions. This means it can share a broadband connection among multiple Ethernet devices, although, with only the single LAN port, you'll need to provide a switch to connect more than one.

GUIDES...

• IPv6 - A Look At The Next Generation Internet Protocol - Internet Protocol Version 6, is the latest incarnation of the TCP/IP standard that increases Internet Protocol's ability to scale to billions of users and Internet appliances. IPv6 will add to the pool of available IP addresses to provide support for a virtually unlimited number of users and devices. The primary value of IPv6 is in its ability to support an application independent Internet.
• Introduction to Optical Fibers - As the name implies, optical fibers use light to transmit data. At one end of the cable, a LED (Light Emitting Diode) or a semiconductor laser is used as the light source. LEDs can transmit data up to 300 Mbps and is used on short-distance fibers, while with laser the transfer rate can easily reach the Gbps range and is used in long-distance fibers.
• AGP Bus Tutorial - Intel launched the first version of the AGP bus in July, 1996. That bus worked with a clock of 66 MHz transferring 32 bits at a time, it was fed with 3.3V and operated in two modes: 1x and 2x. The first chipset to support such bus was the Intel 440LX, marketed in August, 1997.
• Beginner's guide to Linux distros - In a bit of a follow up to the recent media apps for GNU/Linux post, I wanted to give a quick rundown of some major distro's. Even though a lot of people have a hardcore favorite, and swear everyone should use it, I tend to think the situation is more that there are different distro's for different people.

SOFTWARE...

• WinPLOSION v3.0 beta demo video- WinPLOSION provides a fast method of getting to the window you want when you have several applications running by showing you an exploded view of all windows which are placed on your desktop. One of the most wanted features of WinPLOSION always was to have live updating windows. Now the new version of WinPLOSION supporting live updating windows is almost ready. Those who want to take a look at it may download the demo video. (It shows WinPLOSION V.3 Beta running on an Acer Notebook, 1GHz PIII, 32 MB onboard graphic-card, OS: Windows 2000 SP 1.
• Windows 98 Revolutions Pack 3.6 (Build 2590) - Windows 98 Revolutions Pack - Add XP styles effects to 98SE only! such as xp toolbar icons startbutton and boot logo plus much much more.
• RootkitRevealer v1.5 - RootkitRevealer v1.5 has more sophisticated rootkit detection mechanisms, setting the stage for the next round of escalation by the rootkit community.
• Autoruns 8.0 - This major update to Autoruns separates autostart types onto different pages of the main window, shows more information about images, integrates with Process Explorer, and adds a couple more Explorer and Internet Explorer addon locations, and improves scanning performance.
• Miranda 0.4.0.1 - Miranda IM (download ~ changelog) is a multi protocol instant messenger client for Windows. Miranda IM uses very little memory and is extremely fast. It requires no installation and can be fitted on a single floppy disc.
• Skype 1.3.0.51 - Skype (download / rls notes) is the next phenomenon from the people who brought you KaZaA. Just like KaZaA, Skype uses P2P (peer-to-peer) technology to connect you to other users – not to share files this time, but to talk for free with your friends.
• VideoLan 0.8.2 Beta 3 - The VideoLAN Server (download) can stream video read from a hard disk, a DVD player, a satellite card or an MPEG 2 compression card, and unicast or multicast it on a network.
• FireTune 1.05 - FireTune for Mozilla Firefox v1.x was developed for an easy and fast optimization of your browsing experience with Firefox
• Fresh Download 7.32 - Fresh Download is an easy-to-use and very fast download manager software that turbo charge downloading files from the Internet, such as your favorite software, mp3 files, video files, picture collections, etc.

SECURITY...

• Black market in credit cards thrives on Web - It is not clear whether any data stolen from CardSystems Solutions, the payment processor reported on Friday to have exposed 40 million credit card accounts to possible theft, has entered this black market. But law enforcement officials and security experts say it is a safe bet that the data will eventually be peddled at sites like iaaca.com--its very name a swaggering shorthand for International Association for the Advancement of Criminal Activity.
• Microsoft seeks testers for antivirus service, Sign up for the Beta! - Microsoft has begun soliciting testers for OneCare Live, the company's subscription antivirus and anti-spyware service. In an online posting seeking people (U.S. residents only) to try out the service, Microsoft said that it plans to start testing this summer.
• Fresh vulnerabilities in all popular browsers - Fresh vulnerabilities have been found in several web browsers, including Safari, Internet Explorer 5.x, Camino 0.x and iCab 2.x for OS X; IE 6.x for Windows; and Opera 7.x and 8.x, Mozilla 1.7x and all version of Firefox on both platforms. The vulnerabilities relate to a dialog origin spoofing flaw, whereby JavaScript dialog boxes do not display or include their origin, which allows a new window to open a dialog box, which appears to be from a trusted site. Fixes have yet to be released.
• Half of Sony's CDs now ship with DRM, but none work with iPod - As the music labels Sony BMG and EMI believe they have perfected their copy-protection to work with legacy CD players, offer a limited backup solution to CD recordables as well as support for WMA DRM compatible portable players, they have completely left out support for the iPod.
• DVD Decrypter still locked in crypt - A site pretending to be the new official home of DVD-ripping software DVD Decrypter has tipped up on the Interweb. After stirring up a bit of a maelstrom on various fora, the site host, calling himself Lightning UK, has fessed up (a bit) and acknowledges he is not who he said he was. Instead, he says, "This website is not the original and I am not the original LIGHTNING UK! Please refer to me as THE NEW LIGHTNING UK! I am trying to bring something very good back to life and please pardon me if I have offended anyone." He then goes on to beg for donations...Lightning UK, the original (possibly), then spake himself. CD Freaks stumbled across this posting: "Why would I suddenly ask for help programming when I've been fine on my own for the past 5 years?! Why would I have uploaded an old copy of the website - complete with missing graphics, poor alignment etc? Anyone that knows of me and my work would know it's not in my nature to let such things go unnoticed!

OFFTOPIC...

• First solar sail prepares for space launch - At 12:46 p.m. PDT Tuesday, the world's first solar sail spacecraft, called Cosmos 1, is scheduled to take flight. Cosmos 1 represents a unique and intriguing prototype for space exploration: a vehicle that is powered by light, not fuel. Eventually, solar sails could even offer a way to reach the stars.  If all goes well, Cosmos 1 will be launched from a Russian Navy submarine in the Barents Sea north of Norway and Russia and fly atop a Volna rocket into orbit at an altitude of about 520 miles. The solar sails--made of the same material as Mylar balloons, only thinner and more delicate--will deploy four days later.
• No faking female orgasm in scientific research - Women may be able to fool their partners by faking an orgasm but a brain scanner will catch them out every time, a conference heard Monday. Researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands have used scans to show that different areas of the brain are stimulated during an orgasm but are not activated when a woman fakes it. When women genuinely achieved an orgasm, areas of the brain involved in fear and emotion were deactivated. Those areas stayed alert however when women were faking it.
• Sarah Michelle Gellar to star in Alice - According to Yahoo, Sarah Michelle Gellar of Buffy fame will star in the movie version of American McGee's Alice.

TECHNOLOGY...

• SCE finds pornographic UMDs "utterly undesirable" - Sony's PSP will be getting its first lineup of adult videos in just one month. But while some male PSP owners may be rejoicing, Sony Computer Entertainment is frowning. The company recently told Japanese newspaper Asahi Shinbun that adult UMD videos for the PSP, a gaming device aimed at child audiences, as well as adult ones, are "utterly undesirable, but we cannot stop software makers from selling such videos."
• More movies on tap for PSP - More than 70 UMD titles are in stores or are scheduled to arrive in the coming months. Paramount has announced 11 titles, including releases from Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and MTV, making Paramount the first studio to bring TV shows to UMD. The first batch, due Aug. 9, consists of "Team America: World Police," "Coach Carter" and "Without a Paddle," followed by "Sahara," "The Italian Job" and MTV's "Viva la Bam: Volume 1" on Aug. 30. Coming later are "SpongeBob SquarePants Movie" and compilation UMDs of "Chappelle's Show," "Ren & Stimpy," "South Park" and "SpongeBob SquarePants" TV episodes. MGM will release its first four titles Sept. 13: "Beauty Shop," "Be Cool," "Stargate: Atlantis" and "Bulletproof Monk."
• Google said to plan rival to PayPal - Google is preparing an online-payment system that would compete with PayPal, according to an online retailer who has been approached by Google to take part in the effort. In addition to representing a direct challenge to eBay, which owns PayPal, the largest Internet payment system, the move signals Google's intention to become much more deeply involved in online commerce.
• PayPal Gets Down to Business - PayPal this week moved to increase its presence among small and medium-size businesses with a new suite of services, the first non-hosted offering from the provider of online payments. The new suite, called PayPal Website Payments Pro, lets merchants offer three new payment options to their buyers with the ultimate goal of giving PayPal customers more flexibility and control over the checkout process.
• A human-like computer? Well, almost! - Conventional programming languages consist of a series of instructions that are accurately followed by computers. With the ISO 18629 language, this is set to change. This language allows a computer to analyze instructions by understanding the context and the meaning and then decide whether to execute the same. ISO 18629 extensively uses artificial intelligence to represent computer commands.
• Another Development in High-Capacity 1-Inch Disks - A Japanese university has shown a prototype 1-inch hard disk drive that packs data on the disk surface more densely than existing hard drives. The density with which information can be packed onto the disk is particularly important in the tiny hard drives used in handheld electronic devices such as digital music players. The prototype 10GB drive packs data with an areal density--the number of bits per unit of disk surface area--of 138 gigabits per square inch, says Yoshihisa Nakamura, who heads the project at Tohoku University's Research Institute of Electrical Communications.
• Samsung Begins Production of Xbox 360 Graphics Tech - Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., the world's top maker of memory chips, on Monday said it is the first supplier to mass produce graphic chips for the next generation of video games. Mueez Deen, director of graphics for the U.S. semiconductor unit of Samsung, said it has begun high-volume manufacturing of a 512-megabit graphics DDR3 memory chip for use in gaming consoles and personal computers.

HARDWARE... 

• AMD dual-core Athlons 'sell out' in Tokyo - AMD's new Athlon 64 X2 processors apparently touched down in Japan this weekend, with several shops offering limited supplies of the dual-core chips. The Athlon 64 X2 4200+, 4600+, and $4800+ were all available, but prices were a little higher than expected. Prices ranged from $606 to $609 for the slower of the three chips, to $910 to $919 for the mid-range part and around $1,135 for the 4800+. AMD's price-list has the three parts down as $537, $803 and $1,001, though that's OEM pricing, with buyers committing themselves to purchasing parts in batches of 1,000 chips.
• NVIDIA graphics drivers to go multithreaded - NVIDIA's Vice President of GPU software recently revealed to TechReport that NVIDIA has plans to produce multithreaded ForceWare graphics drivers for its GeForce graphics products. Multithreading in the video driver should allow performance increases when running 3D games and applications on dual-core CPUs and multiprocessor PCs. De Waal estimated that dual-core processors could see performance boosts somewhere between five and 30% with these drivers.
• Clearspeed co-processor add-in card - The new add-in card will be available for desktop PCs and utilises a chip called CSX600 which Clearspeed claims is the world's fastest 64-bit floating point processor, delivering a sustained performance of 25 GFlops. Clearspeed's product will use two such chips, to deliver 50 GFlops.
• Evesham Axis AK47 - TrustedReviews has posted a review of the Evesham Axis AK47 which is an affordable SLI machine with two 6800LE cards and an Athlon 64 3700+ at it's core. The two cards Evesham has gone with are from Leadtek, but gone are the big noisy coolers from the 6800GT cards we saw in the Duel SLi system - with the lower clock speeds of the GeForce 6800LE cards, a more discrete  and quiet solution has been employed. The other major difference is that  the GeForce 6800LE cards don’t have a power connector, which means less power draw but also less overclockability.
• Mushkin HP3200 REDLINE DDR400 - If you want extreme performance dual channel modules capable of snuffing out the competition, then the REDLINE series are for you. Ultra low latencties at extremely high front side bus can be achieved with these modules!
• Gigabyte GA-8I955X Royal i955X Mainboard - The GA-8I955X Royal also features the latest in high-speed connectivity with Dual Gigabit Ethernet for simultaneous WAN and LAN connection speeds of up to 1,000 Mb/s as well as onboard Firewire (IEEE1394b) and USB 2.0 capabilities. To round off the extensive networking capabilities of this board, GIGABYTE bundles the GN-BTD02 Bluetooth wireless USB adapter that enables compatibility with Bluetooth consumer products such as mobile phones, printers, PDAs, cameras and headsets for the ultimate versatility around the home or office.
• Shuttle SN25P - Bit-tech.net has posted a new review of the Shuttle SN25P, a NForce 4 small form factor system supporting Socket 939. The article covers the real world benchmarking performance as well as overclocking and system aesthetics and general usability.
• PowerColor AX480A-GF motherboard - The PowerColor AX480A-GF motherboard was featuring the RADEON XPRESS 200P (RX480) Chipset that delivers significant performance gains with variety of new generation architectures including dual-channel DDR, PCI-Express interface and Serial-ATA interface for improving storage performance.
• ASUS Extreme N6600GT (GeForce 6600 GT) - The card's performance definitely left us no doubts it was on par with the reference board in most benchmarks and takes a marginal lead in some others. Overclocking is quite good actually, with an overall improvement of about 14% in 3DMark03. As for the efficiency of its cooler, the temperatures are slightly higher than the default but not enough to question its worth. While the retail price of the ASUS Extreme EN6600GT at about US$220 is not the cheapest in the market, it is acceptable considering that it is after all an ASUS product.
• ATI X300 SE HyperMemory vs. NVIDIA GeForce 6200 TurboCache - For the most part, the XFX GeForce 6200TC 128MB outran ATI’s RADEON X300 SE 128MB, running numerous tests faster than the X300 SE. Aside from performance, we must also look at the features that each graphics card brings to the table. The NV44 based GeForce 6200TC features Shader Model 3.0 support while the RV370 based only supports Shader Model 2.0.
• Imation 16x16x Internal DVD Writer - As good as its media compatibility was, the drive was sorely lacking the extra edge to edge out other DVD writers that possessed good media compatibility too. That missing ingredient is none other than "Over-Specification" writing. For just over US$80, the Imation drive is actually costlier than many competing drives it's up against, including drives from BenQ, LG, NEC and even Pioneer. More importantly however is the tested and proven "Over-Specification" writing capability of these drives, an area in which the Imation unit was unable to impress.
• D-Link DES-1316K - PoE Switch - Along with most products available today the DES-1316K is an end-span device. It provides power over the same wire pairs as used for data delivery so end devices can be powered directly from the switch. Being fully 802.3af compliant, the switch contains automatic detection circuits that prevent it from sending power to non-compliant terminal devices, ensuring that only those devices that present an authenticated PoE
  signature will receive power.
• Gigabyte’s network push - New Wireless Networking Equipment - Gigabyte is about to start a large networking tour of Australia, with the aim of boosting and launching its wireless networking products, and their biggest starting points are the GN-BC01, GN-A17GU and the GN-LC05.
• "One-Touch" Wireless Security - Buffalo Technology's AOSS vs. Linksys' SecureEasySetup - The main difference between the two is in installed base and commitment to the technology. Buffalo has the edge here with (they say) 6.5 million AOSS current users, availability across all its current consumer wireless LAN product line and ongoing recruitement of new companies to AOSS-enable their wireless products. SES, by contrast, has virtually no installed base, is still not released by either Linksys or HP six months after being announced at this year's CES, and is MIA on both Linksys and HP's websites. But given the marketing and distribution muscle of both companies, SES could easily overtake AOSS should both companies decide to get firmly behind the technology.
• KeySonic Intelligent KVM Switch -  If you have 3 PCs, you might end up with 3 monitors, 3 keyboards and 3 mice! Well, there is a device than can solve your problem and let you control all 3 or more PCs with a single monitor/
• MediaGear Songbank Digital Audio Jukebox - Well after playing around with this thing for awhile, I have come to the conclusion that it makes a really good portable hard drive.You can do some live recording as well as being able to record from the incorporated FM radio. The sound is on par with most mid range MP3 players on the market. The headphones are lacking a little in the quality so replace them or use your own.
• Sony DSC-M1: Good Video, Disappointing Pictures - Other than taking still images, the other main selling point of the M1 is its MPEG-4 video capability. The M1 can record stereo audio and video at 640x480 and 30 fps. Thanks to the M1's MPEG-4 compression, the video file sizes are much smaller than those of comparable quality from other digicams using MPEG-1 compression.

GUIDES...

• How To Overclock AMD Barton, Sempron, T-Bred and Athlon XP CPUs - Here's the brand-new overclocking guide for AMD socketA processors to simplify OC (OverClocking) and to give tips with respect to current hardware.
• Which Technology is Better: GSM or CDMA? - A lot of discussion has been done recently around the GSM and CDMA cell phone standards. But which one is better?
• Memory Overclocking - Learn how to overclock your RAM memory in order to increase your computer performance without spending a dime.
• How-To: Resource Hacking Part 2 - In this article, we will go into more detail and describe the somewhat cryptic code, as well as show you how to add controls and resources to a file. Adding resources will enable you to add images or animations to Windows and other program dialogs.
• Identify Malware Hiding in Windows' System Folders - It's no fun to go into Task Manager and discover that a bunch of mysterious processes are running on your PC. In the case of the unknowns, you may ask yourself how much of this stuff you actually want. Or more seriously, if anything on your machine is actually doing harm.
• Get Windows XP's Backup utility to use recordable optical media - Learn a workaround that will allow you to indirectly make Windows XP's Backup utility use recordable optical media as a backup destination. Be sure to notice that the author points out that you need to ensure your backup file fits on one CD.
• Four Registry Tweaks to Accelerate Windows XP -  Here are four tweaks that experienced IT professionals can manually make to improve the speed of Windows XP.
• Maximize the Performance of Windows XP -  Here is an in-depth 62-page chapter from the O'Reilly book Windows XP Annoyances for Geeks, 2nd Edition. It contains a collection of "tips, secrets, and solutions" that administrators can use to improve Windows XP and overcome some of its idiosyncrasies.

SOFTWARE...

• ATI Catalyst Report Q2 - The Control Panel is coming to the end of it’s life and 8.16, August, will be the last driver to support it. ATI are moving towards CCC as the only UI available and from 8.17, September, only CCC will supported. All next gen ATI products will support CCC only. For more information on the up-coming features of Catalyst (focusing on CCC, of course) check out this article.
• Kernel 2.6.12 Final  - Linux Kernel has been updated again (changelog)
• New Command Line Shell Released on BetaPlace - The first beta version of Microsoft's new Command Line based shell was released to users via Microsoft's BetaPlace website on Friday. The release, codenamed "Monad", was originally thought to be a component of Longhorn. However, recent news has disconfirmed these reports - saying the new programmable Unix-like shell will be released separate from Longhorn. Interested users can try out Monad by signing in on the BetaPlace website under the guest ID of "mshPDC".
• KARMA Wireless Clients Utilities - KARMA is a set of tools for assessing the security of wireless clients at multiple layers. Wireless sniffing tools discover clients and their preferred/trusted networks by passively listening for 802.11 Probe Request frames.
• AutoPatcher XP June 2005 - AutoPatcher is a comprehensive collection of patches, addons and registry tweaks that give you peace of mind in the knowledge that your Windows system is up to date, even before you connect it to the Internet. It's designed to quickly patch a system with the most current updates and tweaks available, and requires no user interaction once you have selected what to install. This release is based on the all-new AutoPatcher 5.1. Although it was made with Windows XP SP2 English/Portuguese in mind, it will load on any (English/Portuguese) Windows version, showing only the items which match the running environment.
• AutoPatcher 2000 June 2005  - This release is based on the all-new AutoPatcher 5.1. Although it was made with Windows 2K SP4 English in mind, it will load on any (English) Windows version, showing only the items which match the running environment.
• MSConfig Cleanup 1.2 - This is where MSConfig Cleanup comes in! It scans the startup configurations and allows you to remove any item that has been previously disabled via MSConfig.
• BSPlayer 1.30 Build 818 - BSplayer (download) is a Windows player that plays back all kinds of media files ( avi / mpg / asf / wmv / wav / mp3...) and specialises in video and divx playback.
• Miranda 0.4.0.1 - Miranda IM (download / changelog) is a multi protocol instant messenger client for Windows. Miranda IM uses very little memory and is extremely fast.
• CCleaner 1.20.118 - CCleaner (Crap Cleaner) is a freeware system optimisation tool. That removes unused and temporary files from your system - allowing it to run faster, more efficiently and giving you more hard disk space. The best part is that it's fast! (normally taking less that a second to run) and Free
• nForce4 Standalone Drivers 7.13 (Intel) - NVIDIA have released a new set of nForce Drivers version 7.13 for Windows 2000/XP
• ForceWare 77.50 BETA Win2000/XP WHQL - This driver set is 100% the same as the beta I mentioned last week, the only thing that differs is the WHQL tag. Although a WHQL release it should be stated that the driver still needs to be considered a BETA as it was not released officially by NVIDIA at this point in time. There's the same driver for for the 64-bit versions of Windows as well.

SECURITY...

• Credit card breach exposes 40 million accounts - In what could be the largest data security breach to date, MasterCard International on Friday said information on more than 40 million credit cards may have been stolen. Of those exposed accounts, about 13.9 million are for MasterCard-branded cards, the company said in a statement. The other brands affected have not been identified. MasterCard has notified its member banks of the specific accounts involved so the banks can take action to protect cardholders, MasterCard said. Another story can be found on CNN Money, the New York Times, Reuters, MSNBC, ZDNet, C|Net, and the Washington Post.
• Microsoft holds hacker conference - Microsoft has spent a few tough days facing up to the realities of its security problems, by sitting in a room full of hackers and watching the ensuing 'sploits. Microsoft's Blue Hat security conference has seen some of Windows' top executives come face to face with 'security professionals' to look at the problems in the operating system and its apps. Stephen Toulouse, from MS' security unit, said that "You couldn't hear anybody breathe" as hackers brought a Windows machine onto a malicious network with little effort. A News.com report mentions that Microsoft engineers took "body blows" for two days, noting that "Some of the engineers were turning red".
• Netscape sends out another patch - Netscape has released an updated version of its Netscape 8 browser to fix a bug that broke XML rendering in Microsoft's Internet Explorer. The update, version 8.0.2, addresses a problem highlighted in a Microsoft employee blog a few days after Netscape 8's May debut. In the posting, Dave Massy, a program manager on the IE team, warned that installing the Netscape browser would cause IE to render extensible markup language files, such as RSS feeds, as blank pages.
• Foreign spooks target UK techies - MI5 has issued a warning that spies are targeting people working in hi-tech companies. The advisory states that Britain's position at the forefront of technology, as well as its membership of the UN, Nato and the EU, makes it a top target for foreign espionage. The UK intelligence service warns that covert intelligence gathering activity threatens Britain's national security.
• Botnet Hunters Search for 'Command and Control' Servers - Convinced that the recent upswing in virus and Trojan attacks is directly linked to the creation of botnets for nefarious purposes, a group of high-profile security researchers is fighting back, vigilante-style. The objective of the group, which operates on closed, invite-only mailing lists, is to pinpoint and ultimately disable the C&C (command-and-control) infrastructure that sends instructions to millions of zombie drone machines hijacked by malicious hackers.
• Bluetooth flaw allows DoS attack - A flaw has been identified in the Bluetooth stack which could allow a denial of service attack that destroys the ability to link devices. The flaw was reported on the Bugtraq mailing list by Spanish security consultant Hugo Vázquez Caramés and details have been forwarded to the Bluetooth organising body.
• Encrypted Lockbox Aims to Clean Up Password Clutter - Bruce Schneier's PasswordSafe lockbox, which provides a free utility for users to encrypt and manage multiple passwords on a computer, is ready for a new phase of open-source development. The celebrated cryptographer, who is credited with designing or co-designing several widely used encryption algorithms, announced the release of Version 2.1 of the database utility as a full-fledged open-source project at SourceForge.
• Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.4 review - Spybot - Search & Destroy has been unearthing keyloggers, trackers, hijackers, cookies and other adware and spyware for years, so an update is big news. The new version is faster than its predecessor, with a more professional, aesthetically appealing, and less confusing interface than predecessors.

OFFTOPIC...

• MSN Sponsors Anti-Piracy Film Contest - MSN UK is holding a contest for both youths and adults aimed at teaching the evils of intellectual property theft - an issue Microsoft is constantly battling to protect its software. The short film competition, aptly titled Thought Thieves, requires entrants to make a commercial-length video about how IP theft affects society. Films will be accepted for entry until July 1 on CD or DVD in any format compatible with Windows Media Player.
• Army displays latest warfighting innovations - The Army showcased its Future Force Warrior system, the latest in war-fighting technology, at Soldier Modernization Day on Capitol Hill June 16. "Under the concept of managing the Soldier as a system, two uniform systems are under development," Moran said. The Future Force Warrior system will be available to Soldiers in 2010. The Vision 2020 Future Warrior system, which follows the concept of the 2010 Future Force Warrior system, will be fielded 10 years later.
• The Future Of Online Gaming - THG has posted an article called on the future of online gaming.
• The War of the Worlds Internet Trailer - Paramount Pictures has revealed a new internet trailer for director Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds at Yahoo! Movies. ComingSoon.net has also added four more TV spots, which you can view here. Opening Wednesday, June 29th, the sci-fi adventure thriller is a contemporary retelling of H.G. Wells's seminal classic which reveals the extraordinary battle for the future of humankind through the eyes of one American family fighting to survive it.
• 24 Movie in the Works - The Calgary Sun reports that a movie based on popular Fox series 24, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer, is in the works.

TECHNOLOGY...

• Sony says new console means game over for Microsoft - Japanese giant Sony said on Wednesday that despite coming later to the bout, its newly unveiled PlayStation 3 games console packs enough punch to deliver a knock-out blow to Microsoft's rival offering. In an interview with the CNBC network, Hirai denied that Sony had already decided to start selling the console only in Japan next spring, before releasing it in North America in the autumn. "We haven't determined which territory we will go with first this time around just yet," he said. "We will have to look at development and how things are coming along in terms of manufacture and all the other logistical things to determine which territory or multiple territories go first."
• Q&A with Microsoft's Chris Jones: Longhorn coming summer 2006, open beta summer 2005, part I - Longhorn will be released commercially in the second half of 2006, and will include modifications that will help reduce, if not all together eliminate, phishing by engineering the mail client to recognize a phishing email and tell the user they're being duped said Chris Jones, Microsoft corporate vice president of Windows core operating system program management during an exclusive interview with DigiTimes at the mid-May WinHEC in Taiwan.
• MS boffins use bluetooth for love bites - Scientists at Microsoft Research Cambridge (MSRC) are working on a range of new technologies and gadgets that might find their way into our lives. They've come up with a message board that you can send text messages to, a whereabouts clock that keeps track of where family members are, and in collaboration with Vodafone, a TouchToy, which we will get to later
• Microsoft builds a better Bit Torrent - Researchers at Microsoft's computer science lab in Cambridge have developed a peer-to-peer filesharing system that they say overcomes the scheduling problems associated with existing distribution protocols such as Bit Torrent. The researchers claim download times are between 20-30 per cent faster, using their network coding approach, than on systems that only code at the server, and between 200 and 300 per cent faster than distributing un-encoded information.
• Digital Clock as Thin as Paper - Utilizing the electronic paper display technology, Citizen Watch has created a digital clock that is as thin as paper. This unique design is enabled by E InkImaging Film. This easy-to-read, low-power display component is fully conformable, allowing product designers more creative freedom than ever before. The clock boasts twice the contrast of a reflective LCD, Low power consuption, because there's no backlight and a flexible form allowing developers to create curved eye catching shapes.
• Phones Use GPS to Show You the Way - PCWorld tried out three of the newest services: America Online's MapQuest Find Me, Gate5's Smart2go Mobile Navigator, and TeleNav for Research In Motion's new BlackBerry 7520. MapQuest and TeleNav operate only on GPS-enabled Nextel phones; Gate5's Smart2go is not tied to a carrier and functions on Bluetooth-enabled Symbian Series 60 phones (such as the Nokia 6600 and 7610), Microsoft Windows Mobile phones and PDAs, and the PalmOne Treo 650 and Tungsten T3.
• Cell Phones Face the Music - Napster's recently revealed plan to extend its music service to mobile phones has a long way to go before cells become iPod killers. On Wednesday, Napster and Swedish phone giant Ericsson announced a deal to develop the first digital music service for cell phones. The service will launch sometime in the next year.
• Intel talks up universal wireless networking - Intel is set to present a chip at the VLSI Symposium that features both a 2.4GHz and 5GHz radio running on only 1.4 volts. The chip supports up to 40MHz of bandwidth, up from today's 20MHz versions. The higher frequency will support data rates beyond 100Mbps, enough to deliver streaming video over a wireless connection.
• 2005 Toshiba and Hitachi Line Shows - Toshiba will be rolling out a full lineup of 11 new DLP rear projection TVs in both their TheaterWide Series and Cinema Series lines. Toshiba will offer both 720p and 1080p resolution models. The 720p sets will utilize a new TALEN Light Engine

HARDWARE... 

• NVIDIA slashes budget GPU prices - Nvidia recently lowered the price of its GeForce 6200 with TurboCache by US$15, according to sources at Taiwan graphics-card makers. In addition, the company cut the price on its GeForce 6600 series US$5 and the prices for all parts from its GeForce 6200, GeForce FX5200 and GeForce MX4000 series were reduced US$1-2, indicated the sources.
• Geforce 7800 scores 7800 in 3Dmark05 - Geforce 7800GTX scores exactly 7800 in 3Dmark05 score. When you pair two cards you will get as much as 13000 in the same test, but I have to warn you that those forum boys tested with an FX57 clocked at 2960MHZ, up from its original 2800MHz clock.
• Dell Inspiron XPS Gen 2 Laptop - The chosen combination of Pentium M 770 and GeForce 6800 Go Ultra 256MB make for, without doubt, the fastest gaming laptop ever!
• MV Mobeus 1.6M - Specification wise, the Mobeus has a 1.6GHz Intel Pentium M CPU driving it along, which makes up half of the Centrino package. The other half is an Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG WiFi adapter that supports 802.11a b and g standards. There's 512MB of memory installed, but 14MB of this has been dedicated to the Intel integrated graphics.
• Sony VAIO and HP Compaq: Two Office Notebooks compared - X-bit labs compared two attractive office solutions from Sony and HP: VAIO VGN-FS115ZR and Compaq nx8220. They run office and multimedia applications at high speeds and can handle professional graphics applications, too. They are handy at work and offer you excellent functionality in office as well as on the road.
• ASUS EN6800 ULTRA DUAL - Almost touching motherboard proportions, it measures 17.5cm by 31.2cm, hits the scales in at 930 grams, and is without a doubt the largest video card we have ever laid eyes on, flooring even the short-lived 3dfx Voodoo 5 5500
• MSI NX6200TC-TD32E Geforce 6200TC  - PC Stats has posted a review of MSI NX6200TC-TD32E Geforce 6200TC Videocard.
• Maxtor DiamondMax 10 300GB SATA150 - PC Modding Malaysia has posted a review of Maxtor DiamondMax 10 300GB SATA150.
• Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse - Whether you're a hardcore gamer looking for an edge against your opponents or a casual gamer who needs a comfortable and responsive mouse, Logitech's MX 518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse is the right choice.
• 19" LCD monitor survey - Behardware.com has updated their last 19" survey with two very much awaited monitors, or to be more accurate - because it is the most interesting aspect - two new very much awaited panels: the PVA 8 ms and one TN 6 ms.
• Olympus Camedia C-7070 - The main feature that sets the C-7070 apart from other semi-pro cameras is its lens. Most digital zoom cameras have a maximum wide-angle setting equivalent to around 35mm, which isn't really very wide at all. The C-7070 has a zoom range equivalent to 27-110mm, which is actually wider than the conventional standard wide angle 28mm lens. Not only that but it uses ultra-high quality Olympus ED optical glass, the same as on the company's professional SLR lenses

GUIDES...

• Adapting a Playstation Joystick to a PC - Learn how to adapt a Playstation joystick to use it on your computer.
• Linux Database Server CPU Comparison - In this article, you will find a comparison of the latest Xeon (Irwindale), the previous Xeon (Nocona), the old Xeon (Galatin), the Dual core Opteron, and the "normal" Opteron, of course.
• Introduction to XQuery in SQL Server 2005 - Discover how XQuery works in SQL Server 2005: the FLWOR statement, operators in XQuery, the if-then-else construct, XML constructors, built-in XQuery functions, type casting operators, and more.
• Building a Web Site with ASP.NET 2.0 to Navigate Your Music Library - Jeff Key wanted a simple, clean way to listen to music anywhere in his apartment, from any computer. See how he built a website that let him get to his music and listen to it as painlessly as possible.
• GTA San Andreas - SoundFix  - It seems the EAX Unified Driver v4.0.0.1 doesn't like some cards. If you are having issues with the sound you should follow these instructions: 1. First backup the file eax.dll inside the GTA San Andreas Folder. 2. Download this file and replace it with the eax.dll inside the GTA San Andreas Folder. Note: It's not for Creative Audigy 2!

SOFTWARE...

• [MS Patch] Outlook Express Update - This update addresses an issue in which messages are improperly handled if the subject line contains the word "begin" and a display issue concerning watched threads in newsgroups. This update also addresses two issues in which Outlook Express stops responding.
• [MS Patch] Not all memory is available when AWE is enabled on a computer that is running a 32-bit version of SQL Server 2000 SP4 (899761) - Microsoft has found an issue with the final build of SQL 2000 SP4 that impacts customers who run SQL Server with AWE support enabled.
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Performance Advisor - Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Performance Advisor provides several specialized reports, including a System Overview (focusing on CPU usage, Memory usage, busy files, busy TCP clients, top CPU consumers) and reports for server roles such as Active Directory, Internet Information System (IIS), DNS, Terminal Services, SQL, print spooler, and others.
• Multilingual User Interface Package for Windows Messenger 5.1 - For Windows XP Multilingual User Interface users, the Multilingual UI Pack for Windows Messenger 5.1 is available from this page.
• Process Explorer 9.12 - Ever wondered which program has a particular file or directory open? Now you can find out. Process Explorer shows you information about which handles and DLLs processes have opened or loaded.
• Symantec W32.Mytob@mm Free Removal Tool 1.20.0 - W32.Mytob@mm Removal Tool is designed to remove infections of the following threats: W32.Mytob@mm, W32.Mytob.B@mm, W32.Mytob.CY@mm and W32.Mytob.DA@mm.
• WinPatrol 9.5 - WinPatrol (download) puts you back in control of your computer so you'll know what programs are and should be running at all times.
• XP-Antispy 3.94-2 - XP-AntiSpy (download) is a little utility that let's you disable some built-in update and authetication 'features' in WindowsXP.
• Eudora 6.2.3 - Eudora (download) is one of the best email program for people who get lots of email.
• Netscape 8.02 -  Netscape has released an updated version of its Netscape 8 browser to fix a bug that broke XML rendering in Microsoft's Internet Explorer.
• SecureCRT 5.0 Final - SecureCRT (download / changelog) gives you an encrypted SSH session with both SSH1 and SSH2 servers. SSH security goes far beyond the basic secure logon, rerouting data or local applications using TCP/IP ports through an encrypted channel. The VCP utility secures file transfers using SFTP.
• AnyDVD 5.2.5.1 -  AnyDVD is a driver, which descrambles DVD-Movies automatically in the background. This DVD appears unprotected and region code free for all applications and the Windows operating system as well. This new version adds support for a new version of the "Sony ARccOS protection" as found on "Closer" R2 (German) to the option to remove "Protection based on unreadable Sectors" (it should really work now).
• MHDD 4.5 - Makes very fast (up to 20 Gb per 6 minutes) and precise diagnostics (download) of all the surface and heads of the HDD irrespective of the data which is on the diagnosed HDD.
• Xtreme G 77.62 HD - These are modified NVIDIA ForceWare drivers for Windows 2000 & XP. 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.

SECURITY...

• Asian Trojans attacking U.K., agency warns - Three hundred key U.K. business and government organizations have been threatened by a wave of data-stealing cyberattacks coming from Asia, the British government has warned. According to the National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre, hackers in East Asia have developed Trojan horse programs that attempt to steal information from certain parts of the critical national infrastructure, which includes not only government agencies but businesses in the finance, transportation and telecommunications sectors.
• Adobe releases patches for Acrobat and Reader - Adobe Systems on Wednesday rolled out patches for security vulnerabilities found in Adobe Reader 7.0 and 7.0.1, and in Adobe Acrobat 7.0 and 7.0.1.  The hole in the products, referred to as an XML External Entity vulnerability, under certain circumstances allows XML scripts to be used to discover a user's local files.
• Browser Flaws Spoil Opera Tune - Alternative Web browser company Opera Software on Thursday pushed out a new version of its flagship browser to fix several cross-site scripting vulnerabilities discovered by private security researchers.
• Java flaws open door to hackers - Sun Microsystems has fixed a pair of security bugs in Java that could be exploited by attackers to take over computers running Windows, Linux and Solaris. The flaws are "highly critical," security monitoring company Secunia said in an advisory posted Tuesday. Flaws that get that ranking--one notch below Secunia's most severe "extremely critical" rating--are typically remotely exploitable and can lead to full system compromise.
• Spyware Floods In Through BitTorrent - According to Chris Boyd, a renowned security researcher who runs the VitalSecurity.org nonprofit resource center, the warm and fuzzy world of BitTorrent has been invaded by a massive software distribution campaign linked to New York-based adware purveyor Direct Revenue LLC.
• AOL Most Infected Web Network, company states - Prolexic, a provider of security consulting products, has claimed that Deutsche Telecom, Wanadoo and AOL are Europe's top three internet providers for harboring infected PCs.
• Microsoft sues U.S. stores over pirated software - Microsoft Corp sued four small software retailers in California and Virginia on Wednesday for selling pirated software.
• U.S. Delays Biometric Passport Requirements - The U.S. is delaying by up to a year a deadline for 27 countries covered by its visa waiver program to begin issuing passports with biometric identification information, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said this week. The country had been planning to require biometric passports issued from October 26 for admission into the U.S. under the visa waiver program. The deadline wouldn't have affected existing and valid passports issued before the date, says Michael Boyle, a spokesperson at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.

OFFTOPIC...

• The X-Men 3 Teaser Poster!  - Here's the official teaser poster for X-Men 3, opening in theaters May 26, 2006! The third installment, to be directed by Brett Ratner, will start filming in Vancouver this August.
• New Fantastic Four trailer - 20th Century Fox has launched the new Fantastic Four online at Apple! The Tim Story-directed adaptation opens in theaters on Friday, July 8th
• Deal struck to develop "Son-of-Concorde" - A deal to develop a new supersonic commercial jet to succeed the now retired Concorde has been signed by Japan and France. The jet will be capable of carrying 300 passengers from New York to Tokyo in just six hours, and could be in operation as soon as 2015.

TECHNOLOGY...

• PSP Launching September 1st In Europe - Sony today confirmed that the Playstation Portable will launch September 1st in Europe, at a cost of EURO 249 (L179). The PlayStation Portable Value Pack contains an added-value package of accessories and entertainment content, including the PSP system with a protective pouch, 32MB Memory Stick Duo, Battery Pack, Headphones with Remote Control, AC Adaptor, Wrist Strap and a video/music/game sampler Universal Media DiscTM (UMDTM) including several non-interactive game demos. A copy of Spider-Man 2, on UMD Video will be available free of charge to early purchasers of PSP, who register their PlayStation Portable and order their Spider-Man 2 UMD Video through www.yourpsp.com.
• Firefox creeps closer to Microsoft's IE - The popular product now accounts for 8% of the global market; up from 7.38% in April, after clocking up consistent gains during May.
• Yahoo Launches Search For Subscription - The new service available through Yahoo's general search page lets people choose the subscription service they want to scour for information. The content provider, however, must be a partner of Yahoo's in order for the search engine to have full access to the site. Subscription services typically don't allow others to search their sites, or provide only a tidbit of information to a search engine.
• Samsung Introduces 'Bluetooth Voice Recognition Phone' - Samsung Electronics announced that it has released the Bluetooth Voice Recognition Phone (Model: SGH-E620) into the European market, which can make calls using one's voice via a bluetooth headset.

HARDWARE... 

• Acer TravelMate 4401LMi Turion 64 based laptop - The TravelMate is relatively large and weighs in at 2.84kg, so it's no ultra-portable. The main reason for this is because it's carrying a very large 15in display.
• AMD Athlon X2 4800+ CPU - At the end of the day it's easy to see AMD as the clear, overall leader of the pack when it comes to having the ultimate desktop CPU - their chip hauls ass, runs cool and is priced very competitively to Intel. One of the biggest challenges as a reviewer is quantifying in words the difference running a dual-core CPU can make in ones overall computing experience.
• Intel Pentium D 820 2.8 GHz Dual Core CPU - The dual core Pentium D 820 processor (well actually the whole system) pulls in an idle load of 148 watts and 233 watts at a full load in the CineBench 2003 rendering test. This is significantly less than the Pentium 840 XE processor at 291 watts, but it is still higher than the 660 processor which is single core and pulls 207 watts at full load.
• Corsair XMS XPERT PC3200 Memory - Installation for this ram was like any other, with the notable exception of actually placing the LED's on the ram. What exactly is the purpose of all of those LED's on that display anyway? Well in short Corsair has a hardware controller on the RAM which collects data and then displays it. This doesn't affect the speed of the ram at all as it is independent which is why the DIMMs are so much taller than regular sticks of DDR ram. This controller collects the data and then displays it across the 10 digit alphanumeric display.
• Corsair XMS TWINX1024-4400C25PT Dual Channel DDR Memory - If you want to get to 600DDR speeds with tight timings, TCCD chips are your only choice. If you want some of the best-implemented TCCD sticks made (and soon to be the only ones made), then Corsair is the deal.
• Mushkin Redline Memory - Mushkin's XP4000 redline memory is rated to run at 3.3-3.5 Volts, which is above the redline on many boards. To be honest only DFI's DFI LanParty UT NForce4 Ultra-D, DFI LanParty UT NForce4 SLI-DR, and DFI LanParty NForce4 SLI-DR offer the voltages needed to operate correctly.
• MSI RS480M2-IL Motherboard  - This motherboard supports any Socket 939 AMD Athlon64/FX processor on the market and can be stuffed with up to 4GB of unbuffered non-ECC PC3200 DDR RAM. Onboard goodies include the aforementioned integrated videocard, 10/100 LAN, 5.1 channel audio and IEEE 1394.
• Asus P5ND2-SLI Deluxe and Abit Fatal1ty AA8XE Motherboards - Fanless design is a real plus point in our opinion and I personally look for as low a noise threshold as possible when building PC's so the P5ND2-SLI would fit the bill nicely. Despite the silent cooling the board performed to a very high standard and overclocked extremely well, opening the door to the performance fanatics amongst you. Memory performance was another real stand out result and should you pair the P5ND2-SLI with some of Corsairs finest you really will have one of the fastest performing boards money can buy.
• ATI's All-in-Wonder X800 XT Video Card - When ATI first released the All-in-Wonder X800 XT, the card sold for around $500. Since then, prices have dropped dramatically. The AIW X800 XT is now widely available for less than $400, with at least one reliable online retailer selling the card for $325 after a $50 mail-in rebate. Contrast that with the price of the standard Radeon X800 XT, which sells for about $400 and up, and the All-in-Wonder looks like a phenomenal deal considering its multimedia extras and bundled Remote Wonder II.
• BFG PCI-E 6800 GT OC 256MB Video Card - Looking past the temperature problems, this is still a fantastic card. It screams through all the current games at 1280 * 1024, max details, with ease. Currently, the only Nvidia card faster than this one is the 6800 Ultra. Not for long though, as the 7800 GTX is supposed to be released within weeks. Chances are, when the new series is released, then this card, and other 6800 GT/Ultra's should go down in price.
• VisionTek XTASY Theater Pro 550 PVR card - To sum it all up if you are in the market for a new PVR card I would Highly suggest the VisionTek Theater Pro 550. The excellent image quality combined with a great software bundle make this package an incredible deal. There are two things that could have been included in the package that would have made for one of the absolute best packages on the market. One is a DVD decoder to use in a program such as BeyondTV or Media Center to be able to view Live TV. And second would be a remote control of some sort.
• NEC ND-3540A DVD Burner - The NEC ND-3540A uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+R9 DL at 8x. Three zones are used to write DVD+R Double Layer discs at 8x. The average speed is 6.54x and total writing time is 18:31 minutes.
• Crucial 12-in-1 Flash Reader and 1GB Secure Digital Card - Crucial's 1GB Secure Digital card is not much different from the many products out there. Most Secure Digital cards are rated to have up to 6-8 MB/s read speeds and 3-5 MB/s write speeds. Any faster would mean spending more money. For regular uses, such as traveling, the 1GB should suffice.
• Keeping the Power On: Ultra's 1000VA UPS - In battery mode or when charging the unit does get quite warm, though not hot enough to burn. It also hums slightly when in battery mode-when operating off wall power, its silent. Overall, the unit worked very well. There were no interruptions in the supply of juice from the UPS to the computer, even during real power failures. As far as some of the other features, there are some changes I'd like to see. The software, in particular, could use some fine-tuning.
• Logitech MX1000 Wireless Laser Mouse -  If you are upgrading from a non MX series mouse, this is the mouse you should get. If you currently have an MX700, it is up to you to decide if it is worth it to have a bit better tracking and a slightly different feel.
• Logitech V500 Cordless Notebook Mouse - One of the unique things about the V500 is its scroll panel, and this is the very first mouse to actually use this concept. Throughout our testing, we are nothing but impressed with Logitech's new idea. It worked perfectly, and it's actually better than a scroll wheel in many instances. It looks like the era of scroll wheels is short-lived if Logitech applies the same design to its desktop equivalent products.
• Logitech Z-2300 2.1 Speakers - If you're in the market for a superior 2.1 speaker system, do NOT pass these up. The Logitech Z-2300 is a great system for those who may not have a lot of room for 5.1 or 7.1 setups. They're also perfect for those who don't want to spend $300-400 on speakers.
• Steel Sound 5H Professional Gaming Headset - Some gamers may actually prefer to go with 5.1 style headphones, which do a better job at simulating surround sound but it is hard to complain at the 5H. The fact that it has a microphone built in and that is can be broken down into three pieces are both superb features that give it a major leg-up over any competitor.
• OKI C5510MFP colour led printer - The C5510MFP is a C5000 colour LED printer with a 600dpi flat-bed scanner on top. Nearly all control comes from the scanner section, which sports a two-line, sixteen character, back-lit LCD display, colour and mono copy buttons and a number of preset enlargements and reductions for copying.
• HP PSC 2175 All-in-One & ScanJet 5500c - The HP PSC 2175 All-in-One Printer can now be purchased for $95 US directly from Computer Geeks, making it quite the bargain. This product weighs just 3.5kgs and acts as a color printer, scanner and copier all in one. However, the PSC 2175 does have a few minor flaws, for example it does not feature the ability to fax. There is also no LCD monitor to preview images from the flash memory cards.
• ASUS WL-500G Deluxe Wireless Router - The router isn't blameless, though. Its performance as of a file server is low, and the structure of the control software is not quite logical. They might also have enclosed a color rather than black-and-white web-cam! But anyway, the ASUS WL-500G Deluxe is worth every cent of its current price which is about $110. For us, it lacks one feature only - an ADSL modem.

GUIDES...

• Hackers Run Unauthorized Programs on PSP - It appears that the folks over at PSP-DEV have created a swap trick for your PSP 1.50 to play your homebrew applications. It requires two memory cards, which are switched while the PSP is working. (the trick will only work on 1.50 - not 1.51+.)
• How to enable and disable Microsoft Update - The Microsoft Update Web site provides updates for Microsoft operating systems and programs. Microsoft Update is an optional service that you can use to update both Microsoft Windows operating systems and other Microsoft products. In contrast, when you use Microsoft Windows Update, you access only updates for Microsoft Windows operating systems. This article discusses how to enable Microsoft Update. This article also discusses how to disable Microsoft Update and return to using Windows Update.
• Battlefield 2: You won't need a new PC - You can play this game on a fairly low end system, however it will look far better on a more powerful PC. We first tested the game with a Gigabyte GeForce 5700LE graphics card on an Abit IS7-V2 mainboard with a 2.1GHz Pentium 4 and 1GB of memory running at a non-standard 133MHz bus speed. This is close to the minimum required system specifications for Battlefield 2. At low resolutions (1024x768), with most of the DirectX 9 effects turned off, the game ran well. However, with these settings, the graphical glory was sadly diminished.

SOFTWARE...

• Microsoft RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer for Windows XP - The Microsoft RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer is a free “PowerToy” for Microsoft Windows XP that provides the ability to view, organize, and print photos captured in RAW image formats from supported digital cameras.
• Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (KB890830) - This tool checks your computer for infection by specific, prevalent malicious software (including Blaster, Sasser, and Mydoom) and helps to remove the infection if it is found. Microsoft will release an updated version of this tool on the second Tuesday of each month
• Privacy Inspector version 1.70 - Privacy Inspector cleans up your tracks left by Windows, your browser, and many other programs.
• VisualRoute 9.3d - VisualRoute (download) delivers the functionality of key Internet "ping," "whois," and "traceroute" tools, in a high-speed visually integrated package. VisualRoute automatically analyzes Internet connectivity and performance problems, displaying the results in an easy to understand table and on a world map.
• WinDVD Platinum 7.0 - WinDVD Platinum 7 (download) is the ultimate DVD software player, providing you with the finest quality video and audio playback
• Fraps 2.6.0 - Fraps (download) is designed as a generic tool for DirectX and OpenGL games. In its current form Fraps performs many tasks and can best be described as: Benchmarking Software, Screen Capture Software and Realtime Video Capture Software.
• Winamp 5.093 - Nullsoft Winamp (download full / lite) is a fast, flexible, high-fidelity media player for Windows. Winamp supports playback of many audio (MP3, OGG, AAC, WAV, MOD, XM, S3M, IT, MIDI, etc) and video types (AVI,ASF,MPEG,NSV), custom appearances called skins (supporting both classic Winamp 1.x/2.x skins and Winamp 3 freeform skins), audio visualization and audio effect plug-ins (including two industry dominating visualization plug-ins), an advanced media library, Internet radio and TV support, CD ripping, and CD burning
• PowerArchiver 2004 9.25.02 (shw) - PowerArchiver (download) is an award-winning archive utility for the Windows® family of products that provides support for most compressed and encoded files, as well as access to many powerful features and tools though an easy to use interface that seamlessly integrates with Windows Explorer.
• DivX 6 - DivX (release notes / download play bundle / create bundle) is a package that includes all the DivX codec, player, utilities, and documentation that you need to play DivX files. DivX codec is based on the MPEG-4 compression standard. This codec can reduce an MPEG-2 video (DVD format) to ten percent of its original size. DivX is a digital video compression technology based on the ISO MPEG-4 standard.
• Opera 8.01 - Alternative Web browser company Opera Software on Thursday pushed out a new version of its flagship browser to fix several cross-site scripting vulnerabilities discovered by private security researchers.
• Adobe Reader for Windows 2000/XP 7.0.2 - Adobe Reader is free software that enables business professionals and home users to reliably share information using intelligent PDF files. You can easily view, print, and search PDF files using a variety of platforms and devices.
• [!] ForceWare 72.14 Media Center WHQL -  This is ForceWare 72.14 for Windows 2000/XP (direct link - NVIDIA FTP / release notes) which has been WHQL certified (Microsoft tested and approved). The WHQL stamp is only for GeForce 6 series GPUs as the release highlights state, we're not 100% sure about the FX series. These drivers are intended for (as release notes state) Windows XP Media Center Edition. They should work just fine on XP though. The driver includes a handy setup.exe. The build date of the drivers is May the 16th 2005.
• ForceWare 77.40 Windows XP 64-bit - This is the fifth set of drivers that have been made available for WindowsXP x64 Professional. These drivers were built on the 19th of May.The drivers are not WHQL signed.
• NGO ATI Optimized Driver v1.5.6 (2.6) - The NGO ATI Optimized Driver (based on ATI Catalyst 5.6) is a tweaked version of the ATI Catalyst driver. The main purpose is to satisfy the users with a better performance and better image quality.The Driver has support for all Radeon cards
• AC'97 Audio CODECs - Realtek has released a new audio package. It is version A3.73 released on 06/02/2005.