Evening Tech Reading - tech
(hx) 11:21 PM CEST - Sep,03 2003
- Post a comment
- Israeli Scientists Crack GSM Mobile Call Security - An
Israeli scientist said on Wednesday his team
had found a way to break into mobile phone calls made on the popular GSM
network, allowing eavesdroppers to listen in on calls and even take on a
caller's identity. The GSM Association, representing vendors who sell the
world's largest mobile system, which is used by more than 860 million
consumers in 197 countries, confirmed the security hole but said it would be
expensive and complicated to exploit. Professor Eli Biham of the Technion
Institute in Haifa said he was shocked when doctoral student Elad Barkan told
him he had found a fundamental error in the GSM (Global System for Mobile
communications) code.
- Off-topic: Scanner pictures body's hidden fat - A new kind of
machine could soon be coming to your local gym - one that requires you to
stand perfectly still. In 30 motionless seconds,
the machine locates and measures your body fat. It could then tell you
exactly where you could do with losing a few pounds and even advise you on
exercises for your problem areas. If the body fat scanner turns out to be
accurate enough, its makers hope it could one day help doctors spot disease.
- SCO bills first 1,000 Linux users -
SCO will start
invoicing Linux users in the next two months, with the first batch of
bills being sent to around 1,000 US users. Failure to pay under the highly
controversial UnixWare licensing scheme, which was introduced for Linux users
in July, is likely to result in legal action, the company warned.
- Symantec Raises Subscription Rates -
Symantec quietly increased subscription renewal rates for its entire line
of security products last week, citing the rising cost of fighting viruses and
other malicious code worldwide. The company is upping subscription renewal
rates by $5 on all of its products. That means users of the company's popular
$50 Norton AntiVirus software will pay $19.95 for each additional year they
download virus definitions.
- Sony Ericsson unveils Xmas phone line-up - Sony Ericsson today
launched
three new handsets it hopes to tempt buyers with this coming Christmas.
The clamshell Z600 comes with the now almost obligatory built-in digicam.
Photos can be sent by MMS, or zapped straight to a PC using the phone's
Bluetooth link. The tri-band GSM/GPRS handset features a main 16-bit colour
display and a smaller, secondary unit on the back of the phone. The Z600
supports 32-voice polyphonic ringtones and sounds
- Nokia 3650 vs Sony Ericsson P800 Review - Mobile Phone technology
moves on at a fast rate, most come with cameras and some with video, SLCentral
compared the latest heavyweights from Nokia and Sony Ericsson.
Which one is worth your money, is it better to go with the cheaper 3650,
Or is it wiser to spend the extra cash and grab the P800?
- Google sucked into RIAA/P2P fight - Following a court ruling in
favour of the RIAA, Sharman Networks, the developers of the popular Kazaa P2P
site,
sent a letter to Google requesting that it remove links to certain sites.
Fifteen sites are thought to be in breach of the US Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (DMCA), and are said by Sharman Networks to be running
unauthorised copies of its Kazaa P2P software. The letter demanded that Google
should "immediately remove or disable all access to the infringing material".
Google has now
removed the URLs from its search listings.
- Blaster boy cries foul over arrest - In his first interview,
Blaster.B suspect
Jeffrey Lee Parson has claimed that he is not the loner as portrayed in
the media. Talking to US TV programme NBC Today Parson complained that
many of the people who have been interviewed about him are not his friends. He
added that he had a wide network of associates who were supporting him since
his arrest. "I'm not a loner. I have a very supportive close group of friends.
I'm not reckless, I don't do drugs, smoke or drink," said Parson.
- Realtek launches eight-channel AC'97 audio codec - Taiwan-based IC
designer Realtek Semiconductor today
announced the launch of the ALC850, claiming it to be the world's first
eight-channel AC'97 Rev 2.3 audio codec. Fully complying with the new AC'97
Rev 2.3 specification, the ALC850 provides a jack-sensing function (surround,
center/LFE, front-mic, surround back), a PCBEEP generator, and interrupt
capability, the company said.
- Clié PEG-UX50 is handsome, innovative, powerful, and expensive -
None of Sony's PDAs look boring, but the company has outdone itself with the
new Clie PEG-UX50-a cleverly designed keyboard-based unit that has more
traits in common with a laptop than a conventional handheld. Unfortunately,
one of those traits is a high price tag-$699. The 6-ounce, Palm-based PDA may
look like a miniature notebook, but at 4 by 3.5 by 0.75 inches, it's a lot
easier to carry. The wide 2.75 by 1.75-inch display offers 480-by-320
resolution, and my shipping unit's screen-which also can be flipped around and
over to resemble a diminutive tablet PC-was clear and sharp with excellent
colors.
- Toshiba Portégé R100 review - The dazzling
Toshiba Portégé R100 notebook ($2.299 direct) is an impressive 2.4-pound
ultra-ultraportable (most ultraportables weigh 3 to 4 pounds) with a full-size
keyboard, 40GB hard drive, and 12.1-inch XGA display. The only flaw in this
otherwise impeccable system is low battery life-an unavoidable trade-off given
the system's diminutive size.
- Affordable 19" LCD Monitors - Many 19" LCD monitors that will
debut this fall will cost less than 1000 euros (US $1100).
THG survey these new monitors and gauge their performance in games,
movies, colors, and calibration.
- Integrated Graphics Performance: It's all in the chips - If you're
planning on using your computer as a gaming station as well as a workstation,
your best bet is to stay away from integrated graphics. The performance of
Intel's i865G Extreme Graphics was nowhere near convincing in a gaming
environment, making us wonder what exactly the self-serving "extreme"
adjective described. Extremely slow, maybe?
- AMD's Athlon FX beats Intel's Pentium 4 3.2 GHz -
The Athlon
FX on Windows XP 32 bit beats Intel's latest release 3.2 GHz but that's
still the Northwood core, of course. In the Sandra memory test, Athlon FX
delivers 5600 MB/s while an Intel Pentium 4 3.2 on Canterwood 875 with DDR 400
of course only delivers 5000MB/s. In Quake 3 , which was always considered
Intel's playground and patch, the Athlon FX is slightly under nine per cent
faster on AMD's processor rather than Intel's "brain of a PC". In Unreal
1024x768, it's close to 18 per cent advantage in AMD's favour. 3Dmark03 at
1024x768 shows that the FX is two per cent slower than on Intel. Pcmark03 is
faster on Intel by five per cent since this is an Intel heavily optimized
application while the memory score is 18 per cent faster on Athlon FX due to
its integrated memory controller.
- Asus nForce3 SK8N with AMD Opteron 240 Review - HardwareZoom has
posted
a review on the Asus nForce3 SK8N with AMD Opteron 240.
- OCZ EL DDR PC-4000 Dual Channel Memory Modules Review - If you are
going to be running your system at stock speeds, there is no need to purchase
this ram.
But, if you are out to squeeze every ounce of performance from your rig,
this is the real deal...
- HighPoint e.SATA Review - Dan's Data has posted
a review on
HighPoint's e.SATA system.
- Western Digital Caviar SE Serial ATA Hard Drive -
WD Caviar SE Serial ATA (SATA) 250GB is not just all about capacity, it is
also lightning fast drive. If you are need of a fast and big drive, WD Caviar
SE Serial ATA (SATA) 250GB is very good choice. Especially RAID performance
was very good and although price is quite high you get what you are paying
for: fast, a lot of storage space and reliable drive with 3 year limited
warranty. 36db operating noise is quite high but it is just a little
annoyance.
- Samsung Yepp YP-55V MP3 Player Review -
The
Samsung Yepp YP55V offers larger-than-average storage capacity compared to
other MP3 players, yet is still much more affordable than going the MP3
jukebox route. With features like an integrated FM tuner and USB hard drive
capabilities, the YP55V stays true to the Yepp roots.
- WinAll: Flaw in NetBIOS Could Lead to Information Disclosure -
A
security issue has been identified in Microsoft Windows that could allow
an attacker to see information in your computer's memory over a network. This
vulnerability involves one of the NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT) services, the
NetBIOS Name Server (NBNS). With this service, you can find a computer's IP
address by using its NetBIOS name, and vice versa.
- Windows Embedded Evaluation Kit -
Windows XP Embedded delivers the power of the Windows operating system in
componentized form. The evaluation software allows you to build runtimes that
are valid for 120 days after installation. Before you download or install the
evaluation software, confirm that your computer meets the minimum system
requirements.
- DCOMbobulator 1.00 -
The DCOMbobulator (download
~ more freeware
goodies) allows any Windows user to easily verify the effectiveness of
Microsoft's recent critical DCOM patch. Confirmed reports have demonstrated
that the patch is not always effective in eliminating DCOM's remote exploit
vulnerability. But more importantly, since DCOM is a virtually unused and
unneeded facility, the DCOMbobulator allows any Windows user to easily disable
DCOM for significantly greater security.
- Virtual Woman Millennium Beta Test v0.935 - Your girlfriend
just got some competition. In this Windows Virtual Reality Game build and
compete against Virtual
Women with full artificial intelligence, choose ethnic type, personality,
location, clothing etc. Throw away solitaire forever! Features 3-D graphics,
Sound and Digital DNA support. Must try to believe. As this is a beta test,
some features are restricted or currently unavailable. They will be added
shortly. Special Features: Artificial Intelligence Engine, Synthesized voice
for opponents, support for Digital DNA files, Intelligence updates via the
web, powerful customization options. Testing the parameters for a unique
virtual human file format (Digital DNA) that will allow these files to be
customized and traded over the web via file trading services. (thanks
Beta.Intercom)
- DivX 5.1 - DivX
(changelog
~ free_version)
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.
- Simple DirectMedia Layer 1.2.6 -
Simple
DirectMedia Layer supports Linux, Windows, BeOS, MacOS Classic, MacOS X,
FreeBSD, OpenBSD, BSD/OS, Solaris, IRIX, and QNX. There is also code, but no
official support, for Windows CE, AmigaOS, Dreamcast, Atari, NetBSD, AIX,
OSF/Tru64, and SymbianOS.
- DVD2SVCD 1.2.1 Build 2 -
DVD2SVCD is a completely automated frontend for converting DVD, PVA and
AVI files to SVCD. By completely automated, I mean, you just select the file
or dvd you want converted and hit GO, everything else is taken care of by the
frontend.
- Micatoge XPlayer 2.2.6 Beta 2 -
XPlayer is a
powerful but easy to use media player. It uses much less memory and CPU
Resources than other player.
- Mozilla Thunderbird 0.2 Final -
Mozilla Thunderbird (Win32
~
Linux) is a redesign of the Mozilla mail component. The goal is to produce
a cross platform stand alone mail application using the XUL user interface
language.
- IrfanView 3.85 -
IrfanView (download
~ plugins)
is a fast, simple freeware image viewer and editor that supports all major
graphic formats, including BMP, DIB, JPEG, GIF, animated GIF, PNG, PCX,
multipage TIFF, TGA, and more. In addition, it features drag-and-drop support,
directory viewing, TWAIN support, slide shows, batch conversion, and
modifications such as color depth, crop, blur, and sharpen.
- HDD Health 2.1 Build 159 -
HDD Health (download)
is a full-featured failure-prediction agent for machines using Windows 95, 98,
NT, Me, 2000 and XP. Sitting in the system tray, it monitors hard disks and
alerts you to impending failure. The program uses Self Monitoring and
Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) built into all new hard disks, and can
predict failures on your hard drives. A host of alerting features include
email, local pop-up messages, net messages, and event logging, while using no
system resources.
- Dell Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Digital Driver -
This package updates the Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Digital (Dell _only_)
driver and enhances the overall product performance on Win2k/XP.
- Realtek ALC650 Drivers v3.49 - The ALC650 is an 18-bit, full
duplex AC'97 2.2 compatible stereo audio CODEC designed for PC multimedia
systems. Download driver from
here.
- VIA ATA RAID Driver 2.02 - VIA has released new ATA RAID Drivers
v2.02 for VIA
VT6410 IDE RAID controller and
VIA VT8237 &
VT6420 Serial ATA RAID Controller
|
Updated:10:31 PM CEST Jun,20
(new)
