SECURITY...

• Zafi-C mutant virus targets Google and Microsoft - IT security experts have intercepted the latest mutant Zafi virus, dubbed Zafi-C, which targets the Google and Microsoft websites. It also attempts to knock out the website of the newly appointed Hungarian prime minister. The Zafi-C worm (W32/Zafi-C) spreads via email using socially engineered subjects lines including 'Re: Hey buddy!' and 'Re: very sick little girl!' in an attempt to lure users into launching its malicious attachment.
• AOL to Give Away Anti-Virus Software to Members -  America Online plans to offer its 23.4 million U.S. subscribers a premium anti-virus software service, McAfee VirusScan Online, for free in November.
• Hacking becomes a full-time job - The chief scientist of security company Internet Security Systems believes 2004 could prove to be a watershed year for hacking. Robert Graham says that many hackers are graduating into the pro ranks, a development that carries worrisome implications for corporate security.
• Flaws found in Windows-based media players - Apple Computer and RealNetworks have both issued fixes for their Windows software to patch serious security vulnerabilities. Apple released Quicktime 6.5.2 on Wednesday to plug two holes in its Windows media player. On Tuesday RealNetworks advised users of its RealPlayer 10, RealPlayer 10.5 and RealOne Player software to use the "Check for Updates" feature to download the latest patch.
• RIAA files 750 new file-trading lawsuits - RIAA on Thursday announced it has filed 750 new lawsuits against alleged file-traders using P2P software. Among the 750 new lawsuits were 25 P2P users on 13 university campuses. The lawsuits were filed against users of P2P software such as Kazaa, Grokster and LimeWire.
• Microsoft Expands Windows Anti-Piracy Program - A program in September, Microsoft Corp. was hoping 20,000 customers would opt into the voluntary program, via which Microsoft checks whether customers are running counterfeit copies of Windows. But by a little over a month later, 828,000 customers had opted in, Microsoft officials said Wednesday. And they did so with no real incentives, admitted David Lazar, director of Microsoft's Windows client product management group. Until Thursday, there were no tangible benefits to participating in the Microsoft Genuine Advantage program. But now, users who agree to participate in Microsoft's program will be offered up to $390 worth of software for free or reduced prices.

TECHNOLOGY...

• Sex Is Out, Consuming Is In - Internet users are doing far fewer searches for sex and pornography and more for e-commerce and business than they were seven years ago, University of Pittsburgh and Penn State researchers say in a new book.
• New Technology Powers Fuel Cells -  A new fuel cell for notebook PCs, more compact and powerful than competing technologies, could be on the market in early 2006 at a price of around $90, its Japanese inventors claim. Fuel cells generate an electrical current from a chemical reaction between a hydrogen-containing fuel and oxygen.
• Via's twin-core processor may upstage AMD, Intel - In a move that could upstage the dual-core processor plans of AMD and Intel, Via Technologies Inc. is developing a twin-core x86 processor that is likely to hit the market by June 2005, a company executive confirmed Tuesday. The twin-core processor is primarily designed to be used in high-density server clusters. Via has demonstrated that two processors can fit onto a small Mini-ITX motherboard and it will be feasible for customers to offer a standard 1U (1.75 inches, 4.4 centimeter) server chassis containing two Mini-ITX motherboards running four twin-core processors, Brown said.

HARDWARE...

• AMD debuts low-cost Net device - AMD has teamed up with partners in India, Mexico and the Caribbean in an ambitious bid to equip half of the world's population with internet connectivity and computing capabilities by 2015. A key element of the strategy, dubbed 50 x 15, comes in the form of AMD's newly launched Personal Internet Communicator (PIC), a Microsoft Windows-based consumer device designed to provide affordable, managed internet connectivity. It features capabilities such as a browser, email, word processing and spreadsheets, and the ability to view images, multimedia files and standard format documents. The device will sell for $185 with a keyboard, mouse and preinstalled software, while one with a monitor will cost $249, the company said.
• Turtle Beach Ships Noise Canceling Headphones - Turtle Beach announced the availability of its new ENC-S noise-canceling ear buds. Each ear bud includes a built-in microphone with special circuitry that monitors noise in the listening environment and subtracts its signal from the sound fed into the ear bud diaphragms. The result is almost total silence as external background noise is eliminated from the music. Unlike simple passive ear buds, the ear buds' high-quality diaphragms are driven by an internal audio amplifier to provide high-efficiency, full-bandwidth audio reproduction for crisp highs and deep lows. The comfortable and lightweight design rests comfortably in your ear and can be worn for extended listening sessions without fatigue. A volume control lets you set the level to suit your taste, and the noise-canceling feature can be shut off with a convenient switch.
• Gateway Launches Photo MP3 Player - Following Apple's launch of iPod Photo earlier in the week, Gateway is announcing its own MP3 player with digital photo display capabilities, the Gateway MP3 Photo Jukebox. The MP3 player's 1.6-inch color TFT-LCD can display digital photos stored on the 4GB hard drive, said John Schindler, manager of convergence products with the Poway, California-based company. It is Gateway's first MP3 player with a color screen, he said.
• ATI's X600XT faces end of life in December - ATI made this decision since it's not that easy to position X700 cards together with the X600s. However, they will just eliminate the fastest of the X600 cards, the X600XT, while X600PROs will continue to coexist with X700 cards.
• AGP 6600GT out in a few weeks - The card should be clocked at the same speeds as the 6600GT PCIe version and the only difference is the BR2 Bridge, hidden behind a cooler. Just so you know, when companies say November that indeed usually means the last week of it and not the first one. November 30th sounds much better then December the 1st. It goes the same was as $199 versus $200.
• Sparkle Computer introduces GeForce 6-series PCIe graphics cards - Sparkle Computer has introduced the latest card in its GeForce 6 series, the Sparkle GeForce 6200. The GeForce 6200 is the company's entry-level PCI Express (PCIe) product, said a company spokesperson. The 6200 will be available in both 128MB and 256MB versions and will have a core clock speed of 300MHz.
• DDR RAM Guide III - Overclockers New Zealand have pusblished their DDR RAM Guide III.
• DDR2 Shoot-Out: Corsair vs. Kingston - HotHardware.Com has posted a shoot-out between two 1GB DDR2-675 capable memory kits, Corsair's TWIN2X1024-5400C4PRO and Kingston's KHX5400D2K2/1G.
• Corsair XMS2 5400 Pro DDR2 RAM review - One more time, DDR-2 has better performance than DDR, but not nearly living up to the hype of being the next greatest thing in RAM. The difference between the 1:1 and 3:4 configurations is hardly noticable. Suffice to say, at stock clocks, the new DDR-2 format dissapoints.
• Mushkin LII-V2 1024MB PC3200 review  - ipKonfig.com has posted a review of Mushkin LII-V2 1024MB PC3200.
• Intel P4 Aircooling - Heatsink Roundup -  Madshrimps let us know they have compared 13 different P4 heatsinks made by Thermalright, Coolermaster, Scythe, Speeze, Swiftech, Evercool, Aerocool and TTIC.
• PowerColor Radeon X800 Pro VIVO review - InsaneTek has posted a review of PowerColor Radone X800 Pro VIVO.
• Point Clark Networks ClarkConnect Gateway / Server (Home Edition) review - ClarkConnect is available in three editions. The Professional Edition includes firewall, VPN, and gateway tools, while the Office Edition includes everything in Professional and adds web, file, and print services. Both Professional and Office are reasonably priced ($65 and $55 respectively), and available with various support plans and web-based services, such as domain registration and DNS service.
• HumanScale M7 Monitor Arm review - XYZ Computing has posted a new review of the HumanScale M7 Monitor Arm.
• ATI HDTV Wonder review - There's no denying the incredible picture improvement of HD broadcasts over regular analog TV. The ATI HDTV Wonder does a good job of allowing you to enjoy this amazing video on your computer at a fraction of the cost of an HDTV. Of course, an HDTV is often much larger than a computer monitor and if you get an HDTV set, chances are you will just get an HD tuner from your cable company - allowing you to enjoy all of the HD cable channels as well as the over-the-air broadcasts.

SOFTWARE...

• Using Domain Controller Virtual Machines  - On servers running Windows Server 2003 and Virtual Server 2005, you can install multiple domain controllers in separate virtual machines. This platform is well suited for test environments. With strict adherence to requirements described in this paper, domain controller virtual machines can also be used in production.
• Knights of Honor game removes DAEMON Tools DLL - SUNFLOWERS statement: By starting Knights of Honor the copy protection checks for CD-emulation-programs such as "Daemon-Tools". Due to a bug in the checker-routine the file "daemon.dll" is renamed to "daemon.bak", if it has been locked by the user, which it is not by default. This is a known issue and will be fixed in the upcoming patch. To have "Daemon-Tools" working again, the file "daemon.bak" has to be renamed back to "daemon.dll", which is located on the harddrive in the main directory of Windows (e.g. C:Windows).
• FarCry Patch 1.3 & SM 3.0 - As for Shader Model 3.0 in FarCry, we experienced just what we thought we would. SM3.0 image quality matches that of Shader Model 2.0 and affords us some performance gains. There are some bugs to be worked out with NVIDIA’s drivers currently, but we are confident those issues will be addressed.
• Critical Update for Windows 2000 (KB887811) - After you install the MS04-032 (KB840987) Security Update for Windows on a computer running either Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3 or with Service Pack 4 and then try to run an OpenMG compliant music software, the OpenMG compliant music software may not run as expected or respond. Install this update to help resolve this issue. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
• MySQL 4.1.7 - MySQL (download ~ changelog) is the world`s most popular open source database, recognized for its speed and reliability
• Firefox 1.0 RC1 - The release candidates (download from FTP) include about 250 bug fixes since Firefox 1.0 PR. If you've already downloaded 1.0 PR (the 'feature complete' preview) and you're not really interested in testing and bug reporting, then you should probably stick with 1.0 PR for a couple more weeks and upgrade when we release the official Firefox 1.0.
• Flexbeta FireTweaker 1.1 - Flexbeta Firetweaker 1.1 (download) is a Tweaking tool for the revolutionary Firefox Web Browser.
• 20 Firefox 1.0RC1 Extensions - Most popular by users - Extensions are small add-ons that add new functionality to Firefox. They can add anything from a toolbar button to a completely new feature. They allow the browser to be customized to fit the personal needs of each user if they need addtional features, while keeping Firefox small to download.
  MMH Cleaner 2.1 Build 9 - MMH Cleaner is a tool to help you to clean your junk files, programs recent, temp files and more as well as to help you control startup programs.
• Fresh Diagnose 6.80 - Fresh Diagnose is an utility designed to analyze and benchmark your computer system. It can analyze and benchmark many kinds of hardware, such as CPU performance, hard disk performance, video system information, mainboard information, and many more.
• AVG Free Edition 7.279 Beta - A free registration is required to run AVG. You will be emailed a registration code and can not install it without it. The installer does provide a link during installation to get your code.
• Virtual Desktop Toolbox 2.10 - Virtual Desktop Toolbox is the first professional tool that enlarges your monitor by dynamically creating multiple virtual or non virtual desktops. You can organize programs and windows by categories in different desktops, share programs and windows between desktops, group your desktops within a virtual screen and easily and quickly (one mouse move) switch from one desktop to another one.
• K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 1.15 - The K-Lite Mega Codec Pack includes the K-Lite Codec Pack Full, QuickTime Alternative, Real Alternative, Bink and Smacker playback support and Monkey's Audio DirectShow decoder. This new version features QuickTime components to 6.5.2.10.
• QuickTime Alternative 1.38 - QuickTime Alternative will allow you to play QuickTime files (.mov, .qt and other extensions) without having to install the official QuickTime Player. It also supports QuickTime content that is embedded in webpages.
• Audio DVD Creator 1.83  - Audio DVD Creator (download trial version) is a revolutionary tool that changes the way you listen to your favorite music. You can create DVD disc compiled from normal Audio CDs and MP3 files, and play it on any DVD player since it's DVD-Video compliant. You can choose the audio format from high quality (up to 6 hours PCM 48kHz/16bits) or high quantity (up to 45 hours AC3 192kbps).
• IrfanView 3.95 - IrfanView is a very fast, small, compact and innovative FREEWARE (for non-commercial use) graphic viewer for Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003.
• Lite-on DVD firmware updates - Lite-on made available this week a number of new firmware updates for its DVD RW drives including 16x, 12x and 8x models.