Monday Tech Madness - tech
(hx) 02:16 AM CET - Jan,13 2004
- Post a comment / read (3)
- Xombe Trojan poses as Microsoft warning - An e-mail disguised as a
message from Microsoft's security team contains a dangerous Trojan horse
called Xombe. Xombe, also known as Trojan.Xombe, Downloader-GJ and
Troj/Dloader-L, was being distributed on Friday. It poses as a critical update
for the Windows XP operating system. When executed, it attempts to download a
malicious backdoor component from the Web. It appears to be an imitation of
one of last year's most successful worms, the mass-mailed Swen, which also
masqueraded as a security warning from Microsoft. However, Xombe has yet to
repeat the success of Swen. While the former failed to make the top 10 threats
intercepted by e-mail security company MessageLabs on Monday morning, Swen was
at No. 2, with some 7,000 instances captured in the past 24 hours.
- Microsoft pushes for a million Xbox Live users - Chief Xbox Officer
Robbie Bach has announced that Microsoft hopes to have
one million Xbox Live users by June this year - but new plans from Sony
may give the PS2 an innovative edge in the online gaming arena.
- Faster traffic will mean slower broadband - Proposed traffic
legslation will have a detrimental impact on the rollout of broadband, a group
of network operators has warned.
The Traffic
Management Bill, currently working its way through Parliament, is better
known for headline-grabbing clauses such as granting more power to the likes
of traffic wardens.
- CES plays home to HomePlug at 100 Mbps - The Consumer Electronics
show would not be complete without the HomePlug Powerline Alliance making a
show of its technology for networking up the home using existing power cables.
And HomePlug systems were on show both delivering in
the new standard at 14 megabits per second (mbps), and a new advanced
version from Intellon, offering a 200 Mbps signal with an aggregate throughput
of 100 Mbps.
- Microsoft extends support for Windows 98, ME - Although Microsoft
had planned to pull the plug on support for Windows 98 and ME early this year,
the firm said today
it will
extend the life of the products for more than two years. Support for
Windows 98, 98SE and ME will now be available until the middle of June 2006.
(thanks Peter) Another story can be found
here.
- Sharp TVs Add Recording, Portability -
The Open Aquos series of LCD TVs will feature dual PC Card slots, which
let you expand the set's capabilities in a number of ways. The Open Aquos sets
ship with a personal video recorder (PVR) card that includes a 5GB hard disk
drive for storing recorded television programs. Two models in the Aquos line
will feature this personal video recorder capability, according to Sharp
representatives. Both sets offer a 4:3 aspect ratio and feature 480-line
progressive scan (480p) resolution, using Sharp's Advanced Super View LCD
panel. A 20-inch model, the LC-20PX1U, is scheduled to become available in
April and will be priced at $1900. In May, Sharp expects to launch a 15-inch
version, the LC-15PX1U, for $1400.
- Sharp to launch 45-inch LCD TV this summer - Japan-based Sharp
plans to launch
a 45-inch LCD TV in the US early this summer, according to the Japan-based
Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun. Sharp has already begun test production of the model,
priced at about US$9,000, at its new Kameyama plant in Mie Prefecture, Japan,
the paper said.
- The CES 2004 Report - Part 1 Coverage -
@ HardwareZone (MSI googies, NVIDIA'a booth, Seagate in the Spotlight);
@Trusted Reviews.com
(LG, Samsung, BenQ, Creative, Panasonic, Archos) ,
Pioneer
demonstrates dual layer recording at CES, only firmware modification needed
- DVD Player Goes High-Def -
A $350 DVD player, coming later this year from V, Inc., will be the first
to use Microsoft's Windows Media Video 9 compression codec and the HighMAT
format to deliver HD video on standard DVDs. The Bravo D3 Home HD DVD Media
Player is designed to provide an alternative to pricey blue-laser optical
devices. Unveiled last week at the Consumer Electronics Show here, it is
scheduled to ship in the second quarter. The device runs on a Sigma Designs
EM8620L processor and can decode MPEG2, MPEG 4, and WMV 9 video and play it
back at high-definition resolutions up to 1080i (interlaced) using a component
video or DVI output. In addition, the Bravo D3 can decode WMA 9, WMA Pro, WMA
lossless, Dolby Digital, MP3, MPEG1/2, and MPEG 4 AAC audio.
- MSI launches its first notebook, more than 10 new models expected this
year - Micro-Star International (MSI) has
officially launched its first Wi-Fi notebook, the M3000. The M3000, which
was unveiled at the recently concluded 2004 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in
Las Vegas, is based on Intel’s Centrino platform and features a 15-inch
screen, ATI Technologies Mobility Radeon 9600 graphics chip and support for
IEEE 1394, USB 2.0 and Wi-Fi connectivity. At CES, the company also showcased
its new multimedia barebone system, the MSI Mega 865. “Mega” stands for MSI
entertainment gaming appliance. The Mega 865, which features a Pentium 4
processor and supports dual-channel DDR400 memory, combines the functions of a
Hi-Fi stereo, DVD/VCD player, MP3 player, TV and PC.
- EPoX to make NVIDIA Cards -
Hexus.net send words that
EPoX will be releasing a range of NVIDIA cards from MX440 right up to 5950U.
The cards will be based on reference ODMs.
- iRock! 860 MP3 Player review -
iRock's latest Digital Audio Player, the iRock 860 will please anyone who
is looking for a cheap and tiny unit for some music on the move. Being a solid
state unit you won't have to worry about tracks skipping, and with its support
of MP3 and WMA (including VBR varieties) as well as an FM Tuner you should be
all set for a long trip.
- Hauppauge MediaMVP review -
Hauppauge MediaMVP is a mini Linux setup box that can receive multimedia
data such as movie clips, mp3 and jpeg picture from a Windows 2000/XP computer
through an Ethernet cable. Since the cable can be as much as 100m long, you
can now playback these data even your computer is located a few rooms away.
MediaMVP will convert these multimedia data and send it to your TV and Hi-Fi
system.
- Gigabyte GA-8TRS300M motherboard review -
Gigabyte introduces a value motherboard centered around ATI's Radeon 9100
IGP. The Gigabyte GA-8TRS300M utilizes the Radeon 9100 Integrated Graphics
Processor to deliver a competitor to take on competitive budget systems with
INTEL integrated graphics or systems with low end AGP video cards. The
engineers at Gigabyte have chosen not to include TV-out or 1394 with the
GA-8TRS300M which may allow for a more aggressive pricing strategy against the
handful of other manufacturers who are also producing motherboards based on
the ATI 9100 IGP.
- Athlon64 Boards Found Lagging in Memory Support - Moever,
as THG test has shown, when two DIMM modules are used on most of today's
commerically-available motherboards, often incomprehensible problems can be
expected.A memory upgrade can thus be especially problematic, as the
localisation of the problem-causing components can take hours and put a strain
on the user or white box vendor's the nerves.
- Geil 1GB PC3200 Dual DDR Kit review -
Geil has made things easy for you by selling a high-performance,
low-latency pair of RAM. You can currently get the 512MB kit for around $180,
which comes out to less than $100 per stick.
- Leadtek WinFast A350 Ultra TDH MyVIVO Video Card review -
The Leadtek A350 features ViVo options and the extra 128 Megs of Memory
which make it a superior selection for the price. 3DExtreme would have no
reservations suggesting the Leadtek A350, as it's fast for gaming usage and
includes a barrage of other video uses. (PIP, Direct to DVD Capture, etc.) But
they also wrote: "First of all the Leadtek A350 was not stable when using a
Thermal Take 420 Watt Power Supply, I needed to use a TT 480 Watt PSU
that I had here to get it to run stable on the Asus P4C800. Emailing Leadtek I
was told that 450 watts or better was the suggested Power Supply that should
be used. The 9800 Pro worked fine with my TT 420 Watt PSU"
- Connect 3D Radeon 9600XT review -
Moderately priced for the gamer on a budget, it still puts out the frag
power. Even though both cards were evenly matched, once we turned on the
Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering, the 9600XT was still punching out
some good frame rates.
- HIS Excalibur ICEQ 256MB DDR2 Radeon 9800Pro videocard review -The
Excalibur IceQ 9800 pro embodies everything I have ever wanted in a
videocard. The card is packed full of 256megs of fast DDR2, includes a quiet
and efficient monster cooler and for once there are memory sinks installed
throughout the card. The performance numbers and results would easily make
even the pickiest of gamers happy with the ability to handle quality settings
and pump out great framerates without breaking a sweat.
- Swiftech H20-8501 review - EnvyNews has posted
a review
of Swiftech's All-in-One watercooling kit
- Kingwin KT424-BK Aluminum Case -
Overall,
the Kingwin KT424-BK Aluminum is an excellent budget oriented aluminum
chassis solution. The 2mm brushed aluminum alloy provide with chic aesthetics
and also give the Kingwin KT424-BK a greater cooling performance when compare
to rival steel models. The exterior is very well designed and offers many
modification possibilities that will appeal to case modders.
- Wacom Intuos2 Platinum Edition review - enScape has posted
a review of Wacom
Intuos2 Platinum Edition,
- The Simple Antialiasing and Anisotropic Guide - What are these
mystical words which seem to make young geeks drool and put fear into the
hearts of those with ageing hardware? If you think Antialiasing is a strong
dislike of the Jennifer Garner TV series, and Anisotropic is a small region in
the South Pacific then I think you might find
this guide will help you more than you know.
- Virtual PC 2004 review - When all is said and done, how useful
Virtual PC is depends greatly on your requirements. For those of you
looking to use this system for legacy games however - Don't. On that front, it
simply isn't up to the task, and as this is most likely the main reason any
home user would be interested in this kind of software, it's very difficult to
recommend it in that sense.
- PHP 4.3.5 RC1 -
PHP 4.3.5RC1 (Win32
~
Linux) has been released for testing. This is the first release candidate
and should have a very low number of problems and/or bugs.
- Google Toolbar 2.0.106 -
The Google Toolbar (download)
increases your ability to find information from anywhere on the web and takes
only seconds to install. When the Google Toolbar is installed, it
automatically appears along with the Internet Explorer toolbar.
- DVD Shrink 3.1.2 -
DVD Shrink 3.1.2 fixes possible picture corruption (pixelation or
freezing) when low compression is applied at a scene change and contains some
changes to support a unicode build.
- iuVCR v4.8.4.329 (SHW) -
iuVCR (download)
is a Windows 2000/XP intended universal video recording program. Have a TV
tuner or a video capture card installed on your Windows 2000 or XP system? Now
you can easily record your favorite TV programs and videos in *.AVI or *.WMV
format. iuVCR has got a simple and plain interface, allows to capture video of
any format, resolution and duration, can automatically start when scheduled
and has a number of other useful features.
- Media Player Classic 6.4.7.5 - A new version of the
Media Player Classic (MPC) (download)
software has been released. This new version 6.4.7.5 has a couple of bugfixes
and some filters have been updated.
- Lame 3.95.1 Stable -
LAME (download)
is an educational tool to be used for learning about MP3 encoding. The goal of
the LAME project is to use the open source model to improve the psycho
acoustics, noise shaping and speed of MP3. LAME is not for everyone - it is
distributed as source code only and requires the ability to use a C compiler.
However, many popular ripping and encoding programs include the LAME encoding
engine.
- Central Brain Identifier 6.0.0.2 Build 110 -
Central Brain Identifier
(download)
is designed to provide detailed recognition and obtaining the most complete
extended information for all AMD processors. It recognizes more than 40
various models of the AMD processors.
- nVHardPage NVIDIA Tweaker v1.86.0b -
nVHardPage tweaker
serves on en/disabling hidden features in nVidia control panel, tweaking
nVidia Direct3D and OpenGL settings and overclocking your nVidia graphic card.
- Foobar 0.7.7b -
Foobar is advanced
audio player with low memory usage and support for several audio formats.
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Updated:03:04 PM CEST Jun,20
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