Morning Tech Reading - tech
(hx) 12:21 PM CEST - Aug,19 2003
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- Apple Ships Power Mac G5 -
The systems incorporate 400-MHz 128-bit DDR SDRAM with throughput of up to
6.4GB per second, one 133-MHz and two 100-MHz 64-bit PCI-X expansion slots,
and AGP 8x Pro graphics slots. The processors and their 1-GHz front side bus
can handle 16GB per second of bandwidth, according to Apple.
- Trojan Horse Attacks GNU Project - Malicious code recently
compromised the FTP server for the GNU Project, a developer site for many
components in the open-source Linux operating system. The attack originally
occurred in March 2003, but went undiscovered until late July, according to a
statement from GNU's sponsor, the Free Software Foundation. The compromise was
a Trojan horse that was installed on the root system of GNU's servers. The
Trojan horse had been on the server system for several months.
- New LCD Could Shrink Cell Phones - Samsung Electronics has
developed
a new flat-panel display unit for clamshell-style cellular telephones that
could help manufacturers make thinner and cheaper handsets. In size, the
module is about a millimeter thinner than two independent displays would be,
according to Samsung. That works out to a reduction in depth of between 3
percent and 5 percent in an average clamshell-type cellular telephone. Cost
savings are expected to be around 20 percent over the price of two independent
display panels, Park said. The module contains a 1.8-inch TFT color main
display, which has a resolution of 128 pixels by 160 pixels; and a 1.2-inch
color sub display, with a 96-by-96-pixel resolution.
- Blaster Attack Goes Bust - A scheduled denial of service
attack against Microsoft's main software update Web site did not materialize
Saturday, as computers
infected with the W32.Blaster worm failed to find their target. Blaster
first appeared on Monday and quickly spread to computers worldwide by
exploiting a known security vulnerability in Microsoft's Windows operating
system. By Friday, the worm, which targets a Windows component for handling
RPC (Remote Procedure Call) protocol traffic called the Distributed Component
Object Model (DCOM) interface, spread to more than 423,000 systems, according
to Oliver Friedrichs of Symantec.
- DirectX attack expected - patch Windows now - Following last week's
MSBlast worm attack, security experts at Microsoft and other firms are worried
that a recently discovered vulnerability in
DirectX could cause even more problems.
- W32.Welchia.Worm removes Blaster -
W32.Welchia.Worm is a worm that exploits multiple vulnerabilities: 1)
exploits the DCOM RPC vulnerability (described in
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-026) using TCP port 135. The worm
specifically targets Windows XP machines using this exploit. 2) exploits the
WebDav vulnerability (described in
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-007) using TCP port 80. The worm
specifically targets machines running Microsoft IIS 5.0 using this exploit.
The worm attempts to download the DCOM RPC patch from Microsoft's Windows
Update Web site, install it, and then reboot the computer. The worm checks for
active machines to infect by sending an ICMP echo, or PING, which will results
in increased ICMP traffic. The worm will also attempt to remove
W32.Blaster.Worm. Wohoo! Sounds like Worm Wars!
- AOL claims speed advantage -
AOL 9.0 Optimized is the latest version of the Internet giant's
proprietary online service. The service, currently in beta for Windows 98,
2000 and XP users, will come bundled with software that caches information
from Web pages on user's hard drive in order to serve Web pages faster. This
software is one technique that AOL is employing to boost subscriber loyalty
and to attract new users, something EarthLink and United Online have already
been doing.
- Windows XP SP2 Will Ship Before Q3 2004 -Late last week, Microsoft
posted an interesting document outlining its release plans for various Windows
version service packs, prompting reports that Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2),
originally due late this year, was being delayed until late 2004. That's
because the page (URL below) lists "Q3 2004" as the XP SP2 release date. A
little fact checking goes a long way, however, and after conferring with
various Microsoft representatives, I've confirmed that the Q3 2004 date is,
indeed a typo. That's the good news. The bad news is that the service pack is
still shipping a lot later than originally expected: It won't be out until the
first half of 2004.
- Russia plans Mars nuclear station - They say that all the necessary
technical drawings have now been completed, and - after a few minor niggles
have been ironed out - all will be ready for the construction work to begin.
Russia
hopes to set up a permanent base on Mars. The power plant should be up and
running by 2030. But experts are already asking questions about the
feasibility of the project. The first extra-terrestrial nuclear power station
will serve the permanent research camp which, Russian scientists believe,
could be set up on Mars within the next 30 years. Deputy chief engineer of Red
Star - a state scientific company closely affiliated with Russia's Nuclear
Energy Ministry - says the station will be constructed in the mountainous
areas of Mars, possibly in one of the canyons.
- Wood to watts - Give him wood chips, coconut husks, corncobs,
even chicken litter, and
Robb Walt will turn it into electricity and heat. "This stuff is so
cool!," said the burly co-founder and chief executive of Community Power
Corp., located just north of C-470 and just west of South Kipling Parkway in
Jefferson County.
- First game-playing DNA computer revealed -
The first game-playing DNA computer has been revealed - an enzyme-powered
tic-tac-toe machine that cannot be beaten. The human player makes his or her
moves by dropping DNA into 3 by 3 square of wells that make up the board. The
device then uses a complex mixture of DNA enzymes to determine where it should
place its nought or cross, and signals its move with a green glow. The device,
dubbed MAYA, was developed by Milan Stojanovic, at Columbia University in New
York, and Darko Stefanovic, at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
Kobi Benenson, who works on other DNA approaches at the Weizmann Institute in
Israel, says the work demonstrates the most complex use of molecules as logic
gates to date, and "represents a significant advance in DNA computing."
- SiS graphics spin-off to drop Xabre brand - SiS' recently spun off
graphics chip operation,
XGI, will drop the Xabre brand that gave it its name when it launches its
first product next month. The company's first graphics chip was expected to be
called the Xabre II, the successor to SiS' Xabre 400 and Xabre 600 parts. XGI
hasn't said what it will call the chip, which it has already said will be
announced next month.
- Intel to cut Pentium M and portability CPU prices in October -
Taiwanese notebook makers have confirmed October price cuts on Intel's Pentium
M and mobile portability processors that were reported earlier.
Intel expects to cut prices for Pentium M processors by 13-33% on October 5,
when it will also phase out the 1.3GHz Pentium M CPU, sources said. Prices for
Intel's portability processors are also expected to be cut in October, with
mobile Pentium 4 processors to fall in price by 14-35% on October 26, sources
said.
- AMD Athlon 64 Trailer - AMD have released a
Athlon
64 movie trailer (WMP9 format).
- Windows Server 2003 SP1 Build 1039-2 - Windows Server 2003 Service
Pack IDS build 1039-2 is now available for download from
here. This build is
provided for partner evaluation only. This is NOT a preview of the Beta.
Therefore, no feedback will be collected on this build at this time.
- XPlite Beta -
The beta only
adds and removes trivial OS fluff (e.g. wallpapers, sound themes, fonts etc)
so as not to put anyone's machine at risk (it is beta after all). The
remaining features are ready to drop in pending the response.
- phpMyAdmin 2.5.3 RC2 -
phpMyAdmin (changelog)
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.
- PHP 4.3.3RC4 -
PHP 4.3.3RC4 (Linux
~ Win32)
has been released for testing. This is should be the last release candidate
prior to the final 4.3.3 release. Please test this release as much as
possible, so that any remaining issues can be uncovered and resolved.
- MyIE2 v0.8.350 -
MyIE2 (download)
is a multi-tabbed browser based on the IE core (IE5.x or above required). It
can open multiple web pages within one browser window, and uses little system
resources.
- VideoLAN 0.6.2 -
VideoLAN plays lots of video formats, even without the proper codecs
installed. Good for previewing partially downloaded files.
- AntiVir Personal Edition 6.21.08.19 - The private and individual
use of the AntiVir Personal
Edition (download)
is completely free of charge! Even though viruses have now grown very
numerous, one thing hasn't changed: our commitment to provide you with
all-round protection. The reliability of AntiVir is demonstrated in numerous
comparison test and references featured in independent trade journals.
- PowerArchiver 2003 v8.60.02 - ConeXware has released
an updated
version of this excellent archiving utility. With a modern easy-to-use
interface, PowerArchiver provides support for most compressed and encoded
files, as well as access to many powerful features and tools. Built-in support
includes ZIP, CAB, LHA, LZH, TAR, TAR.GZ, TAR.BZ2 and BH archives.
- W32.Blaster.Worm Removal Tool 1.0.4 -
Removal tool to clean the W32.Blaster.Worm infections. It will terminate
the viral process, delete the worm files, dropped files, and delete the
registry values that were added.
90 MSI Bios updates - TecConnect has posted
a list of 90(!) BIOS updates for MSI motherboards.
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Updated:10:40 PM CEST Jun,21
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