Saturday Tech Madness - tech
(hx) 11:55 PM CET - Mar,27 2004
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- New Bagel.U a virus of few words - Antivirus software companies are
again warning e-mail users about
a new version of the popular Bagel virus, which is spreading on the
Internet through infected e-mail messages and targeting machines running the
Microsoft Corp. Windows operating system. Bagle.U is the 21st version of an
e-mail worm that first appeared in January. Unlike earlier versions of the
worm, the new variant eschews tricky subject lines or enticing messages,
hiding in a file attachment to otherwise blank e-mail messages. Once opened,
Bagle.U opens a back door to infected systems, mails copies of itself to
e-mail addresses it steals from the user's computer and even launches the
Windows Hearts card game, antivirus companies said.
- "Piracy" extradition case rejected -
Magistrate has rejected an application to extradite an Australian man US
authorities alleged headed an internet piracy syndicate. Hew Raymond
Griffiths, 41, of Berkeley Vale on the NSW Central Coast, was indicted by a
grand jury in the state of Virginia last year with one count of criminal
copyright infringement and one count of conspiracy to commit criminal
copyright infringement. The US indictment alleged he was a member and later
the leader of Drink or Die, a high-profile piracy ring founded in Russia in
the 1990s, and later headquartered in the US.
- NannieBot claims leave experts unconvinced - New software claims
it can protect
children using chatrooms by spotting suspicious adults - but experts are
not convinced. The software creates thousands of 'NannieBots' which visit
chatrooms, pretending to be human. According to the developer, IT consultant
Jim Wightman, the software's conversation is indistinguishable from humans
interacting on the internet. If the software detects what it considers to be
'suspicious activity' the police are alerted and the internet address of the
suspect user supplied.
- Spam being rapidly outpaced by 'spim' - While the torrent of
unsolicited spam emails continues to rise, it is being far outpaced by the
surge in unwanted messages sent to the users of instant messaging programs,
analysts have warned.
The volume of so-called "spim" is set triple in 2004, according to a new
report from the Radicati Group, a technology market research firm in Palo
Alto, California. The company projects that 1.2 billion spims will be sent, 70
per cent of which are porn-related. This is a mere trickle compared to the 35
billion spams expected, but the researchers warn that spim is growing at about
three times the rate of spam, as spammers adapt their toolkit to exploit a
rapidly rising number of new instant messaging (IM) users.
- The DoD's 50 petabytes database - The Department of Defense is
known for stretching the boundaries of technology. It's doing that again with
a planned database system to hold medical records for
9 million military personnel that could eventually reach a capacity of 50
petabytes of data. To imagine how much data that is, consider what it
would amount to in the form of double-spaced text on both sides of a piece of
paper: "The stack would reach the moon and back to Earth--twice," estimates
Richard Winter, president at database research firm Winter Corp.
- Video game industry faces 'crisis of creativity' - The video
game industry is facing a hardening of the creative arteries as aging gamers'
tastes increasingly shift toward sequels and games based on movies, industry
participants said this week.
With more and more titles chasing the success of their predecessors and
content owners digging deep into their libraries to tap older material for
quick fail-proof conversion into games, the industry is faced with a question
more serious than rhetorical: What's new?
- Sony plays up future of video games - Sony executives still won't
say boo about the immediate successor to the company's smash PlayStation 2
game console. But the
PlayStation 6 should really rock. Some of the biggest changes, they
assert, will center on the way players control and interact with games. Forget
mashing the "X" button; future games will use cameras to read your body
movements and facial expressions, plus microphones backed by advance speech
recognition technology to recognize vocal commands. And perhaps they'll all be
crammed into your personal entertainment robot, so the game sensors follow you
wherever you go.
- Microsoft shows first demos of Xbox 2 software tools -
Microsoft sent shockwaves across the games industry,
showing the first ever real-time demos of the next-gen software tools which
will power Xbox 2. The demos, which formed the epicentre of Microsoft's
XNA announcement, were presented by Mr Xbox himself J Allard, ably assisted by
Lara Fry of the Xbox ATG and Chris Donohue from the Windows division. Demo one
was created by High Voltage Software and, entitled 'Rex' showed a creature
moving through an empty landscape, mutating at intervals into entirely
different entities. The creature is controlled in real-time via Controller S
(part of Microsoft's new initiative to standardise controllers across Xbox and
Windows platforms) switching from furry yeti, to six-legged insect, to
four-legged abomination, to an equally random, undeniably cute, armadillo.
- Nokia to fix sidetalking, swapping with Son of N-Gage - Nokia's
Kirsi Kotilainen, head of game developer relations, has promised that N-Gage
owners won't look so stupid when making regular phone calls, as the microphone
has been repositioned.
He's also said that version two will support hot-swapping games cards. The
first N-Gage required the phone to be powered down and the battery removed.
Nokia argued that TV-based consoles ask the user to reboot, so why not phones?
However, this isn't really a sustainable argument any more: Nokia's 9200
'brick' smartphone supported hot-swappable MMCs three years ago; and rivals
such as Sendo's SX1 happily perform the trick. Kotailainen also said that the
next N-Gage will be backward compatible with the earlier version.
- Sony preps 50GB next-gen Blu-Ray video deck - Sony has committed
itself to shipping second-generation consumer-oriented Blu-Ray video recorders
by the end of the year, the company said. The new systems will support
single-side, dual-layer Blu-Ray rewriteable discs
with a total capacity of 50GB. Current Blu-Ray rewriteable discs provide
23GB of storage on a single layer.
- Asus preps Wi-Fi hard drive - Asus is promising to "change your
perception on data storage" when it releases what may be
the world's first Wi-Fi enabled network-attached hard drive storage system.
The WL-HDD is a hard drive enclosure capable of taking any 2.5in ATA-100 hard
disk. The enclosure also contains an 802.11g adaptor and antenna, plus a pair
of wired 10/100Mbps Ethernet ports.
- Linux Comes to the Desktop - It is almost no longer a question of
which applications run on Linux, but instead, which applications do not run on
Linux. THG look at heavy-hitter PC OEMs such as HP that have taken the Linux
desktop leap during the past few weeks and offer a survey of Linux
applications.
THG even tell you why you don't want Linux if you're a gamer.
- HP LaserJet 3030 All-in-One - The middle sibling in a series
that includes the HP LaserJet 3015 at the low end and the 3380 at the high end
, the HP
LaserJet 3030 All-in-One offers almost everything you'll find in its big
brother for about $200 less.
- Compex NetPassage 26G Wireless Router Review - Neoseeker take a
look at
Compex's NetPassage26G Wireless Router.
- LCD Comparison: 17" & 19" Under 20ms -
Wide-screen LCD monitors with fast response time have finally arrived. The
Samsung SyncMaster 193P offers the first 19" monitor with a less than 20ms PVA
panel. Others such as Hitachi, Sharp, Sony and Nec have also stepped up to the
19" plate.
- Nero 6 Ultra Edition vs Roxio Easy Media Creator 7 -
Both Easy Media Creator and Nero start off with a screen that lays out all the
options. Instead of having to guess which program does what, it's as easy
as clicking on "Create DVD" or "Capture video" from a start panel.
- PHP 4.3.5 Final -
This is
primarily a bug fix release (download),
without any new features or additions. PHP 4.3.5 is by far the most stable
release of PHP to date and it is recommended that all users upgrade to this
release where possible.
- PassMark BurnInTest 4.0 build 1010 -
BurnInTest is a
software tool that allows all the major sub-systems of a computer to be
simultaneously stress tested for endurance, reliability and stability.
BurnInTest tests the CPU, hard drives, CD ROMs, sound cards, 2D graphics, 3D
graphics, RAM, network connections & printers.
- Fresh Download 6.80 -
Fresh Download (download)
is an easy-to-use and very fast download manager software that turbo charges
downloading files from the Internet, such as your favorite software, mp3
files, video files, picture collections, etc. Unlike any other similar
utilities, this software is 100% free, no charges, no banners in the software,
no spyware
- XPlite/2000lite 1.2.0229 -
With XPlite and
2000lite we give YOU the power to set up YOUR machine the way YOU want!
The power to remove unwanted features, the power to remove upgrades that go
bad, the power to strip potential security and privacy threats out by the
roots.
- CloneDVD 2.0.5.3 -
With CloneDVD you can compress your DVDs to fit on a recordable DVD±RW.
- K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 1.01 -
The K-Lite
Mega Codec Pack includes the K-Lite Codec Pack Full, QuickTime
Alternative, Real Alternative and BSplayer.
- K-Lite Codec Pack 2.25 -
The K-Lite
Codec Pack is a collection of codecs and related tools. Codecs are
required to encode and decode (play) audio and video.
- Style XP 2.02 -
Style XP Final
( can import, select, and manage Themes, Visual Styles, and Wallpaper. Future
versions may support sounds, cursors, screensavers, logon UIs, and packages of
all the above.
- VisualRoute 8.0d -
VisualRoute (download
Win32 ~
Linux) 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. In addition, VisualRoute has the
unique ability to identify the geographical location of routers, servers, and
other IP devices.
- Avant Browser 9.01 Build 121 -
Avant Browser is a
fast, stable, user-friendly, versatile web browser. Avant Browser is a
multi-window browser which features with many functions such as Pop-up
Stopper, Built-in Google Searching, Safe Recovery, Integrated Cleaner and
Advanced Browsing Options.
- QuickTime Alternative 1.32 -
QuickTime Alternative will allow you to play QuickTime files (.mov, .qt
and other extensions) without having to install QuickTime Player. It also
supports QuickTime content that is embedded in webpages. The QuickTime plugins
include iPIX and QuickTimeVR. The QuickTime Browser plugin supports Internet
Explorer, Opera, Mozilla and Netscape.
- Real Alternative 1.22 -
Real Alternative will allow you to play RealMedia files without having to
install RealPlayer or RealOne Player. Supported are: RealAudio (.ra .rpm),
RealMedia (.rm .ram .rmvb .rpx .smi .smil), RealText (.rt), ReadPix (.rp). It
also supports RealMedia content that is embedded in webpages. RealMedia .smi
and .smil files are not fully supported, only the first part will usually be
played. This is a limitation of the current Media Player Classic. The
RealMedia Browser plugin supports Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla and
Netscape.
- ForceWare 56.63 Win2000/XP - MSI just released
a
WHQL version of ForceWare 56.63 drivers, one build older than the official
NVIDIA drivers. We altered the.inf file to remove some MSI specific
installation lines, the drivers should be 100% compatible now.
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Updated:03:04 PM CEST Jun,20
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