Saturday Tech Reading - tech
(hx) 11:51 AM CET - Dec,20 2003
- Post a comment / read (3)
- "Open source" IE patch withdrawn for further
patching -
The third-party "open source" patch for Internet Explorer that I mentioned
yesterday contains more than a few potentially nasty surprises. German
tech site Heise had already
warned (German article ->
babelfish) of dangerous buffer overflows. In addition, the authors of the
patch also enabled a Windows Registry key used by spyware. IEmsg.dll. There's
no doubt this was a truly poor attempt at a fix - buffer overflows, memory
leaks, and a nice liveupdate.exe hidden in the registry. So rather don't
install it!
- Software glitch brings Y2K deja vu - Software maker PTC, a
specialist in product lifecycle management applications for engineers and
product designers, has rekindled memories of the Year 2000 bug, or Y2K, as it
scrambles to patch a glitch that will render most of its products inoperable
after Jan. 10.
The flaw involves the way the programs handle date entries, Gavaghan said.
To be able to recognize dates, PTC programmers had to set a date for infinity.
They chose 2 billion seconds since 1970--when the Unix operating system was
developed and Year Zero for many Unix applications. That number brings PTC
software up to Jan. 10. After that, the software will be unable to recognize
dates and will no longer operate.
- Online gamer in China sues over virtual theft -
A Chinese court has ordered an online video game company to return hard-won
virtual property, including a make-believe stockpile of bio-chemical
weapons, to a player whose game account was looted by a hacker. Li Hongchen,
24, had spent two years, and 10,000 yuan (750 pounds) on pay-as-you-go cards
to play, amassing weapons and victories in the popular online computer game
Hongyue, or Red Moon, before his "weapons" were stolen in February, the Xinhua
news agency said on Friday. Li asked the company, Beijing Arctic Ice
Technology Development to identify the player who stole his virtual property,
but it declined, saying it could not give out a player's private details, it
said.
- Nanotubes break speed record - Semiconducting carbon nanotubes
are significantly better at conducting electricity at room temperature
than any other known material, according to recent tests at the University of
Maryland. The findings are the latest evidence that nanotubes could form the
basis for future generations of powerful electronics.
- Swedish firm to offer 100Mbit/s broadband for L70/month - A Swedish
supplier will introduce
an amazing
100Mbit/sec broadband connection for 895 kroner in April next year. That's
about L70 a month, and that speed is in both directions. Bredbandsbolaget will
cap downloads to 300GB as part of the service it's offering.
- S3's DeltaChrome Preview -
The core of the DeltaChrome S3 is 300Mhz and has around 60-80 million
transistors, and yet it still "hangs" with the other cards. While the
initial numbers are impressive It is almost certain that this card will be
"fine-tuned" by PCB revisions, BIOS updates, and driver improvements. After
these changes it will possibly challange ATI & nVidia for a piece of the
mainstream ~$150 video card market share.
- Artec's WSM-52Z & WRR-52X CD-RW Drives review - ExplosiveLabs has
posted
a
review of Artec's WSM-52Z & WRR-52X CD-RW Drives.
- The North Bridge Wet-Sanding Guide - As you all know, the NVIDIA
nForce2 is a very, very hot chipset. I can't even leave my finger on the south
bridge for more than 6 seconds, let alone the north bridge. The early
revisions of the nForce2 chipsets shared one common flaw - the north bridge
chip's surface wasn't flat. An imperfect contact surface is one of the best
excuses to wet-sand your north bridge and that's exactly what I did.
Believe it or not, the result was fantastic. .
- Daemon Tools 3.43 -
DAEMON Tools (download)
is an advanced application for multiprotection emulation. It is further
development of Generic Safedisc emulator and incorporates all its features.
This program allows running BACKUP copies of SafeDisc (C-Dilla), Securom or
Laserlock protected games.
- ZoneAlarm Pro 4.5.538.0 -
ZoneAlarm (download)
includes five interlocking security services that deliver easy-to-use,
comprehensive protection.
- Opera 7.50 Tech Preview 1 Build 3494 w/a Java -
Opera for Windows (download)
introduces the looks and the performance of an exceptional Web browser.
Opera's user interface has received a major overhaul with the new start-up
dialog, and new default buttons, skin and panels in a blue and white color
scheme that can be changed back to classic Opera look or another design. At
start-up you can select a single or multiple document interface (SDI/MDI).
- MSN Messenger 6.1.0207 - A new
MSN Messenger version is available.
- WinAmp 5.01 Final -
WinAmp is an audio
player that can handle audio CDs, MP3 audio files and streaming audio
broadcasts. It combines extensive functionality with an intuitive interface.
WinAmp features a playlist editor and a 10-band graphic equalizer with
user-definable presets that can automatically load specific files. It also
includes Windows Media Technology 4.0 input/output support and the
industry-standard Fraunhofer MP3 decoder. This download no longer includes
VIS/DSP plug-ins; you can download them separately.
- ASUS PC Probe 2.22.02 -
The ASUS
PC Probe is a simple utility that monitors vital information in the
computer such as fan rototations, voltages and temperature.
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Updated:03:04 PM CEST Jun,20
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