SECURITY...

• Exploits released for new Windows flaws - One vulnerability, in the operating system's LoadImage function, could enable an attacker to compromise a victim's PC when the computer displays a specially crafted image placed on a Web site or in an e-mail. The other vulnerability, in the Windows Help program, likewise could affect any program that opens a Help file. Because the flaws are in a library used by Windows programs, almost all browsers and e-mail clients are likely affected by the flaws, said Alfred Huger, senior director of engineering at Symantec.
• Banks test ID device for online security - The devices, which are handheld and small enough to attach to a keychain, are expected to cost customers roughly $10. They display a six-digit number that changes once a minute; people seeking access to their accounts would type in that number as well as a user name and password. The devices are freestanding; they do not plug into a computer.
• Google: Hacker's Best Friend? - Although Google acted quickly to stop doing the worm's dirty work, it wasn't fast enough for Web security biz F Secure, which complained that it got no response from Google's generic security address, and had to try an end run through the PR department.
• Apple sues developers over code leak - Apple sued three developers for leaking copies of its new operating system, it emerged yesterday.
• Update on Exchange Edge Services - Microsoft will release some elements of Edge Services with Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2), scheduled for release in the second half of 2005. Exchange Server 2003 SP2 will include the SenderID framework, an e-mail-authentication technology that helps address the problem of spoofing and phishing by verifying the domain name from which the mail is sent

OFF-TOPIC...

• IT industry facing a turbulent 2005 - The IT industry will suffer a period of "enormous turbulence" next year, marked by seismic technological shifts and vendor consolidation as firms including Microsoft look to make major acquisitions. Analyst firm IDC has predicted that the industry will face a "technological realignment" in 2005.
• Supercomputer to Test Aging Nukes - Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Lab are responsible for ensuring that U.S. nuclear weapons are safe and reliable. Using the massive computing power of BlueGene/L, they plan to simulate the explosion of an aging nuclear bomb in 3-D.
• California Biotech Firm Sells First Cloned Kitten - A California firm that earlier this year launched the world's first cat cloning service has announced its first sale: a cloned, male kitten named "Little Nicky." Genetic Savings & Clone -- based in Sausalito, California, and financed by billionaire John Sperling -- announced that it had sold the kitten to a Texas woman for $50,000. The cloned kitten is a genetic twin of "Nicky," a 17-year-old Maine Coone cat that had been kept as a pet by the woman until it died in September.
• Tyson - Dying can't be as bad as living - This week, 38-year-old Mike Tyson was back at Gleason's Gym, where he used to train as a youngster - but the conquering days are over. This time, there is no fight to prepare for and no prospect of one.
• Kylie / Agent Provocateur -  A big file for a little lady....but worth the wait :)
• Hi-res Lindsay Lohan pics - Here're some hi-res pics of Lindsay Lohan (Mean Girls 2004)
   

TECHNOLOGY...

• Creating Windows XP SP2 - Paul Thurrott has posted an interesting interview on his site, dealing with the creation of Windows XP SP2. Thurrott sat down with several of the project leads of SP2, and ended up painting a great picture of how this important security-focused update came to life. The interview also outlined that SP3 is currently not scheduled to add additional features to XP: "SP3 for Windows XP is slated to be a service pack the way we've always done service packs, and not to be a major upgrade. It will focus specifically on QFEs and fixes [to bugs] that are reported by customers. It should not contain new features... SP3 will be a regular customer fix, and also anything that we might find that's security related as part of our regular investigations."
• Mozilla's Lightning to strike Outlook? - The new project, code-named Lightning, aims to integrate Mozilla's calendar application, Sunbird, with its recently released Thunderbird e-mail application. That integration is aimed right at the heart of Microsoft's widely used Outlook software.
• Air Force Launches Encrypted IM Service -The Air Force recently implemented the "Friends and Family Instant Messenger" program, available through the Air Force Portal. Now, besides using the system to connect with other Airmen on work-related projects, users can chat online with non-Air Force friends or family members, said Lt. Col. Joe Besselman, the program director for global combat support systems at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass.
• New graphic displays for the blind - The displays use metallic films featuring various shape memory alloys which are produced layer by layer on silicon wafers using thin film technology. Display pixels are generated when the metallic film adjusts its curvature partially, similarly to bimetal snap plates for temperature switches. The movement of the films is then transferred to the touch panel via plastic pins und thus can be detected by the user.
• Flexible scanner works on curved surfaces - An image scanner built into a piece of flexible plastic little bigger than a credit card has been developed in Japan. The idea is that you will plug the scanner into a mobile phone which will both provide power for it and act as its display and storage medium. And because it is flexible, it will let you copy just about anything, even if it is on a curved surface such as an open book or the label on a wine bottle. The lightweight device, unveiled last week at an electronics conference in San Francisco, is the latest development in the field of flexible organic electronics, which exploits the electronic properties of conducting plastics.

HARDWARE...

• Intel to Remove DDR2 Support from Forthcoming Mainstream Chipsets - Intel's forthcoming i915PL and i915GL chipsets will support dual-channel PC3200 (400MHz) memory only, instead of supporting both DDR and DDR2 which is a standard for the i915P and i915G chipsets, but will still boast with support for LGA775 processors and PCI Express interconnection, according to a DigiTimes report. Santa Clara, California-based Intel reportedly plans to introduce the 915PL and 915GL chipsets on January, 22, 2005.
• Dell W2600 - 26in LCD TV review - What separates this screen from a lot of other LCD TVs that are available is the native resolution. Many LCD TVs sport low native resolutions, since they're aimed at the consumer market rather than the computer user that also wants TV functionality. In fact many LCD TVs don't even offer PC connectivity. But Dell has been true to its PC roots and made sure that this screen is good for PC use as well as home entertainment duties. OK, so 1,280 x 768 isn't a super-high resolution by PC monitor standards, but it's high enough to work on and perfect for a Media Center PC.
• iRiver N10 Digital Audio Player - TrustedReview take a look at the iRiver N10 Digital Audio Player which is one of the smallest and most stylish MP3 players around.
• External TV Tuners/PVR devices: 3-way shootout - TechSpot takes on three different products for this shootout, all of them external devices which should offer extra versatility versus its internal counterparts. The first is a unit from Transcend, which is called the TV-Box. Next on the docket will be a unit from Digistor. And finally, the largest of the bunch is the RTV VEG-N Video Entertainment Generator.
• Inspiron 9200 laptop with 17in. screen - Dell has finally released a multimedia laptop with a 17in. screen. Long-time coming, the Inspiron 9200 combines a large screen and a double-layer DVD recorder, both of which are firsts for Dell's desktop replacement range. Another welcome surprise is that the Inspiron 9200 sports a very stylish Apple PowerBook G4-like design.
• AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Socket 939 90 nm -  The first 90 nm products are the socket 939 versions of the 3000+, 3200+, and the 3500+. While the 3500+ is clocked at 2.2 GHz, the 3200+ sample in my hand was able to achieve 2.4 GHz at stock voltage. This hints at AMD being able to provide faster parts on 90 nm very soon.
• The Mother of All CPU Charts - part#1 ~ part#2 @THG
• Corsair TwinX1024-4400C25PT Memory - These two TwinX1024-4400C25PT Platinum Edition DDR modules are 512MB in size, and run at 550MHz
• Kingston HyperX PC5400 - Kingston HyperX PC2-5400 has opened my eyes to DDR2 memory. My initial thoughts were that the performance increase was not going to be something we would see for sometime. I also had the misconception many do about the CAS ratings and how high all of the DDR2 modules seem to be. Yes there are faster and tighter DDR modules on the market, if you are lucky enough to have a motherboard that supports both and you don't OC, you might just stick with DDR memory.
• Crucial Ballistix PC2-5300 DDR2 1GB DC Kit - InsaneTek has posted a review of the Crucial Ballistix PC2-5300 DDR2 1GB DC Kit.
• VIA K8T800 Pro: Soltek K8TPro-939 - There are not many Socket 939 boards on the market with the K8T800 Pro chipset, and of those Soltek certainly fares well. The cost is attractive, and the features are solid. Overclocking options are good, and the bundle is excellent. If your a fan of purple then you have already found your board. Even if you aren't the Soltek K8TPro-939 deserves your attention.
• Abit AV8 K8T800 Pro motherboard - No, the AV8 is not the flashiest board on the shelf, but you'll be hard pressed to find a more stable board with as many tweaks and monitoring options. This is THE board to get if overclocking is your #1 priority
• ECS 865PE-A7 motherboard - With the exception of the LGA775 socket, this is a true i865PE based motherboard, sporting none of the features we have come to ogle such as PCI-E or DDR2. Essentially, this motherboard is the exact same as their 865PE-A motherboard, but it uses the new Intel socket. Sporting Dual Channel DDR memory, an AGP 8X slot, 5 PCI slots, dual SATA connectors, a 10/100 integrated network card and 6-channel audio, this board seems like a blast from the past.
• Albatron PX915P-AGPe - The Albatron PX915P-AGPe is an excellent budget solution featuring the unique ability to support both PCIe and AGP graphics cards on the same motherboard. Many users have run into problems when upgrading to a PCI Express system due to its lack of backwards compatibility. While Albatron has cured this problem to a certain degree, their AGPe method is not flawless by any stretch of the imagination. Unfortunately, due to the much poorer performance of AGPe (opposed to conventional AGP 8x) it is a temporary fix at best.
• VGA Charts V: PCI Express  Graphics Cards - Although many of these models were officially presented months ago, many are still not readily available in the retail market, at least not in the higher speed grades. Things look brighter in the lower mainstream and low-budget segment, where availability does not seem to be an issue at all. Now that the market is showing definite signs of making the transition to PCI Express, availability should become less and less of a problem even at the high end, with manufacturers continuing to increase their output to meet growing demand.
• NVIDIA SLI (GeForce 6800 / 6600 PCI-E): i7525 platform - It's perfectly clear that the SLI technology is effective. It even provides excellent performance gains where system resources do not lay severe limits. All this happens even despite that one PCI-Express slot operates as x16, and the second - only x4 (there are almost no other options, only x8+x8 is theoretically possible).  But there is also a fly in the ointment so far. During our tests we sometimes witnessed artifacts (ripples), which, by the way, obviously demonstrate half-frame operations (between GPUs). There occurred color distortions sometimes. That is NVIDIA still has some issues to fix in the drivers.
• Chaintech GeForce 6600 GT AGP - This card is also very overclockable to give you more than you paid for which is always great. All of the necessary accessories are included to take advantage of everything this card offers and the software bundle is great. If you are looking to upgrade your video card but cant afford a 6800 and don't want to make the jump to PCI-Express this may be exactly what you are looking for.
• Workstation Graphics: AGP Cross Section 2004 - The ATI FireGL X3-256 is really targeted at an upper mid-range workstation position and the performance numbers hit their target very solidly. The ATI part is, after all, a 12 pixel pipe solution clocked at 490MHz. The high end consumer part from ATI is a 16 pixel pipe part clocked at 500MHz.
• Pentium 4 HSF Roundup - Overclockers Online  take a look at three new Pentium 4 choices on the market: the Zalman CNPS7700-AlCu, SilverStone NT01, & Spire CoolWave II.
• Corsair Flash Voyager USB drive - When it comes to portable storage, it is hard to beat a good USB drive. When they were first introduced into the market place, they were a little bulkier and even a lower capacity drive would cost a pretty penny. Today, the market has grown and the products have matured. The 512 MB Corsair Flash Voyager can be found for around $60 with the 1 GB version coming in around $100.
• A4Tech battery-free wireless mouse - You don't really notice it if you are used to it, but the MX 700 is heavy. Compared to the Microsoft Intellimouse, the difference in weight is approximately 50%. Between the MX 700 and the A4Tech mouse, the lack of a battery bay really shows the difference. Whereas the Logitech mouse would take a little strength to move around, the A4Tech mouse can be flicked around like it's weightless.
• Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop Comfort Edition - The Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop come with a very sweet keyboard. The keyboard has a gently ergonomic shape to it, one which will not be too extreme for users who have not had time to adjust to a more natural positioning. As for the mouse, there is nothing wrong with it, but Microsoft definitely got lazy with this component. Ostensibly to cut back on the price of the product (or maybe to get rid of old product) they included this somewhat outdated mouse with this package.
• Wacom Intuos3 graphics tablet - The Intuos3 consists of an A4-size (440x340x14mm, 1.8kg) smoked-grey tablet, matching wireless pen and 5-button optical scroll mouse, as well as a suite of software. The tablet is rectangular in shape (305x231mm active area), but doesn't come with a transparent photo frame for inserting material to trace over - unlike the Graphire 3 Studio XL.
• Bluetake Bluetooth adapter, headphones, and audio station - Looking at the pricing of these items, the I-Phono retails for about $200, the Hi-phono for $168, and the USB adapter for about $30. I think the pricing on the USB adapter is quite inexpensive, especially if you have a Bluetooth enabled cell phone and/or PDA. The headphones are a bit pricy in my opinion although they do sound nice and are very portable

GUIDES...

• Winter Holiday System Guides 2004 - As the year comes to and end MadShripms give you an overview of the best hardware you can get, relative to your budget, and present 4 different PC configurations

SOFTWARE...

• Crossover Office 4.1 released - CrossOver Office allows you to install your favorite Windows productivity applications and plugins in Linux, without needing a Microsoft Operating System license. CrossOver includes an easy to use, single click interface, which makes installing a Windows application simple and fast.
• Opera releases voice-enabled browser (v8.0 beta) - Opera has released a new beta version (download) of its popular web browser. The major changes include better support for RSS newsfeeds and voice functionality. The beta release supports Windows only, but a general release is scheduled for early 2005.
• Slim Browser 4.03.007 - SlimBrowser is a multiple-site browser based on tab-page interface. It incorporates a large collection of wonderful features like recoverable popup killer, skinned window frame, form filler, site group, quick-search, auto login, hidden sites, built-in commands and scripting, online translation, script error suppression, blacklist / whitelist filtering
• Fresh Download 7.20 - Fresh Download is an easy-to-use and very fast download manager software that turbo charge downloading files from the Internet, such as your favorite software, mp3 files, video files, picture collections, etc
• AVG AntiVirus Free 7.0 Build 298 - AVG AntiVirus (download ~ direct link) offers maximum virus protection, product customization, and free virus database updates and technical support. The core of the testing engine is a Virtual Device Driver which loads into memory on Windows startup.
• Winamp 5 Full 5.08 - Winamp (download full ~ lite) is an audio player that can handle audio CDs, MP3 audio files, and streaming audio broadcasts. It combines extensive functionality with an intuitive interface.
• K-MP3 v5 - K-MP3 is the swiss army knife for everything that is related to audio files (MP3, MPC, OGG...). It can very easily rename and tag (tag: info such as artist name, album, track title) your files automatically.
• BurnInTest Professional 4.0 Build 1023 - 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.
• DeepBurner Free 1.3.6.167 - DeepBurner (download) is an advanced and powerful CD and DVD burning package that utilizes power and efficiency. It takes away the hassle of making CDs, DVDs, autoruns, creating and printing labels and booklets. The program supports a very wide range of internal and external (USB 2.0 and FireWire) CD and DVD writers.
• A-Ray Scanner v2.0.1.2 - A-Ray Scanner is a copy protection scanner which can identify various copy protections such as SafeDisc, SecuROM and Tages. This new version adds Safedisc DVD detection, improves Directory Scan and fixes some bugs.
• RMClock utility 1.3 - RMClock utility (formerly known as AMD64CLK) is a simple utility designed for realtime CPU frequency monitoring and realtime adjustment of the CPU multiplier (FID) and voltage level (VID) of the upported CPUs via processor's power management model specific registers (MSRs).
• RadLinker 2.026 & RadClocker 2.026 - RadLinker is new tweaker/linker for ATI Radeon based graphics cards.
• Lite-On  SOHW-1633S/1653S firmware - Lite-On IT has released a couple of new firmware versions for SOHW-1653S / SOHW-1633S / SOHW-1633SX.