SECURITY...

• Microsoft helps Dutch police - Microsoft has helped the Dutch police force to trace two men who have threatened Dutch parlement member Geert Wilders via the Internet. The men - of 20 and 23 years with Dutch nationality - are suspects of involvement at the placing threadletters on the Internet and participation to a terrorist organisation. The two have been traced with aid of the head office of Microsoft in the United States and not named Dutch internet provider. Last friday the men could eventually could be arrested in Amsterdam and Bergen op Zoom. The police force has investigated three houses and a pizza restaurant in Amsterdam. Also a house in Bergen op Zoom has been searched. Several computers and mobile phones have been confiscated.
• DOS against Java JNDI/DNS - Java uses an "InitialDirContext" to perform DNS lookups. A wrap-around of an internal variable renders the context unusable after 32768 requests for the next 32768 requests. A remote attacker might trick an application into performing a lot of DNS requests which renders the application unusable. It might also be the cause of some problems with long running server processes.
• McAfee unveils 2005 security suite - MIS 2005, announced Monday, includes upgrades to the company's VirusScan, Personal Firewall Plus, Privacy Service and SpamKiller packages, which are designed to protect computers from viruses, hackers, spam, phishing scams and other online dangers. It also is meant to act as a safeguard against threats targeting instant-messaging software from America Online, Yahoo and Microsoft. In addition, McAfee has teamed up with Hackerwatch.org to let home users report and share data about cybercriminals.
• Email scammer jailed for four years - Nick Marinellis, the mastermind behind a 419 scam which stole more than L2m from unsuspecting internet users, has been sentenced to at least four years behind bars.
• Czech virus writer joins anti-virus firm - A prominent former virus writer has secured a job developing anti-virus software. Benny, one-time member of the 29A virus writing group, has begun work as the main developer of Zoner Anti-Virus (ZAV), according to an entry on his home page.
• 10 Reasons NOT to upgrade to Windows XP SP2  - SPDrivers.net have compiled a few reasons why you shouldn't upgrade; bare in mind that these reasons were collected from actual user experiences around the net.

OFF-TOPIC...

• NASA Studying 'Rain Man's' Brain - NASA scientists are studying autistic savant Kim Peek, hoping that technology used to study the effects of space travel on the brain will help explain his mental capabilities. Last week, researchers had Peek who was the basis for Dustin Hoffman's character in the 1988 film "Rain Man" undergo a series of tests including computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, the results of which will be melded to create a three-dimensional look at his brain structure. The researchers want to compare a series of MRI images taken in 1988 by Dr. Dan Christensen, Peek's neuropsychiatrist at the University of Utah, to see what has since changed within his brain. The 53-year-old Peek is called a "mega-savant" because he is a genius in about 15 different subjects, from history and literature and geography to numbers, sports, music and dates. But he also is severely limited in other ways, like not being able to find the silverware drawer at home or dressing himself.
• Cells from babies help heal their mothers - Pregnancy certainly has its downside, but it may have an unexpected upside as well: cells from the baby may help heal wounds in the mother, even long after it has been born.
• US ready to put weapons in space  - America has begun preparing its next military objective - space. Documents reveal that the US Air Force has for the first time adopted a doctrine to establish "space superiority". The new doctrine means that pre-emptive strikes against enemy satellites would become "crucial steps in any military operation". This week defence experts will attend a conference in London amid warnings that President Bush's re-election will pave the way to the arming of space.
• Music Downloading not Entirely to Blame - A recent article in The Economist discusses the proximate causes for the decline in music sales. Of some note is this quote in the article: "According to an internal study done by one of the majors, between two-thirds and three-quarters of the drop in sales in America had nothing to do with internet piracy..." (thanks Slashdot.org)
• Rules Set for $50 Million America's Space Prize - Anyone who wants to follow in the shoes of Burt Rutan and win the next big space prize will have to build a spacecraft capable of taking a crew of no fewer than five people to an altitude of 400 kilometers and complete two orbits of the Earth at that altitude. Then they have to repeat that accomplishment within 60 days. While the first flight must demonstrate only the ability to carry five crew members, the winner will have to take at least five people up on the second flight. And one more thing. They have to do it by Jan. 10, 2010.
• Video gamers gather at midnight for first copies of new Halo 2 ...-  The aliens are landing on Earth on Tuesday, and more than 1.5 million video gamers have already signed up to stop them!

TECHNOLOGY...

• Why MS paid Novell half a billion bucks today - Microsoft paid Novell $536 million dollars today, although it might not be enough to fend off a fresh antitrust case, which Novell says it will file by the end of the week. Novell says issues relating to the WordPerfect office suite, which it briefly owned in the early-1990s, are still outstanding.
• Longhorn Wireless Networking Feedback - The Wireless Networking and Devices teams want to better understand your needs in order to build wireless diagnostic features into the design of the next vesion of Windows, code-named Longhorn. Through this posted survey, they want to understand what wireless diagnostic features are most important to you.
• Bluetooth chews on future plans - A new version of the Bluetooth wireless specification and a three-year plan for more updates have backers hoping the technology will finally take off in the U.S. market.  The Bluetooth Special Interest Group, a trade group based in Overland Park, Kan., on Monday published a road map through 2006 for its technology that lets computer peripherals, cell phones and other devices communicate wirelessly over short distances. The group also updated the specification to trim power consumption and facilitate multitasking.
• Pioneer ultraviolet laser promises 500GB disks - Japanse hardware maker Pioneer has developed a technique which will allow optical drives to store 500GB of data. That's according to the Nikkei Business Daily, which reported that the technique will use ultraviolet lasers, which emit shorter wavelength rays than blue lasers.

HARDWARE...

• Microsoft launches dual-screen Project PC - Microsoft UK has lifted the lid on its first PC designed specifically for project managers. Dubbed Project PC, the device has been created in partnership with Scan Computers International and ships with "special features" to address the particular needs of project managers.
• IBM offers Blue Gene as commercial supercomputer - IBM Corp. announced today it would make its speedy Blue Gene supercomputer commercially available starting at $1.5 million.
• NVIDIA Introduces GeForce Go 6800 - NVIDIA today announced the GeForce Go 6800 graphics processing unit. The GeForce Go 6800 GPU is made up of 190 million transistors and utilizes a 3 quad processing architecture as well 6 vertex shading units all clocked at 275Mhz (or 300MHz depending on load). The first previews can be found on AnandTech, Hexus, ExtremeTech and THG.
• ATI's Radeon Xpress 200 chipset  - The race between the major chipset players to produce that first AMD chipset with PCI Express has been dramatic. Who knew that ATI would be the first to deliver to us a fully working reference board for an extended testing session? And who knew that ATI's Athlon 64 chipset with PCI Express would also pack an integrated Radeon graphics core with DirectX 9? Say hello to the Radeon Xpress 200 chipset, ATI's surprisingly solid first stab at the AMD core logic market. Another reviews can be found on AMDZone, AnandTech, PCPer, HotHardware, LegitReviews, DH and THG
• Audigy 4 Pro details - Creative is now touting an Audigy 4 Pro on its website.
• Dothan Unleashed : Intel's Pentium-M Processor On The Desktop - First off, the Pentium-M chip is a fairly good performer all around. The chip actually puts up numbers on par with Pentium 4 Extreme Edition and Athlon64 FX-55 in gaming, which is no easy feat. In the majority of benchmarks, the Pentium-M at 2.0 GHz can perform roughly on par with a 3.2 GHz P4 or an Athlon64 3200+ processor. Not great, but not terrible either. Some areas, like video encoding, really show the limitations of the Pentium-M architecture and the processor simply doesn't perform that well considering its $450 price tag.
• Corsair TwinX1024-4400C25PT 1GB Platinum XMS RAM - These new TwinX PC440025PT memory modules are designed strictly for overclockers, just as the previous Corsair DDR550 modules were. Every XMS module built must pass a stringent battery of tests at its rated speed before being shipped. The XMS440025PT modules are tested at 550MHz with 2.5-4-4-8 latency settings at 2.75V, that's right CAS2.5 at DDR550! TwinX kits are tested as a matched pair, and physically packaged together immediately after passing these tests, guaranteeing that the customer receives a product that has been verified in the dual channel environment. Another review can be found here.
• Super Talent DDR433 RAM review - This 1GB set is a great source for Low Latency (CL2) memory, granted that it is 2-3-3-8 timings and not the tight timings of high end memory at 2-2-2-5, and it gets to 1GB with 4 sticks not 2. After the tests were all said and done, I must admit that this memory is an excellent performer for the buck compared to the cost of the known brands such as Corsair & Kingston.
• MSI K8N NEO2 Platinum nForce3 Ultra Socket 939 Motherboard - Performance wise, this board stacks up with the best of them. When compared to the other chipset alternative, the VIA K8T800 Pro, there is very little performance difference, with both chipsets running neck and neck throughout our testing. The A64 chipset should definitely be the choice of any gamer that is looking to build a new rig. In overall usage, I would also suggest, as other benchmarks and reviews have shown that the A64 platform is perfectly able to keep up with today's Intel offerings without apology.
• Gigabyte 6800 Video Card review - The GV-N68128DH performs well when paired with the latest BIOS available for it. It is disconcerting that this BIOS update is basically required to make the board perform like it should, but at least it does do the trick. This BIOS issue is really the only negative experience I have had with this board since I installed it a couple weeks ago.
• Chaintech Apogee AA6800 Turbo Edition 10% Overclocked Video Card - What is attention grabbing with a 10 percent overclock is the amount of performance increase you experience. The results were surely surprising and to add another bit of treat to the whole 6800 overclocking goodness, we were able to overclock this card to even higher clock speeds.
• Chaintech GeForce 6600 GT 128MB PCI Express -The performance of this Chaintech GeForce 6600GT 128MB PCI-Express graphic card is out perform the ATI 9800 series even the ATI X700 Pro. Beside that, the bundles was very good which including of a full game of the PainKiller. As for the overcloking results from this Chaintech GeForce 6600GT 128MB PCI-Express graphic card is very good as well. There was an increment of 103MHz for the core and 210MHz for the memory that brings up from the default at 500/1000MHz to 603MHz/1210MHz.
• Asetek Hard Drive Water Cooler - A solid offering from asetek, that can make a huge difference in extending the longevity and reliability of your hard drive. If you already own an existing water cooling setup, you might want to consider this to round things out.
• Little River Storm G5 Waterblock - For comparison the Little River Cascade, Cascade SS, and Storm G4 waterblocks are also shown. It is clear from this graph that the Storm G5 is the best block ever manufactured by Little River Waterblocks over all flow rates. It is interesting to note that at very low flow rates (0.25 ), the G5 shows performance equal or better to the Cascade and Cascade SS while the G4 performs worse than the earlier blocks
• Toshiba SD-R5372 5x Double Layer DVD writer - Due to its lack of overburning support and unacceptable load times, the Toshiba SD-R5372 failed to earn our highest recommendation and "Extreme Excellence Award". However, thanks to its fast 5x double layer writing, excellent CD writing and speedy DVD ripping capabilities, it still earns our recommendation.
• Hitachi Desktar 250GB SATA Hard Drive review - So the final question is, should you buy this drive? With proper comparison being made to other ATA drives as opposed to SCSI, the answer is muddled. The decreased heat production and noise, along with less cable clutter makes the drive extremely attractive. However, ATA drives, while not necessarily getting quite the same performance as this model, are extremely cheap expressed in terms of US$/GByte. If you are in the market for massive, cheap storage, you can do better than this drive.
• Kingston 2GB Elite Pro CompactFlash Card review - The main difference between Kingston's regular CF cards and their Elite Pro line is the type of NAND flash chip. The standard CF cards use Multi-Level Cells (MLC) which translates into two data values per cell. The Elite Pro uses Single-Level Cells (SLC) which translates to one data value per cell. This allows for higher capacities and higher speeds, both of which are crucial when dealing with high resolution images and any other large files.
• Samsung HD-841 High Definition DVD player - In general, the image quality is still as good as it was on the HD-931 model; there might be slight differences but not anything so intense that it would be picked up by the naked eye. This player supports 720p/768p/1080i so it has the HD outputs covered, your TV can hopefully use one of these (by the way, you need an HD-TV to use this DVD player to its fullest potential), don't buy this player if your TV cannot accept HD inputs because its features are improved for HD TV viewing.
• Silentmaxx Quiet Power Pack - 480W Power Supply - Silentmaxx have come out with a good and great PSU which is the Silentmaxx 480W PSU. The performance of this Silentmaxx 480W PSU is very good and stable as you can refer back to the testing and performance section. Moreover, the PSU is finish in nice color. But, there are always some downside, which the PSU does not fully sleeve. With the price of around USD 100, this will be a GREAT buy. Look for this PSU if you plan to change your current PSU.
• Logitech Z2200 Speakers review - Overclockers Online has published a review of the Logitech Z2200 speakers.
• Al Tech Anydrive FM Transmitter - Plug in this handy device and listen to music on any car or home audio system--it's that simple. No navigating mazes of wires. Simply plug your portable CD or MP3 player via USB into the Anydrive and you're set; or plug in your USB memory device for an even lighter load! The on-board Play, FF/RW, and Volume controls provide easy access to your music, and the 4 dip-switch channel-selector guarantees the cleanest possible FM transmission, so your music will always sound great. But you don't always have to go wireless FM--with the Anydrive, you can quickly and easily direct-connect to virtually any audio system (via cassette adapter; not included) for crystal-clear sound wherever you go.
• Toshiba 52HM84 Projection Television  - In conclusion, Toshiba's TheaterWideHD 52HM84 combined with the RCA's DTC-210 DirecTV HD Receiver produced and reproduced the some of the best regular over-the-air HD, Satellite, Satellite HD, and DVD signals possible. This is a set that has to be seen in all its glory to be fully appreciated.
• MX1000 - The insides - Don't do this at home etc. etc., it might be dangerous and will definitly void your warranty. If I need to tell you that you should turn off the mouse first then you must stop reading now.
• Overclocking AMD Athlon64 101 - Some frequently asked questions on Athlon64 are answered!

SOFTWARE...

• Windows XP Services Default Settings Guide - This guide lists the default service configurations for Windows XP Service Pack 1 and Windows XP Service Pack 2.

• FreeBSD 5.3 Final - This distribution of FreeBSD 5.3-RELEASE is a release distribution. It can be found at ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/ or any of its mirrors

• MTV2 Video Mods - Video of NVIDIA's computer generated Dawn and Dusk models are featured on MTV2's web site. The video was developed for the MTV2 show Video Mods, which is based on remixed music video and video games. In this video, Dawn and Dusk are remixed with Evanescence's hit song "Bring Me to Life".

• Free Antivirus beta for Windows Mobile Smartphone - Airscanner Mobile Antivirus (download) for Windows Mobile Smartphone is the Smartphone version of Airscanner’s award winning anti-virus for the Pocket PC. FYI, Airscanner team members were the first company to analyze and release an antivirus signature update for CE.Dust, the first ever Windows Mobile virus. They were also the first company to provide a detailed tutorial on reverse engineering Brador, the first Trojan horse to infect Pocket PCs.

• Intel Chipset Identification Utility 2.90 - The Intel Chipset Identification Utility provides an easy way to identify the specific Intel chipset that is located on your motherboard.

• AutoPatcher 2000 v4.6 - Autopatcher is a tool independent of Microsoft which updates your PC in terms of security, and functionality. Excellently designed and maintained, the program is a must for all users. AutoPatcher 2000 requires Windows 2000 SP4 to be installed (works with Windows 2000 Pro, Server, & Adv. Server).

• MemTest86+ 1.30 - MemTest86+ 1.30 has been released. This new version adds "Fast" Mode (with MTRR & L1/L2 Caches on), support for VIA K8T890, on the fly timings change on some chipsets (e.g. i852/855), bugfixes.

• Kerio ServerFirewall 1.0.0 - Kerio ServerFirewall (download trial) is a host-based security software solution specially designed for Windows server operating systems. Kerio ServerFirewall helps enterprises of all sizes protect their Windows Server operating systems from malicious attacks coming from the outside as well as from within their corporate networks. Its policy-based system prevents intrusions passed as legitimate traffic and protects against zero-day attacks that exploit vulnerabilities in the operating systems and applications running on them.

• Forceware 66.42 for Windows 9x/ME - Station-Drivers shas posted a new set of Forceware Drivers in the shape of 66.42 for Windows 9x/Me multi languages. All Cards Supported.

• CATALYST 4.11 Beta Win98/ME - ATi have released CATALYST 4.11 Beta for RADEON X300, RADEON X600, and RADEON X800 AGP Series