SECURITY...

• New Variant of Santy Worm Spreads - Early versions of the Santy worm exploited a specific bug in a bulletin-board software package called phpBB, and their attacks could be prevented by applying a patch to the software. However, the security flaw exploited by newer versions of the worm such as Santy.C or Santy.E is more general, and can occur anywhere a site designer has left the door open for the inclusion of arbitrary files into PHP scripts, experts at K-OTik Security in Montpellier, France, warn. Santy.C and Santy.E behave so differently from Santy.A that the K-OTik is renaming the worm PhpInclude.Worm in its advisories, the company says. The worm doesn't exploit the vulnerabilities in phpBB targeted by its predecessor, instead aiming for a wider range of common programming errors in PHP Web pages. It uses search engines including Google, Yahoo, and AOL to identify exploitable Web pages written in PHP which use the functions "include()" and "require()" in an insecure manner.
• Three Serious Windows Vulnerabilities Surface - One of the three security vulnerabilities involves image handling - a source of recent exploits on Windows and Unix operating systems. The other two risks are found in the Help system and in Window's ANI (Animated Cursor Image format) authentication. Symantec said the Microsoft Windows LoadImage API Function Integer Overflow Vulnerability could be exploited via browsers or e-mail client software. Users who open an HTML message or Web page bearing the image could face security risks.
• RCA / Thomson Modem Hack Discovered - The group known as TCNiSO has released a very interesting hardware modification for RCA / Thomson cable modems. The modification is done by grounding the bus clock on the serial EEPROM which throws the device into a diagnostic panic mode. Then by using the debug tools from the embedded console to reprogram the EEPROM, a user can permanently enable a developers menu which gives complete control of the modem, such as modifying the hardware addresses or flashing new firmware. This modification works on RCA 245 and 305 and Thomson 290 modems, it may work on other models too.
• High-tech phones bring virus potential - Malicious programs that can delete address books. Junk messages that flood a cell phone's inbox. Stealthy code that uses Bluetooth wireless technology to sneak onto handsets. Scared yet? Security experts say plagues like these will target mobile phones, but others contend cell phone viruses are the tech equivalent of smallpox: To the best of anyone's knowledge, they exist only in labs.
• Remove EFS from Win2K/XP clients to avoid security breaches - Learn the steps necessary for removing EFS from Win2K/XP clients. EFS is included in Windows 2000 and XP to allow users to add an additional layer of security on top of the NTFS security that has been used for years with NT. EFS does not work on data stored on FAT or FAT32 partitions.
• U.S. leads the dirty dozen spammers - Researchers at security software company Sophos found that 42 percent of all spam sent this year came from the United States, based on a scan by its researchers of a global network of honey pots--computers designed to attract spam e-mails and viruses.
• Officials unseal piracy records -  Press Citizen has been reporting the last two days about Operation Fastlink, a multi-national investigation launched in April. Apparently, the investigation has netted a local college student hosting 13,000 titles worth a bundle of money both in simple value and liability for as many times as logs show the titles were downloaded (thanks Slashdot.org)

OFF-TOPIC...

• Great Moments in Microprocessor History - The evolution of the modern microprocessor is one of many surprising twists and turns. Who invented the first micro? Who had the first 32-bit single-chip design? You might be surprised at the answers. This article shows the defining decisions that brought the contemporary microprocessor to its present-day configuration.
• USGS: Warnings could have saved thousands -  U.S. researchers who detected a massive earthquake off Asia's coast on Saturday tried frantically to warn that the deadly wall of water was coming, the head of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said Sunday. But there was no official alert system in the region because such catastrophes only happen there about once every 700 years, said Charles McCreery, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's center in Honolulu.
• Toyota Prius sets new hybrid record - Car lovers have something to cheer about in 2005! Recently, Toyota Prius has set a new world land-speed record for hybrid powered cars. The stylish green Toyota Prius set the mark at 210.49 km/h on the 4.82km short course using a standard Hybrid Synergy Drive power-train - a mixture of 1.5-litre petrol engine and an electric motor.
• Military Seeks Tech Tools to Train MDs - Hollywood visual effects wizards and video game programmers: U.S. military doctors want you. The military sees technologies from the entertainment industry as potential tools for honing the skills of medics. They could better simulate the difficult conditions and types of wounds medics are likely to encounter during war time, said Dr. Greg Mogel, West Coast director of the U.S. Army's Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center.

TECHNOLOGY...

• German court sets copyright levy on new PCs - Germans purchasing a new Personal Computer will have to pay 12 Euro (~$16,-) copyright fee. This is due to the outcome of a lawsuit between VG Wort rights society, an organisation that is seeking compensation for digital copying, and Fujitsu Siemens, a computer builder.
• Microsoft: No IA64 for Windows XP - After removing all references to the 64-bit (IA64) Windows XP here, Neowin.net has spoken to sources close to the company who have confirmed Microsoft's intensions to axe XP IA64. The company wants to focus on Windows Server 2003 editions of Itanium-based systems.
• China claims world first on nextgen Internet - The organ said CERNET2 connects 25 universities in 20 cities throughout China, with the backbone network flying along at between 2.5 to 10 Gigabits/per sec. It claims a trial a month ago managed a speed of 40 Gigabits/per sec, using Internet Protocol Version 6.
• Toshiba Dropping Plasma Display TV Production - Toshiba plans to drop out of the plasma display panel television market and next summer will start producing surface conduction electron emitter display (SED) panels for flat panel televisions with 40-inch or larger screens.

HARDWARE...

• Dual core processor plans examined - Xbit Labs has posted an extensive overview of AMD, Intel, and VIA's upcoming dual core processor architectures.
• Alpha-Data battery-powered 2.5" HDD case - HDD cases for both 2.5 and 3.5 inch drives are a dime-a-dozen these days. Alpha-Data tries to separate themselves from the pack with the "Copy BANK Case" - a 2.5" HDD case that supports battery-powered operation and can be used independent of a PC as a storage device for digital cameras and mp3 players
• BatteryLife Activator for Mobile phones and laptops - Xtreme Computing takes a look at the BatteryLife Activator for Mobile phones and laptops
• Aigo MP-P750 MP3 player - The massive 20Gb of storage is nothing to be sniffed at either, and should be enough to hold more than enough music to take with you on your travels, holidays etc.
• The RAID 6 Areca ARC-1120 One-ups RAID 5 Controllers - THG received the ARC-1120 PCI-X controller and pitted it against eight drives on 3Ware's 9500.
• HTPC case roundup - The chaps over at AnandTech have managed to get their hands on a new model from Ahanix, the D.Vine 5, a desktop/HTPC chassis from CoolerMaster, the Cavalier 2, and an HTPC chassis from NMediaPC, a company which specializes in bringing the home theater experience to the PC, called the HTPC 100. They compare these models to the SilverStone Lascala 10M to find the best of the pack.

GUIDES...

•  5 Ways to Block Pop-Ups - Pop ups and other intrusive types of advertising are now used to thrust an ad in your face that you have no choice but to at least acknowledge. Regardless of the nature of the ad, pop ups are a nuisance, and there are now many options available for keeping them off of your computer screen all together.
• How to Backup Your Computer Files - Let's make a new year's resolution together, you and I. Let's promise to back up our computers!
• Solution Guide for Replatforming Line-of-Business Applications from UNIX to Win  - Provides a roadmap for replatforming SAP, PeopleSoft, and Siebel line-of-business (LOB) applications from UNIX to Windows. The guidance covers replatforming the operating system platform, database technology, and middleware.
• Remove EFS from Win2K/XP clients to avoid security breaches - Learn the steps necessary for removing EFS from Win2K/XP clients.
• Rojak Pot's Radeon 9800 Pro to Radeon 9800 XT mod guide rev. 6.0 - Adrian Rojak has updated his comprehensive guide on modding the Radeon 9800 Pro into a Radeon 9800XT.
• What to buy after Xmas - TechwareLabs have prepared a guide on a few of the hottest items around to give you a few ideas on what to spend your new cash and gift certificates on.

SOFTWARE...

• MCE Weather 2.0 - mceWeather is a program that shows weather for your region on your TV. The plugin provides data from all over the world (many locations can be shown, please just try if your next larger city can be found by the program). It shows the forecast for the next 1-10 days and also shows you a satellite image of your country.  It was designed for Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition®, but can be used on any other windows with MSIE 6 installed. Download At Source.
• The FilmMachine 1.4 Final - All In One AVI to DVD/(S)VCD conversion utility. Supports DVD subtitles (both permanent and selectable). Requires CinemaCraft Encoder SP, Canopus Procoder or QuEnc (Freeee) video encoder.
• CleanMOCache 1.08 - CleanMOCache is a free (for 1 - 2 systems), very powerful Mozilla/Netscape/Firefox/Opera and Windows XP cleaner. It will delete all browser tracks, AutoComplete, WinXP tracks and the deletion of user created additives.
• Process Explorer v8.61- The Process Explorer display consists of two sub-windows. The top window always shows a list of the currently active processes, including the names of their owning accounts, whereas the information displayed in the bottom window depends on the mode that Process Explorer is in. (thanks ally russell)
• BeFaster 3.51 lite -  BeFaster (download lite version) is multi-featured connection optimization tool.
• Tray Helper 4.6 - Tray Helper is freeware application with many features (f/e: email checker, auto mail responder, anti-spam, popup-killer, event reminder and more).
• Bart's PE Builder 3.1.2 - Bart's PE Builder helps you build a bootable Window CD-Rom or DVD from Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 very suitable for PC maintenance tasks.
• WinRAR 3.42 - WinRAR (download win32 / linux / DOS) is a powerful archive manager. It can backup your data and reduce size of email attachments, decompress RAR, ZIP and other files downloaded from Internet and create new archives in RAR and ZIP file format.
• NVIDIA nForce Audio Driver 4.57 - Guru3D has offers a new nForce Audio driver v4.57
• ATI Radeon DNA-drivers 3.5.4.12 Full - These are modified/hacked ATI Catalyst drivers, use them at your own risk. The drivers have been optimized with two things in mind, better Image Quality and more/stable frames per second when compared to the Beta Catalyst drivers from ATI. A Lite version the drivers can be found here.