SECURITY...

• WebTV Trojan Horse author sentenced -   Louisiana man who launched an e-mail virus that reprogrammed some computers to dial the 911 emergency phone number has been sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to pay $27,000 in restitution to Microsoft (Quote, Chart), authorities said.
• Tech Worker Sentenced to Prison for Hacking - An Orange, California, IT manager who earlier pled guilty to hacking into his previous employer's computer network was sentenced Monday to five months in prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office said this week. According to a plea agreement dated August 30, 2004, Mark Erfurt broke into the computer systems of Santa Clara, California's Manufacturing Electronic Sales Corp. (MESC) on January 23 and 24 of 2003. During that time, he deleted data, read e-mail, and downloaded a proprietary database from the network using the PC Anywhere remote control software, the agreement says.
• Hollywood threatens to sue UK BitTorrent man for millions - Alexander Hanff had no idea Hollywood was keeping such a close eye on him. Then, last Saturday morning, a movie studio functionary arrived at his door. Hanff, still in his dressing gown and not yet full of coffee, opened the door, only to be served with a lawsuit by Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal City Studios and Warner Bros. You may have already guessed Hanff's supposed transgression. The movie studios suspect him of running a BitTorrent hub and helping people download copyrighted films via P2P technology.
• Botnets multiplying over IRC - A newly published report by the Honeynet Project and Research Alliance has shown that internet relay chat (IRC) is crucial to hackers running so-called botnets of virus-infected PCs. The team, which uses test machines to analyse hacker behaviour, found many IRC bots which were being used to control infected PCs in distributed networks.
• CyberCrime Mobs Revealed - In this special report, writers Deborah Gage and John McCormick map out how the networks get started, how they work, what they steal, and how the feds stay on their tails.

OFFTOPIC...

• Hitachi Unveils Humanoid Robot - BBC reports that Hitachi has unveiled a humanoid robot, named Emiew, to compete with Honda's Asimo and Sony's Qrio robots. The robot has a vocabulary of about 100 words and could be trained for practical office and factory use.
• Vampire bats can fly, drink blood - and run - Bats are the only mammals that fly. Scientists think they generally stopped running long ago, as evolution gave flight capabilities to their forelimbs. Most species of bats, if asked to run, can do little more than flop around like fish out of water.
• Human embryonic stem cells grown animal-free - One of the hurdles to using human embryonic stem cells to treat disease has been overcome. Three teams have managed to derive and grow the cells without using any animal cells that might contaminate them.
• Stress afflicts security bosses - Keeping computer viruses at bay is more stressful than divorce, warns a survey. The research revealed how European technology bosses were coping with the growing number of hi-tech threats. Although many firms had software in place to combat viruses, spam and phishing, it found few adequately protected against all threats. The survey also revealed that many tech bosses would face dismissal if they let their firm fall victim to a serious security breach.

TECHNOLOGY...

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 Details Begin to Leak - Sources say that IE 7.0 - which is code-named "Rincon," they hear - will be a tabbed browser. IE 7.0 will feature international domain name (IDN) support; transparent Portable Network Graphics (PNG) support, which will allow for the display of overlayed images in the browser; and new functionality that will simplify printing from inside IE 7.0, partner sources said. The new browser also will likely include a built-in news aggregator. However, CSS Support Could Be IE 7.0's Weakest Link.
• Yahoo 360 blend of blogging, social networking - Yahoo announced it would launch Yahoo 360 March 29. The new Yahoo service blends several of its Web site's popular features with two of the Internet's fastest growing activities - blogging and social networking. The service is designed to enable Yahoo's 165 million registered users to pull content from the Web site's discussion groups, online photo albums and review section to plug into their own Web logs, or blogs, the Internet shorthand used to describe online personal journals.
• Buena Vista to Release Films for Sony PSP - Buena Vista Home Entertainment said it would release five movies this spring: "National Treasure," "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," "Reign of Fire," "Kill Bill Vol. 1" and "Hero." More titles will be announced during the year, it said. The UMD, or Universal Media Disc, holds about three times the capacity of a regular CD. It was developed specifically for Sony's PSP, to be released in North America on March 24.
• Sony updates PSX PVRs with PSP video support - Once again reports of the demise of Sony's PSX PVR-meets-PS2 have proved premature. Last month's move to suspend production appears to have simply heralded the launch of a new version of the product. The DESR-5700, like its predecessor, the 5500, sports a 160GB hard drive, while the DESR-7700 will provide the same 250GB storage capacity that the 7500 did. What the new models do provide is the ability to interoperate with Sony's Portable PlayStation handheld console and media player.
• Door to Java source code opens a crack wider - Sun Microsystems wants to send Java closer to the open-source world, yet keep it safe from harm. It will modify its licenses to make access to the Java source code easier, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said Wednesday. But it stopped short of creating an open-source license--something it has resisted, despite calls to do so.
• Xbox 2 will be the Xbox 360 - The study, held in London's Soho, saw a mixture of male and female gamers and Xbox owners presented with a series of prospective marketing campaigns for the Xbox 360. The three lead contenders to be offered by the best in media and marketing to date are - somewhat depressingly - Xbox 360: Amplify Yourself!; Xbox 360: You're Next!; and Xbox 360: Shine! Really, that's what they're working with right now.
• DiVX video to include MP3 support - The Next generation of DivX video will include official support for MP3 and MP3 Surround audio, DivXNetworks told the INQ today. While MP3 audio has been used with Divx encoded movies for yonks, the official licensing of the technology from Fraunhofer and Thomson means that the codec can be used in official / legal / commercial content created with the video format, rather than just episodes of 24 downloaded from BitTorrent. The MP3 Surround codec enables 5.1 audio to be compressed in a similar and backward-compatible way to existing stereo MP3, saving space and avoiding alienating the existing installed base of MP3 devices.
• Chip industry straining at the limits of technology - The pure silicon substrate is reaching its limits," Myers (president and chief executive officer of Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International) said earlier this week in Shanghai. Strained silicon works well with today's most advanced processes and will continue to be used as a substrate with upcoming 65 nm and 45 nm processes, but a different substrate is required for more advanced processes, Myers said.

HARDWARE... 

• NVIDIA nForce 4 SLI for Pentium 4 - first benchmark results - From a prospective purchasers perspective, and one who has no preference which companies' microprocessor is installed, then the obvious comparison is between an AMD or Intel NVIDIA SLI system, and for the present, if the numbers we have are correct, and we believe they are, then the choice is looking decidedly obvious - an AMD based NVIDIA SLI system looks set to simply wipe the floor with an Intel Pentium 4 SLI system.
• Dell Inspiron 6000 notebook - The only criticism here is that Dell's power-saving feature drastically dims the display while the system is running on battery, so much so that you may find working with the standard settings uncomfortable. If you need even more power autonomy, such as for long flights, Dell offers a 9-cell battery (L57.58 ex. VAT) which should give you a couple more hours usage. Whatever options you go for, the Inspiron 6000 should satisfy.
• Gigabyte G-Max N203 Laptop - The G-Max N203 uses the Intel 855GME chipset including the ICH4-M Southbridge chip. This enables support for DDR 333 memory (through the processor itself does not take advantage of this).
• Astak Team Research 512MB (2x256MB) PC4000 DDR-500 High Speed Memory  - ExtremeOverclocking take a look at two 256MB PC4000 DDR memory modules rated to run on a 250MHz (500MHz DDR) overclocked memory bus.
• Abit's Fatal1ty AN8 motherboard - At over $220 online, the Fatal1ty-AA8XE is far from cheap, but it's no more expensive than other premium 925XE motherboards. With plenty of OTES cooling, a decent cable bundle, a tweak-filled BIOS, and uGuru delivering the best hardware monitoring around, the Fatal1ty-AA8XE is definitely a premium board worthy of any Pentium 4 overclocking enthusiast. Another review can be found on ExtremeTech.
• HIS X850 XT PE IceQ II Dual DVI VIVO 256MB PCIe - The chip used in the X850 XT PE is the R480 chip. The main difference between this chip and the older R420 chip that you find in the old X800 XT's is so called "process enhancements." These have made it possible for ATI to clock it slightly higher than the X800 XT PE. As you might notice, the Radeon X850 XT PE isn't that much faster on paper than the X800 XT PE.
• HIS X800XL/X850XT - HIS RADEON X800 XL IceQ II Turbo 256MB is potentially the best choice in its price segment. Besides, its performance may grow in Turbo mode. What concerns this sample, its operating stability is up to the mark, its quality is very high, 2D picture at 1600x1200@85Hz is sharp. 440/1170 MHz overclocking.
• EVGA e-GeForce 6200 TC video review - 3DGame Man has posted an EVGA e-GeForce 6200 TC Video Card video review
• Apollo nVidia gForce 6600GT AGP - I can safely say that the Apollo 6600GT is definitely worth the $219US that ComputerGeeks asks for it. It is so far advanced from the Radeon 9600Pro that they aren't in the same category. Yes, there are a few drawbacks. No temperature monitoring is a bummer, especially with the sensor right there in the core. The huge aluminum heatsink probably keeps the core to a respectable temperature, but copper works so much better
• XG Vortec 500W Power Supply - It comes with a one year warranty and they will repair it for $25 after the warranty is expired provided there is no physical damage and spare parts are still available for the repair. You can expect to pay about $80 for the Vortec 500
• Zalman VF700-CU Ultra Quiet Copper VGA Cooler - The Zalman VF700-CU is everything you could ask for in a GPU cooler: great performance and silence. It fits many different cards, cools your ram, and looks good too. It didn't fit perfectly on the 6600GT AGP, mainly because of the odd layout of the card due to the PCI-E/AGP interface. We were well warned by Zalman that it would be different, but it would work.
• Corsair COOL Water Cooling - While the "Cool" is definitely an entry level cooling unit, it is equally suitable for the beginner or experienced enthusiast. Just based on its price to performance ratio alone this, this under $200 water cooling system is sure to be extremely popular and for good reason.
• Belkin Wireless Keyboard - There you have it. If your mobile device lacks Bluetooth, your options are essentially limited to IR unless, as with some HP/Compaq models, there is a plugin keyboard or USB host and you feel like carrying around a full size keyboard. If IR is the only way to go, I have no issues recommending this one from Belkin.
• Logitech MOMO Racing Wheel  - This racing wheel will not disappoint. If you are serious about your driving games, this is the wheel for you. The MOMO wheel came highly recommended by several of my friends and I must say it has lived up to the hype.
• Toshiba TDP-SW20 Wireless DLP Projector - The TDP-SW20 is a competent, if pretty run-of-the-mill budget projector. It's nothing special specification-wise: the resolution is a pretty bog- standard SVGA (800 x 600), and the brightness is nothing to write home  about either at 1400 ANSI lumens. The contrast rating of 2000:1 is pretty standard too, these days. There are other projectors on the market with higher resolution and brighter pictures for the same money.
• Apple iPod Shuffle (512MB) MP3 and Digital Media Player - The 512MB version is priced at just $99 dollars while the 1GB goes for $149. The price is right, and the Shuffle looks stylish enough, but we have to wonder if those two attributes are enough to carry this little player.
• Nintendo DS handheld games console - A few hours spent with Super Mario 64 DS will tell you that the ARM9 and ARM7 CPUs are perfectly capable of doing anything you would have seen on the N64's custom hardware, and there are times when the bundled demo version of Metroid Prime: Hunters has you suspecting that it might have the potential to surpass it. Another review can be found on TrustedReviews.
• smart2go Mobile Navigator GPS Software with Socket Bluetooth GPS Receiver - PDAToday.com has just finished up their extensive review of smart2go Mobile Navigator GPS Software with Socket Bluetooth GPS Receiver including many screenshots and detailed information.

.GUIDES... 

• Understanding the Cell Microprocessor - Cell, at a high level, isn't too difficult to understand; it's how the designers got there that is most intriguing. It's the design decisions and building blocks of Cell that we'll focus on here in this article, with an end goal of understanding why Cell was designed the way it was.
• Introduction to Tape Backup - The Tech Zone has posted an article on backing things up to tape.
• Protection against Adware and Spyware - PC Review have a new article on protecting yourself against Adware and Spyware.

SOFTWARE...

• Auditor Security Linux - Auditor Security Linux is a KANOTIX-based live CD with a collection of tools for system auditing and forensic analysis. A new version was announced today: "The new version is finished and distributed allready on some of the usual mirrors. (thanks NeoNSX)
• FileZilla 2.2.12b - FileZilla (download) is a fast and reliable FTP client and server with lots of useful features and an intuitive interface.
• Firefox - FireTune 0.2 - FireTune for Mozilla Firefox v1.x was developed for an easy and fast optimization of your browsing experience with Firefox. It is based on a collection of optimization settings collected and tested by Tweakfactor.
• Style XP 3.02 (shw) - Style XP is not a skinning engine. It uses Microsoft's built-in visual style engine, but enhances it by providing many useful tools. Style XP can import, select, rotate, and manage themes, visual styles, wallpapers, and logons.
• Nero CD-DVD Speed v3.75 - This new version adds support for NEC PI/PIF scanning on upcoming NEC firmwares.
• AnyDVD 4.6.1.2 (shw) - AnyDVD is a driver, which descrambles DVD-Movies automatically in the background. This DVD appears unprotected and region code free for all applications and the Windows operating system as well. This new version improved CSS key extraction, if title is additionally protected by Arccos or Puppetlock.
• Sound Blaster Audigy 2 & 2 ZS Driver - This update combines the features and fixes of two previous updates:  EAX 4.0 ADVANCED HD Driver Patch Update for Sound Blaster Audigy 2 and Audigy 2 ZS (released on 29 March 2004) and EAX 4.0 ADVANCED HD Driver Update for Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2/Audigy 2 ZS (released on 19 November 2003). In addition, this update includes a new fix for your Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 or Audigy 2 ZS series audio card. Note that this fix is not critical so you can choose not to install this update.