SECURITY...

• Microsoft advises IE users to uninstall Netscape 8 - Dave Massy, a senior program manager for IE, warned users in a blog posting that after installing Netscape 8, IE will render XML files as a blank page, including XML files that have an XSLT transformation. Microsoft did not make clear what versions of IE were affected, but a user of the DeveloperDex forum said he experienced the problem on version 6 of IE, which had been patched with Windows Service Pack 2. Microsoft said it is investigating the problem and will work with Netscape to resolve it. It advised a "workaround" of uninstalling Netscape 8 and editing the registry settings.
• Firefox users snap up Netcraft's antiphishing toolbar - Users of the Firefox Web browser have been flocking to Netcraft's Web site to download the security company's new antiphishing toolbar, a company representative said Thursday. The free toolbar, released Tuesday, was downloaded more than 60,000 times within hours of its release, according to Netcraft Internet Services Developer Paul Mutton.
• CIA war game simulates major Internet attack - The CIA is conducting a cyber-war game this week geared to simulate a major Internet attack by enemy computer hackers, an intelligence official said today. Dubbed Silent Horizon, the three-day unclassified exercise is based on a scenario set five years in the future and involves participants from government and the private sector.
• Microsoft Delivers New Tools to Help Reduce Spam - Microsoft has announced new MSN Hotmail tools and services designed to expand e-mail industry collaboration in fighting spam - MSN Postmaster and Smart Network Data Services. These new services complement ongoing industry efforts supported by Microsoft, including e-mail authentication mechanisms such as the Sender ID Framework, to help protect MSN Hotmail customers as well as the overall e-mail community from online safety concerns such as spam, phishing and viruses.
• Robin Hood hackers hunt down phishers - Hacking teams are targeting phishing websites in a spate of online vigilante attacks. UK security firm Netcraft has spotted two recent phishing sites that were quickly taken down and replaced by pages warning customers of the attempted fraud. A hacker known as 'sickophish' took down a site targeting PayPal customers, while a group known as 'The Lad Wrecking Crew' has defaced a number of phishing sites and even offers a website of images for others to use.
• Bank of America to Launch ID Theft Protection - Bank of America will protect 13.2 million online banking customers with a new authentication service it calls "SiteKey," the company said in a statement. The free service will be launched in Tennessee in June and will eventually be rolled out nationwide.  SiteKey uses a combination of an image, user-created phrase and three challenge questions to authenticate both the customer's identity and the authenticity of Bank of America's Web site when customers log on, Bank of America said.
• Fraud expert becomes victim of credit card crime - The founder of an anti-fraud website has himself become the victim of credit card fraud. Andrew Goodwill, managing director of Early Warning UK, a scheme set up to help retailers avoid credit card fraud, is down $600 (£329) after crooks used his credit card to pay for services online
• Federal agents shut down network that leaked "Star Wars" - U.S. law enforcement officials have shut down a computer network that distributed illegal copies of Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith before it appeared in movie theaters. Federal agents executed 10 search warrants and seized the main server in a network that had allowed people to download nearly 18,000 movies and software programs, including many current releases, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said.
• Internet Check Services Let Anyone Write Fraudulent Checks on Your Checking Account!? - check it out!

OFFTOPIC...

• Airport screeners could see X-rated X-rays - Get ready for electronic portals known as backscatters, expected to be tested at a handful of airports this year, that use X-ray imaging technology to allow a screener to scan a body. And yes, the body image is detailed. Let's not be coy here, ladies and gentlemen:
• Nanotubes help neurons get chatty - Italian researchers have managed to persuade brain cells to grow on a nanotube-coated surface - a breakthrough that could provide immediate help to good, old humans. The team found that the nanotubes actually boosted communication, or neural signal transfer, between the cells, which were taken from the hippocampus.
• Nanoscale light tricks promise huge DVD storage - The US patent describes a disc that could store 40 to 100 times more information that a conventional DVD, using more nanometre-scale sloped ridges to diffract light. US patent number 6879556 - entitled "Method and Apparatus for Optical Data Storage" - was issued to Iomega on April 12 2005.

TECHNOLOGY...

• Microsoft Opens x64 Upgrades to Retail - Following confusion surrounding its Windows x64 Advancement Program, which offers a free upgrade from the standard 32-bit version of Windows XP to the recent 64-bit release, Microsoft has clarified the language on its Web site. All users, whether they purchased or built their PC, are now eligible for the 64-bit upgrade.
• The "Dirty Little Secret" About Longhorn - Developers say there's a dirty little secret about Longhorn that few Softies are discussing publicly: Longhorn won't be based on the .Net Framework. We're still expecting that the .Net Framework will ship with Longhorn - on the CD and/or "in the box" in some way. But the .Net Framework won't be at Longhorn's core, we hear. Instead, the .Net Framework will be the core for a small subset of Longhorn, specifically the Windows API Platform (WAP), which consists primarily of the "Avalon" Windows presentation system and the "Indigo" Windows communications system, our tipsters say.
• Yahoo says rolling out new PhotoMail service - Yahoo Inc. is introducing a test version of a new service called PhotoMail that lets users insert up to 300 digital photographs into the body of an e-mail and store an unlimited numbers of photos on the Web and media company's computers

HARDWARE... 

• VIA announces C7 processor  - VIA today announced the new VIA C7 processor family based on the 'Esther' core, the world's smallest, lowest power and most secure native x86 processor.  With a tiny die size of a mere 30mm2, the VIA C7 processor idle power is as low as 100mW (0.1W), while 2.0GHz will run at about 20 watts peak power, an average of 40% cooler than competitor solutions.
• Chipset Roadmaps from NVIDIA, ATI - This summer, Intel, ATI and NVIDIA will all be vying for the IGP market - not just on the AMD platform, and not just on the desktop. Intel's 945G, NVIDIA's C51/C60 and ATI's RS482/RS410 will turn the second half of 2005 into a market with options again.
• R520 set to deliver H.264 decoding - The H.264 is a new compression standard designed to be two to tree times more efficient than the MPEG-2 codec that we are using to watch DVDs. H.264 video will take more space but you will be able to store 30 to 50GB if not even more on HD-DVDs and Blu-ray disks.
• XBox 360 to sport 48 unified graphics pipelines - Compared with desktop parts this chip will be more advanced than the R520 and it should be comparable with the R600 generation of cards - the one scheduled for autumn of 2006. This one will have WGF 2.0 compliance and will be able to deal with Shader model 4.0 at the same time.
• Acer debuts black Ferrari-series notebook - Acer unveiled its Ferrari 4000 carbon-fiber black Ferrari-series notebook in Taiwan yesterday, with the notebook expected to be available worldwide in June. The new 15.4" Ferrari 4000 is based on the AMD Turion 64 processor and features ATI Mobility Radeon X700 graphics with 128MB DDR memory, as well as a DVD Super Multi double-layer drive and a 5-in-1 card-reader.
• Intel Pentium D 820 - There are two downsides to the Pentium D 820, though. The first of those is that while it is a dual-core processor, priced at a premium, it is still only a 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 when it comes to individual, single-threaded tasks. It is a slouch when it comes to office-application and compression performance, but it is especially disappointing in game performance
• AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ - The magic of AMD's Athlon 64 X2 is that it sports the same 939-pin package in the current Athlon 64 processors meaning that you can experience the sorcery of dual-processors by swapping out your current Athlon 64 for an X2, and upgrading your BIOS. Voila -- instant SMP! Of course, there are exceptions to that rule. AMD's official statement is that motherboards capable of delivering enough power to happily keep an existing 90-nm Athlon 64 humming along should drive an Athlon 64 X2 without problems. Heat will also not be an issue, as the thermal design power (TDP) of the X2 is not any higher in most cases than the 104W of the FX-55 at 2.6 GHz.
• OCZ 2x 512 MB PC3200 Gold (2:2:2:5) - The memory performed beautifully at very aggressive 2-2-2-5 timings and we pushed memory bandwidth towards ~5100 MB/sec on a (normally) 800 MHz FSB Pentium 4 processor which really needs memory bandwidth. It would have gone much further with a higher Voltage. This product uses Winbond BH chips. The nature of these chips is such that they do very firm 2-2-2 timings at 200mhz with 2.8v, yet for a good overclock at 2-2-2 timings, they generally require 3.4v to 3.5v
• Intel 945G vs. 955X - So where do these two new chipsets stand? I would say that with the current system configuration, it would be a hands-down victory for the Intel 945G chipset simply because it performed consistently throughout the benchmarks, while the 955X chipset wasn't as stable with the results.
• ATI RADEON X800 XL 512MB PCI-E - Indeed, in many cases the X800 XL 512MB outperforms the 6800GT, but the same can be said about the X800 XL 256MB, which is much cheaper. That's why it's hard to make a cold evaluation of the new product. Let's see what other tests and new games will show. One thing is clear: if you buy an expensive LCD monitor with the maximum resolution of 1600x1200, you will surely want to play games in this resolution and probably to buy a video card with extra capacities as a reserve for future upgrades (there need be no doubt that 512MB will be a must in future!).
• ATI's Latest TV-Tuner Cards (First Look) - ATI's All-In-Wonder X800XT is replete with toys. In addition to its formidable gaming capabilities, it has a DVI connector and a VGA connector (you can connect two monitors at the same time), plus an analog TV tuner, an FM radio, and an incredible array of input connectors, both on the card itself and on three separate breakout boxes--one for inputs, another for outputs, and another that adds component-video-out so you can connect the card to an HDTV set.
• Hitachi Deskstar 7K80 SATA II - Hitachi's DeskStar 7K80 can be picked up for $59 from retailers on the net, an excellent price for the drive and storage capacity. Competitors like Western Digital come in at $70 in this price range giving them a slight advantage though prices of course fluctuate highly from retailer to retailer.
• NEC ND-3540A DVD writer - Looking at the specs of the ND-3540A it's clear that NEC was looking to create a very fast DVD writer. Both DVD+R and DVD-R discs are burned at 16x, while DVD+R DL media can be written at 8x and DVD-R DL discs will burn at 6x. For DVD+RW the ND-3540A is rated at 8x and it can write DVD-RW media at 6x. CD performance is up there with the best too, with 48x CD- R and 32x CD-RW ratings.

GUIDES... 

• How to Install a Motherboard - Installing a motherboard seems to be very easy, but there are many tricks involved in the process. If your motherboard isn't correctly installed you will face problems like overheating and system crashes (computer "freezing", "locking", "reseting" - you name it). This tutorial is a step-by-step guide on how to correctly install your motherboard, avoiding such troubles.
• Access Hidden Files on Your iPod - Apple keeps the music files on your iPod hidden, but with a little hackery, all your music will be revealed, allowing you to copy the files (legally, of course) from one machine to another.
• 10 Windows registry hacks for Microsoft Office - This download contains 10 useful registry hacks for Microsoft Office.
• Troubleshooting drivers with XP's hidden Driver Verifier Manager - Microsoft provided Windows XP with several high-profile tools for troubleshooting potential problems with drivers, namely File Signature Verification and Device Manager. However, Windows XP also includes the tool called the Driver Verifier Manager, which is mainly designed for developers but it can provide you with useful information during a troubleshooting operation
   

SOFTWARE...

• Debug Diagnostics 1.0 - RC1 - The tool, called Debug Diagnostics 1.0 (Login in with your passport id -> Login using the guest ID "DebugDiag" (it's case sensitive) -> Click on the "IIS Debug Diagnostic Tool" link -> On the left hand side expand survey and select "IIS Debug Diagnostic Tool Nomination Form") is the next generation debugging utility that extends on the functionality of previous tools such as IIS Debug Toolkit 1.1, Debug Matrix, and IIS State. This tool will be the only fully supported tool for debugging applications that run on IIS upon release and is supported on the IIS 4.0, 5.0, 5.1, and 6.0 platforms.
• Sysinternals Process Explorer 9.10 - Another Process Explorer update unifies 32-bit and 64-bit (x64) compatibility into a single image and adds 64-bit user and kernel-mode stack information, in-memory image string scanning, packed image highlighting, window manipulation (minimize, maximize, etc), and a new column option for information on signed images
• Longhorn Transformation Pack X - Do you know about Codename Longhorn? It's an upcoming operating system from Microsoft in the nearby future. Now this software pack will try to emulate possible Longhorn alike graphics from the alpha OS screenshots. But it is just a possible emulated eye candy so it's not what Longhorn actually will be.
• Firebird 2.0 public Alpha - This release contains a large number of new features, including derived tables, support for Execute Block, increased table sizes, new improved index code (the 252-byte index length limit is no longer applicable), expression indices, numerous optimiser improvements, enhanced security features, support for on-line incremental backups along with numerous other improvements and bug fixes.
• AOL AIM Triton Beta 2 Build 0.2.11 - AOL AIM Triton is the next generation release of AOL Instant Messenger. It is an all new user experience with an elegant, tabbed look and feel.
• MR Tech's Disable XPI Install Delay 1.0.0 Firefox Extension - It does one thing, disables the delay (download) when installing Extensions.
• BitTorrent 4.0.2 - Another original BiTorrent release (download) and there's also BitTorrent v4.1.1 Beta
• Aim Ad Hack 4.0.7 - AIM Ad Hack (download) is the only program that fully removes the ads and options you don't want in AIM instead of just hiding them. Thats why you may still get pop ups and audio ads in other AIM programs. Also AIM Ad Hack actually modifies AIM itself, it is not a program that loads every time along with AIM like deadaim and after you run AIM Ad Hack once it never needs to be run again until you upgrade to a new version of AIM.
• Earthlink releases hacked firmware for Linksys routers - Earthlink, has released experimental firmware for the popular Linksys WRT54G routers (currently selling for $59 greenbacks), modified by them to add IPv6 support. This removes the need for "NAT" translation and can in fact make every device in your home have a public IPv6 address (if such devices and computers support IPv6).
• DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA) Patch - This update enables Microsoft DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA) of Microsoft Windows Media Video (WMV) content in Microsoft Windows Media Player 10 for video cards when the drivers of those video cards are designed to take advantage of this feature.
• Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility 7.2.0.1006 WHQL -  The Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility installs to the target system the Windows* INF files that outline to the operating system how the chipset components will be configured. This release adds Intel Lakeport, Glenwood, and Mukilteo Chipset support
• NVIDIA nForce 4 drivers 7.11 beta - NVIDIA has new nForce 4 drivers available on NVIDIA FTP server with the following driver details: Audio driver version 4.62 (WHQL), Audio utility version 4.51, Ethernet NRM driver version 4.82 (WHQL), Network management tools version 4.88, SMBus driver version 4.45 (WHQL) with updated uninstaller files with updated uninstaller files, Installer version 4.72, Win2K IDE * driver version 5.33.
• ForceWare 72.12 WHQL - The good news is that it is a WHQL approved driver (Microsoft tested and verified). Even better news is that almost any GeForce graphics cards is supported. Although WHQL these drivers are of course considered somewhat beta, so try only at your own risk.