SECURITY... 

• Single Windows security patch coming next week - Tuesday, Microsoft  will release a single patch addressing a critical flaw in its Windows operating system. The update will be issued as part of the software company's monthly security update.
• Microsoft Patches Break Some Sites - Two patches released by Microsoft earlier this year for its Internet Explorer browser may cause some Web sites not to load properly. After installing MS05-038, which was published August 9 on the Microsoft Download Center, Web pages containing Component Object Model (COM) objects called monikers may not work as expected.  Microsoft has published instructions on how to resolve the MS05-038 issues.
• NERO: Urgent Virus Warning - Criminals are currently sending virus contaminated e-mails which appear to originate from Nero (e.g. [email protected] or [email protected] ). Please delete such e-mails immediately and do not under any circumstances open the attachments. Nero does not send any e-mails with attachments concerning registration.
• Cisco Patches 'Black Hat' IOS Vulnerability - Cisco has warned users of a flaw in its IOS software which might be used by hackers to bypass security restrictions and run hostile code on network devices. The vulnerability reportedly affects all Cisco products that run Cisco IOS software, including routers and a limited range of switches that don't run CatOS.
• Apple QuickTime Player Remote Denial Of Service - Apple QuickTime Player is reported prone to remote denial of service attack (exploitable via remotely originated content). A missing movie attribute is interpreted as an extension, but the absence of the extension is not flagged as an error, resulting in a de-reference of a NULL pointer. This will cause a denial of service against any application loading remotely-originated content.
• World of Warcraft hackers using Sony BMG rootkit - World of Warcraft hackers have confirmed that the hiding capabilities of Sony BMG's content protection software can make tools made for cheating in the online world impossible to detect.
• Phishing attack hits PayPal subscribers - A new phishing attack is targeting PayPal users, redirecting them to a fake site in an attempt to collect password details. The executable, named 'PayPal-2.5.200-MSWin32-x86-2005.exe', is a Trojan Horse which modifies the DNS server of the local workstation and then deletes itself. All future requests are then transparently redirected to a bogus website.
• Technology can't beat us, casino cheat says -  A self-proclaimed casino cheater has criticized the effectiveness of many technologies touted as anti-cheating measures--including controversial solutions like RFID and facial recognition--and suggested they are doomed to expensive failure. Richard Marcus said he is "more or less retired" but is still widely regarded as a leading authority on casino cheating. Marcus scammed a reported $5 million in Atlantic City, N.J., Las Vegas, London and Monte Carlo over a 25-year period.

CRIME/LAW...

• US youth arrested for botnet cyber attack - A 20-year-old Californian was arrested by the FBI for assembling a botnet comprising hundreds of thousands of computers to spread spam and other malware, the Los Angeles Times reported on Friday. Jeanson James Ancheta of Downey, California, was also accused by US Attorney's Office of having illegally distributed adware, software that pops up advertisements in infected computers, to earn a profit. If convicted of all charges, he could be sentenced to 50 years in prison, according to the prosecutors. Another article can be found at Wired.
• Police Need 90 Days To Crack Hard Drives - The UK police may need 90 days to hold terrorist suspects because it takes that long to crack a suspect's PC hard drive.
• China cracks down on online games - The new regulations, which include tight limits on playing time and a ban on underage players in violent games, were announced earlier this year, and the government plans to begin full enforcement early next year.

OFF-TOPIC

• US man seeks movie plotline patent - Andrew Knight, a rocket engine inventor and registered patent agent, filed the test application in November 2003, the first of its kind, arguing that fictional plots are patentable under the US system. Knight suggests on his website that the plots of several films - including Memento, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovich, Fight Club, The Matrix, The Truman Show, Minority Report, The Village and Groundhog Day - may have been eligible for patent protection. But presumably he doesn't see anything in the memory loss genre as prior art that could damage his own prospects of winning a monopoly right.
• Survey: One in five U.S. teens has a blog - Nearly three in five school-age teens with Internet access have created on-line content, including Web pages with artwork, photos and stories - and about a fifth have their own blogs, which also allow friends and other readers to create feedback postings

TECHNOLOGY...

• G71 is the Playstation 3 RSX chip - NVIDIA calls its 90 nanometre graphic core of Playstation 3, RSX. This graphic chip is set to work at 550MHz and Nvidia can guarantee that a million chips will work at this speed as it's not that challenging at this process level. Nvidia can obviously make G70 work fine at 550MHz but it can not ship millions of those chips, more likely tens of thousands.
• Nintendo announces Wi-Fi Connection plans for Europe - Nintendo has announced that more than 15,000 Wi-Fi Connection hotspots will be active in time for the European launch of the service - a figure which is set to almost double by the end of the year.
• Microsoft publishes report on possible next-generation OS - Singularity is a research project (in PDF) focused on the construction of dependable systems through innovation in the areas of systems, languages, and tools.
• Google Opens Up Library Doors - Google have opened up the library doors to their beta Google Print service.
• Microsoft to digitise 100,000 books - Microsoft and the British Library have come together to make 100,000 of the institution's titles available online. The deal covers some 25 million pages which will be made available as part of Microsoft's book search service, next year.
• Long Standing Bug Still Plagues Thunderbird Users - Are you a Mozilla Thunderbird user who lives in an area that observes Daylight Savings Time? Is your computer running a Windows operating system with FAT or FAT32 formatted drives? If so, chances are you may have experienced problems with Thunderbird since the change from Daylight Savings Time went in to effect earlier this month. A long standing bug that causes severe performance issues and has existed in various stages of the Mozilla project now known as Thunderbird continues to plague users despite having a history of bug reports that have been filed via Bugzilla, Mozilla's online bug reporting tool.
• Ford squeezes an office into a truck - Ford Motor unveiled a mobile office designed for the new F-Series truck that includes a touch-screen computer, printer, wireless broadband access and Global Positioning System.
• Wireless: The new backseat driver? - On Thursday, General Motors demonstrated a vehicle-to-vehicle, or V2V, wireless communication system that alerts you when a collision is imminent. The automaker equipped regular Cadillac STS sedans with wireless and Global Positioning System antennae and computer chips that allow the cars to communicate with other vehicles with similar equipment.
• Think GAIA - Sanyo eneloop Batteries - The eneloop battery is the world first rechargeable battery that can be used like a dry cell battery, because it comes pre-charged. Rechargeable batteries usually suffer from self-discharge. Sanyo solved this issue and achieves with the eneloop a residual ratio after one year of non use of 85% in tests.
• 7800GTX 512MB hits the street on 14th - The 7800GTX 512MB is already SKUed and the delivery date is set for Monday, November 14th.

GADGETS...

• iRobot Takes Orders for the Scooba Floor Washing Robot - iRobot sells the Scooba for $399.99 with free shipping and a 30 day risk free trial. Only issue is that the delivery time is 8-10 weeks. The Scooba features a four stage cleaning process in a single pass. It vacuums, washes, scrubs and dries floors automatically.
• Nokia 770 Linux Internet Tablet Now Available in Europe - The Nokia 770 is available for 12 European Countries. Apparently the German version is not in stock anymore has never been. the UK version is in Stock and sells for £245.00 (~$ 432). No word yet when the Nokia 770 is available in the United States.
• Sony PSP TV Adapter Kit - The PSP2TV Sony PSP TV adaptor kit actually requires to open up the Sony PSP and by doing this void your warranty. The PSP On TV is works without voiding the warrenty of the PSP. Lik-Sang is also offering a warranty safe version, but it will not be released until December.
• T-Mobile offers own-brand HTC Wizard in UK - T-Mobile has become the first carrier to offer HTC's Wizard Wi-Fi-equipped Windows Mobile 5.0 handset in the UK. Its version of the device is called the MDA Vario, but it provides the usual messaging and browsing features standard to all versions of the device. The unit contains 128MB of memory, expandable using MiniSD cards, and incorporates Bluetooth and 802.11b wireless network connectivity. It has a quad-band GSM/GPRS radio with EDGE support for higher data transfer rates.

HARDWARE... 

• CPU - Upcoming Intel and AMD processors / Dual-Core Shoot Out - Intel vs. AMD
• Motherboard  - AMD socket 939 Athlon motherboards review list / Abit Fatal1ty X800 XL 512MB / Asus P5LD2-VM / Gigabyte K8N51GMF-9 nForce 430/GeForce 6100 / MSI P4N Diamond / Tyan Tiger K8WE Opteron
• Complete / SFF Systems - Alienware Aurora 5500 PC / Shuttle SD11G5
• Memory - 1GB Crucial Ballistix PC2 6400 DDR2 / Corsair DDR PC-3500LL Pro 2GB Dual Channel Memory (video-review) / Corsair TwinX PC4000 Platinum memory / OCZ EL DDR PC-4000 2GB Gold Edition DDR RAM Kit
• Storage - Seagate Momentus 5400.2 120GB / Seagate 7200.9 SATA2 16mb Cache Hard Drive / Thecus N4100 NAS / ULTRA Mini Portable Disk / X-Micro DisGo Miniature Hard Drive
• Video - S3 Chrome S25 & S27 / Dual Graphics Card Showdown: CrossFire vs SLI vs 16X SLI / Abit Fatal1ty Radeon X800 XL / Asus A8R-MVP Video Cards / ATi Radeon X1800XL vs. NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT  / HIS X700 ICEQ 128MB / Sapphire X800 GTO Ultimate / Sapphire Radeon X800GT PCIe (256MB BGA DDR3) / Sapphire Radeon X850XT PE AGP / Workstation Graphics Card Comparison Guide Rev 3.3 / XFX GeForce 6600 256 MB gDDR2 
• Monitor/TV - Samsung 930BF 19" LCD Monitor
• Cooling - Cooljag SFO-D(18SC) Skived Copper Opteron Heatsink / Dynatron A22 V-Shaped Skived Athlon64 Heatsink / Thermaltake Golden Shower II
• WaterCooling - Thermaltake Aquabay M3 5.25" Reservoir
• Case - SilverStone Sugo SG01 case / Thermaltake Tai-Chi case / Thermaltake Muse 3.5" Hard Drive Enclosure / XG Dragon case
• PSU - Enermax Liberty 500W Modular Power Supply / Ultra X-Finity 500w ATX PSU
• Sound - Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Sound Card
• Peripheral - Flexiglow Cyber Snipa Mouse Pad and Gaming Keypad / Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 / Microsoft Media Center 2005 Keyboard / Razer Copperhead 2000 dpi Precision Gaming Mouse(1) / Razer Copperhead 2000DPI Laser Mouse(2) / Saitek Eclipse Keyboard || Corepad Eyepad Mouse surface
• Networking - Hawking Technologies Broadband Booster / Thecus N4100 NAS
• Printer/Scanner - Lexmark P315 Inkjet Printer
• Misc - Logitech Harmony 659 Remote
• Notebook - Acer Ferrari 4000 / Acer Aspire 3002LCi Notebook / Toshiba Qosmio G20 Laptop / $100 Laptop Negroponte (preview) / Vantec Lapcool 3 Notebook Cooler
• Cameras, MP3/DVD players/recorders - JVC GZ-MG70U Camcorder || Novatron iamm NTD-35 Multimedia Player
• Phones/PDAs - RIM Blackberry 8700c / Samsung SGH-D600 Mobile Phone

GUIDES...

• Everything You Need to Know About Digital Cameras - Everything you need to know before buying a digital camera: what is megapixel, how many photos you can store in a memory card and what the most common terms mean.
• VoIP & Internet Phone Services Compared Explanatory Guide - VoIP is one of those mysterious acronyms that almost everyone has seen by now. If you’ve read or watched TV ads for Vonage or any of the other mushrooming broadband telephone services, or read about eBay’s acquisition of Skype, you’re familiar with it. You might have experienced it without even knowing it.
• How To Secure Your Emails - You may think that when you send an email, it will only go to the person you want, but this is not always the case.
• Myths Regarding Windows XP v1.2.7 - There are numerous Myths floating around the Internet regarding Windows XP, especially relating to Optimizations and Security. Hopefully this site will debunk some of these.

SOFTWARE...

• FreeBSD 6.0 Final - release notes / download
• CloneAD avi.NET 1.4 - avi.NET is an MPEG1/MPEG2 to AVI converter (download) using AVS scripts. avi.NET is a 'AutoGK' type program but has a top priority of making AVI files that are Standalone Player Compatible.
• FastStone Image Viewer 2.27 - FastStone Image Viewer (download) is a fast, stable, user-friendly image browser, converter and editor. It supports all major graphic formats (BMP, JPEG, JPEG 2000, animated GIF, PNG, PCX, TIFF, WMF, ICO and TGA) and popular digital camera RAW formats (CRW, CR2, NEF, PEF, RAF, MRW, ORF and DNG).
• JoJoThumb 2.9.6 - JoJoThumb (download) is a utility that allows to create thumbnails from images of the imagetypes BMP, GIF, EMF, JPG, PCD, PCX, PNG, PSD, TGA, TIF, WMF and RAW-Files from Digital-Cameras.
• AIM Ad Hack 5.0 BETA 12 for Aim Triton 0.8.8 - With this small file (download) you can effectively remove all the ads from AIM you must be using.
• Nero CD-DVD Speed 4.10 - Nero CD-DVD Speed is a benchmark which can test the most important features of an optical drive. These tests include: Transfer rate, Seek times, CPU (Central Processing Unit) usage, Burst rate, DAE (Digital Audio Extraction) quality & Spinup/spindown time. It can also check the CD (Compact Disk) and DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) media quality.
• ATI Catalyst 5.11 Beta with CP  - This driver, although WHQL tagged is unofficial and unsupported.
• nForce Drivers WHQL sets - Nvidia have released 5 new sets of nForce Drivers 5.11, 6.69, 7.13, 7.15 and 8.22 for Windows 2000/XP and Windows XP 64bits.

SECURITY... 

• Sony Installs 'Rootkits' On Users Machines - In what's set to be 2005's hottest story yet Sony have been found to install illegal Trojan horse-based digital restrictions management (DRM) technology that installs itself as a rootkit on Windows PCs. Users who purchase certain Sony Music CDs from online stores like Amazon are subject to this rootkit being installed on their machines. According to Sysinternals' Mark Russinovich the kit installs itself in hidden directories and attempts to mask its existence as "Essential System Tools". What's more fun is that attempting to remove the rootkit with common tools that perform a RKR scan will render a Windows XP machine useless. "Users that stumble across the cloaked files with a RKR scan will cripple their computer if they attempt the obvious step of deleting the cloaked files," Mark wrote in an online blog entry yesterday.
• Bird flu virus infects PCs - According to Panda, the virus Naiva.A masquerades as a word document with e-mail subject lines such as "Outbreak in North America" and "What is avian influenza (bird flu)?" When the file is opened, the virus modifies, creates and delete files. A second part of the virus installs a program that allows hackers to gain remote control of infected computers. The firm said the virus cannot spread on its own but needs to be manually distributed via e-mail, Internet downloads or file transfers.
• Cisco IPS MC Malformed Configuration Download Vulnerability - An issue exists in one of the components of the Cisco Management Center for IPS Sensors (IPS MC) v2.1 during the generation of the Cisco IOS IPS (Intrusion Prevention System) configuration file that may result in some signatures belonging to certain classes being disabled during the configuration deployment process. Cisco has made a free software patch available to address this
  vulnerability for affected customers.

OFF-TOPIC

• Advance Xbox 360s Fetching $1,000-plus On Ebay - The online auction site is hosting dozens of listings for the system, many selling for asking prices of as much as $1,000, which is three times the retail price.
• BBC's PS3 report was just speculation? - Eurogamer has confirmed that the BBC’s report of a 2007 PlayStation 3 launch was "just speculation." The journalist responsible for the report told Eurogamer that the 22-month figure did not originate from an official source.
• A Closer Look at Star Wars on Film and Off  - Star Wars, Episode III - Revenge of the Sith comes out on DVD today, and there's an interesting article on Slate dissecting the now-complete trilogy as the avant-garde, intellectual sort of film that Lucas keeps saying it is (thanks Slashdot.org) In related news, comingsoon.net has posted an article/guide "where To Buy Episode III DVD's and Exclusives".
• Ultrasonic Songs of Male Mice - Previously it was shown that male mice, when they encounter female mice or their pheromones, emit ultrasonic vocalizations with frequencies ranging over 30–110 kHz. Here, we show that these vocalizations have the characteristics of song, consisting of several different syllable types, whose temporal sequencing includes the utterance of repeated phrases. Individual males produce songs with characteristic syllabic and temporal structure.

TECHNOLOGY...

• Nokia launches three new multimedia mobiles - The three devices -- the N71, N80 and N92 models -- are additions to Nokia's N-series, aimed at the premium end of the market. The N71 will allow Internet browsing, music playing as well as extra storage with memory cards. The N80 will allow users to share videos and photos through their television sets and play music on their home stereo system. It will be equipped with third-generation mobile technology and allow WLAN wireless broadband connections. The N92 mobile TV will have a 2.8 inch screen, and be able to use DVB-H (Digital Video Broadband-Handheld) -- technology for broadcasts direct to cellphones from TV masts, without having to go through mobile phone operators' signals.
• RIM launches powerful new BlackBerry - The 8700c will have Blackberry's traditional e-mail and telephone features, including speaker phones, and a longer battery life. RIM said the unit has 16 days of battery capacity, about twice the current 7200 model.
• Sprint offering full-song downloads - Sprint Nextel yesterday became the first major wireless carrier in the United States to offer full-song music downloads directly to cellphones.
• 24MB ADSL2+ broadband a 'myth' - Analysts have 'reverse engineered' data from BT and come to the conclusion that the vast majority of British residents will never be able to get 24Mbps broadband direct to the home. 24Mbps is achievable within 300 metres of the exchange so you can get those speeds if you happen to live next door," said Julian Herbert, editor of the Point Topic UK Plus service.
• Office Live Screenshots - The company demoed an early version of Office Live, a managed web application for organising calendar, mail and contacts. Office Live will combine Web Hosting, Collaboration of Projects, Business Applications and Communications. Many expect a fully hosted version of Microsoft Office but this is not the company's intension for Office Live.
• Windows Live Messenger Screenshots - The company also demo'd what is set to be Windows Live Messenger (the next generation of MSN Messenger). Windows Live Messenger is expected to intergrate better PIM functionality, Skype like calling features, Windows Live Local integration and better support for MSN Spaces.
• Sony unveils 5GB CompactFlash card - Sony Europe's Recording Media & Energy division today unveiled its first 5GB CompactFlash Type II media card. CompactVault provides storage capacity for up to 1,600 images or four hours of MPEG 4 recording. The 1in hard disk drive boasts a native transfer rate of up to 96.7Mbps.
• Bad capacitors found on video card -  In this case, it was a Mad Dog GeForce MX4000/128/DDR2 card I bought earlier in the year. The symptoms included corrupted graphics, and then repeated rebooting of the GPU, sometimes up to once a minute, it was really odd.

HARDWARE... 

• Motherboard  - ASRock 939S56-M / Biostar M7VIG-400 Combo / DFI NF4 SLI Infinity / eVGA vs. ECS Socket939 Mini-Shootout / ECS KN1 SLI Extreme / Foxconn NF4SLI7AA-8EKRS2 (nForce 4 SLI Intel)
• Memory - Corsair XMS PC3500LL DDR RAM / Corsair 2GB XMS PC4000 Platinum / Corsair XMS2-5400UL / Corsair TWINX2048-4000PT Platinum Series / G.SKILL F1-4000USU2-2GBHZ PC4000 / OCZ DDR2 PC2-4200 Value Pro
• Storage - Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 Hard Drive / Seagate MomentusT 7200.1 2.5 HDD / Western Digital Caviar SE16 400 GB HDD ||  LG GSA-2166D USB 2.0 Super-Multi DVD±RW/RAM / Lite-On SOHW-1693S DVD±RW Dual Layer Writer || Transcend JetFlash 120 1GB Flash Drive
• Video - ATI All-In-Wonder X800XL(1) /ATI All-In-Wonder X800 XL(2) / BFG GeForce 7800 GT OC SLi / Gainward 7800 GT Golden Shower / GeCube Overclocked Radeon X800 GTO / HIS IceQII Radeon X800GTO Turbo PCI Express(1) / HIS X800GTO IceQ II Turbo 256MB(2) / Inno3D 7800 GT / Sapphire X800 GTO2 Limited Edition 256MB PCIe / XFX 6600 DDR-2

• Monitor/TV - ViewSonic VX924 3ms Display

• Cooling - Arctic-Cooling Silencer 64 Ultra TC heatsink / Cooler Master Ammo 533 Cooler
• WaterCooling - Alphacool CORA 662 Passive Water Cooling Kit  / Asetek Waterchill Xtreme KT12A-12VX Liquid Cooling Kit / Heatsink CPU Water Block Roundup
• Case - Cooler Master Ammo 533 case / NZXT Lexa Pre-Modified PC case / Raidmax Ninja 918 Silver ATX Computer Case / Silverstone LC17 / Sirtec High Power ATX-410-212 / Tuniq Symmetry I Mid-Tower Case / XG Ninja 2 Gaming Case
• Modding - AC Ryan UV kit / Amazing X-Fi case mod
• PSU - Antec Phantom 500W PSU / Dark Power 470W PSU / Enermax Liberty 620W / Hiper Type-R HPU-4B580 580W PSU / Sirtec High Power ATX-410-212 PSU / Ultra X-Finity FlexForce 500W
• Sound - Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic soundcard / Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty XPS soundcard || Behringer Truth B2092A subwoofer / Creative HN-700 Noise Cancelling Headphones / Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Speaker System THX Certified
• Peripheral - Logitech G7 Cordless Gaming Mouse / Logitech MX 5000 Wireless Keyboard & Mouse Combo / Logitech MOMO Racing Force Feedback Wheel / Razer Copperhead 2000 DPI Laser Mouse(1) / Razer Copperhead 2000 DPI Laser Mouse(2) / Sunbeam Lite-Up Slim Keyboard / Wacom Graphire 4x5 Pen Tablet / X-Arcade Trackball Mouse
• Networking - Maxtor Shared Storage Drive
• Printer/Scanner - Samsung SPP-2040 Photo Printer
• Notebook - ABS Mayhem G4 laptop / HP's nc6120 notebook means business / Lenovo ThinkPad X41 Tablet PC / Rock Pegasus 650
• Cameras, MP3/DVD players/recorders - Fujifilm FinePix S9500 9 Mega Pixel digital camera / Kodak EasyShare One Digital Camera || Apple Video iPod / Digital Cube i-Station i2 / Harman-Kardon Drive + Play / Samsung DVD-V9500 High Definition DVD/VCR Combination Player / Samsung YH-MT6 1Gb Digital Audio MP3 Player / SanDisk Digital Audio Player / X-Micro Video Mp3 400 Player and Mini DisGo
• Phones/PDAs - Siemens C75 / Nextlink Bluespoon AX Bluetooth Headset / Nokia N71 smartphone / Nokia 7380 / Nokia 7360

GUIDES...

• How the Nintendo Revolution works - Howstuffworks has put together an explainer (thanks Joystiq) on how the Nintendo Revolution is expected to work, with explanatory details on the gyroscopic hardware, the expected graphical power of the console, and a comparison to the Nintendo GameCube
• Mid-level PC Buying Guide - There are two big goals for this guide. The first goal is to assemble a real enthusiast-level computer that will fly along in the office or at the LAN party. The second goal is to make sure you can also pay next month's rent.
• Beginners Guide to installing Windows - In this guide you'll learn to properly reformat a hard drive, install Windows, install drivers, configure Windows and install programs for maximum safety and finally, to tweak Windows settings to gain the maximum achievable performance your computer can get.
• XP Media - A Windows XP Media Guide v1.2.0 - Using Media in Windows XP requires having the right software. This Free guide will show you the best Freeware Applications that will let you create, edit, playback, display and send Documents, Reports, Spreadsheets, Multimedia Presentations, Graphics, Photos, Pictures, Audio, Music, MP3s, Video, Movies, DVDs, CDs, Instant Messages, RSS Feeds, FTP transfers and more.

SOFTWARE...

• FireFox 1.5 RC1 - New UNstable release of the famous Mozilla Firefox browser has been just released to the web - download.
• PHP 4.4.1- PHP 4.4.1 is now available for download. This version is a maintenance release, that contains numerous bug fixes, including a number of security fixes related to the overwriting of the GLOBALS array.
• Microsoft Office 12 beta leaked - Office 12 leaked on the Internet, Flexbeta reports that it is spreading via Torrent networks.
• Weather Watcher 5.6 - Weather Watcher (download) is your personal Windows desktop weather station. Automatically retrieve the current conditions, hourly forecast, daily forecast, detailed forecast, severe weather alerts, and weather maps for over 77,000 cities world-wide.
• SyncBack Freeware 3.2.8.600 - SyncBack (download) is a freeware program that helps you easily backup and synchronise your files to: the same drive; a different drive or medium (CDRW, CompactFlash, etc); an FTP server; a Network; or a Zip archive.
• CCleaner (Crap Cleaner) 1.25.201 - CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space.
• Nero 7.0.1.2 - No changelog yet - release date is 2nd Nov, it's a 100mb update heh..
• MSN Messenger 7.5 Build 0311 Final - The software giant Microsoft has released for download an updated version of MSN Messenger - this is the final version 7.5 (build 0311).
• Easy CD-DA Extractor 8.2.4 (shw) - Easy CD-DA Extractor (download) package includes: CD-Ripper, CD-Burner, and Music File Format Converter.
• Serv-U 6.1.0.4 - Serv-U (download) is a powerful, easy-to-use, award-winning FTP server created by Rob Beckers.
• Jet-Audio 6.24 - Jet-Audio (download) features an impressive home audio system interface, including independent A/V components for Digital Signal Processor, Audio CD Player, Digital Audio (MP3, RA, etc.), MIDI (MID, MOD etc.), and Digital Video (AVI, MPG, MOV, etc.), along with a Mixer and a Remote Controller.
• PSP Video 9 v1.74 - PSP Video 9 (download) is a free PSP video conversion and management application. It can convert regular PC video files (avi, mpeg, etc) into PSP video files, as well as manage/copy these PSP video files between your PC and PSP.
• VideoLAN Client 0.8.5 Beta - The VideoLAN Client can read the stream from the network and display it. It can also be used to display video read locally on the computer : DVDs, VCDs, MPEG and DivX files and from a satellite card.
• Media Player Classic 6.4.8.5 - Media Player Classic (download) is similar to windows media player 6.4 but with features pertained to minimalist advanced users. It also supports DirectX 9 and VFW drivers for capture. It supports viewing through ActiveX controls of Real and QuickTime files.
• QuickTime Alternative 1.64 - QuickTime Alternative 1.64 includes Media Player Classic 6.4.8.5 and is based on QuickTime 7.0.3.50, which adds support for H.264 and more, but it does not support Windows 95, 98, 98 SE, ME and NT any longer.
• WinZip 10.0 Final - WinZip (download / what's new / cmd-line add-on) brings the convenience of Windows to the use of Zip files and other compression formats. The optional wizard interface makes zipping and unzipping easier than ever. WinZip features built-in support for CAB files and for popular Internet file formats such as TAR, gzip, UUencode, BinHex, and MIME. ARJ, LZH, and ARC files are supported via external programs.
• PSPad UNICODE 4.5.0 (2140) Beta - There have been tons for fixes and updates to the official release and this beta is intended for testing purposes on systems with UNICODE support, enjoy.
• K-Lite Codec Pack Full 2.59 Beta 3 - K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of codecs and related tools. Codec is short for Compressor-Decompressor. Codecs are needed for encoding and decoding (playing) audio and video. This Codec Pack is designed as a user-friendly solution for playing all your movie files. You should be able to play all the popular movie formats and even some rare formats.
• nVHardPage SE v3.2 - nVHardPage nVidia videocard tweaker is tweaking utility for nVidia display adapters running under Windows 98 (SE) / Windows ME / Windows 2000 and Windows XP. With this tweak utility you can enable/disabe hidden features in nVidia control panel, tweak nVidia Direct3D and OpenGL settings and overclock your nVidia display adapter

SECURITY... 

• Rootkit Takes Aim at AOL - Security experts have spotted a rootkit spreading through AOL's instant messaging client, marking the first instance of a rootkit file coming through the IM vector. In addition to the "lockx.exe" rootkit file, the new worm delivers a version of the Sdbot Trojan horse, said FaceTime, which sells products to protect instant-messaging traffic. Sdbot opens a backdoor on the infected PC.
• Mirabilis ICQ 2003a Buffer Overflow Download Shellcoded Exploit - This exploit requires social engineering skills to use it. For example you should tell your friend that you've found a easter-egg and if he wants to see it he has to  type your vuln. string to first and last name fields in icq then press find button etc...
• Online banking faces security upgrades - Many banks overseas, where data-privacy laws are stronger, already have deployed a second level of authentication. They give customers specialized hardware, such as a "smart card" or an electronic token that displays a changing series of passcodes.
• How The NSA Secures Computers - NSA site covering secure configuration guidelines for a number of operating systems.

CRIME/LAW...

• Microsoft Takes On Spamming Botnets - Microsoft has filed lawsuits against 13 unnamed senders of spam e-mail who used botnets to distribute their messages. The actual charges were filed in August, but Microsoft only now unveiled details about the case.
• £300k eBay Fraudsters Sentenced - A cell of three Romanian fraudsters have been sentenced to jail after pleading guilty to conspiracy to obtain fraud by deception and money laundering. The goods offered ranged from cars to concert tickets.
• Sex.com domain hijacker captured - Mexican police has arrested Stephen Cohen, a convicted con man who in 1995 defrauded authorities to take over ownership of the Sex.com internet domain.

OFF-TOPIC

• Start of Life Gene Discovered - The BBC reports that scientists from the UK and France have may found a gene responsible for controlling the fertilization of a new egg. Faults in this gene might explain why some couples struggle to get pregnant despite having healthy sperm, say the researchers from the UK and France.
• Russian Military Satellite Fails to Separate From Booster Rocket - The Russian military satellite Mozhayets-5 that was launched on Thursday failed to separate from its booster rocket Kosmos-3M. The satellite is currently rotating in a near-earth orbit with the booster’s third stage and is sending no signals to Earth.

TECHNOLOGY...

• Software Converts iTunes Songs... But Is It Legal? -  HotRecorder for Media converts songs from iTunes and Yahoo Inc.'s music service into standard MP3 files that can play on any MP3 device. The resulting files can then be played on devices that do not support copy-protection.
• Futuremark Unveils 3DMarkMobile06 - Futuremark announced 3DMarkMobile06.
• Coming Soon to a Kernel Near You: GPL 3 - After 15 years, the Free Software Foundation is just weeks away from announcing the roadmap for a rewritten GNU General Public License.
• Level 3, Cogent Agree on Traffic Deal - Avoiding Congressional intervention, Level 3 and Cogent announced on Friday that they have reached an agreement that will keep internet traffic flowing smoothly between their customers. Earlier this month Level 3 disrupted service to Cogent accusing them of overloading it's servers. The interruption of service led to problems for thousands of internet users and prompted Congress to threaten intervention. (Ed.note: Gameguru utilizes Cogent backbone...)
• Stanford engineers could hold the key to faster chips - W.M. Keck Foundation Professor of Electrical Engineering, David A.B. Miller and fellow researcher James Harris estimate that the device, a modulator, could be as small as a millionth of a meter tall and about as long. They estimate that it could operate at rates greater than 100 billion times a second, or 50 times faster than the rate of data transmissions in the computer hardware of today

HARDWARE... 

• CPU - Intel's 65nm Processors: Overclocking (preview)
• Motherboard  - Asus P5N32-SLI: Dual x16 / DFI Lanparty UT RDX200 CF-DR / Gigabyte GA-8I955X Royal / Gigabyte GA-K8N51GMF-9 (GeForce 6100/nForce 430) / Supermicro PDSGE
• Complete / SFF Systems - Acer Aspire E300-7NB73 / AOpen XC Cube MZ915-M / Falcon Northwest FragBox 2 Evaluation / Shuttle XPC SD11G5 SFF
• Memory - Corsair 2GB TWINX PC4400 DDR550 Pro Series Memory / OCZ EL DDR PC-4000 2GB Gold Edition Dual Channel / OCZ PC4000 2GB EB Platinum Ed.
• Storage - Seagate 7200.9 500GB: Mouthwatering Benchmarks / Silentmaxx HD-Silencer || 3Ware 9550SX Serial ATA-II/300 RAID Controller Lineup || OCZ Technology Rally USB 2.0 Flash Drive / SanDisk 1GB Memory Stick PRO Duo Card || Plasmon UDO30D-SE (30GB Blueray drive)
• Video - ATI's Radeon X1000 series / ATI All-In-Wonder X800XL / HIS X800 GTO IceQII iTurbo / HiS Radeon x800 GT & GTO 256MB / NVIDIA GeForce 6150 and GeForce 6100 / Powercolor X800GT / PowerColor X800 GT Xtreme Edition / Sapphire Radeon X1800 XL vs. XFX GeForce 7800 GT / Sapphire X800 GTO2 / X800 GTO - Sapphire and HIS / Watch Out For GeCube / XFX GeForce 7800 GT 256MB
• Monitor/TV - Dell 2405 fpw LCD Monitor / Samsung Syncmaster 173P+ 17" LCD
• Cooling - Evercool FOX-3 System Blower / PowerColor Heat Buster PCI slot cooler / Thermaltake Blue Orb II / Vapochill Micro CPU Cooler / Zalman Reserator 1 Plus / Zalman CNPS9500 LED Heatsink
• WaterCooling - Gigabyte 3D Aurora & 3D Galaxy Liquid Cooling / Innovatek Premium XXS watercooling kit / Swiftech H2O-Apex + MCW55 Water Cooling
• Case - Aspire X-CRUISER-RD Case / SilverStone SG01B / SilverStone LC16M HTPC Case (video-review) /  XG Ninja 2 Case
• Modding - Sunbeamtech Theta TP-101 Fan Controller
• PSU - PSU roundup / Sansun Arctic 550W PSU / Super Flower 480W Plug N Power PSU
• Sound - Soundblaster X-Fi XtremeMusic Sound Card / SteelSound 5H-USB Professional Gaming Headset
• Peripheral - Ergonomic Mouse Roundup / Canon PowerShot SD450 / Logitech G5 Laser Gaming Mouse / Razer Copperhead Gaming Mouse || Clark's Precision Machine & Tool's F-A-18E Cockpit || EYEpad Gaming Mouse Pad
• Networking - BYTECC LanDisk
• Printer/Scanner - HP LaserJet 2420d
• Misc - StarTech 2 Port USB Mini KVM Switch / RoadWired Podzilla SLR Camera Bag
• Notebook - Fujitsu LifeBook P1510D
• Cameras, MP3/DVD players/recorders - JVC Everio MG50 Camcorder / Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30 Digital Camera || Swissbit SWISSMEMORY s.beat / X-micro Video MP3 400 Media Player
• Phones/PDAs - Dell Axim X50v / NEC N411i - i-mode Phone / palm T|X, Samsung SGH-E760 Motion Recognition Camera Phone

GUIDES...

• Interactive AMD Athlon 64 Product ID Guide - There's a so called product ID (OPN) on each AMD Athlon 64 CPU, which is necessary to indicate for example the right Vcore or the maximum allowed CPU temperature, but this product ID wasn't really easy to understand without studying several AMD datasheets.
• Contemporary Graphics Card Naming Guide - This guide will give you very clear idea of the major technical differences between the cards and will lead you through all the tricky names and markings that are currently circulating in the market
• The Definitive BIOS Optimization Guide Revision 8.5.2 - Adrian has updated his premier BIOS optimization guide.
• High End Audio Cable Design - Have you ever wondered what goes into the making of a $1,500 audio cable? Audio engineer Adam Blake will takes you through the process.
• Flat Panel Furniture Buying Guide - Does your old, pressboard IKEA TV stand from grad school look out of place with your new plasma screen? If so, check out the following suggestions to help you organize and jazz up your home entertainment theatre quicker than you can find something decent to watch on TV.
• Quake 4 Guide - UpsetChaps has posted their Quake 4 tweaking guide
• Half-Life 2 Lost Coast HDR Performance (Updated) - So what we have here is a poor Crossfire showing far worse than we saw with Quake 4. Perhaps this is the killer application for SLI, or ATI may have some driver issues with their Shader 2.0 implementation. With the single X850 fairing better in all but one setting we believe the drivers are at issue. We would fully expect driver updates for Lost Coast now that it has finally been released publicly, and the story could then change. We also need to see other platforms benchmarked. Radeons may even prove to perform better on a nForce 4 board than Xpress 200 based rig.
• Forceware 81.87 Official Beta comparison - check it out (in German)
• How to speed up Open Office - Both changes involve going into the Tools and then options management sections. In the memory dialogue box, increase graphics cache to 64MB and memory per object to 8MB. It will take Open Office a few openings before this helps.
• Aaron Spuler's Tips for Updating Mozilla Firefox Themes - Aaron Spuler has posted a very nice technique to make sure that Firefox themes get properly updated for the upcoming 1.5 full release. In case you don't know who Aaron is, he maintains several incredible themes and also wrote the chapter on Themes in my Hacking Firefox book.

SOFTWARE...

• AVG Anti-Virus Free 7.1.362 Build 652 - AVG Free Edition (download) is the well-known anti-virus protection tool. AVG Free is available free-of-charge to home users for the life of the product.
• Unlocker 1.7.4 - This application unlocks in-use files, allowing functions to be performed on theme
• Kernel 2.6.14 - Linux Kernel (download) has been updated again
• CCleaner 1.25.201 - CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space.
• PowerArchiver 2006 9.50.28 (shw) - PowerArchiver (download) is an award-winning archive utility for the Windows family of products that provides support for most compressed and encoded files, as well as access to many powerful features and tools though an easy to use interface that seamlessly integrates with Windows Explorer.
• Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird 1.5 Release Candidate 1 Test Builds - The Mozilla Quality weblog has details of test builds of Mozilla Firefox 1.5 Release Candidate 1 and Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5 Release Candidate 1.
• MozBackup 1.4.3 - MozBackup (download) is a simple utility for creating backups of Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, Mozilla Suite and Netscape profiles. It allows you to backup and restore bookmarks, mail, contacts, history, extensions, cache etc.
• AIM Ad Hack 5.0 Beta 10 for Aim Triton - With this small file (download) you can effectively remove all the ads from AIM you must be using
• Avi2Dvd 0.4.1 Beta - Avi2Dvd is an all-in-one tool that converts avi/mkv/ogm with few clicks in a vcd/svcd/dvd. It uses only freeware tools and can handle varius freeware enconders (QuEnc/FreeEnc/NuEnc).
• WinAmp 5.1.1.143 final - Nullsoft Winamp (download full / lite) is a fast, flexible, high-fidelity media player for Windows. Winamp supports playback of many audio (MP3, OGG, AAC, WAV, MOD, XM, S3M, IT, MIDI, etc) and video types (AVI,ASF,MPEG,NSV), etc.
• DNA-ATi 4.4.5.10a (x32 & x64) - 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.
• NVIDIA nForce 4 Drivers 6.70 & 6.82 - NVIDIA has released new nForce 4 Drivers for the new SLI x16 and SLI. Download: Download: nForce 4 SLI Drivers 6.70 w2k-XP / nForce 4 SLI x16 6.82 w2k-XP.

SECURITY... 

• Internet Explorer 6.0 Denial Of Service - A denial of service vulnerability exists within Internet Explorer 6.0 on XP SP2 with the J2SE Runtime Environment installed allows for an attacker to cause the browser to stop responding. Please read more for the full details.
• Skype fixes three critical flaws - Skype has patched three security holes in its software, rated 'highly critical' by vulnerability testing organisation Secunia. The flaws include a buffer overflow that could be used to direct users to a specially crafted URL, a flaw in the handling of VCARD information that could allow a system takeover, and a heap-based buffer overflow that could be used to crash the VoIP application.
• German security agency warns of VoIP security risks - Germany's Federal Office for Security in Information Technology (BSI) is warning businesses of potential security risks with voice-over-IP (VoIP) technology, in a study presented at the Systems IT exhibition and conference in Munich.
• MS05-047 Remote Denial of Service (Exploit) - The code crashes services.exe on the target, effectively bringing down the target against which its run.
• How-To: Hack NetStumbler to Enable Wireless Zero Configuration - Israel Torres discovered a way to enable Microsoft Windows Wireless Zero Configuration Utility when running NetStumbler.

CRIME/LAW...

• Swedish court fines file sharer $2000 - A 28 year old Swede prosecuted for sharing the movie Hip Hip Hora (The Ketchup Effect) on the Direct Connect network was fined 16000 SEK (about $2000) by Swedish court today. Screen shots taken by the anti-piracy group Antipiratbyrån were used as part of the evidence in the trial. The 28 year old man did however also confess that he had shared the movie during the police interrogation but withdrew the confession in the trial.
• RaFa sentenced to 7 months - A computer hacker from Venezuela known as "RaFa" was sentenced Friday to the seven months he already has spent behind bars for breaking into a U.S. Air Force training computer in 2001.

OFF-TOPIC

• Six-seat spacecraft top of Russian space plan - Russia is paving the way for a crewed mission to Mars, according to its new 10-year space plan. The plan also calls for it to finish the construction of its section of the International Space Station, though some analysts say this may now be impossible.
• Nano skyscrapers may precede space elevator - Liftport, a space-infrastucture company, has been among those who support construction of a space elevator, a long thin cable made of carbon nanotubes anchored to a platform or ship at sea and extending out into space. Held in place by the earth's rotation, the space elevator, with the help of robots, would ferry materials to outer space.
• Engineers Report Breakthrough in Laser Beam Tech - New York Times is reporting that Standford engineers have discovered a method to modulate a beam of laser light up to 100 billion times a second (10 times faster than the highest-performance commercial products available today). Such an advance could have broad applications both in accelerating the already declining cost of optical networking and in potentially transforming computers in the future by making it possible to interconnect computer chips at extremely high data rates.
• Scientists complete map of human genetic variation - They have completed a map that charts patterns of human genetic variation in the world population, to better understand human biology, evolution and how to diagnose diseases.
• Modding, Where to Next? - There are many levels of modders out there, some are considered 'professional' but are they? What makes them a professional? Being in a magazine? Being contracted by a company for a mod? Winning an award? Charging $40 an hour to do a mod? What exactly makes them a professional?
• Gamer shells out $100,000 for virtual property - A gamer has paid $100,000 for a virtual space resort in the massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Project Entropia.
• Catholic school bans blogging - Head teacher Rev Kieran McHugh said that any student who ran a blog on the internet will be suspended. Although he didn't say from what, although we are assured that the Church doesn't hang people for opposing it these days. McHugh said that what he was doing was not censorship it was common civility, courtesy and respect. McHugh said he was protecting children from sexual predators, cyber-bullying and harassment.
• 14 things you didn't know about Bill Gates - check it out!

TECHNOLOGY...

• Dell Introduces $999 XPS Notebook - Dell has added a low cost XPS branded notebook to its product line, the XPS M140, to complement the XPS M170 introduced in September. This "budget" minded laptop has a 14.1" widescreen display and weighs in at 5.5 pounds. Stock configuration for the new laptop includes a Pentium M 740 operating at 1.73GHz, 512MB DDR2 RAM, 40GB hard disk, Intel integrated graphics, a CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive, 5-in-1 card reader, and integrated 802.11g wireless.
• NVIDIA makes GeForce Go 7300 official - NVIDIA has formally announced its GeForce Go 7300 graphics processor.
• Microsoft reportedly sets date to release Windows Vista to OEMs - Microsoft Corp. is expected to release to manufacturing the next version of its Windows desktop operating system on July 25, 2006, to ensure PC vendors have it on machines in time for the 2006 holiday season in the U.S., according to sources familiar with the company's plans.
• Asustek debuts 3ms LCD monitor - Asustek Computer recently unveiled its new series of 3ms 17-inch LCD monitors, which are slated to hit the market in November, according to the company. But alsoViewSonic has recently released a very exciting product, a nineteen inch LCD display with a 3ms response time.
• LCD price cuts on the way - Price reductions in LCD monitors are likely due to the ramp up of new seventh-generation production plants, according to a report in the Financial Times.
• IBM to reveal details on Xbox 360 processor - IBM reused some components from other chips, but for all intents and purposes the chip is a brand new design. IBM's team implemented the design and finished it around 14 months after signing the contract.
• XBox 360 games single threaded - Looks like the first generation of Xbox titles, all of them, are single threaded: "The Inq has gotten its hands on an Xbox360, yes, there is a Wal-Mart near us, and was completely underwhelmed by the quality of the games. Graphics quality was poor, and pixels were showing up blocky, ruining the wow-factor of the new console. Every new machine has a nasty first set of games as the programmers work up to speed on the hardware. In this case, the up side is that there is about 6x the CPU power available and coming to a console near you in the second generation of games."
• P2P Service iMesh Re-opens Legally - After a year of tests to appease major record labels, P2P service iMesh is set to reopen as the first unregulated P2P network to convert into a paid music service. Now, however, iMesh must win over the 5 million customers that have grown used to free music.
• Disney aims to plug screener leaks with secure DVDs & players - Disney said Monday that it will release DVD "screeners"--copies of movies sent to groups that vote on awards--only for DVD players made exclusively by a Dolby Laboratories unit, Cinea, and engineered to thwart illegal copying.
• Nokia Fleshes Out CDMA Lineup - Nokia today launched four handsets designed to operate over CDMA networks

HARDWARE... 

• CPU - Sempron vs. Athlon 64 on the Socket 754 Platform / Socket Science from AMD / AMD Processor Pricing
• Motherboard - Direct comparison of 11 AMD Athlon 64 Socket 754 & 939 Motherboards / ABIT NI8 SLI / Albatron K8SLI / ASrock 775Twins-HDTV Motherboard / Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe / ASUS P5ND2-SLI Deluxe / DFI Infinity NFORCE4 / ECS KN1 SLI Extreme / ECS PA1 MVP Extreme / Sapphire PURE Innovation PI-A9RX480
• Complete / SFF Systems - Mesh Xtreme Essential TRX / Scan 3XS AMD Chameleon
• Memory - Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800  / Gigahertz Memory Head to Head
• Storage - Seagate 7200.9 Series Hard Drive || Lite-On SHW-1635S 16x DVD+-RW Double Layer DVD Writer
• Video - 3Digest: September 2005 / ATI Radeon X1800 Performance and Image Quality / ASUS Extreme AX800 Silencer / ASUS Extreme N7800 GTX TOP RADEON / ATI All-in-Wonder X800 XL / Gigabyte GeForce 7800 GT / HIS Radeon X700 IceQ 128MB AGP / HIS X800GT IceQ II Turbo and HIS X800GTO IceQ II Turbo / XFX GeForce 7800 GT
• Monitor/TV - BenQ FP202W - 20in Widescreen Monitor / Samsung SyncMaster 242MP 22" / Samsung SP-R4212 Plasma EDTV
• Cooling - Asetek VapoChill Micro cooler / nPower NPH-775-1 and NPH-K8-1 heatpipe coolers / Jetart JAK801 Athlon64 Heatsink / Scythe Silent BOX SBX-1000 silencer/cooler / Sharkoon Silent Eagle 2000 Case Fan / Thermaltake Blue Orb II CPU Cooler(1) / Thermaltake Golden Orb II CPU Cooler(2)
• WaterCooling - Vantec Stingray Water Cooler / Zalman Reserator 1 Plus Water Cooling
• Case - Antec P180 Advanced Mid-Tower Case / Aspire X-Plorer Case / Enermax MESH Pandora CA-3030 case / Enermax MESH Pandora CA-3030 ATX Case / Gigabyte 3D Aurora GZ-FSCA1-AN Aluminium Case / Mesh CA3030-BS case / Mountain Mods Bob Slay Acrylic Cube Case / Nikao Dragon Fire Mid Tower Gaming Case / RaidMax X-1 Gaming Case / SilverStone LC17 HTPC Case / Thermaltake Armor Full Tower Case / Thermaltake VB6000 Swing Mid-Tower ATX Case
• Modding - Ultra Products Fan Commander
• PSU - Value PSU Roundup / Case Gear X-Plug 450W Modular Acrylic PSU / Enermax Liberty 400 PSU / FSP Group Blue Storm 500W PSU / Silverstone Strider ST60F 600W PSU / XClio Goodpower 500W PSU
• Sound - SoundBlaster X-Fi XtremeMusic || Creative GigaWorks ProGamer G500 5.1 Speakers / Logitech Z-4 2.1 Speakers / Logitech Z-5500 Digital THX Certified 5.1 Speaker Set / Samsung HT-P50 Home Theatre System
• Peripheral - Logitech G7 Cordless Laser Mouse / Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer 2.0 / Super Joy Box 5 PC USB to PS/PS2 Game Controller Adapter / Wolf Claw Type II Gaming Keyboard || Icemat second edition mousepad
• Networking - SMC Barricade VOICE ADSL Router
• Printer/Scanner - Samsung CLP-510 colour laser printer
• Misc - Jackson Armor Card / Pure Pocket DAB 2000 radio
• Notebook - Compaq Presario V2410 Turion 64 Laptop / Samsung X1 Intel Centrino Notebook / Titan TTC-G3T Aluminum Notebook Cooler
• Cameras, MP3/DVD players/recorders - Canon Optura 600 Camcorder / Olympus E-500 Evolt Digital Camera / Ricoh Caplio R3 Digital Camera || iPod nano audio player / Sandisk Sansa 1GB MP3 Player

GUIDES...

• Athlon 64 Cores - A quick guide to all Athlon 64 cores released to date: ClawHammer, NewCastle, Winchester, Venice and San Diego.
• The Rules of RAID - RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives) is a way of ganging up a number of hard drives to either increase performance, increase reliability, or preferably, both.
• The Mini-ITX Project Part II - The first iteration of the Mini-ITX project computer was based on a VIA EPIA MII10000 motherboard, a SilverStone LC12 enclosure, 512MB of OCZ RAM, and a Corsair 512MB Flash Voyager USB flash drive. The system booted off of and saved onto the flash drive.
• Do All Audio & Speaker Cables Sound The Same? - Audio engineer Adam Blake tackles the question and gives you the answer. Find out how sound is affected as it travels through the cable and into the speakers.
• Full FEAR Tweak Guide - This guide refers to the latest version of FEAR, Version 1.01
• Quake 4 Guide with Framerate and Visual Tweaks - A nice tweak guide for Quake 4.
• Disk Defragmenters Demystified - Most people think of disk defragmentation as a process that involves gathering and reordering pieces of data files that have been scattered on a hard drive. That process is called physical defragmentation. However, no disk utility on the market does that. Instead, the tools reviewed here-PerfectDisk 7, Diskeeper 9 and the Disk Defragmenter utility included with Windows XP-all defragment logical hard drives (or volumes) created by the operating system's file system.

SOFTWARE...

• UNOFFICIAL Windows 2000 Service Pack 5 - Microsoft Windows 2000 Unofficial SP5 combines 403 hotfixes into a single hotfix - fully automated. It's not just a matter of determining file versions, there's much more to it. The interface is very easy to use since it's identical to a normal Windows update setup.
• WinImage 8.0 supports Microsoft Virtual Hard Disk format - With 8.0 version WinImage introduces now read/write support for Microsoft Virtual Hard Disk (vHD) format, used by Virtual PC and Virtual Server, since Microsoft now discloses format details under a royalty-free license.
• phpMyAdmin 2.6.4-pl3 - phpMyAdmin can manage a whole MySQL-server (needs a super-user) but also a single database. To accomplish the latter you`ll need a properly set up MySQL-user who can read/write only the desired database.
• Windows Media Lite 1.20 - Windows Media Lite will allow you to play and stream Windows Media files without having to install Windows Media Player from Microsoft.
• MSN Messenger 7.5.0311 - download
• jetAudio 6.2.4 - jetAudio 6 once again redefines what a digital player should be. Tons of new features are added in this version, and jetAudio give you the best digital audio/video experience ever as well as the easy-to-use skinnable interface.
• FileZilla 2.2.17 - FileZilla (download) is a fast FTP and SFTP client for Windows with a lot of features. This new version adds support for servers needing an account for successful logon using ACCT command and experimental support for BS-2000 servers.
• Adobe Reader Speed-Up 1.33 - Adobe Reader SpeedUp (download) is a simple application that was created to help make the loading time of Adobe's Acrobat/Reader software bearable for everyday use
• DeepBurner Free 1.7.1.123 - DeepBurner (download) is an advanced and extremely powerful CD and DVD burning package.
• DivxToDVD 1.99.22 - DivxToDVD (download) is a 1 click solution to convert and burn your movie files to a compatible DVD playable on any home DVD player
• DVD Identifier 4.2.0.0 - DVD Identifier retrieves and interprets the pre-recorded information that is present on dvd media (dvd+r, dvd+r dl, dvd+rw, dvd+rw dl, dvd-r, dvd-r dl, dvd-rw and dvd-ram) and on blu-ray media (bd-r and bd-re). This information contains a variety of parameters such as disc manufacturing information and supported write speeds.
• Nero CD-DVD Speed 4.08 - Nero CD-DVD Speed is a benchmark which can test the most important features of an optical drive. These tests include: Transfer rate, Seek times, CPU (Central Processing Unit) usage, Burst rate, DAE (Digital Audio Extraction) quality & Spinup/spindown time.
• VisualRoute 2006 10.0b (shw) - VisualRoute (download) delivers the functionality of key Internet "ping," "whois," and "traceroute" tools, in a high-speed visually integrated package.
• Skype 1.4.0.84 - Skype (download) uses P2P (peer-to-peer) technology to connect you to other users. Not to share files, but to talk with them for free.
• Quak4 v1.0.1b - tertsi has released an updated version of his awesome Quake 4 graphics tuning tool Quak4 v1.0.1b. Quake 4 supports the G70, NV40, and NV30.
• Win32Whois 0.9.8 - Win32Whois (download) is a small and efficient Whois client. It is able to retrieve domain information for most of the common TLDs (top level domains
• Autoruns 8.3 - Autoruns goes way beyond the MSConfig utility bundled with Windows Me and XP.
• Sisoftware Sandra Lite 2005.SR3 (10.69) - SiSoftware Sandra (download) is an information & diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software, and other devices whether hardware or software. It provides similar level of information to Norton SI, Quarterdeck WinProbe/Manifest, etc.
• Intel Desktop Control Center 2.0.00.18 - Intel Desktop Control Center enables you to perform stress tests to verify system stability and to conduct performance testing to measure the impact of system configuration changes.
• Radeon Omega Drivers 2.6.75 - Radeon Omega Catalyst Drivers will provide gamers with an alternate set of drivers, ones that have more options and features than the original sets.
• ForceWare 79.11 Win2000/XP (Fujitsu/Siemems release) - Fujitsu/Siemems released a new NVIDIA ForceWare driver.
• nVidia ForceWare 81.87 Official Beta - nVidia has released a new ForceWare beta driver
• ATI Catalyst 5.10a with CCC (Updated) - ATI has silently released an update to their beta Catalyst 5.10a. This set includes the OpenGL performance improvement which everyone is talking about.

SECURITY... 

• Microsoft reports second patch problem - This time, a problem with a critical patch related to Microsoft's DirectShow streaming media software is leaving some Windows 2000 users unprotected even after they have installed a patch. Windows 2000 users who have installed Microsoft DirectX Version 8.0 or 9.0 may not have fixed their software by installing Microsoft Security Update MS05-050, the company said in a statement posted Thursday to its Web site.
• Yahoo fixes Web mail security flaw - Yahoo has fixed a security flaw in its free Web-based e-mail service that opened the door to phishing scams, account hijacks and other attacks. The flaw, known as a cross-site scripting vulnerability, existed because Yahoo's Web site did not detect certain script tags in combination with certain special characters, according to SEC Consult, which issued an advisory on the flaw Friday.
• Exploit out for Zotob-like Windows flaw - Exploit code was published Friday for a Windows flaw similar to the vulnerability that led to the Zotob worm that wreaked havoc in August. The code takes advantage of a bug related to plug-and-play technology in Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Microsoft provided a patch for the flaw on Oct. 11 in security bulletin MS05-047, along with fixes for 13 other Windows flaws.
• MySpace Worm Source Code - The MySpace worm uses XSS in order to access services on MySpace web site that are not available to not paying customers.
• Cisco 11500 Content Services Switch SSL DoS - Cisco CSS 11500 Series Content Services Switches (CSS) configured with Secure Socket Layer (SSL) termination services are vulnerable to a Denial of Service (DoS) attack when processing malformed client certificates.

CRIME/LAW...

• Botnet operation controlled 1.5m PCs - A recently foiled botnet operation has turned out to be 15 times larger that police initially thought. On further investigation, authorities found that the operation had put about 1.5 million computers and servers under its control. The crime ring was thought to have created a botnet of 100,000 systems, which they claimed was the largest ever detected.
• Police hail car boot piracy bust - The UK games industry loses £2bn a year through fraud, but police and trading standards officers are claiming the capture of just £18,000 worth of counterfeit goods as a "major coup".
• Large scale piracy continues in China - The BSA estimates that 90 percent of all software sold in China is pirated. Vendors pushing wheelbarrows piled with CDs offer Windows 98, 2000 and XP for as little as 4 yuan-just 50 cents. A slightly higher-quality product is available from tiny, hole-in-the wall storefronts. There, a copy of the software still in its original packaging-or what looks like original packaging – is available for 18 yuan, or $2.25. Still a bargain.
• Major Book Publishers Sue Google - Google on Wednesday was sued by a major publishing association for digitizing library books without the permissions of copyright holders, the second such suit filed against the search engine giant.
• Suit filed over Nano scratches - Claiming that the iPod Nano has a widespread propensity for scratching easily, lawyers this week filed a class action suit against Apple Computer on behalf of those who have purchased the diminutive music player. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday on behalf of all those who have bought a Nano, alleges that Apple violated state consumer protection statutes, as well as express and implied warranties.

OFF-TOPIC

• DOOM Movie In Theaters - The DOOM movie has finally arrived in North American movie theaters. Here're a few reviews: Ars Technica, Edge, Film Freak Central, IGN Film Force, Zap2It.
• Xbox Live to close for 1 day on 24th October 2005 - Scheduled for October 24th, with full services to be resumed the following day, the company has confirmed that a number of enhancements and additional community and global ranking functionality will launch to coincide with the launch of its next generation console. Changes include the addition of Xbox Live Marketplace, and an 'achievements' record system, which catalogues every player's special accomplishments in every Xbox 360 game played, although all new additions will be invisible to gamers until the Xbox 360's US launch date on November 22nd.
• The End Of The Light Bulb? - This MSNBC article discussing the likely eventual replacement of common light bulbs by LEDs. That replacement is likely to come quicker thanks to an accidental discovery announced this week: "Michael Bowers, a graduate student at Vanderbilt University, was just trying to make really small quantum dots, which are crystals generally only a few nanometers big. ... When you shine a light on quantum dots or apply electricity to them, they react by producing their own light, normally a bright, vibrant color. But when Bowers shined a laser on his batch of dots, something unexpected happened. 'I was surprised when a white glow covered the table,' Bowers said. 'The quantum dots were supposed to emit blue light, but instead they were giving off a beautiful white glow.'"  (thanks Slashdot.org)

TECHNOLOGY...

• AMD to standardize on Socket M2 - AMD plans to simplify its 90nm CPU platform with its 940-pin Socket M2 CPU design, according to motherboard makers. As Intel schedules to unify desktop PC- and notebook-use processors in the second half of 2006, AMD is looking to standardize a full CPU line for entry-level, middle-range and high-end segments, indicated the makers.
• Gizmondo handheld fails to impress - With GPS functionality bolstering its gaming and multimedia playback capabilities, the Gizmondo actually has something unique to offer. Unfortunately, the device costs $399 and lacks quality games. A cheaper Gizmondo is available without the GPS software, but that version forces users to sit through 40-second commercials several times a day.
• DVD Jon to relocate to United States for position at MP3Tunes - Jon Lech Johansen, the 21-year-old Norwegian media hacker nicknamed DVD Jon, is moving to San Diego to work for maverick tech entrepreneur Michael Robertson in what can only be described as the most portentous team-up since Butch met Sundance.
• Warner to release films in the Blu-ray Disc format - Warner Bros. has now officially announced that it has joined the BDA (Blu-ray Disc Association) and will release movies in the Blu-ray Disc format. This was an expected move after Paramount's announcement a couple of weeks ago.
• Studios aim to do away with VHS format by the end of 2006 - After 28 years, manufacturers have decided to stop making the tapes. By the end of 2006, companies within the home-video industry will phase out VHS technology, leaving only DVDs as the way in which people can buy or rent a movie.
• Video to PSP with Sony's Sugo Roku DVR in Japan - Engadget is reporting that Sony has just unveiled a DVD/HD recorder that can copy video direct to a Playstation Portable memory stick. Dubbed the RDR-AX75, the dual layer burning unit works with DVD+RW/+R, DVD-R/RW media and sports a nice sized 250GB hard disc.
• New PS2 suffers compatibility problems - According to PS2.IGN, the latest PS2 will have a troublesome time with seven PS2 games and as many as 40 PS1 games. The newest model, satin silver, is due for release in Japan next month, immediately before the Xbox 360 launch there. Aside from the plethora of backwards compatibility problems, there is a list of current gen PS2 games it freezes while playing. The list includes, Gauntlet Dark Legacy, F12002 and the newer Tekken 5.
• Murdoch gets Easynet - BSkyB has agreed to shell out £211m to acquire broadband ISP Easynet in a deal that catapults the satellite broadcaster into the UK's telecoms sector. The deal, which still needs shareholder approval, gives BSkyB the opportunity to offer its punters the all important "triple play" of TV, phone and internet in a move to rival merging cablecos NTL and Telewest.
• Seagate drive problems cause EMC, HP headaches - The problem, according to the source, is with a batch of Seagate SCSI Series 6, typically installed in disk arrays. A proportion of the drives are causing problems and when corporate customers contact support they are escalated swiftly to the highest levels.
• VIA launches integrated K8M890 chipset with DirectX9 support - Enabling support for DirectX 9.0 and Pixel Shader 2.0 for high quality video processing, the VIA K8M890 also boasts the Chromotion Video Display Engine for enhanced visual output, including support for all HDTV output formats up to 1920×1080, advanced 2D/3D graphics capabilities, comprehensive de-interlace support and DuoView for enhanced productivity and presentation capabilities

HARDWARE... 

• CPU - Athlon 64 3800+ / AMD Athlon64 X2 3800+ CPU / AMD Opteron 254 CPU / Intel Paxville Dual Core Xeon 2.8 GHz / Intel Pentium D 840
• Motherboard - A8N32 SLI Deluxe / Aopen i915Ga-HFS Pentium M / DFI Infinity nForce4 Ultra / DFI LANParty UT RDX200 / EQS A72K9-CF Crossfire Edition Mainboard  / Foxconn WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS / Gigabyte GA-K8NS Ultra AMD Athlon 64 Socket 939 (1) / Gigabyte GA-K8NS Ultra AMD Athlon 64 Socket 939 (2)
• Complete / SFF Systems - Apple Power Mac G5 / Dell XPS 600 Generation 5 PC / MSI Hetis 915 Lite Slim PC / Shuttle SD11G5 XPC SFF PC / Three Pentium M Barebones / Shuttle XPC SD31P SFF PC / Shuttle P2500G SFF System || First stage of HTPC project proves tricky
• Memory - DDR2 800MHz Roundup / Centon Advanced A2X512S4000LLU 1GB Dual RAM Channel Kit / Corsair 2GB PC4400 DDR - TWINX2048-4400PRO RAM Kit / Crucial CT2KIT6464Z40B 1GB Kit  / Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400 / DDR2 800MHz Roundup: A-Data, Kingston, & Mushkin /   G.SKILL F1-4400DSU2-1GBFC PC4400 1GB memory  / OCZ Platinum PC2-6400 EB 1GB Dual Channel RAM Kit / OCZ Platinum PC4000 EB 2GB Dual Channel RAM Kit
• Storage - Seagate Momentus 5400.2 || Asus DVD-E616A / NEC ND-3540A / LG GSA-4167B / Pioneer DVR-110D and Toshiba SD-R5472 DVD Burners / Plextor PX-716AL / Pioneer DVR-110D / Samsung WriteMaster SE-W164 External DVD Writer || Lexar JumpDrive Sport 1 GB / OCZ Rally 2GB USB Flash Drive || Hewlett Packard StorageWorks DAT 72 USB
• Video - All-In-Wonder ATI X800XT / Albatron PC6600LEQ / ASUS Extreme N6600GT Silencer / ATI All-In-Wonder X800XT / BFGTech GeForce 7800 GT OC H2O / Chaintech 6800 PCI-E / ECS SDGE Multi-Graphics Card Technology / GeForce 6800 GT Roundup / GeForce 7800 GT Head to Head - Asus vs. AOpen / GeForce 7800 GT vs Radeon X1800 / HIS X700 IceQ and X800GT / MSI Theater 550PRO / NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Video Card and Biostar T-Force 6100-939 Motherboard / Sapphire X800GTO Graphics Cards - Fireblade and Limited / Sapphire Radeon X800GTO2 Limited Edition / XFX GeForce 7800 GTX
• Monitor/TV - Test: Samsung SyncMaster 770P : PVA 6ms, 1500:1 / PC TV Tuner Primer
• Cooling - AeroCool AeroEngine II / Arctic Cooling NV Silencer 5 Rev.3(in German) / Arctic Cooling NV Silencer 5 (Rev. 3) / Asetek VapoChill Micro / Gigabyte 3D cooler / Danger Den Acetal Maze4 GPU Block / NYKO Airflo EX Cooler / PrimeCooler Supersilent VGA Cooler Heatsink / Quiet PC Acoustifans and Ultra-Soft Silicone Fan Gaskets / Scythe Katana CPU Cooler / VapoChill Micro Cooler / Thermalright SI-120 CPU Cooler  / Zalman's CNPS9500 LED CPU cooler / Zalman Fatal1ty FS-C77 CPU Cooler
• WaterCooling - Prime Cooler Water Cooling / Thermaltake Tide Water / Thermaltake Tide Water VGA Cooling
• Case - Lian Li PC777b 20th Anniversary Edition PC Casing / Lian Li PC-777 Aluminum Case / Sansun SN-C001 BAT Case / Silverstone Temjin 5 TJ05B-TW / Sunbeam Trio Computer Gaming Case / ThermalRock Mystic HTPC Case / Thermaltake Shark Aluminium Gaming Case
• Modding - FrontX Panel / Matrix Orbital MX610
• PSU - Enermax Liberty - EL500AWT Power Supply / Enermax Liberty 620W PSU / E Power Tiger 550W PSU / Epsilon FSP700-80GL / Hiper Modular TypeR 580W PSU / MGE XG Magnum 500 Watt PSU / Revoltec Star Serie Chromus II (400W) PSU  / Seasonic (S412) 430W PSU
• Sound - Altec Lansing inMotion7 Portable Audio System for Apple iPod / Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite  / Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music Sound Card / Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS soundcard || Logitech Z-5450 Wireless Surround Speaker / Steel Sound 5H-USB gaming headset  / Teufel Concept E 5.1 Soundsystem (in German) / Ultimate Ears Super.Fi 3 Studio Earphones / Zalman ZM-RS6F 5.1 Real Surround Sound Headphones
• Peripheral - ButtKicker Gamer / Logitech Wireless Mouse Roundup / Logisys Black LED Office Keyboard / Logisys 4 Direction LED Mouse / Logitech Cordless Desktop S 510 with Media Remote / Logitech G5 Gaming Mouse / Logitech G7 mouse(1) / Logitech G7 Laser Cordless Mouse(2) / Logitech MX 610 Laser Cordless Mouse(1) / Logitech MX610 Mouse(2) / Logitech Driving Force Pro Wheel o / Joytech Neo S PC Gamepad / Microsoft Laser Mouse 6000 / Razer Copperhead Gaming Mouse / S+ARCK Mouse / Sunbeam X-1300 Gaming Mouse || X-Ray Aqua2 Series Professional Mouse Pad
• Networking - Netgear SC101 Storage Central / VGear LANDisk Network Hard Drive Enclosure
• Printer/Scanner - HP Photosmart 475 Photo Printer
• Misc - ColorVision Datacolor SpyderTV / Dension Ice>Link Plus / Logitech Harmony 800 Home Theater Remote Control / Remote Control 12V DC Relay Switch
• Notebook - TITAN Serina Laptop
• Cameras, MP3/DVD players/recorders - Kodak EasyShare C360 Digital Camera / Nikon D50, 18-55mm Kit Digital SLR Camera || Apple iPod (video-review) / Apple's 5th Generation iPod / Sony VAIO XL1 200 disc Digital Living System / X-Micro Video MP3 400
• Phones/PDAs - Palm Z22 /  Sony Ericsson P990 / Sharp Zaurus SL-C3100 / Sony HBH-662 Bluetooth Wireless Headset

GUIDES...

• How to Find Out Your Motherboard Manufacturer and Model - Learn how to find out your motherboard manufacturer and model, a required information if you want to download a new BIOS, drivers and manual for it.
• Inside Pentium 4 Architecture - In this tutorial we will explain you how Pentium 4 works in an easy to follow language. You will learn exactly how its architecture works so you will be able to compare it more precisely to previous processors from Intel and competitors from AMD.
• The Rules of RAID - TrustedReviews has taken a look at a wide range of various RAID controllers in The Rules of RAID ranging from onboard controllers to a massive 2TB array.
• The Definitive BIOS Optimization Guide Revision 8.5 - Adrian has updated his premier BIOS optimization guide.
• Howto LIFT you case off the floor and get more AIR in? - Most homes in the U.S. have carpeted floor; we all know too well most ATX tower cases anchored or sunken into the carpet. With those tiny rubber pads called feet. Are you sick and tired of dragging your PC from under the desk out? How about letting in more outside air? $4 to get your rig higher on the rug in 5 minutes and get more air from your front panel for $1 in about 30 minutes.
• ATI X1K Driver Analysis - check it out!
• Doom 3 v. Quake 4 Performance - Phoronix compares Doom 3 vs. Quake 4 performance.
• 3D Performance with F.E.A.R. Part 1: Mainstream Cards - At the ~$200 price point, the GeForce 6800 and RADEON X1600 XT compete fiercely, with the GeForce 6800 winning early testing without AA/AF, and the X1600 XT generally pulling even of the GeForce 6800 by the time AA and AF are turned on (in fact, it pulls slightly ahead in a few cases). In fact, the 7800 GT can be found for about $360 pretty easily online, making it a tempting solution if you want to splurge for a little bit more than a 6800 GT. By comparison, one GeForce 7800 GT runs about as fast as two GeForce 6800 GTs, making it a substantial upgrade in performance.
• NVIDIA ForceWare comparisons (both in German)  - The comparsions can be found on HardwareOC Austria and Technic3D.
• Adaptive anti-aliasing on ATI Radeon X800 boards investigated - Elitebastards take a look at adaptive anti-aliasing, a feature that's getting a lot of press with ATI's new Radeon X1800 boards, but is also in fact available to Radeon 9500 users and up if you know where to look. They investigate how to get adaptive anti-aliasing to work on your system, and see how it fares with regard to both image quality and performance.
• How To Get The Most Out Of Your Digital Camera Memory Card - Choosing the right memory card for the job can be as important as choosing the right film for a traditional camera.
• Which Xbox 360 System To Buy? - GameSpot posted a feature article about which Xbox 360 bundle we should buy.
• Microsoft releases two free coding e-books - Introducing Visual Basic 2005 for Developers can be downloaded here , and Upgrading Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 to Microsoft Visual Basic .NET can be downloaded here.

SOFTWARE...

• Apache 2.0.55 - Apache 2.0 (download) offers numerous enhancements, improvements and performance boosts over the 1.3 codebase. The most visible and noteworthy addition is the ability to run Apache in a hybrid thread/process mode on any platform that supports both threads and processes.
• OpenOffice.org 2.0 - Available in 36 languages, with more on the way, and able to run natively on Windows, GNU/Linux, Sun Solaris, Mac OS X (X11) and several other platforms, OpenOffice.org banishes software segregation and isolation and dramatically levels the playing field. And, with its support for the OASIS Standard OpenDocument format, OpenOffice.org eliminates the fear of vendor lock in or format obsolescence.
• AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic 6.32.00.50 - The cost-free virus protection -> download
• EliteToolbar Remover 2.1.2 - The new EliteToolbar Remover (download) deletes any traces of many persistent malwares.
• avast! Virus Cleaner 1.0.208 - avast! Virus Cleaner (download) is available free for every user. This tool will help you remove selected worm infections from your computer.
• FastStone Image Viewer 2.27 Beta 2 Build 2005-10-19 - FastStone Image Viewer (download) is a fast, stable, user-friendly image browser, converter and editor. It has a nice array of features that include image viewing, management, comparison, red-eye removal, emailing, resizing, cropping and color adjustments.
• XnView v1.80.3 - XnView (download) is a utility for viewing and converting graphic files (Import about 400 graphic file formats / Export about 50 graphic file formats)
• Flock Developer Preview - Moments ago, Flock, a new Web browser with a social bent, hit the Web in a public beta. Some impressions can be found here.
• Netscape Browser 8.0.4 - This new version features all security and bug fixes through Firefox 1.0.7, improves proxy handling and Flash 8.0 is now bundled which fixes a variety of crashes.
• Opera 9.0 Preview 1 - changelog&download
• YPOPs! 0.8.0 - YPOPs! (download) is an application that provides POP3 access to Yahoo! Mail.
• AIM Ad Hack 4.14 & 5.0 Beta 8 - AIM Ad Hack 4.14 (Fixed false positives during install with some virus scanners) / AIM Ad Hack 5.0 BETA 8 (Updated for AIM Triton Beta 0.7.13, fixed virus scanner false positives and rewrote bundled software blocking)
• Azureus for Windows 2.3.0.5 Beta 50 - Azureus is a Java based BitTorrent client that offers multiple torrent downloads, queuing/priority systems (on torrents and files), start/stop seeding options and instant access to numerous pieces of information about your torrents.
• µTorrent 1.1.7.1 - µTorrent is an efficient and feature rich BitTorrent client for Windows sporting a very small footprint. It was designed to use as little cpu, memory and space as possible while offering all the functionality expected from advanced clients.
• QuickTime Alternative 1.63 & 1.52 - QuickTime Alternative will allow you to play QuickTime files (.mov, .qt and other extensions) without having to install QuickTime Player from Apple. It also supports QuickTime content that is embedded in webpages.
• Real Alternative 1.44 - Real Alternative will allow you to play RealMedia files without having to install RealPlayer or RealOne Player from Real Networks. Supported are: RealAudio (.ra .rpm), RealMedia (.rm .ram .rmvb .rpx .smi .smil), RealText (.rt) and ReadPix (.rp). It also supports RealMedia content that is embedded in webpages.
• Apple iTunes 6.0.1.3 - download
• nVIDIA PureVideo Decoder 1.02-177 Trial - The nVIDIA PureVideo Decoder combines the industry’s highest quality DVD and MPEG-2 playback with rich surround sound audio and provides the best experience with Microsoft Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center Edition.
• Winamp 5.110 - Nullsoft Winamp (download full / lite) is a fast, flexible, high-fidelity media player for Windows. Winamp supports playback of many audio (MP3, OGG, AAC, WAV, MOD, XM, S3M, IT, MIDI, etc) and video (AVI, ASF, MPEG, NSV) types...
• RatDVD v0.77.1509 and RATattack v0.2 - The guys of RatDVD have released another new version of their software, bringing the version to 0.77.1509. This new release includes changes to several translations and also a new version of the plugins for ratDVD, RATattack, has been released.
• Logitech SetPoint 2.46  & IntelliPoint 5.4 Mouse Software - If you were using Logitech MouseWare with a Cordless Click! or a Cordless Click! Plus mouse, installing SetPoint on top of MouseWare will transfer control of your mouse from MouseWare to SetPoint. MouseWare will no longer recognize your mouse. If you were only using one mouse with MouseWare, you can now uninstall MouseWare and use SetPoint. Also Microsoft has released a new IntelliPoint 5.4 mouse software.
• Chipset Installation Utility 7.2.2.1006 - 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 is needed for the proper functioning of the following features: Core PCI and ISA PNP Services, AGP Support, IDE/ATA33/ATA66/ATA100 Storage Support, USB Support, Identification of Intel Chipset Components in the Device Manager.
• Quality patched LiteOn 1693S firmware for 1673S, 1693S, 720A, 800A (KC1B) -  C0deKing has released a new patched firmware for LiteOn 1673S, 1693S, 720A and 800A users. The purpose of this patch is for increased writing quality when using most +R media.

SECURITY...  

• Exploit Already Out For New Microsoft DTC Windows 2000 Bug - The exploit is against the MSDTC vulnerability (details) within Windows, which was patched Tuesday by Microsoft and outlined in its MS05-051 security bulletin. Because the MSDTC component - which coordinates any sort of transaction on multiple servers -- is enabled by default and remotely exploitable on Windows 2000 systems, experts fear that the bug will result in a repeat of the Zotob attacks of August. ~ download free scanner tool from here.
• Security experts warn of Windows worm - Fears are growing of a new Windows worm after security companies reported that exploit code is already circulating for three Microsoft patches released on Tuesday.Within 24 hours of the patches coming out Symantec's DeepSight Threat Management System issued an alert over patch MS05-051. The security firm has issued a signature for its intrusion detection systems.
• Critical Windows patch may wreak PC havoc - The patch was released Tuesday to fix four Windows flaws, including one that experts predict will be exploited by a worm in the coming days. The flaw, tagged "critical" by Microsoft, lies in a Windows component for transaction processing called the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator, or MSDTC. 
• Microsoft Exec Warns of 'Fake' XP Update - A Microsoft employee is warning against downloading an unauthorized version of Windows XP Service Pack 3 that has surfaced on a popular Web site that provides software patches.
• WinRAR Format String and Buffer Overflow Vulnerabilities - Secunia Research has discovered two vulnerabilities in WinRAR, which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system.
• phpMyAdmin Directory Traversal (Exploit) - A directory traversal vulnerability in phpMyAdmin allows to access /etc/passwd, the following exploit code can be used to test your system for the mentioned vulnerability
• Symantec Tests 'Big Brother' Data Monitor - Engineers in Symantec's research and development organization have built a new database security appliance that could eventually lead the company into the database security business. The project has been tested by a handful of customers since September, and Symantec is expected to decide within the next few months whether to bring it to market.

CRIME...

• Three Indicted for 'Massive' Piracy - Three California men were indicted Wednesday for their alleged participation in a "massive" software and music-CD copying scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California. Arrests in the scheme to illegally copy 325,000 software and music CDs were part of the largest CD manufacturing seizure in the U.S., the attorney's office said. The indictments follow the arrests of five people and searches of 13 locations in California and Texas on October 6.
• US still world's top spammer - The United States is still the world's top spammer, despite new anti-spam law and a series of high-profile court cases, but the problem is improving.

OFF-TOPIC

• Remains of Star Trek's 'Scotty' headed for space - Evidently "Star Trek" actor James "Scotty" Doohan took the catchphrase "beam me up" very seriously -- his cremated remains will be launched into space in accord with his last wishes.

TECHNOLOGY...

• HD DVD Movie Titles to be Region Free - According to the DVD Forum, the standardization of the HD DVD-ROM/-R/RW and the HD DVD hybrid disks has been completed, as well as for the 8cm HD DVD-ROM. Note that the HD DVD-R is a write once disc, while the HD DVD-RW is more aligned with DVD-RAM media, since it will be a Random Access medium featuring defect management algorithms in order to offer data storage reliability.  The hybrid disks consist of two layers. The first layer conforms to the HD DVD-ROM standard (15GB), while the second will most likely be a DVD-ROM layer (4.7GB). The disc will be recognized and reproduced by both HD DVD and DVD players. Hybrid discs are claimed to be easily manufactured with current equipment used for dual layer DVD media.
• HP Recalls 135,000 Laptop Batteries - HP has announced a recall of 135,000 laptop battery packs (HP) sold with HP and Compaq notebook computers globally between May 2004 and May 2005. Of those recalled, 85,000 were sold in the United States.
• Samsung Agrees to Pay $300M Fine -  Samsung has pleaded guilty to price fixing and agreed to pay a $300 million fine, US officials announced yesterday.
• Samsung claims DRam breakthrough - Samsung Electronics unveiled what it claimed to be the industry's first 512Mb DDR2 SDRam fabricated using 70-nanometre processing, the smallest process technology yet applied to a DRam device.
• BT starts 8Mbps broadband trials (UK) - BT is to begin rolling out 8Mbps broadband to a limited number of customers across the country.
• GAIM Lead Developer Hired By Google - According to the GAIM website, Sean Egan, the lead developer of the open source instant messaging application, has been hired by Google.
• New Microsoft Office 12 Screenshots - ActiveWin has posted 16 brand new Office 12 screenshots of the latest build available.
• Alliance Formed to Complete Wireless Networking Standard - A group of 27 technology companies said on Monday they would collaborate on a new, faster Wi-Fi wireless Internet connection standard for computers and other portable devices. The new Wi-Fi standard is known as 802.11n and follows the 802.11a, b and g standards. The n-version is billed to be two to 10 times faster than current Wi-Fi technologies and will enable high-quality wireless video transmission in office and home networks.
• Gaitcode adds bite to mobiles - Finnish researchers have presented new technology designed to prevent thefts of mobile phones and laptops, using biometrics to recognize the gait of the device's owner
• AMD holds grand opening for new 300mm fab - Fab 36 is close to beginning volume production of microprocessors on 300mm wafers using AMD's 90nm process, with shipments of products for revenue expected to begin in the first quarter of 2006. The fab will then make a gradual transition to a new 65nm process over the course of the next year. Because 300mm wafers offer significantly more surface area than the 200mm wafers manufactured at Fab 30, Fab 36 will more than double AMD's total production capacity once it's running at full speed.

HARDWARE... 

• CPU - AMD Sempron 3000+ CPU for Socket 939
• Memory - Fast 2GB DDR RAM Kit roundup / Corsair XMS-2048-3500LL PRO / Corsair CM2X1024-6400PRO & CM2X512A-5400UL RAM / Corsair TwinX2048-4400 PRO PC4400 DDR RAM / Corsair TwinX2048-6400 PRO PC2-6400 DDR-2 RAM (1) / Corsair TwinX2048-6400 PRO PC2-6400 DDR-2 RA (2) / Corsair XMS TWINX2048-3500LLPRO 2GB Dual Channel RAM Kit / Crucial Ballistix 1GB PC3200 DDR Dual Channel Memory / OCZ EB DDR PC-4000 2x1024MB Platinum Edition Dual Channel RAM Kit / OCZ EL DDR PC-4000 1024MB Gold Edition RAM / OCZ PC 3500 Gold GX Dual Channel RAM / Patriot PDC1G5600ELK (PC5600) RAM
• Motherboard - ABIT AW8-MAX / ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 / ECS PF88 Extreme Hybrid - Intel/AMD Motherboard / Foxconn WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS(1) / Foxconn WinFast NF4SK8AA-8EKRS (2)
• Complete / SFF Systems - beblu component Media Center system / Biostar iDEQ 330P SFF PC
• Storage - Western Digital Goes Flashy With Lighted Hard Drive / Western Digital Raptor 73.4GB SATA HDD || Kingston U3 DataTraveler USB Drive / Transcend JetFlash 110 1GB USB Drive
• Video - NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT Roundup / ABIT RX800 XL-256EDVIO & Fatal1ty X800 XL / ASUS 7800GT Dual Cometh  / ASUS Extreme N7800 GTX TOP / ASUS Extreme N7800GT Dual(1) / Asus N7800GT DUAL(2) / Asus EN6600GT Silencer / ATI Radeon X1600 XT-X1300 PRO / ATI RADEON X1300 PRO / Gigabyte GeForce 7800 GT / PowerColor X800 GT Xtreme 256MB and X800 GT EVO Tide Water 256MB / Sapphire Radeon GTO Video Cards
• Monitor/TV - Dell UltraSharp 2405FPW 24" LCD Monitor / Samsung SyncMaster 930MP 19 Inch Multifunction LCD TFT Monitor
• Cooling - Antec VCool / Dynatron P22 Intel Socket 775 Heatsink / Innovatek Fan-O-Matic Micro / Scythe Katana Heatpipe Cooler / SilverStone Nitrogon NT02 AMD, Intel Cooler / Spire KestrelKing V CPU Cooler / Thermaltake Schooner Fanless VGA Cooler / Zalman CNPS9500 LED CPU Cooler
• WaterCooling - Liquid-Cooling System roundup / Corsair Cool Watercooling Kit / ThermalTake Big Water SE Water Cooling / Thermaltake Silent Water H2O Kit
• Case - Antec P180 Advanced Super Mid Tower / Antec Titan 550 Case / Aspire X-QPack-BL/420 Aluminum Case / Coolermaster C Media 260 Case / Enermax CS-10182-BBA Entry Level Server Case / Chieftec Mesh-Serie Bigtower Case (in German) / ione Titanium Series Professional Server Case / MGE Dragon Case / Newance Triplecone Design Case / Ninja 2 PC Case / Silverstone Strider ST60F 600W Modular SLI PSU (video-review) / Thermaltake Swing Series Case /  Thermaltake Tai Chi ATX Case
• Modding - Logisys Digital Thermal Controller / Ultra Products Fan Commander
• PSU - Enermax Coolergiant EG-701AX-VH(W) PSU / Power Supply Comparison / Revoltec Chromus v1.1 450W PSU / SinTek 600SLI PSU / XClio GoodPower 500 watt Power Supply / XG Vortec 600W PSU
• Sound - Creative X-FI Fatal1ty Sound Card / Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro / Steelpad Steel Sound 5H Professional Gaming Headset / Turtle Beach Ear Force HPA 5.1 Surround Sound Headphones
• Peripheral - Ergodex DX1 Input System / Logitech G7 laser Cordless Gaming Mouse / Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard / Logitech MX610 Cordless Laser Mouse / Microsoft Optical Desktop with Fingerprint Reader / Razer Copperhead 2000dpi Lasermaus (in German)
• Networking - NETGEAR SC101 Storage Central
• Printer/Scanner - Brother HL-2700CN Color Laser Printer / Samsung Digital Photo Printer SPP-2040
• Notebook - Asus W2V Notebook / Yakumo Q8M Turion64 YW Notebook
• Cameras, MP3/DVD players/recorders - BenQ E520 & E510 Digital Camera / Camera Clash: Digital SLR (Canon EOS-20D) vs All-in-One (Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30)  / Creative WebCam Live! Motion Webcam / Konica Minolta Dynax 5D Digital Camera / Nikon D50, 18-55mm Kit Digital SLR Camera || Kenwood HD20GA7-B Audioplayer / MobiBLU DAH-1500i MP3 Player / Novatron iamm NTD-25 Multimedia Player
• Phones - Nokia 9300 Smartphone / Panasonic VS3 (1) / Panasonic VS3 (2) / Sharp Zaurus SL-C3100 - 300-gram tablet Linux PDA with HDD

GUIDES...

• How To Select A LCD For Gaming - You have probably heard it before, but it bears repeating...the best way to know if a computer monitor is right for you is to view it in person. Specs are a great tool for narrowing down your choices, but they are no replacement for hands-on experience.
• How To Build Parallel Port Prototypes - The computer parallel port is the easiest way to control devices outside the PC, like LEDs, lights and even home appliances. In this tutorial HardwareSecrets will teach you how to use the computer parallel port to control circuits outside your computer.
• How To Use RSS - If you are confused by all of this talk of RSS, RSS feeds, aggregators and readers, and are having trouble wrapping your brain around it, here’s a really simple explanation of Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and how to use it.
• ATI Catalyst 5.10 (October 2005) Performance Analysis - If you didn't update to the Catalyst 5.9 drivers and you have a higher end ATI Radeon graphics card, we would definitely recommend that you take the jump this time around, not only do we have another pile of bug fixes but some new performance to boot.
• ATI Catalyst 5.10 Comparison - check it out (in German)
• The Definitive BIOS Optimization Guide Revision 8.4.1 - Adrian has updated his premier BIOS optimization guide.

SOFTWARE...

• AutoPatcher XP October 2005 - This release is based on the all-new AutoPatcher 5.1. Although it was made with Windows XP SP2 English in mind, it will load on any (English) Windows version, showing only the items which match the running environment.
•  WindowsX's Vista Transformation Pack - WindowsX's long awaited Vista Transformation pack has finally been released. With 16 wallpapers, the famous Aero style look for all supported versions of Windows, and a slew of new Vista-inspired icons and functionality, this all-in-one wonder pack will allow all Windows users to sample the delights of Vista long before the actual OS is released...
• Create clean 4kb wallpapers - You like desktop wallpapers but you hate the lots of memory they take and you hate the way those huge pictures slow down your system? If so this tool is made for you. It's setting a user-defined sexy looking vertical or horizontal gradient as your wallpaper. And it takes almost no RAM. For example let's assume your system runs under a 1024x768x24 bit display: just 4 kB of space would be required to hold the full screen gradient bitmap. Active desktop must be disabled in order for this to work.
• phpMyAdmin 2.6.4-pl2 - phpMyAdmin can manage a whole MySQL-server (needs a super-user) but also a single database.
• Microsoft Ships Last XP Media Center Update - Update Rollup 2 (UR2) for Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) 2005, as the update is awkwardly called, is a minor but free update to the current Media Center version, and not a major upgrade.
• Update for Windows 2000 (KB820608) - Install this update to resolve an issue in Windows 2000 that restricts the functionality of the Exchange Best Practices Analyzer (ExBpa) tool. This tool is used to diagnose issues in an Exchange environment.
• Windows Vista Game (Solitaire) Hacked For XP/2003 - Here's a package Michael Riviera quickly put together (download), using win32 versions of bspatch and bsdiff, for Windows Vista's Solitaire application. No, this doesn't work with the Solitaire in the newly leaked 5231. Don't try it. No, the package does not contain any Microsoft binaries (e.g. Solitaire.exe). He also hacked Shanghai Solitaire to work on non-Vista platforms.
• All Seeing Eye 2.3.6 (shw) - Supports all the popular games such as Counter-Strike, BF1942, Quake III Arena, etc. Designed for what gamers want: fast and easy access to the game servers of their choice.
• Apple iTunes 6.0.0.18 - iTunes lets you create your own personal digital music library, allowing you to manage and play your music collection with drag-and-drop simplicity.
• Symantec LiveUpdate 3.0.134 - The 3.0 release (download) contains integrated Enterprise management features that are compatible with the Symantec Enterprise Security Architecture (SESA) v2.x.
• Copernic Desktop Search 1.61.0.783 - The Search Engine (download) for Your PC Find Your Files, Videos, Pictures, Bookmarks, Browser History, Contacts and Emails with the Power of a Search Engine Right on Your Desktop.
• AbiWord 2.4.1 - AbiWord is a free word processing program similar to Microsoft Word. It is suitable for a wide variety of word processing tasks.
• QuickTime 7.03 - A new Quicktime is available for download (changelog)
• Adobe Reader for Windows 2000/XP 7.0.5 - Adobe Reader is free software that enables business professionals and home users to reliably share information using intelligent PDF files. This update provides features such as expanded browser support, improvement in dynamic forms performance among others.
• Azureus for Windows 2.3.0.5 Beta 44 - Azureus is a Java based BitTorrent client that offers multiple torrent downloads, queuing/priority systems (on torrents and files), start/stop seeding options and instant access to numerous pieces of information about your torrents. Azureus also features an embedded tracker that is easily set up and ready to use.
• TCP Optimizer v2.0.2 - TCP Optimizer is a free, easy Windows program that provides an intuitive interface for tuning and optimizing your Internet connection. Just download and run, there is no installaion required. The program makes it easy to find the best MTU and RWIN values, test latency and tweak all the important broadband related registry parameters. The Optimizer can be helpful with tuning any Internet connection type, from dialup to Gigabit+.
• Sony Launches PSP 2.50 Firmware - Sony have released version 2.50 of its firmware. This version adds many features.

SECURITY...

• Sober worm variant starts to spread - McAfee said a variant of the Sober worm, described as Sober.r, has started to land in people's inboxes. It raised its risk assessment to 'medium' on the worm, which it labels W32/Sober.r@mm! M51. The worm arises in your inbox in a .zip file attached to email and if it's activated, looks for email addresses on the machine that's been hit, sending out more examples of its itself.
• Bug spotted in Symantec antivirus - A buffer overflow flaw in the Symantec AntiVirus Scan Engine could let remote attackers run code on vulnerable machines, Symantec said in an advisory Tuesday. The problem affects various versions of the engine, which is the part of the security software that actually scans for threats. Security patches are available to correct the problem, which Symantec rates 'high' on its risk impact scale.
• Kaspersky Antivirus Remote Heap Overflow - Successful exploitation of Kaspersky protected systems allows attackers unauthorized control of data and related privileges. It also provides leverage for further network compromise. Kaspersky Antivirus Library implementations are likely vulnerable in their default configuration.
• Trillian remote crashable - If Trillian using the ICQ protocol and a reverse connection is requested, then Trillian crashes.
• New mysql-dfsg-4.1 package fixes arbitrary code execution  - A stack-based buffer overflow in the init_syms function of MySQL, a popular database, has been discovered that allows remote authenticated users who can create user-defined functions to execute arbitrary code via a long function_name field. The ability to create user-defined functions is not typically granted to untrusted users.
• Patches available for critical flaws in HP Openview - David and Mark Litchfield of NGSSoftware have discovered a number of critical and high risk vulnerabilities in HP Openview. The flaws can be exploited by attackers without valid credentials to fully compromise a vulnerable server. Windows, Linux. HP-UX and Solaris are all affected. These issues have been now been addressed and patches are available from here.
• Windows Vista's New Security Features - Microsoft's new operating system won't be out until late 2006, but here's a look at some of the new security features expected

CRIME...

• Spyware maker to be shut down - Odysseus is about to be shut down by the FTC which believes its software is just a cover for spyware.The FTC claims that one bit of Odysseus software, called Clientman, lures users with the promise that it will give them free software that would make illegal peer-to-peer file sharing anonymous and hard to trace.
• Sony sent packing from Australian courts over mod-chips - Sony has been kicked out of the Australian courts after trying again to get Mod chips declared illegal in Australia . The High Court ruled that chips that allow imported games to be played do not breach any copyright law, and has allowed them to be sold. This final ruling by the Australian courts means that a four year battle between a seller of mod chips and Sony comes to an end.
• RIAA takes a Shotgun to traders according to legal experts - Hundreds of people are being wrongly sued by the Recording Industry Association of America for illegally trading music online, legal experts say. Attorneys representing some of the 14,000 people targeted for illegal music trading say their clients are being bullied into settling as the cheapest way to get out of trouble. Collection agencies posing as "settlement centers" are harassing their clients to pay thousands of dollars for claims about which they know nothing, they say.

OFF-TOPIC

• Sms.co.uk domain sale could be a 'record breaker' - The domain sms.co.uk is up for grabs and those behind the sale reckon it could net more than £100,000. Earlier this year, for example, website.com and property.com changed hands for $750,000, while porker.com reached $155,000, according to listings compiled by DN Journal.
• Epidemiologists play games to study plague, pestilence - Scientists are considering using the accidental spread of a "plague" in the online role playing game World of Warcraft in an attempt to correlate the response with real-life disease outbreaks. While players online were obviously more playful about the whole event, few genuinely wanted to catch the virtual ailment.
• Universal to Offer its Movies Online - Universal expects to be able to offer movies online by the end of the year or early next year, company chairman and CEO Bob Wright said Tuesday
• Single-play DVDs a Hoax - That's the lesson from the bogus story published in an obscure UK business magazine yesterday that claimed Microsoft is about to unleash a new single-play DVD format. Paul Thurrott reprinted the story without giving credit to the original source. Bink.nu picked up the story from Paul and reprinted it verbatim. Techdirt commented on the original story, with attribution but without any fact-checking. So did John Walkenbach. The funny part? There's no truth to the story.

TECHNOLOGY...

• Windows XP SP3 Preview Surfaces Online - Though Microsoft still won't confirm that it will release a third service pack for its Windows XP operating system, a preview version of the software update has been made available on the Web. An "unofficial" preview pack of Windows XP Service Pack 3 is available at The Hotfix, a software download site and discussion forum that focuses on patches and software updates.
• Network feud leads to Net blackout - On Wednesday, network company Level 3 Communications cut off its direct "peering" connections to another big network company called Cogent Communications. That technical action means that some customers on each company's network now will find it impossible, or slower, to get to Web sites on the other company's network.
• NVIDIA G72 to arrive in early 2006 - Citing sources at Taiwanese graphics card manufacturers, DigiTimes is reporting that NVIDIA's G72 graphics processor will arrive in early 2006. G72 is apparently a 90-nano version of the G70 GPU that powers the GeForce 7800 series.
• Game developers don't take x64 seriously - Very few games actually support Windows XP Pro x64 edition. The popular games that really have x64 binaries are: The Chronicles of Riddick, FarCry, and UT2004.
• ATI Explains Their Warranty Reduction - When LegitReviews spoke to ATI about the warranty changes they explained that it was done for a number of reasons. After studying the average "return rate over time" charts it was discovered that nearly 90% of all video card returns were done in the first 60 days. This means that consumers very seldom used their warranty on the second and third years per the old warranty plan. Since ATI's warranty plan covers production cards for three years a large inventory of cards has to be kept on hand for warranty work. Another reason for the warranty change was to give ATI's partners something unique. The bulk of ATI graphics processors are sold to card makers to build "ATI Powered" graphics cards. Instead of matching or offering a longer warranty period than some partners ATI has chosen to step away from the warranty race. 
• Intel explains main reason to back HD DVD instead of Blu-ray - Intel has weighed into the debate over high-definition DVD formats, explaining its decision to back HD DVD in preference to Blu-ray.  The company abandoned its usual neutrality over a single issue: copying. This was one of six problems with Blu-ray that Microsoft listed when it joined with Intel in backing HD DVD. The reason we provided support for HD-DVD is that basically it has committed to several features. Specifically, the mandatory managed copy,' said Donald McDonald. Managed copy ensures that users can copy the HD content to a PC or media centre for accessing anywhere in the home and on to portable devices. (ed note: HD is no use to me if I can't copy as I wish like DVD. So DVD is where I will stay...)
• AMD prices 2.4GHz Turion 64 - The Turion ML-42 is listed for $525, and its ML designation indicates a 35W TDP, but no other details are given. According to roadmaps published this summer, the ML-42 runs at 2.4GHz and has 512KB of L2 cache.
• Toshiba unveils first laptop with next-generation DVD drive - Toshiba has claimed that they have developed the first laptop computer with its new HD DVD drive. This supports the Microsoft’s claims that the format is suitable for the next generation portable computers. The company has collaborated with South Korean tech giants Samsung Corp and now plans to sell personal computers with a slim HD DVD drive designed specifically for laptops in Japan beginning next year.

HARDWARE... 

• CPU - Dothan vs. Turion comparison
• Memory - Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC2-5300 / Crucial Ballistix PC4000 2GB Dual Channel memory / Corsair XMS TWINX2048-PC4400PRO 2GB Dual Channel RAM / Gigabyte i-RAM / Mushkin eXtreme Performace XP400 2GB Memory / OCZ Gold PC4000 2GB Dual Channel Kit memory(1) / OCZ 2GB (1GBx2) EL DDR PC-4000 Gold Dual Channel (2)
• Motherboard - Abit Fatal1ty AN8 SLI / Epox EP-8NPA SLI Socket 754 / Foxconn 955X7AA-8EKRS2
• Complete / SFF Systems - beblu Media Center
• Storage - Western Digital Caviar SE16 / Western Digital Caviar SE 2500JS HDD – SATA vs. SATA-II  || USB Flash Drive Roundup / OCZ Rally 2GB Flash memory(1) / OCZ 2GB Rally Flash drive (2) / OCZ Rally 1GB USB Stick /Swissbit 512MB Minitwist USB Drive || Corsair Flash Media: 40X CF & 60X SD || Lite-On SHW-1635S DVD burner / Panasonic SW-9585 16x Internal DVD Writer
• Video - Asus GeForce 7800 GTX TOP Edition  / Asus GeForce 6800GT PCI-E / ATI All-In-Wonder X800XL 256MB PCI-E (video-review) / ATI Radeon X800GT Head to Head - HIS vs. PowerColor / GeForce Go 7800 GTX / Gigabyte Radeon X800XL 512MB PCI-E / HIS ICEQ II Radeon X800GT Turbo PCI-E / HIS ICEQ II Radeon X800GT Turbo PCI-E / PowerColor X800 GT EVO Liquid Cooled / Leadtek 7800 GT and Forceware 78.03 / Leadtek PX7800 TDH MyVIVO Extreme / MSI NX7800GTX-VT2D256E SLI / MSI NX7800GT / MSI Radeon X1300 PRO 256 MB / NVIDIA GeForce 6100 vs. ATI RS482 / PowerColor X800 GT EVO Liquid Cooled(1) / PowerColor X800GT EVO with Factory Watercooling / Sapphire Radeon X800GTO / Sapphire Radeon X550  / TerraTec Cinergy Hybrid USB XS DVB-T/Analog TV Tuner / XFX GeForce 7800 GT 256MB
• Monitor/Display - BrightSide DR37-P Extreme Dynamic Range Display / Samsung SyncMaster 730B LCD monitor / Samsung 940B LCD monitor
• Cooling - Sharkoon Silent Eagle 2000 80mm Case Fan / ThermalTake Golden Orb II Socket 939 Cooler
• WaterCooling - Cooler Master Aquagate Mini Water Cooling / Titan Robela watercase / Thermaltake Aquabay M2 5.25" Bay Reservoir tip / Zalman Reserator 1 Plus Liquid Cooling System
• Case - Antec Sonata 2 case / Enermax CA3030 Pandora / Gigabyte 3D Aurora Full ATX case / Silverstone SST-TJ05B-X / Thermaltake Tai Chi Case
• Modding - Logisys Wireless Remote MultiFunction Panel
• PSU - Aspire Darkside 600W PSU  / Enermax MaximumPlus 660W SLI PSU / Enermax EG565P-VE FMA 535-watt PSU / HEC Group ACE 580UB ATX Power Supply / Joujye Super Silent 350W PSU . SinTek 500 SLI 500W PSU
• Sound - Creative X-Fi soundcard  / Grado SR325i High-End Headphones / Logitech mm50 Portable Speakers / Steelsound 5H Headset
• Peripheral - A4Tech NB-90 Battery Free Wireless Optical Mouse / IOGear 5-Button 1600 DPI USB Laser Mouse / Logitech Desktop Laser Mice Line-up for Q4 2005  / Logitech G5 Laser Mouse / Razer Copperhead Laser Mouse / Wacom Graphire 4x5
• Networking - MSI Dual Net Card  / SMC Wireless Hotspot Gateway/Mini-POS Ticket Printer
• Printer/Scanner - Canon CanoScan 5200F: Inexpensive Scanner with Hardware Dust and Scratches Reduction  / Samsung ML-2010 laser printer /
• Misc - Cellboost For PSP / Logitech PlayGear PSP Roundup / MPIO PD100 Portable DAB Radio / Hip Gear S-Video AV System Selector
• Notebook - Spartan Z8000 gaming notebook / Vantec LapCool 3 Notebook Cooler
• Cameras, MP3/DVD players/recorders - Creative Labs Zen Vision portable media player / MobiBLU DAH-1500i MP3 Player / Sony HDR-HC1E High Definition Camcorder / Toshiba Gigabeat MEG-F20
• Phones/Headsets -

GUIDES...

• CPU Overclocking Guide - With our new guide CPU overclocking will be as easy as ABC!
• Build a PC with the Best Bang  - The objective was to take a set of components, each of which represented the best price/performance ratio for that component - and build a PC with them.
• Call of Duty 2 Demo Tweak Guide - TweakGuides prepared this Call of Duty 2 Demo Tweak Guide to provide descriptions of the in-game settings, as well as a range of advanced tweaks including full details of the major command variables you can use in the console.
• BIOS Optimization Guide Revision 8.4 - This guide serves as a repository of knowledge on various BIOS options. It also serves as a guide on how best to optimize your BIOS. Every system is different and every user has different requirements.
• Step-by-Step Guide to Making and Promoting Your Own Podcast - Think of it like an audio blog; a podcast is a recorded program similar to radio (sans commercials, of course) made available via MP3 files on websites or RSS feeds. TheTechZone show you the step by step on creating your own podcast.
• TweakHound's Super XP Tweaking Guide - SP2 version 2.0 Final - Tweakhound's Eric Vaughan has updated his Windows XP tweaking guide to revision SP2 version 2.0 Final! this has to be one of the best tweaking guides around. This guide is all about optimizing XP.

SOFTWARE...

• DirectX 9.0c October 2005 - This download provides the DirectX 9.0c end-user redistributable that developers can include with their product.
• XP AntiSpy v3.95 - The program now offer 2 modes, the 'Standard' and the 'Accessible' mode. In the latter it is possible for blind and color-blind people to get access to the xp-AntiSpy. (thanks Csimbi)
• Cool winXP Update - Install this update to add a Tools tab to the System Configuration Utility (msconfig.exe). The Tools tab will allow further diagnostic tools to be launched from within the System Configuration Utility.
• McAfee AVERT Stinger 2.5.8 - Stinger (download) is a stand-alone utility used to detect and remove specific viruses.
• EliteToolbar Remover 2.1.0 - The new EliteToolbar Remover (download) deletes any traces of the persistent malwares.
• AbiWord 2.4.0 - AbiWord (download) is a free word processing program similar to Microsoft Word. It is suitable for typing papers, letters, reports, memos, and so forth.
• Update for Windows 2000 (KB904368) - Install this update to resolve an issue in which Microsoft Office programs may stop responding when you try to save new files to a floppy disk drive after installing Update Rollup 1 for Windows 2000 Service Pack 4. After you install this update, you may have to restart your computer.
• CCleaner 1.24.180 - CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space.
• Belarc Advisor 7.0t - The Belarc Advisor (download) builds a detailed profile of your installed software and hardware, including Microsoft Hotfixes, and displays the results in your Web browser. All of your PC profile information is kept private on your PC and is not sent to any web server
• Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.7  - I mentioned this new Thunderbird version earlier, but if you missed it then download it!
• Google Talk 1.0.0.72 Beta - Google Talk (download) enables you to call or send instant messages to your friends for free–anytime, anywhere in the world
• GNOME 2.12.1 - GNOME project has built a complete free and easy-to-use desktop environment for the user, as well as a powerful application framework for the software developer.
• µTorrent 1.1.3 - This release brings many fixes and new features, highlights being: greatly improved connectivity with peers (and thus better transfer rates) along with support for language translations. µTorrent is now available in English, Swedish and French
• Messenger Plus! 3.61.145 - Messenger Plus! Extension (download) is a program that adds functionalities to the MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger chat program. Some of the added features are logging, personalized Away Messages, transparency effects.
• Messenger Plus! Extension 3.61.145 - download
• AIM Fix (10/05/05) - AIM Fix was created to remove all known AIM viruses in one consolidated removal tool.
• Maxthon v1.5 build 90 - Maxthon (MyIE2) (download combo / download standard) is a powerful web browser with a highly customizable interface. It is based on the Internet Explorer engine (your most likely current web browser) which means that what works in IE, works the same in Maxthon but with many additional efficient features.
• PowerStrip 3.62.531 (shw) - PowerStrip (download) provides advanced, multi-monitor, programmable hardware support to a wide range of graphics cards - from the venerable Matrox Millennium I to the latest video cards.
• Paint.NET 2.5 Beta 2 - Paint.NET v2.5 Beta 2 is now available that fixes a critical bug in Beta 1. If you already have a previous build of v2.5 instealled then we prefer that you install this update via the built-in update mechanism within Paint.NET.
• WindowBlinds 5 beta - Stardock has released a beta version of their Windows-skinning software. Still beta, but this gives you an 'almost Vista' UI on standard Windows XP, including transperancy and glass-effects.
• nLite 1.0 RC1 - nLite is a GUI for permanent Windows component removal by your choice. After removal there is an option to make bootable image ready for burning on cd or testing in virtual machines. With nLite you will be able to have Windows installation which on install doesn't include, or even contain on cd, unwanted components.
• FastStone Image Viewer 2.26 Beta Build 2005-10-03 - FastStone Image Viewer (download) is an image browser, viewer, converter and editor with an easy to use interface and a nice array of features that include resizing, renaming, cropping, color adjustments and more.
• foobar2000 Normal 0.9 Beta 10 - Foobar2000 Media Player (download) is a very very recommendable player. It is developed by Peter Pawlowski who is or used to work on Winamp3.
• 1by1 1.50 - 1by1 (requires mpglb.dll v0.92)  is a very small sized player which is not only small: It plays whole directories without any playlis
• VirtualDub 1.6.11 - VirtualDub (changelog / download standard version / download AMD 64 version) is a video capture and processing program. It features fast capturing, process files larger than the 2 gigabyte limit, optimized for linear editing, support for Motion-JPEG, MPEG-1 video and layer 3 audio, real-time and near-realtime video processing, video job queues, and much more.
• BlindWrite Suite 5.2.18 (shw) - Blindwrite Suite (download) is the best set of tools to reproduce or clone any CD, even protected ones. Blindwrite Suite is the most powerfull tool to create a perfect copy from your original CD for personal private copy.
• Memtest86+ 1.65 - Based on the well-known original memtest86 written by Chris Brady, Memtest86+ is a port by some members of the x86-secret team.
• NVIDIA nTune v2.05.15.08 - NVIDIA nTune is the ultimate utility for accessing, monitoring, and adjusting your system components, including temperature and voltages with clear, user-friendly control panels.
• NvTempLogger v3.33 - This is a simple program that is used to watch the temperature (Core and Ambient) of NVIDIA based GPUs. You have the options to check the graph for the last 10 mins approx. or make a log file for as long as you like or export it to an Excel graph and sheet.
• Realtek AC'97 Drivers 3.77 WHQL - This driver supports all ALC series audio chipsets from ALC101 up to ALC861. It is used as onboard sound on many motherboards. Chips covered include ALC101/201/202/203/250/650/653/655/658/861.
• zer0point Catalyst 0.59 - if you want 10 more points in 3dmark these drivers aren't for you, if you want your games to look great and play great without stability issues then I think you'll enjoy our drivers.
• zer0point ForceWare 0.8182 - Currently these drivers are for all GeForce based desktop cards. (If it’s not on a laptop, and says either GeForce or Quadro in the name, it’s supported).
• ForceWare 81.84 beta - The new _beta_ drivers (release notes) include specific optimizations for dual-core processors, an HDTV setup wizard with a full-screen calibration tool, and SLI support for TV and HDTV output.  Word is: "BETA driver to support the availability of the game Black and White 2."