• Blackout hits major Web sites - A domain name outage Tuesday morning that left many popular Web sites such as Yahoo, Google, Microsoft.com and Apple.com temporarily inaccessible was the result of an Internet attack, according to Web infrastructure company Akamai. The attack caused problems for more than two hours--from 5:30 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. PDT. Many of the world's most popular sites suffered from widespread outages, according to Keynote Systems, which compiles statistics related to Web surfing. On a typical day, the top 40 sites measured by Keynote rarely dip below 99 percent availability. On Tuesday, however, Keynote saw availability drop to 81 percent.
• Video game makers sue over copying program - Atari, Electronic Arts and Vivendi Universal Games filed suit against the software company in New York federal court, asking a judge to block distribution of 321 Studios' Games X Copy software. "Federal law makes it clear that it is illegal to manufacture, distribute, or sell devices or programs that circumvent technological protection measures built into video games," Douglas Lowenstein, president of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), said in a statement. "That's exactly what 321 Studios’ Games X Copy does, and we fully expect the court to grant our request to ban this product."
• U.S. declines to create do-not-spam list - The Federal Trade Commission, expected to announce its decision later in the day, said it feared that unscrupulous senders of unwanted e-mails would mine such a registry of e-mail addresses looking for new victims, according to a summary of the FTC's decision obtained by The Associated Press.
• Canada's spam king apologizes - A Canadian man accused of being one of the biggest spammers in the world by Yahoo Inc. has agreed to stop sending unwanted e-mails and plans to help educate children about the dangers of the Internet. The Heads have settled the lawsuit and agreed to pay Yahoo at least $100,000 (U.S.). The exact amount of the payment is confidential, but a lawyer for the family said it was "six figures." Although the lawsuit was against all three men, the allegations centred on Eric Head, 25, who ran a bulk e-mail business from the family's home in Kitchener, Ont. Mr. Head has shut down his operation, called Gold Disk Canada, and become a drummer in a rock band.
• DVD pirates to pay R112 000 fine and be deported home - Three Pakistani nationals were fined a total of R112 000 in the Kempton Park magistrate's court and will be deported to Pakistan after being convicted of contravening the Counterfeit Goods Act for importing more than 8 000 counterfeit digital video discs (DVDs). The counterfeit DVDs, including new movie titles such as Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban, Shrek 2 and Spider-man 2, had a street value of several million rand. Fred Potgieter, the managing director of the Southern African Federation Against Copyright Theft (Safact), confirmed at the weekend that Farham Radiya was fined R60 000 for importing 4 000 DVDs and Akhtar Ali, who arrived at Johannesburg International Airport on the same flight from Dubai last Tuesday, was fined R12 000 for importing 1 630 counterfeit DVDs and 1 000 pornographic DVDs.
• Symantec Enterprise Firewall DNSD cache poisoning Vulnerability - Symantec Enterprise Firewall dnsd proxy, versions 8 and later, is vulnerable to cache poisoning attacks when acting as a caching nameserver. Is possible to inject false entries in its cache and make a false DNS server look like authoritative of a zone, when it is not. Once this information is loaded any request to a subdomain of that zone, will be submitted to the false DNS.
• Linux bug discovered -  Linux Bug has been discovered which allows a whole system to be exploited by a simple C program. On the site Linuxreviews.org the discoverer Oyvind Sather, from Norway, said that using the exploit requires the (ab)user to have shell access or other means of uploading and running the program-like cgi-bin and FTP access. Then it is just a matter of running this code which works on any normal user account. Along with the code needed to use the exploit, Sather also posted several patches to 2.4 and 2.6 kernels that will keep the exploit from crashing systems. The 2.4.xx kernel patch can be found here. A patch for the 2.6 kernel can be found here. (thanks TheInquirer)
• Harvard man loses 3,000 weblogs - Eccentric software developer Dave Winer has removed access to 3,000 weblogs hosted by the company he founded Userland at weblogs.com, without giving any prior notice. Bloggers have been told that if they ask nicely, they may have their data back next month. Winer blamed a computer for his decision.
• Yahoo giving 100MB - New Yahoo email sign up will get 100MB email storage for free!
• Microsoft on Track to Offer Anti-Virus Software -  Microsoft is still on track to offer an anti-virus product that will compete against similar software offered by Symantec Corp and Network Associates Inc., the world's largest software maker said late on Monday. Mike Nash, chief of Microsoft's security business unit, told reporters that Microsoft is developing software to protect personal computers running Windows against malicious software, the worms and viruses that in recent years have plagued users with data loss, shutdowns and disruptions in Web traffic.
• Java vs C++ "Shootout" Revisited - Lea used G++ (GCC) 3.3.1 20030930 (with glibc 2.3.2-98) for the C++, with the -O2 flag (for both i386 and i686). He compiled the Java code normally with the Sun Java 1.4.2_01 compiler, and ran it with the Sun 1.4.2_01 JVM. He ran the tests on Red Hat Linux 9 / Fedora Test1 with the 2.4.20-20.9 kernel on a T30 laptop. The laptop "has a Pentium 4 mobile chip, 512MB of memory, a sort of slow disk," he notes.  The results he got were that Java is significantly faster than optimized C++ in many cases.
• Nokia unveils six mobile models at conference in Singapore - The top-of-the-line Nokia 6630, featuring a 1.3-megapixel camera with 6x digital zoom, is a 3G handset that uses Symbian OS and supports both GSM triband and WCDMA2000. The phone offers a download speed up to 384 Kbps and an upload speed of 128 Kbps. Nokia plans to launch this phone worldwide in the fourth quarter.
• Lasers turn beam on TV recycling - A laser technique to separate materials in cathode ray tubes (CRT) from TV and PC monitors has been developed to help recycle the useful elements in them. Tonnes of glass and other material is wasted in old TVs and PCs each year, but it has proved difficult to dissect elements cleanly to use in new tubes. The laser system, made in Finland, means no lead and pollutants are mixed up with useful recyclable elements.
• Gainward CoolFX Powerpack! Ultra/2600 - There's a performance increase to be had from the Ultra/2600 CoolFX, but unless the price differential drops to within L100 of the air-cooled board, the Ultra/2600 CoolFX is hard to recommend. Undoubtedly the fastest unmodified consumer graphics card in the world in quite a few scenarios, but not far enough away from boards like the X800 PRO, XT PE and other 6800-based cards to be attractive, given the price.
• Sony DRU-700A review - Sony’s DRU-700A is a superb first generation dual layer DVD ReWritable drive. It can burn the ultra-high capacity dual layer discs with ease, but is also lightning fast at burning both DVD+R and DVD-R media, and is a very solid performer in the CD-RW/DVD-ROM areas as well. The drive is quick, quiet, comes with a decent software bundle, and black or white faceplates, so aesthetics should not be an issue.
• BTC DRW1108IM 8x DVD±RW review - The DRW1108IM is the latest addition to BTC's growing lineup of DVD writers. Announced in March, their new "DVD Dual" drive is capable of 8x DVD±R and 4x DVD±RW writing speeds and has a maximum DVD read speed of 12x. The DRW1108IM isn't just about reading and writing DVD's though. The drive also boasts features like 40x CD reading and writing speeds as well as support for MediaTek's Super Link technology. Best of all, BTC has included a great software bundle from companies like Ahead Software and CyberLink.
• Fan Noise Controller roundup - PC fans can make a lot of noise, but fan controllers can help. However, not all controllers live up to their promise. THG tested 15 to see what worked and what didn't.
• A-Top-Z-Alien PC Server Gaming Case review - TechMods has posted an A-Top-Z-Alien PC Server Gaming Case review.
• Brother HL-5140 review - PCMag has posted a review of the Brother HL-5140 printer.
• TomTom Navigator review - Many cars can be outfitted with a navigation system, but other alternatives are available that offer much more than just navigation. We looked at TomTom Navigator, which enables GPS navigation on the PocketPC and other PDAs.
• The Antivirus Defense-in-Depth Guide - The Antivirus Defense-in-Depth Guide provides an overview of the types of malware and their risks, planning an effective antivirus strategy for your organization, and responding quickly and effectively to infections or incidents when they occur
• [!] Microsoft Updates XP's Service Pack - Microsoft released an updated test version of Windows XP Service Pack 2 (network installation ~ release notes) this week and says it is on track to deliver the security-focused update in the third quarter. The long-awaited Release Candidate 2 (RC2) version of Service Pack 2 for Windows XP was made available to beta testers on Monday and should be posted to Microsoft's Web site soon, a Microsoft spokesperson says. RC2 could be the final test version of the already delayed service pack, which was originally due in the first half of this year. The updated test version does not bring many obvious changes from RC1 released in March.
• OSX Emulator PearPC 0.2.0 - This free, open-source emulator allows Intel- and AMD-based PCs to run several operating systems compatible with the PowerPC, including Mandrake Linux, BSD, Darwin and Apple's Mac OS X.
• Coding Workshop Polyphonic Wizard 3.0 - The Coding Workshop Polyphonic Wizard (download) is a software program for your PC that allows you to add new ringtones and pictures to your polyphonic phone without the need for cables or sms (text) services. All you need is your phone and this software to add new polyphonic ringtones! All the technical details are taken care of. All you need to do is pick a midi file, use the trim tool to select the part you want, then send it to your phone.
• HJTHotkey 2.7  - It will run in the system tray and when a hotkey/shortcut key is pressed, it will copy the word that has been selected and automatically search for that word on Google, sysinfo.org (startup items, Toolbars, BHO's), windowsstartup.com (startup items), answersthatwork.com (processes)or one of the offline BHO, CWS and Toolbar databases depending on the hotkey that is pressed.
• News Interceptor 1.13  - Version 1.13 of News Interceptor is now available for download. This new version fixes some communication problems.
• Mozilla Firefox 0.9 - The new release (changelog) packs a whole bunch of improvements and new features, including a new default theme, a new browser migration tool, allowing you to easily switch to Firefox from IE or Opera, new theme and extension managers, improvements in speed and minor fixes.
• McAfee AVERT Stinger 2.2.8 - A new version of McAfee Stinger (free AV scanner/remover) is available for download.
• DU Meter 3.06 Build 174 - DU Meter (download from SavageNews) is an award winning utility from Hagel Technologies which provides an accurate account of the data which is flowing through your computer's network connection at any given moment. This readout is presented in both numerical and graphical format, in real time. DU Meter includes extensive logging facility, flexible events system, and more. It supports Windows 95/98/NT4/2000 and XP! DU Meter works with virtually all types of network connections: phone modems, DSL, cable modem, LAN, satellite, and more
• RadLinker 1.010 - RadLinker is new tweaker/linker for ATI Radeon based graphics cards.
• Radeon Catalyst 4.7 Beta - The Guru of 3D has posted Radeon Catalyst 4.7 Beta drivers for Win2k/XP. Try them at your own risk. There is no word on performance just yet. The drivers can also be found at StationDrivers. (thanks BloodUK).

• Multilingual worm spreads throughout Europe -  A new multilingual worm from Hungary hit networks over the weekend and is spreading steadily. Zafi.B, also known as Erkez.b or Hazafi, spreads via peer-to-peer software and as a 12,800 byte .pif attachment within emails. It has the potential to spread widely as it mails itself out in Hungarian, English, Italian, Spanish, Russian and Swedish.
• A new Messenger Plus! trojan - Messenger Plus Zone is reporting that on 6/11/04 at around 6:30PM Eastern Standard Time, Messenger Plus! Zone obtained a copy of a file ("SWMPplugin.exe") that is known as Backdoor.Prorat (Symantec). The trojan was circulated as a Messenger Plus! Plugin that add's new sounds, and after receiving this file it was processed and scanned and it is a dangerous backdoor. The Trojan can allow a hacker to gain complete control of your computer. The trojan HAS been reported to Patchou.
• Microsoft races to plug IE hole - The net security watchdog, the Computer Emergency Readiness Team (Cert) has issued a warning, saying there were signs it was being exploited. Problems arise when a user unknowingly clicks on a bogus web link, triggering a download of software. Malicious hackers could then have access to data and files on the PC. The company said it hoped to have the problem sorted before its monthly release of security updates.
• Microsoft's SP1 for Server 2003 Packs a Security Punch - Microsoft is working on a set of security upgrades for Windows Server 2003 that executives said will deliver on the company's promise to make its products more secure by default and give enterprises more options for locking down servers. The security capabilities for the company's flagship server operating system are due to be included in Service Pack 1, which is scheduled for release late this year.
• Viruses move to mobile phones - Kaspersky Labs has detected Cabir, the first network worm which propagates via mobile networks. It infects telephones running Symbian OS. So far, Cabir does not seem to have caused any security incidents. It seems that the worm was writtten by "Vallez". This pseudonym is used by 29a, an international group of virus writers. The group specialises in creating proof-of-concept viruses. Among the group's creations are Cap, the first macro virus to cause a global epidemic; Stream, the first virus for additional NTFS streams; Donut, the first virus for .NET and Rugrat, the first Win64 virus.
• Off-topic: Phoebe Pictures Released - NASA has begun to release some pictures from Cassini's Phoebe flyby last Friday.
• Off-topic: Memory fails you after severe stress - People are woefully bad at recalling details of their own traumatic experiences. When military personnel were subjected to threatening behaviour during mock interrogations, most failed to identify the questioner a day or so later, and many even got the gender wrong. The finding casts serious doubt on the reliability of victim testimonies in cases involving psychological trauma.
• PS2 Sales Double After Price Drop - Sony announced today a more than twofold increase in sales since it reduced the price of the PS2, validating the company's strategy in the timing and approach to the price drop. The company announced the lower price point of $149 suggested retail price (SRP) for the standalone PS2 system or the PS2 Combo Pack, while supplies last, last month at the E3.
• Nokia Cuts Target for New N-Gage Games - Nokia cut its target to launch up to100 new games for its N-Gage gaming phones to 40 by the end of the year, as the world's top mobile phone company struggles to make a name for itself in the booming games market. After a major launch of N-Gage last year, however, the Finnish company has admitted sales missed expectations due to the phone's small screen and an awkward way of changing games that requires the user to first remove the phone's batteries, among other things.
• Nokia to launch its first megapixel handset 7610 in Taiwan - Nokia launched its first megapixel camera phone, the 7610, in Taiwan on June 11. The company, vying for a larger share of the Taiwan market, is expanding its offerings of new handset models. The 7610 is equipped with 72Mbit expandable memory and comes with various multimedia functions including up to ten minutes of video recording, MP3 playback features and a wide range of smartphone features.
• AMD clarifies dual-core processor strategy -AMD shed a little more light on its previously disclosed plans for dual-core processors Monday, announcing that it has completed its design for dual-core server and desktop processors and will ship products in 2005. Both dual-core processors will be based on the company's AMD64 technology, said Fred Weber, vice president of engineering for AMD's Computation Products Group. That architecture includes 64-bit extensions to the 32-bit x86 instruction set as well as an integrated memory controller that helps AMD move to dual-core designs, he said.
• AMD Unveils Cheaper Mirrorbit Memory- AMD' Spansion flash memory joint venture plans to announce the second-generation of its Mirrorbit flash memory designed specifically for cell phones and other wireless devices, the company says. Mirrorbit flash memory now operates at a lower voltage than the first-generation technology, and offers better performance at a price that allows cell phone manufacturers to use it in a wider range of devices, says Amir Mashkoori, senior vice president and general manager of the Spansion wireless business unit.
• 16X DVD Burner Spec Sent To Manufacturers - The 16X DVD+R specification was sent to manufacturers at the beginning of June, paving the way for 16X native DVD burners to start appearing in a few months. The additional speed will mean that consumers will be able to burn a entire DVD+R 16X disc in less than six minutes, a representative for the DVD+RW Alliance said Monday. The improvement is an abstract one, however, because 12X-capable media have not been released.
• e-GeForce 6800 Pre-Orders - eVGA.com let us know they now offer a pre-orders for $299.99. FYI, the bundle contains Far Cry game.
• DVD Forum backs CD/DVD hybrid - The DVD Forum has given is official thumbs-up to DualDisc, a DVD/CD hybrid format. The approval paves the way for a more rapid adoption of the DVD Audio format. DualDisc essentially sticks a CD onto the back of a DVD or DVD Audio disc. The idea is that punters will be able to, say, play higher quality DVD Audio content at home and use the same disc to play the same music in their car's CD player. The DVD specification limits disc thickness to 1.5mm, which is possible to meet using a slightly thinner CD layer than is found on regular CDs and a single-layer DVD.
• Sharp Unveils Big, Flat HDTV - Sharp unveiled a new range of LCD television sets this week, including a model with a 45-inch screen, the largest yet produced by the company. The new sets are being launched in anticipation of a surge in domestic sales of big-screen televisions ahead of the Olympic Games, which begin in Athens, Greece, in August.
• Toshiba Satellite notebooks come into orbit - Two of the machines--the Satellite A70-256 and Satellite A60-166--use Mobile Intel Pentium 4 chips that run at speeds of 3.06GHz and 2.8GHz, respectively. Intel launched these new notebook chips only two weeks ago. The third new laptop, the Satellite A60-156, is a low-end machine that uses a Celeron 2.8GHz processor. The Satellite A70 notebook, with a 60GB(3) hard disk, 512MB memory and 15.4-inch diagonal wide-screen display, is intended for use with high-end applications. Preloaded with Microsoft Office OneNote and Microsoft Works, along with Windows XP Professional, the notebook has an estimated price of $1,499.
• Fujitsu Ramps Up 100GB Notebook Drives - Fujitsu has developed a 100GB hard disk drive suitable for use in notebook computers and has begun mass production of the drive.
• Seagate Increases PC Hard Drive Capacities to 400GB - Seagate Technology announced today it has greatly expanded its line of personal computing hard drives, unveiling new internal and external hard drives with 400GB capacities, a new small footprint portable external hard drive with up to 100GB capacity and the world's first pocket external hard drive.
• Corsair TwinX1024-3200XL Pro Memory review  - The new TwinX1024-3200XL Pro is some of the fastest memory available with default speeds of DDR 400MHz at 2-2-2-5 timings. What's more is that this memory is said to perform at DDR 500MHz speeds using relaxed timings! While you may now wish to over clock your HTPC due to heat concerns the faster timings will surely help especially if you plan on gaming on your HTPC. This memory also features "Plug n' Frag" auto configuration that automatically boots your machine using the 2-2-2-5 timings.
• VIA EPIA MII 10000 Motherboard review - Essentially it is the same as the EPIA M10000 and CL motherboards, but the MII is aimed at the home user who would like the facility to add a wireless adaptor without having to use the single PCI slot. Performance and specification are almost identical to the EPIA CL we reviewed recently, but the MII has a removable module containing the Cardbus and compactflash bays controlled by Ricoh's R5C476 II and R5C485 chips.
• Leadtek TV2000 XP - Expert Edition Review - Bjorn3D has published a review of the Leadtek TV2000 XP TV card.
• Zalman Reserator 1 review - Zalman's first foray into water cooling, the Reserator 1 kit with accompanying ZM-WB2 Gold waterblock seeks to redefine the meaning of silent, as far as CPU cooling goes at least. As the name suggests, the Reserator is a radiator and reservoir combined, along with integrated pump, packing everything you need bar waterblocks into one integrated package.
• Sony DRU-700A review - Sony's DRU-700A is a superb first generation dual layer DVD ReWritable drive. It can burn the ultra-high capacity dual layer discs with ease, but is also lightning fast at burning both DVD+R and DVD-R media, and is a very solid performer in the CD-RW/DVD-ROM areas as well.
• Bluetake BT500 Bluetooth Mouse review - FastLaneHW has posted a review of the Bluetake BT500 Bluetooth Mouse. This bundle sells for about $75. Bluetake in a smart move also sell the BT500 by itself for those users interested in the BT500, but do not need the BT009X adapter. The BT500 packaged by itself sells for about $60.
• Razer Viper 1000 DPI Optical Mouse Review - Ascully.com has posted a review on the Razer Viper 1000DPI Optical Mouse.
• EluminX Illuminated Keyboard Review - GideonTech.com has posted a review of the EluminX Illuminated Keyboard.
• Brother HL-5140 review - The Brother HL-5140 offers fast performance, near-excellent text quality, and better photo output than most monochrome laser printers. Graphics output is only fair, but good enough for most purposes.
• Fujitsu-Siemens LIFEBOOK S Series S7010 Supreme Edition review - The latest incarnation of the S Series ups the stakes while still focusing firmly on the business user. At its core is Intel’s excellent Centrino technology, with a Pentium M 1.7GHz processor and integrated 802.11b/g wireless LAN. There is 512MB of 333MHz DDR RAM, a spacious 60GB 4,200rpm hard disk and ­ showing its business roots ­ Intel Integrated graphics based on the 855GME chipset.
• Canon EOS-1D Mark II review  -The new Canon EOS-1D Mark II is the successor to the Canon EOS-1D which was announced and introduced at the end of 2001. This new generation of digital SLR almost doubles resolution with its new eight megapixel CMOS sensor, doubles the size of the continuous shooting buffer. Despite the advertised 8.5 fps the EOS-1D Mark II actually shoots at a maximum of 8.3 fps (the same as the EOS-1D).
• Virtual Server 2005 SE RC - Now available as a free download, the Virtual Server 2005 RC is the most cost-effective virtual machine solution designed for the Windows Server 2003 platform to increase operational efficiency in software test and development, legacy application migration, and server consolidation scenarios. A release candidate is software still in its development stage. Microsoft will be completing development, testing, and certification before making the final version of Virtual Server 2005 available later in 2004. This release candidate software expires January 1, 2005.
• Zoom Player 4.00 Final - Zoom Player was designed to be simple at first glance while being remarkably dynamic and flexible when used to its full potential.
• ACE Mega Codec Pack 6.00 Professional Edition PR#19- This is the lastest and greatest release of famous ACE Mega CoDecS Pack. In this codec pack you will find plenty of usefull CoDecS (CoderS/DeCoderS), Media Player FilterS, Media Players and other UtilitieS. Also I added Authoring ToolS for video watchning, audio and video processing. In Add-On Pack you can found Authoring ToolS for content creation.
• FFDShow MPEG-4 Video Decoder 07-06-2004 - FFDSHOW is a DirectShow decoding filter for decompressing DivX, XviD, WMV, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 movies.
• Fraps 2.2.1 - An updated version of Fraps is available for download. This new update fixes problem with City Of Heroes, and another bugs.
• ICQ Lite 4.1 Build #1717 - A new build of ICQ Lite is available for download. This new version fixes Contact List loading problems.
• Avast! Virus Cleaner Tool 1.0.194 - Avast! Virus Cleaner (download) is a free tool that will help you remove selected worm infections from your computer.
• ATI Tray Tools v1.0.0.335 - what's new ~ download

• Microsoft sues 200 accused "spammers" - Microsoft Corp. has filed suit against nearly 200 people accused of sending millions of fraudulent, unwanted e-mail messages, including one Florida man considered to be among the worst "spammers" in the world. The Redmond, Wash., company, in an effort to slow the a barrage of junk e-mail directed at its customers, filed four lawsuits on Wednesday and four others on June 2, each naming at least 20 defendants whose identities are not known.
• Microsoft Internet Explorer Location: URL and malformed IFrame content vulnerabilities - Microsoft Internet Explorer contains several vulnerabilities that might allow an attacker to access local resources, bypass security restrictions, and execute arbitrary code. The first vulnerability is due to improper handling of the Location: function. Attackers can use a website containing a carefully crafted Location: URL to access local files. The second vulnerability is due to improper handling of content contained in an IFrame. An attacker can create a carefully crafted URL to execute arbitrary code in the Local Security Zone when the URL is clicked on by the victim.
• Internet Explorer Security Zone Bypass and Address Bar Spoofing Vulnerability - The vulnerability is caused due to an error within the handling of URLs, which may cause IE to view a web site in context of another less secure security zone than intended. Example:
  http://[trusted_site]%2F%20%20%20.[malicious_site]/ Successful exploitation may allow a web page to be displayed in context of another domain e.g. in the "Trusted sites" or "Local intranet" security zones. However, a malicious web site's domain has to support wildcard DNS and accept invalid values in the "Host:" header.
• Real Patches Critical Media Player Flaws - RealNetworks has patched two highly critical holes in its media player. The bugs could allow an attacker to run malicious code by directing users to a specially-crafted Web page, via an email message for example, according to security experts. RealOne Player, RealOne Player v2, RealPlayer 10, RealPlayer 8, and RealPlayer Enterprise are all affected.
• StarForce: Copy protection or scumware? - Installs hidden devices - The Star-Force copy protection installs hidden drivers. The drivers can be shown when selecting 'hidden devices' in the device manager of Windows XP. Installed drivers are: 'Starforce Protection Enviroment Driver v5', 'Starforce Protection Helper Driver', 'Starforce Protection Helper Driver v2', 'Starforce Protection Synchronizer v1'. All these drivers are installed when you install a game that is Starforce protected. (A list of games can be found here).
• German Nazi spammers invade the net - NEO NAZI groups have been targeting Germany with a flood of racist spam, much of it pretending to come from the country's best loved mag. The spam pretends to come from Der Spiegel or its online version targets ethnic Turks. The usual goose-stepping prose, which indicates that humanity has not really moved on much lately, accuse asylum seekers of, amongst other things, torturing animals to death
• Microsoft patents "to-do" list - The software giant now has certain rights to 'task lists' in software-development environments. Better not get too fancy with your grocery list, now that Microsoft has patented a glorified form of the to-do list.  US Patent No. 6,748,582, granted and assigned on Tuesday to Microsoft, covers the use of a "task list" in a software-development environment. The patented technology essentially integrates certain comments left in the source code of an application under development with an accompanying checklist. Leave a "TODO" comment in the source code, and an authoring application automatically creates an item in the task list. Check an item off on the task list, and the corresponding source code comment is changed. A Microsoft representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
• Off-topic: Car Tech  - To be sure, the rich get new technology first. Burying a $2,500 radar cruise-control system in a $75,000 Mercedes sticker price is easier than in a $25,000 Dodge's. And luxury car buyers carry development costs in the decade it takes to make important technologies like antilock brakes and airbags affordable and standard. In this story, TechMag looks at some of the most fascinating new technologies for your car.
• Off-topic: How exciting was the AMD booth at Computex? - Woohoo, check it out!
• Off-topic: Mutant human stem cell lines created - Human stem cell lines from genetically flawed human embryos have been created by US scientists. The team that produced the mutant lines at the Reproductive Genetics Institute in Chicago believes the cell lines will help shed light on genetic diseases and could be used to test new treatments.
• Off-topic: Sex more likely during women's fertile phase - Women are significantly more likely to have sex during the fertile part of their monthly cycle, suggests new research.
• Off-topic: Mathematicians sceptical over claimed breakthrough - A French mathematician is claiming to have solved a fiendishly difficult problem, upon which rides a million dollars of prize money. But other mathematicians are sceptical that he has really done it. On Tuesday, Louis de Branges de Bourcia, a professor of mathematics at Purdue University in Indiana, issued a press release claiming that he has proved the Riemann hypothesis is true.
• Super-thin crystals promise fast memory - The phenomenon is currently exploited in so-called "Fe-RAM" devices, but these applications are limited to those needing only a low memory density, such as smart cards. For example, a commercial Fe-RAM chip made by Ramtron in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is 10 by 10 millimetres in area but holds just 256 kilobits of data. But the new discovery could allow the amount of data stored on a chip of that size to be increased by at least a factor of 100, says Stephenson.
• Intel working on doubling battery run time - Zinc Matrix Power develops a polymer-based rechargeable alkaline battery technology that is very similar to common flashlight battery chemistry, but, has demonstrated about two times the energy to volume of today’s lithium-based laptop batteries in lab tests. This could potentially double run times in the same package size as current laptop batteries. Additionally, this technology, like common flashlight batteries, uses a water-based electrolyte which, together with its low pressure flexible plastic case work, minimizes the risk of fire or explosion due to abuse.
• Nintendo plots next-gen console "Revolution" - Nintendo's next console release has been codenamed 'Revolution', the company's president, Satoru Iwata, revealed this week. Like the Nintendo DS handheld console, with its touch-sensitive screen technology and Wi-Fi connectivity, Revolution's design is more likely to focus on gameplay features than raw processing power, Iwata suggested.
• HD-DVD Spec Approved - The DVD Forum this week approved HD-DVD 1.0, a specification that will compete with Blu-Ray for the future of the DVD disc format. According to the DVD Forum's web site, the DVD Forum approved the specification on June 9 or 10. In November, the consortium approved version 0.9, which defines a 15-Gbyte single layer DVD disc and a 30-Gbyte dual-layer disc.
• Five Short-Range Wireless Standards Seen Combining - Five short-range wireless connection technologies are fighting for the industry limelight, but sector specialists said on Friday that companies would eventually combine the five to make life easier. Automatic wireless connections between electronic devices are the Holy Grail of the computer and consumer electronics industry. Companies hope consumers will buy new devices once they are able to listen to their music collections anywhere in the house or on the road, see DVDs and photo albums on any screen, or program their hard disk recorders from a Web site.
• Intel Plans for Dual-Core Prescott CPUs in 2005 - Intel Corporation may release dual-core Pentium 4 "Prescott" processors in late 2005, a report over Geek.com website claims. If the information is correct, the roadmap of the world’s largest manufacturer of central processing units gets completely reshuffled once again. Hovewer, a representative for Intel Corporation told X-bit labs the company had never released any precise details in regards the dual-core strategy. The information published herein should not be considered as based on official statements.
• Next-Cool WaterCUBE GT3 Water Block review  - The WaterCUBE GT3 rel.D guarantees shiver performances and temperatures of exercise under control also with emiting CPU more than 100 Watts (power calculated with overclocked and under stress CPU).
• Sony Vaio VGN-X505VP review - At it's shallowest point the X505VP is only 1.1cm high when closed, while at the other end it's still a svelte 2.1cm high. But it's not just the height that's impressive, the full dimensions are 25.6 x 20.8 x 1.1-2.1cm and the weight is an unbelievable 822g. In reality, the Vaio X505VP is smaller and lighter than, well, than a notebook.
• Averatec's Sub-$1,000 Athlon XP 2000+ Ultra-Portable - Averatec's AV3220H1 ultra-portable notebook packs a mobile AthlonXP 2000+ and weighs just over 4.4 pounds for only $1000. How does the performance of this very cost-efficient device stand up against pricier systems, such as the Asus S5200N?
• Athlon64 Socket 754 Motherboard Round-up -  In this round-up Explosive Labs take a look at 5 different motherboards from two different chipsets for the 754 pinned Athlon64, the VIA K8T800, and NVIDIA's nForce3 150 chipset. Four of the motherboards are based on VIA's solution, the ABIT KV8-MAX3, Albatron K8X800 Pro II, AOpen AK86-L, and ASUS K8V Deluxe.
• GF 6800 First Look - MikeC of NVNews has posted a first look at the GeForce 6800.
• Sapphire Radeon X800 Pro review - Aside from the Sapphire Radeon X800 Pro's bundle, the card is also an excellent performer. The Sapphire Radeon X800 Pro had virtually identical performance to the retail ATI Radeon X800 Pro, with both cards excelling in every benchmark thrown at them. We were able to maintain just over 49 FPS while running Far Cry at 1600x1200x32, performance no other card available on retail shelves can match. Even with Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering enabled, the Sapphire Radeon X800 Pro held its ground, running at over 50 FPS in our Splinter Cell 1600x1200x32 benchmark.
• PowerColor RADEON X800 PRO Limited Edition,X800 PRO Made Into X800 XT Platinum Edition - check it out!
• 300GB Storage Devices - The testing session is over and its main outcome is the statement that the fastest and cheapest data reservoir of 300GB storage capacity is the Maxtor MaXLine II 5A300J0 hard disk drive. Well, I can’t say this is a surprise and you may also doubt the convenience of use of this drive in everyday work. Among the rest of the tested devices, the Maxtor MaXLine II 5A300J0 installed into the STLab rack is preferable as concerns performance, especially when it is connected across a FireWire interface. As we noted several times, it is faster than the Maxtor OneTouch drive, probably due to the lower access time of the ATA device.
• AOpen 8x Dual DVD+/-RW review - AOpen has done a great job with this drive. It's fast, quiet, and reliable. As is the case with many drives, this drive would not run at 8x DVD-R with the Memorex media that I was using. Drives can be very particular about what you put in them, and the AOpen is not one to break from the norm.
• NU SBW-242 External Combo Drive - It is hard to fault this drive, it reads and writes at its stated speeds and is extremely compact, portable, and stylish. The only aspect of the drive that could be improved upon is the DVD read speeds, at a maximum of 4X and a minimum of 1.69X, it is getting a little slow. However, as stated before, we didn't experience any performance reduction. One last factor that should be noted is that the drive was practically silent when reading CDs, which is a great plus.
• Creative's E-MU 1820 Goes Home Studio Pro - Creative has added music production to its range of sound card offerings. Using know-how gained from its acquisition of E-MU, Creative's E-MU 1820 is designed to deliver professional-quality reproduction.
• ZALMAN Theatre 6 (ZM-RS6F) review -  Zalman just doesn't have the rich experience of manufacturers like Sennheiser, Sony, Technics or Pioneer. At the same time, without doubt, the headphones from Zalman will enjoy a warm welcome in the gaming community as the main purpose of this model is in reproduction of sound when you can't enable your speaker system. I’d like to warn you once again, though, that you should be wary of turning the volume to the maximum lest you become deaf.
• 5 headphones round-up - The best looking headphone goes to Koss UR-40 because of the slim design, the chrome color and the net as lining for the head hoop. HQ-1600 doesn't walk away without a price neither since it's the test's most adjustable headphone. Koss should get an innovational price for the smart folding on UR-40 and UR-18 but a slap for not mounting the cord in just one cap but on both caps on both headphones.
• Full Alien vs. Predator Trailer is Online - The newest, and currently "Internet Only" Alien vs. Predator Trailer is available.
• Dawn Theme download - For fans of NVIDIA's favourite pixie Dawn, you can now download a Dawn theme for StyleXP.
• phpMyAdmin 2.5.7 Final - phpMyAdmin (changelog) 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.
• InboxShield 3.2 - InboxShield (download $40) filters your incoming mail and separates good mail from Spam mail. Thanks to it's Intelligent Filtering Technology (IFT), InboxShield learns as you are receiving mail. So the more you use InboxShield, the better it performs.
• FlashFXP 3.0.0.1010 RC4 (SHW) - FlashFXP (download) is the most powerful and popular FTP & FXP Client for Microsoft Windows 9x/Me/NT/2000/XP on the market today.

• Russia and China "behind current spam deluge" -  Organised criminals based in Russia are fuelling the rise in the amount of spam sent over the Internet, according to a leading opponent of junk mail. Steve Linford, director of The Spamhaus Project, warned on Tuesday that these gangs are supplying US-based spammers with details of compromised PCs that can be used to send out their unsolicited commercial messages, and creating viruses that will create more of these open proxies.  "There is a new level of criminality in the spamming world," Linford told the Openwave Messaging Anti-Abuse conference in London. "Russian gangs are creating viruses and proxies and selling them onto US spammers." According to Linford, these Russian gangs aren't constrained by any anti-spam or cybercrime laws in their home country and have no respect for legislation implemented in other countries. Linford also told the conference that some 70 percent of spam is sent from China by American spam outfits who are hosting their servers with Chinese ISPs. In many cases the spammers have set up firewalls so that the ISPs can't actually see what's being hosted.
• IE flaws used to spread pop-up toolbar - An adware purveyor has apparently used two previously unknown security flaws in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser to install a toolbar on victims' computers that triggers pop-up ads, researchers said this week. One flaw lets an attacker run a program on a victim's machine, while the other enables malicious code to "cross zones," or run with privileges higher than normal. Together, the two issues allow for the creation of a Web site that, when visited by victims, can upload and install programs to the victim's computer, according to two analyses of the security holes.
• Police to monitor chat rooms - Police around the world are to join forces to monitor Internet chat rooms in a bid to deter paedophiles from "grooming" young victims online. The National Crime Squad (NCS) in the UK will work with the FBI in the US and officers in Australia to keep tabs 24 hours a day on chat room conversations and intervene if necessary, according to a report by the BBC.
• Holes Found in Open Source Tool - Six vulnerabilities were discovered in the Concurrent Versions System, which is used to manage code on a number of leading open source software development projects. CVS is also used by organizations developing proprietary software. The holes could enable remote attackers to launch denial of service attacks or run malicious code on systems hosting vulnerable versions of CVS, according to an alert published by E-matters, a German security firm.
• Gamers blame Linksys in Firmware Soap Opera - In a thread on the DSLReports.com forums, some gamers are complaining about their sudden inability to participate in networked games after applying the version 1.45.11 firmware. Complaints include getting disconnected from game servers, "dropping the lease of the IP randomly", and other problems. (thanks TheInquirer)
• Cisco CatOS Telnet, HTTP and SSH Vulnerability - Cisco CatOS is susceptible to a TCP-ACK Denial of Service (DoS) attack on
  the Telnet, HTTP and SSH service. If exploited, the vulnerability causes the Cisco CatOS running device to stop functioning and reload.
• Security Update for Windows XP Embedded with SP1 (837009) - Microsoft has released a new security update for Windows XP Embedded.
• Off-topic: Purdue mathematician claims proof for Riemann hypothesis - A Purdue University mathematician claims to have proven the Riemann hypothesis, often dubbed the greatest unsolved problem in mathematics.
• Anti-piracy film trailer unveiled - A cinema trailer that compares the illegal download of films with other serious thefts has been launched in Australia, it is reported. The anti-piracy film likens such downloads to stealing cars, said film industry website Screen Daily.com.  It said 1,900 copies of the trailer had been distributed, and the format would be adapted for use globally. An Australian court sentenced a person to jail for the offence last week after a recent surge in piracy. The trailer was produced in the US by the Motion Picture Association of America, and adapted for an Australian audience - as it will be for nations throughout the world.
• Malaysia Closes Karaoke Bar in Crackdown - Authorities shut down a karaoke bar in the capital for allegedly keeping thousands of unlicensed songs in its computer system, in the latest crackdown on software piracy in Malaysia. Domestic Trade Department officials closed the sing-a-long bar in downtown Kuala Lumpur on Monday after finding unlicensed software and more than 5,000 pirated songs on a computer hard drive, enforcement division chief Zainal Abidin Mohamed Noordin said. Under the Copyright Act, the owners could face a minimum 10 million ringgit ($2.6 million) fine - 2,000 ringgit ($536) for each song not registered, he was cited as saying by the Bernama national news agency.
• Off-topic: Record ice core gives fair forecast - As long as humans do not mess it up, the Earth's climate is set at fair for the next 15,000 years. That is according to information extracted from the oldest ice core ever drilled. The Antarctic core is the first to reach as far back as a warm period with characteristics similar to our own interglacial. So it should help make more accurate predictions about when to expect the next deep freeze.
• Off-topic: Quark experiment predicts heavier Higgs - The search for the elusive Higgs particle has maddened physicists since the particle's existence was proposed in the 1960s. And now they know why. A new analysis indicates that the particle is heavier than anyone expected.
• Big Brother invades your mobile - Channel 4's Big Brother is now available to users of video-capable mobile phones.Viewers require a GPRS-enabled handset, smartphone or PDA to view the video stream, which they can do by sending a SMS text message (VIDEO to 83188) or via supplier Vemotion's website and other mobile content sites. Devices capable of watching the show include the Nokia N-Gage 7650, 6600 and 3650, Sendo X, SonyEricsson P900, O2 XDA/XDA2 and HP iPAQ. Charges start at L1 for 24 hours' access, although some mobile operators will charge extra for GPRS usage.
• Megapixel Phones Encroach on Digital Camera Turf - Asia's top mobile phone makers are rolling out handsets equipped with cameras so advanced many consumers may come to the conclusion they don't need a separate digital camera any more. That prospect should worry digital camera makers like Canon Inc, which could lose potential customers to a slew of snazzy new phones that take pictures with up to three megapixels of resolution, analysts say.
• Apple Launches Faster Power Mac G5 Computer - Apple Computer Inc. rolled out its fastest-ever desktop computer on Wednesday with processors that run as fast as 2.5 gigahertz, but the company fell short of its earlier goal to offer a 3.0 gigahertz chip-based system by this month.
• ATI Radeon X800 Pro Review - VR-Zone Hardware has posted a review of the retail ATI Radeon X800 Pro graphics card.
• Albatron GeForceFX 5700P Turbo review - While the NV3x is not one of nVidia's greatest achievements, the NV36 is definitely the star of the show, particularly in Albatron's unique "Turbo" form. The FX5700 Ultra's price tag is close enough to the 5900XT that you should probably just bite the bullet and spring for the better one, but Albatron's FX5700P Turbo at just over $100 provides plenty of performance for today's games with reasonable settings, and wont strain your wallet too badly.
• EPoX 8KDA3+ nForce3-250Gb Socket 754 Mainboard - The board is targetted at the overclocking community as it has PCI/AGP lock, voltage adjustments for vcore, vdimm, vagp and vchipset. On top of that, it comes with nVidia Personal Firewall and 8 channel audio with nVidia system mixer functionality. One of the most difference among the various chipsets for Athlon 64 is the Direct to Hypertransport Gigabit Ethernet Solution with Streamthru technology supported by this chipset. Basically it uses Hypertransport to communicate with the CPU and hosted physical layer directly.
• Corsair TwinX1024-3200XL Pro Series Memory - The blister package includes a 1GB TwinX matched memory pair. This consists of two CMX512-3200XLPRO memory modules that have been tested together on numerous dual channel DDR motherboards. A pamphlet is included which provides installation instructions and product features.
• ASUS DRW-0804P DVD Burner - The results are telling. The ASUS drive is a 40X drive, while the Pioneer and LG drives are 32X drives. It doesn't matter if its a burned CD or its a pressed CD all the drives perform almost the same. The ASUS has the speed advantage by about 3/4 of a MB/s. Seek times are similar for the two drives that we got results for. The LG drive gave consistent results of 2 or 3ms for all seek time tests, possibly due to the fact that it is an external drive bay.
• MSI Megastick 1 MP3 Player Review - DesignTechnica has posted a review of the MSI Megastick 1 MP3 Player.
• 7200 RPM Silent-Style: The SmartDrive 2002 Copper Hard Drive Enclosure -The hard drive fits quite snugly into the container, but not so snugly as to make it feel forced or compressed. Once re-built, the Smart Drive is designed for installation into any 5.25” drive bay. The foam provides both noise dampening and an additional degree of impact protection, though this doesn’t make your hard drive fit for the local hockey circuit.
• Samsung's 910T 19 LCD Monitor - The Samsung 910T is a great looking large-sized LCD monitor, and is certainly one of (if not the) best 19” LCD screens we've ever tested. The 910T has a sleek, industrial style which will look good on pretty much any desk, has superb image quality (when used with a DVI connection), and is one of the most flexible large-screen LCD’s on the market.  Unfortunately, even with high praise such as this, the monitor is still lacking in the area which most of us are concerned about, gaming performance. Even with a fairly quick 25ms pixel refresh rate, the 910T doesn't have the speed to compete with monitors like the Planar PX171M and the Viewsonic VP201B. In comparison to other top 19” LCD screens, the Samsung 910T still performs well, but dedicated gamers might want to look elsewhere. That's not to say the gaming performance is bad, but it's just a bit above tolerable, which is not enough to give the monitor an unequivocal thumbs up in our book.
• Samsung 172X: 12ms Response Time for 17" LCD -  The US retail version of the LCD produces phenomenally better results than the Hitachi CML174. If you are convinced that response time is the final factor holding you back from getting an LCD, you may be fairly surprised with the 172X. Kudos to Samsung for producing the first 17" 12ms LCD, and doing an excellent job with it.
• Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC50-S - Let's start with the basics, the LC50 has a 3.2 megapixel CCD capable of producing images at a resolution of 2,048 x 1,536. The Leica lens offers 3x optical zoom functionality that’s equivalent to 35 – 105mm in 35mm language. There’s also a 9x digital zoom option, but as always I’d advise switching the digital zoom off since you’ll get better results cropping and zooming under Photoshop or PSP
• NV40 vs R420 - Digit life continues their investigation of the recently launched GeForce 6800 Ultra from NVIDIA and Radeon X800 XT from ATI. This time include screen captures from a few retail games to show the different techniques employed by NVIDIA and ATI and they do not include any performance numbers.
• FPIO2 Mod Guide - Adrian's Rojak Pot has updated his FPIO2 Mod Guide. "Many cases now come with front panels with USB ports and speaker and microphone jacks. Connecting the USB ports is easy because most motherboards come with extra USB headers. But how do you connect the speaker and microphone jacks?".
• Ahead releases Nero 6 Ultra Edition Reloaded - Ahead Software announced several new exciting updates to the Ultimate All-In-One Digital Media Solution, Nero 6 Ultra Edition, including a newly designed package. This reloaded version of Nero 6 Ultra Edition offers all of its applications along with unlimited MP3, unlimited MPEG-4, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and Dolby 2 channel encoding, Double Layer recording, and the all new Nero PhotoShow Express, the easy photo management application.
• KDE 3.2.3 - KDE 3.2.3 has been just released to the public.
• Xandros Desktop OS Open Circulation Edition - The Open Circulation Edition is a limited version of Xandros Desktop OS that can be download at no charge and freely distributed to others. It is strictly for non-commercial use, and no e-mail installation support is included. It includes all the easy-to-use features of the Xandros Desktop OS Standard, Deluxe and Business editions, including four-click install with automatic disk partitioning, industry-leading hardware detection and configuration, seamless file and print sharing on Windows networks, and drag-and-drop CD burning in Xandros File Manager.
• OpenOffice 1.1.2 RC3 - OpenOffice.org (download win32 ~ linux) is the open source project through which Sun Microsystems is releasing the technology for the popular StarOffice productivity suite.
• MSN Messenger 6.2 build 0137 - Microsoft has released and updated version of MSN Messenger 6.2 build 0137
• Avant Browser 9.02 Build 031 - Avant Browser (download) is a free upgrade to Internet Explorer. No limitations. No Adware. No Spyware.
• Mozilla 1.7 RC3 - Mozilla (download win32 ~ linux) is an open-source web browser, designed for standards compliance, performance and portability
• Mozilla Firefox 0.9 RC1 - The light version of the Mozilla browser (download win32 ~ linux) previously known as Phoenix, Firebird has been updated to v0.9RC.

• Microsoft Patches New Windows Flaws - Microsoft released software updates for versions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 and warned customers about a security vulnerability in a Windows component called IDirectPlay4, which is used to support multiplayer network games. The security hole, if successfully exploited, could allow a remote attacker to cause a Windows application using the affected component to fail, creating a denial of service attack. IDirectPlay4 is one of three application programming interfaces that make up Microsoft DirectPlay, a protocol that provides networking services for networks based on TCP/IP and IPX. DirectPlay is frequently used to support multiplayer games. The second patch solves a security problem with the Crystal Reports Web Viewer, a third-party product included with Visual Studio .Net 2003, Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager, and Microsoft Business Solutions CRM 1.2..
• DirectX Security Update  - A security issue has been identified that could allow an attacker to cause DirectX, or applications using DirectX, to become unresponsive. Download fix for WinXP, Windows 2003.
• Two Critical Bugs found in MSIE - Two vulnerabilities have been reported in Internet Explorer, which in combination with other known issues can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system. 1) A variant of the "Location:" local resource access vulnerability can be exploited via a specially crafted URL in the "Location:" HTTP header to open local files. Example: "Location: URL:ms-its:C:WINDOWSHelpiexplore.chm::/iegetsrt.htm" 2) A cross-zone scripting error can be exploited to execute files in the "Local Machine" security zone. Secunia has confirmed the vulnerabilities in a fully patched system with Internet Explorer 6.0. It has been reported that the preliminary SP2 prevents exploitation by denying access.
  Successful exploitation requires that a user can be tricked into following a link or view a malicious HTML document.
• Greedy hackers can hog Wi-Fi bandwidth - Greedy computer hackers using open-source Linux machines could steal more than their fair share of bandwidth from Wi-Fi hotspots, Swiss computer scientists have warned. At the MobiSys 2004 conference in Boston, Massachusetts on Monday, Imad Aad, of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, outlined how changing just one line of code in the Linux operating system could allow hackers to monopolise the bandwidth at hotspots using the 802.11 standard. As some hotels charge up to a $1 per minute for Wi-Fi access, the problem could become unfairly expensive for users who do not cheat, he says.
• OS Security: It's in the Chips - Microsoft's Windows XP Service Pack 2 and the next version of Red Hat's Enterprise Linux 3 will support new CPU-based security protections designed to stop incoming malicious executable code from being triggered.
• IFPI sues 24 P2P users in Denmark - On Tuesday, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said that it will sue 24 individuals in Denmark for trading music files online and that Britain, France and Sweden could be added to the list of target countries.
• Various crashs and fun in Race Driver 1.20 - If a server receives a message packet with a length identifier of 0 it will crash immediately after the access to a NULL pointer. All the attached clients will crash too. Actually this game is no longer supported due to the release of Race Driver 2 in April 2004. (thanks  http://aluigi.altervista.org)
• ACON4: American whups Russian butt in wargame final - In the final, we had a sort of a cold war situation where America played post communist Russia and won again. The American whizz kid won both of the matches.
• Ray tracing engine for Quake III Arena produced - Slashdot.org has the scoop on an interesting project that's produced a real-time 3D ray tracing engine compatible with Quake III Arena. The engine offers some interesting visuals, including a plethora of real-time shadows and some very nice glass effects.
• Nanotube Non-Volatile Memory Entering Production - Nantero, Inc. announced today that it is teaming with LSI Logic Corporation (NYSE: LSI) to develop semiconductor process technology, expediting the effective utilization of carbon nanotubes in CMOS fabrication. The joint development project is taking place at LSI Logic’s Gresham (Oregon)manufacturing campus, which is capable of process R&D down to the 65nm node.
• DVD-RAM Hits Surprising Speeds - A new 5X DVD-RAM standard speed was recently unveiled by the RAM Promotion Group. It's not vaporware: Readying 5X DVD-RAM drives are Hitachi-LG, which expects a release in June, and Panasonic, shipping in August. Maxell will have 5X DVD-RAM media in June as well. Previously, DVD-RAM maxed out at a mere 3X, while +/-RW managed 4X.
• 6-Megapixel Shooters round-up - These user-friendly point-and-shoots can be had for as little as $500. PCMag tests three of the latest - Casio Exilim EX-P600 $499, Kodak EasyShare DX7630 $427 and Olympus Camedia C-60 Zoom.
• THG's 15-Case Power Tower Round-Up -  A new crop of PC cases offers some sleek designs, but how do their utility, safety and upgradeability measure up? THG gives you the low-down on what to expect.
• PHP 5.0 RC3 - The third (and hopefully final) Release Candidate of PHP 5 is now available.
• Archetype BETA 3 - Archetype (download) is a Personal Blog & Photo Album Management System. It will make having a web journal (weblog or blog) and photo album easier to have and maintain for anyone.
• MAME 0.83b - A new version of MAME is available for download.
• Creature House Expression 3 - Creature House Expression 3 (download) is an innovative vector-based illustration and graphics tool that provides exciting creative capabilities for designers working in print, web, video, and interactive mediums.
• HWiNFO32 v1.43 - HWiNFO32 is a professional hardware information and diagnostic tool supporting latest components, industry technologies and standards.
• Nvidia driver close to WHQL - TheInquirer is reporting that Nvidia's driver, the 6x.xx, is very close to release. Now Nvidia is waiting to get a WHQL certificate (beta can be found here) but still hasn't released the driver.
• Sateira Burner version 1.4 - Sateira Software has yesterday released version 1.4 of their CD&DVD Burner software
• Nvidia ForceWare 61.40 Beta - The files (10.7MB) are dated 05/19/2004 and will work with all ranges of Nvidia cards

• Wireless Hacker Pleads Guilty -  Michigan man pleaded guilty last week to four counts of wire fraud and unauthorized access to a computer after he and two accomplices used a vulnerable wireless network at a Lowe's Companies store in Michigan to attempt to steal credit card numbers from the company's main computer systems in North Carolina and other Lowe's stores in the U.S. Brian Salcedo could face up to 18 years in prison for the crime, which the government claims could have caused more than $2.5 million in damages. However, federal prosecutors will ask for a more lenient sentence in exchange for Salcedo's cooperation in other investigations stemming from the incident and full disclosure of details about the intrusions on Lowe's network, according to a copy of the plea agreement.
• Virus writers deploy bulk mail software - Hackers have used spamming software to distribute thousands of copies of a new Trojan. Email filtering firm MessageLabs alone has intercepted more than 4,000 copies of the Demonize-T Trojan over the last 24 hours. Demonize-T is a multi-stage Trojan that uses an object data exploit in Internet Explorer to download and execute an encoded visual basic script from a website. The Trojan then creates an executable file which appears to download a malicious program from the same website as the original script. Early analysis suggests Demonize-T is similar to previous attacks where malicious code has been used to install key loggers and password stealers.
• McAfee combines anti-hacking tools - Network Associates has unveiled its latest antivirus offering, McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.0i, which incorporates host-based intrusion prevention and a system firewall. Designed for both PCs and servers, McAfee VirusScan Enterprise combines antivirus, desktop firewall and host intrusion prevention features within a single deployable security agent.
• RSA Pumps Up Passwords - RSA Security is renewing its focus on improving the security of user passwords. The company plans to announce RSA Sign-On Manager, a rebranded version of its SecurID Passage product that the company claims will make it easier for enterprises to manage user passwords. The relaunched product will be available in the third quarter of this year and will be able to manage user log-ins for around 90 different enterprise applications using single sign-on technology licensed from Passlogix. A new RSA technology called IntelliAccess will allow users to recover forgotten user names and passwords, saving expensive help desk calls, RSA said.
• Apple patches "critical" OS X flaw - A combination of holes disclosed by security researchers last month could have allowed an attacker to take over a vulnerable Macintosh, though no such exploits have been reported. Apple issued a partial fix last month, but security researchers had said that the Mac remained open to attack. Apple executives had earlier pledged to release a more complete patch, calling the flaw the first critical security issue since Mac OS X was released three years ago.
• DVD+RW Alliance holds symposium in Taiwan for first time - The DVD+RW Alliance held a technological symposium in Taipei for the first time on June 4, explaining its patent licensing and product certification process for 16x DVD+R, 8x DVD+RW and 8x DVD DL (single-sided double-layer) drives/burners and discs, as well as introducing its anti-piracy technology, Vidi.
• Off-topic: SBC expected to strike deal with McDonalds - The deal is expected to place wireless access points in at least 6,000 McDonald's restaurants across the US over the next 12 months. San Antonia based SBC will be relying on Wi-Fi company Wayport Inc. to make it happen – they'll be the ones to drop off the technology at the McDonald's restaurants.
• Off-topic: Venus to Pass Between Earth and Sun for First Time in 121 Years  - Venus will pass between the Earth and the Sun today in the first transit visible for more than a century. If skies are clear, observers from three quarters of the globe will be able to view the phenomenon. The transit of Venus begins at about 6:20 a.m. London time, and ends at about 12:23 p.m., according to the U.K.'s Royal Astronomical Society. The planet's passage across the face of the Sun will be visible from Earth wherever there is daylight and skies are clear. Viewers should not look directly at the Sun as it can lead to permanent blindness, according to the society.
• Micro laptop gets DVD - Electronics firm JVC will next month ship an updated version of its Mini Note ultraportable laptop including a built-in DVD/CD-RW drive for the first time. The new model has a compact footprint similar to that of previous versions but is a little heavier, according to the firm. The JVC MP-XV841, available from the first week of July, is the company's fourth-generation Mini Note. Although barely larger than an A5 page, the new model crams in a DVD/CD-RW drive along its right-hand edge, at the cost of pushing up the weight to approximately 1.4kg. Earlier Mini Notes weighed under 1kg, but used an external DVD drive.
• Shuttle's new XP17 at Computex Taipei - Shuttle displayed its new 17-inch LCD monitor, the XP17, at Computex Taipei, 2004. The company expects to ship small volumes of the product next month, said Ken Huang, vice president of Shuttle’s product management department, at the event on June 4.
• AMD to market discount Sempron - AMD will come out with a chip in the second half of the year called Sempron that is geared toward notebooks that cost less than $999 and desktops that sell for under $549. Sempron will be sold worldwide. AMD did not provide any technical details or specify whether the chip would derive from the older Duron/Athlon/Athlon XP line or the Athlon 64 line.
• Sony VAIO VGN-X505ZP  First Look - How thin and light can a notebook get? Ask Sony. Its latest VAIO creation measures just 0.6 by 10.1 by 8.3 inches (HWD), making it one of the thinnest notebooks we've ever seen. At an astonishing system weight of 1.8 pounds, you won't even notice it in your bag; but considering the system's $3,000 price tag, you're likely to feel it in your wallet.
• AirPort Express Introduced - Apple has introduced AirPort Express (specs), a palm-sized, portable 802.11g base station with 10/100 ethernet, USB printer sharing, and analog and optical audio output, for connection to a stereo system or powered speakers for streaming your music collection via AirTunes (thanks Slashdot.org & Returers)
• BenQ DW1600A 16x DVD+R preview - This is not a finished product yet and the full specifications are just released. So in this short preview CDFreaks only take a look at how fast 16x speed is and look at how the writing quality is at 16x.
• Plextor PX-712A review - When it comes to reading and writing CD's, the PX-712A is more than capable. With SpeedRead enabled, it was able to read pressed and CD-R media at speeds as high as 48x. The drive also ripped audio CD's at an impressive 41x.
• Lost Circuits explores DDR, DDR2, GDDR3 - This article explores timings and latencies, frequency ranges, on-die termination, and strobing strategies to paint a detailed picture of the technical differences between each memory type.
• Audio and Video Codec List Removal and Tweaking Guide - If you've ever had issues with a codec and needed to remove it so that you could reinstall it to make it work again you'll want to know where you can find your codec list. In this same place you can usually change settings for the codec and it even has some limited troubleshooting capabilities.
• The America's Army: Special Forces (Downrange) Tweak Guide - TweakGuides.com has put out yet another Tweak Guide - The America's Army: Special Forces (Downrange) Tweak Guide is fully up to date with  all the latest changes which came recently with AA Version 2.1. The  guide provides detailed descriptions of all the game's settings and .ini tweaks, and includes troubleshooting tips, essential  information and links to important AA resources for new and veteran players alike. It is a must-read for America's Army fans.
• X800pro To XT Mod guide - PCunleash have published an extensive guide for turning your Radeon X800pro into a Radeon XT.
• Getting McAfee VirusScan for Free - If you purchased McAfee VirusScan 3 or 4 and are a US resident, you can opt-out of the class-action. In the process, McAfee will provide a free copy (without time restrictions on definitions) of McAfee VirusScan 8, AntiSpyware v1, or QuickClean v4.01. It's all done online and just takes a couple of minutes.

• Azureus 2.1.0.0, BitTornado 0.3.2 - Azureus (download) offers multiple torrent downloads, queuing/priority systems (on torrents and files). BitTornado (download) is another BitTorrent client.

• Game Jackal v1.0.3.178 - Game Jackal (download) is a powerful "must have" utility for the PC gamer, it allows you to play all your favorite games without inserting the original CD-ROM. Game Jackal achieves this without modifying any part of the game installed on your computer, nor does it create large image files that require a virtual drive.
• CDBurnerXP Pro 2.2.8 - CDBurnerXP Pro is an easy to use CD burning software, that can write CD-R and CD-RW discs. The program can also write disks directly from an ISO image file, and save image as an ISO image file (*.iso).
• DVD Rebuilder 0.52 - This useful program helps you to do a full DVD backup(movie, extras, menus) of your DVD9s to one DVDR using one of the best video encoder available, CinemaCraft Encoder.
• Koepi's XviD Codec 1.0.1 -  XviD  (download )is an ISO MPEG-4 compliant video codec. It's no product, it's an open source project which is developed and maintained by lots of people from all over the world.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0.2 - Adobe has updated their Acrobat Reader program to version 6.0.2.
• Barton Clock Ratio Checker 1.50 - The program is designed to identify the clock ratio locking for AMD processors based on Barton, Thorton, Thoroughbred and Applebred cores.

• W32.Korgo.F - W32.Korgo.F is a minor variant of W32.Korgo.E. It is a worm that attempts to propagate by exploiting the Microsoft Windows LSASS Buffer Overrun Vulnerability (BID 10108) on TCP port 445. It also listens on TCP ports 113, 3067, and other random ports. Symantec also has released a removal tool.
• Passwords can sit on hard disks for years - When you type in a password, it is stored in random access memory (RAM), where it is held temporarily until other data overwrites it or the computer is switched off.  But every so often, the computer copies the contents of its RAM onto hard disk, where it is easy prey for a hacker, who can read it directly or design a worm to email it back. The longer sensitive data stays in RAM, the more likely it is to be copied onto the disk, where it stays until it is overwritten - which might not happen for years.
• Legal downloads pass 500,000 mark - According to figures from the Official UK Charts Company released by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), half a million tracks have been downloaded from legal sites and services such as OD2 and internet service providers such as Tiscali and BT.
• Colin McRae Rally 04 broadcast clients crash - The bug is in a value that the servers send back to the clients when they enter in the multiplayer menu. The bugged value is the number of players in the server ("numplayers"), if it is too high it causes the crash of the client. Due the location of the bug, any vulnerable client can't play online because it automatically requests informations to all the online servers so a single malicious server can passively block the entire game network.
• Porn 3X more popular than searches - Online porn sites get about three times more visits than the top Web search engines, including market leader Google Inc., a research firm said Thursday. Web sites categorized as "adult" accounted for about 18.8 percent of all Internet visits by U.S. users in the week ending May 29. Meanwhile, the category that contains search engines dominated by Yahoo, MSN and Google, accounted for about 5.5 percent, according to Hitwise Inc., a California-based company that tracks Web use.
• The nanotube light bulb: bright idea - Chinese scientists working in collaboration with Louisiana State University have demonstrated a light bulb in with a carbon nanotube filament. As well as being the only real change in design in the last 125 years, the nano-filament bulb has several advantages over traditional tungsten. Firstly, the researchers, lead by Tsinghua University's Jinquan Wei, found that the nano-filament emitted more light than tungsten at the same voltage. It also has a lower threshold for light emission: a mere three volts, as opposed to six for Tungsten. The bulbs still worked after being switched on and off 5000 times, and could operate at 25 volts for more than 360 hours. The filament also behaves as a precise resistor over a wide temperature range: producing consistent resistance at up to 1750 Kelvin.
• Solaris to go open source - Sun Microsystems has confirmed plans to make its Solaris operating system open source. The company's president and chief operating officer, Jonathan Schwartz, revealed the intention at the firm's SunNetwork event in Shanghai. But no details or timetable have been made available.
• Intel plans processor party for June - The company will launch its Intel 915 Express and Intel 925 Express chipsets along with nine new Pentium 4 and Celeron processors. Chipsets, a collection of chips that assist in shuttling data to and from the processor and controlling input/output, are similar to a central nervous system. PCs using the 900 family chipsets and the Pentium 4s are scheduled go on sale the weekend of June 19. The Celerons will come out a few days later, sources familiar with Intel's plans said. Together, the chipsets and processors, which the sources said will include a new Pentium 4 560 running at 3.6GHz, will generate a variety of new desktop PCs that will offer greater performance than today's desktops and some new capabilities as well, including the option for a built-in wireless access point, dubbed Intel Wireless Connect Technology.
• AGP will live for the next 12 to 18 months - ATI believe that there is a space for AGP and PCI-E to coexist so they want to offer their customers right products. Nvidia already solved this problem since Jen Hsun said that HSI works both way so as it can turn AGP card into PCI-E one it can turn PCI-E card to AGP. Dave sees transition from AGP to PCI-E as something that wont happen overnight but generally sees benefits from new marchitecture as well. Its not backward compatible standard with existing AGP so you can not upgrade just the card, you have to get motherboard with PCI-E support as well.
• NVIDIA confirms no HDTV for 6800 series - According to Bit-tech.net, the 6800 GT card will be clocked at 350 / 1000Mhz and will feature a single-slot cooling solution, a single power connector and a mere 300W PSU requirement.  If you’re counting on HDTV working on your spanky new 6800, you’re out of luck: it has been confirmed this morning by Derek Perez of NVIDIA that the both the core and the existing reference board have no capacity to support an HDTV signal – though it is planned for the future NV43 & NV41 cores.
• Kingston PC4300 1GB DDR Review  - GideonTech.com has posted a review of Kingston HyperX PC4300 1GB DDR memory.
• Iomega's REV Marks Leap Forward For External Drives - For home or small-office applications, Iomega has accomplished its mission. The REV combines the advantages of a classical hard drive (high performance and direct access) and streamer solutions (easy disk swap-out) in one product. The technical specifications also live up to the vendor's claims. Additionally, Iomega's bundled software, called Automatic Backup Pro, is powerful and easy to use. Thanks to the USB 2.0 interface, the REV can be connected immediately to practically any current computer system. Unfortunately, in order to write and delete, a Windows driver is required, the installation of which is often impossible for employees in large corporate environments.
• Zalman 5.1 USB Sound Card review - Unfortunately for Zalman, the ZM-RSSC falls well short of what it should be. This unit uses the SONIX11116 chip, as used by the feature rich, equally priced Gainward Hollywood@Home MediaXtender, so it is surprising to see such a limited connectivity set.
• Rebecca Norlander - Demo of XPSP2 - Rebecca Norlander gives us a thorough demo of Windows XP Service Pack 2. Takes about 10 minutes. There's a lot in SP2, and this will get you up to date. New wireless features. Tons of security updates and enhancements. (thanks Channel 9)
• WinDVD Platinum 6 - WinDVD Platinum 6 (download) is the ultimate DVD software player, providing you with the finest quality video and audio playback.
• Game Cam v1.1 Final - Game Cam (download) allows the recording of real-time in game movies with sound via hot keys or an easy to use in game interface. Game Cam was designed to work with most DirectX 7, 8, 9 and OpenGL games. This release corrects every issue we were notified about through email and our forums. This will be the last major release for this version. Any other fixes will be released as minor patches. This release does include full ATI and nVidia support.
• Motherboard Monitor 5.3.6.6 Beta - Motherboard Monitor (download) is a tool that will display information from the sensor chip on your motherboard in your Windows system tray.
• PC Wizard 2004 - PC Wizard (download) is a powerful system information utility designed especially for detection of hardware. It's able to identify a large scale of system components and supports the latest technologies and standards. It is also designed to analyze and benchmark your computer system. It can analyze and benchmark CPU, hard disk, CD/DVD-ROM, RAM.
• SmartFix 3.1 - SmartFix is an all-in-one system and security repair tool that allows you to fix and eliminate the pesky bugs and problems that make slow down your computer through easy one-click menu option.
• Fresh UI 7.12 - Fresh UI (download) is the fresh solution for configuring and optimizing Windows. Loaded with hundreds of useful hidden settings, this software covers the customizing and optimizing technique that you'll be glad to know: Customizing Windows User Interface, Optimizing system settings, Optimizing hardware settings, Customizing Windows application settings, and Control user environment with policies.
• Windows Media Player Version 10 First Look - PCMag take a look at the "technical beta" released by Microsoft.
• NVIDIA ForceWare 61.21 drivers by Leadtek - Leadtek's FTP has NVIDIA ForceWare 61.21 drivers.

• [!] Worm steals credit card details - Windows users are being warned about a virus that is "aggressively stealing" credit card numbers and passwords.
  The Korgo virus debuted on 22 May and since then has been steadily racking up victims. Although the virus is not widespread, security firms are issuing warnings because it is proving so effective at stealing confidential data. Those infected by Korgo are being urged to change passwords and credit cards if they have been used online recently. Korgo exploits the same vulnerability that the Sasser web worm used so effectively when it struck early last month. The virus opens up a backdoor on PCs it infects which allows its creators to install a key logging program that activates when users fill in forms on websites. The key logger steals password and credit card information and sends it back to its creators, thought to be a virus writing group called the Hangup Team.
• The rebirth of Mydoom - A new worm uses Mydoom code to create a blended threat - Kaspersky Labs has detected a potentially dangerous new Internet worm. Plexus.a spreads using three different methods: infected email attachments, file-sharing networks and via the LSASS and RPC DCOM vulnerabilities in MS Windows. A detailed analysis of the code confirms that the virus author used Mydoom source code as a foundation. The worm's payload includes attempts to prevent downloads of Kaspersky Anti-Virus database updates. Plexus.a uses a standard set of infection vectors. The worm masquerades as various distributives for popular applications and penetrates via LANs and file-sharing networks. A significant number of infections have occurred via well known MS Windows vulnerabilities: the LSASS breach used by Sasser and the RPC DCOM hole exploited by Lovesan. Lovesan struck in August 2003, but Plexus.a has detected and infected large numbers of machines where this vulnerability is still unpatched.
• Opera Patches URL-Spoofing Flaw - Alternative Web browser firm Opera Software has rushed out a fix for a security vulnerability that could allow an attacker to fool the Opera browser into showing a fake address in its address bar. The flaw, which was discovered by Israel-based security consultants GreyMagic, could lead to "phishing" attacks where URLs are spoofed to trick Web surfers into giving up sensitive information like credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security numbers and passwords.
• Harry Potter virus targets children - Virus authors have tapped into excitement over the latest Harry Potter film to spread an old worm. Netsky.P was the second most common virus in May, according to figures from anti-virus companies. Now the worm seems to have found new life by enticing young computer users with promises of material relating to the Hogwarts hero. While there is nothing sophisiticated about the worm's technique, innocent youngsters have been opening the attached file and letting Netsky.P wriggle on to the family hard disk.
• Security issue was not worth a bulletin? - A new security alert that could allow users to login with expired passwords was issued for all varieties of Windows 2000. If (and only if) the fully qualified domain name is exactly 8 characters, the operating system may allow a user to log on using an expired password. (thanks Bink.nu)
• N. Korea bans mobile phones - The North Korean government has banned the use of mobile phones by local residents, just weeks after allowing foreign visitors to use their mobile handsets in the country. Mobile phones were only recently introduced in the country, with the first services going live in 2002. A report from Yonhap News, a South Korean news agency, said that an unnamed North Korean official confirmed the ban at an inter-Korean economic meeting in Pyongyang on Thursday. The restriction came into force on 25 May.
• BBN Tech Unveils World's First Quantum Cryptography Network - BBN Technologies announced that it has built the world's first quantum cryptography network and is now operating it continuously beneath the streets of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Information traveling over open networks such as the Internet is often encrypted to prevent unauthorized eavesdropping. Currently, complex mathematical algorithms are the most common method used to scramble (encrypt) and de-scramble (decrypt) messages that require secure transmission. Although this method can provide high levels of security, it is not infallible. In contrast, the DARPA Quantum Network introduces extremely high levels of security for Internet-based communications systems by encrypting and decrypting messages with keys created by quantum cryptography.
• Windows XP Bedevils Wi-Fi Users - Microsoft denies there's a problem, but Wi-Fi users report a maddening occurrence: the sudden, inexplicable loss of their wireless connections, even when XP says everything is hunky-dory.
• When Two Clicks Equal One Patent - A patent recently obtained by Microsoft for its Palm-sized PC product line is raising concerns among intellectual property experts who say it could be used to demand licensing fees from other mobile-device makers. The patent, issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on April 27, covers what Microsoft calls a "time-based hardware button for application launch." Microsoft said the technology was developed for use in handheld computers, such as its Palm-size PC, which use buttons to open files and start programs.
• Bye-Bye Batteries? - A notebook that can run for 10 hours--or longer--before it needs rejuicing? That's the promise of a new battery technology called direct methanol fuel cells. A potential successor to the rechargeable and disposable batteries that power many of today's mobile digital devices, DMFCs generate power by mixing methanol with air and water.
• Computex 2004 coverage - Day2@THG | @Hexust.net | @AnandTech | Nvidia MXM pictured (PCI Express exchangeable module for notebooks) | Pretec 2 GB MMC 4 card | Big problems hit Intel Prescott based notebooks
• Samsung begins cutting NAND flash contract price by over 15%, say module makers - Starting from June 1, Samsung Electronics has begun cutting contract prices for 1Gbit NAND flash by over 15% to about US$15-16 per chip, according to sources from memory module makers.
• New VIA Envy24MT Audio Controller for Notebooks - VIA Technologies today announced the VIA Vinyl Envy24MT Audio Controller for mobile and small form factor (SFF) PC devices that demand uncompromising audio quality. The VIA Vinyl Envy24MT Audio Controller is optimized for the notebook, with a low profile design and ultra-low power requirements. Featuring support for a number of PC interfaces, the VIA Envy24MT Audio Controller can be integrated onto PC motherboards, Mini-PCI cards, or even PCMCIA cards.
• ATI's Optimized Texture Filtering Called Into Question - ATI is cheating on trilinear texture filtering with the new X800, according to posts in Internet forums. Others ardently defend ATI. But what is really going on here? Another related article can be found on GameSpot.
• Pentium M 735 (Dothan at 1.7GHz) review - GamePC has published pretty interesting review of Intel's Pentium M 735 (Dothan at 1.7GHz) that pits the processor's performance against a Pentium 4 3.2GHz and an Athlon 64 at 1.8GHz.
• MSI NX6800 Ultra Benchmarks - Wow, check it out! Heh, I don't think NVIDIA will send me a review sample ;)
• AMD Athlon 64 3700+ review - In the end, while the 3700+ is certainly a robust CPU, we're reluctant to recommend it. If you really want to go for one of the AMD 2.4GHz CPUs, go with the 3800+. It's substantially cheaper than the FX-53, but only around $10 more than the 3700+. An even better option is too spend a little more and spring for the FX-53--you'll get a beefier cache and a 128-bit memory interface. In the end, the percentage difference in price is pretty small.
• AMD Athlon 64 FX-53 and Model 3800+ socket-939 CPUs -  The bottom line is very simple. AMD's delivered performance in spades with its new socket-939 processors; performance that makes Intel's Pentium 4s look impotent in comparison.
• Updated windows 2000 pre-SP5 155 hotfixes All-in-one pack - Dr.Conti has updated the pubforum.net website with new hotfixes and security pack aka the 155-in-one for Windows 2000 server SP4 English.
• Burn4free v1.0.0.593 - Burn4free an easy to use free burning solution and DVD copy software, has been updated to version 1.0.0.593.
• DVD Region-Free 3.68 - DVD (download) from any region on all DVD drives. It fully supports region-protected (RPC2) DVD drives, and does not require any firmware modifications.

• 3D Traceroute v1.8.85:255 - Replace all your ugly ping plotters and traceroute programs (download) with a full blown three dimensional traceroute program.

• PHP 4.3.7 final - PHP Development Team is proud to announce the release of PHP PHP 4.3.7. (download) This is a maintenance release that in addition to several non-critical bug fixes, addresses an input validation vulnerability in escapeshellcmd() and escapeshellarg() functions on the Windows platform. Users of PHP on Windows are encouraged to upgrade to this release as soon as possible. All in all this release fixes over 30 bugs that have been discovered and resolved since the 4.3.6 release.
• VideoToolBox 0.9.3.43 - VideoToolBox is a Freeware which aim is to detect codec required by AVI, MKV, QT, etc etc files.
• mIRC 6.15 - mIRC (download) is a friendly IRC client that is well equipped with options and tools. The new version fixes quite a few small bugs found in the previous versions.
• nVHardPage NVIDIA Tweaker v2.0 - This program (download) serves on enabling/disabling hidden features in NVIDIA control panel and tweaking NVIDIA Direct3D & OpenGL settings
• ATI Catalyst 4.6 Beta Drivers - Station-Drivers have posted a new set of ATI Catalyst Beta drivers v4.6 Beta (8.02-040505) for Windows 2k/XP

• Your Rights Online: Microsoft Receives Patent For Double-Click - The patent in question is 6,727,830 and says, amongst other stuff:" A method and system are provided for extending the functionality of application buttons on a limited resource computing device. Alternative application functions are launched based on the length of time an application button is pressed. A default function for an application is launched if the button is pressed for a short, i.e., normal, period of time. An alternative function of the application is launched if the button is pressed for a long, (e.g., at least one second), period of time. Still another function can be launched if the application button is pressed multiple times within a short period of time, e.g., double click." (thanks Slashdot.org)
• Attack of the bandwidth-hogging hackers - Swiss security researchers have unearthed a flaw in wireless LAN systems that might be used by hackers to drastically increase their share of the available bandwidth at the expense of the other users. The issue should be of particular concern to hotspot operators, according to a team from the computer labs at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lussanne (EPFL). Appropriate standards (such as 802.11i) have been developed to ensure user security and privacy in hotspots, but this does nothing to prevent users altering the MAC protocol of a machine to increase his share of available, according to the Swiss team.
• MSI sued by company claiming motherboard flaws - MSI has been sued by a Vermont company seeking class-action status over claims that MSI's boards use a defective technology and are prone to fail. The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court last Thursday by Electronic Connection Services Corp., a hardware and software services company, claims that MSI has knowingly used capacitors, devices used to regulate the power supply to microchips, that can leak and cause motherboards to short-circuit.
• XP SP2: Do's & Don'ts for Web Sites - If you manage a website that uses ActiveX controls, file downloads, pop-up windows or the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine (MSJVM), chances are you will need to tweak your code to deal with the new security features in Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). Microsoft released a document, titled How to Make Your Web Site Work with Windows XP Service Pack 2, that spells out the code tweaks needed to deal with SP2. For instance, Web sites using ActiveX controls will run into problems because of the changes made to the Internet Explorer (IE) browser to block those controls in some cases. Microsoft recommends that site owners make sure that all ActiveX controls distributed through a Web site are signed and have up-to-date signatures.
• Self-destructing MP3s don't satisfy Korean RIAA - Korea's version of the RIAA - the Korean Association of Phonogram Producers - says it is going to sue the carrier LG Telecom for distributing MP3-capable handsets. The network operator has sold 80,000 of the devices in two months. In a compromise reached in April, LG agreed to limit the capabilities of the phones: the MP3s would self-destruct 72 hours after being downloaded onto the handset.
• New self-destructing DVD launched - A French company has developed a disposable DVD, or DVD-D, which self-destructs after a few hours. Like the classic DVD, DVD-D is made of polycarbonate, but it contains an extra layer of coating that reacts to an oxidisation process which begins as soon as the disc is exposed to air. The self-destruct process can be pre-set to occur between eight and 24 hours.
• VeriTouch Introduces World's First Fingerprint Secured Anti-Piracy Media Player - VeriTouch Ltd. has delivered its groundbreaking iVue Personal Media Player for demonstration to several major US record labels and industry associations RIAA and MPAA. The iVue is the first wireless media player designed to provide biometrically encrypted and secured content for customers, both professionals and consumers. The patent-pending technology ensures that any music, video or video game delivered to the customer may only be played on the iVue after a successful fingerprint scan on the player.
• Off-topic: Genetically-modified virus explodes cancer cells - A genetically-modified virus that exploits the selfish behaviour of cancer cells may offer a powerful and selective way of killing tumours. Deleting a key gene from the virus enabled it to infect and burst cancer cells while leaving normal tissues unharmed, reveals a study by researchers at Cancer Research UK and Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of London. Viruses spread by infiltrating the cells of their host. Normally, the detection of an intruder by a cell triggers a process called apoptosis, which causes the cell to commit suicide and prevents the virus spreading further. However, viruses can carry genes that allow them to slip past this cell death process in normal cells, causing infection.
• Off-topic: Massive black holes common in early Universe - Giant black holes were common in the early Universe, according to new observations, but most of them are buried in dust. Teams from the US and Europe have found hundreds of these hidden giants by combining data from several telescopes, including some ground-based instruments and the big three in space: Hubble, the Chandra X-ray telescope, and the new Spitzer infrared telescope. These instruments cover a wide range of wavelengths and so together they can discern the signature of a hidden quasar.
• Microsoft is Adding an RDP over HTTPS Proxy to Windows - At TechEd this week, Microsoft revealed several details of the “R2” update to Windows Server 2003, scheduled to be released sometime next year. R2 is the codename for a massive update to Windows Server 2003 that will include several new features, including branch server deployment, Windows SharePoint Services, and Active Directory Federation Services. R2 will be built on Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, which will be released later this year. One of the new Terminal Services features is the ability for a Windows Server to encapsulate and proxy RDP traffic over HTTPS connections. The RDP over HTTPS proxy is part of what Microsoft calls "Anywhere Access." Not to be confused with Citrix's "Access Infrastructure," Microsoft's Anywhere Access will allow users to securely access corporate resources over the public Internet without using VPN software. (source: Bink.nu)
• Intel to open-source next-gen BIOS replacement - Intel said today that it plans to release the "Foundation code" of its next-generation firmware technology -- a successor to the PC BIOS -- under the Common Public License (CPL), an open source license, later this year. More than 20 years old, the BIOS (Basic Input-Output System) is the oldest software technology in PC platforms.
• Philips DVP720SA multiregion DVD/DivX/SACD player - Philips has announced a new DVD and Super Audio player combined for under £150. The new DVP720SA includes 5.1 channel SACD playback, DivX compatibility and PAL progressive scan to the budget sector of the DVD market. Heading the list of compatible formats is playback of 3.11, 4.x and 5.x variants of DivX, which is widely used on the Internet in movies, trailers and music. Playback also includes MP3 CD, JPEG CD, CD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW discs.
• Computex 2004 coverage  - Day1@TGH | Day1@Hardwarezoom | Day2@OCWorkbench | Day2@The Tech Zone | Day2@VR-Zone | Computex 2004 photo gallery @ TweakTown | New 16x DVD±R and DVD+R DL burners
• HP makes color printing push - HP is targeting both consumers and businesses with the offers, which include a new color laser printer in North America that the company plans to sell for $499. New products from HP include: The HP Color LaserJet 4650, a color laser printer aimed at small and midsize businesses. It offers speeds of up to 22 pages per minute and is priced at $1,799;  The HP Scanjet 5590, a scanner featuring a 50-page automatic document feeder with duplexing capabilities, priced at $399; The HP Officejet 4215, an "all in one" device with print, fax, scan and copy capabilities, priced at $149.
• Apple lines up for Toshiba's new 60GB drive - Toshiba Corp. is planning to launch a 60GB version of its 1.8-inch hard disk drive in the coming months and has already found a customer in Apple Computer Corp., the company said Wednesday here at the Computex 2004 exhibition in Taipei. The drive will enter mass-production during July or August and represents a jump in the storage density of Toshiba's 1.8-inch drives, said Cindy Lee, deputy manager of Toshiba Digital Media Network Taiwan Corp.'s hard disk drive division technical department.
• ADS Bumps Video Directly into DivX - ADS's Instant VideoDVX is a Hi-Speed USB video capture with a built-in video encoder that converts video imported from composite or S-video directly into MPEG-1, Divx or Windows Media Video 9 (WMA9).  The direct conversion saves time and hard drive space needed for the extra step of conversion. Lately, DivX and WMA9 have quickly made their way into DVD players, home media receiver and other electronics. The $90 Instant VideoDVX bundles a copy of Video Studio 8 Basic with DivX support, for basic video trimming and editing. This solution is similar to Plextor’s ConvertX PX-M402U – the first DivX-certified video capture solution.
• Shuttle grows the XPC with P-series chassis - Shuttle is showing off something like seven different new or substantially revised models of XPCs here at Computex, including a pair of boxes with matrix LED displays on the front panel for multimedia playback info. The most impressive development is the new P series chassis, which will complement Shuttle's G and K series chassis. For those not familiar, the K series is used for the Zen XPC, which is about 20% smaller than the usual G series. By contrast, the P series is about 20% larger than the G series, and it includes many of the provisions we've been asking for in our reviews of SFF systems.
• Creative Labs MuVo TX 256 MB review - The 31 grams weighing one AAA battery powered MUVO ladies and gentlemen is next to being a storage device also a voice recorder and hey ... you know what ? It can also playback music in MP3 and WMA format. It's equipped with fast USB 2.0 port, has a nice little LCD which you can use to select music and for example change the 5 band graphical equalizer.
• Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P100 review - PCMag has posted a review on the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P100 camera.
• THG Puts 13 Bleeding-Edge Memory Modules, 14 Mobos To the Match-Up Test  - THG have tested 14 Athlon64 motherboards and more than a dozen memory modules to over 500 application-oriented tests.
• PCP&C 510 Deluxe review - There's always one part of a system that lets down all the rest. It's a common thing... However, many fail to acknowledge that it's their PSU. The PSU market at the moment is hazy at best, with half the supposed 500w+ PSUs only outputting 430w in real-life... drastically under-rated ampages for each rail on some of the best of the crop... the plain fact is, you get what you pay for.
• [!] Sapphire Radeon X800 PRO 256MB review - The performance of the WHQL Catalyst 4.5's is a little below the Beta drivers the initial X800 reviews used due to the official drivers being set a few month back, fairly early on in the development of X800 boards - some changes from the beta drivers are scheduled to come in Catalyst 4.6's and more in the Catalyst 4.7's. ATI are also taking about some increases in performance, certainly under FSAA conditions, as they get to grips with tuning their new programmable memory interface under various difference rendering conditions. Although there are likely to be some performances increases as the driver revisions go on, it certainly shouldn't be banked on.
• Overclocking the Prescott P4 - The Madshrimps take a P4 3.0E for a spin on an Abit IC7 to see how high it can soar, or crash depending on the results: "Since the new Intel CPU didn´t prove to be faster then the P4 Northwood clock for clock, maybe it can beat it when overclocked? Time to find out, as we push a 3Ghz Prescott to its limits using Air and Phase Change Cooling"
• Windows XP Performance Tweaking Guide (Updated) - I am Not a Geek has updated their Windows XP Performance Tweaking Guide.
• GPU Comparison Guide Rev. 4.2 - Adrian's Rojak Pot has updated his GPU Comparison Guide with the addition of ATI's Radeon X300, X300SE, X600 Pro and X600 XT cards and NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5700 Ultra (GDDR3) card.
• A fresh install Fedora Core 2 Guide for Novices  - check it out.
• Thief: Deadly Shadows Tweak Guide - TweakGuides.com let us know they have completed a handy Thief: Deadly Shadows Tweak Guide which covers all the major tweaks for this fantastic game. It contains detailed descriptions of the performance and visual quality impacts of all the in-game settings, links to important resources and all the advanced tweaking you need to make an outstanding Thief game even better.
• Windows XP Service Pack 2, Build 2138 on Windows Update v5 - It seems Windows Service Pack 2 has been made avaliable on Windows Update V5 (direct link), for anyone using XP SP1. WARNING: dont use with corp versions of winXP, it will ask to re-activate ,how can you activate Corp? There is no activation in corp. I have had this before installing SP2 beta on an official corp PC wants it to activate after install, which is impossible, so that windows PC is screwed. Uninstall sp2 via recovery console. (thanks Bink.nu)
• Windows XP Service Pack 2 Build 2142 - Microsoft has released build 2142 (the latest build internally) to external beta testers at it's Windows Beta Web site. This build is not Release Candidate 2 but Microsoft have released this interim update alongside 2138 to testers which will proove not only confusing but troublesome for testers wanting to provide feedback on Windows XP SP2.
• Windows Media Player 10 Technical Beta  Microsoft has released a public preview of Windows Media Player 10 beta (download beta).
• Office 2003 Tool: Local Installation Source Tool - The Local Installation Source Tool is a wizard to help manage your Local Installation Source (LIS) on computers running Microsoft Office 2003. The LIS Tool allows you to enable or disable LIS, and to move the MsoCache folder to a new volume. This download is intended for use by customers and network administrators with LIS issues who contact Microsoft Product Support Services. Local Installation Source is a Setup feature. When a user installs Microsoft Office 2003 from a CD or a compressed CD image on the network, Setup copies any required installation files to a hidden folder on the local computer. Microsoft Windows Installer uses this local installation source to install Office, and the local source remains available for repairing, reinstalling or updating Office later on. Users can install features on demand or run Setup in maintenance mode to add new features without their original media.
• CuteFTP Pro 6.04 (SHW) - CuteFTP Pro (download) integrates state-of-the-art security standards including SSL via FTP and HTTP, SSH2 and advanced S/KEY password encryption to ensure that confidential business data stays that way.
• Opera 7.51 Final - Opera (Win32 with Java / Win32 w/o Java / Linux / FreeBSD) is faster, smaller and more standards-compliant than other browsers.
• AntiVir Personal Edition 6.25.00.03 (Updated) - The private and individual use of the AntiVir Personal Edition is completely free of charge! Even though viruses have now grown very numerous, one thing hasn't changed: our commitment to provide you with all-round protection. The reliability of AntiVir is demonstrated in numerous comparison test and references featured in independent trade journals.
• Tweak-XP Pro 3.0.4 - Tweak-XP Pro (SHW) bundles more than 48 different utilities in one: it was developed to combine both tweaking and optimizing features to increase the speed of your Windows XP system.
• Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility 6.0.0.1014 (Unofficial!) - 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 This release adds SATA Storage support.
• Intel Application Accelerator RAID Edition 3.5.6 (Unofficial!) - The Intel Application Accelerator RAID Edition software package provides support for high-performance Serial ATA RAID 0 arrays and redundant RAID 1 arrays on select Intel 865 and 875 chipset-based platforms using Windows XP or Windows 2000.
• Nero version 6.3.1.15 -  Ahead has released Nero version 6.3.1.15, In-CD version 4.2.9.1, Media Player 1.4.0.2, Mix 1.4.0.22, and NeroVision Express 2.1.2.12.
• PlexTools Professional 2.14 - Plextor Europe has released a new version (2.14) of the PlexTools software.
• Messenger Plus! 3.01.94 - 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, and a feature to minimize all MSN Messenger windows to the system tray. Now supports MSNM 6.x as well.
• Codec Pack All in 1 6.0.1.3 - Codec Pack All in 1 6.0.1.3 includes:DivX 5.1.1, Koepi's XviD Codec 1.0.0 Final, DivX, XviD - FFDShow 20.05.2004 alpha, MPEG2 3.0.0.0, Subtitles g400 2.83, Subtitles DVobSub (Win9x, Win2k a WinXP) 2.23, 2.33, OGG Vorbis 0.9.9.5, AC3 1.01a RC5 and Morgan Multimedia Stream Switcher 0.99b.
• ATI Tray Tools Updated 1.0.0.325 - Yet another new version of ATI Tray Tools is available; which is a small utility that can be found in the windows tray which then allows instant access to options and settings.

Well, you've seen the benchmark results, and there's not much I can add. The Athlon 64 FX-53 was already brutally fast, and the new 939-pin version is a tad bit faster still. The Athlon 64 3800+ is darn near as fast as the FX-53, despite having half the L2 cache. If you have the means, I highly suggest picking one up.

The question of means, however, is no small thing. AMD obviously has the performance lead over Intel, and the fastest Athlon 64s are priced accordingly. The FX-53 will list for $799—cheaper than the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition, but more than, say, a GeForce 6800 Ultra or Radeon X800 XT Platinum Edition, or perhaps a tropical vacation. At $720, the Athlon 64 3800+ won't be much cheaper, nor will the Socket 754-based 3700+ at $710. The price for the Socket 939-based Athlon 64 3500+ gets closer to reasonable territory at $500. I only wish AMD had kicked one in for review, because I might be recommending it right now.

• Windows XP SP2 delayed till September? - According to German Site Heisse, Richard Kaplan (Marketing manager of Microsoft) told at a Winxp sp2 session that SP2 could be expected in September. Internal documentation talks about q3 2004 (thanks Bink.nu). In related news, Microsoft is working into the night on the release candidate 2 of Windows XP service pack 2. Current builds stand at 2142, a steady 22 builds on from the current 2120 build that beta testers have access to.
• Ashcroft, Snoops and Gag Orders - Everyone knows by now (or should) that the Patriot Act allows the FBI to conduct surveillance on Internet and email usage. Using so-called National Security Letters (NSLs), the FBI directs Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to provide passwords and identifying information that will allow the government to target people who are plotting terrorism or who are otherwise potentially dangerous to national security. I am sure that many of you reading this (and I, likely) have the government in our computers.
• Federal agency faulted for weak security - The federal agency that insures US bank deposits suffers from network security holes that make it vulnerable to cyber thieves and saboteurs, a report by congressional investigators concluded Friday (May 28). Though the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has made significant progress in shoring up cybersecurity in recent years, broad vulnerabilities were found in an audit conducted late last year, according to the report by the General Accounting Office, Congress's investigative arm.
• California protects wireless users - The state Public Utilities Commission approved the Telecommunications Consumer Bill of Rights with a 3-2 vote on Thursday. In one of the biggest changes, dissatisfied consumers will have the right to cancel their wireless service within 30 days of signing a contract.
• Seiko Epson Launches Micro Projection TVs - Japan's Seiko Epson Corp said on Monday that it would begin selling microdisplay rear-projection televisions in Japan, marking its entry into the highly competitive domestic market for large, flat-screen TVs. Seiko Epson made headlines earlier this year by launching microdisplay rear-projection televisions in the North American market, where the genre is gaining in popularity because they are about half the price of similarly sized plasma display TVs.
• Nokia Adds Cheap Camera Phone to Ailing Portfolio - Finland's Nokia said the 3220 model would retail for around 250 euros ($306.5), with shipments due to start in the summer in the European, Asian and American markets. The phone also features "light messaging," allowing users to project brief messages or images into the air thanks to light emitting diodes (LEDs) in the back of the phone.
• AOpen Dual DVD external drive - AOpen unveiled its new external 4x Dual DVD drive, ESV-289U, this is an External Slim USB2.0 Dual DVD Burner
• Hitachi water cooling kit achieves extraordinary results - The prototype exclusively pictured here, is installed in a customised Shuttle Small Form Factor PC and is capable of dissipating 150W at <34dB(A) and 120W at <28dB(A). These noise levels are for processors operating at 100% load and the idle noise is claimed to be only 24dBA.
• Intel Prescott CPU heatsinks the size of small elephants - TheInquirer grabbed a few snaps of some monster heatsinks from ASUSTeK and Foxconn's exhibition booths in progress.
• AMD Athlon64 3800 & FX53 review - The biggest advantage of these new CPUs from AMD is that they utilize the dual memory channel and don't need registered memory modules. Speed differences are 200MHz higher from the previous models while we were successfully able to overclock the FX53 to 220MHz which resulted in 2640MHz as you can read in our forums. This is a good indication that AMD might have the next version of the CPU ready for release anytime they want to. Without doubt, the new FX53 will cost quite a bit. But if you look at the pricing of the P4 Extreme Edition, then it doesn’t look that bad. Obviously, the rich kids that want the fastest PCs will go for the FX53, while the 3800+ would probably be the more popular solution as its just a tad bit slower than the FX53 and probably a lot less expensive.
• Lite-On LVW-5005 Video Recorder review - EnvyNews has posted a review on Lite-On's multiformat video recorder.
• ProMedia Ultra 5.1 review - Klipsch is back in black and they are here in full force. Meet their ProMedia Ultra 5.1 sound system. The Ultras have a more modern day look when comparing them to the ProMedia GMX D-5.1 speakers reviewed a couple months ago on TTZ. They also have a certain "Are you ready to rock!?" aura about them. This 500 Watt system is capable of an eardrum-bleeding window-shattering 115 decibels.
• Plantronics CS50 Wireless Office Headset System review -  Plantronics CS50 is definitely a winner and a great conversation piece around the office. For the first couple weeks your co-workers and clients will wonder what you have hanging off the side of your ear. Every time the phone rings, you will feel like Captain Kirk talking to Scottie as you tap this Startrekish futuristic gadget on the side of you head to initiate and end conversations. It is even better with the servo activated HL10 Handset Lifter.
• E3 2004 Movie & Trailers Round-up - E3 2004 Was a huge success for both Microsoft and the Xbox console, check out all the E3 2004 movies right here with over 49 different games and 60+ movies available.
• VisualRoute 8.0f (SHW) - VisualRoute (win32 ~ linux) delivers the functionality of key Internet "ping," "whois," and "traceroute" tools, in a high-speed visually integrated package. VisualRoute automatically analyzes Internet connectivity and performance problems, displaying the results in an easy to understand table and on a world map.
• Gaim for Windows 0.78 - Gaim is a multi-protocol instant messaging client for Linux, BSD, MacOS X, and Windows. It is compatible with AIM (Oscar and TOC protocols), ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, and Zephyr networks.
• nLite 0.94 - Windows XP Reduction Tool - Mainly, it's a little bit of a slipstreamer, customizer, reducer (framework required) and iso creator all in one package. Works for every version of Windows XP installation, so far tested up to slipsteamed SP2 build 2135. To avoid confusion, this is for pre-installation, not like XPlite which is post installation customizer. (thanks msfn.org)
• CDBunerXP 2.2.6 - This version (download) seems to mostly fix bugs of the previous release.
• HDD Thermometer - HDD Thermometer is a hard disk temperature monitoring tool. It has all the features needed to prevent overheating and possible data loss.
• RockXP 3.0 - RockXP allows you to retrieve and change your XP Key, retrieve all Microsoft Products keys, save your XP activation file and more.
• LG GSA-4081B firmware - LG Electronics Germany have released a new firmware for the GSA-4081B.
• Lite-On CD-RW firmware -  LiteOn have released some new DVD Dual and CD-RW firmware updates for the following drives: Lite-On SOHW-812S, Lite-On SOHW-812SX, Lite-On SDW-431SX, Lite-On SOHR-5238S.

• Taiwan Engineer Arrested in Trojan Computer Virus Case -  Kaohsiung-based computer engineer was arrested for designing a new Trojans virus program that provided Chinese hackers with the means to attack Taiwan government agencies and local enterprises' computer systems, officials from the Criminal Investigation Bureau disclosed yesterday. Software engineer Wang Ping-an, 30, was apprehended on Tuesday, May 25, as CIB computer crime investigators discovered that he had created the original Trojan horse program called "Peep". The program was developed by Chinese hackers into advanced programs, some of which, the CIB suspects, caused an unprecedented one-day paralysis of Taiwan's postal system last month.
• Web-cheat student to sue university - A student who was booted off his degree course for plagiarism is to sue the university. He says tutors at the University of Kent should have spotted what he was doing and stopped him sooner. Michael Gunn, a 21-year-old English student, freely admits using material downloaded from the Internet to complete his assignments. He told the Times: "I hold my hands up. I did plagiarise. I never dreamt it was a problem." His problem, then, is not that he was caught, but that he was caught too late. He argues that the university should have warned him of the consequences earlier.
• XP SP2 Launch Price: $300 Million - Microsoft plans to spend about $300 million to support the launch of Windows XP Service Pack 2 (XP SP2), company officials said. The security-centric XP update, which enjoyed top billing at this week's TechEd conference, will be available as a "critical" download via Microsoft's Windows Update feature and will ship with all new PCs as part of an agreement with OEMs (define) and computer retailers.
• Off-topic: Span of French Millau bridge, world highest, is completed -  Engineers brought the two central ends of the Millau road viaduct in southwest France together, completing the span of the highest bridge in the world (photo). The road surface is 270 metres above ground, a world record, and the total structure, with suspension cables added will be 343 metres (1,132 feet) above ground at its highest point or 23 metres higher than the Eiffel Tower.
• Off-topic: Route Finder Software Uses Power of Latest Phones - A car navigation company is using the increased power of the latest mobile phones to debut the world's first route finder service that works without any help from a personal computer or a mobile telecom network. Privately-held Dutch firm Route 66, already one of Europe's biggest sellers of CD-ROM-based car navigation kits for use on personal computers, said it would sell road maps of an entire country and the necessary navigation software on a tiny memory card that can be inserted into the latest advanced phones. It is the first time detailed maps for countries such as France or Britain are stored and used on a phone.
• Off-topic - Bizarre tale of boy who used internet to plot his own murder - The final internet chatroom exchange took place on 28 June last year. "U want me 2 take him 2 trafford centre and kill him in the middle of trafford centre??" said one message. "Yes," came the reply. Less than 24 hours later, a 14-year-old boy was critically ill in hospital with stab wounds in the chest and stomach. At first it seemed as though a brutal, but straightforward, robbery had gone wrong. But yesterday the young "victim" became the first person in this country to be convicted of inciting their own murder. An intricate web of deceit had been spun by the boy on the chatroom to recruit another teenager as his would-be killer.
• Nintendo's Next Console At E3 '05? - At a press briefing in Osaka, Nintendo told reporters that the company would ideally like to reveal its next console at next year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, held in Los Angeles. At this year's E3, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata promised fans that they can expect a "gaming revolution" from the new machine, although nothing concrete was revealed.
• PS3 due in March 2006 - After Sony's somewhat obscure comments at their E3 conference regarding their forthcoming Cell processor - which will be used to power PlayStation 3 - Sony chairman Nonuyuki Idei has revealed more of their plans for the chip. And he's confirmed that their first consumer application for it is going to be PS3, which now looks set to appear in March 2006.
• Gateway 30-inch HD-Ready LCD TV Display first look - Flat-panel HDTVs are hot, and Gateway seeks to capitalize on their popularity with the introduction of a new, extensive line. Its top LCD model is the 30-inch HD-Ready LCD TV Display, which checks in at $3,000. The unit is thin (only 7.5 inches deep) with lots of input options, but its overall video performance is far from spectacular.
• Combo Wi-Fi, Cell Phone Coming Soon - The dual phone won't work with the more commonly deployed wireless networks that use the 802.11b standard. That standard has only three non-overlapping channels, which can support between six and eight calls at a time, whereas the 802.11a standard has 21 non-overlapping channels and can support roughly 25 voice-over-IP calls at a time from one WLAN access point.
• Realtek finally rolls out WLAN chip set - More than a year after its Asian rivals, Realtek Semiconductor Corp. has finally pushed out the door the RF component of its wireless LAN chip set. To make up for its tardiness, the company spun the 802.11a/g transceiver on a 0.18 micron RF CMOS process at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., representing a one-up on local competition and driving the price down in the increasingly competitive Wi-Fi marketplace.
• HP, Iomega unveil low-end storage systems - Palo Alto, Calif.-based HP said this week that its StorageWorks NAS 2000s and 1200s systems will enable companies to consolidate Exchange Server 2003 data stores on Windows Storage Server 2003. The network-attached storage (NAS) devices will let a company cut back on the number of file, print and Exchange servers it manages and thus reduce costs, HP said. The base model of the NAS 2000s has an estimated street price of $5,800, while the base-model NAS 1200s device is priced at $2,495. Both are available now.
• Radeon X800XT is a 500/1000 MHz card - ATI will have three cards based on its R420 marchitecture, matching Nvidia. It was simply a matter of time for ATI to start talking about its new card clocked in-between X800PRO and X800 XT PRO. Ironically, the ATI X800XT will be clocked at 500/500 MHz. X800 XT PE, Platinum edition is a 525MHz card with 560MHz memory and will ship at the end of June or early July and the X800 PRO is already in the market and it's clocked at 475MHz core and 900MHz memory.
• ATI to unveil 0.11-micron Radeon X300 graphics chips at Computex - ATI Technologies will showcase its first 0.11-micron graphics chip, the Radeon X300 (formally named RV370), at Computex Taipei 2004 from June 1-5, according to market sources.
• ELSA GLADIAC 940 128MB GeForce 6800  - ELSA Japan has introduced its new GLADIAC 940 128MB card on NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GPU. The product will go on sale in mid-June for about $425. The model features a 325MHz core clock, 128MB DDR SDRAM, 700MHz memory clock, 256-bit bus.
• Nokia 6820 messaging phone review - The phone is less obtrusive than its predecessor, the 6800, which featured an FM radio but no Bluetooth or camera. (At 100g, the 6820 is 18 per cent lighter, and a centimeter shorter and narrower). As a consequence, the QWERTY keys are a little smaller too. However the addition of a joystick makes for a dramatic improvement in usability. John C Dvorak recently wrote a scathing smartphone summary concentrating on the Nokia 6600 and concluding that the UI was designed by someone who liked pressing buttons far more than a normal person should. He has a point: for almost every practical purpose, the Nokia 6820 was easier to use than the Series 60 models we have tried, PalmOne's Treo, and Sony Ericsson's P800 and P900. To a large extent this is because functionality is limited: there are fewer things to do and fewer ways of doing them.
• Rock Xtreme XTR-3.2 Laptop review  - Hexus.net has posted a review of the Rock Xtreme XTR-3.2 laptop.
• Samsung SyncMaster 193P LCD review - ipKonfig.com take a look at the Samsung SyncMaster 193P LCD monitor.
• Sony DRU-700A DL 8x DVD±RW review - CDRLabs have posted a review of the Sony DRU-700A Double Layer 8x DVD±RW drive.
• ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 vs NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5700 review - Hexus.net has done a review of the ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 vs NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5700.
• X800 XT Softmod CAN be done, it seems - Some folks are hard at work on the task and claiming success.
• Definitive BIOS Optimization Guide Rev. 8.0 - FINAL - Adrian Rojak has released the final version of his Definitive BIOS Optimization Guide Rev. 8.0. This interim release features 20 new BIOS options. Here is the list: AGP Capability, DRAM Burst Length 8QW, Floppy Disk Access Control, Full Screen Logo, Keyboard Auto-Repeat Delay, Keyboard Auto-Repeat Rate, Onboard FDC Swap A & B, PIO Mode, PS/2 Mouse Function Control, Rank Interleave, SDRAM Write Recovery Time, SDRAM Write-to-Read Command Delay, Ultra DMA Mode, UltraDMA-100 IDE Controller, UltraDMA-133 IDE Controller, UltraDMA-66 IDE Controller, USB Keyboard Support, USB Mouse Support, Write Data In to Read Delay, Write Recovery Time.
• Results of Multiformat at 128kbps public audio Listening Test - These are the summary results of the Multiformat at 128kbit/s Public Listening test.
• 99 Performance Tips for Windows XP - PCstats has 99 Tips to make your computer run quicker, better, and more efficiently.
• THG Task Assignment Manager - A dual-processor system with two 3-GHz Xeon processors does not automatically have the same kind of power as a 6-GHz computer. The application and the operating system have to support symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) or HyperThreading (HT) for performance to improve. Also, the native management features of the operating system aren't always as effective as you might imagine.  However, THG offers a software utility that allows you to switch over to manual operation. As our benchmarks show, you can push your dual-processor system to even higher levels of performance.
• DeepBurner v1.1.0.117 - DeepBurner is a free CD and DVD burning package that utilizes power and efficiency. It takes away the hassle of making CDs, DVDs, autoruns, creating and printing labels and booklets. The program supports a very wide range of internal and external (USB 2.0 and FireWire) CD and DVD writers. Burn audio, data and ISO CDs and DVDs with just one FREE program called DeepBurner. (It was released a couple months ago, but hey it's free!)
• TVTool 9.6.4 - TVTool (download) is a control center for the TV output of nVidia graphics cards. With this tool it is possible to adapt the TV output perfectly to your needs and to control the TV mode in a comfortable way.
• AWStats 6.1 - AWStats (download) is a short for Advanced Web Statistics. It's a free powerful and featureful tool that generates advanced web (but also ftp or mail) server statistics, graphically.
• Fresh Download 7.00 - Fresh Download (download) is an easy-to-use and very fast download manager software that turbo charges downloading files from the Internet, such as your favorite software, mp3 files, video files, picture collections, etc. Unlike any other similar utilities, this software is 100% free, no charges, no banners in the software, no spyware.
• Intel Processor Frequency ID Utility 7.0 - This version of the Intel Processor Frequency ID Utility has been updated to support the new Intel Xeon Processor, Pentium 4 processors, Mobile Intel Pentium 4 processors, Pentium III processors, Mobile Pentium III processors with Intel SpeedStep technology, Pentium III Xeon processors and Intel Celeron processors with 66, 100, 133, 400, 533 , and 800 MHz system memory bus products, as well as adding new processor identification functionality (CPUID).
• ATI Linux Driver 3.9.0 - ATi has released a new set of Linux drivers version 3.9.0.

• International Police Snag Virus Suspects - Police in Canada and Taiwan have apprehended two suspects in connection with two separate cybercrimes: the Randex worm and the Peep.exe Trojan horse program, respectively. A sixteen-year-old boy from Mississauga, Ontario, will appear in court on June 3 to face charges of computer fraud and mischief to data for helping distribute the Randex computer worm, according to a Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman. Another related article can be found here.
• Buffalo Spammer Sentenced to Prison -  A New York man convicted of using Earthlink's network to send hundreds of millions of unsolicited commercial e-mail messages was sentenced to prison this week. Howard Carmack was sentenced to three and a half to seven years in prison, according to Brad Maione, a spokesperson for New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
• Symantec Nabs First 64-Bit Virus - The company posted a security advisory for W64.Rugrat.3344 on its Web page. W64.Rugrat.3344 is a direct-action infector--it exits memory after execution--of IA64 Windows Portable Executable (PE) files. These PE files include most 64-bit Windows programs other than .dlls.  The virus infects files that are in the same folder as the virus and in all subfolders. It is the first known virus for 64-bit Windows, and it uses the Thread Local Storage structures to execute the viral code. This is an unusual method of executing code. It does not infect 32-bit Portable Executable files, and it will not run on 32-bit Windows platforms. The virus is written in IA64 assembly code.
• California Senate approves anti-Gmail bill - The California state Senate on Thursday approved a bill that takes aim at Google's new Gmail service, placing strict limits on e-mail providers seeking to scan customer messages for advertising and other purposes. The bill passed after revisions that removed a key provision that would have required e-mail providers to win the consent of anyone sending messages to their service before scanning messages.
• The fellowship of the 1GB storage lockers - British-based Planet-Tolkien.com is the latest company to offer a Web-based e-mail product with 1 gigabyte of storage--a trend that kicked off in late March with the test release of Google's Gmail service. Since then, a number of copycats have come forward, including Web portal Lycos. Meanwhile, Google rival Yahoo has boosted storage for its Web-based e-mail service from 10 megabytes to 100MB. Planet-Tolkien founder Tarrant Costelloe said the site's service launched on Wednesday and that it has signed up 1,800 customers for the $7-a-month offering.
• Off-topic: Russia launches military satellite - Russia launched a military satellite from its Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday morning, the Space Forces said. The Tsiklon-2 launch vehicle took off from the launch pad at 10:00 a.m. Moscow time (0600 GMT), carrying a Kosmos series military satellite into space, Interfax news agency reported. The satellite was later put into the planned near-Earth orbit, the Space Forces confirmed, saying the launch is to "build up the fleet of Russian military-purpose satellites."
• Watch conventional DVD movies in 3D - DDD Group announced the completion of the development of a ground breaking 3D conversion solution capable of playing conventional DVD discs in 3D on the latest "glasses free" 3D displays. The new TriDef  DVD Player allows any movie to be viewed in 3D without requiring special pre-formatting of the DVD disc.
• Sony to ship portable video, MP3 player next month - HMP-A1 contains a 20GB hard drive, the contents of which are listed on a front-mounted 3.5in, 320 x 240 colour LCD - larger than the VGF-AP1's 2.2in display. The new unit is larger, too, and heavier: it's 13 x 7.6 x 2.2cm to the first model's 11.5 x 6.3 x 1.7cm. The two machines weight 250g and 195g, respectively. The HMP-A1 plays back MPEG 2 and MPEG 4 files. Its software allows it to handle MPEG 1, AVI, WMV and DVR-MS, but these are converted to one of the MPEG video formats when they're downloaded from a host PC to the player. Likewise, BMP, GIF, PNG and TIFF files are converted to the JPEG files upon transfer.
• Lite-On IT releases SOHW-1213S, 12x dual format recorder - The drive supports 12x DVD+R, 8x DVD-R, 4x DVD±RW, 48x CD-R and 24x CD-RW.
• XIMETA NetDisk Office - As far as whether - at a street price around $400 - the Office is a good value, I'd have to say "it depends". At the time of this review, you can get XIMETA's 250GB NetDrive sans 8 port switch for about $336 street, pick up your own 8 port 10/100 switch for about $40 and pocket the $20 or so difference. On the other hand, a 250GB true NAS device - such as Linksys' EFG250 - will cost over twice as much (over $800). And if you lower your requirements to 120GB, a NAS product like Buffalo Tech's HD-H120LAN Linkstation can be had for around $275. But then again, a 120GB NetDrive beats that price by about $100.
• Fujitsu LifeBook S2020 first look - The LifeBook S2020 ($1599) offers decent performance, light weight, and good wireless throughput at a reasonable price. It should appeal to students on the go or any small-office/home-office buyer on a budget.
• NEC ND2510A dual layer DVD review - The NEC ND2510A can burn to DVD+R DL discs at 2.4-speed, which is pretty slow by today’s standards. That said, if you’re going to write 8.5GB of data, you’re probably going to make yourself a cup of coffee while you’re waiting anyway. I burned 7.9GB of data to the dual layer disc, made up of a single MPEG2 file and a DVD ISO image. It took 41 minutes and eight seconds to burn the whole 7.9GB to DVD+R DL, which is obviously a lot longer than burning two 4.7GB discs, but dual layer is more about convenience than speed.
• TweakHound's Super XP Tweaking Guide - Version 5.0 - This guide is all about optimizing XP. Version 5.0 has more changes than any previous. This new version adds tweaking levels, bad tweaks section and Services section has been completely revamped (thanks ally russell)
• NEC warns again for ND-2500A double layer firmware updates - NEC Europe is warning users (PR) for double layer firmware updates that are available on the internet.
• CDBurnerXP Pro 2.2.5 - CDBurnerXP Pro is an easy to use CD burning software, that can write CD-R and CD-RW discs.
• Yahoo! Toolbar 5.5.3.0 Beta - Yahoo! Toolbar features a popup blocker, search box, bookmark utility, and spyware removal.
• SciTech GLDirect 5.0 - SciTech GLDirect (download) is the utility package for Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP that combines the power of the OpenGL API with the wide availability of Direct3D hardware drivers
• FlashFXP 3.0.0.999 RC2 - FlashFXP (download) is the most powerful and popular FTP & FXP Client for Microsoft Windows 9x/Me/NT/2000/XP on the market today

• [!] W32.Korgo.B and W32.Korgo viruses - W32.Korgo.B and W32.Korgo.C, worm viruses affecting networked computers, spread through a vulnerability in Windows 2000 and XP. Korgo variants exploit LSASS vulnerability on TCP port 445 to open a back door through which an attacker could obtain remote access without authorization. Microsoft has made available a patch to resolve the LSASS vulnerability.
• Windows XP SP2 RC2 Delayed - News early this week that Microsoft is trying to iron out a bug with NX CPU execution protection technology only spelled bad news. Neowin has confirmed that RC2 isn't likely to be released to beta testers until early next week. 2138 is the latest compile internally but doesn't hold the golden rc2 tagging yet.
• Canadian, 16, on Randex worm rap - Canadian police have charged a 16 year-old youth with writing and distributing the damaging computer worm Randex. The teenager from Mississauga, near Toronto, faces "mischief and fraudulent use of a computer" charges. Canadian authorities have withheld the suspect's name because he is a juvenile. Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigators reckon Randex infected more than 9,000 computers shortly after the first versions of the worm appeared last November.
• Microsoft security spend greater than the Star Wars missile system - Microsoft has spent more on securing its software than was spent on the Star Wars missile project, the company's head of security has told conference guests. An unfortunate analogy for Iain Mulholland to use since the project was a complete failure and little more than the private obsession of a few top American ego-maniacs.
• Is Microsoft Really Building the 'Ferrari of Encryption? - Microsoft's spark plugs must be sizzling with pride. Now Redmond is claiming to be building the "Ferrari" of database encryption, compared with archrivals Oracle Corp. and IBM, whose supposedly pokey database security Microsoft Director of Product Management for SQL Server Tom Rizzo calls the "Hyundais" of encryption.
• Yahoo to release anti-spyware upgrade - Yahoo on Thursday is expected to release an upgrade for its downloadable toolbar to help people detect and remove spyware, or malicious files, on their PCs. For now, the Web portal is testing the technology, which has been supplied by anti-spyware company PestPatrol. It will offer the toolbar upgrade only to a select number of people at "Beta.toolbar.yahoo.com," Yahoo spokeswoman Stephanie Iwamasa said. It can be used to perform a high-level scan of files on the PC to detect viruses or other applications that were installed surreptitiously and are used to spy on computer behavior, or spyware.
• US Government reads emails - Nearly a year after Congress shut down a programme that would have allowed the Pentagon to data mine to read emails, other spy schemes that do the same thing are alive and well and sniffing. According to a congressional report obtained by Reuters, 36 of the government's 199 "data mining" efforts collect personal information from the private sector. Fears that the Pentagon's $54 million Total Information Awareness program would do just that and kill civil rights resulted in the scheme being culled.
• China's pirates spoil the game for console makers - Electronics salesman Min Shushan can talk for hours about the merits of Sony's PlayStation 2 versus Microsoft's Xbox, having taken apart hundreds of consoles over the years to rig them for pirated games. Customers at his glass-and-chrome specialty store in the heart of old Beijing can buy consoles made at Sony or Microsoft's factories in southern China and prep them to play hundreds of copied games from "Tomb Raider" to "Final Fantasy."
• Midnight Commander: Multiple vulnerabilities - Numerous security issues have been discovered in Midnight Commander, including several buffer overflow vulnerabilities, multiple vulnerabilities in the handling of temporary file and directory creation, and multiple format string vulnerabilities
• Off-topic: Nuclear jet crash "could kill millions" - Fears that the UK's nuclear plants are vulnerable to a 9/11-style attack or accident are growing. Evidence is emerging that the no-fly zones around nuclear plants are regularly breached by both military and civilian aircraft. And a report for the UK parliament leaked to New Scientist says that such an attack might kill millions.
• Off-topic: Bomb scare was no game to police -A man's statement that his instructions during an action-packed video game were simply misinterpreted -- prompting the evacuation of a North Jacksonville restaurant - isn't deterring police from pursuing felony charges against him. Police said they are treating a phone call late Sunday to Cross Creek Barbecue Restaurant in the 12100 block of Lem Turner Road as a legitimate bomb threat. But Anthony S. Jones, 27, of the 500 block of Chestnut Drive, said he was at a friend's house and playing the game Grand Theft Auto with a child. At one point in the violence-filled game, Jones told police he warned the other player: "There's a bomb in the building. There's a bomb in the building. Everyone needs to get out!"
• Off-topic: Video Game Helps Players Lose Weight - The premise of DDR is simple: Players stand on a 3-foot square platform with an arrow on each side of the square_ pointing up, down, left and right. The player faces a video screen that has arrows scrolling upward to the beat of a song chosen by the player. As an arrow reaches the top of the screen, the player steps on the corresponding arrow on the platform.
• Off-topic: 500-Megapixel Dark Energy Camera - 500 megapixel Dark Energy Camera would be placed on an existing 4-meter telescope located in north-central Chile at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory's Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.
• Off-topic: Big Genetic Gap Lies Between Chimpanzee, Human Being - Contrary to widespread belief, the gap between chimpanzees and humans is extremely big, according to a study by an international research consortium.  The International Chimpanzee Chromosome 22 Consortium, comprising scientists from five nations including South Korea and Japan, on Thursday announced its findings based on a comparison of human and chimpanzee genes.
• N-Gage QD for under $99? - Nokia released the QD, the redesigned version of its poorly received N-Gage, everywhere in the world--except in North America. The combination mobile phone/game deck will arrive in the Western Hemisphere on June 29, where units will sell for a list price of $199. Or will they? Reports from Europe and Asia indicate that foreign mobile phone networks are heavily subsidizing the QD in exchange for extended service contracts. Reuters is reporting that prices as low as 49.99 euros ($60.53) were common across the Atlantic, with some carriers even offering the QD for free. "It could go to zero euros in some markets with subsidies," said Nokia rep Damian Stathonikos.
• Imagination working on next-generation arcade systems for Sega - British technology firm Imagination is preparing to deliver a new arcade system to Sega at the start of next year, according to the company's financial statements, which will be based on the firm's next-generation graphics system. Imagination - which owns the PowerVR brand of graphics accelerator technology, the latest iteration of which will be used in the new Sega cabinets - previously supplied technology for Sega projects including the Dreamcast and the Naomi arcade cabinets.
• Sony TV to integrate Cell processor - Televisions featuring Sony's Cell networked processor will be on the market by 2006, according to Sony CEO Nobuyuki Idei, who suggested that the next-generation TVs could offer functionality similar to a personal computer. The Cell processor, which will also be used in the PlayStation 3 and in a range of other consumer electronics devices, would make the television into a "smart TV," capable of performing a range of tasks normally associated with home computers rather than TVs.
• Maxell Launches World's First 5X DVD-RAM Media - Maxell Corporation of America introduced the world's first 5X DVD-RAM disc, the fastest rewritable, high-capacity DVD media currently available. The 5X DVD RAM media will be available in June 2004 and will be shown by Maxell at a RAM Promotion Group event in conjunction with CeBIT America in New York City.
• AOpen starts mass production of 16x DL DVD burners - The 16x AOpen Double-Layer DVD Burner consists of an own design and is completely build in AOpen's production plants. First pre-release drives will be available at the beginning of July, while mass production will start in mid July.
• Flash drive holds 8GB of compressed data - The drive, called the KanguruMicro 2.0 costs just under $1700 – you could buy an Apple PowerBook 12-inch for that price, or six Apple iPod Minis, which hold 4GB of space. The iPod drives use Hitachi's mini hard drive, but the KanguruMicro 2.0 uses NAND flash memory.
• BenQ unveils its first Double-Layer DVD rewritable drive - BenQ introduced its DVD rewritable drive that supports DVD+R double-layer (DL) recording. The BenQ DW830A features a DVD+R DL 2.4X and DVD+R 8X write speed, as well as DVD+RW 4X rewrite speed in terms of its optical operating performance.
• Cheapo Athlon 64 2600+ on way - According to this story at Channel Times, AMD will be offering an even lower cost Athlon 64 2600+.   It's expected that the 64-bit chip will run at 1.6GHz, have 512KB of L2 cache, and be available in a 754-pin package.
• ATI to launch two PCI Express cards next week - The RV380 based card that will be called X600 from now on is a mainstream card that will occupy the sub $200 market and it based on 0.13µ (micron) architecture. RV370 is ATI's first 0.11µ chip, will be called the X300, will sit in the sub $100 market. We'll get back to you on clock speeds and some more details when we have them, but but both of the cards are ATX based.
• Dell places orders for PCI Express VGA cards with MSI - Micro-Star International (MSI) has received orders for the next-generation PCI Express-based graphics cards from Dell, dispersing market rumors that the US vendor may have switched its orders to other IT makers like Asustek Computer and Foxconn Electronics, according to market sources (MS PR)
• SiS begins volume production of PCI Express-based south bridge chipsets, VIA and ALi to follow in 3Q - Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) has begun volume production of its latest south bridge chipsets, the SiS 965 and the SiS 965L, with the aim to compete with Intel’s forthcoming PCI Express-based 915 chipsets, according to market sources.
• Fujitsu-Siemens Lifebook E8010 Dothan Notebook review - Apart from the 1.8GHz Pentium M 745 processor and the Intel 855GME chipset, Fujitsu-Siemens has equipped the Lifebook E8010 with an Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG wireless network card to make it a full Centrino branded machine. The wireless network card can access both 802.11b and 802.11g networks, making it a flexible feature that can be used pretty much anywhere in the world. As more wireless networks switch to the higher bandwidth 802.11g standard, it’s important for any new notebook to support it.
• MSI MEGA Player 515 MP3 Player review - The Mega Player 515 really is a diamond in the rough as it is clear that this one of the first MP3 player lines that MSI has manufactured. The engineering creativity of the Mega Player 515 is top-notch with the OLED display and integrated lithium-ion battery, so it would seem that MSI set out to create something different and unique.
• Altec Lansing's CS21 and Klipsch's ProMedia GMX A-2.1 Sound Better and Cost Less - THG looks at the Altec CS21 and the Klipsch ProMedia GMX A-2.1, which offer high-end sound for less than $200.
• NVIDIA's nForce2 Ultra Boosts AthlonXP's Chipset Power Base - NVIDIA has packed more features into its latest nForce2 chipset, including Gigabit Ethernet and Serial ATA capabilities. THG shows how the design does the AthlonXP justice.
• Inno3D GeForce FX 5700 Ultra GDDR3 review - Inno3D set the memory frequency on their Tornado GeForce FX 5700 Ultra at 475MHz (950MHz effective), which is 50MHz higher than the DDR2 memory that ships with the standard GeForce FX 5700 Ultra. With a 128-bit memory bus, the slight bandwidth advantage is offset by the increased access latencies that are associated with GDDR3 memory.
• Albatron GeForceFX 5700P Turbo Videocard review  - PC Stats has posted a review of Albatron GeForceFX 5700P Turbo videocard.
• Chipset Serial ATA and RAID performance comparison - How does the single-drive, RAID 0, and RAID 1 compare between various chipsets? How does each chipset's performance scale moving from single-drive configurations to striped and mirrored two- and even four-drive arrays? Checkout this article at TechReport.
• Wireless ADSL Router Group Test - Wireless networking is an ideal cable-free way of linking users together and these routers all include an internal access point. However, the older 11Mbit/sec 802.11b standard may not be fast enough so every one of these units supports the latest 54Mbit/sec 802.11g specification as well and will work happily with both types of clients.
• Radeon 9800 SE to Radeon 9800 Pro Mod Guide - Adrian's Rojak Pot has posted a Radeon 9800 SE to Radeon 9800 Pro Mod Guide.
• Seven high-speed DVD burners compared - ExtremeTech takes a look at seven high-speed DVD burners, ranging from the very inexpensive Lite-On 812S to the fast-burning Plextor PlexWriter 712A. They also look at three burners based on a Pioneer-designed mechanism, a drive from AOpen, and the latest Toshiba 8x burner. They compare all of them to the Sony DRU-530A, one of the earliest 8x burners.
• ATI Catalyst 4.5 Performance Comparison - Dark-Tweaker have published their benchies (translation) for ATi's latest Catalyst 4.5 Drivers plus a performance comparison against DNA,Omega,NGO,UniAN,Forsage drivers based on Cat 4.5. (thanks Warp2Search)
• Longhorn Transformation Pack 6 - The pack will update your Windows XP with Longhorn GUI by adding some themes and patch system files.
• X-Setup Pro 6.6 - X-Setup Pro is a so-called "hacker" or "tweaker" program. It allows you to change settings that are normally hidden deeply in some configuration-files like the registry fast and easily. It offers several advantages, making it the "ultimate tool for black belt system tuning.
• AC3Filter 1.01a RC5 - AC3Filter (download) is DirectShow filter for AC3 decoding to play .AVI with AC3 audio tracks and MPEG2 (DVD).
• Pioneer DVR-A07U/XL and DVR-107D firmware v1.15 - Station-Drivers has posted a new firmwares updates v1.15 for the popular Pioneer A07/107 and S706-J series DVD recorders (DVR-A07-J/DVR-107D, DVR-A07XLA/XLB/DVR-A07-U, DVR-S706-J).
• Volari Family Drivers - There are new drivers oficially released for the Volari family version number 1.04.51.
• ATI Optimized Driver V1.4 Alpha - The NGO Group updated their modified ATI driver (v1.4 Alpha). This new version added Softmods (9500to9700 and 9800SEto9800XT), Support for IGP/Mobility/FireGL cards and 3 sets of OpenGL Drivers for your selection (Avarage,Fast,Fastest).

• Should XP pirates get SP2? - If Microsoft denies Windows XP pirates access to its SP2 upgrade, the result would hurt the Internet to protect Microsoft's bottom line. Try this analogy: suppose a car thief drove to the dealership and insisted that they perform brake repairs required by a recall notice, for free, on the stolen car. Substitute "software" for car, and "pirate" for "thief" and you have the situation Microsoft faces as it begins the roll-out of its much-anticipated (and much needed) Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows XP. The debate is not only about rewarding copyright infringement, but also weighs profits against the need for security for the Internet community as a whole. Unfortunately, Microsoft has adopted a middle ground, intending to give a nod to security, while really attempting to preserve its bottom line.
• Microsoft Extends Product Support - Microsoft next month will institute a new product lifecycle policy that extends support for Microsoft products to a minimum of 10 years from the current seven years, the company says. In addition to extending the support period, the updated policy provides increased support for IT infrastructure security assistance, Microsoft said at its Tech Ed conference in San Diego.
• Microsoft.com Hacked and Defaced - Microsoft Press has been defaced (screenshot) yesterday's evening by a group named "Outlaw Group". Although the group doesn't seem to have caused much damage, this is clearly an embarassment for Microsoft.com webmasters. A clear example of where patches need to be applied. Another article can be found here.
• Microsoft tightens database security - The company plans to announce on Tuesday that its SQL Server 2005 database--developed under the code-name Yukon--will include new encryption capabilities to make it more difficult for hackers and other unauthorized users to access information. Microsoft already offers tools to encrypt data sent over a network between SQL Server and client applications. The new release of SQL Server, due early next year, will encrypt data stored within the database, making it much more resistant to attacks, said Kirsten Ward, a product manager at Microsoft.
• Big brother is watching you shop - Two new creepy RFID applications have been developed by Sprint which allow store owners to identify customers as soon as they step through the shop doors. Provided the customer is kitted out with a specially designed loyalty card, the monitoring application will recognise them as soon as they step within eight feet of an RFID reader. A customisable computer avatar will pop up on the monitoring software to identify them.
• RIAA Bags 493 More Swappers - U.S. music industry group says it has sued 493 more people for copyright infringement as part of its campaign to stop consumers from copying music over the Internet. The Recording Industry Association of America has now sued nearly 3,000 individuals since last September in an attempt to discourage people from copying songs through peer-to-peer networks like Kazaa and LimeWire.
• Mac OS fix fails to plug security hole - Security experts warn that a patch released by Apple last week to shore up the operating system against malicious Web sites does not actually solve the problem.
• Off-topic: Eurofighter at risk of 'catastrophic failure - Problems with the computer systems on board the Eurofighter jet, signed into service with the RAF less than two weeks ago, could cause a "catastrophic" failure in flight, according to a confidential Ministry of Defence report leaked to former BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan. The report contained the findings and recommendations of test pilots who had flown the jet for eight months. They concluded that the problems are so bad that the plane should not be used for complex manoeuvres, such as those in aerial combat, and should not fly in cloud without a second, experienced, pilot on board.
• Off-topic: What's New in Shrek 2? - For this new film, Shrek co-director Andrew Adamson paired with co-directors Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon, and the voice actors from the original are back in force. Newlyweds Shrek and Fiona (Mike Myers and Cameron Diaz) are once again accompanied by sidekick Donkey (Eddie Murphy). They're also joined by some major new characters — the tabby cat Puss-in-Boots (voiced by Antonio Banderas) and a quartet of humans, including King Harold (John Cleese) and Queen Lillian (Julie Andrews) as Fiona's royal parents.
• Off-topic:  Area 51 hackers dig up trouble - To the Area 51 buffs who journey to the Nevada desert in the hopes of catching a glimpse of unexplained lights in the sky or to bask in the mythic allure of the region, 58-year-old Chuck Clark is almost as much a part of the local color as the Black Mailbox. But this self-appointed military watchdog is harder to find these days: messages left for him at the Inn go unreturned, and his media appearances have dried up like Groom Lake itself. "I think he's really not as motivated to talk to the media anymore as he used to be," says friend and fellow base-watcher Joerg Arnu. The reason: it turns out the truth really was out there, and the government didn't appreciate Clark digging it up.
• Cisco Unveils Big, Fast Router to Counter Juniper - Cisco Systems Inc on Tuesday introduced its next-generation router, a machine it is counting on to stop its slide in the highly profitable market for gear that directs the heaviest loads of Internet traffic. Cisco touts its Carrier Routing System, dubbed CRS-1, as the fastest, biggest, most reliable and flexible router that phone companies will use to carry the increasing levels of Internet and data traffic.
• Intel Plans Unprecedented Push for New Chip Set - Intel's newest chip set, code-named Grantsdale, will be pitched as one of the stars of the show as the importance of PC speed gives way to multimedia and communications features. To be released by the end of June, Grantsdale has been upgraded with more powerful sound and graphics, an ability to turn a PC into a wireless access point, and a speedier link for peripherals and memory.
• China seeks to develop its own technology standards - DVD? China's trying to do it one better -- with a technology called EVD. CDMA? The digital cell phone standard is so 2003, the Chinese say. Give TD-SCDMA a try instead. These days, China's dominant message is this: We'll embrace the world -- but on our terms.
• Drive makers ready 5x DVD-RAM burners - The RAM Promotion Group (RAMPRG), the organisation behind the DVD-RAM specification, today lauded 5x recording speed drives from Hitachi-LG Data Storage and Panasonic as a sign that the technology is going places. The two drives, Hitachi's 5x Super Multi and Panasonic's SW-9573-C, ship "later this year", though suitable media will become available from Maxell and Panasonic, in June and August, respectively.
• SanDisk Combines Storage, Wi-Fi - SanDisk is unveiling a pair of products designed to make flash memory cards more versatile. The SanDisk 256MB + Wi-Fi SD Combination Card offers 802.11b wireless connectivity as well as 256MB of storage, while the new 6-in-1 PC Card Adapter helps notebook users manage multiple memory cards. The Combination Card will ship in June with a list price of $130, SanDisk says.
• ATI sources substrates for 0.11-micron GPU - DigiTimes is reporting that ATI is sourcing flip chip substrates from Phoenix Precision for a 0.11-micron graphics chip. A first shipment of 500,000 units is schedule for next month, suggesting that ATI may have 0.11-micron graphics chips available in volume production before long.
• nVidia's analysis on ATI's X800 Launch - At nVidia's latest press conference, there was a presentation shown about ATI's X800 launch, and as expected nVidia seemed to find it fun to bash its competitor ATI. EliteBastards already have a reply from PR front man Derek Perez. (thanks Warp2Search)
• High-Speed DVD Burner Roundup - ExtremeTech has posted a high-speed DVD burner roundup.
• Freecom Internal DVD+/-RW review - Enscape has posted a review of the Freecom Internal DVD+/-RW.
• 4km WiFi Range w/ $5 DIY Antenna - This industrious fellow in New Zealand made his own WiFi antenna using a USB WiFi adapter and a Chinese 'spider skimmer mesh scoop.' He got about 17 dB signal improvement for about US $5 in materials. (thanks Slashdot.org)
• PHP 4.3.7 RC1 - PHP 4.3.7RC1 (Linux ~ Win32 ~ changelog) has been released for testing. This is the first release candidate and should have a very low number of problems and/or bugs.
• [!} Exchange 2003 SP1 - Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) offers new updates and improvements to Exchange Server 2003. Enhancements include new language support for Outlook Mobile Access and Microsoft Office Outlook® Web Access spelling checkers, and out-of-office modification, a larger text entry field, search folder support, and improved menu navigation for the Outlook Mobile Access user interface.
• Exchange Intelligent Message Filter - Intelligent Message Filter is based on Microsoft SmartScreen Technology from Microsoft Research. By using e-mail characteristics tracked by SmartScreen technology, Intelligent Message Filter can help determine whether each incoming e-mail message is likely to be spam. Based on this likelihood, you can choose to block e-mail messages at the gateway or at the mailbox store.
• SecureCRT 4.1.6 (SHW) - SecureCRT (download) gives you an encrypted SSH session with both SSH1 and SSH2™ servers. SSH security goes far beyond the basic secure logon, rerouting data or local applications using TCP/IP ports through an encrypted channel. The VCP utility secures file transfers using SFTP
• nLite - a slipstreamer, customizer, reducer and iso creator - Mainly, it's a little bit of a slipstreamer, customizer, reducer and iso creator (download) all in one package. Works for every version of Windows XP installation, so far tested up to slipsteamed SP2 build 2126. To avoid confusion, this is for pre-installation, not like XPlite which is post installation customizer. This is something like 98lite or jdeboeck's scripts.
• Clean Registry 1.1 - This is software (download) to backup, clean and compress registry. Make your computer run faster and with less errors or system halts.
• MyIE2 Combo Version 0.9.27  - MyIE2 (download) is a multi-tabbed browser based on the IE core (IE5.x or above required). It can open multiple web pages within one browser window, and uses little system resources.

• Microsoft to offer pre-installed network security - Microsoft said Monday that it would begin selling network security software pre-installed on computers, taking aim at a market dominated by appliance security vendors. The software giant said it is lining up hardware partners such as Hewlett-Packard and Network Engines for its Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server software, due to launch later this year.
• Tool Scans Software Code for Holes  -  On Monday, @stake, of Cambridge, Massachusetts will unveil SmartRisk Analyzer, an application security modeling and analysis tool that scans computer code written in the C, C++, and Java languages for flaws like buffer overflows that, if left undetected, pose security risks for customers using finished software products. Using a technique called "deep binary analysis," the new product scans computer code after it is "compiled," or translated into binary code, the zeros and ones that are the foundation of all computer languages.
• Apple patches OS X flaw - Apple has patched a "theoretical vulnerability" in the Help Viewer application, part of the Mac OS X operating system. The company is urging all OS X users to download the patch for the flaw, which it said "could have been exposed when browsing the web".
• Off-topic: EU "confident" of star power site - Philippe Busquin, the EU's research commissioner, told gathered experts the volume of Europe's fusion research would double from 2007 to 2013. Fusion powers stars and is seen as a cleaner approach to energy production than nuclear fission and fossil fuels. Mr Busquin was speaking at a 25th anniversary event at the Jet (Joint European Torus) fusion centre. The Jet project is one of the world's leading fusion research facilities, and holds the record for fusion energy production. Based at Culham in Oxfordshire, it is a collaboration between all European fusion organisations, and involves technology and physics research from the global scientific and engineering community.
• Intel Hires Elbrus Microprocessor Design Team  - Intel Corp. has picked up several design teams from Elbrus MCST, the legendary microprocessor design house that at one time set its sights on the Itanium processor. On Monday, Intel representatives confirmed reports in Russian-language newspapers that the American chip giant had hired approximately 500 engineers and related staff from the Elbrus Moscow Center of Sparc Technology, a state-sponsored design house in Russia. Some of the engineers will be hired away from Unipro, a related company. The new hires include Boris Babayan, Alexander Kim and Ivan Bolozov, said to be the architects of the E2K processor, a failed "Itanium-killer".
• Athlon 64 3800+ with 939 pins reviewed -French site X86 Secrets said it has reviewed an Athlon 64 which uses the famous 939 pins (translation) everyone has waited for, for a while. The 939 pin version of the Athlon 64 is supposed to launch at Computex next week.
• MSI finally announces ATI offerings - MSI has a Radeon X800PRO ready with 900MHz memory, quite a bit slower then others' clock speed since the reference speed is 950MHz but that's what MSI has done and ATI seems to be willing to go along with it. MSI also has a 128 MB DDR 1 Radeon X800PRO card, something that we haven’t heard of before. Its RX800 PRO will be bundled with Splinter Cell Pandora tomorrow and Prince of Persia, The Sands of Time. I guess that this card will be cheaper but we don’t have any idea about pricing, yet. The MSI RX800PRO 128 MB version will have different designed cooler, something that only Asus was allowed to do in the past. [MSI website]
• X-Micro EVA MP3 Player Review - Hardware Pacers have posted a review on the X-Micro EVA MP3 Player.
• X-micro WLAN 802.11g Wireless Router Review - OcPrices.com has posted a review of X-Micro's 802.11G Wireless router.
• Nvidia comments on Far Cry "optimisation" - Nvidia recommends users to make use of the in-game AA settings provided by Far Cry. In order to stop users and reviewers from accidentally setting AA in the control-panel, Nvidia added an application profile which disables the use of the control-panel for AA. Said Nvidia: "Like all our control-panel profiles, this feature recognises applications by the executable name".
• Making Digital Home Movies, Part 1 - Did you ever want to make great movies with cool special effects, but didn't know where to start? In Part I of this two-part series, TGH show you exactly what to buy. 
• Visual Boy Advance v1.7.2 - Visual Boy Advance (download) is a Game Boy Advance and Game Boy emulator that runs with Windows systems.
• PassMark BurnInTest 4.0 build 1014 - BurnInTest is a software tool that allows all the major sub-systems of a computer to be simultaneously stress tested for endurance, reliability and stability.
• Yahoo Messenger 6.0.0.1643 Final - The new version of Yahoo Messenger 6 has been Released.The new messenger has got a New look,New icons,emoticons,IMvironment and cool feature.
• ZoneAlarm Pro 5.0.590.015 - ZoneAlarm (download) includes five interlocking security services that deliver easy-to-use, comprehensive protection. Unlike any other security utility, it incorporates a firewall, Application Control, an Internet Lock, dynamically assigned Security Levels and Zones. Combined, these elements yield the strongest security.

• Judge to Microsoft: "Find Them." - A Baltimore federal judge has asked Microsoft to search its own computers and archives for information that could help explain a top executive's instructions to destroy old e-mails. District Judge J. Frederick Motz ordered the company on Thursday to interview attorneys and search for any record of discussions leading to a January 2000 e-mail from Windows Group Vice President James Allchin, in which he ordered Windows division employees to destroy e-mails after 30 days.
• New Zone Alarm to warn of viruses - Security software maker Zone Labs updated its desktop firewall on Monday, adding new features that aim to put the kibosh on viruses, the company said. The antivirus features will be offered in a commercial version of its basic free product, Zone Alarm, and as part of a comprehensive security suite, said Fred Felman, vice president of marketing of Zone Labs, an independent division of security technology company Check Point Software Technologies.
• Symantec Warns Of Flaw In Antivirus Program - The flaw, which resides within Symantec's Norton AntiVirus 2004 application, could let attackers run code of their choice on a user's system, launch unauthorized pop-ups, or even create a denial-of-service condition to freeze Symantec's antivirus application. Virus and worm writers are increasingly attempting to disable antivirus and personal firewall security applications, so a flaw such as this would be a prime target for virus writers seeking to disable a user's defenses.
• Cisco secure about source code theft - Cisco says that the theft of top-secret proprietary code and its publication on the net do not mean the Interweb is a lot less safer place to be. The company, which makes most of the routers that connect the net, said that publication of some of its proprietary software blueprints does not create an increased security risk.
• Testing didtheyreadit.com's Mail-Tracking Claims - didtheyreadit.com (free reg. required) claims to be able to track your sent email: "When, exactly, your email was opened. How long your email remained opened. Where, geographically, your email was viewed..." (thanks Slashdot.org)

• Off-topic: Cosmic dark age found in shadows - The earliest structures in the universe may be visible by the shadows they cast in the afterglow of the big bang. The objects have been hidden until now because they formed in the dark age of the universe before the first stars switched on. "The shadows promise to provide the richest ever gold mine of information about the early universe," says Abraham Loeb of Harvard University. The so-called cosmic dark age stretched from the fading of the big bang fireball 13.7 billion years ago to the time when the first stars ignited, several hundred million years later. During this period, hydrogen clouds formed into structures that eventually became the stars and galaxies of today.

• Off-topic: Climate change heralds thirsty times ahead  - Fresh water will be in ever shorter supply as climate change gathers pace. A that increasing temperatures will dramatically affect the world's great rivers. While flows will increase overall, with some rivers becoming more swollen, many that provide water for the majority of the world's people will begin to dry up. Some of these predicted changes are already happening. A second study shows temperature changes have affected the flow in many of the world's 200 largest rivers over the past century, with the flow of Africa's rivers declining over the past 10 years.

• Next generation DVD under development - Tokyo-based Sony Corp. heading a 13 member group have formed the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) to promote the system over rival blue-laser technology. The BDA (Blu-ray Disc Association) represents an expansion of the 13 members' Blu-ray Disc Founders (BDF) organization, formed in May 2002. Choosing a new name opens the way to allow other firms to join. The BDF consortium said it will invite companies from a wider range of industries to play a part in the development of the emerging DVD format. The Blu-ray Disc format uses blue-laser light and is a potential successor to today's red-laser DVD technology. Blu-ray Disc technology allows up to 27GB of storage on a single-sided disc, compared to the 4.7GB on current DVDs, which is more than 5 times the present storage space offered.
• AMD Targets to Counter Strike Intel with Dual-Core Chips - According to a report over Planet3DNow! web-site citing senior AMD executives, AMD put the dual-core AMD Opteron processors into plans for release in the second-half of 2005 and dual-core AMD Athlon 64 chips shortly afterwards, if the market demands. While the intentions of Sunnyvale, California-based chipmaker to introduce dual-core microprocessors have been known for a lot of time now, this is the first time when the firm’s execs officially unveiled the timeframe for the release.
• Iomega Unveils Small LAN Storage Device - Iomega is unveiling this week an entry-level network-attached storage (NAS) device designed to work with both conventional ATA drives and the Rev removable hard drives that Iomega recently released. Called the Iomega NAS 200d, the cube-shaped appliance will be priced starting at $1399 and will give small businesses a way to add a file server to their networks without having to pay the client licensing fees associated with a Windows Server 2003 system, says Wayne Arvidson, a director with Iomega's professional storage solutions group.

• Sapphire offers 9800 Pro with 128-bit memory bus - Xbit Labs is reporting that Sapphire has started selling Radeon 9800 Pro graphics cards with a 128-bit memory bus

• MSI raises game bundle bar with 6800 Ultra - TechReport is reporting that MSI's NX6800 Ultra-T2D256 comes with full versions of URU, XIII, Prince of Persia 3D, and Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow.
• Asus 6800 Ultra hits Japan -  According to TheInquirer.net, the cards have actually shipped in Japan.  The card, as Nvidia's own Jen Hsun said, needs only one power plug if you don't want to overclock and 350W should be enough he told to its investors. 480W requirements are only meant for overclockers he said. Asus decided to name this card the V9999 Ultra Deluxe following its naming convention.
• PixelView GeForce FX 5900 XT Golden Limited review - The PixelView GeForce FX 5900 XT Golden Limited from Prolink with 256-bit 128 MB DDR memory runs at default 390 MHz for the core and 700 MHz (2x350) for its memory. This particular 5900 was a magnificent overclocker reaching 485 MHz for the core frequency and check this out... 950 MHz for its memory.
• XGI Volari Duo V8 Ultra 256MB review - Hexus.net have have done a review of the XGI Volari Duo V8 Ultra 256MB. Their opinion:: "It's hard to recommend XGI's top card with the current driver set. The company needs to bolster image quality before concentrating on all-out performance, really. A promising product that's severly let down by inadequate image quality."
• Plextor PX-712A DVD±RW review - The price of the Plextor PX-712A is around US$ 180. Plextor drives have always been known to be more expensive than other drives but when we look at how well the drive performed and the great technologies it supports we think this price is more than justified.
• X-Arcade MAME Dual Controller review - ViperLair has posted a review of the X-Arcade dual controller.
• The Workstation Graphics Card Comparison Guide Rev. 2.0 - Andrian Rojak Pot has updated his The Workstation Graphics Card Comparison Guide.
• UT2004 Optimization Guide - Firing Squad has published a great guide to optimizing your retail UT2004 installation. The guide covers two processor brands, six video cards, and just about every tweakable aspect of the game.
• Windows XP Repair Install - Short of a completely clean install of the Windows XP operating system, the next best option IMHO is a "Repair" install, particularly when installing a new motherboard / CPU.
• YahooPOPs! 0.6 for Windows - YahooPOPs! is an open-source initiative to provide free POP3 access to your Yahoo! Mail account. YahooPOPs! is available on the Windows and Unix platforms. This application emulates a POP3 server and enables popular email clients like Outlook, Netscape, Eudora, Mozilla, Calypso, etc., to download email from Yahoo! accounts.
• AVG Free Edition 6.0 Build 668 - A free registration is required to run AVG. You will be emailed a registration code and can not install it without it. The installer does provide a link during installation to get your code.
• Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator Version 1.3.4073 - The Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator allows users to create or modify keyboard layouts.
• Fresh UI 7.10 - Fresh UI is free Windows tweaking tool. What's new: more hidden settings for Processors, Motherboard, and Graphics card. Just install it over the old version you have.
• FireLogXP 1.3 - This is a simple program for people using the Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) in Windows XP. It will read the log file and show you who is trying to get into your computer, and through which ports. The data can be filtered to include/exclude protocols, connection types, and TCP flags
• Nero CD-DVD Speed 3.00 - Nero CD-DVD Speed is a CD-ROM benchmark which can test the most important features of a CD-ROM drive: Transfer rate, Seek times, CPU usage, Burst rate, DAE quality, Transfer rate, Spinup/spindown time.
• Sateira CD&DVD Burner v1.32  - With this program you can create and burn audio and data CD / DVD, CUE / ISO images, multisession and bootable CD / DVD, extract session from multisession disc and more.
• Video lan player v0.7.2 - VLC (initially VideoLAN Client) is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, ...) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network. (thanks ally russell)
• SimpleDivX 1.35 - SimpleDivX is a powerfull frontend utilizing the latest version of mpeg2avi and supporting many video formats like 3ivx,xvid & divx and audio formats including ogg, mp3 and ac3.
• AC3Filter 1.01a RC2 - AC3Filter - it is DirectShow filter for AC3 (download) decoding to play .AVI with AC3 audio tracks and MPEG2 (DVD). Distributed absolutely for free.
• Fraps 2.1.1 - This program (demo) is designed as a generic tool to monitor framerates in DirectX and OpenGL games. It can best be described as: benchmarking software (see framerates on screen and log them to file, calculate the average framerate between any two points), screen capture software (take screenshots at the press of a button with files automatically named and timestamped), movie maker software (realtime recording of your gameplay to high quality AVI video files).
• Central Brain Identifier 7.0.0.6 Beta Build 0523 -  CBI (download) recognizes more than 40 various models of the AMD processors.
• ATI Catalyst for Radeon family 64bit BETA driver 8.01 - ATI has posted CATALYST Windows XP 64-Bit Edition beta drivers.
• DNA-drivers 2.5.4.5a - New DNA drivers have been released by KillerSneak. These are modified/hacked ATI Catalyst drivers. The drivers have been optimized with two things in mind, better Image Quality and more/stable frames per second when compared to the official Catalyst drivers from ATI. There now also is a 64-bit edition available.

• Microsoft Confident Reward System Will Lead To Arrest of Blaster, MyDoom Writers - Bulked up by a recent arrest in the Sasser worm case, Microsoft is confident that the creators of the infamous MyDoom and Blaster worms will be brought to justice. On Tuesday, Microsoft Deputy General Counsel Nancy Anderson said the software giant's $5 million reward program is beginning to pay off--and future arrests are likely. Anderson said Microsoft provided technical assistance to the FBI, Secret Service and German authorities that led to the arrest on Saturday of the teenager believed to be responsible for creating both the Sasser and Netsky worms that infected millions of PCs. Information leading to the arrest resulted in part from Microsoft's antivirus reward program.
• FBI Probes Possible Cisco Software Theft - The FBI is investigating the possible theft of source code from networking equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc., the agency said on Tuesday. "We're aware of the situation and we're working with Cisco regarding the potential loss of proprietary data," said Paul Bresson, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, confirming the probe.
• Two new worms follow Sasser route - The W32/Bobax-A worm, which employs the same Microsoft security vulnerability as the Sasser worm to break into computers, uses port 5000 to identify Windows XP systems (the port used for "Universal Plug and Play"). According to the Sophos Web site, this new worm "is capable of turning infected computers into spam factories and launchpads for denial-of-service attacks against Web sites."
• Lycos Europe Beats Google to Market with 1GB Email - Web portal Lycos Europe beat its larger rival Google to market with an e-mail service featuring one gigabyte of storage space, the company announced on Tuesday. Lycos Europe said the new service was going live in the United Kingdom on Tuesday with other European countries to follow.
• MS chief reveals Xbox 2 development secrets - On the morning after Microsoft's exclusive E3 drinks reception in Hollywood, where the likes of Allard, Peter Moore, Shane Kim and the European Xbox team mixed with a handful of sweaty hacks, the Xbox creator was in an open mood when we spoke with him. He discussed the current state of play for the Xbox business and beyond, offering insights into next-gen software development and how it will change the way we experience videogames. When asked if, aside from the XNA demonstrations we've already seen, he had been privy to next-gen demonstrations, he said: 'There's some stuff that's just knocked my socks off."
• DISCover and Infinium Labs Tout Plug-and-Play PC Gaming Consoles - The only way that Phantom will be able to compete is through marketing and pricing. At $199 per console, they are probably losing money each time they sell a console, with the hopes that subscription and premium content fees make up the difference. For most consumers, the DISCover consoles will be a better pick, as they play PC games while also giving you DVD playback and digital video recording. Since the DISCover technology is hardware independent, consumers can choose from a wide range of different consoles.
• Dell Axim X30 first with Windows Mobile 2003 SE - With the fastest Intel PXA270 processors ever designed for a PDA, the Axim X30 will be available in three different models. The low end start version for $199 has no wireless capabilities an Intel 312MHz, 32MB Intel Flash and 32MB SDRAM, a $249 model with similar features to the $199 version but adding 64MB ROM, 64MB SDRAM, 802.11b and Bluetooth, then the powerhouse $349 model that has an Intel 624MHz processor, 64MB ROM, 64MB SDRAM, 802.11b, Bluetooth and cradle.
• Twinhead to display new 14-inch AMD notebook at Computex - The notebook features a 14-inch XGA TFT LCD and is powered by the Mobile AMD Athlon XP-M processor 1800+ to 2400+. The efio! 14A supports up to 512MB DDR SDRAM, weighs 2.6 kg and includes three USB 2.0 ports, a PCMCIA slot, onboard 10/100M bit Ethernet, and a 56Kbps V.90 modem.
• Lite-On IT launches 8x Dual DL and 12x Dual DVD burners - Lite-On IT will launch two new DVD burners today through its Taiwan general sales agent, Gish International, for sale on the domestic market. The products are an 8x DVD Dual DL (single-sided double-layer disc) burner and a 12x DVD Dual burner. According to Gish chairman Garry Chen, a few local makers already claim to offer 8x DVD+RW DL burner models, but Lite-ON IT’s 8x DVD Dual DL is also compatible with the –RW format, and will sell at prices of US$229-239 per burner. Lite-On IT also recently began selling the 12x DVD Dual burners in Japan, Chen indicated.
• AMD's Opteron 150 and 250 processors  - These CPUs pack all the same goodness we've come to appreciate in the form of the Opteron 148, 248, and 848 models, plus 200 more megahertz, for a total of 2.4GHz.  Like all previous Opterons, the x50 series is built using AMD's 130nm fab process. Since this is just a speed bump for the Opteron series, we decided to throw a party and spice things up a bit by testing the new Opterons against over twenty different competitors.
• Following in Intel's Naming Footsteps - FX-57 shows up on the AMD roadmaps, FX-55 wattages, and AMD's shift to product naming. If you thought AMD was surprisingly quiet lately wait till you see their most recent update. Oh, and RIP Duron 2000-2004.
• Via reveals C5J processor details - VIA has revealed the first details of its C5J Esther processor core, created using IBM's 90 nanometre SOI (silicon on isolator) process. The core, claims Via, gives the processor an improved turn of speed and reduces power consumption to 3.5W at 1GHz. Via claims the core will allow unprecedented performance for demanding applications, like high compression video streaming and data encryption.
• Intel 915 Chipset preview - The new Intel 915/ICH6 chipset supporting the upcoming Socket 755 is scheduled to debut in about a month’s time. Some information about this chipset has been making rounds on the Internet, like the lack of an AGP interface and Win 9X drivers. Today, we try to put together different pieces of information we have on this chipset- some of the technologies that this chipset will bring with itself. We know that Intel will offer this chipset in discreet as we well as their “G” flavor- with the integrated Intel Extreme Graphics 3 display technology.
• Radeon X800 Pro Voltage Mod - The way of pencil voltage modding the Radeon X800 Pro is almost exactly the same as the Radeon 9800XT. I would suggest you to read through the previous guide done by Shamino first as it contains more information. You would need a 2B pencil, a soft eraser and a multimeter.
• ATI responds to cheating allegations - TheInquirer received an official statement from Canadian graphics firm ATI about recent reports of optimising for its graphics cards. According to ATI, the differences in screenshots between the Radeon 9800 XT and X800 are the result of a new filtering algorithm, not application-specific cheats.
• Fedora Core 2 - Fedora Core 2 x86 or x86-64 downloads are available from: fedora.redhat.com or from the network of mirrors in the Fedora Project distribution system
• Wine-2004-05-05 Wine is an implementation of the Windows Win32 and Win16 APIs on top of X and Unix. Think of Wine as a Windows compatibility layer. Wine provides both a development toolkit (Winelib) for porting Windows sources to Unix and a program loader, allowing many unmodified Windows 3.x/95/98/ME/NT/W2K/XP binaries to run under Intel Unixes.
• WineX 3.2.2 - TransGaming Technologies has announced their newest WineX, version 3.3.2. Not only does this latest release fix issues with copy protection in Battlefield 1942 but introduces, for the first time, support for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
• K-Lite Codec Pack 2.26 - The K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of codecs and related tools. Codecs are required to encode and decode (play) audio and video.There are three versions of the K-Lite Codec Pack: The basic version, who fits on a single floppy disk, contains only the most essential codecs and related tools. The standard version contains everything what is needed to play all the commonly used formats. The full version contains even more codecs and also has encoding support.
• K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 1.02 - The K-Lite Mega Codec Pack includes the K-Lite Codec Pack Full, QuickTime Alternative, Real Alternative and BSplayer
• QuickTime Alternative 1.33 - QuickTime Alternative will allow you to play QuickTime files (.mov, .qt and other extensions) without having to install QuickTime Player. It also supports QuickTime content that is embedded in webpages. The QuickTime plugins include iPIX and QuickTimeVR. The QuickTime Browser plugin supports Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla and Netscape.
• Real Alternative 1.23 - Real Alternative will allow you to play RealMedia files without having to install RealPlayer or RealOne Player. Supported are: RealAudio (.ra .rpm), RealMedia (.rm .ram .rmvb .rpx .smi .smil), RealText (.rt), ReadPix (.rp). It also supports RealMedia content that is embedded in webpages.
• OpenGL Extension Viewer v2.08 - This program displays the vendor name, the version implemented, the renderer name and the extensions of the current OpenGL 3D accelerator.
• MemTest86+ 1.15 - MemTest86+ 1.15 has been released! New in this version: Bit Fade Test, support for A64 'NewCastle' core, support for Athlon 64 on Socket 939, support for Celeron Prescott, support for Pentium M with E75xx, bugfixes, etc.
• AMD Athlon 64 Driver 11014 - AMD have released a newer revision of the CPU Driver for WinXP.
• Intel P4 Prescott Driver 5.1.2600 - Station-Drivers has posted a new Intel P4 Prescott WinXP driver version 5.1.2600.1331.
• Radeon Omega Drivers 2.5.44 - Omegadrive has released a new Radeon Omega Drivers for Win2k/XP based on the official Catalyst 4.5 ATI drivers

• Phatbot suspect released on bail - The suspected author of the Phatbot Trojan was released on bail last Friday after spending a week in custody. German authorities arrested the 21-year-old coder - named only as Alex G in local reports - from Waldshut in southern Germany on 7 May at the same time as the author of the Sasser worm, 18 year-old Sven Jaschan. Police said the two operations were co-ordinated but unrelated. Emails from the suspect showed he wanted to leave Germany to avoid military service. This, combined with the seriousness of computer sabotage charges he faced, led police to initially oppose bail. Police have now relented after the suspect agreed to surrender his identity papers and report regularly to police.
• Microsoft cracks pirates on Service Pack 2 - Users of pirated copies of Windows XP may not be able to install Service Pack (SP2), as Microsoft has blacklisted the 20 most-copied discs. ccording to Microsoft, users who have the same serial number as the 20 most-copied Windows XP discs will be unable to install the new upgrade. But with the company blocking only these discs, some users of pirate copies will still be able to download the service pack. The same tactic was used to stop users of pirate copies from installing SP1, although pirates then launched a tool to get round the anti-piracy measures.
• FBI arrest 65 in P2P child porn raids - The FBI arrested 65 people for using peer-to-peer networks to exchange child pornography on Friday (14 May). The FBI went undercover in Operation Peer Pressure and conducted 166 sessions targeting P2P networks. They found 106 individuals with multiple images of child pornography. This led to 103 searches, seven arrests and nine indictements. It also led to the rescue of eight children who had been abused.
• New way to combat online piracy - Downloading music, movies or software illegally might become less appealing if every third song or film scene was suddenly interrupted by white noise or worse, announcements urging "next time, pay for what you take!"  This "gotcha" technique--circulating flawed or reproving digital copies of songs on the Internet--has been tried in some form by a few pop stars hoping to thwart online music piracy. Two weeks ago, a University of Tulsa professor and a former graduate student of his won a patent for software that analyzes and monitors illegal music swapping on file-sharing networks, and then systematically inserts decoy files into the mix.
• CA Dispatches Free Security Alerts - In an effort to provide up-to-date information regarding the latest threats affecting today's environments, Computer Associates International says that it is now offering free e-mail alerts (here) regarding critical viruses and vulnerabilities. Critical threat alerts, says the company, notify recipients that a virus or vulnerability has reached a critical or dangerous level, and requires immediate action to mitigate and protect critical data.
• Cisco investigates source code leak - An unspecified amount of the proprietary source code that drives Cisco Systems' networking hardware has appeared on the Internet, the technology giant acknowledged early Monday. A representative could not confirm, however, that network intruders made off with 800MB of code, as reported by a Russian security group over the weekend.  According to SecurityLab.ru, online vandals had compromised Cisco's corporate network and stolen about 800MB of source code. A person with the alias "Franz" bragged about the intrusion and posted about 2.5MB (proof) of code on the Internet relay chat (IRC) system not long after the alleged break-in.
• Why Windows is a Security Nightmare - Security in all mainstream operating systems is non-existent; however, things are especially bad for Windows. Windows happens to be the favorite target of worm and virus writers. Conventional wisdom suggests that the huge installed base of Windows helps spread the worms and viruses, and also makes it a highly attractive target for worm/virus writers. The installed base of Windows certainly has an undeniable effect on the prevalence of malware on Windows, but this is not all there is to it.
• South Korea's cat-and-mouse with piracy -  Recently in a city near Seoul called Incheon, police investigators who were empowered to audit software on PCs snuck in through an office building's back exit, according to a source who worked for an Internet service provider inside the facility at the time. A receptionist immediately began to call all the businesses in the building. "Everyone closed their doors," the former ISP employee said. The ISP wasn't so lucky. Its employees didn't get out in time, and the company had to pay $42,000 (50 million won) in software licenses and fines. 
• Off-topic: Hi-flying Wi-Fi debuts on transatlantic flight - Passengers flying on a Lufthansa flight from Munich to Los Angeles on Monday became the first to experience in-flight Wi-Fi - a broadband wireless internet connection. The satellite-based system enables passengers to surf the web and send emails from their own Wi-Fi-enabled laptop or handheld computers instead of using the more limited services some airlines offer through their seatback displays. The system, called FlyNet, has already been installed on five of Lufthansa's fleet, with plans to extend this to all 80 of the German airline's long-haul planes by the end of 2006. Passengers will share a download capability of five megabits per second, while uploading traffic, such as sending emails, will run at one Mbps. This speed of connection is comparable with that used in a small office. The cost to passengers is $10 for half an hour, or a flat rate of $30 for the entire flight.
• Off-topic: Viruses shown to destroy lung, colon tumors - A genetically engineered virus can selectively kill cancerous cells in the lung and colon while leaving healthy cells intact, according to new research published today. The research could lead to a new class of cancer therapies that selectively kill cancer cells.
• Off-topic:  Hy-Wire Driving Is a Gas - Powered by 200 fuel cells inside an 11-inch-thick chassis fixed like a giant skateboard under the car, the Hy-wire's most exciting element is its environmental footprint. It has none. According to General Motors, the car takes in only air and leaves behind nothing but water. Simple as fifth-grade science: O2 + H = H20. And this driver didn't detect even the H20.
• Off-topic: Half-Life 2 PC on July 2nd? - According to Walmart, Half-Life 2 should ship on July 2nd, 2004.
• NVIDIA Launched Consistent Graphics Interface for PCI Express Notebooks - NVIDIA today announced a consistent graphics interface for PCI Express based notebook PCs. The Mobile PCI-Express Module specification (MXM) was jointly designed by NVIDIA and the industry's leading notebook PC manufacturers to create a consistent graphics interface that will accelerate the time to market for PCI-Express-based notebooks.
• ARM gets SMP core - ARM has released a processor design for consumer electronics devices that uses SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) technology. According to ITWorld, the MPCore was developed in partnership with NEC.
• OS X Makes Slow Debut on PC - German students develop the first emulator for running Mac OS X on a Windows machine. It's incomplete, buggy and horribly slow, but PC geeks are rushing to try it out.
• NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra (NV40) review - The performance of the NV40 is clearly displayed in the gaming benchmarks and has completely overwhelmed the previous NV3x architecture. The clear benefits of a higher performing GPU comes when FSAA and Anisotropic filtering are enabled at a level where 4xAA and 8xAF are very comfortable on the NV40. The pixel and vertex shader power of the NV40 are much evident in many DirectX games with more than doubled performance over the NV3x while OpenGL games which is much more CPU bound saw approximately 1.5x performance gain. NVIDIA still continues to maintain a good performance lead for the OpenGL games over the ATi Radeon cards.
• Seagate 160 GB SATA (ST3160023AS) review - If you are looking for a bleeding edge, performance packed, ass kicking hard drive, your hopes are probably a little too high. Seagate’s SATA flavored drives are fantastic in their own right, but you might want to hold out for the second, or even third generation of SATA drives if you are looking for unheard-of performance. However, if you are looking for a solid drive that is quiet, reliable and on the higher end of the performance spectrum, I would most definitely recommend these drives to anyone with an SATA-ready motherboard.
• P4 Northwood and Prescott Comparison at 4.1 GHz - Intel's Pentium 4 Northwood processor is nearing the end of its product life cycle at 3.4 GHz. Its successor, the Prescott, is slated to offer a clock speed of 4 GHz by end of year, but it runs hot. THG looks at what happens when both processors are overclocked at 4.1 GHz.
• NEC warns users not to apply ND-2510A Firmware to ND-2500A drives - On the Internet there is currently a Firmware version floating around that ought to change the usual 8x DVD burner ND-2500A to an ND-2510A that is able to write double layer media. According to NEC this Firmware does not work on the ND-2500A because some adjustments have to be made during the manufacturing process that cannot be applied later. Because of this it will be impossible to let the ND-2500A write DVD+R DL only by upgrading the Firmware. Even if this will succeed in single cases, the danger of getting coasters is very high and the DL-recordables will have error ammounts beyond the specification. NEC also points out that applying unofficial firmwares to their burners will void warranty.
• TweakHound's Super XP Tweaking Guide 5.0 - Tweakhound's Eric Vaughan has updated his Windows XP tweaking guide to revision 5.0! this has to be one of the best tweaking guides around. This guide is all about optimizing XP.
• GPU Comparison Guide Rev. 3.5 - Adrian's Rojak has updated his GPU Comparison Guide with ATI's Radeon X800 XT PE GPU and NVIDIA's GeForce 6800 GT and 6800 Ultra Extreme GPUs updated the clock speeds.
• FarCry PS 3.0 Movie and Pictures - Check it out and let me know if the movie is worth leeching :P
• Windows Media Player 9 update - When you copy music media files between Microsoft Windows Media Player and a supported portable device, copy operations may take longer to perform as more items are added to the Media Library. Specifically, the time to copy increases exponentially as the number of items in the Media Library increases.
• Inferno Fourth Edition Download - A preliminary public release of Inferno (Fourth Edition) is now available for downloading from Vita Nuova which contains: The Inferno operating system running in hosted mode for: Windows (Nt, 2000, XP) [not 95, 98, Me], FreeBSD (x86), Irix (mips), Linux (x86), MacOSX (power), Solaris (sparc), Plan 9, which includes the Dis virtual machine, integral support for the Styx network protocol, and an implementation of the Tk user interface toolkit. Source code for all of the applications and library modules (written in Limbo), including: the Charon web browser, the Acme integrating development environment, the Limbo compiler written in Limbo, the Yacc compiler-compiler, the sh programmable shell, plumbing support (similar to Plan 9's plumber), many Unix-like tools: mv, cp, rm, xd, wc, grep, ps, diff, tr, man, ls ...
• Supertrick XG, successor to KLite HOSTS file tool - Supertrick XG edits a file within Windows called "HOSTS." By editing this file, you can block access to certain websites. Using this trick you can block websites that serve ads or ones that might compromise your privacy and security. This also speeds up the loading time of websites, because the ads don't have to be downloaded.
• Koepi's XviD Codec 1.0 Final - XviD (download) is an ISO MPEG-4 compliant video codec.
• Codec Pack All in 1 v6.0.1.1 -  A collection of codecs for playing DivX movies. All you need to see DivX movies: DivX, XviD, AC3...
• AnyDVD 3.6.2.1  - AnyDVD allows you to decrypt CSS encrypted DVDs on the fly. Insert your CSS- (Content Scrambling System) and RPC (Region Code Protected) - protected DVD into your DVD drive.
• FlashFXP 3.0.0.995 RC1 - FlashFXP (download) is the most powerful and popular FTP & FXP Client for Microsoft Windows 9x/Me/NT/2000/XP on the market today.
• ICQ Lite 4.01 Build #1668 - A new version of ICQ lite is available for download.
• Forceware Quadro Drivers - Nvidia has released three new sets of Forceware drivers for their range of workstation Quadro cards in the shape of 53.81 - 56.54 - 56.56 for Windows 2k/XP. (thanks Warp2Search)