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New Windows netbooks may harbor malware
Submitted Wednesday, May 27, 2009 @ 10:33 AM
news.idg.no -- Kaspersky Labs is warning users to scan brand new systems for malware before connecting them to the Internet after discovering attack code on a just-out-of-the-box Windows XP netbook.
After discovering attack code on a brand new Windows XP netbook, antivirus vendor Kaspersky Labs warned users yesterday that they should scan virgin systems for malware before connecting them to the Internet. See the complete story here.
DDoS Attack Leaves Five Chinese Provinces Without Internet
Submitted Wednesday, May 27, 2009 @ 10:22 AM
news.softpedia.com -- Millions of Chinese Internet users from the Shanxi, Guangxi, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Hebei provinces had trouble getting online on Tuesday, because of a domain name system (DNS) chain reaction caused by an initial denial of service attack against a single provider. See the complete story here.
Vista Service Pack 2 Now Ready for Download
Submitted Tuesday, May 26, 2009 @ 06:21 PM
pcworld.com -- Windows Vista Service Pack 2 is now available for download. The Vista SP2 update includes new support for recording Blu-ray discs straight from the Vista OS, updated support for Bluetooth v2.1, and bug fixes that address slow shutdowns and mysterious crashes. See the complete story here.
How to fit 300 DVDs on one disc
Submitted Thursday, May 21, 2009 @ 03:57 AM
news.bbc.co.uk -- A new optical recording method could pave the way for data discs with 300 times the storage capacity of standard DVDs, Nature journal reports.
The researchers say this could see a whopping 1.6 terabytes of information fit on a DVD-sized disc. See the complete story here.
HP recalls notebook computer batteries
Submitted Friday, May 15, 2009 @ 02:48 PM
HP company information - ( HP News )
Compaq company information - ( Compaq News )
bizjournals.com -- Hewlett-Packard Co. is voluntarily recalling lithium-ion batteries used in HP and Compaq notebook computers because of fire hazard, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Thursday.
The recall for Palo Alto, Calif.-based HP includes about 70,000 units, with the primary hazard being that “the recalled lithium-ion batteries can overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers,” a news release stated. The company is aware of two reports of batteries that have overheated and ruptured, resulting in flames that caused “minor property damage.” However, no injuries have been reported.
Sold at computer and electronics stores nationwide from August 2007 through March 2008, the HP and Compaq notebook computer models that potentially contain a recalled battery include: HP Pavilion (models dv2000, dv2500, dv2700, dv6000, dv6500, dv6700, dv9000, dv9500 and dv9700); Compaq Presario (models A900, C700, F700, V3000, V3500, V3700, V6000, V6500 and V6700); HP (models G6000 and G7000); and HP Compaq (model 6720s). See the complete story here.
ASUS Eee Keyboard to launch by end of June
Submitted Thursday, May 14, 2009 @ 12:55 PM
engadget.com -- The dream of owning a keyboard embedded with a full-blown PC running XP on an Atom N270 processor and 5-inch, 800 x 480 pixel touchscreen display/trackpad is nearly upon us. A dream, quite honestly, nobody had prior to seeing the reveal of the 2-pound Eee Keyboard prototype at CES in January. See the complete story here.
Creative Labs Charges "Maintenance Fee" For Rebate
Submitted Thursday, May 14, 2009 @ 12:53 PM
Creative company information - ( Creative News )
consumerist.com -- Creative Labs has found a great new way to minimize the risk that a customer will actually benefit from a rebate offer. In Rick's case, they sent him the rebate in the form of a $10 debit card that was supposed to be good until July 2009, but when he went to a Best Buy to use it last month, it was denied. The reason? He'd been charged a $3 "maintenance fee" every month since January. See the complete story here.
3,000 jobs go at Microsoft
Submitted Wednesday, May 06, 2009 @ 07:05 PM
Microsoft company information - ( Microsoft News )
tgdaily.com -- Software giant Microsoft laid off 3,000 people today - part of its plan to cut costs.
The job losses will be spread equally between the USA and other geographies, but Microsoft has also committed to re-hiring as soon as the economic meltdown eases. See the complete story here.
Researchers hijack botnet, score 56,000 passwords in an hour
Submitted Wednesday, May 06, 2009 @ 06:27 PM
arstechnica.com -- Researchers at the University of California Santa Barbara have published a paper (PDF) detailing their findings after hijacking a botnet for ten days earlier this year. Among other things, the researchers were able to collect 70GB of data that the bots stole from users, including 56,000 passwords gathered within a single hour. The information not only gave them a look at the inner workings of the botnet, they also got to see how secure users really are when it comes to online activities. (Hint: they aren't.). See the complete story here.
Epicenter The Business of Tech Internet Growing Like Its 200...
Submitted Wednesday, May 06, 2009 @ 06:22 PM
wired.com -- Your local cable company might like to talk about looming internet brownouts in order to convince you to pay for all those internet videos endangering its television revenues, but research shows again that the tubes just keep getting wider and wider.
Global internet traffic grew a robust 64 percent in 2008, and global backbone providers plan to lay 16 underseas cables in 2009 — more than put down in the last year of the telecom bubble in 2001, according to new data from telecom research firm Telegeography. 2008 saw 15 new underseas cables, as well. See the complete story here.
Why text messages are limited to 160 characters
Submitted Wednesday, May 06, 2009 @ 12:46 AM
latimesblogs.latimes.com -- Alone in a room in his home in Bonn, Germany, Friedhelm Hillebrand sat at his typewriter, tapping out random sentences and questions on a sheet of paper.
As he went along, Hillebrand counted the number of letters, numbers, punctuation marks and spaces on the page. Each blurb ran on for a line or two and nearly always clocked in under 160 characters. See the complete story here.
Windows 7 brings Microsoft to its knees
Submitted Friday, May 01, 2009 @ 09:22 PM
Microsoft company information - ( Microsoft News )
channelregister.co.uk -- Desperate beta testers brought down Microsoft's Windows 7 download page yesterday for about two hours.
Only Microsoft Developer Network members and TechNet members were offered keys, but Microsoft still had to make some changes to keep the site up and running. The MSDN blog said "systems are having trouble keeping up" and thanked people for their patience. See the complete story here.
G.E.’s Breakthrough Can Put 100 DVDs on a Disc
Submitted Friday, May 01, 2009 @ 09:21 PM
nytimes.com -- General Electric says it has achieved a breakthrough in digital storage technology that will allow standard-size discs to hold the equivalent of 100 DVDs. See the complete story here.
Congressman Wants to Ban Download Caps
Submitted Tuesday, April 14, 2009 @ 04:34 PM
blog.wired.com -- Time Warner Cable plans to test its controversial, new scheme to have users pay by the gigabyte in Rochester, New York, but the area's freshman congressman calls usage caps greedy and plans to introduce legislation to stop it.
New York Democratic Rep. Eric Massa called TWC's proposal to switch its 8.4 million cable broadband customers to metered internet billing an "outrageous plan to tax the American people." See the complete story here.
Microsoft Windows HTTP Services Multiple Vulnerabilities
Submitted Tuesday, April 14, 2009 @ 04:14 PM
Microsoft company information - ( Microsoft News )
secunia.com -- Some vulnerabilities have been reported in Microsoft Windows, which can be exploited by malicious people to conduct spoofing attacks or compromise a user's system.
1) An integer underflow error in Windows HTTP Services can be exploited to execute arbitrary code via a specially crafted parameter returned by a malicious web server.
2) An error in Windows HTTP Services while validating the distinguished name of a certificate can be exploited to spoof a valid certificate.
Successful exploitation requires the ability to perform DNS spoofing attacks.
3) An error in Windows HTTP Services can be exploited to reflect NTLM credentials and execute arbitrary code by tricking a user into connecting to a malicious web server. See the complete story here.
Microsoft killing free XP support next week
Submitted Tuesday, April 14, 2009 @ 11:10 AM
Microsoft company information - ( Microsoft News )
theregister.co.uk -- Microsoft will drop free support for handful of aging products next week, including consumer versions of Windows XP and Office 2003.
On April 14, the Redmond giant ends "mainstream" support for Office 2003 in addition to Windows XP Home and Professional. This means the software will no longer include no-charge incident support, warranty claims, design changes, and bug fixes not related to security. See the complete story here.
Science's most powerful computer tackles first questions
Submitted Friday, April 10, 2009 @ 03:12 PM
newscientist.com -- In cult sci-fi tale Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the most powerful computer in the universe was charged with finding the answer to life, the universe, and everything.
In the real world, a newly built supercomputer that is the most powerful ever dedicated to science will be tackling questions about climate change, supernovas, and the structure of water. See the complete story here.
BBC Gets Ready for BitTorrent Distribution
Submitted Friday, April 10, 2009 @ 03:09 PM
Creative company information - ( Creative News )
torrentfreak.com -- Today the BBC published the first episode of R&DTV, a Creative Commons licensed show that users are allowed to remix, redistribute and share. The first episode of the monthly technology show features Digg’s Kevin Rose, among others. The BBC hopes to use BitTorrent for the distribution of future episodes. See the complete story here.
Bluetooth 3.0 prepped for launch on April 21
Submitted Friday, April 10, 2009 @ 03:07 PM
arstechnica.com -- The Bluetooth 3.0 spec is ready to hit the streets, with the Bluetooth SIG preparing for an official release later this month. The updated specification will enable the transfer of larger files thanks to the incorporation of 802.11n. See the complete story here.
New method could lead to narrower chip patterns
Submitted Friday, April 10, 2009 @ 03:04 PM
web.mit.edu -- Researchers at MIT have found a novel method for etching extremely narrow lines on a microchip, using a material that can be switched from transparent to opaque, and vice versa, just by exposing it to certain wavelengths of light.
Such materials are not new, but the researchers found a novel way of harnessing that property to create a mask with exceptionally fine lines of transparency. This mask can then be used to create a correspondingly fine line on the underlying material. See the complete story here.
CompUSA Comes Back From the Dead
Submitted Friday, April 10, 2009 @ 02:59 PM
blog.wired.com -- About three months ago, Loretta Alkalay, a retired Florida resident, wanted to get a new HDTV. So she decided to give the CompUSA near her home a try.
Yes, CompUSA. The once-bankrupt electronics retailer is making a comeback, with about 30 new CompUSA stores nationwide and a new strategy that includes aggressive prices, remodeled stores, improved lighting and in-store web access for comparison shopping. See the complete story here.
Intel Begins Applying 'Stars' Ratings to Microprocessors
Submitted Thursday, April 09, 2009 @ 03:47 PM
Intel company information - ( Intel News )
pcmag.com -- Will you choose a PC's processor like you choose a hotel? Intel has already bet that you will.
Years after microprocessor vendors launched "model numbers" to try and provide buyers with a simpler way of evaluating microprocessor performance, on April 1 Intel began placing point-of-sale placards and other promotional materials in stores displaying between one to five stars. The company has also jazzed up its chip logos, adding a bit of color to the almost-uniform Intel blue. See the complete story here.
Vandals blamed for phone and Internet outage
Submitted Thursday, April 09, 2009 @ 02:56 PM
news.cnet.com -- Vandals are to blame for the massive phone and Internet outage in Silicon Valley on Thursday, an AT&T representative has confirmed.
A reported published by the San Francisco Chronicle and carried on SFGate.com first reported that police confirmed the phone and Internet outage that has left thousands of customers in the San Jose area without phone or broadband Internet service was caused by vandals who had cut fiber-optic cables. See the complete story here.
Microsoft to patch Excel hole, seven others
Submitted Thursday, April 09, 2009 @ 02:52 PM
Microsoft company information - ( Microsoft News )
news.cnet.com -- Microsoft on Tuesday said next week's Patch Tuesday would include eight patches, five of them critical, including one addressing a vulnerability in Excel.
A company representative declined to confirm whether the patch for its spreadsheet software addresses a vulnerability that has seen "zero-day attacks" which target unpatched security holes. But given the fact that both that Excel vulnerability and the Excel patch slated for Tuesday affect Microsoft Office 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2007, as well as Microsoft Office 2004 and 2008 for the Mac, it could be the same weakness. See the complete story here.
As Google Search Spikes, Yahoo Loses 'Toolbar' Deals
Submitted Thursday, April 09, 2009 @ 02:39 PM
Google company information - ( Google News )
Yahoo company information - ( Yahoo News )
HP company information - ( HP News )
crn.com -- A failure to renew "toolbar" deals with the likes of Hewlett-Packard and Acer could mean a major blow to Yahoo's search traffic, according to a Thursday report in The Wall Street Journal. The lost deals, which in the past have made Yahoo the default search tool on new HP and Acer PCs, could mean a decline in overall Yahoo search traffic by as much as 15 percent in the next year and a half. See the complete story here.
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