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August 20, 2007 ISSUE 257
COMPUTERHOPE.COM NEWSLETTER
- http://www.computerhope.com/nletters/nl257.htm -
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IN THIS ISSUE:
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1. Weekly Computer Term
2. What's new in the news last week
3. Computer viruses, worms, security, and/or privacy threats
4. What's new at Computer Hope this week
5. Hot computer issues
6. All Talk
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1. Weekly Computer Term.
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Flicker ( http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/f/flicker.htm ) -
1. The appearance of a flashing or unsteadiness in an image on a display screen. A flicker issue can occur when the video refresh rate is too low, other video related issues, and in some cases hardware issues with the monitor. Commonly, when this type of issue occurs, users well experience more eyestrain.
Additional help and troubleshooting steps with related issues can be on our monitor help page.
2. Common misspelling for the online photo service Flickr.
See our complete dictionary listing and a daily computer term at:
http://www.computerhope.com/jargon.htm
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2. What's new in the news last week?
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Top News Story: Compact disc hits 25th birthday
news.bbc.co.uk -- Exactly 25 years ago the world's first compact disc was produced at a Philips factory in Germany, sparking a global music revolution.
08/19/2007 - Comcast Throttles BitTorrent Traffic, Seeding Impossible
08/19/2007 - Intel ships long-awaited graphics drivers
08/19/2007 - Bugs & Fixes: Three iPhone bugs
08/19/2007 - First quad-core laptop hits U.S.
08/19/2007 - Google Street View, the 1907 version
08/19/2007 - Electricity from body heat
08/19/2007 - Kidnap victim saved by the PSP
08/19/2007 - Knowledge Networks pays $300,000 to settle internal copyright...
08/19/2007 - Yahoo Messenger Hole Found
08/19/2007 - Adobe: No threat from PDF spam
08/19/2007 - 'Storm Worm' back with a twist
08/19/2007 - DirecTV, Current to offer Net service over power lines
08/19/2007 - Microsoft Writes Off DX10.1 Fears
08/19/2007 - Opera patches a critical JavaScript flaw
08/19/2007 - Tiny wind engines cool computers
08/19/2007 - E-mail stress slowing down workers, say researchers
08/19/2007 - Critical Patch Tuesday Pains I.T. Admins
08/19/2007 - How search engines rate on privacy
08/19/2007 - Linux Users Uneasy at Ruling
08/19/2007 - American Airlines seeks damages against Google
08/19/2007 - CIA, FBI computers used for Wikipedia edits
08/19/2007 - A bump on the road to Windows Vista
08/19/2007 - The secrets of a teen's Internet success
08/19/2007 - Chipmakers aim to unclog data paths
08/19/2007 - LA Times: Publishers Think Google Is Worse Than Osama bin Laden
08/19/2007 - Research Your Family Roots
08/19/2007 - Relief for the Latest Ransomware Attack
08/19/2007 - Windows Home Server released into the wild
08/19/2007 - IBM releases Lotus Notes and Domino 8
08/19/2007 - Sony to offer free nationwide recycling
08/19/2007 - "Free" music site to drive users to pirate
08/19/2007 - "Family Guy" creator hooks up with Google
08/19/2007 - Software as Service Draws Interest
08/19/2007 - Russia throws out net piracy case
08/19/2007 - Super solution for Rubik's cube
08/19/2007 - Juror in the clear over MP3 claim
08/19/2007 - Apache Slips, Study Says
08/19/2007 - Skype says service returns to normal
08/19/2007 - Femtocells Extend Cell Phones' Reach
08/19/2007 - Bluetooth helps Facebook friends
08/19/2007 - Compact disc hits 25th birthday
08/19/2007 - Web TV sparks bandwidth crisis fears
08/19/2007 - Citrix Buys Privately Held XenSource for $500 Million
08/19/2007 - Seeing Corporate Fingerprints in Wikipedia Edits
08/19/2007 - Update: Windows Home Server now shipping
Find links to each of the above news articles at:
http://www.computerhope.com/cgi-bin/oldnews.cgi?2242007
Top News Story: Google Shutting Down Paid Video
newteevee.com -- Google today emailed customers who had purchased videos from Google Video to let them know that the company will be discontinuing paid rentals and downloads five days from now. Not only will videos no longer be available for rental or download, but previously purchased videos will no longer be playable. By way of apology, Google is offering $2 coupons for Google Checkout (or at least thats the amount on the notice we saw; see below; update: refunded amount seems to be however much the customer spent on Google Video).
08/12/2007 - FCC And Vendors Are Developing Wireless 'White Space' Devices
08/12/2007 - Computer glitch causes delays at LAX
08/12/2007 - Distributing fake Windows authenticity stickers nets man four...
08/12/2007 - Power Adapter With Embedded LED Patented, Apple Sued For Infr...
08/12/2007 - Thai university students win Microsoft 2007 Imagine Cup
08/12/2007 - DX10 hardware is already obsolete
08/12/2007 - Consumers Urged to Pick New DVD Format
08/12/2007 - Space Hotel Slated to Open in 2012
08/12/2007 - Internet is becoming as lawless as the Wild West, report peers
08/12/2007 - Virtualization: Key To Linux Future Or Linux Killer?
08/12/2007 - Novell wins rights to Unix copyrights
08/12/2007 - One Man's Vision of Copy and Paste on an iPhone
08/12/2007 - ew Attack Sites Push Storm Worm onto PC's
08/12/2007 - Google Shutting Down Paid Video
08/12/2007 - Spock.com hopes to become the Google of people searches
08/12/2007 - Google To Join Group To Protect Linux From Possible Patent Ch...
08/12/2007 - Apple introduces iLife '08
08/12/2007 - Physicists have 'solved' mystery of levitation
08/10/2007 - Adobe, Microsoft accused of infringing on browser-related pat...
08/10/2007 - Microsoft becoming 'software police,' say users
08/10/2007 - 'Lonelygirl15' protagonist gets the axe in season finale
08/10/2007 - Researcher blasts Apple for 'negligent' patching
08/10/2007 - Sun releases world's fastest chip
08/10/2007 - Class-action suit against YouTube grows to eight parties
08/10/2007 - Microsoft wins reversal of MP3 patent decision
08/10/2007 - Lenovo close to acquiring Packard Bell
08/10/2007 - Hacking tool preys on vulnerable wireless networks
08/10/2007 - Huge pump-and-dump spam spike in progress
08/10/2007 - Google mistakes own blog for spam, deletes it
08/10/2007 - Mozilla pushes security in Firefox 3.0
08/10/2007 - Coming to your laptop: 1.2TB hard drives
08/10/2007 - 'Facility issues' knock Cisco.com offline
08/10/2007 - William Gibson: 'Cyber' is going away
08/10/2007 - Novell CEO calls for new Linux distro ISV standard, praises FSF
08/10/2007 - Study finds weak link in spam business
08/10/2007 - AOL drops free Kaspersky antivirus, offers McAfee
08/10/2007 - The Internet In-Flight
08/10/2007 - Blockbuster to buy movie download firm
08/10/2007 - Symantec patches critical Norton flaw
08/10/2007 - Microsoft plans nine security updates for next week
08/10/2007 - Microsoft SkyDrive Offers Online Document Storage Options
08/10/2007 - MythTV users to regain TV guide info -- for a price
08/10/2007 - Researcher: Vista prevents users playing high-def content
08/10/2007 - Energy geeks compete for coolest solar home
08/10/2007 - China to map 'every inch' of the moon
08/10/2007 - MoD gags military as soldiers banned from blogging
08/10/2007 - YouTube video helps catch thief
08/10/2007 - 'Vista Capable' Suit Against Microsoft Allowed to Proceed
08/10/2007 - Apple Update Highlights Aluminum Keyboard Features
08/10/2007 - Is black the new green?
08/10/2007 - Apple Unveils its new Aluminum and Glass iMacs
08/10/2007 - Google to Allow Comments on News Stories
08/10/2007 - Google Rolls Out Storage Services
08/10/2007 - UMG Testing Sale of Unrestricted Tracks
08/10/2007 - Toshiba recalls more Sony batteries
08/10/2007 - A touch of death about the iPhone touchscreen?
08/10/2007 - Virtual Exchanges Get Real
Find links to each of the above news articles at:
http://www.computerhope.com/cgi-bin/oldnews.cgi?2172007
Find all of the latest news and article headlines at:
http://www.computerhope.com/news.htm
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3. Computer viruses, worms, security, and/or privacy threats
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* Virus:
'Storm Worm' back with a twist
zdnetasia.com -- The "Storm Worm" is seeing a resurgence, but unlike the first variant, which had an executable file as an e-mail attachment, the latest Trojan horse is delivered over the Web.
ew Attack Sites Push Storm Worm onto PC's
blogs.pcworld.com -- Just about a week ago, I wrote about the Storm Worm's swift spread, and how it may signal an upcoming change in tactics for the multi-function bot malware. At the time, I wrote that the only good thing about it was that the malware spread via e-mail, so if you were smart enough to exercise due caution with unexpected e-mails you'd be safe from the Storm Worm.
AOL drops free Kaspersky antivirus, offers McAfee
news.yahoo.com -- AOL has quietly stopped offering its free Active Virus Shield software in favor of a competing alternative from vendor McAfee.
Symantec patches critical Norton flaw
nfoworld.com -- A bug in the way Norton AntiVirus software uses the ActiveX programming language could cause serious problems for users of Symantec's products.
* Security:
Bugs & Fixes: Three iPhone bugs
macworld.com -- As you would expect from any 1.0 product-even one thats arrives with the scrutiny devoted to the iPhoneusers are going to get bit by bugs. Here are a few iPhone-related maladies and their status after a July 31 software update. (Apple provided no details about what that update includes, other than that it addresses certain security issues. However, there is anecdotal evidence that at least a few bugs have been eradicated by the update.)
Yahoo Messenger Hole Found
abcnews.go.com -- A new vulnerability in Yahoo Inc.'s instant messenger program can potentially cause unwanted code to run on a PC, according to security researchers.
Adobe: No threat from PDF spam
news.com.com -- PDF spam--junk e-mail with its message attached as a PDF file to get past spam filters--poses no security risk, says Adobe Systems.
Opera patches a critical JavaScript flaw
news.com.com -- Security vendor Secunia on Wednesday reported a highly critical JavaScript flaw in Opera 9.22 and earlier. Fortunately, Opera already knew about the problem and on Wednesday released a more secure version of Opera, version 9.23. How did it know? The Norwegian browser company said it used a tool that was released during this year's Black Hat USA by rival Mozilla, the makers of the Firefox browser.
Critical Patch Tuesday Pains I.T. Admins
news.yahoo.com -- Patch Tuesday is upon I.T. admins once again, but this month's update has headache written all over it, according to security analysts. Microsoft is issuing nine patches, six of them rated "critical" and three rated "important." The patches will plug holes in Windows, Office, Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, and Virtual PC.
Relief for the Latest Ransomware Attack
blogs.pcworld.com -- There's a new data-hijack attack going around where a particularly evil piece of malware will, once it infects your computer, encrypt a bunch of files (including Office docs and others) and demand a ransom payment of $150 to get your files back.
Microsoft becoming 'software police,' say users
computerworld.com -- Microsoft Corp. last week slammed the door on a free utility out of Australia that outflanked one of the company's touted security features in Windows Vista, by having the program's digital certificate revoked.
Researcher blasts Apple for 'negligent' patching
infoworld.com -- One of the researchers who went public last month with the first iPhone vulnerability said Monday that Apple's lackadaisical updating of the open source components it uses in Mac OS X is inexcusable and negligent.
"Apple has a habit of not keeping [Mac OS X's] open source [components] up to date," said Charles Miller, a researcher with Baltimore-based Independent Security Evaluators (ISE) who presented at last week's Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas. "Open source software is as secure, I think, as closed source, but Apple isn't keeping up with fixes.
Huge pump-and-dump spam spike in progress
computerworld.com -- A massive spam blast that started yesterday is still in progress and shows no sign of abating, a security company said.
"The scale of this stock pump-and-dump spam campaign is like nothing we've seen before," said Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at Sophos PLC.
Similar to countless other e-mail campaigns in both delivery method and intent, the message arrives as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file and baits the scam by touting quick money to be made on an up-and-coming, if completely unknown, stock.
* Privacy:
Hacking tool preys on vulnerable wireless networks
newscientisttech.com -- A point-and-click computer program that can automatically hack into vulnerable wireless networks - or probe them for weak spots - has been released by US researchers. Experts say it highlights the importance of ensuring that wireless networks are configured securely.
Find a direct link to each of the above articles at:
http://www.computerhope.com/news/security.htm
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4. What's new at Computer Hope this week?
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- Continuing work on upcoming new search tool. Now found at: http://www.computerhope.com/search.htm
- Posted various updates throughout site.
Find up to the minute updates done to Computer Hope at:
http://www.computerhope.com/whatnew.htm
See the top 10 pages on Computer Hope at:
http://www.computerhope.com/chtop10.htm
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5. Hot computer issues.
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Installing Windows Vista upgrade without Windows 2000 or XP on the hard drive.
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000926.htm
Missing the Windows Desktop My Computer, My Network Places, and/or My Documents icon.
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000927.htm
What is the MS-DOS path for the Windows desktop?
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000928.htm
Find all of our issues and questions and answers at:
http://www.computerhope.com/qanda.htm
See all new questions and answer at:
http://www.computerhope.com/newqa.htm
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6. All Talk
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http://www.phonelabs.com/
This week we thought it would be beneficial for all our readers to learn about a product we recently setup here. The PhoneLabs Dock-N-Talk is a great solution for users who wish to only use their cell phone in their home and not have to worry about a landline phone. The Dock-N-Talk is a small appliance that connects to any traditional home handset and allows almost any type of cell phone to be connected to that handset. This allows for you to have one or more traditional handset anywhere in your home and be able to call or answer your cell phone without carrying it around with you. The Dock-N-Talk is also a great solution for users who have a hard time using their cell phones in different places of their homes, simply use the device where your cell phone has the best connection and you'll have that connection everywhere in your home. Finally, users who have Blue Tooth compatible cell phones can also add the Blue Tooth adapter and be able to connect without having to use any wires.
http://www.mirrormedia.com/
Another great find we recently came across is the "MirrorMedia" product, a great looking product that functions both as a mirror and as a TV when powered on. This would be a great solution for anyone who has wanted a TV hanging on their wall but not have an ugly appliance hanging on their wall when it was not in use.
We would love to hear your comments; suggestions, interests, opinions, fun web sites or what ever is on your mind. E-mail us at newsletter@computerhope.com
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CONTACT AND INFORMATION http://www.computerhope.com
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(C) Copyright Computer Hope 2007
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