Computer Hope newsletter #258
September 17, 2007 ISSUE 258
COMPUTERHOPE.COM NEWSLETTER
- http://www.computerhope.com/nletters/nl258.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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IC ( http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/i/ic.htm ) -
1. Short for Integrated Circuit or Integrated Chip, an IC was first developed in 1958 by Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce and is a package containing many circuits, pathways, transistors, and other electronic components all working together to perform a particular function or a series of functions. Integrated circuits are the building blocks of computer hardware.
2. In role-playing games, IC is short for In-Character. IC is used to describe a player that is playing and acting out the role in the game and not talking about things not related to the game or the era of the game.
3. In chat rooms, IC is shorthand for I see. May also be abbreviated as OIC, which is short for Oh I See. Below is an example of how this could be used in chat.
User1: What does CPU mean?
User2: Central Processing Unit
User1: OIC
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: Internet tops 135 million websites
tgdaily.com -- In the September 2007 survey we received responses from 135,166,473 sites. This is an increase of 7.2 million sites since last month, the largest growth in the number of sites recorded by the survey. The rate of growth, around 5.5%, is high but not exceptional by historical standards. The high growth so far this year has been largely driven by the increasing number of online blogging and social networking communities.
09/16/2007 - Yahoo Acquires News Aggregator BuzzTracker
09/16/2007 - New satellite to sharpen Google Earth
09/16/2007 - Navigation devices set to take mass market route
09/16/2007 - Digital cameras record baby's every move
09/16/2007 - Enjoy Unlocked IPhones While You Can
09/16/2007 - Does Your iPod Touch Hiss at You?
09/16/2007 - Internet tops 135 million websites
09/16/2007 - AMD unveils Phenom logo
09/16/2007 - Congestion warning needed for the net
09/16/2007 - Cancelled TV show goes to MySpace
09/16/2007 - Google backs private Moon landing
09/16/2007 - BT set to study Internet novices
09/16/2007 - Google calls for web privacy laws
09/16/2007 - Internet crime 'is big business'
09/16/2007 - Firefox hits 400 million downloads
09/16/2007 - Compatibility Update for QuickTime, keyboard update released
09/16/2007 - Gates says goodbye at Microsoft annual meeting
09/16/2007 - Fairlight $28,000 Xynergi Keyboard Makes Optimus Look Cheap
09/16/2007 - Exploit Discovered Impacting QuickTime, Firefox on Windows XP
09/16/2007 - Microsoft downplays stealth Windows Update file updates
09/16/2007 - Microsoft forces Messenger upgrade for 'security' reasons
09/16/2007 - Google says JewTube is not kosher
09/16/2007 - Microsoft: Vista's 'Black Screen of Death' Is a Hoax
09/16/2007 - FCC to cable: You must support analog TVs until 2012
09/16/2007 - Exploit code appears for Microsoft Agent bug
09/16/2007 - First Prince, now Village People target YouTube
09/16/2007 - Company patents playlists, sues everyone
09/16/2007 - Chinese Student Sues Microsoft; Claims WGA A Violation Of Pri...
09/16/2007 - OpenOffice.org 2.3.0 released already
09/16/2007 - Microsoft says college students can 'steal' Office
09/16/2007 - Ads Target Your Cell Phone
09/16/2007 - 70 pc Chinese net users have health problems: survey
09/16/2007 - RadioShack to sell video games
09/16/2007 - Wikipedia reaches two million articles
09/16/2007 - Intel To Acquire Havok
09/16/2007 - Comcast Clarifies High Speed Extreme Use Policy
09/16/2007 - A Robotic Polar Aircraft
09/16/2007 - Yahoo finally gets a good social network: Mash
09/16/2007 - Amazon wooing start-ups to its Web Services
09/16/2007 - Yahoo's social network is here!
09/16/2007 - 'Hacker-proof' system? You be the judge
09/16/2007 - Bill bans teens from using devices while driving
Find links to each of the above news articles at:
http://www.computerhope.com/cgi-bin/oldnews.cgi?2522007
Top News Story: Facebook opens profiles to public
bbc.co.uk: Popular social networking site Facebook has added a public-facing search function in a move which is likely to anger privacy advocates.
09/09/2007 - Laws target teen drivers' cell phone use
09/09/2007 - Microsoft opening up on the Web
09/09/2007 - Updated IPods Confirm Apple's Monopoly, Lawyers Say
09/09/2007 - Intel turns to Web 2.0 to get development tips from users
09/09/2007 - Techies ponder computers smarter than us
09/09/2007 - 400 Million Downloads For Firefox In Less Than Three Years
09/09/2007 - Google Plans to Put Video Ads Into Search Results
09/09/2007 - Netscape Scraps Recent Redesign
09/09/2007 - Microsoft Drops SharePoint Fix
09/09/2007 - First year of Google WiFi
09/09/2007 - GSM Technology Turns 20
09/09/2007 - Microsoft preps for business services push
09/09/2007 - Another Blackberry outage
09/09/2007 - Why Apple isn't the new Microsoft
09/08/2007 - Mobile phone technology turns 20
09/07/2007 - Chinese military hacked into Pentagon
09/07/2007 - Intel releases quad-core Tigerton processor
09/07/2007 - Untangling the web: Japan experts publish map of the net
09/07/2007 - Facebook costs employers 30 billion per year!
09/07/2007 - Texas startup says it has batteries beat
09/07/2007 - Accusation of ID theft by file-sharing
09/07/2007 - Microsoft Releases Silverlight; Linux Version Coming
09/07/2007 - Chinese hackers cyber-attacking British government networks
09/07/2007 - Cybercrime committed 'every 10 seconds' in Britain: report
09/07/2007 - Cell phone use in hospitals poses danger: study
09/07/2007 - Finally -- Google Reader Gets Search
09/07/2007 - E-mails Promise Anonymity, Deliver Attack
09/07/2007 - Semiconductor researchers gaze at purple atoms
09/07/2007 - Virtual schooling growing at K-12 level
09/07/2007 - Siemens, Microsoft develop car products
09/07/2007 - Alum charged with hacking into Texas A&M
09/07/2007 - Facebook opens profiles to public
09/07/2007 - MP3 users 'risking hearing loss'
09/07/2007 - US backing for two-tier Internet
09/07/2007 - NBC Universal TV content moves to Amazon Unbox
09/07/2007 - Flying robot might be the future of warfare
09/07/2007 - It's official: Apple is the new Microsoft
09/07/2007 - Netscape Digg Clone Is Kaput
09/07/2007 - Thinking of words can guide your wheelchair
09/07/2007 - First impressions: Opera 9.5 alpha a worthy contender
09/07/2007 - Intel sued over 'dual-core' branding
09/07/2007 - Microsoft Ties Windows Live Services to OS in Updates
09/07/2007 - Toshiba Pushing Freebies to Lure HD DVD Buyers
09/07/2007 - Linux Job Market Trends: Galloping Forward
09/07/2007 - Apologetic Apple faces music for slashing price of iPhones
09/07/2007 - Apple unveils new iPods, lowers iPhone price
Find links to each of the above news articles at:
http://www.computerhope.com/cgi-bin/oldnews.cgi?2452007
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:
E-mails Promise Anonymity, Deliver Attack
blogs.pcworld.com -- Keep an eye out for the latest attack wave from the Storm Worm: a fake e-mail plug for the Tor anonymous surfing tool with a subject line of "Careful, you.re being watched."
Prank starts 25 years of security woes
news.yahoo.com -- What began as a ninth-grade prank, a way to trick already-suspicious friends who had fallen for his earlier practical jokes, has earned Rich Skrenta notoriety as the first person ever to let loose a personal computer virus.
* Security:
Exploit Discovered Impacting QuickTime, Firefox on Windows XP
betanews.com -- A London security analyst working with the open source group GNUCitizen has discovered a potentially serious exploit that could affect users of the Firefox browser and Apple's QuickTime movie and music player - especially iTunes customers - on Windows XP-based machines. BetaNews tested and verified the severity of the exploit.
Microsoft forces Messenger upgrade for 'security' reasons
news.yahoo.com -- Microsoft is forcing Windows Live and MSN Messenger users to upgrade to the newest version due to a security update included in that release, according to a posting on a Microsoft blog.
Exploit code appears for Microsoft Agent bug
computerworld.com -- It took less than 24 hours for attackers to crank out proof-of-concept code targeting the one critical vulnerability disclosed -- and patched -- Tuesday morning by Microsoft, security researchers warned.
Hacker-proof' system? You be the judge
news.com -- Aerospace giant European Aeronautic Defence and Space has introduced a "hacker-proof" encryption technology that it claims will revolutionize Internet security and bring "cryptography into the 21st century."
Microsoft Drops SharePoint Fix
pcworld.com -- September's batch of Microsoft security patches was trimmed Friday, as Microsoft announced that a planned update to its SharePoint collaboration software would not be released this month.
Chinese military hacked into Pentagon
ft.com -- The Chinese military hacked into a Pentagon computer network in June in the most successful cyber attack on the US defence department, say American officials. The Pentagon acknowledged shutting down part of a computer system serving the office of Robert Gates, defence secretary, but declined to say who it believed was behind the attack.
Chinese hackers cyber-attacking British government networks
news.yahoo.com -- Chinese computer hackers are infiltrating British government networks, giving them access to secret information, according to media reports on Thursday.
Researchers say Sony software makes PCs vulnerable
today.reuters.com -- Software included with high-end memory sticks sold by Sony Corp can make personal computers vulnerable to attack by computer hackers, according to researchers with two Internet security firms.
Security group voices concerns over VoIP
news.com.com -- A leading member of the Jericho Forum security group has criticized the security of voice over IP technology after researchers revealed that it was possible to eavesdrop on VoIP conversations.
Bloggers battered by viral storm
news.bbc.co.uk -- Google's Blogger site is being used by malicious hackers who are posting fake entries to some blogs.
Microsoft issues significant fix for Vista graphics memory ov...
arstechnica.com -- "Out of Memory" errors conjure up dark reminders of DOS and the 640 KB limit, but that's exactly what some Windows Vista users have been experiencing when running some of the latest games. The hard limit of a 4GB address spacesplit in 32-bit Windows operating systems into 2GB for the OS and 2GB for each applicationwas getting filled up because of a bug in Vista's handling of virtualized graphics card memory. Now, Microsoft has issued a hotfix for the problem that, at least in initial testing, appears to fix the Out of Memory errors. The hotfix is still considered to be "under testing" and so will not end up in Windows Update, although it will almost certainly be part of Vista SP1. But what caused the problem in the first place?
Yahoo Messenger patches security flaw, again
news.com.com -- Got Yahoo Messenger? Hit refresh. Yahoo on Thursday issued a patch for a highly critical security flaw, just a week after it issued another Yahoo IM security update.
* Privacy:
Internet crime 'is big business'
news.bbc.co.uk -- Internet crime is becoming a major commercial activity, according to a report by the security firm, Symantec. Its report into threats to Internet security describes underworld auction sites where bank details and credit cards are on sale.
Accusation of ID theft by file-sharing
news.yahoo.com -- A Seattle man has been arrested in what the Justice Department described as its first case against someone accused of using file-sharing digital data to commit identity theft.
Alum charged with hacking into Texas A&M
news.yahoo.com -- A recent graduate of Texas A&M University is charged with hacking into the school's computer system and illegally accessing information on 88,000 current and former students, faculty and staff members.
US Gov't Job Search Site Hit by Monster Attack
pcworld.com -- Identity thieves who ransacked Monster.com's database also made off with the personal information of 146,000 people who use USAJobs.
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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- Posted various updates throughout site.
- Working on several other big updates.
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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Disk I/O error as computer starts.
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000929.htm
How do I determine what version of Windows I'm using?
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000930.htm
How do I remove a virus from my computer?
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000931.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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This week we thought we'd briefly mention several different websites we recently came across that are all great additions that can be made to your bookmark list.
http://www.yak4ever.com/
Yak4Ever is a great service that allows users to make phone calls from their computer to other phones around the world. What makes this service currently better than many of the other services such as Skype is that it's currently offering free unlimited phone calls in the United States.
http://www.bugmenot.com/
If you don't like the idea of having to register an account with a site that requires a username and password you'll want to bookmark Bugmenot. This site is a collection of usernames and passwords for thousands of different pages that can be used to allow you to gain access to the site without having to register.
http://www.retailmenot.com/
Retailmenot is another great site that allows you to quickly and easily find available coupons for all the popular online shopping websites.
http://www.videosift.com/
VideoSift is a great site for users who enjoy watching videos online. What makes this site unique is that it quickly allows you to find some of the most popular or highly rated videos on different video sites such as YouTube and MySpace.
http://www.peteranswers.com/
Peter Answers is a fun website that is sure to trick all your friends and family. The site resembles a virtual tarot reading website where you ask the website any question and it mysteriously seems to know the answer to all questions. What makes this site work is as you appear to be typing: "Peter, please answer the following question:" in the petition box you first press a period (.) on the keyboard and type the answer to the question you're going to ask, as your typing the answer it looks like you're typing the petition. Once you're done typing the answer you press a period and finish the petition. Next, you type the question you've already have secretly typed the answer to and the person watching you will be amazed when the website displays the answer you typed.
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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(C) Copyright Computer Hope 2007
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