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Yahoo! enhances instant messenger.
Posted: 10/22/2001  Source: MSNBC Added by: Kim Heise

This makes me very nervous because the last thing I want when making long distance international chat sessions is being bombarded with useless information. In my case my family on the other side of the globe does not have the luxury of high speed internet connections and the thought of transmitting banners, music and video is frightening. You can kiss all network bandwidth good-bye at that point.

Hopefully the new version will offer options to disable the needless "spamming". At this point I'm not holding my breath.....

Yahoo! Inc. on Monday will enhance its instant messenger service so that users can customize their messages with music, video clips, animated graphics, video games and links to other sites.

IN A MOVE designed to increase the appeal of the messenger service, and boost the revenues it generates, Yahoo said it has signed up nine media partners who will make content available to its messenger community. One partner, the rock band Garbage, for example, will let messengers share its newest single “Androgyny,” while also forwarding links to Yahoo Shopping, where they can purchase the band’s CD.

Yahoo said it hopes to sign up more music partners over time so users could have a broad selection of music to accompany their text or voice messages.
To date it has signed up seven partners, including Garbage; the comic strip Peanuts; ChatAbles, which offers celebrity sayings; Last Shot, a comic strip service; Nintendo Co. Ltd., which will let users preview a new game; and Sanrio, which will provide Hello Kitty content popular among young girls.

Another option for users to customize their messages will be Yahoo Fighter, an animated game the company designed that friends can play as they exchange messages.
Yahoo declined to discuss terms of these new partnerships and would not say whether it was currently making any money from them. But it did say it expected these additional features would increase “monetization potential” of its messenger service over time.

These latest additions follow a move over the summer by Yahoo to add video capabilities to its instant messenger. The company declined to say how many users have installed Webcams to date.

Fastest scramjet test set for launch.
Posted: 10/22/2001  Source: New Scientist Added by: Kim Heise

Here is something interesting that popped up on the Wired news service referring to a link on a web site called "New Scientist" that discusses the testing of a new engine type for aircraft that can push speeds in excess of Mach 7.6 (or 7.6 times the speed of sound).

Your flight from New York to Paris would be in a couple of hours (I'm guessing 2 to 2.5 hours) compared to the typical 8-10 hours.

The fastest ever scramjet test is preparing for launch in Australia. If successful, the prototype will also be the cheapest working scramjet, about 150 times less expensive than NASA's Hyper-X programme

The scramjet results from the $1.25 million HyShot project, led by the University of Queensland and is due to launch on Thursday 25 October. It will lift off on Terrier-Orion rockets at Woomera, 500 kilometres north of Adelaide.

A second Woomera launch is planned for Tuesday 30 October. This will test a British scramjet engine designed by QinetiQ, formerly part of the UK's Defence Evaluation and Research Agency.

Both scramjets are designed to fly at Mach 7.6, i.e. 7.6 times the speed of sound, or about 2.3 kilometres per second. This is a whisker faster than the aborted NASA Hyper-X (X-43A) mission in June, which was to fly at Mach 7 for its first test and Mach 10 for two later tests. Previous supersonic "air-breathing" engines have only reached Mach 5.

Mobile Pentium 4 Set for 2002.
Posted: 10/22/2001  Source: Win Informant Added by: Kim Heise

Expect (not surprisingly) the first batch of Intel Pentium 4 mobile processors to be featured in some of the new laptops that will be shipping early 2002.

What would be refreshing for laptops is the move from the current 133mhz SDRAM to 300mhz+ DDRAM.

Intel is touting its first Pentium 4-based microprocessor for mobile computers, which the company says will be ready for sale in new systems by early 2002. The mobile Pentium 4 will debut at 1.5 GHz, with a 2 GHz model expected by the end of next year. And the release of the mobile Pentium 4 should signal the end of Intel's aging Pentium III line, which will live on past year end in mobile form only. Intel says the mobile Pentium III will be phased out by the end of 2002 as well.

Joining the mobile Pentium 4 will be new chipsets, which will feature a 400 MHz system bus, a power-saving sleep mode, and support for Double Data Rate (DDR) RAM. The chip will also feature a new version of SpeedStep, a technology that slows the system down when it's running on batteries in order to save energy.

Longer term, the company is working on a follow-up to the first generation mobile Pentium 4, code-named "Banius," which will debut in 2003. This chip is being designed specifically for the mobile market and isn't simply a retrofitting of a desktop chip.

Meanwhile, Intel saw its profits fall dramatically in its third quarter, with the company predicting sluggish sales for the fourth quarter as well. Intel reported that its net income fell 77 percent year-over-year to $655 million, while its sales fell 25 percent to $6.55 billion. The news was somewhat expected however, as Intel had warned financial analysts about the quarter earlier. Also, Intel actually gained market share on rival AMD during the quarter, indicating that things are even worse at AMD. Intel current owns over 77 percent of the microprocessor market.

Microsoft Gears Up Xbox Marketing Machine.
Posted: 10/22/2001  Source: Yahoo News Added by: Kim Heise

Microsoft's upcoming launch of the Xbox is less that one month away and retailers alike are jumping on the bandwagon. Personally I suspect Sony's Playstation II is going to face serious and if not devastating competition from Microsoft whereas Nintendo's GameCube is more suitably targeted towards the younger audience.

REDMOND, Wash. (Reuters) - The marketing wheels at Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) are grinding into motion as the software giant gears up to launch its Xbox (news - web sites) video game console, which it envisions not only as a gaming machine but an entertainment hub for the home.

With less than a month to go before the Nov. 15 debut of Microsoft's big foray into the $20 billion-a-year global video game market, the company is marshaling everything from Mexican food to 18-wheel trucks to preach the Xbox gospel, executives said on Friday.

``On the marketing side it's all about building buzz,'' said Robbie Bach, Microsoft's ``Chief Xbox Officer'', told Reuters in an interview.

The first advertisements are just now starting to appear in gaming magazines, marking the beach-head of a half-billion-dollar campaign to sell the Xbox over the next year and a half.

Soon, ads on youth-oriented television stations like MTV and WB will start beaming the message to legions of potential buyers, mostly the 15-to-25-year-old males Microsoft sees as its key audience.

And Microsoft hopes Taco Bell customers will be shouting ''Yo quiero Xbox!'' (I love Xbox!) as the fast-food Mexican chain, a unit of Tricon Global Restaurants Inc. (NYSE:YUM - news), starts splashing the product's distinctive radioactive-green logo across nearly 7,000 stores. Other co-marketing efforts will include Vans sneakers and SoBe drinks.

Red Cross warns of Trojan horse that steals credit card data.
Posted: 10/22/2001  Source: IDG.NET Added by: Kim Heise

I'm not going to repeat myself so please read the post above.

The American Red Cross is warning people of a credit card-stealing Trojan horse program sent via e-mail that looks like it comes from the disaster-relief organization.
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In a statement, the Washington-based Red Cross said it was notified of the computer virus, dubbed Septer.Trojan, on Wednesday by its information security vendor, Symantec Corp. Cupertino, Calif.-based Symantec classified the threat risk from the virus as low because the e-mail must be sent manually.

Vincent Weafer, senior director at Symantec, said he knows of no one who has fallen for the ruse, and that Symantec has identified only the Web site where the phony donation form is located. It will take a few days to determine how many e-mails went out with the trojan, he said.

"I suspect it's not very widespread," Weafer said, since the Trojan can't self-replicate, and the recipients must be specifically targeted by the virus writer.

Security Focus Inc.'s ARIS antivirus warning service in San Mateo, Calif., also sent out an alert on the virus yesterday, although the company considers it to be low risk, spokesman Ryan Russell said.

According to the Red Cross, the virus comes in the form of an executable file attached to an e-mail message. If the user clicks on the file, he's presented with a donation request form to fill out. The e-mail appears to come from the Red Cross, United Way and the September 11 Fund. Once the form is complete, the user's personal information is saved and uploaded to a Web site not connected to the organization.

Symantec has posted a bulletin about Septer.Trojan on its Web site. A spokesman for the Red Cross couldn't be reached for comment.

Thousands of area computer enthusiasts will be on hand for Microsoft's official Windows XP Launch Event at Cobo Hall, on Thursday, October 25, 2001. The event will be held in the Macomb Hall Room with on site registration beginning at 11 a.m. and programming continuing to 5:30 p.m. The event is open to the public, and geared toward information technology professionals, business executives and developers.

The event will offer the general public its first look at Microsoft's Windows XP operating system, promised to be the most significant upgrade since Windows 95. The launch will feature information sessions, a satellite downlink from Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash. and an exhibitor pavilion of Microsoft partners. Partners who will be showcasing their businesses and products as they relate to the computer industry and the XP launch include Compaq, Canon, IBM and Intel, among others.

The day will also include a general session address from Microsoft Senior Vice President of U.S. Sales, Marketing and Service Kevin R. Johnson. Johnson will speak about Windows XP features, including enhanced security and business-level reliability, which make the system the new standard for efficient and dependable computing.

Other promotions for event attendees include a raffle for a Compaq Evo laptop computer, software and other hardware and coupon and rebate opportunities for a range of hardware, software and peripherals, including $50 off of Windows XP and Office XP.

Additionally, at the event Microsoft will announce and formally mark the contribution of $1 million in software to Think Detroit. A non-profit organization based in Detroit, Think Detroit aims to connect and strengthen children and parents in underserved neighborhoods through youth athletic leagues and computer training and access.

Matsushita develops 100-Gbyte optical video disk.
Posted: 10/22/2001  Source: EE Times Added by: Kim Heise

The concept of being able to store 100GB of data on a video disk is simply amazing. The problem with this new break-thru (see below) is finding a method developing a standard so that the technology eventually becomes a footprint for storage.

Developing a new technology is only 1/3 of the battle in my opinion. The rest of the battle is fought attempting to win the hearts and minds of companies/customers to adopt the new technology.

TOKYO — A dual-layer rewritable optical-disk technology has been developed by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., one of the main technology leaders in digital video disks. Using a set of violet lasers with a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.85 and a 0.1-mm cover layer, the company has developed disks that have a capacity of 50 Gbytes per side, which allows the recording of more than two hours of high-definition programs.

Matsushita plans to present the technology Friday (Oct. 19) at the International Symposium on Optical Memory in Taipei, Taiwan.

Matsushita's announcement follows Hitachi Ltd.'s recent development of an optical pickup that aims for a capacity of 100 Gbytes per disk. Hitachi used the same numerical-aperture and cover-layer parameters as Matsushita.

This set of parameters was first used in the DVR-Blue disk recording system developed by Sony Corp. and Philips Electronics and demonstrated at last year's Ceatec, the largest electronics show in Japan. The departure from the current DVD format, however, was looked on with disapproval.

Sony is giving couch potatoes something to cheer about.

The electronics giant on Monday will announce the $299 Clie PEG-T415, which will incorporate features of a handheld computer and a universal remote control. Consumers will be able to look up appointments and contacts while channel surfing on a TV set or controlling audio and video equipment such as a VCR or a stereo receiver.

The company has boosted the reach of the Clie's infrared port--usually used to exchange data with other handhelds--to 15 feet and added software support for remote control of products from about 20 consumer electronics manufacturers. Sony is working on software upgrades that will allow the PEG-T415 to control additional products.

"We're expanding on our strategy of focusing on entertainment," said Sony product manager Ty Takayanagi. "We see this device as more than a handheld--it's a conduit to all home audio and video devices...People understand how to use a remote control, so it made sense to build this feature into the new Clie."

<SNIP>

The device will be available in retail stores at the end of November and can be preordered from Sony's e-commerce Web site.

The PEG-T415 will come with version 4.1 of the Palm operating system, and the monochrome screen will have a resolution of 320 pixels by 320 pixels. The new Clie will measure 0.41 inches thick--thinner than other models--and come with a Jog Dial navigation button and a Memory Stick expansion slot. It will have 8MB of memory.

The consumer electronics giant will also announce a new digital camera add-on for the Memory Stick slot. The Memory Stick Camera Module will cost $149 and will be available by the end of November. It can capture images at a resolution of 320 pixels by 240 pixels.

Sony also will announce a different version of an MP3 player attachment, designed for the new Clie. The Audio Adapter will cost $129 and will be available at the end of November.

Hacker cracks Microsoft anti-piracy software.
Posted: 10/22/2001  Source: CNET Added by: Kim Heise

What does any company expect when they develop a new security system and advertise it as unbreakable? Every hacker is going to attempt to be the first and break that system.

A piece of software being distributed anonymously online has successfully cracked part of Microsoft's anti-piracy technology, the centerpiece of much of the giant's recent forays into the audio and video world.

Microsoft confirmed Friday that the software code, written by a programmer using the pseudonym "Beale Screamer," can strip off the protections that prevent a song from being copied an unlimited amount of times.

The company's digital media division has spent much of the day talking to record labels and content partners in an effort to respond to Screamer's software, said Group Product Manager Jonathan Usher.
Nevertheless, the damage to Microsoft's overall digital rights management (DRM) software campaign is slight, Usher said. The company has built in a means to update the protections for cases such as this. Some music on the market may lose its locks, but the software as a whole will remain secure, Usher said.

"We have been forthright that no technology and no DRM is 100 percent secure," Usher said. "We anticipated...hacks and designed renewability into the system."

It is critical for Microsoft's future in the media industry that its DRM software remain trusted, or at least secure enough to bar the vast majority of people from breaking through. The company has touted its media protection system as a core attraction of the Windows Media file format and has spent considerable time in the past few years trying to persuade music labels and Hollywood studios to distribute their content through it.

The DRM software allows a content owner, such as a record label, to set rules on how the content can be used. A song, for example, could be downloaded and played for a month, it could be played just three times, or it could be restricted from being transferred by a listener to an MP3 player or a recordable CD.

Although few examples of copy-protected music can be found in an online world still enamored with unrestricted MP3s and file-swapping services such as Napster, Microsoft has made some steps forward. Several of the big record labels are experimenting with the idea of releasing ordinary CDs that can't be copied to hard disks but include Windows Media digital files for use on a computer.

Symantec has sent word that a beta version of pcAnywhere is available for download just in time for the launch of Windows XP, and is seeking beta testers to hammer out bugs. pcAnywhere v10.5 has added support for Windows XP as well as a host of other improvements. These include a host security assessment tool, "rebootless" host, logging enhancements, and an enhanced status icon.

Fitting into the mantra of Symantec's public betas, the first 25 testers who submit undocumented bugs will receive a complementary copy. An additional 25 users will be selected at random to reward those with less than keen bug hunting skills for their efforts.

Senior Product Manager David Scott told BetaNews, "Secure remote control is a necessity in any organization to improve helpdesk performance, perform server maintenance and for remote access to end-user's computers. pcAnywhere v10.5 offers multiple levels of security without sacrificing performance - now compatible with all Windows 32-bit platforms including Windows XP."

The Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Capability (CIAC) has advised against using the error reporting technology included in Office XP, Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher, and Windows XP. Based upon its own internal testing, the agency concluded that potentially sensitive and private information can be divulged along with a memory dump that is passed along to Microsoft. Initially, CIAC reported that default product settings automatically prompted users to submit error reports, but the bulletin has since been updated to reflect the fact that Microsoft's default selection is "don't send."

For its part, Microsoft claims that the technology is intuitive, presenting customers with a clear indication of everything that will be sent to the servers in Redmond while guiding them through the submission process. Product documentation on the "feature" is also available via the Web.

Microsoft spokesperson Rick Miller told BetaNews that protocols were in place aimed at limiting data access to a select few, and that the company strictly adheres to its privacy policy under penalty of law. The same privacy policy applies to third party software vendors who are contractually obliged to follow the same standards. Microsoft says that it works with its partners, allowing them to benefit from what the reports reveal about the underpinnings of their applications.

According to Microsoft, the reasoning behind its use of the technology is sound. "We think this is a great new technology that will allow us to understand the reasons for crashes and allow us to be able to fix them," said Miller. When proposed with the suggestion that .NET alerts may be used to notify customers of the status of the bug that they encountered, Miller commented that such a system would be a perfect example of integration benefiting consumers.

Miller acknowledged that government agencies such as the Department of Energy routinely deal with classified information and should not send the error reports. CIAC has provided step by step instructions on how to disable error reporting in its advisory.

XP Add-ons to Become Available Monday.
Posted: 10/22/2001  Source: BetaNews Added by: Kim Heise

Hardly surprising since Windows XP officially hits the nation this Thursday.

On Monday, Microsoft along side Cyberlink and InterVideo will announce the availability of the Windows XP MP3 Creation Pack and DVD Decoder Pack. As previously reported by BetaNews, Microsoft unveiled the packs to demonstrate the plug-in capabilities of its media player and the opportunities that they presented to third party developers. Redmond was under scrutiny for allegedly favoring its own proprietary format over competing technologies.

According to an early press release obtained by BetaNews, CyberLink's MP3 Creation Pack for Windows XP has been dubbed MP3 PowerEncoder for Windows XP. It will be immediately available for download Monday in the form of a plug-in for Windows Media Player, and will cost $9.95 USD when purchased separately.

Intel shuts down electronics unit.
Posted: 10/22/2001  Source: ZDNET Added by: Kim Heise

I posted this press release with regards to an earlier post that show off several new electronic toys/gadgets from Intel. Don't bet on the release of these products any time soon - if at all.

Intel is winding down its consumer electronics division as the company continues its return to its core chip business.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker Thursday confirmed that its Connected Products Division, which specializes in digital cameras, digital-audio players and toys, is in the process of being phased out. The company will sell the existing inventory of these products, which should last through the first part of 2002. But further manufacturing will cease.

"The business didn't meet our requirements for long-term growth potential," an Intel spokesman said.

In addition, Intel will not come out with its Web Tablet Internet accessory, a prototype of which was shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. Similarly, the Dot.Station, a countertop Internet appliance, will fade out. The company shipped 250,000 of the devices to AOL Avant, an America Online joint venture in Spain, but there are no plans to manufacture more.

The representative, however, emphasized that Intel would continue to manufacture and sell its home networking products, which come out of a different division.

Consumer electronics is one in a series of Intel projects shut down this year. Starting in 1998, the company launched an ambitious program to create new businesses that would bring in revenue beyond PC processors.

Although some of these new efforts--such as Intel's push to sell more chips into the handheld computer market--have seen some success, many have not. In August, the company discontinued Rex, a personal organizer it acquired when it bought Xircom.

In February, the company shut down Intel Media Services, which planned to host streaming video events. Roughly 200 employees were redeployed after it was closed. Icat, an e-commerce hosting service, was also closed in February.

The company has also pared back investments and laid off employees in Intel Online Services, a Web services company that competes against Exodus Communications.

AMD unveils 64-bit Hammer.
Posted: 10/22/2001  Source: Silicon Strategies Added by: Kim Heise

AMD has been busy showcasing the new 64Bit Hammer processors. Pretty exiting new products on the horizon.

SAN JOSE -- During the Microprocessor Forum here on Monday, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. will provide the first details of its Hammer line of 64-bit microprocessors, while also announcing its new, high-end Athlon chips for servers and workstations.

On the 64-bit side, AMD will unveil Hammer, a processor based on 0.13-micron and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technologies. According to AMD's own roadmap, the company will officially ship three versions of Hammer in the second half of 2002.

The first version of Hammer appears to be a desktop processor, while the other two devices are geared for high-end workstations and servers. And in the distant future, Hammer could even migrate to the mobile space, according to AMD.

The higher-end Hammer device is code-named SledgeHammer, which is geared for four- and eight-way multiprocessing systems. Meanwhile, the code-named ClawHammer is geared for one- or two-way systems.

Analysts believe that AMD's Hammer is a showstopper. "Hammer is the highlight of the Microprocessor Forum," declared Nathan Brookwood, an analyst at Insight64 of Saratoga, Calif. "It leapfrogs everything in the market by a factor of two [in terms of performance], including IBM's Power4," Brookwood said.

NVIDIA releases Detonator drivers version 21.83.
Posted: 10/11/2001  Source: NVIDIA Added by: Kim Heise

NVIDIA has released new official video drivers for Windows 9x/Me/2000 and Windows XP.

NVIDIA's video drivers are called "Detonator" which is simply a name for their reference video driver base.

If you own any NVIDIA processor based video card you can install these "Detonator" drivers instead of the one's included with your video card. The advantage with installing the Detonator drivers is that you have the most recent driver release for your video card with all the cluttered tools added by your specific manufacturer removed (which is positive in my opinion). The down side is you loose all support by your specific video card manufacturer if you use these drivers.

Release Highlights for Detonator^TM XP v21.83:

• Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) Certification
• International Language Support
• Performance increases of up to 50%
• Highly optimized DirectX® and OpenGL® pipelines
• New OpenGL 1.3 ICD with NVIDIA extensions
• Full hardware acceleration of Windows XP, including:
  • Fastest Windows XP 2D and 3D performance
  • NVIDIA XPress link
  • Full hardware acceleration for the new Windows XP graphical user interface
• NVIDIA’s patented Unified Driver Architecture (UDA) – all products supported in single driver binary
• Download the Detonator XP Technical Brief for more information

BestBuy.com Selling Downloadable Music.
Posted: 10/11/2001  Source: TechWeb Added by: Kim Heise

The idea of being able to purchase music directly online has it's merits but overall I suspect most people prefer to go into the store and walk out with something in their hands rather than downloading several files.

Of course, it all depends on the price difference......

Bell Labs develops global new roaming technology.
Posted: 10/11/2001  Source: Yahoo Daily News Added by: Kim Heise

Bells Labs has developed a solution to allow wireless customers from all three networks to roam more freely in areas that were previously not supported by a particular service and still have access to wireless.

MURRAY HILL, N.J. (Reuters) - Mobile phone users will soon be able to make calls, check voice mail or access data services when they are roaming on outside networks, including those based on technologies different from their home networks.

Bell Labs, the research and development unit of Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:LU - news), on Tuesday said it has developed software that will enable global roaming across all wireless networks, including those based on next-generation technologies and other high-speed, data-access technologies.

U.S. wireless networks are currently based on three different technologies: CDMA (news - web sites) (Code Division Multiple Access), TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) and GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications).

A customer on each type of network cannot roam on networks based on other technologies because the networks cannot communicate with each other to identify the caller's location, obtain and authenticate the subscriber's profile and validate the caller's right to the services.

Bell Labs said, however, its new software, Common Operations, can act as a bridge to connect the different network types and generations.

Current digital networks are considered second generation and wireless telephone companies are trying to upgrade them to third-generation packet-based networks, which promise high-speed Internet access and high-quality video and audio.

The first generation were analog networks.

Pop singer's death hoax a Top story at CNN.
Posted: 10/11/2001  Source: Newsbytes Added by: Kim Heise

Someone obviously has far too much free time on their hands but a humorous story anyway.

America's bombing raids on the Taliban dominated the news Sunday afternoon, but at CNN.com the most popular story Oct. 7 carried the headline "Singer Britney Spears Killed in Car Accident."
Using a mock-up of a CNN.com Web page at an external site and a quirk in how Web browsers handle addresses or "URLs," a computer prankster managed to fool thousands of people into thinking they were reading a CNN.com article that reported the teenage pop singer had died in an automobile mishap in Los Angeles.

Besides mimicking CNN.com's site design and writing style, the Spears death hoax site gained extra credibility because of a bug in the big news company's Web programming code.

When readers clicked on the "E-mail This" link on the phony Web story to send it to others, CNN.com's systems were remotely triggered, distributing to recipients a message with CNN.com's logo and a link to the bogus news piece. The URL in the message from CNN was "cloaked," as are all CNN e-mailed articles, so that the true Web destination was not readily apparent and instead appeared to be at CNN's site.

What's more, the CNN.com systems added each "Email This" click to the news site's tally of "Most Popular" stories. While the CNN site never carried the fake Spears story, it helped to perpetuate the hoax by directing users to the external bogus report.

As a result, the link to "Singer Britney Spears Killed in Car Accident" quickly climbed to the top of CNN.com's "Most Popular" list Sunday.

A spokesperson for CNN.com, a division of AOL Time Warner, said the news service has fixed the bug at its site that allowed users to e-mail links to external sites and that enabled those sites to be tallied in its popularity listings.

According to Tim Fries, the 22-year-old Michigan resident who created the fake news story, he intended it as informal "research" aimed at uncovering how fast and how far misinformation spreads on the Internet.

Symantec warns of LiveUpdate security bug.
Posted: 10/11/2001  Source: Newsbytes Added by: Kim Heise

If you rely heavily on using Norton applications on your system and also make use of the LiveUpdate feature to make (relatively) sure your version is current to prevent a security bug from creating havoc.

Symantec Corp. [NASDAQ:SYMC] has confirmed that older versions of its technology for updating users' software could be exploited by attackers to deploy "malware," or software capable of performing malicious acts.
In a bulletin published last week, Symantec characterized the security vulnerability in its LiveUpdate version 1.4 software as a "medium" risk.

The most recent version of the utility, LiveUpdate 1.6, is not vulnerable. However, Symantec said it will be releasing a new version of LiveUpdate in the near future to further protect against attacks.

LiveUpdate is a utility that ships with many Symantec desktop and server software products, including Norton Utilities, Norton AntiVirus, PCAnywhere, and WinFax. The tool connects to a Symantec server over the Internet to check for program updates and downloads and installs them on the user's computer.

According to a German hacking group named Phenoelit, LiveUpdate version 1.4 does not contain any technology for confirming the authenticity of software obtained by the utility over the Internet. As a result, the group concluded, LiveUpdate could be forced to download and run illicit programs from an unauthorized, non-Symantec server.

Symantec acknowledged that LiveUpdate 1.4 is vulnerable to re-direction attacks such as domain name system (DNS) spoofing and cache poisoning. The software firm characterized those attacks as "a Internet infrastructure problem, not a Symantec product problem."

A survey last March by Mice & Men, a DNS software firm, found that 10 percent of Fortune 1000 companies were vulnerable to DNS attacks.

Symantec said users of Norton AntiVirus would be shielded from attempts to commandeer LiveUpdate to download and run malware by the anti-virus program's AutoProtect feature. But the company did not address whether users of other Symantec products that employ LiveUpdate would be affected.

LiveUpdate version 1.6, available since July 2000, uses cryptographic signatures to authenticate software downloads and is not vulnerable to re-direction, Symantec said. All current releases of Symantec products ship with LiveUpdate 1.6, according to the firm.

E-mail turns 30 years old today.
Posted: 10/11/2001  Source: CNET Added by: Kim Heise

It is truly amazing how far E-Mail has progressed over thirty years and you can expect more significant changes as broadband internet access becomes more available.

Thirty years ago, a simple message launched a revolution in the history of human communication.

That dispatch is now considered the first e-mail, or electronic message, to have been sent from one computer to another through a network. Devised by BBN Technologies scientist Ray Tomlinson, the system for sending e-mail was initially a demonstration of what the ARPAnet--the Internet's precursor--could do.

Powerful new developments such as wireless networks, broadband for the masses and instant messaging are now sweeping us toward a second great communications upheaval. Nevertheless, many believe that unassuming demonstration three decades ago has yet to be bested.
"E-mail is nothing short of revolutionary," Sonia Arrison, director of the Pacific Research Institute's Center for Technology Studies, wrote in an e-mail interview. "It deserves a spot in the list of great communications inventions such as the printing press, telegraph and telephone.

"E-mail has affected every aspect of human communication, from dating to conducting business and even to conducting war...It is also a way to transport the goods and services of the 21st century: ideas. What railroads were to the 19th century and what airplanes were to the 20th century, e-mail is to the 21st."

Sun readies new Solaris operating system.
Posted: 10/11/2001  Source: BetaNews Added by: Kim Heise

No word yet on a release date but Sun must be almost ready to launch the new Solaris 9.0 operating system. The operating system will of course work on any fairly recent Sun based hardware and a free version should be available for x86 architectures also.

Sun Microsystems is offering up an early preview of Solaris 9 aimed at getting software developers off to an early start developing commercial grade applications for their flagship UNIX operating system. With a final release targeted for the first half of next year, Sun has outlined an ambitious set of features and enhancements for implementation. Some of the planned changes include greater interoperability with Windows, enhanced resource control, and a much more flexible installation process that allows customers to select a minimal set of components.

Citing user requests and feedback, Sun has included CD writing capabilities into Solaris that were developed in house. Other new features include support for Kerberos 5, and Live Upgrade –- a way to utilize unused storage space for a side by side installation to coincide with existing versions of Solaris without overwriting system files. If the upgrade does not go as intended, administrators can regress to the old version by performing a simple reboot.

According to Bill Moffitt, product line manager for Solaris, the initial release of version 9.0 may not ship with support for Sun’s Jini technology. Jini is the mainstay of the company's effort to push Web services and is a viable alternative to Microsoft's .NET framework.

AMD's Athlon XP: Great performance, poor marketing.
Posted: 10/11/2001  Source: Anandtech Added by: Kim Heise

I fully agree with Anand on the comment that the new AMD's have outstanding performance for the price but suffer from poor marketing strategies. The concept of remarking the model number that does not coincide with the clock speed is only going to confuse people. For example the Athlon XP 1800 is clocked at 1.53ghz and not 1.7ghz.

AMD is apparently trying to change the public image that MHZ does not mean everything. While I can agree to that they have done a terrible (if at all) marketing plan to explain this concept to potential customers.

Take a look at the table below from the Anandtech article that shows the markings and the actual clock speed.

Table Source: Anandtech.

Over the summer we were asked to visit AMD in Austin to have a look at some of their future products. When it came time to talk about the future of the Athlon processor AMD began their usual spiel about how most hardware enthusiasts and early adopters understand that clock speed isn't everything, but the average Joe doesn't. They continued to tell us about how it was time for AMD to take a leading role in educating the end user; to help them understand that there's much more to the performance equation than clock speed. This continued for a few more slides of an unfinished presentation, and it honestly sounded as if AMD was going to invest time and money into educating the masses.

So much for wishful thinking; today AMD is introducing the long awaited desktop version of the Palomino core that debuted in June. Alongside the new processor AMD is reaching deep into their bag of mistakes from the past and is bringing back the dreaded performance rating nomenclature. You heard it right the first time; this new line of Athlon processors, dubbed the Athlon XP, will not be referenced according to clock speed rather they will be assigned "Model Numbers."

AMD launches new Athlon XP series of processors.
Posted: 10/11/2001  Source: AMD Added by: Kim Heise

Here is quick overview of the new Athlon XP series of processors directly from AMD's web site for your review.

Make sure your existing motherboard or your planned upgrade motherboard supports the new Athlon XP (Palomino) CPU. While the new Athlon XP processors still use the Socket-A architecture the voltages are not the same due to the reduced CPU core size.

It may be a simple BIOS upgrade on your system to allow for the Athlon XP support. Check with your manufacturer/reseller.

Quick Facts

Processor Models:
AMD Athlon™ XP 1800+
AMD Athlon XP 1700+
AMD Athlon XP 1600+
AMD Athlon XP 1500+

Manufactured: Fab 30 in Dresden, Germany
Pricing Information: For pricing information, please see: www.amd.com/us-en/
Corporate/VirtualPressRoom/0,,51_104_609,00.html
Process Technology: 0.18 micron copper process technology
Cache Size: L1 - 128KB
L2 - 256KB
Voltage: 1.75v
Die Size: 128mm2
Number of Transistors: 37.5 million
Infrastructure: Socket A
Motherboard Suppliers: Please see the AMD website at www1.amd.com/athlon/config for specific vendors and board configurations.

VIA desktop chipsets roadmap updated.
Posted: 10/11/2001  Source: Digit Life Added by: Kim Heise

Wow - take look at those FSB (front side bus) speeds form VIA's future chipset. Keep in mind this is all still vapor ware but the specifications appear reasonable.

VIA has once again updated its desktop chipsets roadmap:

• P4X333 and P4X333A was merged into one project

• P4X333 engineering samples will appear early in Q1'2002 and mass production will start later in Q2'2002.

• P4X333 will support Pentium4 FSB 400/533/667MHz

• P4X333 will support AGP 8x, V-LINK 8x mode, DDR 333

• added P4X266A with 533MHz FSB support

• added P4M266A with 533MHz FSB support

• P4M333 will use Savage4 graphics core instead of Zoetrope (as planned before)

Iwill Corporation debuts XP333-R AMD motherboard.
Posted: 10/11/2001  Source: Digit Life Added by: Kim Heise

Iwill is the first motherboard manufacturer to launch a new AMD CPU supported motherboard that supports the new 333mhz DDR RAM module and the Ultra 133 drive specification.

While I may be wrong on this: the Ultra-133 drive specification is not overly exciting since very few hard drives are available and I suspect the performance gain is negligible and the idea is simply a marketing ploy. On the other hand the 333mhz DDRAM solution can provide substantial performance improvements under certain operating conditions.

Following the successful launch of KA266R, the world's First Socket A Athlon DDR motherboard, Iwill Corporation today unveiled its latest Socket A motherboard XP333-R that integrates Acer Laboratories newest MAGiK 1 (C version) north bridge and 1535D+ south bridge. Developed for both the professional industry as well as the enthusiast marketplace, Iwill introduces two new technologies on XP333-R including ULTRA ATA-133 support in both native IDE Channels as well as optional IDE RAID Channels and DDR 333 SDRAM support.

In conjunction with the implementation of Iwill's SuperAudio technology, which utilizes Sony/Philips Digital InterFace (SPDIF) and integrating C-Media's 6-Channel Hardware Sound, Iwill is able to offer the most unique audio experience currently available on any AMD platform product. XP333-R delivers the most complete set of features for any AMD platform product by delivering the best feature set around: support for 266MHz/ 333MHz Front Side Bus (FSB) for DDR 266 and DDR 333, 3 Phase Power to support up to Athlon XP 1800+ processor speeds, native dual channel Ultra ATA-133 support for 4 IDE devices with option to upgrade to quad Ultra ATA-133 channels supporting up to 8 IDE devices (RAID version) and the best built-in audio experience currently available with 6-Channel Hardware Sound and SPDIF interface for the true digital experience.

Winamp3 developers beta released.
Posted: 10/11/2001  Source: WINAMP Added by: Kim Heise

Michael Gerard over at WINAMP dropped me a note letting me know that the first official beta release of WINAMP 3.0 has been released for download.

The announcement also includes the release of the first alpha preview release of WinAMP for Linux.

For those of you not familiar with WINAMP it is the most popular and solid MP3/Audio CD/WAV player for Windows.

For more details and download locations/instructions click the "MORE" button below.