Windows Vista's 1st Virus

It's not surprising that security concerns have been discovered in Microsoft's upcoming Operating System Windows Vista due out next year (late 2006). It involves a scripting tool code-named Monad or it's formal name "MSH" that was going to be packaged with the new OS.
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Google vs. PayPal

Rumor has it that Google is looking to enter the online-payment service with a service that may be named “Google Wallet”. Google is keeping quiet about any information regarding “Google Wallet”, however the rumors has spread to PayPal and also several online merchants have been contacted in regards to the new service.
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Microsoft's Photoshop/GIMP Killer?

Seems as if Redmond is trying to penetrate the "graphic designs" market with a new product codenamed Acrylic. Microsoft says "Acrylic is a professional illustration, painting, and graphic design product" with no release date as of yet. A screenshot, forum, blog review, FileForum review, Slashdot post, and alpha download here and here are all available.

MS Server Version - MS Pro Version = Little Difference

C't Magazine of Germany have reported that with a copy of the right directories and by changing 2 bytes it is possible to convert Windows XP Home to Pro Lite. Also in similar news 3am Labs based in Hungary have argued the Microsoft Workstation versions are the same as the Server versions in terms of the binaries. They state that the only difference is in the registry. In an article posted on The Register talk about converting .NET Server into XP Pro using their software: NTSwitch (Which is not posted on their site anymore, however it can be found in the wild).

Firefox Heating Up

The latest information is showing that Firefox (8% market share thus far) is slowly gaining market share from the larger player in the game: Microsoft's Internet Explorer (down to 87.23% as of recently). This is according to NetApplications.com, which is a California-based maker of applications for monitoring and measuring Web site usage. The article goes on to say that due to the growing number of Firefox users, webmasters are going to have to make their sites Firefox-compatible.
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News: Stock Exchange Glitch

Right before the market closed on June 1, 2005 the market closed early due to a “communications glitch“. Even with only four loss minutes, it can mean big money loss to traders. The market opened the following day at it’s normal time of 9:30 am, however that short downtime irked traders and also calls into question the reliability and dependability of the financial data network of the New York Stock Exchange and exchanges throughout the US when there were suppose to be improvement made after September 11, 2001.
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Wargames Galore

Ever thought about hacking a computer (legally) or just want to test your hacking skills? If so, maybe Wargames are for you.

Standard knowledge of telnet, Unix/Linux (basic & network command & directory architecture), and gcc should be known before attempting or you always learn as you go. You may be asking what would one get out of hacking a remote machine? Well, usually there is a goal of completing different levels and then advancing to the next (being a little harder of course).

There are different things you can take away from Wargames...

1.) Honing your Unix skills.
2.) Have a better understanding how computers work.
3.) Have a better appreciation for open-source movement
4.) The thrill of the kill
5.) Improving your computer security skills
6.) Killing time
7.) Learning a new trade
8.) Enhance your programming knowledge
9.) Learning a little cryptology
10.) Add to your networking/protocol mental toolbox
11.) Impress friends & family
12.) Just having fun!

There are also some Wargames that let you whatever you want except formating the drives (which is not permitted by any wargame) known as "Free Range Hacking". Some Wargames require teams of 2-6 players. One thing I would have to NOTE is that you should email the administrator of the Wargame server to verify the legitimacy and you won't go to jail!

There are tons of Wargames out there you can Google it and you'll come up with thousands of links. A couple of my favorite Wargames are Hacker's Lab, Pull The Plug, Hackthissite, and CA's Zebulan.

Make sure the site is LEGIT and Happy Hacking!

Mac's Delta Update (OS X 10.3.9 Update)

This OS X updates offers many reliability and compatibility improvements. These are just a few of the enhancements and improvements included:

Stickies

* Addresses an issue in which Stickies could unexpectedly quit when creating a new note.
* Addresses an issue in which new Stickies are invisible.
* Stickies windows can now be minimized (an issue with Mac OS X 10.3.4 through 10.3.8).

Safari

* Accessing certain websites, such as msnbc.com, mail.yahoo.com, ticketmaster.com, and others, no longer displays a "bad server response" alert that could occur in Safari.
* Addresses an issue in which "safe downloads" files are not automatically opened after downloading.
* SSL webpages (pages with URLs that start with "https://") load faster in Safari.
* Adds some important Verisign root certificates to Safari, allowing you to connect to certain secure websites that you might not have been able to surf before.
* Adds other trusted root certificates to Safari, such as VISA and RSA.

Finder

* Addresses an issue in which copied files could become fragmented (but still usable) when you copy more than one file at the same time in the Finder.
* Addresses a rare issue in which a file could become damaged when copying to a FAT16- or FAT32-formatted volume.
* Improves reliability when mounting (making available) a disk image that's larger than 4.7 GB.

More

* Addresses slow vertical tracking and intermittent trackpad behavior on PowerBook G4 12-inch 1.5GHz, 15-inch 1.67/1.5GHz, and 17-inch 1.67GHz computers.
* Adds an "Apple Internal 56k Modem (v.32)" modem choice that you can use if you have difficulty using Verizon's Airfone Jet Connect service.
* Addresses an issue with Mac OS X 10.3.6 and later in which the Calculator window won't appear if the Speak Button Pressed or Speak Total options are enabled.
* Fixes an issue at the login window, where clicking the small space just below the bottom user account picture would produce this alert:
"Internal Error *** -[NSCF Array objectAtIndex:]: index(-1) beyond bounds (X)" (where X is the number of user accounts shown).
* Addresses an issue in which the startup time in Mac OS X 10.3.6 through 10.3.8 may be extended if a large number of PostScript fonts are installed.
* If your PowerBook G4 sometimes wakes up with a kernel panic, installing this update may help.
* Addresses a data loss issue that could occur when syncing your iDisk at the same time that .Mac servers are experiencing heavy usage.
* Avoids a potential Mail issue if the application is running when Daylight Savings Time changes.
* Addresses some formatting issues that could occur when replying to HTML messages in Mail.

Short-horn to Longhorn

It seems a long wait until Microsoft's newest version of the Windows operating system code-named "Longhorn" is finally released (sometime in 2006). Paul Thurrott's SuperSite, holds no punches when it comes to publishing exclusive information on Microsoft's future releases. They have extensive information, photos, video and links in regards to the long-awaited Longhorn OS. Having stopped using Windows about a year ago, one would have to admit the interface is a major improvement... however who's to say if it's more stable.

Papel de Compudora

Has anyone heard word from Andy Rifkin, the former VP of Mattel? Wired Magazine did an article on paper computers (April 2000) and how they were going to be the wave of the future, because they were portable, disposable, and economical. Andy was supposed to be the head of the paper computer revolution.

NOTE: Just as I was finding links for this Blog entry, I found the article on Andy and Paper Computers.

Home-Made .Mac

While browsing Slashdot a year or so ago, someone mentioned creating their own .Mac server. It sounded like a great idea, however laziness set in and it was never accomplished...

Do It Yourself... (Score:5, Informative)
by pandrijeczko (588093) on Friday August 20, @05:50AM (#10020845)

1. Linux/BSD server connected to your broadband link.

2. Dynamic DNS service on your IP address from your ISP.

3. Procmail & fetchmail grabbing mail from the ISP mail server.

4. Strong firewall rules & SSH-only access with public & private keys.

5. Carry around your private key with Putty on a USB memory stick and / or a floppy disk.

I have 160GB of storage and can get to my email form just about any PC in the world. Plus I haven't got to worry about "yet another email account".

Adobe Puts Up $3.4B To Buy Macromedia.

This is one of the those good things that can turn into a scare thing. With the acquisition of Macromedia it is easy to see the new Adobe Systems turning into the "Microsoft" of multimedia software. Aside from the lawsuit, the competition was good while it lasted. Adobe put out this Press Release, it doesn't say much and mentions the exchange of company stock and SEC filings.