[Archive] Technology & IT News from around the world

[redbeacon]

Barely three months after launching what it touted as its "most secure" Windows operating system ever, Microsoft has released a high-priority software patch intended to fix a dangerous vulnerability in its Vista and Windows operating systems.

 

The world's largest software company made the patch available on Tuesday, as hacker groups -- most of them based in China -- intensified attacks crafted to exploit the weakness.

 

Microsoft released the patch a week ahead of its scheduled monthly distribution of security updates.

The vulnerability was found in Windows and Vista's ".ani" files that change cursors to hour glasses, animals or animated figures while computers are busy starting up or executing a program, according to computer security firm.

 

This vulnerability is really tempting for the bad guys. It's easy to modify the exploit, and it can be launched via the Web or e-mail fairly easily." Most of all, the majority of the attacks were traced to hacker groups in China.

 

This ".ani" exploit allows hackers a way to sneak in programs such as "malware", or malicious software, which can steal user names and passwords by tracking what users type on computer boards.

 

Microsoft urged computer owners to install the emergency patch, designated as MS07-017, from its security update website.

 

In short: For those who are interested in patching their systems to protect themselves against this seemingly harmless but exploitable little thing http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/4634/hourglassdb4.gif, then you might need the MS07-017 patch.

[redbeacon]

Or, as the computing gurus say:

 

Don't open any e-mail from someone that you don't know.

[DeusExMachina]

It's the common M$ syndrome everytime they release a new OS, no matter how "secure" or "Next Generation" they claim it is.

 

Every version of Windows STILL manages to BSOD....

[Echo]

guess linux n mac still are the better choices....

[josean]

i never had a BSOD on my mac.

[quikslvr]

vista still suffer from BSOD? any screenies?? been using ubuntu linux n so far so good!

[DeusExMachina]

Originally posted by quikslvr@April 24, 2007 03:02 am

vista still suffer from BSOD? any screenies?? been using ubuntu linux n so far so good!

 

How's the driver support for Ubuntu?

 

Talking abt drivers like ATI Catalysts, Razer mice, bla bla bla....

[redbeacon]

Originally posted by josean@April 23, 2007 07:45 pm

i never had a BSOD on my mac.

Not even Kernel Panic

 

===

 

Macs would be my second choice computer/operating system for day-to-day tasks such as internet surfing, productivity and web/sound/design production and engineering.

 

When it comes to games as well as networking the Macs in a corporation, I'd start scrutinizing it.

[redbeacon]

Safari version 3 web-browser released - for Windows and Mac

Apple is now platform-agnostic; Safari runs faster and shows better performance than the leading Firefox browser

~ by Paul Thurrott, editor of a Windows enthusiasts website.

 

http://i16.tinypic.com/4r7eogn.jpg

 

Today, Apple unexpected released a beta version of Safari 3.0, the upcoming version of its Web browser, and one of the features that will ship in Leopard, the next version of Mac OS X. Why is this interesting to you, the Windows user? Well, for the first time, Safari is available in both Windows and Mac OS X versions. Apple did this largely because of the iPhone--third party developers can only target iPhone's built-in version of Safari if they want to create iPhone applications as the company doesn't allow them to create native applications--but no matter. I've always thought that Safari was a high-quality browser. And its release to Windows users could change things, somewhat dramatically, in the browser space.

 

For me personally, the arrival of Safari on Windows is a bit disconcerting. I'd long claimed that I'd move to Safari if Apple would ever just release the thing on Windows, but now that they have, I'm faced with an interesting decision. I do like Safari, still. But as I've recently moved my email and personal information management (PIM) capabilities to the Web, I've come to rely more and more on Firefox 2 as my primary interface with the Web. And while Firefox is (mostly) a first-class citizen with these services, Safari is not. Presumably, Apple's growing relationship with Google will fix these issues. But for now, if you use things like Gmail, Google Calendar, Blogger, Picasa Web Albums, or other similar online services, Safari is pretty weak.

 

Those issues aside, Apple appears to have moved its OS X-based browser to Windows with minimal effort, and it is mostly stable and usable even in beta form. (That said, I've already had one nasty crash.) Version 3.0 adds a Firefox-like Inline Find box, which is wonderful, tabbed browsing that's on by default (it was off in 2.0 by default), form auto-fill, an improved RSS experience (with neat sliding effect), resizable text fields, and Private Browsing, which helps keep your online activities private. I'll review Safari 3.0 for Windows once the final product ships. For now, here are some shots of the beta version.

 

Other performance stats: "Safari loads pages up to 2 times faster than Internet Explorer 7 and up to 1.6 times faster than Firefox 2. And it executes JavaScript up to 2.8 times faster than Internet Explorer 7 and up to 1.6 times faster than Firefox 2."

 

Apple says this testing was conducted in June 2007 on a 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo-based iMac system running Windows XP Professional SP2, configured with 1GB of RAM and an ATI Radeon X1600 with 128MB of VRAM. HTML and JavaScript benchmarks based on VeriTest’s iBench Version 5.0 using default settings.

 

Safari Browser v3 public beta can be downloaded here.

 

Click thumbnails below for larger view

==============

http://i17.tinypic.com/5y7ndzl_th.gif http://i17.tinypic.com/4ttlpg2_th.gif http://i12.tinypic.com/5ybu4gk_th.gif

[Demon]

Thanks for the link.

 

Have you experienced any problems with the .gov.sg sites like iras, ns ?

 

i know you can't run Firefox in iras.

[redbeacon]

To my knowledge, IRAS leverages Microsoft software to run their website, so if you have a competitor's browser like Firefox, certain transactions wouldn't work properly.

 

NS.sg behaved well on the Firefox browser platform while I was using it on the Mac. Windows, not so sure, but I'm guessing that both are the same.

[Demon]

I have d/l the Safari web browser, and installation was a breeze. All the bookmarks in IE or Firefox can be imported over.

 

In it's default setting, the Firefox seems to be able to load the page slightly faster than the Safari. Of course this could be a matter of setting.

[redbeacon]

Ugh...Safari looks like this on my Vista:

 

http://i15.tinypic.com/4pwl251.jpg

 

Hope they'll come up with a fix for this beta version soon.

[Demon]

Looks ok on my XP

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/udaloy/Album%202/safari.jpg

[redbeacon]

After some troubleshooting, I got Safari up and running.

 

The interface looks just like what the Safari that Mac users are using, top-to-bottom. Webpages load with a fair amount of speed, heavy-scripting pages load without fuss as well too.

 

As with all Mozilla browsers, I have this gripe: Not all websites are made for it (or for Firefox) in mind...so sometimes, you'd have webpages like IRAS or NS.sg not behaving as expected.

 

Good job porting this Macintosh browser to the Windows platform! I'd give it 3 out of 5 stars.

[redbeacon]

Great firewall, great frustration for China

Digital Life (Straits Times)

 

http://i10.tinypic.com/5308emv.jpg http://i19.tinypic.com/4kp0xvn.jpg

 

The "Great Firewall of China" -- nothing to do with the famous 7th wonder of the world, by the way -- is frustrating its increasingly tech-savvy and information-hungry younger generation of Chinese people.

 

This firewall works like this: China currently employs a complicated system of Internet filters and human monitors (similar to that of a Internet "nanny" for kids) to make sure its 140 million Internet users enjoy a "healthy" online environment and build a "harmonious" society.

 

Sometimes, this kinds of setup can mean the censoring or filtering certain websites such as Wikipedia or any Google searches on "Tiananmen" or "massacre".

 

The latest website to be "blocked" by China is Flickr -- not so for its ability for people to host online photo albums of everything that they want to show, but mainly because of the fact that people are posting pictures of the Tiananmen Square and its related massacre images as well.

 

This censorship has prompted at least one lawsuit against an Internet service provider. Service providers are being blamed for portraying an Internet "nanny", or a "voodoo doll", watching the moves of every Chinese Internet user, even gathering hits as well -- literally.

[tt6389]

if only they knows how to use websites which provides free proxy server services, they could beat the firewalls. Maybe.

[tt6389]

if only they knows how to use websites which provides free proxy server services, they could beat the firewalls. Maybe.

[redbeacon]

Linus Torvalds to Microsoft: put up or shut up

by Engadget

 

Just when you thought the Microsoft and its partial interest in open-source wares was getting bad, it's now getting even worse, as yet another turn has been taken in the on-again, off-again love affair between the two.

 

Soon after Microsoft's General Counsel claimed that free and open-source software (FOSS), a bundle that belongs to Linux, violated precisely 235 of its patents, Linus Torvalds, the man behind Linux, decided to fire back.

 

In an interview with InformationWeek, Mr. Torvalds retorted by suggesting that it is actually "that Microsoft violates patents better than Linux does," probably noting that M$ actually had various run-ins with the law before.

 

He even noted that "if we were to put Microsoft to the (open source software)test as with what Linux had been through, Microsoft would still find itself in violation of patents held by other companies."

 

Of course, he backed his statements by stating that the "fundamental stuff was done about 50 years ago and because of that, these 'stuff' doesn't have any patent protection,". He closed things up by insinuating that the Redmond Giant (I.T. slang for Microsoft) should lay their cards on the table so that Linux users can prove 'em wrong, or better yet, "invent up software with whatever ridiculous things that they claim about it," probably speculating about the giant labeling most of their new software as "Open Source", when later, it would be proved otherwise.

[R3sistor]

This is getting exciting.

[IvikaRazI]

WW3? hehehe

[redbeacon]

WW3? hehehe

 

You bet, heheh...

 

Seeing that Linux is gaining in popularity, Microsoft one day decided to go all out to prove their worth -- one of their steps in doing so was making certain aspects of their products and projects "open source".

 

Basically, this means M$ can go "hey, I also do that (open source) too!"

 

Number 2: Throw all sorts of advertising out to the public, some proving MS is better than Linux

 

If you're web-savvy and have visited various websites, you would have seen a lot of Microsoft advertisements with case stories of companies being happy when they switched from Linux to M$ Windows.

 

Not only webpage ads. We also have these:

 

http://i9.tinypic.com/4lfzdhg.jpg

 

M$ is really working hard to improve their image...critics anyone?

[redbeacon]

Bill Gate's sperm: Second most wanted in China

by Engadget

 

http://i12.tinypic.com/5xptfkk.jpg

 

Check it Steven Colbert, there's a new premium man seed farmer wanted for China. In a poll of 1,000 women between the ages of 25 to 35, Bill Gates was the second most popular choice to plow those fertile asian fields. Oddly, veteran Hong Kong actor Andy Lau was the number one choice even though he can't do computer-coding his way out of a paper bag.

 

The original Chinese newspaper story, with the top-10 "sperm that women want the most" is posted in SBF here as well (clicky here).

[sheep]

well... billgates is not as yandao as andy lau. hmm..

so is it safe to say they go for looks first then money second?

[R3sistor]

Already many companies are slowly turning to linux when it comes to setting up servers. Bill gates must be worried!