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Submitted by jamie
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Sunday, 10 December 2006 |
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 Next Tuesday is Patch Tuesday for Windows users, and Microsoft is passing out security updates for the holiday season. How many gifts will be in Microsoft's sleigh?
In total there will be six updates, two of which have been given the "critical" warning label. Five of the six patches target Windows while one fix is intended for Visual Studio. Presumably, the patch for Visual Studio will address an issue found in late October where a hacker could execute remote code on a system through the ActiveX control known as the WMI Object Broker. eEye's new Zero-Day Tracker has a list of other vulnerabilities that could be repaired in this month's update.
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Submitted by actz
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Sunday, 10 December 2006 |
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Chinese engineers have been working on homegrown disc format EVD since 2003 with little to show for it, but today 20 firms -- representing 97 percent of the DVD manufacturers in the country -- displayed 80 players and announced plans to switch from DVD to the new format exclusively by 2008. EVD joins VMD as a low cost alternative to Blu-ray and HD DVD, using conventional red lasers combined with advanced compression technology to put high definition movies on discs. This "Red-ray" HD approach promises to support resolutions up to 1080p without a need to increase disc capacity significantly, and will allow them to launch with players at the same price as current DVD -only models. EVD is just one of several recent Chinese initiatives to decrease reliance on outside standards and licenses, but is doubtful to catch on elsewhere. That's really too bad, because with players priced at only $87, we're interested in the group's ideas and would like to subscribe to their newsletter. Additionally, the format's backers plan to sell movies at download-and-burn kiosks and allow users to rip movies to their hard drive -- no hacking necessary. Source: EnGadget
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Submitted by actz
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Sunday, 10 December 2006 |
 A FLURRY OF ANTITRUST CLASS actions (code 410) has started in the USA against Nvidia, ATI and AMD. It never rains but it pours, but this is a blizzard of people with many joining in an antitrust action accusing the firms of manipulating prices. Summons were issued by one Trong Nguyen on behalf of himself and others against Nvidia, ATI, and AMD. Lots of other plaintiffs have joined in, following news that ATI and Nvidia received summons from the Department of Justice (DoJ) for unspecified reasons, as we reported on the 1st of December, here. Intel did not receive a subpoena from the DoJ. It does not make discrete graphics processor units and hasn't done for quite a while. Source: The Inquirer
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Submitted by shravan
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Sunday, 10 December 2006 |
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 Microsoft Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and other high-tech companies are preparing to push for data-privacy legislation next year to replace what they consider an outdated patchwork of state and federal laws that are inconsistent and burdensome. We think the time has come for a comprehensive privacy bill that would protect consumers' personal information while still allowing the flow of information needed for commerce online," Ira Rubinstein, a Microsoft lawyer, said this week.
Several recent high-profile breaches of consumers' personal information have made consideration of privacy proposals more likely, Rubinstein said. The Social Security numbers and medical data of approximately 930,000 people were compromised this June, for example, when computer equipment belonging to insurance provider American International Group Inc. was stolen. View: Full Story Source: AP
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Submitted by actz
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Saturday, 09 December 2006 |
 The first of Europe's gamers got their hands on Nintendo's new video games console yesterday after stores across the continent opened their doors at midnight to end die-hard fans' long wait for a Wii. In Britain some fans camped out for over two nights on Oxford Street, London's main shopping drag, to guarantee bagging a Wii, the latest entrant in the $30 billion global video game market. "I can't believe it's real, I've been waiting for this for ages, said Marlon, after he became the first gamer in Britain to buy a Wii. "It was definitely worth it, I'd do it again," he added after revealing he had queued for two days, including one which saw a tornado and torrential rain hit London. The Wii has been making waves with usually cynical gamers even though its computing power is dwarfed by the Xbox 360 and the PS3 and it does not offer the lifelike, high-definition graphics its bigger rivals boast. Source: The Times (Malta)
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Submitted by jamie
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Saturday, 09 December 2006 |
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Video game retail sales jumped 34 percent in November, with console sales more than double last year's results, according to data from the NPD Group, a market research company. Total sales jumped 34 percent to $1.7 billion from $1.3 billion last November. Total hardware sales soared 69 percent to $771 million from last year's $456 million during the month, which saw the long-anticipated launches of Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii. Sales of portable systems jumped 26 percent to $252 million, and sales of non-handheld consoles more than doubled, to $519 million from $255 million a year ago. The portable Nintendo DS sold in the highest numbers, with 918,000 units. Sony's PlayStation 2, launched six years ago, followed with 664,000 consoles sold. The PS3, which retails for $500 and $600, sold 197,000 units, beat out by the $250 Wii, which sold 476,000. The two consoles went on sale on Nov. 17 and 19, respectively. View: Full Story (BusinessWeek)
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Submitted by jamie
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Saturday, 09 December 2006 |
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Welcome to the new GeekNewz Exclusive section of the site which gives our members a great way to really get heard. Submissions for this section can be anything from a review, your own take a recent news headline, a tutorial ... pretty much anything geeky goes. Your article will be viewed by thousands daily and earn you kudo's points in the community and you get your mugshot on the front page of the site. Currently submission's are made by dropping an e-mail to submissions at geeknewz dot com where it will be reviewed and formatted. We will soon be implementing a WYSIWYG editor as a prettier way of doing this. For other changes in 0.2 .. check out the change log HERE Also with this release, please congratulate tom_3 and psYchotic our two newest members of staff!
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Submitted by jamie
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Saturday, 09 December 2006 |
- Introduced the GeekNewz Exclusive Section
- Added the Whos Online Module which counts the board and main page
- News submissions now show avatars of member who made the submission
- Comments have been restyled
- Few minor bug fixes
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Submitted by shravan
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Wednesday, 06 December 2006 |
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 Executing on its goal of keeping pace with archrival Intel Corp., Advanced Micro Devices rolled out its first 65-nm x86 CPUs Tuesday (Dec. 5). The new Athlon 64 X2 cuts die size in half and power by a third in existing 90-nm desktop processors. AMD is maintaining its position as a fast follower of giant Intel with plans to ramp its 65-nm process quickly and ship its first 45-nm devices by mid-2008. The new dual-core desktop processors have a maximum power consumption of 65W down from 89W. They come in existing speed grades of 2.1 to 2.6 GHz and costs ranging from $169 to $301. AMD said its dual-core processors have lower power consumption than rival parts from Intel when both are in low-power states.
In idle mode, the 90-nm AMD CPUs dissipate about 3.8W compared to about 14.3W for similar Core 2 Duo parts from Intel. Early next year, AMD will apply its 65-nm process to other desktop and notebook CPUs. Some of those new parts will use the new process to cut power consumption while maintaining data rates; others will keep power consumption steady and raise data rates about 30 percent above current levels. The 65-nm process will also be the enabler for AMD's Barcelona products, server CPUs that will be AMD's first to combine four X86 cores on a single die. A handful of top OEMs, including AMD's newest and potentially largest customer, Dell Computer, said they will grab up the new desktop parts that started shipping Tuesday. View: Full Story Source: Techweb
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Submitted by shravan
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Wednesday, 06 December 2006 |
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 Tokyo-based Trend claims it issued a patch to customers on Nov. 22 that fixed five security vulnerabilities in OfficeScan, software that protects enterprises from viruses, spyware, worms and blended attacks. The flaws affect OfficeScan versions prior to and including 6.5 and 7.3. Trend Micro is wondering why third party organizations on Tuesday issued critical alerts for a security flaw that it says was patched two weeks ago.
Trend issued an alert to customers classifying the threat as "medium," or 2 on a 3 point scale, on the grounds that an attacker would have to have password authentication to an OfficeScan server, as well as the OfficeScan console, in order to exploit the vulnerabilities. Sadik Al-Abdulla, security solutions specialist at Madison, Wis.-based Berbee Information Networks, now a division of CDW, says an attacker would have a difficult time taking advantage of the OfficeScan flaws. "The bottom line is that the vulnerability is only exploitable if someone is already authenticated to the server," he said. View: Full Story Source: TechWeb
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