Microsoft (Quietly) Launches PC Advisor Repair Utility. Going After Apple Next?

Microsoft (Quietly) Launches PC Advisor Repair Utility. Going After Apple Next?

This weekend, Microsoft quietly rolled out a preview release of the Microsoft PC Advisor to select members of the Windows Feedback Program. (Members of the Windows Feedback Program agree to let Microsoft monitor their machines closely, and Microsoft uses that data to determine what types of problems real users experience.) The invitation to try out the PC Advisor made some intriguing promises—the app will monitor our PC for problems and give solutions in real time and it will monitor system settings for potential pitfalls. The survey that preceded our download was even more interesting, it hinted that Microsoft's ultimate goal for the new app is complete Apple domination.

Read the whole story here.

-Ken

Asus ships Eee Box PCs with malware

Asus ships Eee Box PCs with malware

Asus has confirmed and apologized to customers (press release in Japanese; translated version) for shipping malware on the recently introduced Eee Box desktop computer :

“According to an email sent out by Asus, PC Advisor reports, the Eee Box’s 80GB hard drive has the recycled.exe virus files hidden in the drive’s D: partition. When the drive is opened, the virus activates and attempts to infect the C: drive and an removable drives connected to the system. According to Symantec, the malware is likely to be the W32/Usbalex worm, which creates an autorun.inf file to trigger recycled.exe from D:. Separately, we’ve been testing the Eee Box this week, and discovered our review unit came loaded with the W32/Taterf worm - aka W32.Gammima.AG, aka kavo.exe malware that sniffs out online gaming usernames and passwords.

Which models are known to carry the malware according to Asus?

Read the article (and which models are...

Dial 'M' for Microsoft's new programming language

Dial 'M' for Microsoft's new programming language

As if you haven't got enough languages already, Microsoft is about to give you one more: M, part of its Oslo development and service-oriented strategy.

The company is today due to announce M, for building textual domain-specific languages (DSLs) and software models with XAML. Microsoft will also announce Quadrant, for building and viewing models visually, and a repository for storing and combining models using a SQL Server database.

The trio will be released in early access as an Oslo Community Technology Preview (CTP) at Microsoft's Professional Developers' Conference (PDC) this month for testing.

There's no date yet on final availability, although the smart money's on inclusion with Visual Studio 2010 - for which there's no release date.

Oslo is Microsoft's big new push to give developers tools and techniques in modeling and code re-use to improve the design, build, and testing of...

Wireless at Fiber Speeds

Wireless at Fiber Speeds

New millimeter-wave technology sends data at 10 gigabits per second.

There's no shortage of demand for faster wireless, but today's fastest technologies--Wi-Fi, 3G cellular networks, and even the upcoming WiMax--max out at tens or hundreds of megabits per second. So far, no commercial wireless system can beat the raw speed of optical fiber, which can carry tens of gigabits per second.

One way to achieve faster speeds is to harness the millimeter-wavelength frequency of the wireless spectrum, although this usually requires expensive and very complex equipment. Now, engineers at Battelle, a research and development firm based in Columbus, OH, have come up with a simpler way to send data through the air with millimeter-wave technology. Earlier this year, in field tests of a prototype point-to-point system, the team was able to send a 10.6-gigabit-per-second signal between antennas 800 meters apart. And more recently, the...

Wife fails to Digg geeky blinds

Wife fails to Digg geeky blinds

Love most certainly wasn't blind for a man who was so obsessed with tech websites that he ordered custom-made window shutters... and then watched his wife walk out of the door.

Curtain and blinds website, Nets2Go.co.uk recounts the heart-rending story of customer Mr Schofield, who rang the company with specific requirements for wooden blinds, each printed with a different web-related logo.

Click here to see photos of the blinds.

Mr Schofield chose the logos of news aggregator Digg.com, Facebook, YouTube and Firefox, among others, all of which were faithfully printed as requested.

Mr Schofield was apparently delighted with the blinds - but his happiness was regrettably short lived after his wife took umbrage to his taste in interior decor.

Read the whole story here.

-Ken

AMD ready to roll with Shanghai

AMD ready to roll with Shanghai

AMD says it will not repeat the mistakes made in its Barcelona rollout, as it prepares to launch its next generation server chip, dubbed "Shanghai".

The rollout of Barcelona was dogged with manufacturing delays and bugs that ultimately held it up by a staggering eight months.

It was a costly and embarrassing setback for the company which knocked around 40% off its share value, and allowed Intel to gain impetus in the lucrative server market. However, the company says it has now learned from the mistakes of the past.

"We had some mis-starts in getting Barcelona to market and wanted to bring as much velocity to Shanghai as possible," Pat Patla, general manager of AMD's server and workstation chip business tells Cnet. "Learn from our mistakes and, as a company, never do that again."

Read the whole story here.

-Ken

MI6 photos "sold on Ebay"

MI6 photos "sold on Ebay"

A camera sold on Ebay contained photos and confidential records of MI6 terror suspects, according to newspaper reports.

Photographs, fingerprints and confidential documents relating to suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists were allegedly found in the memory of the second-hand Nikon Coolpix camera, which was bought on the auction site for only £17.

The confidential files were discovered after the buyer downloaded his holiday photos. He immediately reported the files to the police, who initially treated it as a joke, according to a report in The Sun.

However, the police subsequently descended on the man's home, seizing his computer and camera equipment.

A spokesman for Hertfordshire Police told the newspaper: "We can confirm we seized a camera after a member of the public reported it. Intelligence officers are investigating."

The police have reportedly replaced the seized equipment, at a cost of £1,000.

Read the whole story...

Social networking puts staff at risk of Mafia extortion, warns ex-FBI agent

Social networking puts staff at risk of Mafia extortion, warns ex-FBI agent

Staff in profitable businesses are leaving too much of their personal information online, which could make them vulnerable to extortion from the Russian and Italian Mafia, a former FBI undercover agent has warned.

Joe Pistone, who worked at the FBI for 27 years, said the Russian and Italian Mafia were using data from public sites to launch attacks against businesses and individuals.

"People put too much information on social media sites like Facebook and MySpace," he said.

Users on these sites may include their work details in personal profiles, allowing organised crime gangs to identify them and their company.

Speaking to Computer Weekly prior to a panel discussion at the Institute of Directors with business heads in London today, Pistone said, "Anyone is vulnerable. They will try to find your weakness. It may be money, it may be drugs, it may be women. They will...

Clickjacking: Researchers raise alert for scary new cross-browser exploit

Clickjacking: Researchers raise alert for scary new cross-browser exploit

Researchers are beginning to raise an alarm for what looks like a scary new browser exploit/threat affecting all the major desktop platforms — Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Adobe Flash.

The threat, called Clickjacking, was to be discussed at the OWASP NYC AppSec 2008 Conference but, at the request of Adobe and other affected vendors, the talk was nixed until a comprehensive fix is ready.

The two researchers behind the discovery — Robert Hansen (left) and Jeremiah Grossman — have released droplets of information to highlight the severity of this issue.

So, what exactly is Clickjacking?

Read the whole thing here.

-Ken

Google Chrome without Spyware = Iron

Google Chrome without Spyware = Iron

The “Iron” browser is based on the “Google Chromium” source code, but “Iron” does not send any user specific data to Google anymore and it does not contain a unique user ID. Iron is a product of “SRWare” - a german software company. In Iron the following Google Chrome features have been deactivated:

1. no alternative error messages, when having entered a wrong URL
2. no sending of collected data to Google, if Iron has crashed
3. no unwanted Google updater

Iron is available for Microsoft Windows only. Download Iron here (german page!). Installing in CrossOver Mac sadly does not work out of the box…

Read here for the page.

-Ken