Peaches

Build a Wi-Fi antenna using household materials Christiane Rütten, Sven Dortmund Who'd have thought that a toilet-brush holder, of all things, would turn out to be an excellent Wi-Fi antenna? The lesson is that you can achieve great results for little expense - and half an hour's work. The range of a WiFi router can be considerably extended simply by connecting a directional antenna. Standard omni-directional stub antennas are at the lower end of the performance scale, and they quickly come up against their limits when you need to give your own home better coverage, provide your neighbour with

Someone has determined that we all have to be toothpick thin to be a beautiful person so anyone who has a tendency to put on extra weight is looked upon as sloppy, lazy and whatever else comes to mind. what society fails to see is that person can be smart, witty, compassionate, loving, etc. Some are genetically predisposed to being overweight so does that make them a lesser person? I think not. Once upon a time I was fashionably ultra slim, now I am fashionably rounded ... I no longer skinny dip but chunky dip ... and I am still the same person with the same personality I was many yea

25 June 2009, 12:15 Kernel Log: Main development phase of Linux 2.6.31 completed Just over two weeks after the release of Linux 2.6.30, Linus Torvalds has released 2.6.31-rc1, the first release candidate of Linux 2.6.31. As usual, "rc1" completes the merge window during which the kernel hackers incorporate the majority of new features into the respective new version's main development branch. In the eight to eleven weeks that follow, the programmers tend to integrate only smaller changes to fix bugs in the newly merged code without causing any further problems. If the kernel hackers stick to t

Chrome update plugs hush-hush browser hole As Secunia releases browser patching tool Google has pushed out a new version of its browser that protects against a critical vulnerability as well as fixing some stability snags. Version 2.0.172.33 of Chrome patches a severe flaw involving how the browser handles particular responses from HTTP servers. The security bug creates a buffer overflow risk, implying it opens a potential means for hackers to inject hostile code onto vulnerable systems. Google is holding off on details in order to give punters a chance to download the update. A pair of other

Slackware update for seamonkey Highly critical Slackware has issued an update for seamonkey. This fixes some vulnerabilities, which can be exploited by malicious people to disclose sensitive information, bypass certain security restrictions, or to compromise a user's system. secunia advisories - http://secunia.com/advisories/35561/

Sun Solaris Ghostscript Multiple Vulnerabilities Highly critical[/b] Sun has acknowledged some vulnerabilities in Sun Solaris, which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system. more information at secunia advisories - http://secunia.com/advisories/35569/

Joomla PinMe! Component File Upload Vulnerability Highly critical ViRuSMaN has discovered a vulnerability in the PinMe! component for Joomla, which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a vulnerable system. The component does not properly check the extension of uploaded files, which can be exploited to upload and execute arbitrary PHP code. The vulnerability is confirmed in version 2.1.0. Other versions may also be affected. secunia advisories - http://secunia.com/advisories/35551/

25 June 2009, 12:40 Security updates for Samba The developers of the free file and print server Samba have released versions 3.0.35, 3.2.13 and 3.3.6 to address two vulnerabilities, one in the smbclient and one in the server. The smbclient tool has a format string vulnerability which can be triggered when the put command is used with malicious file names. In rare cases this could lead to the execution of unwanted code in Samba versions 3.0.31 to 3.3.5. The server vulnerability can be found in smbd version 3.2.0 and 3.2.12 and allows the unauthorised change of permissions of a writeable file.

Domain-name wars: Rise of the cybersquatters Trademark owners say cybersquatting on the Web has gone too far -- and they're pushing back. By Robert L. Mitchell June 25, 2009 12:01 AM ET Computerworld - When the Web site FreeLegoPorn.com began publishing pornographic images created with Lego toys, trademark owner Lego Juris AS, which sells the popular plastic building blocks for children, acted quickly. "The content available on the site consisted of animated mini-figures doing very explicit things. We were not amused," says Peter Kjaer, an attorney for Billund, Denmark-based Lego. Lego didn't

Microsoft unveils Windows 7 free upgrades and discounts Prices that dare you to wait Microsoft is going into promotional overdrive with Windows 7, four months ahead of the operating system's official launch date. Set to kick in as they are announced today, two offers give you "free" upgrades along with limited-time discounts - if you sign up to get Windows ahead of the October 22 launch. The stick to Microsoft's carrot is that the majority of Windows 7 SKU prices - also due to be announced today - won't alter. So if you wait, you'll pay the same as you did for Windows Vista in most cases. Furt

Gateway Launches First Small Form Factor Desktop David Murphy Didn't school just get out or something? Suffice, Gateway has introduced a handful of new PCs into the market under the "back to school" banner. The systems are split into two camps. The first represents Gateway's premiere in the small form factor market. And in this category rests a single new PC, the SX2800-01. At one-third the size of traditional systems, this lil' PC--"the runt," one could say--trades graphical dominance for the ability to wedge itself into the tiniest nooks and crannies. Kind of like a small puppy. The $500 sys

25 June 2009, 13:32 A dangerous mix: Twitter auto feeds combined with 140,000 followers It's a dangerous combination: 140,000 followers and a Twitter account that generates its Tweets from other pages via auto feeds. Unknown attackers have exploited the Twitter account of venture capitalist and former Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki to spread links to malware. The link in a Tweet allegedly lead to sex videos involving American actress and singer-songwriter Leighton Meester: "Leighton Meester sex tape video free download!" The dubious Tweet originated from an unmoderated automatic feed from the

The following should be good news for the bulk of the population ... Overweight' people live longer than those of 'ideal' weight Pie orgies sadly unlikely to increase lifespan, though. Cheerful news for those whose Body Mass Index (BMI) falls into the "overweight" range today - you will probably live longer than a person whose BMI is "ideal". Boffins in Canada and America revealed the new findings following a study of over 11,000 Canadians covering the last 12 years. Unsurprisingly, people whose BMI showed them to be "underweight" or "extremely obese" died sooner than those in the more middle

ALZHEIMER'S OR PARKINSONS Which one would you rather have? PARKINSONS of course! Better to spill half your drink than forget where the heck you put it!

Move the Taskbar to the Side of the Screen Rick Broida Widescreen monitors are great for watching movies and organizing windows side-by-side, but a lot of time the space goes to waste. Consequently, I'm going to suggest a radical idea, one that's particuarly applicable to laptop and netbook users: Move the Windows Taskbar to the side of the screen. If you've been a Windows user as long as I have, I promise you'll hate this--at first. But think about it: Web pages, Word documents, and the like run top-to-bottom, so the more vertical space you can give them, the better. By relocating the Taskbar

Highly critical .... 24 June 2009, 10:42 Adobe patches critical vulnerability in Shockwave Player Adobe has released version 11.5.0.600 of its Shockwave Player to fix a critical security vulnerability. According to Adobe, the critical vulnerability could be used by an attacker to compromise and take control of a users system. For an attack to be successful, a victim must first open a manipulated Shockwave file. More details about the vulnerability, however, have not been released. Shockwave 11.5.0.596 and previous versions are affected by the vulnerability. To update to the new release, users

Secunia Adds 'Secure Browsing' Feature To Secunia PSI Software In addition to plugging security holes, solution also advises the users about holes in browsers and their plug-ins Jun 24, 2009 | 11:22 AM Essential security starts with keeping your software updated and plugging the holes used by criminals and malware, for years the best security offered to private users has been anti-virus programs and personal firewalls. Now there is a better solution, the Secunia PSI. The Secunia PSI helps users plug all the security holes on their machine. A new feature in the Secunia PSI also advise the us

Apple hikes MacBook SATA speed 3gig is the magic number Remember the MacBook SATA degrade, meaning affected MacBooks could only operate SATA at 1.5Gbit/s, potentially slowing down SSD MacBook Pros? It's been fixed in a somewhat grudging manner by Apple. The MacBook Pro EFI firmware update 1.7: "allows drives to use transfer rates greater than 1.5Gbps, Apple has not qualified or offered these drives for Mac notebooks and their use is unsupported." Apple goes on to say: "All previous and current Apple portables with a SATA drive interface include a SATA 1.5Gbps hard drive," and doesn't mention S

E-Mail Crooks Target Webmail Accounts A wicked e-mail scheme uses your Webmail address--and your contact list--for scams. Erik Larkin, PC World Imagine having to explain an e-mail message that asks your friends for money--a message sent from your Webmail account. (Webmail refers to any e-mail service you use via a Web browser rather than through an e-mail client.) That's exactly what's happening: Scammers are breaking into such ac­­counts and, from those addresses, sending e-mail messages to the victims' entire contact list. The messages often tout a Web site (such as an e-commerce site), or e

OTOY Demo Puts Crysis, Grand Theft Auto 4 on Your Phone Matt Peckham How would you react if someone said you could play the latest, most sophisticated PC games on your boring old mobile phone, simply by opening a browser? Skeptical smirk? Tears of joy? It's the promise of OTOY, a server-based screen-telegraphing technology that some are calling a "quantum leap in gaming possibilities." You install nothing. Just point your phone's browser at the appropriate OTOY server, which handles all the heavy lifting, and bam, there's you, propped in bed at three in the morning, furiously tapping your glit

23 June 2009, 12:32 Security update for Foxit Reader Foxit Software has released a new version of Foxit Reader, a popular alternative to Adobe's Acrobat PDF Reader, to address two security vulnerabilities. According to the report, a problem when reading JPX (JPEG2000) streams in PDF documents could allow an attacker to remotely execute malicious code. For an attack to be successful, a victim must first be tricked into opening a specially crafted PDF document. Foxit Reader, only supports these streams if the user has installed the associated add-on, but if the add-on is not installed users are

Jun23 All feedback is good feedback 12:07 am (UTC-7) | by Robert McArdle (Senior Malware Researcher) In our recently published white paper on Pushdo we noted that the malware used a certain string as part of its encryption routine. Poshel-ka ti na hui drug aver This string roughly translates to “Screw you my friend Aver” (well its actually a lot less polite than that, but you get the idea). We theorized that the word Aver could refer to a certain computer hardware reseller based in Moscow, but one of our peers at Kaspersky pointed out that this word could mean “AVer” (a slang term used m

Recession will destroy 40,000 UK IT services jobs They won't come back till 2013 By John Oates Just under 40,000 UK IT services jobs are expected to disappear by 2010, although then the sector will slowly begin to recover. In 2008 there were 559,000 people employed in IT services - this is expected to fall to 542,000 this year, 522,000 in 2010 before rising to 528,000 in 2011. Not until 2013, when there should be 573,000 people employed in IT services, will numbers hit the highs of 2008. The figures, from the centre for economics and business research, showed the business services sector acco

15 free downloads to pep up your old PC Can't afford a new PC? These free tools for Windows will help breathe new life into your old machine. And here's the good news: You can do it all without spending a dime, with these 15 free downloads we've rounded up for you. They'll get you more hard disk space, give your PC an overall tuneup, monitor your hardware for potential problems and more. Just give your PC this dose of virtual Geritol and it'll soon be as peppy as new. It'll last long enough until the good times roll again and you're in the mood to fork out for new hardware. full details at c

Exploits of unpatched Windows bug will jump, says Symantec DirectShow zero-day now target of attack toolkit Computerworld - An exploit of a still-unpatched vulnerability in Microsoft Windows XP and Server 2003 has been added to a multi-strike attack toolkit, Symantec said late last week, a move that may mean attacks will increase soon. According to Symantec, an in-the-wild exploit of the DirectShow bug, which Microsoft acknowledged a month ago, has been added to at least one Web-based attack kit. "This will likely lead to wide-spread use in a short time," said Liam Murchu, a researcher with Sy