VERY,VERY HOT READS, I Would Read The News In This Thread This Thead Is To post Any Thing Ye Want About The News,,NEWS WAS MOVED,READ MY FIRST POS...

http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,70327-0.html?tw=rss.index
Serving Up Porn in HD Over IP

Imagine yourself on a big squishy couch inside a closed booth at the adult entertainment trade show in Las Vegas. Against one wall, a gigantic high-definition television set shows gorgeous people, almost life-sized, having sex somewhere luxurious and tropical. Against another, a slightly smaller flat-panel TV displays the same video in standard definition.

The noise of the show floor pounds outside the walls and yet you feel you've reached an oasis. A bottle of water appears at your side, and you sink into the cushions and prop your feet up on the coffee table while the on-screen couple shares an orgasm.

All the while, you're deep in conversation with the president of an on-demand adult entertainment company, talking excitedly about compression algorithms, encryption, bandwidth, user-interface design and the future of video delivery.

Hot!

Susan Keil is the president of Entice TV, which launched its internet protocol television service (or IPTV) in January, and her enthusiasm for her company is contagious. I came away from our interview feeling smug about having business-caliber DSL in my home office -- I usually get about 5 mbps incoming -- and tempted to buy an HDTV set even though I rarely have time to watch it.

Entice TV, one of the first IPTV services, offers full-length videos from a number of adult production companies -- in high definition, with 5.1 surround sound, and in wide screen, if the source material allows. The studios set their own prices for rentals, purchases and subscriptions, on top of your monthly ($5) or annual ($30) Entice TV membership fee.

Susan points to advances in compression and standard digital media tools as the foundation of the company's services.

"The bandwidth is there now, and only getting better," she says. "We're able to deliver content without any proprietary hardware. There's no physical set-top box to buy. It's all standard."

While Entice TV didn't develop its compression algorithms itself -- it uses the "imediasee" platform developed by Broadline Media -- the compression is one of the reasons Entice TV is making waves in adult entertainment.

On a standard 1.5 mpbs DSL connection, it takes about 15 minutes to download a full-length feature in standard defintion. (Susan says a high-definition feature-length movie would take at least two hours at those speeds.)

Entice TV is adding progressive downloads in the near future, which will let you watch a video while it downloads. You'll need at least 1.5 mpbs for standard defition. But with extra speedy DSL like mine, you can just about watch the stream in high-def.1

It's as discreet as it gets, too. "Entice TV is basically a direct point-to-point communication between distributor and viewer," Susan says. "It's as private as e-mail." The point? So far, one-to-one communication is not subject to the same content regulations as one-to-many communication like broadcast, cable and satellite.

Encrypted files protect your privacy and secure your porn from anyone borrowing your computer, while DRM makes the studios more comfortable with providing content.

Still, I don't think the compression is a big story outside the geek world. Everyone knew we would fit bigger files into smaller containers someday, just like we know that someday we'll get a good chuckle out of my thinking 5 mbps is an acceptable download speed. (I remember describing my brand-new 56-kbps modem to a friend as "lightning-fast" … those were the days.)

It's the user experience that determines fate of IPTV, and I think Entice TV has done a good job with its user interface. It doesn't trying to look all internety. Instead, it feels like TV. If you can navigate your DVR, you can navigate this. Any Windows MCE remote control will work with it, too.

And while you can of course watch your downloads on your computer screen, Entice TV optimizes the video to look good when you view it on your HD television set.

And when I say look good, I mean it looks good.

I've heard about Hollywood actors writing clauses into their contracts to prohibit directors from taking certain close-ups when shooting in high-def because it will reveal too many flaws.

But in porn, we're not so concerned about minor physical blemishes. We've already seen the red bumps on their inner thighs, the varicose veins behind their knees, the pimples on their backs and the scars around their breasts. We know the folds of labia and the angles of cocks, and we've seen every orifice licked, probed, penetrated and proudly displayed.

High-def porn offers a level of realism that standard definition just can't touch, promoting a more intimate viewing experience through clarity and nuance. It's easy to fake an orgasm with big movements and lots of noise; it's not possible to simulate the subtle skin shivers, the involuntary muscle twitches, the soft puffiness of a woman's nipple at the peak of her arousal, a small batch of goose bumps in a delicate place.

One thing IPTV does well is offer a delivery and marketing mechanism for experiments and innovation on the content side. Susan foresees character-based series developed around contract stars, as well as infomercials and talk shows that could never broadcast on pay-per-view.

Entice TV might also be instrumental in ending the battle between two high-def DVD formats, Blu-ray and HD-DVD. You won't have to decide which type of player to buy, based on your best guess about what movies will be available for each format, when you can download all your entertainment (adult and otherwise) instead.

"We think we will help drive the adoption of IPTV and high-definition video," Susan says. "This gives people a reason to take advantage of their fast connections and to push for developing even faster speeds. After all, with e-mail it doesn't matter if you have 1.5 (mbps) or 20 (mbps), but with video it does."

And e-mail doesn't give you the perfect excuse to buy a new HDTV set, either.

See you next Friday,

Regina Lynn

 

Dung Under Pressure Makes Gas

Associated Press10:10 AM Mar, 04, 2006 EST

TOKYO -- Scientists in energy-poor Japan said Friday they have found a new source of gasoline -- cattle dung.

Sakae Shibusawa, an agriculture engineering professor at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, said his team has successfully extracted .042 ounces of gasoline from every 3.5 ounces of cow dung by applying high pressure and heat.

"The new technology will be a boon for livestock breeders" to reduce the burden of disposing of large amounts of waste, Shibusawa said. About 551,155 tons of cattle dung are produced each year in Japan, he said.

Gasoline extracted from cow dung is unheard of, said Tomiaki Tamura, an official of the Natural Resources and Energy Agency. Japan relies almost totally on imports for its oil and gasoline needs.

The team, helped by staff from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology near Tokyo, produced gasoline by adding several unspecified metal catalysts to the dung inside a container and applying a 30-atmosphere pressure and heat of up to 300 degrees Celsius (572 Fahrenheit), Shibusawa said. Details of the catalysts could not be disclosed, he added.

The team hopes to improve the technology so that it can be used commercially within five years, Shibusawa said.

In a separate experiment revealing another unusual business potential for cow dung, another group of researchers has successfully extracted an aromatic ingredient of vanilla from cattle dung, said Miki Tsuruta, a Sekisui Chemical spokeswoman. The extracted ingredient, vanillin, can be used as fragrance in shampoo and candles, she said.

Tsuruta said the vanillin was extracted from a dung solution in a pressurized cooker in a project co-organized by a Japanese medical research institute.
http://www.wired.com/news/wireservice/0,70342-0.html?tw=rss.index

 

No Flush: Let the Yellow Mellow

By Jenny Cutraro | Also by this reporter
02:00 AM Mar, 03, 2006 EST

Just when you thought going to the bathroom couldn't get any easier -- at least if you're a guy -- flush-free, waterless urinals have replaced their traditional counterparts in settings from California's elementary school bathrooms to the the Taj Mahal.

If the thought evokes images -- or aromas -- of an outhouse, think again. Waterless urinals are so sleek and efficient that two models won the 2006 Award for Design Excellence platinum award. And in a nod to the 40,000 gallons of water they save annually, the U.S. Green Building Council advocates their use in new construction.

That support has been a boon to the industry, says Randy Goble, director of marketing communications at Falcon WaterFree Technologies of Grand Rapids, Michigan. And he estimates 50 million more flush urinals are ripe for replacement.

"If we could convert just 10 percent of those to waterless, over 200 billion gallons of water would be saved each year," Goble said.

Wal-Mart installed waterless urinals in new stores in McKinney, Texas and Aurora, Colorado; they're in restrooms at many national parks, government agencies, hospitals, and even a South Pole research station.

The concept is simple. "You don't need water to transport water," says Klaus Reichardt, managing partner with Waterless in Vista, California, who is also co-inventor of the technology. On the smooth surface of a urinal, it has no place to go but down.

An S-shaped, urine-trapping cartridge replaces the drain found in a traditional urinal. Urine flows down one side of the cartridge, rounds the bend, then spills over the top in the center of the cartridge and drains into the building's plumbing.

A cap of alcohols and mineral oils floats atop the urine, which becomes trapped beneath the lighter fluids. Representatives of both companies say the technology is odorless and hygienic.

But a national plumbers' union says the devices are a health risk.

"We oppose waterless urinals and feel that these fixtures are a step backwards in health," says Mike Arndt, director of training with the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters. "We understand there's a water conservation problem, but there are plenty of other options … such as dual-flush toilets or timed flushing devices."

But many experts say the fixtures are actually cleaner than traditional urinals.

University of Arizona environmental microbiologist Chuck Gerba agrees. "The dirtiest thing you'll ever touch in a public restroom is a urinal handle," he says. Plus, water provides ample breeding ground for microorganisms. "And when you flush a urinal, you'd better step back," he quips. "I think waterless urinals are much more sanitary, by a long shot."

So far, customers give a unanimous thumbs-up. "We had a lot of problems with our flush urinals -- the valves would get stuck, water deposits would build up, we'd have frequent floods," says Mark Hill, Colorado Springs Airport facilities maintenance supervisor.

Since installing 22 waterless fixtures, Hill says the airport has had 90 percent less urinal downtime, and saves 1.3 million gallons of water annually.

The cartridges do begin to smell, though, Hill says. They should be changed after a certain number of uses, but so far there's no way to determine how many hits a waterless urinal has had.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70329-0.html?tw=rss.index

 

Microsoft: Vista won't get a backdoor


By Joris Evers
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: March 3, 2006, 6:00 PM PST
Tell us what you think about this storyTalkBack E-mail this story to a friendE-mail View this story formatted for printingPrint

Windows Vista won't have a backdoor that could be used by police forces to get into encrypted files, Microsoft has stressed.

In February, a BBC News story suggested that the British government was in discussions with Microsoft over backdoor access to the operating system. A backdoor is a method of bypassing normal authentication to gain access to a computer without to the PC user knowing.

But Microsoft has now quelled the suggestion that law enforcement might get such access.

"Microsoft has not and will not put 'backdoors' into Windows," a company representative said in a statement sent via e-mail.

The discussion centers on BitLocker Drive Encryption, a planned security feature for Vista, the update to the Windows operating system. BitLocker encrypts data to protect it if the computer is lost or stolen.

This feature could make it harder for law enforcement agencies to get access to data on seized computers.

"The suggestion is that we are working with governments to create a back door so that they can always access BitLocker-encrypted data," Niels Ferguson, a developer and cryptographer at Microsoft, wrote Thursday on a corporate blog. "Over my dead body," he wrote in his post titled "Back-door nonsense."

Microsoft is talking to various governments about Vista. However, the talks are about using the new operating system and BitLocker for their own security, Ferguson wrote. "We also get questions from law enforcement organizations. They foresee that they will want to read BitLocker-encrypted data, and they want to be prepared," he wrote.

"Back doors are simply not acceptable," Ferguson wrote. "Besides, they wouldn't find anybody on this team willing to implement and test the back door."

Windows Vista, the successor to Windows XP, is slated to be available by year's end.
http://news.com.com/2100-1016_3-6046016.html?part=rss&tag=6046016&subj=news

 

another view on Record labels expect 30 percent revenue from satellite radio


Record labels expect 30 percent revenue from satellite radio
Posted by Seán Byrne on 05 March 2006 - 00:45 - Source: Morningstar

When it comes to digital radio, the music industry is trying to control it as much as possible, not to mention trying to restrict how its listener's capabilities also. So far, their talks with Sirius Radio Inc. has a long way to go yet, particularly over the issue with Sirius' S50 satellite radio receiver which has the ability to record its broadcasts. Besides trying to enforce restrictions on what consumers try to record, the record labels feel that they are entitled to around 30% of revenue generated from satellite radio.

At present, terrestrial radio broadcast services must pay compulsory rates for the right to play music, however radio companies must negotiate their own rates instead. According to the RIAA, they see satellite radio as an interactive service, which they claim makes them entitled to higher rates, particularly as its audience continues to grow. Also, unlike terrestrial radio services, most satellite radio services are subscription based like satellite TV, which is likely another reason why music labels would like to tap into this revenue stream. The labels and satellite radio companies have until June 30th to make an agreement to avoid a hearing. Thanks to DamnedIfIknow for letting us know about the following news:

Speaking a Bear Stearns media conference Wednesday, which was web cast, Sirius Chief Financial Officer David Frear said he feels satellite radio companies shouldn't have to pay music labels anything in royalties while labels feel they should get something like 30% of revenue.

"There's been some tough talk from some of the labels," he said. Record labels haven't been happy with Sirius's new S50 radio which includes an MP3 player that allows users to record several hours of programming. The music industry insists that because of this "interactive" service, which is entitled to higher fees, satellite radio companies should have to step up and pay more.

If the RIAA and its music labels have their way, the future of digital satellite radio does not look good. First, if the satellite radio companies are forced to pay around 30% of their revenue to the music labels, chances are that they will not be able to absorb this cost, so this will mean a significant hike on subscription costs, not to mention a further 30% of this going to the music labels for the extra revenue generated from the hike. Next, if the Bill for the digital radio “broadcast flag” goes into effect, consumers will lose the ability to record certain broadcasts, particularly music and possibly the ability to keep or transfer most of their recordings. Finally, this bill would also mean that digital radio receiver manufacturers would have to fork out on extra costs to implement these copy-protection features, not to mention the cost of getting them approved for each model they develop.

DamnedIfIknow: Man, colludding on digital music pricing, a digital radio broadcast flag, and 30 percent royalties? Someone needs to give the record labels a swift kick in the ***.
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/13148

 

The Pope Pod

p2p news / p2pnet: There's no denying that Apple, which may soon be on the wrong end of a monopolization suit under the US federal Sherman Antitrust Act, is The One when it comes to marketing.

George W. uses an iPod when he isn't falling off his bike.

The DRM-bound music player and its customer-funded online feed unit, iTunes, are being greased into some US schools where they're being touted as essential educational equipment.

And now Vatican Radio employees have given Pope Benedict XVI an iPod nano, "loaded with special Vatican Radio programming and classical music," says the Catholic News Service.

"Once the pope, who is also a pianist, gets the hang of the device's trademark click wheel, he will be able to listen to a special 20-minute feature produced by the radio's English program that highlights Mozart's life and music to commemorate the 250th anniversary of his birth," says the story, adding:

"The pope also can relive the historical papal transition of April 2005. On the player, the radio's German program included a mix of news and interviews done during the death of Pope John Paul II, the conclave and the election of Pope Benedict."

And it didn't cost Steve a dime.

Also See:
wrong end - Apple monopolization claim, February 21, 2006
bike - George W. Bush's bike adventure, July 7, 2005
Catholic News Service - Vatican Radio employees present pope with specially loaded iPod nano, March 3, 2006

(Sunday 5th March 2006)
http://p2pnet.net/story/8084

 

Overclocker's wet dream found

Hardware Roundel Entry level DDR2-1K memory on trial

By Désiré Athow: Sunday 05 March 2006, 16:42
PHORONIX has a go at the Geil Value DDR2-1000 PC2-8000. To get Geil Value and DDR2-1000 to fit in the same product is a feat in itself and frankly speaking, AMD has chosen the right window to launch the DDR2-compatible Athlon 64. The memory modules are of the 512MB kind and are covered with an Aluminium heat spreader. As for most Geil products, they come with a lifetime warranty. This particular one performs as well as most competitors while costing much less.

Dual SLI and soon Quad SLI are pushing Power supply units to their limits. That's what Extremetech writes. The writer says that 650W is simply not enough to power two SLI power hungry 7800GTX for example reliably. Like big SUV's you should be looking for 700W minimum if you want to be on the safe side with SLI. There are some workarounds that should be explored though before you go for another PSU.

Cooltrek sent a Vostok Water Cooling Unit to Vr-zone which tested it rightaway. It was one of the very very few items to leave a lasting impression on the reviewer. It is relatively small and does not cost as much plus it performs like a real champ, 13 degrees better than the prescott reference. As he puts it, a fully fledged water cooling kit, with a castrated price tag and therefore the o'c wet dream.

Techreport tests the Asus A8R32-MVP deluxe motherboard which comes with the Crossfire Express 3200 chipset, ATI's new Dual GPU chipset. Asus's previous attempt with the Xpress 200 was controversial to say the least. Now ATI finds itself in the same position as Nvidia was some time back. Fastest Chipset and best GPUs. Specs are near perfection with RAID SATA, 8-channel Audio, Dual GbE etc. Near Perfection.

NvNews reports on the new EVGA e-Geforce 7800GS CO Superclock AGP 8x video card. Yes an AGP video card with the latest technology. Don't know if you should go for it though as AGP is already obsolete. The card has a 460MHz/1350MHz Core/Mem clock speed. It comes with a black HSF and a one slot format. This is by far the fastest card should you want to upgrade your system.

Digit-life has part two of an article on power consumption and heat dissipation of Entreprise hard disk drives. They compare 20 hard disk drives using SAS, SCSI and Serial ATA interfaces. With each degree drop in HDD temperature equivalent to a 10% increase of HDD service life, you should be particularly attentive to ambient temperature. Some crucial information should you want to buy Entreprise grade storage.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=30064

 

Kids getting skin cancer because of tanning clinics

Take Vit D tablets, quacks warn

By our Health Correspondent: Sunday 05 March 2006, 13:55
DOCTORS AND SURGEONS at a dermatology convention here in San Francisco have warned children and teenagers against attending tanning clinics as skin cancers in the US reach epidemic proportions.

Academy of Dermatology attendees at Moscone West today will be told girls and boys are being sold the benefits of vitamin D by tanning clinics but instead they could take a cheap tablet available at pharmacies, rather than expose their skin to dangerous UV (ultra violet) rays.

There are a million cases of skin cancer being diagnosed in the USA each year, the quacks are telling attendees. They are seeing dangerous skin cancers such as melonomas not only in teens but in children seven years old, the doctors and surgeons warned. One doctor said that tanning is as addictive as smoking and drinking and carries great dangers.

Kids, especially girls, are exhibiting dangerous skin cancers earlier than ever before because they're responding to a raw appeal to vanity.

MEANWHILE, the quacks said that a quarter of all people in North Carolina, an American state, are obese. And this also has an effect on the skin, said the Academy of Dermatologists.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=30063

 

How to Buy a Desktop PC« Previous 1 2 3 4 Next »

Introduction

With so many factors to consider, deciding which desktop PC to buy can be a real challenge. From components to software to accessories, new PCs offer a bewildering array of choices, and, for some folks, sifting through the large number of options can be daunting. At PC World, we test dozens of new desktop PCs every year. What follows is the collective knowledge of our editors and Test Center analysts.

The Big Picture
Before you go out shopping for a new desktop computer, you have to decide what you want to use it for. We'll guide you through the options. more

The Specs Explained
From CPUs to RAM to optical storage, we'll break down the jargon--and tell you which specs are most important to your purchase. more

PC Shopping Tips
Want some advice before you head to the store or visit a Web site? Our recommendations will help you build a system that fits both your needs and your pocketbook. more


Next page: The Big Picture

« Previous 1 2 3 4 Next »

The Big Picture

Today, almost any PC on the market can more than adequately handle such standard office chores as word processing and spreadsheets, as well as basic Internet functions such as e-mail and general browsing. So for $1000 or less, you can get a PC that will suit most people's needs.

If you're a more demanding user who wants to edit digital video or manage a large database, however, you may need more than the basics. You're better off looking at systems that start in the $1500 to $2000 range. For high-end needs, check out our reviews of power systems, which cost $2000 or more.

The best way to pay only for what you need is to carefully consider what you want to do with your system now and anticipate what might interest you next year. Specific applications call for certain types of hardware, whether at home or in the office.


Key Features

Processor: If you plan to use your PC for standard office productivity and basic Internet tasks, most any processor will do. But if you want more power, Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon 64 systems are your best bet. For the highest performance, buy a system with a dual-core processor, which will allow for faster multitasking. To save a couple hundred dollars, buy one or two levels down from the top--you're unlikely to lose more than 5 to 10 percent per tier in performance.

The Pentium 4, the Pentium D or Extreme Edition (both dual core), and the Athlon 64, 64 FX, or 64 X2 (dual core) can support most high-end work. Dual-core systems are best for the most demanding applications, such as video editing or high-resolution game play. Our tests currently show that the top AMD-based PCs tend to do a bit better than the leading Intel-based systems on our WorldBench 5 applications test suite. You can find bargain PCs with either of these chips, even at fast speeds. To pay a lower price, you'll have to sacrifice graphics performance, hard-drive size, and possibly monitor size (among other things).

Memory: To give Windows XP and applications sufficient room to work, you should get a minimum of 512MB of RAM. If you can afford to get more, do it. RAM costs a lot less today than it did some years ago. High-end PCs should have at least 1GB--that amount lets you keep more applications open and comfortably handles memory-intensive applications like Photoshop. (But if Photoshop is your app of choice, get 2GB of RAM; you won't regret it.)

Storage: In most cases basic PCs come with hard drives of 80GB or larger. This amount of storage is fine for the majority of mainstream tasks. If you plan to work with graphics files, large databases, video, or music, however, you'll want to bump the storage capacity up to at least 120GB. You'll need it because 30 minutes of uncompressed digital video takes up nearly 6.5GB of space, while 250 4-minute MP3s at 128 kbps use more than 1GB.

Graphics and display: Responsible for generating all images on your monitor, the graphics subsystem in a PC ships either as a removable expansion board or as a chip that's soldered permanently--or integrated--onto the motherboard.

Only dedicated gamers or people who work with 3D modeling need a top-of-the line graphics card. Home users who want an inexpensive system with decent graphics should choose a card with an older-generation nVidia chip such as the GeForce 6600 or a base-level ATI chip such as the Radeon X1300; for as little as $100, they can boost performance even with recently released games. If you want to do some gaming and are keeping an eye on the future, get a card with at least an nVidia GeForce 6800 chip or a Radeon X800 chip. Try to get a board with 256MB of RAM. (See "How to Buy a Graphics Board" for details on specific cards.) In the office, integrated graphics should satisfy your needs and save you money unless you're doing high-end graphics, Web, or multimedia development. Some motherboards with integrated graphics, such as models from Intel or nVidia, allow you a graphics upgrade option via an unoccupied PCI Express slot. Ask for the slot when you buy, if you want to be able to upgrade later.

Get at least a 17-inch LCD monitor--prices are low enough that you should be able to buy one for about $300. You can spend $400 or more for a high-quality model. For about $400, you can have a 19-inch monitor, which provides over 20 percent more screen area than a 17-inch model. Better models range from $450 to $600. (See "How to Buy a Monitor" for more specifics.)

Removable storage: Your most cost-effective removable-storage option is a CD-RW drive. However, home users may want to consider substituting the more flexible DVD-rewritable drive: You still get CD-RW functionality, and DVDs store at least 4.7GB of data, versus 650MB for most CDs. They also let you create your own video DVDs to play in your living-room DVD player. DVD write speeds are much slower than CD write speeds, though.

DVD drives cost more than CD-RW drives, but prices are falling quickly. If you want the latest, buy a drive that supports dual- or double-layer DVD writing, which allows you to put more data on a single disc. (See "How to Buy a DVD-Rewritable Drive" for more specifics.)

USB thumb drives and micro-drives are also growing in popularity. These keychain-size devices, made by a number of manufacturers, can store large amounts of data, even 1GB or more. If you use Windows 2000 or XP, a thumb drive requires no additional software; Windows will detect the device as soon as you pop it in a port, and will assign it its own drive letter in Explorer. If a standard key-fob style doesn't suit you, some companies have integrated thumb drives into pens, watches, and even a Swiss army pocket knife. Whichever model you choose, make sure you pick one that transfers data at USB 2.0 speeds; the older USB 1.1 devices move files at a pokier pace.

Communications: Most PCs come with a modem for dial-up Internet access and an ethernet port for broadband access. If you want to connect to the Internet wirelessly, you'll need a wireless network adapter.

To share your broadband connection or to network your PCs, get a gateway or router. A PC and router with gigabit ethernet will give you a faster local network connection than products with 10/100 ethernet. If you go wireless, you'll also need a card or an external adapter for each PC. (See "How to Buy Home Networking Products" for more specifics.)

Sound: In the office, the basics should suffice; integrated sound in your PC is more than adequate for most work. At home, though, you'll probably want surround sound. If your PC doesn't already support surround sound, for $100 or more you can buy an upgraded sound card with Dolby 5.1 support, plus a decent set of speakers that includes a subwoofer.

Design: A good case can make your everyday work easier and can simplify the task of upgrading or servicing components--an especially valuable perk in offices with multiple systems. A well-designed case will offer tool-less access to the interior, hard drives mounted on easy slide-out trays, and color-coded cables for internal and external parts.

At home, look for at least two USB ports in front so that you can easily hook up peripherals. If you have a digital video camcorder, get a PC with a FireWire (IEEE 1394) port.

If you plan to keep the system for a while, make sure you have some room for expansion. You'll want at least a couple of open drive bays and probably a free PCI slot as well.

Software: Most home and office PC users should find Windows XP Home a perfectly acceptable operating system. You should buy Windows XP Professional only if you want to take advantage of its management features, such as Remote Desktop, which lets users control the computer remotely over the Internet. Most vendors offer XP Home, XP Pro, and the increasingly popular Windows XP Media Center Edition.

Warranty and tech support: Because most PC problems tend to crop up in the first year, a one-year warranty should be fine. A two- or three-year warranty will add about $150 to $200 to your cost. Businesses can get options like 24-hour on-site response, but they must pay dearly for it.

Keyboard and mouse: Almost all systems include these commodity components, usually a Windows-compatible 102-key keyboard and a two-button mouse with a scroll wheel. Many vendors are switching from PS/2-connected devices to USB models that offer more features, such as additional programmable keys that can launch favorite applications or Web sites. Wireless keyboards and mice are especially useful for Media Center PCs. Optical mice, which use a small camera to detect motion, provide smoother, more precise control over mouse movement. They also eliminate the need for you to remove and clean a coated ball, as with older mice.


Next page: The Specs Explained

The Specs Explained

The vast majority of people buy a PC to browse the Web, check and send e-mail, and perform word processing or spreadsheet work. Today, even the least-expensive, lowest-of-the-low-end PC can perform any of those jobs admirably. You'll want a little extra performance if you use peripherals such as a printer or scanner. You'll want even more performance if you're a gamer, if you're interested in digital video, if you perform other processor-intensive tasks, or if you simply need to have the latest and greatest.

Most vendors let you customize and upgrade their base-model PCs with a mind-boggling selection of features. Need extra storage? Pick a larger hard drive. Ready to burn DVD movies? Choose a multiformat optical drive. Take your time and pick only what you need. And be sure to check our various Top 10 PCs charts before making your purchase. Below is a rough breakdown of some of your configuration options.
Feature Low End ($900 and below) Recommended ($900 to $1500) High End ($1750 and up)
Installed memory (RAM) 512MB 512MB to 1GB 1GB and up
An important consideration. The more installed memory your PC has, the more applications you can run at once, and the better the system will perform. Upgrading memory in a desktop is a snap. (Compare PCs with recommended amounts of RAM.)
Processor (CPU) 2.4-GHz Athlon 64 4000+ or 2.8-GHz Pentium 4 2.6-GHz Athlon 64 FX-55 or 3.8-GHz Pentium 4 2.4-GHz Athlon 64 X2 or 3.2-GHz Pentium D
An important consideration. The processor determines how quickly the PC runs applications and performs many tasks, with speed measured in billions of operations (GHz) per second. AMD Athlon processors perform some tasks faster than Intel Pentium 4 CPUs running at the same clock speed.
Warranty and service plan 90-day parts and labor warranty, phone support during business hours One-year parts and labor warranty, 24-hour phone support Two- to three-year (or longer) parts warranty and one-year (or longer) labor warranty, 24-hour phone support and on-site service
An important consideration. A service plan provides a valuable lifeline for busy professionals or novice users who may not be able to repair difficult problems themselves. Check PC World's annual Reliability & Service survey, where readers collectively determine which PC makers provide the best and worst technical support and warranty service.
Graphics board and graphics RAM Integrated (onboard) graphics chip 128MB nVidia GeForce 6600-based or ATI Radeon card Dual SLI nVidia GeForce 7800-based or ATI Radeon X850 XT card
Somewhat important. The graphics board or integrated graphics chip generates all images on the PC. Graphics boards come with variable amounts of on-board memory; only hardcore gamers need the speediest, most advanced models.
Monitor 17-inch LCD 17-inch LCD 19-inch or larger LCD
Somewhat important. Many people can get by just fine with a 17-inch LCD monitor, but the prices of larger screens are dropping. Once-expensive, 17-inch LCD displays are the sweet spot, while larger LCDs are well within reach for people who like (or need) to work at the highest resolution.
Hard drive size 40GB to 80GB 80GB to 160GB 160GB and up
Somewhat important. The larger the hard drive, the more data you can store. Most business users don't need a hard drive larger than 40GB, but for mixed use, you'll need at least 80GB. People who work with big databases; spreadsheets; or digital photo, music, or video files should think larger, and consider RAID for increased security and performance.
Optical (CD or DVD) drive DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive Rewritable DVD combo drive Rewritable dual-layer DVD drive and DVD-ROM drive
Somewhat important. All PCs need an optical drive to read CDs and DVDs. More-advanced drives also let you back up files onto disc (with a CD-RW or writable-DVD drive) or watch movies (with a DVD-ROM drive). Top-of-the-line drives write on double- or dual-layer discs.
Removable storage and ports One or two USB ports on the front of the case More than two USB and FireWire ports in the front USB, FireWire, and audio/video ports in front
Somewhat important. Using a thumb drive is more common and convenient than carrying a floppy disk. You also want to make sure your PC has at least one or two USB ports on the front of the system, to plug in your iPod or other device, as well as more in back. High-end or Media Center machines should also have audio/video and FireWire ports within easy reach.
Peripherals 102-key PS/2 keyboard and USB mouse 102-key USB keyboard and USB mouse or trackball USB multimedia-enhanced keyboard and USB optical mouse or trackball
A minor consideration. Some users prefer newer keyboards with programmable buttons, and optical mice that don't require cleaning; these items, however, aren't essential. Media Center PCs offer wireless keyboards and mice.


Next page: PC Shopping Tips

PC Shopping Tips

Ready to buy a desktop? Here are PC World's recommendations for the average user's minimum requirements.

* A 3-GHz Pentium 4 or 2.4-GHz Athlon XP 4000+ processor. For everyday work, word processing, spreadsheets, and e-mail, you don't need the latest, greatest, and most expensive processor. In PC World tests, current AMD processors of the same clock speed perform some tasks faster than Intel processors.
* At least 512MB memory. Anything less will slow your work, especially if you plan to run several applications under Windows XP. Buy as much as you can afford, up to 1GB.
* Be careful when you buy integrated graphics. If you buy a computer with integrated graphics, ask if it has a PCI Express slot. If it doesn't, you won't be able to upgrade your graphics chip.
* Subwoofers improve sound. Adding a sound system with a subwoofer (a large speaker that produces very low bass tones) can dramatically improve the sound quality of a home system, even if the speaker set is inexpensive. In the office, however, a booming subwoofer may trigger an uprising among your coworkers.
* A 17-inch flat-panel LCD monitor. CRTs are dead. Unless you're really pinching pennies, a 17-inch LCD will let you see your documents with greater definition (or at a higher resolution) than smaller displays would.
* A rewritable DVD drive. Floppy drives have faded away. CD-RW-only drives are on the way out. Though your computer might still include a CD-RW drive, many users find that thumb drives, CD-RW/DVD-ROM combination drives, and recordable DVD drives are better options for data storage and transfer. They allow you to back up important documents (up to 1GB on a thumb drive, 700MB on a CD, and 4.7GB on a standard DVD), share files with colleagues, and create custom audio or video discs. A CD-RW may be all that most people need, but a DVD recorder lets you back up larger amounts of data.
* A 60GB or larger hard drive. A 40GB hard drive is fine for simple word processing or Web browsing tasks, but you'll likely fill that hard drive pretty quickly. In the long run it's best to buy more hard drive than you think you'll need. Today's largest hard drives reach 500GB, but unless you're planning to use your PC as a mini server for your office database or for electronic entertainment, a smaller drive may be more cost-effective.
* Connectivity up front. Many PCs now offer a pair of USB ports on the front of the case, so you can connect multiple peripherals without having to fumble around in back. If this is important to you, look for PCs with up-front FireWire (IEEE 1394) ports, audio and video connectors, and USB 2.0 ports.
* Graphics cards for novice gamers. If you want to do some gaming and you're keeping an eye on the future, get a mainstream graphics board, which can be about $200. You'll need a card with a built-in TV tuner if you plan to record video from your TV. (See "How to Buy a Graphics Board" for details on specific cards.)



Other Shopping Tips

In addition to choosing a PC with the above specifications, PC shoppers can save money and avoid unnecessary hassle by following these tips:

* Don't buy additional software unless you really need it. Purchase an operating system, an office suite, and an antivirus package. But if you need more, look for vendors' software bundles to upgrade your software. For as little as $100, you can often upgrade from Microsoft Works Suite or a similar package to a full office suite like Microsoft Office XP Small Business Edition--a great value considering Office XP runs more than $300 off the shelf.
* Don't get caught up surfing price reductions. If you need a new PC now, don't wait a few months to see whether prices will drop further and upper-end performance will improve. Some readers find themselves stuck in an endless price-drop waiting game. Instead, decide when you need the system, and go for it.
* Buy above minimum specs for the longest useful life span. If longevity is a priority (and if you can afford it), get something closer to, but below, the current top of the line. This will extend the useful life of your PC.
* Check an LCD monitor's interface. Depending on the brand or model of LCD monitor, it could have one of several interface connectors--the part that plugs into the PC. These include the well-known VGA and the superior DVI connectors. If you're buying a nonbundled display, make sure it will work with the system you want--or that you at least have a money-back guarantee.
* Upgrade at the time of purchase. Often, you can get a better deal on a larger hard drive or a better monitor when you first order your computer. Even doubling the size of a hard drive may add very little to the cost, and upgrading to a higher-quality monitor may add only $100.
* Avoid gimmicky keyboards to save money. Many vendors tout fancy keyboards with extra buttons for launching apps. Save some money by choosing the cheapest option unless you have a specific need for the fancier one.
* Get the scoop on the vendor before you buy. Check out PC World's annual Reliability & Service survey, where readers tell us which PC makers provide the best (and worst) technical support and warranty service.


http://pcworld.com/howto/bguide/0,guid,14,00.asp

 

Windows Flaw Makes Surfing Riskier

Also: Hackers may use Outlook e-mail messages to take over your computer.

Stuart J. Johnston
From the April 2006 issue of PC World magazine
Posted Thursday, February 16, 2006

« Previous Page 1 2 Next »

Attackers have been using increasingly novel means to break into Windows systems--for example, using doctored media files like music, Web graphics, and video. Now joining that roster of dirty tricks are booby-trapped text fonts embedded in Web pages.

The bug sleuths at eEye Digital Security found a way to breach Windows' security by exploiting a flaw in how the OS displays text on Web sites. Web designers often use embedded fonts to guarantee that the text on a page will look the same in every browser.


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All a cyberthug has to do is create a corrupted font on a Web site and wait for unsuspecting visitors. When you view the affected font in Internet Explorer--or in any application that uses Windows to show the fonts in question--the doctored text triggers a buffer overflow, disabling your PC's security and allowing the thug to then take control of your computer. Reading or even just previewing an affected HTML e-mail message in Outlook or Outlook Express can launch the attack too.

This flaw affects all versions of Windows, from Windows 98 through XP Service Pack 2, which means the majority of people online are potentially at risk. Microsoft has distributed the patch via Windows Update. You can also get it here.

The discovery follows a recent rash of attacks that exploited holes in the way Windows displays certain types of images embedded in Web pages. Smart crackers figured out how to use what are called Windows Metafile (WMF) images to disable a PC's security. (For details, see last month's column.)

More than ever, it pays to be careful what you click. These new vulnerabilities are especially troubling because you can compromise your system just by looking at a poisoned e-mail message or Web page.

Block Outlook Hole

A separate vulnerability affecting Outlook 2000, XP, or 2003 users may give a hacker control of your machine as well. Again, you simply have to open or preview a doctored e-mail to be compromised. Outlook's mishandling of a file format called Transport Neutral Encapsulation, or TNEF, is to blame. The problem is "critical" in Microsoft's eyes because the application uses TNEF when it sends or receives e-mail in the commonly used Rich Text Format.

As before, you can run Windows Update to get this patch; you can also download it here.

In Brief

Winamp Danger: If you open a specially crafted playlist (from a link on a malicious Web site, for example) with version 5.12 of Winamp, you'll end up with a buffer overflow error that could let the bad guys take over your PC. To get the fix, you need to upgrade to version 5.13 or later (go here).

Microsoft Small Biz Accounting Glitch: If Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting 2006 gives a nondescript error and crashes every time you start it, reinstall the program's Service Pack 1. Find out more from Microsoft here.


Next Page: Symantec Antivirus Security Bug

Symantec Antivirus Security Bug

Symantec has released patches to fix a hole in the way its antivirus software library handles certain compressed files.


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If a hacker hides a booby trap inside a file or e-mail attachment ending with .rar, the library unwittingly launches the attack when it scans the file, running any command the hacker wants. Most of Symantec's products use the affected library.

To plug this hole, manually run Symantec LiveUpdate (by clicking LiveUpdate in the toolbar) to make sure you have the necessary patch. Repeat, if necessary, until you have all available updates. Get more information here.

Bugged?

Found A hardware or software bug? Send us an e-mail on it to bugs@pcworld.com.

Stuart J. Johnston is a contributing editor for PC World.

http://pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,124578,00.asp

 

Hey Neighbor, Stop Piggybacking on My Wireless

wireless For a while, the wireless Internet connection Christine and Randy Brodeur installed last year seemed perfect. They were able to sit in their sunny Los Angeles backyard working on their laptop computers.

But they soon began noticing that their high-speed Internet access had become as slow as rush-hour traffic on the 405 freeway.

"I didn't know whether to blame it on the Santa Ana winds or what," recalled Mrs. Brodeur, the chief executive of Socket Media, a marketing and public relations agency.

The "what" turned out to be neighbors who had tapped into their system. The additional online traffic nearly choked out the Brodeurs, who pay a $40 monthly fee for their Internet service, slowing their access until it was practically unusable.

Hey Neighbor, Stop Piggybacking on My Wireless

By MICHEL MARRIOTT
Published: March 5, 2006

For a while, the wireless Internet connection Christine and Randy Brodeur installed last year seemed perfect. They were able to sit in their sunny Los Angeles backyard working on their laptop computers.

But they soon began noticing that their high-speed Internet access had become as slow as rush-hour traffic on the 405 freeway.

"I didn't know whether to blame it on the Santa Ana winds or what," recalled Mrs. Brodeur, the chief executive of Socket Media, a marketing and public relations agency.

The "what" turned out to be neighbors who had tapped into their system. The additional online traffic nearly choked out the Brodeurs, who pay a $40 monthly fee for their Internet service, slowing their access until it was practically unusable.

Piggybacking, the usually unauthorized tapping into someone else's wireless Internet connection, is no longer the exclusive domain of pilfering computer geeks or shady hackers cruising for unguarded networks. Ordinarily upstanding people are tapping in. As they do, new sets of Internet behaviors are creeping into America's popular culture.

"I don't think it's stealing," said Edwin Caroso, a 21-year-old student at Miami Dade College, echoing an often-heard sentiment.

"I always find people out there who aren't protecting their connection, so I just feel free to go ahead and use it," Mr. Caroso said. He added that he tapped into a stranger's network mainly for Web surfing, keeping up with e-mail, text chatting with friends in foreign countries and doing homework.

Many who piggyback say the practice does not feel like theft because it does not seem to take anything away from anyone. One occasional piggybacker recently compared it to "reading the newspaper over someone's shoulder."

Piggybacking, makers of wireless routers say, is increasingly an issue for people who live in densely populated areas like New York City or Chicago, or for anyone clustered in apartment buildings in which Wi-Fi radio waves, with an average range of about 200 feet, can easily bleed through walls, floors and ceilings. Large hotels that offer the service have become bubbling brooks of free access that spill out into nearby homes and restaurants.

"Wi-Fi is in the air, and it is a very low curb, if you will, to step up and use it," said Mike Wolf of ABI Research, a high-technology market research company in Oyster Bay, N.Y.

This is especially true, Mr. Wolf said, because so many users do not bother to secure their networks with passwords or encryption programs. The programs are usually shipped with customers' wireless routers, devices that plug into an Internet connection and make access to it wireless. Many home network owners admit that they are oblivious to piggybackers.

Some, like Marla Edwards, who think they have locked intruders out of their networks, learn otherwise. Ms. Edwards, a junior at Baruch College in New York, said her husband recently discovered that their home network was not secure after a visiting friend with a laptop easily hopped on.

"There's no gauge, no measuring device that says 48 people are using your access," Ms. Edwards said.

When Mr. Wolf turns on his computer in his suburban Seattle home, he regularly sees on his screen a list of two or three wireless networks that do not belong to him but are nonetheless available for use. Mr. Wolf uses his own wired network at home, but he says he has piggybacked onto someone else's wireless network when traveling.

"On a family vacation this summer we needed to get access," Mr. Wolf recalled, explaining that his father, who took along his laptop, needed to send an e-mail message to his boss on the East Coast from Ocean Shores, Wash.. "I said, 'O.K., let's drive around the beach with the window open.' We found a signal, and the owner of the network was none the wiser," Mr. Wolf said. "It took about five minutes."

Jonathan Bettino, a senior product marketing manager for the Belkin Corporation, a major maker of wireless network routers based in Compton, Calif., said home-based wireless networks were becoming a way of life. Unless locking out unauthorized users becomes commonplace, piggybacking is likely to increase, too.

Last year, Mr. Bettino said, there were more than 44 million broadband networks among the more than 100 million households in the United States. Of that number, 16.2 million are expected to be wireless by the end of this year. In 2003, 3.9 million households had wireless access to the Internet, he said.

Humphrey Cheung, the editor of a technology Web site, tomshardware.com, measured how plentiful open wireless networks have become. In April 2004, he and some colleagues flew two single-engine airplanes over metropolitan Los Angeles with two wireless laptops.

The project logged more than 4,500 wireless networks, with only about 30 percent of them encrypted to lock out outsiders, Mr. Cheung said.

"Most people just plug the thing in," he said of those who buy wireless routers. "Ninety percent of the time it works. You stop at that point and don't bother to turn on its security."

Martha Liliana Ramirez, who lives in Miami, said she had not thought much about securing her $100-a-month Internet connection until recently. Last August, Ms. Ramirez, 31, a real estate agent, discovered a man camped outside her condominium with a laptop pointed at her building.

When Ms. Ramirez asked the man what he was doing, he said he was stealing a wireless Internet connection because he did not have one at home. She was amused but later had an unsettling thought: "Oh my God. He could be stealing my signal."

Yet some six months later, Ms. Ramirez still has not secured her network.

Beth Freeman, who lives in Chicago, has her own Internet access, but it is not wireless. Mostly for the convenience of using the Internet anywhere in her apartment, Ms. Freeman, 58, said that for the last six months she has been using a wireless network a friend showed her how to tap into.

"I feel sort of bad about it, but I do it anyway," Ms. Freeman said her of Internet indiscretions. "It just seems harmless."

And if she ever gets caught?

"I'm a grandmother," Ms. Freeman said. "They're not going to yell at an old lady. I'll just play the dumb card."

David Cole, director of product management for Symantec Security Response, a unit of Symantec, a maker of computer security software, said consumers should understand that an open wireless network invites greater vulnerabilities than just a stampede of "freeloading neighbors."

He said savvy users could piggyback into unprotected computers to peer into files containing sensitive financial and personal information, release malicious viruses and worms that could do irreparable damage, or use the computer as a launching pad for identity theft or the uploading and downloading of child pornography.

"The best case is that you end up giving a neighbor a free ride," Mr. Cole said. "The worst case is that someone can destroy your computer, take your files and do some really nefarious things with your network that gets you dragged into court."

Mr. Cole said Symantec and other companies had created software that could not only lock out most network intruders but also protect computers and their content if an intruder managed to gain access.

Some users say they have protected their computers but have decided to keep their networks open as a passive protest of what they consider the exorbitant cost of Internet access.

"I'm sticking it to the man," said Elaine Ball, an Internet subscriber who lives in Chicago. She complained that she paid $65 a month for Internet access until she recently switched to a $20-a-month promotion plan that would go up to $45 a month after the first three months.

"I open up my network, leave it wide open for anyone to jump on," Ms. Ball said.

For the Brodeurs in Los Angeles, a close reading of their network's manual helped them to finally encrypt their network. The Brodeurs told their neighbors that the network belonged to them and not to the neighborhood. While apologetic, some neighbors still wanted access to it.

"Some of them asked me, 'Could we pay?' But we didn't want to go into the Internet service provider business," Mrs. Brodeur said. "We gave some weird story about the network imposing some sort of lockdown protocol."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/05/t...3c127308552a0a&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

 

Five Ways To Keep Your Google Searches Private
Hey I'm all for this.

Word that the government has been seeking search data from Google has struck fear into the hearts of Internet Explorer and Firefox users. Here are five simple steps to keep outsiders from uncovering private information about your Web browsing habits.

- Informationweek.com


Five Ways To Keep Your Google Searches Private

Word that the government has been seeking search data from Google has struck fear into the hearts of Internet Explorer and Firefox users. Here are five simple steps to keep outsiders from uncovering private information about your Web browsing habits.

By Alexander Wolfe
TechWeb.com

Feb 1, 2006 08:43 AM

The recent news that the U.S. Justice Department has been seeking search data from Google, Yahoo, MSN, and America Online has struck fear into the hearts of Web surfers. Many users are concerned, not because they've done anything wrong, but because they wonder just how much personal information can be gleaned from their on-line searches.

While the government action is aimed at fighting child porn, some computer-security pundits and newspaper columnists are raising concerns that even users who haven't gone anywhere near such toxic material could potentially have their searches traced.

Political debates aside, the question of browser privacy is at its heart a technical issue. Whether you're using Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Mozilla's Firefox , there are at five simple steps you can take to keep Web busybodies from uncovering information on your search queries.

Delete your history.

This one's easy, and obvious. IE and Mozilla maintains histories of all URLs which are typed into their address bars.

Clearing out the history is simple. Just go into "Internet Options," located under the "Tools" menu in Internet Explorer. (Here's a more detailed explanation from Microsoft.) In Firefox, histories can be clearing by going to "Tools" > "Options" > "Privacy."

That's something Robert Petrick apparently didn't do. During his North Carolina murder trial in November, prosecutors showed that his hard drive contained Google searches for the words: "neck," "snap," "break," and "hold." Petrick was convicted of the first-degree murder of his wife.

Page 2: Getting Rid Of Those Temp Files

Clear out your cache.

All browsers contain a cache, which is used to store Temporary Internet Files. The cache acts as a kind of pre-loader for the browser; if a previously viewed page is requested again, it can be loaded locally rather than going out across the 'Net to grab it a second time.

Microsoft itself provides simple instructions on how to clear your cache. It's done by clicking the "Delete Files" button under the "Temporary Internet Files" section of the "Internet Options" dialog box.

Firefox cleans the cache via the same "Tools" > "Options" > "Privacy" path used to ditch the history.

However, some users don't feel that's enough. The reason: while clearing out the cache at first glance appears to get rid of a browser's temporary internet files, it doesn't clear out all remnants of the files. That's because, as is the case for other files on your hard disk, the deletion process only kills pointers to the file's data -- it doesn't physically overwrite the file. (The data's still hidden on the disk, a fact data-recovery tools use to "undelete" lost files.)

For privacy obsessives, obliteration requires a full file wipe. That's essentially what's promised in a host of third party tools, which claim to take cache deletion to the next level.

Bust your cookies.

After history and cache, the third leg of the browser privacy triad is cookies. These are small files Web sites place on your PC to log information on your visits. (The Mozilla Foundation provides a consumer-friendly explanation of how and why sites suck in cookies, here.)

Many Web sites won't let you visit them if you have your cookies turned off, but that doesn't mean you can't periodically clean them out. Microsoft provides easy instructions for cookie deletion.

For Firefox, there's an available "view cookie" add-on that lets users look at who's looking at them.

Page 3: Consolidating Your Clean-Up Efforts

Consolidating Your Clean-Up Efforts

(Page 3 of 4) Feb 1, 2006 08:43 AM

Users looking to consolidate their clean-up efforts can turn to a tool from Microsoft. Though it's called "Clear Cache Feature For Internet Explorer," the program will actually delete all temporary Internet files, cookies, and history files. It was originally developed to help out users plagued by corrupted entries causing IE errors, but it can be used by anyone running IE under Windows XP.

Having to separately delete one's history, cache, and cookies will be a thing of the past in the next version of Internet Explorer. As Microsoft's IE blog notes, Internet Explorer 7, which is currently in limited beta, will include a new all-in-one delete feature. This will get rid of temporary Internet files and cookies along with the history, in one fell swoop.

Aware of such developments, e-commerce providers seem to be looking to stay one step ahead of users' privacy efforts. A recent development in this regard is a cookie-on-steroids technology called the persistent identification element, which burrows more permanently into users' PCs.

Use an anonymous surfing tool.

The latest craze in Web privacy is anonymous surfing. Third party tools configure your brower to use proxy servers, which act as an intermediate client between sender and receiver. This makes it pretty much impossible for sites to figure out where the original user that's pinging them is located (they only see the proxy server).

The Electronic Privacy Information Center has compiled perhaps the most comprehensive list of anonymous surfing tools, though the group is quick to point out that it doesn't endorse specific products. (EPIC is a privacy advocacy group, in Wash., D.C., which boasts 'Net pioneer Vint Cerf on its advisory board.)

The list of software offerings includes the $30 Anonymous Surfing package from Anonymizer and Guardster, a monthly fee-based proxy site. Public Proxy Servers provides what it says is a list of sites around the world which act as anonymous proxies.

The Cloak, which acts an anonymous surfing proxy, warns users that is will not tolerate any illegal activity and notifies them: "You should assume that we will comply with court orders or subpoenas demanding log files entries, as we do not know our users and therefore cannot mount a legal challenge."

Page 4: Staying Away From 'Bad' Sites

Staying Away From 'Bad' Sites

(Page 4 of 4) Feb 1, 2006 08:43 AM

Whether such anonymous surfing tools will continue to thrive is anybody's guess. On first glance, the technology harkens back to the anonymous remailers which thrived in the early days of the Internet. The most famous of these, the Finland-based anon.pinet.fi remailer, was shut down in 1996 amid allegations it had been used to transfer child porn.

Rethink your search strategies.

"If you haven't done anything wrong, you don't have anything to worry about," goes an old saying popular among law enforcement types. (Privacy advocates would disagree.)

Nevertheless, users concerned about privacy in all its forms have one decidedly low-tech form of protection available to them. Namely, stay away from any site you wouldn't want anyone else to know you've visited. (Remember, your spouse is far more likely to see your browser history than some faceless government official who's off stalking serious abuse.)

Some may agree with the sentiment expressed by Cox News Service columnist Todd Powell. "Privacy has become a confusing thing for me," he wrote. "There's a public version of me and a private one."

Like most 'Net users, Powell worries about strangers getting ahold of information he'd think twice about sharing with some family members. To keep that from happening, and to avoid downloading viruses and spyware onto your computer, it's only common sense to be careful where you surf.

For concerned parents, Microsoft provides a Content Advisor tool, which limits childrens' access to a specific list of Web sites you define.

http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=178600222

 

BC refugee records 'auctioned'

p2p news / p2pnet: Sensitive, possibly dangerous, information was stored on what were supposed to have been blank computer tapes auctioned of by Canada's British Columbia government.

When the anonymous buyer checked them out, he found, "personal information on thousands of refugees," says the Vancouver Sun.

The man gave the tapes, for which he'd paid $101, to the newspaper which says they held names, social insurance numbers and internal government file numbers for more than 30,000 refugees.

"The list, which was last updated in February 1999, also gives information on how the refugees were approved to get into the country," it states.

Canadian immigration minister Monte Solberg is to launch investigation, says the Vancouer Sun.

"It's our responsibility, our obligation, to protect the privacy of people who make refugee claims in the country," the story has him saying, adding:

"Solberg said the information related to refugee claims is particularly sensitive given that many people enter Canada in an attempt to flee persecution in their home country. Information on their whereabouts, or who sponsored them into the country, could put the refugee claimant, and their families back home, in very real danger, he said."

Also See:
Vancouver Sun - Refugee claim files found on data tapes, March 6, 2006

(Monday 6th March 2006)
http://p2pnet.net/story/8096

 

Nero Premium Edition 7.0.5.5
Updated for the masses.

Nero 7 Ultra Edition enables you to experience your digital media in completely new and innovative ways. With the addition of the Nero Home media manager, you can now have the complete PC and TV experience. Whether you want to access your media files from the comfort of your living room, or complete digital media projects on your PC, Nero 7 Ultra Edition is all you need.

- Majorgeeks.com
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Nero_Premium_Edition_d2228.html



Nero 7 Ultra Edition enables you to experience your digital media in completely new and innovative ways. With the addition of the Nero Home media manager, you can now have the complete PC and TV experience. Whether you want to access your media files from the comfort of your living room, or complete digital media projects on your PC, Nero 7 Ultra Edition is all you need.

Now, with more features than ever before, this powerful software can transform your digital photos into professional animated slideshows, backup all of your valuable data, manage and search your media files, edit video or photos, create DVDs (including menus), stream your files over a media server, and compress files to take on the go. Beginners and experts alike will be amazed by what one solution can do. Really, it’s that good.

Some New features in 7.x
- Full-o-meter automatically adjusts to you project type (DVD-1, DVD-5 or DVD-9)
- Intelligent size calculation will suggest a DVD if data will not fit on a CD
- New, easy-to-use GUI for Nero Express and Nero InCD
U- se Nero Scout to index your digital media making it easy to find the right video or song for your CD or DVD
- Support for Blu-ray (BD-RE and BD-R) media
Audio
- Support for 5.1 and 7.1 audio recording, editing and mixing
- Create beats, melodies and sound sequences
- HQ mastering (192KHz) resolution audio supported
- Up to 32 bit audio supported
- Sample looper
- Rip tracks from audio CDs (SoundTrax)
Sequencer and Text II Speech converter
- HDV capture support
- Compress video to fit mobile, PDAs, home theater and HDTV standards
D- olby Digital 5.1 Encoder integration
- Extend capture device support
- Export slideshows to share or archive
- New 2D and animated 3D menu templates to spice up your home-made professional quality DVDs
- Capture, edit and export High-Definition (HD) video files.
- Browse customized image directories
- Burn to DVD, SVCD and VCD or export to video file for sharing
- Stream media files across any UPnP™ compatible devices
DVD
- Support for chapter menus (DVD+VR)
Split and merge titles (DVD+VR)
Automatically overwrite unprotected titles if space on disc is low (DVD+VR)
Add/remove images from slideshows (DVD-VR)
Simulation/Preview of DVD-VR project
Looped DVD navigation
- DVD-Audio support
Backup
- Backup without logging in
- InCD 5 Drag&Drop file backup support for BDRE/R (Blu-ray)
- FTP backup
- Intelligent compression filter
- Shadow Copy feature used to ensure a verified backup
- and much more.

 

What Jobs Didn't Say

By Eliot Van Buskirk | Also by this reporter
02:00 AM Mar, 06, 2006 EST

Listening Post columnist Eliot van Buskirk
Listening Post
When I covered Apple's first iPod announcement in 2001, it was unlike anything I had seen in my three years of covering MP3 players -- and the iPod wasn't too shabby, either.

Steve Jobs plays the tech press like his pal Yo Yo plays the cello. I was blown away by the magnitude of the event and all the hooting and hollering from my normally sedate colleagues, who were indistinguishable in their enthusiasm from the Apple acolytes in the audience. But most importantly, I was impressed by the Mac-only iPod, which was leaps and bounds ahead of the competition with its 1.8-inch hard drive and groundbreaking design.

That first iPod announcement was probably the most important press event I have ever attended, so the hype surrounding it made sense. But Jobs' cultivated mystique seems a little forced when he has nothing more to talk about than a mini Intel computer, leather iPod cases and the iPod hi-fi boom box. With its focus on iPod accessories, last week's event was more Belkin than Apple, not that you'd know it from the breathless coverage and obligatory minute-by-minute blog updates.

To his credit, Jobs tried to tone down expectations a bit, saying the announcements were of "medium scale" importance. But when you've been stoking the PR flames relentlessly for decades, such warnings are likely to go unheeded. Every major publication seems to have covered this latest iPod announcement, even though no iPod was announced. One has to wonder how long it will take until Apple's halo fades amongst the tech press now that the regular cycle of anticipation and techstasy seems to be breaking down.

That's not to say Jobs didn't say anything last week -- in the midst of the drab mentions of accessories and Intel-inside processing power increases were a couple of kernels of genuine interest, mainly revolving around what he chose not to do and say.

The lack of a new iPod means Apple believes it has added every feature it can, without threatening the device's ease of use and reliability (I believe Apple has stayed away from FM, line-in recording, Wi-Fi and other niche features in the past because it's impossible to make them work perfectly on a portable).

The only major feature the iPod really needs today is the ability to play subscription files, because those allow users access to more music while creating more profits than the a la carte downloads sold by the iTunes Music Store. But the entire iPod/iTunes architecture would need to be redesigned for that to happen, so we probably won't see a subscription-capable iPod until at least the summer.

For all the publicity portable audio devices get, the main place people consume entertainment is the living room. For the past four years or so, the biggest story coming out of the Consumer Electronics Show has been the emergence of entertainment-oriented home networking (often under the guise of the set-top box or "digital living room.") The idea is a simple one – that you shouldn't have to carry an MP3 player to your stereo to hear MP3s, or burn DVDs of movies you've downloaded to watch them on your TV.

I have long expected Apple to release an "iPod Home" or something of that nature -- a set-top box with no hard drive that would access media from around the home. Instead, the company is basing its living-room strategy around a computer -- the new Mac Mini, which features a DVI output for connecting to late-model televisions. It also has analog and digital (S/PDIF) audio input and output jacks for connecting it to a stereo for playing music or recording off the stereo -- satellite radio and vinyl albums are good candidates for this.

The machine is set up to play digital audio and video wirelessly from any networked machine in your house using Wi-Fi, and Apple's Bonjour and Front Row software.

Add a Mac Mini to your entertainment system and it should be able to play all your digital entertainment through your stereo or television using Apple's tiny remote. This could be a clever way to sell more computers and shore up what is still Apple's main business (despite the iPod's success), and could spread Apple's OS into the homes of consumers who use Windows for everything else.

The potential bad news here for fans of open content -- content that isn't copy protected -- is that Apple is trying to put a full-fledged computer in your entertainment network, rather that an inexpensive, "dumb" Airport Express-type device. This way, the Mac Mini decrypts complicated and ever-evolving DRM (digital rights management) licenses and content is locked up until the very moment it is consumed.



If the Mac Mini sparks a trend and we all end up with computers under our televisions, the Motion Picture Association of America and Recording Industry Association of America will be able to maintain control of content all the way from their servers to a sophisticated, rule-abiding machine right next to your television or stereo.

They only need to control one more link in the chain -- from computer to entertainment center -- in order to lock digitally-purchased media down completely, preventing copying even when such behavior would be protected by the "fair use" doctrine, such as education, space-shifting or time-shifting. (Lawmakers and lobbyists are already well on their way to shoring up that "weakness" in the system by insisting that all new consumer electronics devices be able to process DRM tags on their own.)

Although digital entertainment has its advantages, all of this almost makes me wish we were stuck with analog forever, because it was just about the music, rather than music plus a bunch of varying usage rules.

Perhaps the real meat of last week's Apple announcement is that the digital home may end up seeded with computers rather than the specialized networked entertainment devices the folks at CES have been talking about for years. I just hope when they're done remodeling our living rooms, we'll still be able to use our legally purchased content the way we want to.
http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,70331-0.html?tw=rss.index

 

AMD Grabs Over 80% of Desktop PC Sales in the Retail Market
Brandon Hill - March 6, 2006 12:15 PM
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AMD grabs more marketshare while Intel cuts earnings forecasts

Intel's loss is AMD's gain. AMD's share of the retail desktop market surged with its haul for the first seven weeks of 2006 coming in at over 80%. Intel's desktop share dropped to 21.5%. Intel has also seen losses in the notebook sector where its share has dropped to 63%.

Pricing is seen as a major factor for AMD's continued growth in the retail market. AMD-based desktops are ringing in at roughly $200 cheaper than comparable Intel systems while the notebook differetial is smaller at around $60.

Intel has also cut its forecast due to weak demand and AMD's strong showing in the marketplace:

Intel forecast revenue of $US8.7 billion to $US9.1 billion in the first quarter, down from a previous forecast of $US9.1 billion to $US9.7 billion.

It would be the second straight quarter of disappointing revenue after Intel's fourth-quarter number of $US10.2 billion fell short of Wall Street expectations.
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=1120

 

Canada's digital downloads

p2p news view / p2pnet: In case you missed it, last week the CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association) was back in the news claiming that Canadian copyright law is in need of reform, arguing that Canadian digital download sales have not met expectations.

The copyright lobby group chose to focus on sales of Gwen Stefani's Hollaback Girl. In the US, the song has become the first to reach one million paid downloads. By comparison, in Canada it has hit 20,000 paid downloads.

The CRIA argues that based on population and broadband penetration rates, the Canadian figure should be 150,000.

I find this argument rather remarkable. The CRIA is obviously hoping to convince Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda and Industry Minister Maxime Bernier that the Canadian digital music market has been hurt by the absence of anti-circumvention legislation, yet the notion that music sales are a function of population size and broadband access is certainly subject to challenge.

Michael Geist
[Geist is the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa. He can be reached by email at mgeist[at]uottawa.ca and is on-line at www.michaelgeist.ca.]

(Monday 6th March 2006)
http://p2pnet.net/story/8101

 

Bizarre uTorrent, PeerFactor deal

Didier Wang

p2p news / p2pnet: "PeerFactor et l'éditeur Suédois µTorrent signe un accord expérimental d'une durée de six mois. Le but est le développement de nouvelles applications de distribution de contenu sur le web," and, "PeerFactor and the Swedish editor µTorrent sign a six months experimental agreement. The aim is to development new content distribution applications on the Web."

That, and nothing else, is what it says on PeerFactor, a distinctly anti-p2p enterprise launched in April, 2004, and owned by France's RetSpan, with Didier Wang at its head.

Mission? To poison the p2p networks on behalf of the Big Four record labels.

µTorrent, on the other hand, is now one of the leading indie p2p file sharing applications. Its site doesn't say anything about the collaboration. But µTorrent author and programmer Ludvig Strigeus, aka Ludde, recently did a Q&A with p2pnet's Alex H, and in it said, "File sharing applications accomplish many things. They lower distribution costs. They increase the availability of content. They help distribute that content faster. And it's all made easy and accessible. But more importantly, it sends a message: the information super highway is finally living up to its name."

In other words, µTorrent and PeerFactor make bizarre and unwholesome bedfellows.

RetSpan scans p2p networks to find out how many times a fake file has been downloaded and content editors set earning tariffs for file-sharers who were responsible for the pollution.

As p2pnet correspondent Thuan Huynh wrote when PeerFactor was launched, "However, because the files they spread are fake doesn't protect Restpan users: they can be treated in the same way as other p2p file sharers and could potentially be sued by the Big Five record labels.

"In fact, they could be in even more danger than real file sharers because RetSpan keeps a track of all members' IPs. Just in case. Moreover, cynics might think the whole process isn't much more than a way to for this at the moment 'non-profit' outfit to eventually create a lucrative PeerFactor and IP monitoring business."

So what's with PeerFactor and µTorrent?

Strigeus says he wasn't aware of PeerFactor’s history but now he does know, "Just because I sell cleaning services to Microsoft doesn't mean I like Windows," Slyck quotes him as saying.

Meanwhile, "By developing the PeerFactor software, which uses the BitTorrent protocol, Strigeus will be entitled to a share of any advertising revenue generated by the final product," says the story, going on, "News that µTorrent are selling their software will fuel speculation as to why uTorrent has remained close source, which is extremely uncommon for BitTorrent clients."

But, "This doesn't affect µTorrent, it's just a side project," states Strigeus. "If people like to be paranoid, I won't stop them."

He denies that he's helping PeerFactor fight the p2p community by providing the code.

"The agreement says that the software will be used to distribute legal content over the internet. In my understanding, everything in our agreement says that it will be used for downloading legal content."

Also See:
Q&A - p2pnet uTorrent interview, October 15, 2005
fake - The Good, the Bad and RetSpan, April 26, 2004
Slyck - uTorrent Sign Six Month RetSpan Agreement, March 4, 2006

(Monday 6th March 2006)
http://p2pnet.net/story/8097

 

Ricoh starts shipping samples of next-generation recordable DVDs to hardware manufacturers
Posted by Johnny on 06 March 2006 - 22:32 - Source: justnow-press.de

The following text is a complete press release, unmodified by CD Freaks. If you don't want to view these kind of news posting you can disable them in your preferences page once logged in. Please send your press releases to news@cdfreaks.com

High reliability achieved through Ricoh-developed inorganic recording materials



Tokyo, Japan, March 6, 2006 – Ricoh Co., Ltd has developed recordable disks for Blue-ray Disk and HD DVD, the next-generation DVD formats, and starts shipping samples to hardware manufacturers.



The samples to be shipped are BD-R and HD DVD-R, write-once disks for Blue-ray Disk and HD DVD respectively. They have a capacity of 25 GB (BD-R) and 15 GB (HD DVD-R), approximately three to five times that of current disks.





By employing highly sensitive inorganic recording materials and high-precision stampers newly developed for next-generation recordable DVDs, Ricoh was able to achieve high reliability when writing and reading data. This will provide an advantage in further speed increases and multilayer structures.



Next-generation writable DVDs are gradually penetrating into the IT and consumer electronics markets, which are expected to expand rapidly from 2008 and reach 800 million or more pieces being shipped in 2010.



Ricoh’s optical disk business consists of development and sales of a variety of recordable writable DVDs and hybrid CD-Rs (CDs with both ROM and recordable areas in a single disk), while also selling its own recording materials and licensing and providing its own manufacturing technologies.



Ricoh aims to provide the newly developed next-generation recordable DVDs to end-user customers within the year.

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/13154

 

Intel confirms hyperthreading is a goner

IDF 2006 Starts new Tera programme

By Mike Magee in San Francisco: Monday 06 March 2006, 19:11
HT HYPERTHREADING is on its last legs as multicores come in said Justin Rattner, Intel’s chief technology officer today.

The answer is multicores, said Rattner, describing Intel’s new marchitechture push as "tera scaling".

Intel is pushing multicores as a future technology introducing a Tera Scale programme to encourage developers to write to dual and multicores. Intel does this sort of thing, said Rattner.

We predicted this would happen quite a while ago. Rattner told an audicence of international hacks that multicores required new applications re-written for multipliers. Indeed, we believe we never understood hyped threading when Intel first launched it. Intel seemed reluctant to tell us which apps would benefit from HT apart from MicrosoFT (Vole Office).

Rattner claimed Intel is going back to the moon with multicore silicon cores – it is workloads of the future he said. Intel is waiting for the next generation of workloads. We think he means Intel is hoping that the software guys should get their act together. And we agree with him on this one.

Intel, said Rattner, has become fanatical about energy performance. INTC cannot rely upon memory caches as they are. He described some kinds of memory cache as pathological. Intel has to have exquisite control over memory and IO. He did not define exquisite. Today’s platforms are inefficient, said Rattner.

Still, you have to give Intel credit for pushing so much money into the software industry. That is not something that Microsoft does.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=30087