Am grateful that I found this site. Receiveid prompt and helpful advice shortly after posting my first "insolvable problem". - Popster 
This Weeks Computing News
Posted by: Tweaker
Date added: 20:07, 10th May 2008
Source: Beta News
Game maker id Software quietly confirmed it is working on Doom 4, almost four years after the release of the third installment of the series that made the first-person shooter a permanent fixture in the public conscience.
Instead of a large public announcement, id's notice came in the form of a brief mention on its Web site along with a call for developers and artists interested in working on the game.
"Doom is part of the id Software DNA and demands the greatest talent and brightest minds in the industry to bring the next installment of our flagship franchise to Earth," id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead said in a statement published on the company's Web site. "It's critical for id Software to have the best creative minds in-house to develop games that meet the standards synonymous with our titles."
The original Doom video game, launched in 1993, is cited as one of the first video games to help make the first person shooter (FPS) genre popular.
Doom 3 was met with high levels of anticipation, but many gamers were left disappointed after finishing the game. Some gamers claimed id spent too much time working on its engine and graphics, while leaving the game's plot line developed.
Id Software admitted it listened to gamers' complaints about Doom 3, and will likely make sure it does not replicate the same mistakes with Doom 4. For example, the next game may be based in a dark environment where lightning is scarce, in order to retain that dark, abysmal mood. But in the last installment, gamers quickly became frustrated when they were forced to hold the flashlight while at the same time managing their weapon. A third-party modification was made available so users could attach the flashlight to their shotgun or machine, much to gamers' delight.
Since the launch of Doom, id Software remained loyal to the PC gaming platform, but is expanding to game consoles due to high levels of piracy and the increasing popularity of console gaming.
The publisher has not mentioned an expected release date or which platforms the game is planned to support. Rumors indicate it will likely be available for Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Gamers also are interested in seeing what game engine will be used for Doom 4's development, with some rumors indicating id will use the Rage engine. It is highly unlikely id will use the Doom 3 engine, which is now more than four years old.
Tools: Comments (0) |
Link to this news item | Send to a friend | Submit News
Posted by: Tweaker
Date added: 20:06, 10th May 2008
Source: Beta News
Five months after the first service pack for Office 2007 was made generally available to customers, the company has determined it will be safe to provide it over its automatic update service.
The original intent of Automatic Updates was to ease the burden of ensuring clients had the latest software, especially security patches. But with the growing variety of permutations of Windows installations, any problems clients might find with their automatically updated systems can only be tracked and identified through extensive field testing.
So Microsoft waited a fairly significant period of time before enabling Office 2007 SP1 to be downloadable automatically, and may still wait six weeks longer, perhaps more, according to a post on Microsoft's Office Sustained Engineering blog late yesterday evening.
Tools: Comments (0) |
Link to this news item | Send to a friend | Submit News
Posted by: Tweaker
Date added: 20:03, 10th May 2008
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Popular opinion is that Microsofts Windows Vista operating system is a dud, a view fueled in part by a low adoption rate among businesses. But a look back at history shows why it may be premature to write Vista off.
By the end of 2007, businesses computers running Vista accounted for just 3% of the nearly 1 billion computers in use worldwide, according to the research company Gartner. Sounds dismal, but thats the same percentage that ran the business version of Microsofts previous OS, XP, in 2002, the first year after its release. (Out of 582 million total computers.) By the end of 2003, business computers running XP accounted for 10% of the total. Gartner projects that by the end of this year, business computers running Vista will make up 13% of all computers.
That puts Vista ahead of its predecessors pace, and bolsters Microsofts argument that Vista adoption is inline with the companys expectations. The numbers are the numbers, Gartners George Shiffler tells the Business Technology Blog. I cant refute them. But he adds that they dont tell the whole story. Vista is certainly facing headwinds, he says.
Tools: Comments (0) |
Link to this news item | Send to a friend | Submit News
Posted by: Tweaker
Date added: 20:01, 10th May 2008
Source: Slashdot News
A number of readers are sending word that the blogosphere and Twittersphere are alight with reports of Microsoft's new block on messages containing YouTube URLs. Both MSN Messenger and Windows Live Messenger reportedly implement the block. One blogger sniffed the network to discover that such messages receive a NAK from Microsoft's servers. Microsoft has been blocking messages by keyword, as an anti-phishing measure, for some time, but *.youtube.com would not seem to provoke much worry about phishing.
Instead, as B.E.T.A Daily speculates, "This block seems to be related to the recent launch of Messenger TV in 20 countries which allows for sharing video clips from MSN Video on messenger." Hard to get away with in an arena where you don't enjoy a monopoly.
Tools: Comments (0) |
Link to this news item | Send to a friend | Submit News
Posted by: Tweaker
Date added: 08:52, 9th May 2008
Source: Computer World News
Microsoft today said it plan to post four security updates next week, three of them "critical," to patch Windows, Word, Publisher and all of the company's anti-malware applications.
Among the critical fixes will be one that quashes bugs in Microsoft's Jet Database Engine that go back as far as 2005. The other critical patches will close holes in Microsoft's word processor and desktop publishing programs.
"Finally, the expected fix for Jet," said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle.
Seven weeks ago, Microsoft rang an alarm over critical vulnerabilities in Jet Database Engine, a Windows component that provides data access to applications such as Microsoft Access and Visual Basic. The company posted a security advisory on March 22 that acknowledged "public reports of very limited, targeted attacks" using Word documents that triggered the Jet Database bug.
Several days later, Microsoft's security team admitted it had known of the Jet Database bugs for more than two years, but had not patched the problems because it thought it had blocked the obvious attack vectors. In a post to the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) blog, Mike Reavey, the group's operations manager, said it might replace the version of Jet in Windows 2000, XP and Server 2003 SP1 to fix the flaws.
The Jet Database Engine included in Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 SP2 and the just-released Windows XP SP3 is not vulnerable to the attacks, and doesn't require replacement.
According to Microsoft's prepatch notification, which it issued Thursday, Microsoft will swap out the buggy Jet in Windows 2000, XP SP2 and Server 2003 SP1.
It also appears that Microsoft will fix Word to shut down that attack vector, said nCircle's Storms. "I have a strong feeling that they're patching both ends of the problem," he said. "They're covering all the bases, which is the right thing to do."
The single non-critical patch slated for release is a fix marked "important" by Microsoft that will affect the company's consumer and enterprise anti-malware products. The patch will address what Microsoft called a denial-of-service issue in Antigen, Forefront Security, Windows Live OneCare and Windows Defender.
Tools: Comments (0) |
Link to this news item | Send to a friend | Submit News
Posted by: Tweaker
Date added: 08:51, 8th May 2008
Source: Computer World News
The Internet Storm Center, which tracks online threats, warned Wednesday that a worm is infecting vulnerable Web sites with a database attack. Though relatively small by Web attack standards with about 4,000 reported infected sites, the assault adds invisible code to a site that can force visitors to download malware onto their PC. Bad PR, to say the least.
IMPORTANT: DO NOT visit the domain named in the following test, or any sites that show up on a Web search as having this domain listed in their pages' code (including cached pages). Doing so could infect your PC with malware.
To see if your site has been hit, run the following Google search: "site:your company domain (ex. pcworld.com) winzipices.cn." -- or search for that domain within your Web site's HTML code. If you find anything, let your IT know immediately. When I ran a search just now I saw sites for everything from insurance companies to cemeteries to universities that all appear to have been infected.
The worm uses a SQL injection attack, according to the ISC, but it doesn't yet know just what vulnerability is targeted. The attack highlights the importance of keeping your site secure. It's likewise critical to keep your own PC software up-to-date, as the ISC says visitors to infected sites can be hit via a known flaw in old Real Player software.
Tools: Comments (0) |
Link to this news item | Send to a friend | Submit News
Posted by: Tweaker
Date added: 00:52, 8th May 2008
Source: Beta News
McAfee is warning file-sharers that they may be at risk due to a Trojan horse posing as an MP3 or MPEG file.
The security firm said Tuesday that it had detected a half million instances of the malware since Friday, dubbed "Downloader-UA.h." It is calling the incident the most significant malware outbreak in three years.
Click Here
A check of McAfee's virus map showed the majority of infections have occurred in the US during the past 24 hours, although high rates of infection are being reported in Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Australia, and much of Western Europe.
It appears as if the files are located on Gnutella and Limewire under a variety of names. When loaded, the file redirects through the player to a download of a file called PLAY_MP3.exe.
Once this file loads, it shows up a EULA, and if accepted, the files "FBrowsingAdvisor" and "SurfingEnhancer" are installed. The file PlayMP3.exe is also installed, but instead of it being an actual local MP3 player, the application loads up a webpage with the Wimpy Flash MP3 player with several dozen songs available.
The two previous files are believed to load some type of adware, which instead of blocking popups like the EULA claims deliver them to the end user.
McAfee rated the issue a "medium" risk, the first time its given any piece of malware such a high rating since 2005.
Tools: Comments (0) |
Link to this news item | Send to a friend | Submit News
Posted by: Tweaker
Date added: 00:51, 8th May 2008
Source: Beta News
Recently, Opera's developers have been touting it as the most compliant browser with Web standards. Now they're using that as leverage to help introduce Dragonfly, a tool they hope will promote Opera as a kind of standards watchdog.
Easily among the most useful and well thought-out extensions to Mozilla Firefox has been Firebug, an add-on by independent developer Joe Hewitt which instantly converts any active Web site into a fully-fledged JavaScript/XHTML/CSS/DOM diagnosis studio. You can see why an element is parsed and laid out the way it is by pointing at it, and letting Firebug take you to the code in question. Up until now, no tool with similar functionality and reliability has existed within the browser context; Microsoft's Web development tools are centered around Visual Studio and Expression.
Today, it's Opera which is changing that picture, with the introduction of its own live development environment add-on called Dragonfly, whose alpha version was released yesterday. It's produced by the Opera team itself, is recommended for recent builds of version 9.5, and is being billed not only as a Web development environment but also as a standards conformance tool.
With Opera reportedly scoring very high or perfect in recent Web Standards Project conformance tests, its creators may see Dragonfly as a way to build Opera into more than just a browser, but a development tool in itself.
According to a blog post from Opera developer relationship manager Chris Mills yesterday, Dragonfly makes use of monitoring tools that are now actually built into Opera itself, called Scope. Like Firebug, Dragonfly includes a JavaScript debugger and CSS and DOM inspectors in a separate Developer Tools window, which also includes a command line that lets you interact with a JavaScript parser in immediate mode.
The script window permits line-by-line execution stepping through individual instructions or between procedures, with variable breakpoints. Once execution of JavaScript has reached a breakpoint and pauses, the window can give you a full report of the state of the page's DOM and the contents of any active JavaScript variables.
Perhaps most importantly, Dragonfly is capable of providing a very detailed error and warning report within its Console tab.
Tools: Comments (0) |
Link to this news item | Send to a friend | Submit News
Posted by: Tweaker
Date added: 09:02, 7th May 2008
Source: Computer World News
Microsoft has warned users updating to Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) that they won't be able to downgrade from Internet Explorer 7 to the older IE6 without uninstalling the service pack.
The warning first appeared in a post Monday to a company blog written by the Internet Explorer (IE) development team. Microsoft released Windows XP SP3 to Windows Update as an optional download Tuesday.
"If you choose to install XP SP3, Internet Explorer 7 will remain on your system after the install is complete," said Jane Maliouta, an IE program manager, in the blog entry. "Your preferences will be retained. However, you will no longer be able to uninstall IE7. If you go to Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, the Remove option will be grayed out."
The inability to downgrade to IE6 after installing XP SP3 was by design, said Maliouta, because the service pack includes newer versions of the old browser's files. If Microsoft had allowed users to revert back to the pre-SP3 version of IE6 -- the one saved on users' PCs when they upgraded to IE7, and until now what was used to back out of the newer browser -- Windows would have ended up in a "mixed file state," Maliouta said.
"This state is not supported and is very bug prone. To ensure a reliable user experience, we prevent this broken state by disabling the ability to uninstall Internet Explorer 7," she said.
Users who want to retain the ability to downgrade from IE7 to IE6 should uninstall the former before upgrading to XP SP3. Once Windows XP has been updated to SP3, users can then install IE7. That process allows for reverting to IE6 in the future.
"The restriction on uninstalling only applies to when you install a Windows Service Pack release on top of a standalone IE release," Maliouta said.
If Windows XP SP3 has already been installed, the only way to return to IE6 is to first uninstalled the service pack. At that point, IE6 can be restored on a PC that's been updated to IE7.
Tools: Comments (0) |
Link to this news item | Send to a friend | Submit News
Posted by: Tweaker
Date added: 08:59, 7th May 2008
Source: Beta News
After delaying the availability of Windows XP Service Pack 3 through its Download Center for one week after an incompatibility problem was discovered, Microsoft has now opened it up to automatic distribution.
SP3 actually was released last week, but in a limited fashion: by direct download, specifically through links on Microsoft's Web site, on its FTP site, and on services like BetaNews FileForum, as well as through retail and volume licensing channels. Now, consumers who use the Windows XP client and who have Automatic Updates turned on will be alerted to its availability, though Microsoft informed BetaNews earlier that SP3 should not yet have been made to be installed automatically. In other words, XP users shouldn't wake up one morning and find SP3 on their systems.
The delay, as it turned out, was triggered by an incompatibility discovered between SP3 and Microsoft's Dynamics Retail Management System, which is actually still being worked out. Customers with RMS are still being advised not to install SP3 until the problem is effectively resolved; Microsoft has yet to say exactly what the problem is.
Full story here.
Tools: Comments (0) |
Link to this news item | Send to a friend | Submit News
Posted by: Tweaker
Date added: 08:51, 6th May 2008
Source: C/Net News
Yahoo and McAfee plan to announce a partnership Tuesday under which potentially unsafe Web sites appearing in Yahoo search results will be flagged as risky.
The deal, an exclusive for Yahoo, uses McAfee SiteAdvisor technology to label a variety of potentially dangerous Web sites with red warning text and links to McAfee information about what risks the site poses. Among the triggers for a red warning message are sites that host spyware, adware, or virus-infected downloads; sites that have links to other Web sites with dangerous material; and sites that have a track record of harvesting e-mail addresses later used to send spam, the companies said.
The move, along with related technology at Google and protections now built into browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox, spotlights a gradual expansion of the war against computer attacks.
Mainstream computer security efforts began with antivirus software that runs on people's personal computers, spread to corporations that screen e-mails and other network traffic for dangerous traffic, and now is being built into the online search gateways that most people use to navigate the Web. Think of it as security software as a service.
Full Story here.
Tools: Comments (0) |
Link to this news item | Send to a friend | Submit News
Posted by: Tweaker
Date added: 08:48, 6th May 2008
Source: Yahoo News
When Yahoo Inc. holds its annual meeting July 3, expect fireworks from irate shareholders seeking retribution for the company's decision to remain independent instead of accepting a $47.5 billion takeover offer from Microsoft Corp.
The first signs of outrage flared Monday as Yahoo's stock plunged 15 percent in reaction to Microsoft withdrawal of its sweetened $33-per-share bid and two lawyers already suing the company's board vowed to amend their complaint to account for a "massive loss in shareholder value."
The breaking point in the 3-month standoff occurred over the weekend when Yahoo co-founders Jerry Yang and David Filo met with Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer after he had agreed to raise the software maker's bid by about $5 billion, or more than $3 per share. Yang and Filo said Yahoo's board wanted $37 per share a price the company's stock hasn't reached in more than two years.
In response, Ballmer pulled his offer off the table.
In an interview Monday, Yang indicated he had expected Ballmer to counter.
"We engaged with them and we wanted to find a way to get something done. But they walked," said Yang, who was named as Yahoo's chief executive officer 11 months ago.
If he wants to remain CEO, Yang probably will have to show his turnaround strategy is compelling enough to propel Yahoo's stock beyond $33 per share within a year.
Yang has promised that a more sophisticated and far-flung ad network will accelerate Yahoo's net revenue growth by at least 25 percent in 2009 and 2010, up from the recent pace of 12 percent increase.
"The company is doing better than three months ago," Yang said Monday. "I think in many ways this (takeover threat) has been good for us. We still have a lot of work to do to demonstrate that we can be successful, and I am focused on that."
But Yang's credibility has been undermined by Yahoo's repeated forecasts of better times ahead while its profits steadily eroded during the past two years.
"We are not willing to give (Yahoo) the benefit of the doubt that they can make meaningful improvement over the next three years," UBS analysts Benjamin Schachter, Heather Bellini and Abhey Lamba wrote in a joint research note.
If Yahoo stumbles, that could entice Microsoft to return with another takeover bid that would be more difficult to turn down.
Venture capitalist Todd Dagres of Spark Capital likened this approach to a crocodile's.
"Rather than try to eat its prey while it's warm and tough, (Microsoft is) dragging it down to the bottom of the river, sticking it under a rock and eating it later when it's cold and soft," he said.
Although Microsoft has publicly indicated it will focus on measures besides buying Yahoo in its effort to make its Internet division profitable, several analysts predicted the software maker will revive its offer in the summer or fall if Yahoo doesn't snap out of its two-year funk the weakness that exposed it to an unwanted takeover in the first place.
"Should the frustration of (Yahoo) shareholders come to a boil, we believe (Microsoft) could re-enter the picture, essentially playing the role of the white knight," analyst David Hilal of Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. wrote in a Monday research note.
With similar opinions reverberating through the stock market, Yahoo's stock didn't sink as dramatically as many analysts anticipated. But Yahoo shares shed $4.30 to close at $24.37, wiping out nearly half the gain they had made since Microsoft made its bid Jan. 31. The drop left the Sunnyvale-based company's market value about $12.5 billion below Microsoft's last offer.
Yahoo's stock price was $19.18 before Microsoft made its offer.
"I was expecting to see a more extreme reaction" to Microsoft's withdrawn bid, Stanford Group analyst Clayton Moran said. "Microsoft is trying to make it seem like it's not coming back (with another bid), but this somewhat muted reaction shows the market isn't buying it."
If Microsoft returned with a "real offer and a real proposal," Yang said, "we would be happy to listen."
Yang figures to get an earful from irate shareholders at the annual meeting. Yahoo finally set the meeting for July 3 after indefinitely postponing it in early spring as part of its effort to foil a possible hostile takeover attempt by Microsoft.
Tools: Comments (0) |
Link to this news item | Send to a friend | Submit News
Posted by: Tweaker
Date added: 08:48, 5th May 2008
Source: Beta News
In a statement issued late Saturday, Microsoft announced it has withdrawn its proposal to acquire Yahoo. Speculation surrounding the status of the $50 billion deal has escalated since Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell's deadline of last weekend passed.
"We continue to believe that our proposed acquisition made sense for Microsoft, Yahoo! and the market as a whole. Our goal in pursuing a combination with Yahoo! was to provide greater choice and innovation in the marketplace and create real value for our respective stockholders and employees," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in the statement.
advertisement
"Despite our best efforts, including raising our bid by roughly $5 billion, Yahoo! has not moved toward accepting our offer. After careful consideration, we believe the economics demanded by Yahoo! do not make sense for us, and it is in the best interests of Microsoft stockholders, employees and other stakeholders to withdraw our proposal," Ballmer continued.
"We have a talented team in place and a compelling plan to grow our business through innovative new services and strategic transactions with other business partners. While Yahoo! would have accelerated our strategy, I am confident that we can continue to move forward toward our goals," he said.
Kevin Johnson, Microsoft's head of platform and services who manages Web strategy, reiterated the company's progress. "We are investing heavily in new tools and Web experiences, we have dramatically improved our search performance and advertiser satisfaction, and we will continue to build our scale through organic growth and partnerships," he said.
Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock issued the following statement in response: "We remain focused on maximizing shareholder value and pursuing strategic opportunities that position Yahoo! for success and leadership in its markets. From the beginning of this process, our independent board and our management have been steadfast in our belief that Microsoft's offer undervalued the company and we are pleased that so many of our shareholders joined us in expressing that view. Yahoo! is profitable, growing, and executing well on its strategic plan to capture the large opportunities in the relatively young online advertising market."
Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang added that he was pleased Microsoft's unsolicited proposal was behind him.
Tools: Comments (0) |
Link to this news item | Send to a friend | Submit News
