It is reported the Asia Pacific Cable Network-2 (APCN-2) is suffering cable failure since April 7, 2005. This cable failure was happened in East Asia.

Source from The Star newspaper
Source from TMNet Streamyx

Until the moment I write this Site News, the service is still interrupted. However, only Asia readers from certain countries like Malaysia, Singapore, etc will have difficulties accessing my blog because the server of this website is residing in the US. Readers from outside Asia regions will have no problem at all browsing it. :)

One thing that makes me wonder is, from MSC (Multimedia Super Corridoor) website, MSC claimed

Malaysia is connected to the major submarine cable systems such as SMW3, APCN, APCN2, FLAG, SAFE and several smaller regional systems. These cable systems land in 4 different locations throughout Malaysia.

by MSC Malaysia

Now only one submarine cable (APCN2) is hit by outages, has made Malaysia’s broadband crawling since April 7, 2005.

Due to this sad incident, i’m having difficulties accessing to major websites residing outside Malaysia, hence, paralyzed me from writing any article here. Sorry for the inconvenience caused. :) I’ll think of other solutions if the problem is not solved by today or tomorrow.

Another good news for all 64-bit enabled CPU users (especially AMD64 users :) ), Tiny Software, Inc. has released a 64-bit Firewall for Windows, though it is still in beta version.

Tiny Firewall 64 performs native 64-bit protection of the host operating system. All protection of Tiny Firewall 64 is performed at the driver level making all protection of Tiny Firewall 64 active at the boot time before the system processes start.

Tiny Firewall 64 is available in public beta with the final release expected by May 2005. Tiny Firewall 64 supports all 64-bit platforms including AMD64, Intel EMT64 and Itanium.

For more information, please read from their website.

You can download Tiny Firewall 64 here, as well.

To 64 bit system users,

Anyone of you thinking of upgrading to or “test-drive” Microsoft latest WinXP Professional 64bit system?

If, yes, then you might want to read this preview.

The conclusion is:

Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Release Candidate 2 (RC2) is a rousing technological achievement, a near-perfect migration of Windows XP Professional to a 64-bit code base that doesn’t sacrifice performance for 64-bit capabilities. But while XP x64 is far more compatible with hardware and software than its Itanium-based predecessor, it is also not compatible enough to meet the needs of average users. Therefore, most XP users should stick with XP 32-bit through at least the end of 2005.

If you’re a technology enthusiast with the right hardware, however, XP x64 offers a chance to live on the edge in a way that hasn’t been possible for Windows users since the HCL-wielding days of NT 4. With XP x64, Microsoft has provided a superb technological base for the next several years, one that will likely become the mainstream computing platform during the Longhorn time frame. Like a faraway land full of treasure real or imagined in an age of explorers, XP x64 is there for the brave and foolhardy.

By Paul Thurrott

Wonder how a computer motherboard is made?

Take a tour of the manufacturing processes of Gigabyte motherboards.

This tour will cover :-

Page 1: How Motherboards Are Made: A Gigabyte Factory Tour
Page 2: Entering the Motherboard Factory
Page 3: First steps in Motherboard Manufacturing
Page 4: SMT Assembly Line
Page 5: SMT Process Continues
Page 6: Pick and Place Chipsets
Page 7: Convection Ovens for PCB
Page 8: In-Circuit Testing and Visual Inspection
Page 9: Gigabyte’s Enormous Automated Warehouse
Page 10: SMT Automated Reel Storage
Page 11: The Expensive Goods
Page 12: Manual Assembly (DIP) Line
Page 13: Installing Sockets and Ports
Page 14: Wave Soldering
Page 15: Flowing Over The Molton Solder
Page 16: Buffing and Cleaning
Page 17: Testing Stage 2: Full Hardware Tests
Page 18: Automated Testing Platforms
Page 19: Testing Stage 3: Burn In
Page 20: Final Motherboard Packaging

FBI agents in Los Angeles demonstrated current WEP-cracking techniques and broke a 128 bit WEP key in about three minutes.

Source

So, use WPA instead.

Needless to say more, check this out.

As the writter of the first comment written to this article: At least I am protected, because I use Thunderbird and Firefox !