After more than a month I wrote “Yet another “Don’t Use IE” article“, today more holes are found in IE and yet no further information about the patch for it.

Well, please don’t say I anti IE or siding Firefox, I write my posts based on articles that I come across. If firefox developers are slow in patching the vulnerable application, I’ll sure turn to other better alternatives as well. This post is nothing special but just another “Critical Holes Found In IE” article.

Security consultants at eEye Digital Security, has discovered high-risk vulnerabilities in two of Microsoft’s most widely used software programs, Internet Explorer web browser and Microsoft Outlook email client. These flaw found are serious ones, and they warned that users of the 2 dominant applications were at risk of PC hijack attacks.

Qouted:
“A vulnerability in default installations of the affected software allows malicious code to be executed, contingent upon minimal user interaction,” eEye said in a notice posted on its upcoming advisories Web page.

Users running Windows NT 4.0, fully patched Windows 2000 and Windows XP (even with Service Pack 2 installed) are all vulnerable, the security-research firm told Microsoft.

Qouted:
Marc Maiffret, eEye’s co-founder and chief hacking officer, told Ziff Davis Internet News that the vulnerability carries the highest severity rating because of the “ease with which an attacker can compromise a vulnerable system.”

Anyway, Microsoft and eEye are working on a fix but unfortunately no further information on when it will be available.

[Source]

Good news for Dell X50 series PDA current and future owners,

Dell has just announced that it will offer a Windows Mobile 5.0 upgrade for the Dell Axim X50 series later this year. Currently, all Dell X50 series PDA are using Windows Mobile 2003. The next version of Windows for handheld devices does not follow the same naming system, like Windows Mobile 2003, which is widely used in PDA and smartphone today. Hence Windows Mobile 5.0 will be named instead of Windows Mobile 2005.

The following are some of the new features found in Windows Mobile 5.0 :-

• New mobile versions of Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
• Improved one-handed navigation.
• Better WiFi support for Smartphones.
• Support for “persistent memory”, which means that you won’t lose all your data when your battery dies.

For those who are considering getting Dell X50 series PDA, now do not have to worry about the lack of support for latest mobile operating system anymore. What a nice attempt done by Dell, again. :)

However, Dell did not say what the Windows Mobile 5.0 upgrade will cost yet.

[Source]

Well, robot dog soccer is one of five games that teams of scholars competed in during the 2005 RoboCup U.S. Open. RoboCup is a three-day competition, which ends Tuesday, May 10, 2005, is to develop software for better robots with the long-term goal of fielding a robot soccer team good enough to play a human team by 2050. Hahaha … I wonder how painful will it be when the human football player smack into the robot. :D

Anyway, in this robot dog soccer, the robot dogs by default are programmed to act like pets, but when programmers insert their own programs into it, the robot dogs search for the ball with the cameras in their noses, chase it, silently communicate with each other over a wireless network and ultimately try to put the apple-sized ball into the goal. One dog is programmed to be goalkeeper.

“RoboCup is primarily organized to drive software that will make really aware robots possible,” RoboCup U.S. Open Chairman Tucker Balch said. “Soccer provides a really nice testing environment. Everyone understands soccer so we don’t have to explain what they’re trying to do.”

[Source]

AnandTech has written a an article about the launch of AMD’s Dual Core Athlon64 X2, which will be taken place this coming May 31.

There will a total of 4 models of this dual core desktop processors, the details are as follows:-

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+
(2.4GHz w/ 1MB L2 cache-per-core) = $1,001 each
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+
(2.4GHz w/ 512KB L2 cache-per-core) = $803 each
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+
(2.2GHz w/ 1MB L2 cache-per-core) = $581 each
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
(2.2GHz w/ 512KB L2 cache-per-core) = $537 each

[Source]

Recently, two dangerous unpatched Javascript flaws have been found. Furthermore, the unpatched extremely critical security holes and exploit code has already been circulating on the Internet, according to sources.

The exploit, discovered by Paul of Greyhats Security Group and Michael “mikx” Krax, makes use of two separate vulnerabilities. An attacker could create a malicious page using frames and a JavaScript history flaw to make software installations appear to be coming from a “trusted” site. By default, Firefox allows software installations from update.mozilla.org and addons.mozilla.org, but users can add their own sites to this whitelist.

Mozilla Foundation confirmed that users may be vulnerable if they have added other sites to the whitelist. In other words, if you did not add in any site into the software installation whitelist, you are safe from this issue.

Anyway, firefox user can save yourself while waiting for the patch to be released by Mozilla Foundation, by switching off JavaScript in the meantime.

The following are steps to swich off JavaScript:-

1. Go to Tools, then click Options….
2. Select Web Features on the left panel.
3. Deselect the Enable JavaScript box.

[Source]

Since the launch of WinXP x64 last Month, peripherals manufacturers, like Logitech, are taking moves into 64bit too. Logitech said Thursday, May 5, 2005, that all of its mice and keyboards will operate at a basic level within Microsoft’s new 64bit OS.

“We are currently working with our OEM customers to ensure that our products requiring drivers are updated. Many of our OEM products are plug-and-play, as they are supported natively in the operating system, and do not require updates. To meet the needs of the early-adopter PC gaming market, Logitech has worked for several months to develop and test updated drivers for Logitech PC gamepads, steering wheels and joysticks. These updates are now available at www.logitech.com/downloads.”

New drivers will be needed for some peripherals in order to be supported in 64bit environment. Besides, more features and functionalities will be expected in 64bit-enabled peripherals, like button customization and configurations.

“Logitech’s consumer mice and keyboards currently have plug-and-play functionality if used today with a 64-bit system, as supported natively by the Windows operating systems,” Brinks wrote. “Logitech SetPoint software will be updated and available online beginning in June, giving our mouse and keyboard customers added levels of customization and button configuration. Also, we are in the process of updating drivers for many of our webcams so they can operate on 64-bit systems.