As we have probably known, Microsoft officially unveiled its next generation Xbox “game and entertainment system” two weeks ago. Given the Xbox 360’s all-new PowerPC-based embedded architecture, the question arises: What operating system is embedded inside the Xbox 360?

The earlier Xbox (shown on the right) is based on a Pentium-family processor and is rumored to run a variant of Windows 2000. But the Xbox 360 has a completely different architecture, based on a custom triple-core IBM PowerPC processor along with other specialty silicon including a custom graphics processor made by ATI, plus 512MB of system DRAM. So, since Windows hasn’t supported the PowerPC architecture since Windows NT 4.0 SP3, and Windows CE also doesn’t support PowerPC, below are some questions to ponder:-

• Has Microsoft ported Windows XP to the PowerPC for the Xbox 360? Or, Windows CE?
• Does the Xbox 360 run a version of some off-the-shelf embedded OS, perhaps a variant of BSD UNIX?
• Does the Xbox 360 run a completely new embedded software platform developed specifically for Xbox use?

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What OS Runs Inside The Xbox 360?

U.K.-based Web security firm Netcraft on Wednesday released a Firefox plugin of the anti-phishing toolbar that’s been available for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer since December 2004.

Netcraft toolbar, which installs as a Firefox extension, or plug-in, automatically blocks suspected phishing sites identified by other users and verified by Netcraft. The company’s database of Web site information is also used to display several attributes of any visited site, including its country location, longevity, and popularity.

Basically, Netcraft anti-phishing system consists of a user interface implemented as a toolbar (a small program that is active whenever the user is using a web browser) and central servers, able to respond quickly to large numbers of requests as each user moves around the web. The central servers are managed by Netcraft and hold the information about URLs and sites provided by the Toolbar community and Netcraft.

At the moment, Netcraft Toolbar can be used simultaneously with Google Toolbar, but not fully compatibled with MSN Toolbar.

Download Netcraft Toolbar

[Source]

Google WebAccelerator has been launched in the beginning of May, and now Google has decided to stop accepting new user for registration of the service.

Quoted:
Thank you for your interest in Google Web Accelerator. We have currently reached our maximum capacity of users and are actively working to increase the number of users we can support.

Hopefully, Google will reopen the registration for new users soon. :)

Last night around 11pm GMT+8, when I was recommending Google Adsense to one of my friends, I searched in Google for its URL. I found that the first link appeared in the search result was not
www.google.com/adsense/,
instead,
www.all-in-one-business.com/adsense/ was.

Coincidentally, JenSense blogged about “Google AdSense Site Hijacked” too.

Quoted:
Yes, the first result for “Google AdSense” and “AdSense” goes to www.all-in-one-business.com/adsense/, which if you click it, goes straight to the Google AdSense main index page. And if you watch the redirect fast enough, you can see the www.all-in-one-business.com/adsense/ page sitting pretty with a PR9. The actual Google AdSense main page is a grey bar. The Google cache of the www.all-in-one-business.com/adsense/ page also shows the Google AdSense index page.

Anyway, this is the first time I see Google program’s URL has been hijacked in its own search results. :D

You think hacker (or cracker, by right) will just come into your PC and browse around without doing anything bad?

Now you have more to worry as hackers have found a way to lock up the electronic documents (any format of the file) on your computer and then demand a ransom for their return !!

Quoted:
Security researchers at Websense, an internet security company based in San Diego, uncovered the unusual extortion plot when a corporate customer they would not identify fell victim to a virus that encrypted documents, photographs and spreadsheets. An e-mail was later sent demanding $200 for the digital keys to unlock the files.

This security problem has brought FBI’s attention. FBI said the threat was unlike other internet extortion crimes. The virus locked up at least 15 types of data files and left behind a note with instructions to send an e-mail to a particular address to purchase keys for unlocking the data. In an e-mail reply, the hacker demanded that the money should be transferred to an online bank account.

They also said that the hacker’s demand for payment might be his weakness, since bank transactions can be traced easily.

Quoted:
Joe Stewart, a researcher at the security firm Lurhq, said. “You’ve got to send the money somewhere. If it involves some sort of monetary transaction, it’s far easier to trace than an e-mail account.”

[Source]

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is going into the consumer electronics market with a new line of Geode chips for gadgets.

Quoted:
The new Geode LX800 is an energy-efficient processor for small computers, set-top boxes, TVs and handhelds, according to Chief Technical Officer Fred Weber. The chip runs at 533MHz and is said to provide the equivalent performance of an 800MHz processor from Via Technologies.

Geode chips only consumes about 0.9 watts and does not require heat sinks or fans !! As a result, it drives down the cost and the weight of the devices. Furthermore, it’s an x86 chip, so all the conventional software produced for desktops will run on it, unlike many CE chips. In other words, almost all the software we are using in our desktop computer is able to run on Geode chip.

Well, this is no doubt another good news from AMD. :)