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Thursday the 31st of December 2009

Welcome to the Helpforce Daily Briefing, on Thursday the 31st of December 2009

1. Virus Warnings
2. Daily Technology News
3. Latest Shareware and Freeware
4. FAQ for the day
5. Advice of the day
6. Internet Advice

This is a free service provided by Helpforce.com, to unsubscribe please visit http://www.helpforce.com
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1. Latest Virus Alerts From Sophos
---------------------------------------
Troj/Buzus-BZ on 31 December 2009 09:58:45 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojbuzusbz.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Agent-MBQ on 31 December 2009 07:46:39 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojagentmbq.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/PDFJs-GE on 31 December 2009 07:46:39 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojpdfjsge.html?_log_from=rss
W32/SillyFDC-EM on 31 December 2009 07:46:39 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/w32sillyfdcem.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Agent-MBO on 31 December 2009 04:38:05 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojagentmbo.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/DwnLdr-HZK on 31 December 2009 04:38:05 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojdwnldrhzk.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Spy-FB on 31 December 2009 01:19:23 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojspyfb.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/VBInjec-C on 31 December 2009 01:19:23 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojvbinjecc.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/FakeAV-AMY on 30 December 2009 22:45:23 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojfakeavamy.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/Kates-B on 30 December 2009 22:45:23 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojkatesb.html?_log_from=rss

2. Latest Technology News From Slashdot
-----------------------------------------------

-- DRM and the Destruction of the Book
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/4s89ZgLBycI/DRM-and-the-Destruction-of-the-Book)
Hugh Pickens writes "EFF reports that Cory Doctorow spoke to a crowd of about a hundred librarians, educators, publishers, authors, and students at the National Reading Summit on How to Destroy the Book and said that 'anyone who claims that readers can’t and won’t and shouldn’t own their books are bent on the destruction of the book, the destruction of publishing, and the destruction of authorship itself.' Doctorow says that for centuries, copyright has acknowledged that sacred connection between readers and their books and that when you own a book 'it’s yours to give away, yours to keep, yours to license or to borrow, to inherit or to be included in your safe for your children' and that 'the most important part of the experience of a book is knowing that it can be owned.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- NASA WISE Telescope Starts Taking Pics
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/Y_wlG5pKrmg/NASA-WISE-Telescope-Starts-Taking-Pics)
coondoggie writes "NASA said its Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer spacecraft successfully popped the cover off its infrared telescope and began 'celestial treasure hunt' mission of sending back what will be millions of images of space. The WISE lens cap served as a safety system keeping the ultra-sensitive lens and telescope system safe until the spacecraft positioned itself correctly in orbit. The cap also served as the top to a Thermos-like bottle that chilled the instrument. WISE's infrared telescope and detectors are kept chilled inside a Thermos-like tank of solid hydrogen, called a cryostat."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- An Inside Look At Warhammer Online's Server Setup
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/N8WnIL9_LXk/An-Inside-Look-At-emWarhammer-Onlinesem-Server-Setup)
An article at Gamasutra provides some details on the hardware Mythic uses to power Warhammer Online, courtesy of Chief Technical Officer Matt Shaw and Online Technical Director Andrew Mann. Quoting: "At any given time, approximately 2,000 servers are in operation, supporting the gameplay in WAR. Matt Shaw commented, 'What we call a server to the user, that main server is actually a cluster of a number of machines. Our Server Farm in Virginia, for example,' Mann said, 'has about 60 Dell Blade chassis running Warhammer Online — each hosting up to 16 servers. All in all, we have about 700 servers in operation at this location.' ... 'We use blade architecture heavily for Warhammer Online,' Mann noted. 'Almost every server that we deploy is a blade system. We don't use virtualization; our software is somewhat virtualized itself. We've always had the technology to run our game world across several pieces of hardware. It's application-layer clustering at a process level. Virtualization wouldn't gain us much because we already run very close to peak CPU usage on these systems.' ... The normalized server configuration — in use across all of the Mythic-managed facilities — features dual Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors running at 3 GHz with 8 GB of RAM."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Ten Gadgets That Defined the Decade
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/eSY7Kabt4cY/Ten-Gadgets-That-Defined-the-Decade)
Corpuscavernosa writes "As 2009 winds down and we try to come up with new and clever ways of referring to the early years of this century, there's really only one thing left to do: declare our ten favorite gadgets of the aughts and show them off in chronological order. It's arguable that if this wasn't the decade of gadgets, it was certainly a decade shaped by gadgets — one which saw the birth of a new kind of connectedness. In just ten years time, gadgets have touched almost every aspect of our daily lives, and personal technology has come into its own in a way never before seen. It's a decade that's been marked the ubiquity of the internet, the downfall of the desktop, and the series finale of Friends, but we've boiled it down to the ten devices we've loved the most and worked the hardest over the past ten years. We even had some of our friends in the tech community chime in with their picks on what they thought was the gadget or tech of the decade."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- BRINK Interview With Richard Ham and Edward Stern
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/PBzQbzl_LJI/emBRINKem-Interview-With-Richard-Ham-and-Edward-Stern)
unknown_gamer writes "BRINK turns out to be a lot more than just a regular shooter. The research behind the game — yes, there was research — turns out to actually be valid. Richard Ham and Edward Stern talk to Snezana about the actual scientific methods behind BRINK, the motivations behind the game, and about the game itself." A video up at Destructoid sums up the game briefly, and two others show an extended gameplay sequence. A preview from back in September at Rock, Paper, Shotgun explains BRINK in more detail. The game is due out Fall 2010. The developer, Splash Damage, seems willing to do a Linux port if the publisher, Bethesda, gives them the green light.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Russia Plans To Divert Asteroid
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/KUubdh50eHY/Russia-Plans-To-Divert-Asteroid)
CyberDong writes "Roscosmos, Russia's Federal Space Agency, will start working on a project to save planet Earth from a possible collision with Asteroid Apophis, which may happen in 2036. NASA specialists believe that the collision is extremely unlikely. Russian specialists will choose the strategy and then invite the world's leading space agencies to join the project."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- The Neuroscience of Screwing Up
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/xzgIQhMLYd8/The-Neuroscience-of-Screwing-Up)
resistant writes "As the evocative title from Wired magazine implies, Kevin Dunbar of the University of Toronto has taken an in-depth and fascinating look at scientific error, the scientists who cope with it, and sometimes transcend it to find new lines of inquiry. From the article: 'Dunbar came away from his in vivo studies with an unsettling insight: Science is a deeply frustrating pursuit. Although the researchers were mostly using established techniques, more than 50 percent of their data was unexpected. (In some labs, the figure exceeded 75 percent.) "The scientists had these elaborate theories about what was supposed to happen," Dunbar says. "But the results kept contradicting their theories. It wasn't uncommon for someone to spend a month on a project and then just discard all their data because the data didn't make sense."'"Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Boost a Weak 3G Modem Signal, With a Saucepan
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/HRK6udIt5pk/Boost-a-Weak-3G-Modem-Signal-With-a-Saucepan)
modeca writes "Using only commonly available kitchen equipment this guy demonstrates the amazing powers of an ordinary metal pan to boost the 3G reception of his USB modem. It really seems to work, check the right hand side of the graph in the video." It's not that crazy: cheap antenna boosting (for USB WiFi dongles, Bluetooth, and more) has been elevated to a fine art in New Zealand.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- USPTO Awards LOL Patent To IBM
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/E1JnzxBd9IA/USPTO-Awards-LOL-Patent-To-IBM)
theodp writes "Among the last batch of patents granted in 2009 was one for IBM's Resolution of Abbreviated Text in an Electronic Communications System. The invention of four IBMers addresses the hitherto unsolvable problem of translating abbreviations to their full meaning — e.g., 'IMHO' means 'In My Humble Opinion' — and vice versa. From the patent: 'One particularly useful application of the invention is to interpret the meaning of shorthand terms ... For example, one database may define the shorthand term "LOL" to mean "laughing out loud."' USPTO records indicate the patent filing was made more than a year after Big Blue called on the industry to stop what it called 'bad behavior' by companies who seek patents for unoriginal work. Yet another example of what USPTO Chief David Kappos called IBM's apparent schizophrenia on patent policy back when he managed Big Blue's IP portfolio."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Quantum Encryption Implementation Broken
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/Gc2LfffAwk4/Quantum-Encryption-Implementation-Broken)
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Professor Johannes Skaar's Quantum Hacking group at NTNU have found a new way to break quantum encryption. Even though quantum encryption is theoretically perfect, real hardware isn't, and they exploit these flaws. Their technique relies on a particular way of blinding the single photon detectors so that they're able to perform an intercept-resend attack and get a copy of the secret key without giving away the fact that someone is listening. This attack is not merely theoretical, either. They have built an eavesdropping device and successfully attacked their own quantum encryption hardware. More details can be found in their conference presentation."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Geoengineering a Snow-Free Winter Fails In Moscow
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/yz7QqFr-Ohs/Geoengineering-a-Snow-Free-Winter-Fails-In-Moscow)
dinoyum writes "Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov's promise of a winter without snow in the capital city has fallen short. While cloud seeding is not a new concept for Russia, often used on major holidays, geoengineering snow has never been done to that magnitude. Carrying off the $6 million procedure required jets to spray silver iodide into coming clouds, ensuring that all precipitation fell before it reached the capital. However a combination of disrupted radar, wind control, and faulty weathermen have been blamed by Luzhkov for his failed attempt at playing with mother nature. For now, Russia can go back to enjoying snow."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Impressive Robot Hand From Shadow
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/K_Bs_MbH2u8/Impressive-Robot-Hand-From-Shadow)
kkleiner writes "The Shadow Dextrous Hand is a robotic arm that allows for fine motor control and precise movements. It's accurate enough to pick up an egg, screw in a light bulb, or thread a needle. Even cooler, researchers can control it with a 'Cyber glove,' allowing for 24 distinct human movements that mimic the user's own hand. A British based company, Shadow, has been displaying the hand for several years now, and recently demonstrated its latest model at IREX 2009. The hand, toted as the world's most advanced, is available for sale to researchers (pricing has not been made public)."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- IDEs With VIM Text Editing Capability?
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/yRWxjSnN5cY/IDEs-With-VIM-Text-Editing-Capability)
An anonymous reader writes "I am currently looking to move from text editing with vim to a full fledged IDE with gdb integration, integrated command line, etc. Extending VIM with these capabilities is a mortal sin, so I am looking for a linux based GUI IDE. I do not want to give up the efficient text editing capabilities of VIM though. How do I have my cake and eat it too?"Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- The Rise of Machine-Written Journalism
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/yaNCeaIq66U/The-Rise-of-Machine-Written-Journalism)
Hugh Pickens writes "Peter Kirwan has an interesting article in Wired UK on the emergence of software that automates the collection, evaluation, and even reporting of news events. Thomson Reuters, the world's largest news agency, has started moving down this path, courtesy of an intriguing product with the nondescript name NewsScope, a machine-readable news service designed for financial institutions that make their money from automated, event-driven trading. The latest iteration of NewsScope 'scans and automatically extracts critical pieces of information' from US corporate press releases, eliminating the 'manual processes' that have traditionally kept so many financial journalists in gainful employment. At Northwestern University, a group of computer science and journalism students have developed a program called Stats Monkey that uses statistical data to generate news reports on baseball games. Stats Monkey identifies the players who change the course of games, alongside specific turning points in the action. The rest of the process involves on-the-fly assembly of templated 'narrative arcs' to describe the action in a format recognizable as a news story. 'No doubt Kurt Cagle, editor of XMLToday.org, was engaging in a bit of provocation when he recently suggested that an intelligent agent might win a Pulitzer Prize by 2030,' writes Kirwin. 'Of course, it won't be the software that takes home the prize: it'll be the programmers who wrote the code in the first place, something that Joseph Pultizer could never have anticipated.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Google Nexus Rumored To Cost $530 Or $180 w/Plan
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/YieWCY7pylY/Google-Nexus-Rumored-To-Cost-530-Or-180-wPlan)
wkurzius writes "The new Google phone, the Nexus One, is rumored to cost $530 unlocked and will work on any GSM network. A subsidized version is also available for $180 and will get you a T-Mobile Even More Individual 500 Plan for 2-years with a $350 termination fee. Access to the phone is supposed to be invite only at first, with January 5th being the supposed release date."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

3. Latest Shareware from Planet-Shareware
-----------------------------------------------

4. FAQ of the day from Helpforce
-----------------------------------------------

-- Error message when trying to apply Microsoft updates with wininit.ini
(http://www.helpforce.com)

Question: When I attempt to use Windows Update or to install Directx updates, I recieve the message, "Error Message: Windows Could Not Upgrade the File %1 from %2 %1: %2", following restart. I attempted to resolve this problem by using the procedure described at Microsoft Support, however, I cannot locate my wininit.ini file using file search (I made sure that hidden files box was checked and they were being searched). Wininit files are found with extensions of .err, .bak, and .exe. Next, I attempted to create a new blank wininit.ini file, which (if even sucessful) did not stop the error message. see {http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;283069}

Answer: Dear Josh,It is likely that the file wininit.ini does still exist but Windows Search does not show it.Windows ME onwards use a system called Indexing to make sure all files on your hard drives are in a database. The database is searched, not your actual hard drive so sometimes if the database is incomplete or not updated, files can be missed out.Hopefully, the following procedure will solve your problem:Open up the Command Prompt (Start > Run > 'command')Type the following commands:cd\dir /s wininit.iniAfter a time, you should see a list of wininit.ini's on your hard drive with their locations. Using Windows Explorer, navigate to these locations and manually delete (or rename) the files shown.Reboot your computer once more and then try the DirectX or Windows Update.Hope this helps.Please feel free to reply to this message if you require further assistance.Regards,-Lawrence Stromski, Helpforce.

5. Advice of the Day from ask-leo
-----------------------------------------------

6. Internet Advice
-----------------------------------------------

-- Emoticon of the Day(http://netforbeginners.about.com/b/a/258251.htm)

Emoticons, or 'smileys', are such a regular part of daily Internet messaging. Whether it's IM, email, discussion forums, Google Waving, or online game chat, all kinds of smiley icons surface....

Thank you for your continued support, please do not reply to this email address as emails will not be answered.

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