I.T. & Business Solutions
Fans of the Rock Band series of games can soon purchase a fully functional, full size, stringed electric guitar that also functions as a game controller for Rock Band 3 Pro mode gameplay.
Read up on the Rock Band 3 Pro Guitar / Pro Bass Mode.
The Rock Band 3 Fender Squier Stratocaster will be available March 1, 2011.
The FBI has arrested a 23 year old Russian who allegedly sent 10 billion spam emails daily.
Oleg Y. Nikolaenko of Vidnoe, near Moscow had over 500,000 zombie computers under his control, and was able to send one third of all global spam.
The Wall Street Journal has written a detailed account of Nikolaenko’s alleged activities. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704377004575651232273336218.html
Microsoft has sold more than 2.5 million Kinect sensors worldwide for it’s Xbox 360 game console worldwide since launch 25 days ago.
Here is the full story from Microsoft. http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2010/nov10/11-29MSXboxBlackFridayMoPR.mspx
The following is from a tech article issued by ESET after ekrn.exe error messages were being displayed on Windows computers. These errors were displayed after the installation of virus signatures 5417 and/or 5418.
“Virus Signature Database Update 5417 and 5418 of ESET Security products NOD32 and Smart Security may have caused an “ekrn.exe” error. The update 5417 was released on September 2, 2010 at 10:23 CET (08:23 GMT) and was made to enhance a part of the scanning engine that deals with script malware. This error has in some cases caused “ekrn” crashing, systems not responding and threat notifications with blank name fields.
ESET has responded immediately to resolve the issue, releasing a corrected Virus Signature Database update 5419 at 16:33 CET (14:33 GMT). In most cases, updating your ESET security product and restarting your PC will resolve any issues you are experiencing as a result of this error.”
WordPress.org has today released a “hardening release” of their popular CMS. This brings the WordPress version to 2.8.5.
All WordPress users are advised to immediately update their sites to the new version. As long as you have version 2.7 or higher, updating now only takes seconds as it can easily be done within the WordPress dashboard.
The new version doesn’t appear to bring any new features, only security related changes. The release article states that:
The headline changes in this release are:
- A fix for the Trackback Denial-of-Service attack that is currently being seen.
- Removal of areas within the code where php code in variables was evaluated.
- Switched the file upload functionality to be whitelisted for all users including Admins.
- Retiring of the two importers of Tag data from old plugins.
Here is the link to the full release article:
http://wordpress.org/development/2009/10/wordpress-2-8-5-hardening-release/
On March 17 2009, Scott Forstall and Greg Joswiak from Apple unveiled the iPhone OS 3.0 update for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This preview event really shows just how much R&D Apple puts into their products. The presentation initially went through lots of marketing figures showing just how many millions of iPhone have been sold, and the figures are truly staggering.
Personally, I was keen to see what some of the 100 new features were that Apple has been keeping under wraps. This winter in Australia, here are some of the things iPhone and iPod Touch users can look forward to when they install the iPhone OS 3.0 upgrade. The update will be free for iPhone users but US$9.95 for iPod Touch owners.
Cut, Copy, and Paste – Yes that basic computing task that we just can’t live without. Cut, copy and paste will work within apps and across apps just as you would expect. Is there an “undo” I hear you ask. You bet there is. Just shake to undo.
When Apple were asked why it took so long to introduce this basic functionality, they said they wanted to get it right the first time. They’re not hinting that their counterparts occasionally get things wrong are they? 
Landscape Mode – If you think the current qwerty keyboard is a bit small, you’ll love the new landscape mode. In iPhone OS 3.0, you will now be able to use the virtual keyboard in landscape mode. This will work in key apps like Mail, SMS, Notes and the Stocks app as well.
Spotlight – Do you find searching your iPhone or iPod Touch cumbersome? To make searching easier and faster, Apple has announced a new app called Spotlight. Mac users out there will already be familiar with Spotlight, the search feature that is built in on all current Macs. Spotlight will be able to search through your Contacts, Calendar, Email, iPod Music, Notes and SMS.
Enhanced SMS – Apple has listened to their customers and have made some great changes to the SMS app as well. Changes like adding MMS capabilities. With iPhone OS 3.0 you will be able to send and receive typical MMS items like photos, audio and contacts. You will also be able to forward text messages.
Bluetooth Support – Improvements have also been made in bluetooth connectivity. The iPhone OS 3.0 will support things like stereo bluetooth, multiplayer gaming and more.
You can watch the whole presentation at http://www.apple.com/iphone/preview-iphone-os/
Microsoft has released version 8 of Internet Explorer. Microsoft claims that IE8 is faster, easier and more secure than previous versions of their browser.
People navigate through their online worlds in many ways, and improvements in new tabs and search box are just a few of the ways we’re helping make things faster. The new Accelerators in Internet Explorer 8 are there to do what the name suggests— accelerate the task at hand with fewer clicks and less frustration, blurring the lines between services and browser.
Internet Explorer 8 is available for Windows XP SP2 and SP3, Windows Server 2003 SP2, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Vista (RTM), SP1 and SP2.
Head over to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 page to check out the new features, view the how to videos and download your copy.
The long awaited release of WordPress 2.7 has finally happened. WordPress 2.7 brings numerous changes to the admin interface which are designed to make content creation even faster, easier and more enjoyable.
The list of enhancements to the WordPress 2.7 admin interface is quite comprehensive. Here are just a few that certainly make upgrading worthwhile.
The WordPress Team have made an introductory video available to coincide with the release of WordPress 2.7.
Head on over to the WordPress blog to see what all the fuss is about. http://wordpress.org/development/
Then head over to wordpress.org to download WordPress 2.7.
Do you use Google Gmail? Is so, you can now change the default Gmail display theme to one of many new variations. Changing the theme from the default allows you to customize the look and feel of your Gmail account.
For novelty value, some themes even change their look depending on if it’s day or night or even differing weather conditions. This is controlled by the location you set when you select the theme.
Changing themes is very simple. Just click a thumbnail on the themes tab the settings page, then save your settings.
Google is rolling out these new theme over the next few days to all their servers. It you don’t see the themes tab on your settings tab just yet, it wont be long.
Here are a few screen shots of some of the new themes.
U.S. based hosting company McColo has had its internet connectivity cut off. Security experts around the globe allege that McColo Corp from San Jose, California has of recent times been responsible for providing hosting space and internet connectivity for more than half of the global junk email which gets sent out daily.
Brian Krebs from the Washington Post wrote articles detailing that McColo has been allowing their web servers to be used for various types of illegal activities. These activities include the sending of billions of daily junk emails and hosting the command and control of huge botnets. These botnet control servers connect to compromised zombie computers and instruct them to send out billions of daily junk emails and deploy malware.
McColo’s upstream providers were Global Crossing and Hurricane Electric, however, “were” is the key word. Upon being presented with evidence showing the types of activities that McColo was participating in, these two providers severed the connection thereby disabling the ability of spammers.
This “disconnection” of McColo’s servers instantly showed a massive decline in spam levels globally. Likely this is only a temporary decline as the spammers will move on to other hosts, but at least the next few days or weeks we can all enjoy this decrease in spam.
Here are the links to Brian Krebs original posts.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2008/11/major_source_of_online_scams_a.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/12/AR2008111200658.html?nav=hcmoduletmv
