Sans has the tip that information on the critical Windows updates expected tomorrow from Microsoft has started to be released.
MS 05-54: Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer
This will hopefully patch the javascript issues…
MS 05-55: Vulnerability in Windows Kernel Could Allow Elevation of Privilege.
This would be a good thing for clamantivirus. eEye is considering “adopting” clamav for inclusion in their Blink product. The idea is that they would improve clamantivirus and then start integrating it as antivirus scanning functionality in their product. This would be really promising for the prospects of having clamav (clamwin) do real-time, on-access scanning on the windows platform.
It sounds like Microsoft Windows Vista will not support old DVD drives when it ships. By old, I’m talking about drives that don’t support the region selection limits that newer drives have. (In other words, they won’t support old drives that are effectively region free.) Supposedly this is because they lack the older drives to test.
I know it’s not an ipod… but I’m looking forward to hearing some word when Fronteir Labs releases their “Nexblack”. For background…. the nexblack is priced at around $89 (at the frontier labs store), but I’ve found $69 here. It’s a portable mp3/wma/wma with drm/ogg player (according to the spec sheet.) It uses AA batteries (2), has built-in recording, uses compactflash cards and according to the spec sheet will have a line-in (line-in recording as well). It also will have fm radio functions.
IBM’s “Workplace” will support the OpenDocument format according to ZDNet.uk They’re expected to aggressively promote their Workplace hosted productivity suite to governments in developing markets. The software will support OpenDocument early next year. The Workplace suite gives people ways to edit documents through a web browser. Files are stored on the server and there, rules can be set to allow/share/disallow access.
This will likely be a multi-part story because it turns out the solution was one of the more obscure things I think I’ve run into AND I thought it was worth “dumping” everything I found out in the process here for my own reference and anyone else wandering through. I have a customer that uses Microsoft Outlook 2003 and has selected to “leave messages on server”, then delete them when they’re deleted from the recycle bin. This normally works well, although I do recall one (or two) instances in the past when he got duplicates.
There are a couple articles out today (last few days) on the growing conflict between the ODF (Open Document Format) Microsoft’s XML. For starters, the ODF came about as a response/alternative to closed formats such as Microsoft’s. The concept is that it is in the public interest for information to be stored in formats that are open and accessible to anyone. Last week Microsoft fired a volley with a modification to the license for their MS Open XML. They hope the file format will become an international standard. The format is to be used for the next version of Microsoft Office.
ABC News has an article weighing in on the renewed browser wars in a comparison of the upcoming release of Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera. Basically, they say that those with little motivation to move from Explorer will have even less after the release of 7 (the user interface will be similar to the others…tabbed browsing, etc.) He does point out that the other browsers aren’t standing still.
InPhase Technologies (lucent spinoff) is readying an optical storage drive that can hold 300GB per disc. It’s expected to read and write 10 times faster than current DVD drives and uses “Tapestry holographic memory technology”. The discs are expected to be a bit thicker than DVD’s and about 13cm (~5.11 inches)
For those of you feeling somewhat cramped by the 4.5-9GB capacity of current single/dual layer dvds…. The inquirer has a story on what is coming…. Ricoh believes that by 2008 they can produce a 200GB optical drive that will be compatible with the Blu-Ray and HD DVD formats. The discs would have 8 layers (compared to Blu-ray/HD’s 2 layers).