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Submission + - Is Comcast Trying to Kill Torrents? (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by
Tech.Luver
Tech.Luver writes: "theinquirer reports, ( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/22/comcast_th rottles_bittorrent_users/ ) " " It looks like Comcast, America's biggest cable network, has put the squeeze on BitTorrent users. On Friday, the widely-read BitTorrent blog TorrentFreak reported that many Comcast users were unable to "seed" their BitTorrent downloads, which severely slows the exchange of music and video over the popular P2P protocol. Comcast has denied any-wrongdoing, but hundreds of BitTorrent mavens continue to complain. "Over the past weeks more and more Comcast users started to notice that their BitTorrent transfers were cut off," wrote Ernesto, the mononym behind TorrentFreak. "Most users report a significant decrease in download speeds, and even worse, they are unable to seed their downloads. A nightmare for people who want to keep up a positive ratio at private trackers and for the speed of BitTorrent transfers in general.""
Security

Submission + - Car Alarms Hacked (kuleuven.be)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers have broken KeeLoq, the security system that is used in many car alarms, e.g. Chrysler, Daewoo, Fiat, General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Volvo, Volkswagen, and Jaguar. While it would normally take decades to bypass the security, they pulled it off in just one day! More information can be found here.
Windows

Submission + - Vista poor network performance caused by MP3s (2cpu.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Over the past months since Vista's release, there has been no doubt about the reduced level of network performance offered compared to Windows XP. However, some users over at the 2CPU forums have apparently discovered an unexplained connection with audio resulting in an approximate 10% cap of total network throughput. Whenever any audio is being sent to a sound card, network performance is drastically reduced instantly. As soon as the audio is stopped, the throughput begins to climb to its expected speed. It's a tough one for users — what do you pick? Sound or speed? So much for multi-tasking.
Microsoft

Submission + - Skype Blames Microsoft Windows Update for Network (gizmodo.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: After recovering from a major crash this weekend Skype is now pointing fingers, saying that "the disruption was triggered by a massive restart of our users' computers across the globe within a very short timeframe as they re-booted after receiving a routine set of patches through Windows Update." Their official statement sounds like the BBC announcing the Nazi invasion of Poland.
Security

Submission + - Windows has fewer flaws than Linux according to MS

Submitted by Stony Stevenson
Stony Stevenson writes: Surprise, surprise — data collected by a Microsoft security researcher suggests that the company had to patch far fewer software vulnerabilities than competing vendors in 2007. A vulnerability report maintained by Jeff Jones, strategy director at Microsoft's Security Technology Unit, claimed that the firm's Windows XP, Vista and Server operating systems required patches for some 20-45 vulnerabilities each.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Workstation and Ubuntu Linux topped the list with roughly 170 and 150 vulnerabilities patched respectively. Red Hat's Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 received around 130 vulnerability fixes, according to Jon

It would be interesting to see an independant review of the method and results. Can anyone confirm similar experiences such as our good friend Jeff Jones found?
Media

Submission + - Was Reuters submarine photo lifted from movie?

Submitted by onnellinen
onnellinen writes: Finnish paper Iltasanomat reports that Reuters photograph of Russian submarine expedition was actually lifted from the movie Titanic. The story is only in finnish, but you can compare the images there. The Russian expedition used two Mir submersibles on the expedition. The same submersibles appear at the beginning of the movie. Reuters obtainet the photo from russian RTR television channel. Both submarines of the expedition are visible in the photograph. I wonder how no-one thought to ask: Who took the picture?
Privacy

Submission + - Dell catching on to the "No Trial ware" sc (dell.com)

Submitted by
certain death
certain death writes: "It looks like Dell is finally catching on to the fact that people do NOT want a bunch of "Trial Ware" on new PCs. They are now offering a PC named "Vostro" that comes stripped of the crapware and with either Windows XP or Vista installed. The initial config is a bit short on memory, coming with only 512 megs, but it seems they are listening to people now. This may be in response to the fact that Wal-Mart has started providing low cost computers with only OpenOffice installed, and no Trial software. The base model starts at $399.00 and comes with a 19" LCD. This is still a bit more than the Wal-Mart model, but perhaps better quality hardware. That remains to be seen.

From the Dell advertisement:

You spoke. We listened. Introducing Dell Vostro — not just a new line of small business PCs, but a commitment to do more for your small business. They're powerful, completely customizable and backed by dedicated small business-trained technicians. Right now, get a Vostro 200 Mini Tower powered by an Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Processor and complete with a 19-inch monitor for just $399. But hurry — this offer ends today!"
The Internet

Submission + - BBC Claims Open Source = unlicensed and unprotecte

Submitted by Buirseach
Buirseach writes: The BBC's The Today Programme ran an interview with the lawyer for Facebook, broadcasting his assertons that Open Source projects have no protection and no license, and so the creator of Facebook is perfectly entitled to halp himself to whatever code of theirs he wants. The news story is in relation to 3 university buddies of the founder of facebook sueing him.
Internet Explorer

Submission + - Open Addict blocks Internet Explorer users (openaddict.com) 2

Submitted by
derrida
derrida writes: "The popular website Open Addict, is now blocking Internet Explorer users from viewing the newly designed front page due to IE rendering bugs: "I'm tired of hacking workarounds for IE's bad implementations of standard technologies; Try to validate Internet Explorer's home page and see if you think Microsoft cares about standards". And the site admin goes one step further: "I'm going to take this a step further. Since IE sucks so much and actually hurts the adoption and use of web standards, I'm asking each of you that run a website to block IE.". Here is how you can do it."
Windows

Submission + - QuickTime plays havoc with RAID in Vista!

Submitted by Z00L00K
Z00L00K writes: This may be old news to some, but anyway...

According to an article there is a serious problem with Vista when Quicktime is used.

I thought I was just unlucky the first time but when something happens two times in the exact same fashion, you just got to check into it a little more.

System is Vista Ultimate 32-bit with RAID 10 on Intel ICH8R chipset. A couple of weeks ago I tried running a .mov file using Apple QuickTime software (latest version) and that is when things started to go downhill. The file seemed very slow to load and eventually QuickTime crashed after a lot of persuasion. Once QuickTime was closed, I was notified of a RAID error through the Intel Matrix Storage Console but the same thing will happen if you reboot during the lockup as well.
The problem here is that a rather normal application is able to cause data corruption on this level. This means that there is an obvious problem with Vista that can be exploited by malware.

Maybe it's the cause of "Beauty is only skin deep but ugly is down to the bone." from where I refer to that Vista has got a new skin of security but under the skin it's still the same ugly security handling.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Dodging H-1B Limits Via Canada

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Upset with not being able to import enough foreign IT workers into the US under the H-1B visa program, Microsoft is going to Canada to dodge the Visa limits. Microsoft will open a software development center in Canada this fall and stock it with "highly skilled people affected by immigration issues in the U.S." Microsoft said it plans to open the center near Vancouver, B.C., a two-hour drive from its Redmond, Wash., headquarters. A company spokesman said the facility will initially house 200 workers, "with room to grow." Is this another death knell for the American IT worker and his or her ability to make a decent living?
Microsoft

Submission + - Red Hat wants interoperability without patent pled

Submitted by AxminsterLeuven
AxminsterLeuven writes: Ars Technica reports on Microsoft's refusal to work with Red Hat on Windows/Linux interoperability, without Red Hat signing a patent deal first: "Linux distributor Red Hat wants to work with Microsoft to improve interoperability without signing a patent pledge, but Microsoft says that a mutual patent indemnification pact — like the controversial covenant not to sue that Microsoft established with Novell — is a prerequisite for collaboration."
Windows

Dell Warns of Vista Upgrade Challenges 287

Posted by kdawson from the if-not-putting-on-the-brakes-at-least-getting-off-the-accelerator dept.
Mattaburn writes with a story up on ZDNet UK reporting that Dell is warning businesses of the migration challenges that lie ahead as they move to Vista. The article notes what an unusual step it is for a company of Dell's size to be "toning down its sales pitch for Microsoft's Vista operating system" — particularly because "one of the issues the hardware vendor is warning business about is the extra hardware they will need to buy." Quoting: "'They need to be looking at the number of images they will be installing and the size of these images,' said Dell's European client services business manager, Niall Fitzgerald. 'A 2GB image for each user will have a big impact.'"

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