SIGMAX Tech

Opera 9.5 Released

2008-06-17T03:30:00.008+08:00

Opera managed to launch its new release - version 9.5 a few days(12th June) before Firefox 3 Download Day(17th June).

Let see what are the new features and improvements.
At first glance, you can see there is a big revamp on user interface. The tab bar has a new modern vista-alike design, some useful View Bar functions now can be accessed right from the status bar, Add New Tab button is replaced with a smaller plus icon.

Top Difference - Click to enlarge

New Features
Quick Find: When you are typing on the address bar, it gives the suggestion of sites you searching for in a drop down menu, it is not only searches for title and url in history and bookmarks, it also searches for text contents inside history pages. This feature will also be implemented in Firefox 3 but it is called AwesomeBar and it doesn't includes the search of page contents.

Opera Link: Synchronization of Bookmarks, Personal bar, Speed Dial entries and Notes with other instances of the browser via Internet. What you need to do is create an Opera account, then follow by synchronization under File -> Synchronize Opera, and you can have your bookmarks, Speed Dial entries synchronized on Opera running on other PCs as well as Opera mobile browsers(Opera Mobile & Opera Mini). If Opera is not available on other PCs, you still have web based access to your stuffs by logging into your Opera account.

BitTorrent support: Built-in Opera Mail, RSS reader, chat, widget... is already more than a browser, and now even a BitTorrent clients.

Improvements
-Lots of performance, stability and memory improvements throughout the new engine

- Tab preview is even better now, besides the preview when hovering over tabs, now thumbnail preview is shown when you cycling through tabs with Ctrl+Tab or Mouse Right-Click+Mouse Scroll. Need to enable first under Tools->Preferences->Advanced

- Thumbnail preview of tab cycling

-Improved session manager -> added option to save only the active window as a session when multiple windows are opened
-Better content-blocking options
-Improved fraud protection includes advanced malware prevention and upgraded phishing detection technologies
-Added support for Extended Validation (EV) certificates.
-Quite number of changes in keyboard shortcuts, single-key shortcut such as Z/X to navigate history, 1/2 to switch tabs is disabled by default, setting can be found at Tools->Preferences->Advanced->Shortcuts
-Improved download dialog, no more file type confusion
-One more thing I noticed is real-time preview of changes in Appearance settings, e.g. when you tick Main Bar selection in Toolbars options, the Main Bar will show up immediately so you will have a preview of it before you confirm the change.

*Side panel toggle at the edge of windows is disabled by default, enable it under Tools->Appearance->Panels, so you can have access to the very useful panel, it also can be open/close by keyboard shortcut F4.

Opera a solid browser with superb speed and reliability, and plenty of features: Quick Find, Opera Links, Speed Dial, Session Manager, Tab Preview, Mouse Gesture, Download Manager, Mail client, Content Blocking, Site Preferences, Widgets, advanced controls and options... However still no luck on right-click support on some sites with Opera 9.5, e.g. Google products(docs, maps...)

Get Opera
Read Changelog

Going to try Firefox 3 in next few hours when it is available. Let's see which one is better...

Gmail can't be loaded in Firefox

2008-05-29T03:24:00.006+08:00

A few hours ago, I couldn't access my Gmail in Firefox, the mail loading process looped endlessly. However I was able to access my mail using basic HTML view.

- Loading runs into infinite loop

It was not an error on Gmail server as I had no problem logging in with other browsers. I guessed there must be something wrong with Firefox, so I cleared the cache in Firefox and in the end problem solved! Standard view of Gmail loaded successfully and everything run fine.
This problem is listed under Gmail Known Issues actually.
Have you encountered issues listed at there?

Heroes Happen {Here} Launch Malaysia

2008-04-11T01:51:00.014+08:00

Heroes Happen {Here} was a premier launch event held by Microsoft in KLCC, a launch wave which showcased and demonstrated the new release of Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008. The event was started with 3 hours long keynote, which featured opening speech, some videos, keynote presentation, demos on 3 new products, customers' stories(Cinema Online, Genting, Carsem), IT Heroes prize giving ceremony, and interview with people from HP and Intel. New features and technologies of Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008 were shown along 3 tracks(3 sessions per track), and as usual, Hands-on Lab was available for attendees to try out the new products. Besides that, Microsoft's partners and exhibitors like HP, Dell, Sun... had their booth set up for exhibition. There was also a Ask The Experts session where the speakers from Microsoft answered some toughest question thrown by developers and IT Pros attended that day.

Here are some shots from the event:

- We are the {Heroes}

- Keynote

- Exhibitor Booth

- Hands-on Lab

- Waiting for lucky draw announcement...

- One of the running track sessions

- Guess what they were queuing for... read on

- Windows Vista Ultimate with SP1 for free!
This is what they walked away after queued up so long to submit the complete answers in Amazing Heroes Race

- The package comes with this Vista Ultimate SP1 full DVD and a Windows Live disc which includes Windows Live Services and 90 days free trial of Windows Live OneCare.

It was a great event by Microsoft, besides Vista Ultimate, many free stuffs were given out on that day, e.g. Microsoft's books, training vouchers, MS wireless desktop, iPod Touch, thumbdrives, Trial CDs/DVDs, T-shirts... I think I haven't mention that this was a free event!

Interested to know how to play with new features of these products?
Here are the Heroes happen {here} Hands On Lab manuals.

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) Released

2008-03-19T21:16:00.005+08:00

Microsoft finally released the first Service Pack for Windows Vista. Vista SP1 includes all the security updates and hotfixes released to date and comes with quite number of improvements and changes. Users can expect improvements on performance, power consumption, compatibility, security and reliability from SP1, however some reviews on SP1 RTM showed negative results in some of the tests. More reviews on SP1 will be available after series of tests and evaluations, by that time we would able to see how good is SP1 performs.
Vista SP1 is available via Windows Update, a copy of it is also available for download at Microsoft Download Center, 434.5MB for version 32bit and 726.5MB for version 64bit.
Nevertheless, I would prefer a clean install with a copy of Vista+SP1.

Check out "Notable Changes in Windows Vista SP1"
Get Vista SP1

Quad-Core for Laptop In This Year

2008-03-16T01:26:00.004+08:00

Quad-core chips for laptops will be available in third quarter of this year, according to Intel. Intel quad-core chips will hit the scene after the launch of Centrino 2(Montevina) platform in the second quarter. The chips will be based on the Core 2 Duo microarchitecture and manufactured using 45nm technology. Some sites reported that the processors will be Core 2 Extreme QX9300.
Coming to the issue of laptop battery life, power consumption is still the concern because quad-core processors is more power hunger than dual-core processors.
Hydrogen fuel cell may be...

Intel Centrino 2(Montevina) Coming Soon

2008-03-13T00:39:00.002+08:00

Intel Centrino, the same name has been used as branding for all previous mobile platforms(Carmel, Sonoma, Napa, and Santa Rosa), finally the confusion with same platform naming is coming to the end when Intel branding its 5th generation platform(Montevina) - Centrino 2. Centrino 2 will based on 45nm new Core 2 Duo(2nd-generation Penryn) processors, and include Intel Mobile 45 Express chipset(Cantiga), the new features of the platform are support for 1066MHz FSB, DDR3 memory, and WiMax. According to Intel's roadmap, Montevina will be available in second quarter of this year.
Looking for a new laptop? Have the patience to wait for this...

Gmail Multiple Login

2008-03-10T01:06:00.006+08:00

Recently I and my colleagues are sending invitation letter to businesses for our Google Online Marketing Challenge and we are sharing a Gmail account that created just for this challenge. As usual, I will check the Sent Mail after a mail is sent, when I was looking at the Sent Mail, suddenly a new sent item appeared, and a few seconds later, another mail was sent and appeared on top of all sent mail. Mailbox hijacked? Of course no, one of my colleagues was logged in and sending mail at the same time. Just realized that Gmail(& others popular webmail as well) allow simultaneous login to one account from different computer or browser(session). Now I wonder is there a way to check or track simultaneous login...

Yahoo To Announce New Search Platform

2008-02-28T01:09:00.005+08:00

Yahoo is making its search better in order to compete with Google. After a revamp on the search last year(improvement on search result and new "Search Assist" feature), Yahoo is set to continue enhancement on its search with a new platform. Yahoo will soon provide more relevant information in images, reviews, addresses, and more you can think of in addition to the current search results(title, description, and URL). The new open search platform will allow third-parties to create apps for websites that can insert additional relevant information.
Example site like Yelp has added rating, contact information, additional links like reviews and photos to the particular Yahoo search.

Sample of Yahoo new search

Most Popular Search Terms in 2007

2008-01-07T02:41:00.000+08:00

Every year Google will studies the search queries people made over the year, and reveals the most popular search terms of the year.
Apple iPhone topped the search and proved it was the hottest topic in year 2007.

Here is the list of global fastest rising queries :
1. iphone
2. badoo
3. facebook
4. dailymotion
5. webkinz
6. youtube
7. ebuddy
8. second life
9. hi5
10. club penguin

And here is
Malaysia top gaining queries (November 2007) :
1. lee hom
2. jennifer love hewitt
3. c.ronaldo
4. mariah carey
5. um
6. nokia n95
7. nstp
8. 公主小妹 (a Taiwan drama series)
9. nurinjazlin
10. genting highland

UM was not in the top 200 of World University Rankings 2007 but it was one of the top searches in Malaysia.

Full details on Google Zeitgeist, there are more detailed statistics for U.S. region.
View Zeitgeist by country at Zeitgeist Around the World.
China Google(谷歌) has a very detailed search queries report of its own, covering from most popular search terms to searches conducted in daylight and searches conducted at night.
Read it here(in Chinese) :

Yahoo also came out with top trends in search in 2007 which categorized the top 10 search into 9 categories. Here is the top of each category :
Top news story - Saddam Hussein
Top environmental search - Recycling
Top troubled star - Britney Spears
Top in tech - YouTube
Top consumer call-back - Pet Food Recall
Top sports news - NASCAR
Top send-off - Harry Potter
Top on del.icio.us - Design
Top on Yahoo! Kids - Games

See full listing at Yahoo Top Trends 2007 .
Yahoo also shows other interesting statistics like list of top misspelled words, top searched auto manufacturers in 2007...
Check it out here.

Of course, for all the lists above, adult search terms were removed from the listing. We may see some interesting terms if the lists were not filtered.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2008

2007-12-31T23:11:00.000+08:00

PES series from Konami has been my favourite football game for years. What can I say about PES 2008? It is a big revamp of this series, added with new features but also missed some of the all-time features.
What I experienced in PES 2008:

- Total changed of menu interface, besides it shows the title and genre of songs that playing in background(which is similar to FIFA style...)
- Faster gameplay(passing/shooting)
- Improved facial animation of players, many of the faces are using new models(some of them not so "real" if compare to past series)
- Can see the fans in full 3D
- Can see the bench with substitutes and manager(a small box view of it when game is paused)
- Different angle of view for penalty shoot when playing as goalkeeper(Camera is behind goal where you can see the penalty taker)
- Better and longer replay (with zoom camera and motion camera, I still prefer motion view when turning the view around)
- The ball sounds too heavy
- New commentators, Jon Champion and Mark Lawrenson replaced Trevor Brooking and Peter Brackley - Improvement?
- Still very lack of licensed teams, e.g. Newcastle and Tottenham are the only licensed teams for Premier League

PES 2008 main menu

- Master League is added with headline's scenes(snapshots of match, fans, press conference...), popularity for clubs and players

Master League's Interface

Interface changed when club's popularity improved to B

- Improved ball deflection and ball rebounds more realistic like real football!
- Smarter goalkeeper (and more likely to come out from the box and play with the ball)
- Improved quick free-kick with no screen transition, fast free-kick can be taken when there is player around the ball after a foul
- The referee has real physique body, cannot penetrates through referee's body anymore
- New moves(Flip Flap, Sideways, Matthews Feint, ...)
- Shirt pulling sometimes can be seen when pressure on player(E/R1 + S/X)
- Able to set which players to go up(Max. 3), defenders/goalkeeper can be set to go up for attack when corner kick. Set the players under Setplay Settings
- Able to adjust the no. of player for wall build-up, by pressing Z/L2 + up or down button to increase or decrease the wall's player, now the wall can be built with max 10 players!

Compilation of headlines - The third one is funny...

- Facial import! Edit players' face by using picture/photo of your like! Import your own picture and become a top scorer. Picture also can be imported for jersey's chest logo, and I noticed the fans' jerseys will also change to the edited one

Strip is added with imported logo

- Diving!
Now your players can dive! While sprinting(E/R1), press Q/L1 + Z/L2 (or just press Q/L1 + Z/L2 + E/R1 together), and the player will fall on the ground immediately. I have tried to dive in penalty box for many times but most of the time got card shown because of diving, only 2 times were succeed to earn a penalty. Diving outside the penalty box also useful, a player was sent off because of 2 yellow cards, where both of the cards were resulted from my diving... Just make sure you dive in the right time and place(Just like real football) or else you get card from the referee. If you simply fall down on the pitch, the referee will show you yellow card without hesitation and award free kick to the opposition. However, there is one place you can dive as many times as you want- Your own penalty box. Referee wouldn't bother you because it's non-sense to award opposition a penalty if you dive in your own box. If you dive when shirt pulling happens(while attacking), most of the time you will win the dive. It is fun to dive, to fool the referee or make some funny act with your players!

It's not a cheat, it's one of the gameplay features

Shirt Pulling

According to Konami, there is a new AI system called Team Vision but I couldn't feel the real difference of it.

So what are missed:
- No more PES shop, that mean unlockable features inside it also lost together.
e.g. No more beautiful ball-effect, no more ride on ostrich or dinosaur as well as wear in penguin suit(PES shop is a real miss!)

Miss the war between dinosaurs and penguins

- No more referee option in exhibition mode
- No more penalty shoot-out match mode
- No more snow option in weather selection in exhibition mode, so far haven't see any match on snowy day
- Limited edit options if compare to past series, no more boot edit, no more drawing of logo, no more dog heads...
- Training mode not as complete as past series (where you can train almost every single move)
- No more match type option(Golden goal/Silver goal)
- No auto load of option file, need to load game settings in system setting
- No more random selection match

I was told that PES 2008 for PS3 and PS2 is different, looks like PS2 version is not included with all the new features and I heard that PS2 version got PES shop? PC has the same version with PS3 and X-Box.
PES has great gameplay and graphic but lack of licensed teams, I hope Konami will bring back the missed features and add more licensed teams in the next release.
So how is your experience with PES 2008?

This is my last post for year 2007, enjoy and welcome 2008...
Happy New Year!

Google Holiday Logos/Doodles

2007-12-25T02:23:00.000+08:00

Google creates custom logos to bring out the theme for holidays, special days and events.
As usual, Google will comes out with a "holiday doodle"(a series of logos) at the end of every year.

Google's Christmas doodle for this year, one last logo to be released in the next few hours.
Click on the picture to see the complete doodle.

Check out all the custom logos Google has created in the past. It is interesting to recall all the logos at a glance here.
Let see how many custom logos you have seen/missed in year 2007, it indirectly reflects how "addict" you are to Google.

Merry Christmas!

openSUSE 10.3 Released

2007-10-07T01:38:00.000+08:00

openSUSE - one of the well-known Linux distributions has released the final version of openSUSE 10.3. This final release is based on Linux kernel 2.6.22.5, the interface changed from blue back to classic green. It comes with KDE 3.5.7 and parts of KDE 4, SUSE-polished GNOME 2.20, a GTK version of YaST, 1-click-install technology, new and redesigned YaST modules, compiz and compiz fusion, virtualisation improvements, AppArmor 2.1 (openSUSE integrated Security Suite), OpenOffice.org 2.3, Xfce 4.4.1, Firefox, GIMP 2.2.17, faster boot time and more. Besides, it is fully installable with YaST on Sony Playstation 3.
More details on openSUSE 10.3
Here are some of the very cool screenshots:

- Splash Screen

- Shift Switcher

- Image Browser - F-Spot

- "Explode" Animation

- Cube with Gears

- Music Player - Amarok

More cool screenshots here

Download and try openSUSE 10.3 now, it's free.

GMail Flaw - Mailbox can be hijacked

2007-09-29T18:06:00.000+08:00

Hackers can make use of the vulnerability in Gmail filtering feature to get the current and upcoming mails of a user by forwarding all the mails to their desired mailbox.
According to Petko Petkov, a web vulnerability researcher, when a user visiting a malicious website while still logged into Gmail, a "multipart/form-data POST" will be performed to one of the application programming interfaces, followed by injection of filter into user's filter list, then the filter will send all the mails that match the rule, including future mails also. That means even the vulnerability is fixed by Google, the mails will be forwarded also as long as the filter is still there. See Gnucitizen for screenshots and details.
So check your GMail filter list under settings now.

USB 3.0 announced

2007-09-24T14:16:00.001+08:00

USB 3.0 is coming next year, around 7 years after USB 2.0 was first introduced. In IDF 07, Intel has announced that USB 3.0 will be released in first half of 2008. The speed of USB 3.0 will be 10X faster than USB 2.0, roughly 5 Gbps compare to 480Mbps, it is even faster than current SATA(3.0 Gbps) technology. USB 3.0 will uses fiber-optic cabling and remains backwards compatible with USB 2.0. Full specification of USB 3.0 will be announced when it is finalised next year, specs like power consumption, efficiency, CPU usage and cable length are what we expect it to improve.

Google Lunar X PRIZE

2007-09-22T17:55:00.000+08:00

Google together with X PRIZE Foundation offer $30 million to privately funded teams that can land a spacecraft on the moon. Grand prize $20 million will be awarded to the first team that successfully land a spacecraft on the moon & capable to rove the moon surface for minimum 500 meters and send video, images and data(1GB required) back to the Earth. Second prize $5 million will be given to the next team that completed the mission. Besides, bonus prize of $5 million will be awarded to the team that can complete the additional tasks. Google Lunar X PRIZE is open to all organizations around the world, anyone can participate in this competition. This is what Google and X Prize called Moon 2.0, the second era of lunar exploration.
Check out this video!

Microsoft Tech•Ed SEA 2007 in KLCC

2007-09-17T01:50:00.000+08:00

This year Tech•Ed SEA was mostly about Visual Studio Team System, SharePoint products and technologies, SQL Server, .NET, Silverlight, Expression Studio, WPF(Windows Presentation Foundation), WCF(Windows Communication Foundation), WWF(Windows Workflow Foundation), XNA, LINQ, System Center 2007, Office Communication Server 2007, VSTO, ASP.NET, AJAX, Open XML, Windows Live, Security, Forefront, Cardspace, Office 2007, Vista and Microsoft next trio releases - Visual Studio 2008, SQL Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 that across all the 7 tracks(WIN, DEV, EDM, OFC, ARC, SYS, WEB/UX) and 4 instructor led labs(IT Pro, DEV, .NET U, Hands on Lab).
There were also a lot of activities like Live Fest, guess my price contest, twin tower building contest, PC Games, Women In Technology, Sumorobot clinic and competition...

Some shots from the event:

Keynote session

The exhibition hall

One of the track session

Dinner served along the foyer on the first day

.Net University lab - too small...

Slides and manuals download at the Internet Cafe

One year earlier...

Collect the bot plans and build

Meet the .Net Bot after 100 minutes of hardwork

Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection Free Trial DVD

2007-09-09T14:38:00.000+08:00

I finally received the free trial DVD of Adobe CS3 Master Collection that requested about a month ago. The package is included with 3 DVDs which is Adobe CS3 Master Collection , Adobe Ultra CS3 and Adobe OnLocation CS3.

See what is inside the CS3 Master Collection disc, it is really a "master" collection!
It includes:
Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional, Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional, Adobe Contribute CS3, Adobe Dreamweaver CS3, Adobe Encore CS3, Adobe Encore CS3 Codecs, Adobe Fireworks CS3, Adobe Flash CS3 Professional, Adobe Flash Video Encoder, Adobe Illustrator CS3, Adobe InDesign CS3, Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended, Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 Functional Content, Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 Third Party Content, Adobe Soundbooth CS3, Adobe Soundbooth CS3 Codecs, Adobe Version Cue CS3 Server

- Installation

- 1GB of RAM is required for some of the applications in the collection

Full installation will consumes around 7.9GB of the harddisk space, and installation will take age to complete if full installation is performed. I think I will need some time to try out all the new products.

Windows Live Hotmail Upgrades

2007-08-16T03:20:00.000+08:00

Microsoft is upgrading Hotmail, one of the changes is the mailbox storage, increases from 2GB to 5GB for free users.

Besides that, other upgrades are:
- upgrades in performance and quality of services
- increase the time of junk mail and deleted items stay in mailbox
- show blocked content with single click
- contacts de-duplication feature -- prevent duplicate contacts
- phishing reporting feature
- able to forward mail from Hotmail account to other accounts
- option to turn off the Today page(MSN News)
- cobranded e-mail for organizations who uses Hotmail e-mail hosting
- auto vacation replies
- right-to-left languages support
- more space with smaller header
Read full story

Microsoft upgrades on Hotmail service keep it strong in webmail competition, with storage ahead of Google Gmail(2.8GB), but Yahoo still offering the most with unlimited storage.

I have several Hotmail accounts, one of it still is MSN Hotmail, just upgraded it to Windows Live Hotmail, and it is now 5GB and implemented with the new upgrades, but my existing Windows Live Hotmail still remains at 2GB with no new features.
Anybody has see the upgrades?

Microsoft Tech•Ed SEA 2007

2007-08-13T21:51:00.000+08:00

Microsoft Tech•Ed SEA 2007, one of the largest event in the year will be held at KL Convention Center for 4 days start from 10th to 13th September. The event is Microsoft's premier and largest annual conference in South East Asia(as stated Tech-Ed "SEA"), focuses on current and upcoming soon-to-be-released Microsoft products.

In this event, you get to learn about the latest products based on Microsoft technology in 100+ breakout sessions that based on 6 core technical tracks, and get hands-on experiences with the latest products from Microsoft and its partners. It is a good opportunity to learn from technical experts, hear from Microsoft's product team, listen to industry gurus, networking with peers, and enjoy food and drink in the event.

Check out new products like Windows Vista, the 2007 Microsoft Office System, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007, Windows Server code name "Longhorn", ASP.NET AJAX, Visual Studio 2008, Silverlight and more...

After "Change Your Destiny" last year,
"Prepare to make your mark" this year

Tech•Ed SEA 2007 promotions (Original price:RM1299):
-Register by 15th August save RM400 and stand a chance to attend Visual Studio Live! or Tech•Ed Europe
-Register in a group of 5 or more save RM100 for each person

The event is open to trade visitors for free on day 2 & day 3 from 2pm to 6pm.
Is there anyway to get into Tech•Ed for free? You can work as a part of the event, e.g. PC setup, event assistant, ... or become a journalist, Microsoft Student Partner, ... and ...

PIKOM PC Fair (II) 2007

2007-08-05T13:31:00.000+08:00

It was PC Fair again in KL Convention Center. Snapped some pictures and bought nothing...
Nothing much special in this PC fair, however PC.com and HWM offered great deal, first 100 subscriptions of their magazine came with DVD burner/bluetooth headset/wireless USB adapter...(PC.com), Altec Lansing speaker(HWM), plus dice roll(HWM) and wheel of fortune(PC.com). Kingston continued their anniversary redemption(phone strap & bag), and grand prizes were iPod Video, cellphone, watch and thumbdrive. Besides, Dell's offers also not bad.

- This thing looks familiar - see PC Fair (I)

- MSI Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Extreme mainboards

- Sony spent on double-storey booth
Blue-ray, Cyber-shot, VAIO, PSP, ...

- NEC - Nice Emitting Colour

- ASUS thermal solution for processor

- Big cooler small processor

- Toshiba lovely booth

- Front colour displays of Dell new Inspiron

- PC.com filled up their booth space with a truck

Quite disappointed with this PC Fair, price high, no freebies, no attractive promotions, and less beautiful "eyecandy".
Some eyecandy :
pic1-by Fattien
pic2-by Fattien
pic3-by chowchrist
pic4

Interesting Sights in Google Earth

2007-07-28T21:21:00.001+08:00

My Streamyx line is very unstable again, SNR margin fluctuating like hell since last 2 weeks. Few days ago, error 676 and 678 visited again, called TM, they said connection in Klang Valley area got problem and they were fixing it, but according to some of my friends near my area, they didn't face any connection issue. So how to explain? I faced error 676 and 678 for almost a day even when the line was stable...

Well, I am not plan to talk about Streamyx in this post, but I want to share some interesting sights that can be found in Google Earth.

No parking space?
(Google Earth coordinates 52.069207,4.3139865)

Ancient man listening to mp3
(Google Earth coordinates 50.010083,-110.113006)

Check out more at PC World - In Pictures: The Strangest Sights in Google Earth.
Of course, there are more than that can be found in Google Earth...

Flash.10.exe Removal Guide

2007-07-20T23:37:00.001+08:00

I separated the solution from the last post for better viewing

Solution:

Use HijackThis to scan and then remove the entries that contain Flash.10.exe, JambaMu.com, MSN.msn

Enable Folder Options that disabled by the malware:
Go to Run -> Type gpedit.msc -> Expand "User Configuration" -> Expand "Administrative Templates" -> Expand "Windows Components" -> Select "Windows Explorer" -> Double click "Removes the Folder Options menu item from the Tools menu" in the right panel -> Select Disabled

Alternative: Open regedit, go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer -> delete "NoFolderOptions" or "DisableFolderOptions" or similar key if it is there -> Reboot

Folder Options should be appeared now, go to Folder Options -> Select "show hidden files and folders" & uncheck "hide protected operating system files"

Go to C:\Windows\System32, delete Flash.10.exe, JambanMu.com, regedit.com, cmd.com, msconfig.com, ping.com, dxdiag.com

Delete My Secret.fold in My Documents, New Song.lagu & New Video.vidz in My Music, aweks.pikz & seram.pikz in My Pictures

Delete C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DAO\MSN.msn

Delete C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Macromedia.10.exe

regedit.exe and cmd.exe actually stay intact, it just disabled by the malware.

Enable regedit that disabled by the malware:
Go to Run -> Type gpedit.msc -> Expand "User Configuration" -> Expand "Administrative Templates" -> Select "System" -> Double click "Prevent access to registry editing tools" in the right panel -> Select Disabled

Enable command prompt(cmd) that disabled by the malware:
Go to Run -> Type gpedit.msc -> Expand "User Configuration" -> Expand "Administrative Templates" -> Select "System" -> Double click "Prevent access to the command prompt" in the right panel -> Select Disabled

Leave your comment on this solution, I need your feedback, does it helps?

NOD32 failed to detect Flash.10.exe

2007-07-14T01:45:00.000+08:00

Recently, Flash.10.exe is spreading through thumbdrive. It affects regedit, msconfig, cmd and removes folder options and generates Flash.10.exe and JambanMu.com under windows\system32 and some files inside Document and Settings and Program Files. NOD32 detected the autorun.inf that came with the malware inside thumbdrive but failed to detect the Flash.10.exe file. NOD32 only detected the files(regedit, cmd, msconfig, dxdiag, ping, JambaMu.com, MSN.msn, ...)as infected after the infection was made. NOD32 gave warning and deleted the infected files and ask the submission of infected files for analysis, it only has the option to close the warning dialogue. However damage already done and Flash.10.exe is still there, not detected as a threat. The Flash.10.exe executed even you explore the thumbdrive instead of directly open the thumbdrive. Flash.10.exe process that running in the background cannot be terminated inside Task Manager because it didn't appeared inside Task Manager, it only visible when using other process monitor like Process Explorer. Have to delete the malware manually and used HijackThis to clear the the rest of the malware. Folder options, regedit, cmd and msconfig have to be recovered.

*Solution has been moved to new post - Flash.10.exe Removal Guide

UPDATE (16th July):
I tried to infect my thumbdrive with this malware, this time it came with Flash.10.Setup.exe, scanner.exe, Flash Jokes.exe and autorun.inf in the thumbdrive. NOD32 detected all the files at this time. At another infected pc, Flash.10.exe and Macromedia.10.exe that running in the background can be seen in Task Manager after infection. Different from the case above.

Hotmail has javascript trojan?

2007-07-01T00:09:00.000+08:00

Hotmail contains trojan? One of the javascript loaded in Hotmail was identified as JS/Tivso.14a.gen trojan by NOD32. I think it only happens after NOD32 was updated to virus signature 2365 that released on 30th June. Strange thing is it detects nothing when using Firefox to open the website, but when I tried with IE, after few clicks on the left side menu, NOD32 shown alert when the javascript was loaded. Is it really a threat or NOD32 is just too sensitive?

UPDATE:
It was a false positive, there was a bug in virus signature 2365, problem fixed after updated to virus signature 2366(1st July) that just released.

UPDATE:
According to ESET, false positive was not totally solved, the generic signature covering JS/Tivso.13a.gen also would generate a false positive. Misdetection solved after virus signature 2368 was released. Details at ESET Threat Center Blog.

Dell new Inspiron - Santa Rosa inside

2007-06-28T22:36:00.000+08:00

Dell release new Inspiron series with new Centrino Duo platform - Santa Rosa(Details on Santa Rosa).
New Inspiron available in 8 colors, offering red, blue, yellow, green, brown, and pink colors besides black and white one.It also built-in with 2.0MP webcam.

New Inspiron series 1420 (14.1"), 1520(15.4"), 1720(17")
that built on Intel new Santa Rosa come with:

Processor of new Centrino platform(Santa Rosa) - T7100,T7300,T7500,T7700 with 800Mhz FSB or
processor from previous Centrino platform - T5250,T5450 with 667Mhz

965GM chipset with Intel GMA X3100 graphics or
965PM chipset for NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB or NVIDIA GeForce Go 8600M GT 256MB

Wireless 802.11n support (optional)

New Inspiron also comes with AMD. Inspiron 1521 is comes with AMD Turion 64 X2 processors and based on AMD ATI M690T chipset, integrated with ATI Radeon Xpress X1270 graphic. AMD Athlon 64 X2 will be available later for this model.

However gigabit LAN still not implemented in the new Inspiron.
Also notice that desktop product name is substituted from Dimension to Inspiron.

Fresh red brochure

Different color different face
(added 3rd July)

Wondering why Dell didn't show the graphic spec in the brochures. GeForce 8 series graphic is quite attractive...