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Thread ID: 24498	2002-09-12 09:20:00	thursday news	tweak'e (174)	Press F1

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78873	2002-09-12 09:20:00	Peer-2-Peer networks take up more than half internet bandwidth Globetechnology have published an article that states that peer-2-peer networks are taking up half of the internet bandwidth and that just having a program like KaZaA turned on can have you over your downlimit in two to three weeks. here's a chunk from the article: The real problem is the peer-to-peer software itself: The two main P2P networks, Kazaa and Gnutella, now make up an astonishing proportion of all Internet traffic, Mr. Morin says - about 40 to 60 per cent. It doesn't look that bad from the user's point of view; most people fire up Kazaa or Morpheus, look for a couple of songs, download them, then shut the program down, perhaps waiting politely until they have finished uploading something to some other user. Three songs adding up to maybe 10 megabytes - what's the big deal? The big deal is that we haven't been measuring the right things when it comes to bandwidth use. P2P networks, it turns out, are very messy. They have to find and then connect to four or more other computers directly, constantly send out repeated "I'm alive" messages to all of them, and send out and process search requests. In the other direction, they have to field connection requests from other computers, offer up search results of your shared folders, and generate other computer communication best described as "network chatter." The traffic increases geometrically for those who have programmed their software to act as a "supernode." P2P can generate as little as 5 kilobits per second in traffic, and as much as 150 kilobits per second for each single computer sharing a bunch of MP3s over a peer-to-peer service. At the high end, this means more than 1MB per minute, or 1.6GB per day. Consider that Sympatico allows 5GB in downloads and 5GB in uploads per month before new charges kick in, and you can see how quickly you can run up your bill. Interesting reading indeed. Check out all the details here (rtnews.globetechnology.com). Intel to use performance ratings Xbit labs is reporting (www.xbitlabs.com)that Intel may be on the way to adopting AMD's Quantispeed idea in the way it rates its processors. Read this snip from the report: Paul Otellini, the president of Intel Corporation, confirmed at IDF that the company will start using a kind of rating for their future processors. It is now officially stated that the biggest CPU-manufacturer in the world will introduce another metrics apart from the core-clock speed. Nowadays Intel with its flagman Pentium 4 processor is “ahorse”. The working frequencies of the Pentium 4 processor with its long pipeline grow really fast, and this feature is an indisputable trump of Intel. However, in case of CPUs based on other architectures the company may find out that their working frequencies appear considerably lower than those of Pentium 4 CPUs even though their performance will be higher. Now we can be confused about all speed ratings, when is a 2.8Ghz machine not a 2.8Ghz machine.......when its got Quantispeed. Battlefield 1942 version 1.1 patch out Before the game has hit store shelves Electronic Arts has already issued the first patch for the retail version of Battlefield 1942. The patch adds All Seeing Eye server browser support, fixes refresh rate locked to 60hz in Windows 2000 and XP machines, adds several icons in the in-game browser and more. grab the patch from the link below. Battlefield 1942 version 1.1 patch (download.gamershell.com) E-mail worm uses September 11 as bait A new e-mail worm has surfaced that uses the attacks of September 11 to reel in unsuspecting victims. The worm has the subject line All people and will appear to be from main@world.com (mailto:main@world.com), the email comes with an attachment titled 11September.exe and if executed, will start a mass mailing to all people found in Microsoft's Windows and Outlook address books. The worm is believed to have originated in Russia and has a low-level threat rating as it is buggy and will fail to work on many systems. read more on the virus over here (rss.com.com). Windows XP help centre request wipes your hard drive A serious flaw has been found in the Windows XP Help Centre request page. The page can easily and silently delete the contents of any directory on a PC. The exploit is extremely dangerous because it looks to the casual user just like a URL, and can be sent in an e-mail or set up as a link on a Web page. A write up of the exploitation can be read here (24.78.2.184) and you can test to see how it works by doing the following: To verify the exploit all you need to do is pop the following request into any address bar (IE, Win Explorer, etc): hcp://system/DFS/uplddrvinfo.htm?file://c:\test\* and the directory 'test' will be emptied after a couple of Help Center 'wizard' pages pop up uselessly to distract you. The example works as advertised, so anyone wanting to play with it should create a test directory with copies of files. Of course you can delete your entire root directory with this approach if you so choose. Or someone else's. To remove the problem you can install XP's SP1 or you can go to C:\Windows\PCHEALTH\HELPCTR\SYSTEM\DFS\ and find the file uplddrvinfo.htm and simply delete or rename it. A drawback with this method is that installing Microsoft patches later on may restore the file and settings. Read the whole messy story at The Register (www.theregister.co.uk). Mozilla version 1.0.1 Released The Mozilla project group has released version 1.0.1 of their web browser for download. The new release contains over 650 bug fixes, 25 security fixes and over 130 stability and data loss fixes. You can read more on what's changed at the Mozilla (http://www.mozilla.org/) homepage. Mirror 1 (www.mozilla.org) Mirror 2 (ftp.mozilla.org) Trillian 0.74 and Trillian Pro 1.0 released Trillian version 0.74 and Trillion Pro version 1.0, the replacement for many instant messengers including, Yahoo, MSN Messenger and AOL Messenger and integrated IRC client, have been released for download with the following changes: DirectIM Fixes IRC Vulnerability Fixes Trillian Bar Interface Mirror 1 (http://www.trillian.cc) Mirror 2 (www.ceruleanstudios.com) nVidia Linux Drivers version 1.0-3123 out Nvidia have released a new set of Linux Drivers Version 1.0-3123 with the following changes: Imporved SPEC Viewperf performance GeForce4 and Quadro4 Support (see products supported list) Support for Quadbuffered stereo on Quadro products Support for up to 16 monitors Linux Drivers (www.nvidia.com) Media Jukebox 9.0.055 Preview III released Straight after version 9.0.053 was released yesterday comes version 9.0.055 which includes the following list of changes: "General" file properties makeover -- grouped properties, can optionally show all fields, and several other enhancements "Image" file properties layout updated Image dimensions, import date, and a few other database fields added Search strings can now specify sort orders (for smartlists, etc.) -- documentation to follow Added several preset "Auto Smartlists" Lots of internal database improvments, like data-type validation, lists of "accepted" fields, editing for extended fields like lyrics, etc. Added ability to clear some database fields like replay gain, play count, etc. Playlist importing works again Track #'s weren't being saved / loaded properly from the file tags BPM saved / loaded properly in mp3's now Shuffle works again Added slider for image slideshow change frequency Column autosize messed up the first column Playback output settings wouldn't save As stated yesterday, Media Jukebox supports over 20 media file formats making it possible to play MP3, Windows Media, RealMedia, QuickTime, LiquidAudio, J. River's own secure format, MusicEx, and many other audio and video formats. MEDIA JUKEBOX also supports the latest streaming technology, like Shoutcast and Icecast. Media Jukebox 9.0.055 Preview III (ftp://ftp.jriver.com/pub/downloads/music/MediaJukebox90055.exe) Quintessential Player version 3.40 Build 35 Beta out for download A new version (3.40 build 35 beta) of the Quintessential Player has been released for download. Quintessential Player is a media player with support for MP3, CD Audio, Ogg Vorbis, WAV, VQF, MP+, Windows Media and streaming audio including SHOUTcast and ICEcast. This new version has the following changes: Fixed potential notify icon tooltip crash. Fixed potential id3 tagging crashes. Fixed lots of little bugs. Updated browser no longer auto-focuses on update. Updated stream title parsing in track editor. Updated failed to load tracks no longer displays message (will load as blocked tracks). Added service ops - opGetQueriesComplete. Quintessential Player version 3.40 Build 35 Beta (www.quinnware.com) FlashFXP version 2.0 RC3 Build 876 released A new version (2.0 RC3 Build 876) of FlashFXP the popular FTP and FXP client for Microsoft Windows 9x/Me/NT/2000/XP has been released for download with the following list of changes: - FlashFXP failed to start on Win95 if HTML Help was not installed, the required file hhctrl.ocx was not found. To resolve this problem the hhctrl.ocx dll is no longer statically linked to FlashFXP. It is loaded on startup and handled safely if not found. If hhctrl.ocx is not found Help will not be available. - Fixed Integer Overflow in Hidden Nibbles game.. [reported by cynix] - Fixed Integer Overflow/Range in MD4/MD5 units. (Overflow checking should have been disabled in these 3rd party units as they were not designed to allow Overflow/Range checking) [reported by greatG] - When adding a Quick Connect site to the Site Manager it's bookmarks and stats are now copied. - Fixed for whatever reason the custom command help was missing, it's been added back. - Fixed Access Violation [reported by codex666] FlashFXP version 2.0 RC3 Build 876 (www.flashfxp.ws) Court allows Greek gamers to play on Found this new item over at BBC news regarding the ridiculous law passed by the Greek government: A court in Greece has thrown out the case against two internet cafe owners accused of breaking a law banning computer games. The ruling is the first of its kind in Greece and sets the courts on a collision course with the state. Legislation passed in July banned people from playing video games in public places like internet cafes as part of a drive to stamp out illegal gambling. The law has been criticised for not making a distinction between interactive gambling and computer games. The court, in its ruling, said the law was unconstitutional. Read more at BBC News (news.bbc.co.uk). Rambus making its way... out Intel looks to be finally phasing out RDRAM from it's PC and workstation chipsets and moving wholly to DDR SDRAM. Officials at Intel Corp. Analysts have said that although they are winding down the use of RDRAM at Intel, it will continue to be supported in the niche Intel market. This goes against what Rambus was stating at the IDF that they were going to be working with Intel on chipset support for faster 1,066-MHz RDRAM. You can read more on this over at Silicon Strategies (www.siliconstrategies.com). On nForce2 Based Mainboards Availability nVidia has announced that due to several motherboard developers currently have some problems with their nForce2 powered products, the release will postponed for a number of weeks. The issues mainly concern stability and are going to be resolved soon. nVidia has stated that the motherboards will be available by the time Athlon XP processors with 333MHz system bus are on the market. Read the full scoop at x-bit labs (www.xbitlabs.com). Canon to release 11 megapixels camera PCMag have scored this scoop on a new digital camera from Canon that will have 11 megapixel resolution. here's what they said: The press release was only on the Web for half an hour, but that was enough to let the cat out of the bag. Yesterday, on its European site, Canon accidentally posted a press release announcing a significant addition to its line of digital SLR cameras-the EOS 1Ds, a model that will offer higher resolution than any professional camera on the market. The release, dated September 24, wasn't supposed to reach the Web until just before the Photokina tradeshow, where the camera will be officially unveiled. Canon won't discuss the camera at length, but it has acknowledged that the release, though prematurely posted, was accurate. In addition to offering a resolution of 11.1 million pixels-today's leading digital SLRs afford half as many pixels-the EOS 1Ds will, according to industry sources, accommodate existing 35mm lenses without a change in effective focal length. The camera will likely sell for around $6,000. Read the whole scoop at PCMag (www.pcmag.com). Nero Burning Rom 5.5.9.9. Change log As reported last week a new version 5.5.9.9 of Nero Burning Rom is out and at the time a list of changes was unavailable, well now they are. Check them out below: Bug Fixes: Fixed wrong file filter mask for *.cda, which would cause .cda files not to show up in the add file dialog of both, Nero and Nero Express. Fixed bug with showing / hiding menu entries. Bootable disc fix: show correct medium size. Fixed UDF multisession support. 2nd and higher sessions on DVD-RAM in multisession mode are readable. Problem of detecting some Video CDs is fixed. Improved stability in case on unsupported burn-modes with some recorders. Nero Express: now remembers pause between tracks flag correctly. Nero Express: modality of font select dialog in language preferences was wrong. Nero Express: fixed problem of DVD-Copy with some media. Nero Express: show all files in open file dialog (also hidden ones). Nero Express: fixed CD-Copy problem with some media when source and destination drives are the same. Nero Express: fixed language change problem with more page toolbar. Nero Express: fixed CD Extra page ordering problem. Nero Express: fixed tool-tip problem on burn-settings page. Nero Express: save button on burn status page was not working all the time. Nero Express: deleting files in open file dialog now moves them to the waste basket, instead of deleting them immediately . Nero Express: changing into folders of saved compilations didnt always work. Nero Express: open file dialog combo box shows the right drive / folder now. New: Added several new recorders. Made some improvements for multisession copy, this improves the copying of Photo-CDs. Added DVD-RAM support: formatting and writing. Configure recorder options button in Nero Express (if supported). Nero Express: select all option is implemented in "add file" dialog and on audio and video compilation pages. Nero Burning Rom 5.5.9.9. (www.nero.com) thx monty thy god (www.ozquake.com)	tweak'e (174)
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