Pentagon Hacked

The Defense Department took as many as 1,500 computers off line because of a cyber attack, Pentagon officials said Thursday.

Few details were released about the attack, which happened Wednesday, but Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the computer systems would be working again soon.

Gates said the Pentagon sees hundreds of attacks a day, and this one had no adverse impact on department operations. Employees whose computers were affected could still use their handheld BlackBerrys.

During a press briefing Gates said: “We obviously have redundant systems in place. … There will be some administrative disruptions and personal inconveniences.”

He said the Pentagon shut the computers down when a penetration of the system was detected, and the cause is still being investigated. When asked if his own e-mail account was affected, Gates said: “I don’t do e-mail. I’m a very low-tech person.”

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Chito Peppler, a Pentagon spokesman, said Defense Department systems are probed every day by a wide variety of attacks. “The nature of the threat is large and diverse, and includes recreational hackers, self-styled cyber-vigilantes, various groups with nationalistic or ideological agendas, transnational actors and nation-states,” Peppler said.

Microsoft’s surface computer

I found this cool article on reuters.com.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates unveils the Microsoft Surface, a tabletop computer that reacts to touch.

The 30-inch display screen is mounted under a plastic tabletop and will initially cost $5,000 to $10,000. It will, at first, only be available in select hotels, casinos, and T-Mobile stores in November.

War of the email providers

There was a time when there was only one email provider i.e hotmail. Then came the yahoo mail which attracted a huge number of users. And now we have the giant GMAIL which changed the way we used to look the emails.

I guess gmail was the 1st email providers to use the so called “loading” thing (you can compare it with the flash versions of other email providers -their so called “Beta”).

The best email providers in terms of their beta versions:

1.Gmail

2.Rediffmail

3.Yahoomail

4.Hotmail

There might be others also providing the flash version, as these days there is a rush of email providers.

You must be wondering why I have placed the rediffmail after the gmail. I personally tried these email providers in their beta version and i think that rediffmail deserves the 2nd position. It is fast and easy  to use and also there is no such thing that you have to use a particular resolution to access your email like yahoo do.

I  don’t personally like hotmail because it is always full of spam and also blocks most of the attachments according to its own wish and won’t let us open the attachments although there are still more users of hotmail than gmail.

WordPress features-little disappointing

Although wordpress is a great service with all the advanced features, but there are some essential features which are still lacking.

Some of them that should be included are:

• It should let the users try different fonts and color the text
• It should also include ad sense which is a great way of making money online

I love wordpress

This is my 1st post using wordpress and i simply love it. I was previously using blogger which every newbie use to know what blogging is all about, but if you want to use the advanced features wordpress is one that you must be using.

The most common features that i like about wordpress so far are:

1. Anti-Spam feature 

2. Widgets-that let you do almost any possible thing on your page as it is open source like the firefox plugins

3. Categories , although blogger now also supports categories but you have to enter them manually

The thing i will miss is the adsense . Yes wordpress won’t let you edit the html code but the blogger do. You can try to paste the adsense code using the text widget but they will eliminate codes like”<script>” so its useless. May be in the future they will incorporate this feature.

Orkut getting more buggier

Bugs in orkut are endless….although they say it is in beta , but there should be a limit for beta testing ….it can’t go on endlessly.

Most common type of bug:
You will always see some unread messages in your orkut inbox, although there can be no messages present their.

The other bug that i found today is that if you have more than 25 messages in your inbox , then you can’t see the 26th and above messages unless you have read or deleted the previous 25 messages.
You also cant see the last message although there is an option to see the last message but it remains unhighlighted.

Gaim upgraded to Pidgin

The not so common instant messenger GAIM which used to protect the yahoo users from getting booted is now called Pidgin. This new version has lot of added plugins and the best part is , it is also available for ubuntu .
Of course the most important feature of using the msn id, yahoo id, jabber and AIM simultaneously is always there.

Sony Unveils Whole House High-Definition Video Distribution System

Responding to growing demand for high definition video throughout the home, Sony Electronics today introduced the CAV-CVS12ES HD video distribution system during the Pacific Coast Builders Conference being held in San Francisco.

The new system distributes 12 zones of high-definition video throughout the home — via a single Cat5e wire per zone — and is fully integrated with the Sony CAV-M1000ES and CAV-M1000NR audio/video distribution system.

“With the rapid growth and popularity of HD video, custom installers are looking to integrate solutions that satisfy the desire for connectivity throughout the entire home,” said Neal Manowitz, director of marketing for Sony Electronics’ consumer systems and applications division. “The CAV- CVS12ES adds HD video to the Sony CAV-M1000ES audio system, allowing custom installers to deliver on the consumer demand for whole house HD distribution.”

Designed to distribute up to 12 source components throughout a home, the CAV-CVS12ES is a single-box solution that incorporates eight HD component video inputs (up to 1080p) and four composite video inputs with up-conversion for flexible device connectivity. High definition video content is delivered to up to 12 zones through CAT5e wiring, which is fed into a component adapter connected to the display.

The system also features IR and RS-232, making it ideal for integration with a variety of control systems. It will be available in September with a list price of $2,700 and can be purchased through authorized Sony installation dealers. The CAV-CVB1 Cat5e to component box will also be available in September at a list price of $129.

The CAV-CVS12ES high-definition video switching system features: — Full matrix switcher with distribution of 12 zones of HD over CAT5e; — Eight component video inputs (up to 1080p); — Four composite video inputs with up conversion; — IR and RS-232 control; — Designed for and fully integrated with CAV-M1000ES and CAV-M1000NR; — CAV-CVB1 Cat5e to component box at TV location; and — Five-year ES warranty.

The New Athlon Processor – AMD Is Finally Overtaking Intel

Back in October 1998 at the Microprocessor Forum in San Jose, California, the PC-world watched and listened in amazement to Dirk Meyer’s first presentation of K7’s or now Athlon’s architecture. It was quite obvious to experts as well to most other listeners, including Intel employees, that this new AMD processor would mark a new era in the processor world, if AMD could make its promises come true. Now finally, the waiting is over and we can look at a new processor that is indeed living up to all the positive expectations that arose at the end of last year.

Later on in this article you will find that the AMD Athlon beats the Intel Pentium III in virtually any benchmark we’ve ran, but before we get into those benchmark numbers, I’d like to take the time and explain why the concept of Athlon is indeed more than ‘just another new CPU’, but a milestone in the whole processor scene.

How to make a dynamic IP static

If you want to start your own FTP on home PC, but the problem you are facing is that your ISP provides you with the dynamic IP , then this could be a problem for you as you can’t change the IP again and again. The solution to your problem is http://no-ip.com.
For more info visit the site. It’s surely the best solution I can think of.