BBC

"The number of malicious programs found online has reached an unprecedented high, say security firms. Reports vary but some estimates suggest there were five times as many variants of malicious programs in circulation in 2007 compared to 2006.

Security company Panda Software said it was getting more than 3,000 novel samples of so called malware every day. Criminals pump out variants to fool anti-virus programs that work, in part, by spotting common characteristics.

Security software testing organisation AV Test reported that it saw 5.49 million unique samples of malicious software in 2007 - five times more than the 972,606 it saw in 2006. AV Test reached its total by analysing malicious programs and generating a digital fingerprint for each unique sample. The organisation said the different ways malware can be packaged will mean some duplication in its figures, but the broad trend showed a steep rise. "

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DailyTech

"Silverthorne will enable ultra-mobile PCs to run full versions of Vista in a 2 watt total power envelope

There have been some interesting announcements from the International Solid-State Circuits Conference in San Francisco this week. Texas instruments, for example, introduced its new cellular chip.

DailyTech

"A number of new search types have been added in a public trial by Google 

With talk of a Yahoo-Microsoft merger hot on everyone's tongues and rampant speculation of how such a move would effect search engine leader Google, one common sentiment voiced was a general public dissatisfaction and disinterest with modern search engines ranging from moderate to severe. 

Bored with Yahoo?  Bored with Google?  Well, now you have a new option... Google experimental. Google Experimental looks to reinvent the search engine wheel and cast a fresh light on the problem.  It might not exactly be a party in your computer, or as much fun as the crysis, but the new engine does deliver on some unique premises.

Instead of viewing a simple list of results the new experimental search engine provides searchers with several options with which to view their results.  Aside from a list, users can view a map of results or a timeline with results chronologically organized.  From there users can apply special informational filters, to further pare down the information obtained."

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PC gamers moving to consoles for their online shooters

"Although the PC represents gaming’s latest technologies, gamers are flocking to consoles for their entertainment. No other company is more aware of this fact than Epic Games, maker of Unreal Tournament and Gears of War.

Once a hardcore PC games developer, Epic now finds itself split between computer and console development. Gears of War on the Xbox 360 was an instant success in 2006, but Unreal Tournament III failed to make the same mark on the PC in 2007.

In an interview with Guardian Unlimited, Mark Rein related one of his experiences regarding the shift of first-person shooters from PC to console. “When Call of Duty 4 came out, I heard some of our guys sitting around talking about the great game they'd had last night and I'm like, 'Hey guys, what server are you playing on? I'd love to come and join you,' and they said, 'Just send us a friends request,'” he said.

Could this be true? Maybe it is! PC online shooters are practically dead compare to console shooters, but PC online shooters wouldn't stand a chance vs console online shooters if the prices were less, with these high prices on these amazing consoles, the shooters for the PC may stand a chance to stay alive!"

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Assassin's Creed to make PCs sweat next month

"Ubisoft has officially announced a release time frame for the PC version of Assassin's Creed. The medieval assassination parkour simulator, which has already sold 2.5 million copies since its November release on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, is scheduled to hit PCs some time in March.

Folks intending to play the title on their PCs will likely want to invest in some upgrades first, though. Ubisoft posted the system requirements for Assassin's Creed PC last month, and the company recommends a 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon 64 X2 processor, 3GB of RAM, a 512MB graphics card with Shader Model 3.0 support, and a hard drive with 12GB of free space. The company also recommends that PC users play with an Xbox 360 controller instead of their mouse and keyboard.

Fortunately, There will be some extras to lure in gamers patient and motivated enough to play the game on their PCs. Ubisoft says the PC version of Assassin's Creed will incorporate content that isn't featured in the console releases. That content will include four new investigations, which will allow players to "explore the various locations of the Third Crusade," according to Ubisoft.

The PC version of Assassin's Creed shall be very interesting, will it be playable with a mouse and keyboard? Do you need a joypad to play it? No matter what the outcome, im sure it will be a top seller!"

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Dell quietly adds Penryn to its XPS M1330 notebook

"A month ago, Intel announced that it would be introducing a range of mobile Core 2 processors based on 45nm process technology this quarter. Today, we noticed that Dell has started offering 45nm Core 2 Duos as options in some of its XPS-series notebooks.

So far, only Dell's XPS M1330 13.3" ultraportable seems to be available with the new Core 2 Duo T8000 and T9000 chips. Inspiron notebooks are still only featured with 65nm chips, and oddly, so is the rest of the XPS lineup—even the XPS "Gaming Edition" models. Dell doesn't even offer 45nm chips by default in the M1330. Instead, users must select them on the system configuration page, which adds a premium to the laptop's price.

On the base $999 M1330, the 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo T8300 is a $275 upgrade over the default 1.66GHz Core 2 Duo T5450, while the 2.5GHz Core 2 Duo T9300 will cost folks an extra $400, and the 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo T9500 increases the notebook's price by a hefty $675. All four chips are based on the Penryn core and feature 800MHz front-side buses, 6MB of cache, and architectural improvements including SSE4 support. Clock-for-clock performance should be higher and power consumption lower than equivalent 65nm models."

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Ars Technica

"French tech website PC INpact is reporting that it got its grubby little hands on the exact release dates of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 as well as Windows XP Service Pack 3. According to a source, Vista SP1 is to be released on the night of February 18 while XP SP3 will be released on the night of March 23.

Although Microsoft has not given a tight timeframe for when to expect XP SP3, it did state earlier that Vista SP1 will be available in mid-March. The linked screenshots should be therefore taken with a grain of salt. It is possible that these memos were sent out before Microsoft delayed Vista to mid-March. Could it be that the Vista date is wrong but the XP one is correct?

Let's say that these screenshots were taken after Microsoft stated "mid-March." The dates in question are under the section "Required Implementation Date." What needs to be implemented? Based on the "Problem Statement" and the "Segment Impacted," it would appear that Microsoft wants to get vendors up to speed in time for the launches of the new service packs. The given dates are most likely the deadlines for getting the support teams on the same page; they might not be release dates for the new service packs at all.

I'm quite skeptical on these dates, but if a reader has further information, please don't hesitate to post in the comments."

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 CnetNews

"In a move to curtail retaliation by vengeful sellers in its feedback system, eBay plans to prohibit sellers from posting negative feedback about their customers.

Beginning in May, sellers will not be able to leave negative or even neutral comments about their customers, only positive feedback, said spokesman Usher Lieberman.

(Credit: eBay)Sellers are crying foul, saying the policy change isn't fair.

But Lieberman says some sellers have been abusing the system, retaliating against customers who leave them negative feedback. And that has left many buyers afraid to leave honest comments, or even use the site, period, he says.

"The No. 1 reason buyers cited for decreasing or ceasing their activity on eBay was negative unwarranted retaliatory feedback they received from sellers," Lieberman says. "There has been a four-fold increase in this over the last several years. It's cited as a bigger problem than even not receiving shipment."

Meanwhile, eBay is offering more solutions to protect sellers when customers don't pay.

The move is the latest in a series of changes that involves how search results on the site will be displayed and recently announced fees for listing items.

For the record, I have nothing but good things to say about the person I bought a white embroidered linen shower curtain from last month on eBay. "

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AnandTech

We review many LCDs, but the reality is that we don't review very many different LCD panels. The reason is simple: there aren't very many LCD panel manufacturers. Most LCD panels come from one of the top three panel manufacturers: AU Optronics, LG Philips, and Samsung Electronics. While there are minor variations in panel quality, if you choose a particular panel model and put it in two different LCDs, overall performance is likely to be very similar. Differences between panel models can be much greater, however, especially if the underlying technologies are not the same.

Besides the panel manufacturer, there are three panel technologies in widespread use: TN (Twisted Nematic), PVA (Patterned Vertical Alignment), and IPS (In-Plane Switching). MVA (Multi-domain Vertical Alignment) is also around, but without getting into the details we'll just say it's somewhat similar to PVA. All of these technologies can also have an "S-" prefix, which stands for "Super" -- indicating the use of an upgraded version of the original technology. (Nearly all modern panels are S-TN, S-PVA, or S-IPS, but we won't worry about that.)

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