New details have been released for the second beta version of Skype 4.0. In this version, a compact screen view feature has been added. This view lets users toggle between smaller window and the larger default screen.

Better instant messaging alerts are also implemented to fix the problem that people have since they complained that they were unaware that people were trying to contact them when they turned off their alerts that show messages in their screens. Now, users will receive a pop up in the system tray when they receive IMs.

This beta version will be downloadable starting tomorrow.

Source: eWeek

A nasty web bug has been discovered by researchers from Princeton University according to The Register.

The websites that were attacked include ING Direct which is a global financial services company and New York Times, a newspaper site.

Both Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers are affected. The author of the article notes that ING’s secure sockets layer protocol was not able to prevent the attack.

“The vulnerabilities in the websites are severe, demonstrating the pervasiveness and importance of CSRF protection,” said the CTO of White Hat Security. SSRF stands for cross-site request forgery. Two CSRF holes existed in YouTube and MetaFilter.

Source: The Register

TiVo Inc. and Nero AG announced a new product that allows TiVo to work on a PC.

With this product, users can pause live TV and transfer shows that they have recorded to another computer. “With Nero LiquidTV/TiVo PC, we are providing a next-generation DVR application that integrates the renowned TiVo service with the PC,” said Udo Eberlein of Nero.

“This solution is truly a platform on which our vision for liquid media — where content can be easily accessed anytime, anywhere, and on any device — will become a reality,” he added.

This will cost consumers $199 and it will be released in North America on October 15. The article at Google notes that some programs right now can record television video such as the Windows Media Player.

Source: Google

A week ago, a member of the Technibble forums asked how to handle clients wanting to drop off their computers to his home office. Should he let them come to his home and go inside? or stick to only doing onsite work and pickups only?

Its a good question that most computer technicians need to think about when they first start in their home based office.

There were two differing opinions to this question. Some of the technicians said that they allow their customers to come into their house because it allows them to boot up the computer and see what problem the customer is talking about. They also use their office to show their customers that they are a serious business and not just some kid doing it for a hobby in his bedroom. These technicians feel that this reassures the customer and adds to their credibility.

The other more popular opinion is to allow them to drop the computer off at your house, but don’t allow them inside. I personally use this method and here’s why:
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Apcmag.com reports that the next Windows operating system will fix two minor features in Vista. They are the overcrowded taskbar and the shut-down menu.

Chaitanya Sareen of Microsoft wrote, “We did encounter some challenges with the power options in Vista’s Start Menu. The goal was to bubble-up and advertise the sleep option so that customers enjoy a faster resume. However, we now know despite our good intentions, customers are opening that fly-out menu and selecting other options. We’re looking into improving this experience.”

There are three things that are planned for the taskbar area which are:
1. Getting rid of pop-up notifications.
2. Tidying up the taskbar.
3. Changing the way of how the Desktop Toolbars work.

Source: Apcmag.com

The alpha version of Windows 7 will ship on October 27, about a month away from today. The date is based on the report that was posted at nbr.co.nz.

“There is a feeling in the industry that Microsoft has lost ground against our competitors. We’ve been taking a few punches recently without fighting back,” said Scott Wylie of Microsoft. He is local development lead for that company.

The October 27 date will coincide with their conference in LA. It will be the first major event of the post-Bill Gates era for Microsoft and Ray Ozzie, inventor of Lotus Notes will take the lead role.

Source: The National Business Review

Sophos posted a blog entry about a spam that uses YouTube to promote a dating spam.

These emails are sent by YouTube’s email alert service according to Prashant Kumar, author of the blog entry. Therefore, the emails contain a genuine YouTube icon and the message is written in the standard format of YouTube’s alert.

The link that is included in the email takes the user to a web page. The blog entry has a screen shot of a sample of what the web page looks like.

Kumar notes that Sophos blocks the link which prevents the user on having a YouTube hookup.

Source: Sophos

Hitman Pro is a freeware piece of software that controls both an inbuilt antivirus and a handful of other popular antivirus and anti-malware products such as Spybot, Ad-Aware, NOD32 etc..
After installing Hitman Pro and running it, it downloads the latest versions of various antivirus and anti-malware products, installs them, updates them to the latest definitions and starts scanning. Its the ultimate set-and-forget tool for complete security scanning. However, due to the time it takes to scan with all the different antimalware packages and the need for a broadband connection to download all the updates, its recommend that you use this application in your workshop only.

Hitman Pro can use the following software to scan for viruses and malware:
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The Register has posted an article that a round of screenshots has been posted to the web recently about the next Microsoft Windows operating system (OS).

The images were posted at ThinkNext.net but the site received a suit so the site decided to remove them. However, according to The Register’s article, people could see them at Windows7news.com at the moment. Austin Modine, the author of the article at The Register, notes that the next OS seems to be using the Office 2007 Ribbon interface in the Paint and Wordpad softwares.

A start menu, administration windows, Paint, Calculator, and Windows Media Player are shown in some of images.

Source: The Register

I have been looking at a special technician item called a “Top Deck Tech Station” (see right) for a few weeks andwondering whether I should order one from America until the other day when I discovered that a local supplier was stocking them so I picked one up.

So what is a “Top Deck Tech Station”? In the words of its makers it is:

The HSPC Tech Station (patent pending) is a fast-access  computer case  - a hardware workbench bringing PC components within easy reach yet keeping them safe and secure.

With tool-less storage for all PC components* it has solid non-conductive construction and lots of great features…
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