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Patch Tuesday for November

Andrew Lyle — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:37:56 +0000

Microsoft is set to release six security bulletin patches this coming Tuesday. Three of the six have been labeled as Critical, Microsoft's highest security rating, and three more patches labeled as Important, the second highest security rating. The patches are due to release on November 10 and will focus on patching Remote Code Executions and DoS (Denial of Service) flaws in the Windows operating system. Four of the patches will be released for Windows, while two will patch Remote Code Executions in Microsoft Office.

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Danish students allowed use of internet during exams

Elliot Harrison — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:50:53 +0000

In a bizarre alteration of examination rules, the Danish government has taken the bold steps of allowing pupils full access to the internet during their final school exams, according to the BBC's technology page. Currently, a total of fourteen schools in the country are piloting the scheme and all schools are invited to do the same by 2011. It seems like a great deal of trust is put into the students themselves not to cheat. BBC News journalist Judy Hobson describes the Danish exam hall at Greve High School, south of Copenhagen as a strange place: "On the morning of the exam, the exam room the floor is covered in cables.

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No Doubt sues Activision over use in Band Hero

Matthew Hopson — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:04:21 +0000

Rock group "No Doubt" have filed a law-suit over the band's appearance in Band Hero, Activision's latest spin-off of the Guitar Hero video game franchise. The group contend that the game has transformed them into "a virtual karaoke circus act," singing the songs of other bands. In the suit filed on Wednesday in Los Angeles Country Superior Court, No Doubt allege that Activision broke the contractually agreed use of the in-game likenesses of band members Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal, Tom Dumont and Adrian Young. Band manager, Jim Guerinot said, "The band are bitterly disappointed that their name and likeness was taken and used without their permission. They agreed to play three No Doubt songs as a band. . .

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TechSpot: Turn Off your Display Using a Windows Shortcut

Julio Franco — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:53:18 +0000

Although it may seem unnecessary at first thought, there is some practicality in having a software shortcut to instantly turn off your monitor. It could prove very useful with notebook computers, if yours doesn't have a keyboard shortcut for shutting down the screen. It could also be convenient in the presence of multiple monitors, your power button might be broken, or you may indeed just be that lazy. Whatever the case may be, setting up a Windows shortcut to turn off your display(s) couldn't be any easier with the help of a small utility called Wizmo. But the power of Wizmo doesn't stop there. In our weekly tip we will illustrate a single one of this utility's potential uses.

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MW2 dedicated server petition suspect, server capped at 9v9

Joshua Seed — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:21:29 +0000

Speaking in an online chat with the Best Buy community, Infinity Ward's Mackey McCandlish and Ryan Lastimosa discussed the petition for dedicated servers in Modern Warfare 2 and also let slip that servers across all platforms will max out at eighteen players. When asked if there will be dedicated servers added later, the developers had this to say: "We feel the PC game is great in it's current form. We put a lot of work into IWnet in an effort to make the PC experience better for our users. We believe MW2 is better than CoD4:MW. The reason iw.net exists is to improve the gameplay for our users.

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10 Ways Vista is more annoying with Windows 7 available

Brad Wardell — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:43:15 +0000

We all know Windows Vista got a bit of a bum rap. Its biggest sin was that it shipped earlier than it should and its reputation has never recovered. However, with Windows 7 now out, those of us who have to switch between PCs now find ourselves discovering completely new things about Windows Vista that are annoying -- because they are things that Windows 7 made so much better. Here's our list... #1 "Program not responding" Windows Vista loved to throw programs under the bus for not responding. This was especially true of Windows Explorer which regularly would fade out a window because it was trying to access a network resource.

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Walmart: Xbox Arcade and $100 gift card for $199 on Nov. 7

Sam Symons — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:15:07 +0000

Rumors have been going around recently regarding a supposedly upcoming Walmart deal, in which an Xbox 360 Arcade will be up for offer, along with a $100 gift voucher, for $199. All of a sudden this morning, the retailer has confirmed the deal, scheduled to hit on Saturday, November 7. According to Kotaku, the deal will last for just one day, and is part of what will be regularly weekly deals leading up to the retail bonanza that is Black Friday. As noted by Walmart, the sale will begin at 8:00 AM, and will (as mentioned) last for just one day.

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Microsoft cuts 800 more jobs

Brad Sams — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:58:33 +0000

Microsoft has confirmed that it will be cutting 800 jobs effective today. The jobs will be cut across many different product groups and about a quarter of them will come from the Seattle area. The final 800 cuts complete the announcement in January that the company would terminate 5000 employees over the following 18 months. Employees who are affected will be notified today. "Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had said in May that the company was almost, but not quite completely, finished with the planned 5,000 job cuts at that point.

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Sophos: Windows 7 vulnerable to 8/10 viruses, FUD alert

Dave Legg — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:14:56 +0000

FUD - Fear, uncertainty and doubt Yesterday, a senior security advisor at Sophos, who is responsible for working with the security community and communicating information on security threats to IT professionals, posted an entry on his blog entitled "Windows 7 vulnerable to 8 out of 10 viruses". Given the bad publicity that surrounded the launch of Windows Vista, is this yet another failing on the part of Microsoft that will lead to poor adoption of the Windows 7 platform?

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HTC HD2 available in Europe today, US 2010

Tom Warren — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:49:48 +0000

HTC has officially confirmed that the HTC HD2 will be available today in the UK, Europe and Asia. The HTC HD2 is HTC's latest Windows Phone which includes the latest operating system Windows Mobile 6.5. The HD2 also comes with HTC's latest user experience, HTC Sense. Sense is based on the TouchFLO 3D interface found on older HTC models. Sense sits on top of Windows Mobile and provides extra functionality and an improved user interface for accessing common applications. According to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer: "Working with HTC, we've delivered great phones that help customers connect to the people and information they care about, wherever they are," said Ballmer.

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