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Microsoft issued four security bulletins on Tuesday to fix five holes in Windows and Office, including a critical vulnerability in a Windows Help and Support Center feature that has been targeted by attacks.

The vulnerability in the online help feature, which is delivered with supported editions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, could allow an attacker to take control of a computer by luring a computer user to a malicious Web site. The bulletin has a severity rating of "critical" for Windows XP and "low" for Windows Server 2003, according to the advisory.

Microsoft and others criticized … Read more

Malicious hackers were found to be exploiting a hole on Tuesday affecting Windows XP that a Google researcher disclosed last week before Microsoft had a chance to fix it, the software giant confirmed.

There was "limited exploitation" of the unpatched vulnerability, Jerry Bryant, group manager for response communications at Microsoft, said in an e-mail statement. The exploits have been taken down from the Web, but Bryant said he expects there to be further attacks "given the public disclosure of full details of the issue."

"We want to reiterate that customers using Windows 2000, Windows Vista, … Read more

Recently, AT&T announced an eco-friendly cell phone charger called the AT&T Zero Charger.

The allure of this device is it automatically shuts down when not in use, offering what AT&T claims is "zero vampire draw" from the wall outlet. Vampire draw is a term for the power that devices draw out of outlets they are plugged into while they are turned off. AT&T's charger will be USB-compatible, making it practical for many of the phones on the market today.

Sure, a zero-draw charger sounds helpful. With that said, we … Read more

With music, there's no bright line between art and commerce. Ever since the dawn of mass media, when big-band radio shows were commercially sponsored, musicians have explicitly endorsed products or allowed their songs to be used in advertisements.

At the same time, there's a notion among some musicians and fans that rock 'n' roll is sacred, and that artists who sell their music to commercial sponsors are less talented or less deserving of fame and fortune. This notion ebbs and flows as the music industry changes and has been particularly strong in certain subcultures--particularly the original punks and … Read more

An unpatched hole in Java was being exploited to target visitors to a song lyrics Web site and more attacks are likely, researchers warned on Wednesday.

The flaw in Java Web Start, disclosed last week by several security researchers, affects Windows systems running Firefox and Internet Explorer, said Roger Thompson, AVG chief research officer. He said he couldn't get it to work on Chrome though, despite reports that it does.

Thompson found exploit code for both the Java hole and one in Adobe Reader on servers in Russia that was triggered by computers visiting English-language site Songlyrics.com. The … Read more

Wednesday's video was a basic overview of how to wire up an amplifier to your car stereo system. Well, today's clip is a practical demonstration of grinding grounds, soldering the terminals, and running the power cable from the front end of the car all the way to the back.

To run the wire from the front of the car where your alternator and battery are, you'll need to find or make a hole big enough for your wire to make it into the interior of the vehicle. (Don't worry, the narrator describes where to look for … Read more

Microsoft will release an emergency update on Tuesday for Internet Explorer that fixes nine vulnerabilities, including one that has been exploited in attacks on IE6 and IE7 systems, the company said on Monday.

Microsoft warned of the attacks three weeks ago, releasing Security Advisory 981374 during its most recent Patch Tuesday.

The zero-day IE hole could allow an attacker to take control of a machine if a user visited a malicious Web site. Users of IE8 and Windows 7 are not vulnerable to that particular flaw, Microsoft said in its bulletin notification. However, all current versions of Windows are listed … Read more

Moon Audio claims the Signature Titan was designed to outperform any speaker system in the world. It's a strictly limited edition of three pairs, and each pair is hand-signed by the designer. Each pair will also be named after its buyer and once the third pair is built, the Signature Titan is history.

Even by high-end audio standards the pricing structure is a little unusual: Signature Titan #003 can be yours for $500,000 per pair, but the cost for #002 doubles to $1,000,000! Sounds crazy, but #001 has already been sold for $2,000,000!

I spoke with Moon Audio's founder, Chris Moon, yesterday about the Signature Titan, and learned the speaker grew out of Moon's dissatisfaction with the world's best production speakers. He went out and built the Signature Titan just to see how far he could take speaker design. Moon isn't your average high-end guy, he told me that he discovered, recorded, and produced Prince, along with Morris Day, Alexander O'Neal, Dez Dickerson, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

Moon wrote and produced music for companies such as Northwest Airlines, music scores for films and television.

Moon claims the designers of the 72-inch-tall speaker have been involved in the high-end audio industry for 25 years. Installation and setup in the customer's home anywhere in the world is included in the purchase price. They better have strong floors; the pair of speakers weighs 2,800 pounds!… Read more

So you want to upgrade your current car stereo to a phat sound machine with specialty or aftermarket parts? Beyond your personal tastes and desires for items like a head unit, speakers, and woofers, you should probably be aware that you'll need to upgrade your battery and alternator; most production vehicles' electrical systems are not designed to run high-power aftermarket audio equipment. In fact, most vehicles' electrical power range lies between 600 and 1,200 watts--not much for a big, loud, fancy car stereo.

Once you've decided what exact pieces you want to install as your car stereo … Read more