System.Data.OracleClient requires Oracle client software version 8.1.7 or greater

Problem
When usign System.Data.OracleClient with Oracle9i client, i got the following message while connecting to the Oracle database from and ASP.NET application.

System.Data.OracleClient requires Oracle client software version 8.1.7 or greater.

Cause
Security permissions were not properly set when the Oracle 9i Release 2 client was installed on Windows with NTFS. The result of this is that content of the ORACLE_HOME directory is not visible to Authenticated Users on the machine; this again causes an error while the System.Data.OracleClient is communicating with the Oracle Connectivity software from an ASP.NET using Authenticated User privileges.

Solution
To fix the problem you have to give the Authenticated Users group privilege to the Oracle Home directory.

Log on to Windwos as a user with Administrator privileges.
Start Window Explorer and navigate to the ORACLE_HOME folder.
Choose properties on the ORACLE_HOME folder.
Click the “Security” tab of the “Properties” window.
Click on “Authenticated Users” item in the “Name” list.
Uncheck the “Read and Execute” box in the “Permissions” list under the “Allow” column.
Re-check the “Read and Execute” box under the “Allow” column
Click the “Advanced” button and in the “Permission Entries” verify that “Authenticated Users” are listed with permission = “Read & Execute”, and Apply To = “This folder, subfolders and files”. If not, edit that line and make sure that “Apply To” drop-down box is set to “This folder, subfolders and files”. This should already be set properly but it is important that you verify it.
Click the “Ok” button until you close out all of the security properties windows. The cursor may present the hour glass for a few seconds as it applies the permissions you just changed to all subfolders and files.
Reboot, to assure that the changes have taken effect.
Try your application again.

AutoSuggestMenu 1.1 (ASP.Net with Ajax)

Eric Popivker has released AutoSuggestMenu 1.1, a .NET component for doing the old-faithful-autosuggest feature that helped to get Ajax on the map (pun intended).

Features

Attaches itself to a specified text box.
Utilizes Microsoft AJAX Extensions and JSON to retrieve data from the server.
Uses paging to iterate through a large number of suggestions
Enables user to use up/down keys or mouse to select appropriate item in auto-complete box.
Easy to add to existing ASP.NET applications.
Customize the look of auto-complete box using CSS.
Allows for multiple AutoSuggestMenus on one page.
Supports IE, FireFox and Safari.
All code and demos are included.
Totally free.

Ajaxed: Ajax for classic ASP

Are you writing classic ASP pages and want to join in the Ajax revolution too? Really? Well, Ajaxed is for you. The framework is simialr to xajax for PHP, in that it allows you to tie in to a named function on th eserver side.

It looks like this
JAVASCRIPT:
<!--#include virtual="/ajaxed/ajaxed.asp"-->
<%
set page = new AjaxedPage
page.draw()

sub init() : end sub

sub callback(action)
if action = "add" then page.return(add(page.RF("a"), page.RF("b")))
end sub

function add(a, b)
if not isnumeric(a) then a = 0
if not isnumeric(b) then b = 0
add = cint(a) + cint(b)
end function

sub main() %>

<script>
function added(sum) {
$('c').value = sum;
}
</script>

<form id="frm">
<input type="Text" name="a" id="a"/>+
<input type="Text" name="b" id="b"/>=
<input type="Text" name="c" id="c"/>
<button onclick="ajaxed.callback('add', added)" type="button">calculate</button>
</form>

<% end sub %>

Unleashing Web 2.0: From Concepts to Creativity

TITLE : Unleashing Web 2.0: From Concepts to Creativity (Paperback)
AUTHOR : by Gottfried Vossen (Author), Stephan Hagemann (Author)
PUBLISHER : Morgan Kaufmann publisher
ISBN : 0123740347
EDITION : 1st
PUB DATE : July 27, 2007
LANGUAGE : English

[ R e l e a s e N o t e s ]

The emergence of Web 2.0 is provoking challenging questions for
developers: What products and services can our company provide to
customers and employees using Rich Internet Applications, mash-ups, Web
feeds or Ajax? Which business models are appropriate and how do we
implement them? What are best practices and how do we apply them?

If you need answers to these and related questions, you need this booka
comprehensive and reliable resource that guides you into the emerging
and unstructured landscape that is Web 2.0.

* Presents a complete view of Web 2.0 including services and
technologies
* Discusses potential new products and services and the technology and
programming ability needed to realize them
* Offers how to basics presenting development frameworks and best
practices
* Compares and contrasts Web 2.0 with the Semantic Web Gottfried Vossen
is a professor of Information Systems and Computer Science at the
University of Muenster in Germany. He is the European Editor-in-Chief of
Elseviers Information SystemsAn International Journal. Stephan Hagemann
is a PhD. Student in Gottfrieds research group focused on Web
technologies.

* Presents a complete view of Web 2.0 including services and
technologies
* Discusses potential new products and services and the technology and
programming ability needed to realize them
* Offers how to basics presenting development frameworks and best
practices
* Compares and contrasts Web 2.0 with the Semantic Web

ASP.NET 3.5 For Dummies

ASP.NET 3.5 For Dummies

ASP.NET 3.5 For Dummies is an all new version of the popular title that
makes it easy for beginners to create dynamic, data-driven Web
applications on the Microsoft platform. Wherever possible the book
minimizes the amount of code you write by harnessing powerful
design-time tools built into Visual Web Developer 2008 and its free
version, Visual Web Developer 2008 Express. Where coding is required,
the author walks you through the details using familiar concepts from
everyday life. The book includes many examples of "geekspeak"
terminology so you'll feel comfortable in a conversation with
professional ASP.NET programmers. ASP.NET developers will benefit as
well because the book integrates the new features of ASP.NET 3.5 into
the text and sample code. These include LINQ queries, ASP.NET AJAX,
extension methods, Silverlight, and the new ListView control. Using
realistic examples in VB, you learn to create pages that incorporate the
major ASP.NET controls and features. Coverage includes:

- Microsoft's technologies for dynamic Web content
- Installing and using Visual Web Developer 2008 (Express)
- SQL Server Express and handling database tasks
- Generating ASP.NET pages based on a database
- Inserting, sorting, editing, and deleting data
- The ASP.NET AJAX UpdatePanel and the AJAX Control Toolkit
- Understanding LINQ syntax including From, Where, and Select
- Filtering data with the LinqDataSource control
- Creating interfaces with the ListView control
- RSS and the XmlDataSource control
- Master pages, style sheets, themes, skins, and dynamic effects
- Building a sitemap and connecting navigation controls
- Security, authentication, and data validation
- E-commerce shopping cart
- Rooting out bugs and handling errors
- Compilation and deployment

ASP.NET 3.5 Unleashed

ASP.NET 3.5 Unleashed
ASP.NET 3.5 Unleashed is the most comprehensive book available on the
Microsoft ASP.NET 3.5 Framework, covering all aspects of the ASP.NET 3.5
Framework--no matter how advanced.

This edition covers all the new features of ASP.NET 3.5. It explains
Microsoft LINQ to SQL in detail. It includes a chapter on the two new
data access controls introduced with the ASP.NET 3.5 Framework: ListView
and DataPager. With its coverage of ASP.NET AJAX, this book shows you
how to take advantage of Microsoft's server-side AJAX framework to
retrofit existing ASP.NET applications with AJAX functionality. It also
demonstrates how to use Microsoft's client-side AJAX framework to build
the web applications of the future: pure client-side AJAX applications.
All code samples are written in the C# programming language.

- Take advantage of Microsoft's new database query language, LINQ to
SQL, to easily build database-driven web applications
- Learn how to use the new ListView and DataPager data access controls
to build flexible user interfaces
- Take advantage of ASP.NET AJAX when building both server-side and
client-side web applications
- Use the AJAX Control Toolkit to create auto-complete text fields,
draggable panels, masked edit fields, and complex animations
- Design ASP.NET websites
- Secure your ASP.NET applications
- Create custom components
- Build highly interactive websites that can scale to handle thousands
of simultaneous users
- Learn to build a complete ASP.NET 3.5 website from start to
finish-the last chapter of the book includes a sample ASP.NET 3.5 web
application written with LINQ to SQL and ASP.NET AJAX

Download link

jQuery in Action (Paperback)

jQuery in Action (Paperback)
A good web development framework anticipates what you need to do and
makes those tasks easier and more efficient; jQuery practically reads
your mind. Developers of every stripe-hobbyists and professionals
alike-fall in love with jQuery the minute they've reduced 20 lines of
clunky javascript into three lines of elegant, readable code. This new,
concise javascript library radically simplifies how you traverse HTML
documents, handle events, perform animations, and add Ajax interactions
to your web pages. jQuery in Action, like jQuery itself, is a concise
tool designed to make you a more efficient and effective web developer.
In a short 300 pages, this book introduces you to the jQuery programming
model and guides you through the major features and techniques you'll
need to be productive immediately. The book anchors each new concept in
the tasks you'll tackle in day-to-day web development and offers unique
lab pages where you immediately put your jQuery knowledge to work. There
are dozens of javascript libraries available now, with major companies
like Google, Yahoo and AOL open-sourcing their in-house tools. This book
shows you how jQuery stacks up against other libraries and helps you
navigate interaction with other tools and frameworks. jQuery in Action
offers a rich investigation of the up-and-coming jQuery library for
client-side javascript. This book covers all major features and
capabilities in a manner focused on getting the reader up and running
with jQuery from the very first sections. Web Developers reading this
book will gain a deep understanding of how to use jQuery to simplify
their pages and lives, as well as learn the philosophy behind writing
jQuery-enhanced pages.

JavaScript Bible

TITLE: JavaScript Bible
AUTHOR: by Danny Goodman (Author), Michael Morrison (Author)
PUBLISHER: Wiley publisher
ISBN: 0470069163
EDITION: 6th
PUB DATE: April 09, 2007
LANGUAGE: English

[ R e l e a s e N o t e s ]

- Updated to include the latest coverage of JavaScript, including how
it fits into current Web browsers and applications as well as an
exploration of its interaction with XML data in Ajax
- This mammoth reference-tutorial-nearly 1,300 pages long-serves as
both a learning tool for building new JavaScript skills for newcomers as
well as a detailed reference for seasoned JavaScript developers
- Key components of the book include a core language reference,
document object reference, and coverage of Ajax, Firefox, and Mac OS X
Widgets
- Examines how to write scripts for mouse rollover effects and
powerful client-side form validations, master JavaScript and DOM
concepts, apply the latest JavaScript exception handling and custom
object techniques, and various deployment strategies that best suit end
goals

This sixth edition of javascript Bible represents knowledge and experience accumulated over ten years of daily work in javascript and a constant monitoring of newsgroups for questions, problems, and challenges facing scripters at all levels. My goal is to help you avoid the same frustration and head scratching I and others have experienced through multiple generations of scriptable browsers.

The job of a book claiming to be a bible is not only to present both the standard and proprietary details when they diverge, but also to show you how to write scripts that blend the two so that they work on the wide array of browsers visiting your sites or web applications. Empowering you to design and write good scripts is my passion, regardless of browser. It’s true that my bias is toward industry standards, but not to the exclusion of proprietary features that may be necessary to get your content and scripting ideas flowing equally well on today’s and tomorrow’s browsers.

Although this book doesn’t demand that you have a great deal of programming experience behind you, the more Web pages you’ve created with HTML, the easier you will find it to understand how javascript interacts with the familiar elements you normally place in your pages. Occasionally, you will need to modify HTML tags to take advantage of scripting. If you are familiar with those tags already, the javascript enhancements will be simple to digest.

Fortunately, you won’t need to know about server scripting or passing information from a form to a server. The focus here is on client-side scripting, which operates independently of the server after the javascript-enhanced HTML page is fully loaded into the browser.

The basic vocabulary of the current HTML standard should be part of your working knowledge. You should also be familiar with some of the latest document markup standards, such as XHTML and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). You don’t need to be an expert, by any means. Web searches for these terms will uncover numerous tutorials on the subjects.

TABLE OF CONTENT:
Part 1 - Getting Started with javascript
Part 2 - javascript Tutorial
Part 3 - Document Objects Reference
Part 4 - javascript Core Language Reference
Part 5 - Appendixes

Introducing Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX

About This Book:

•Understand the “AJAX lifestyle” fundamentals for creating interactive, responsive applications
•Use the Microsoft AJAX Library to support object-oriented JavaScript programming
•Access rich, sophisticated controls from the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit
•Apply extenders to add new client-side behavior to existing ASP.NET controls
•Implement partial page rendering without client-side programming
•Use ASP.NET built-in authentication and profile services from JavaScript
•Create server-side services that can be invoked from JavaScript

Code Samples
Download the Code Samples (15.6 MB)

System Requirements

You’ll need the following hardware and software to build and run the code samples for this book:
Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1, or Microsoft Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition or Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express (included with Visual Studio 2005) or Microsoft SQL Server 2005
600-MHz Pentium or compatible processor (1-GHz Pentium recommended)
192 MB of RAM (256 MB or more recommended)
Video monitor (800 x 600 or higher resolution) with at least 256 colors (1024 x 768 High Color 16-bit recommended)
Microsoft mouse or compatible pointing device

FFmpeg convert stream audio and video

FFmpeg is a complete solution to record, convert and stream audio and video. It includes libavcodec, the leading audio/video codec library. FFmpeg is developed under Linux, but it can compiled under most operating systems, including Windows.
The project is made of several components:

ffmpeg is a command line tool to convert one video file format to another. It also supports grabbing and encoding in real time from a TV card.
ffserver is an HTTP (RTSP is being developed) multimedia streaming server for live broadcasts. Time shifting of live broadcast is also supported.
ffplay is a simple media player based on SDL and on the FFmpeg libraries.
libavcodec is a library containing all the FFmpeg audio/video encoders and decoders. Most codecs were developed from scratch to ensure best performances and high code reusability.
libavformat is a library containing parsers and generators for all common audio/video formats.
Download
Lasted version mirror site
Example

Apple QuickTime Player
The following command lines produced QuickTime files that were playable with Apple QuickTime Player v6.5.2:
ffmpeg -i <inputfile.ext> <file.mov>
ffmpeg -i <inputfile.ext> <file.mp4>
These command lines will produce MPEG-4 QuickTime files with ISO MPEG-4 video and AAC audio. Note that AAC encoding support is external to FFmpeg and must be configured appropriately.
Another compatible format that Apple's QuickTime Player can handle is vanilla MPEG. The command line:

ffmpeg -i <inputfile.ext> <file.mpg>
will create a MPEG file with MPEG-1 video and MP2 audio.

“Beginning Ajax With ASP.Net” Released

Wrox Press has published "Beginning Ajax with ASP.Net" by
Wally McClure, Scott Cate, Paul Glavich, and Craig Shoemaker.

The book is suitable for Ajax newbies who work with .Net (as well as those who do have some Ajax experience), as the first five chapters are pure Ajax overview. Beyond that, several .Net frameworks are overviewed, including Ajax.Net, ComfortASP.Net, MagicAjax, and Anthem.Net, as well as three chapters devoted to Atlas. An often-overlooked, but essential, aspect of Ajax - debugging - is also covered.

The chapters:

1 Introduction to Ajax on ASP.NET
2 Introduction to DHTML
3 JavaScript and the Document Object Model
4 The XMLHttpRequest Object
5 Data Communication: XML, XSLT, and JSON
6 What Is Built into ASP.NET
7 Ajax.NET Professional Library
8 Anatomy of Ajax.NET Pro Library
9 Other Ajax Libraries for .NET
10 Atlas Client Scripting
11 Atlas Controls
12 Atlas Integration with ASP.NET Services
13 Debugging

More info:

Wrox Homepage

jQuery 1.2.3: Compatible with Adobe AIR

The jQuery team announced today the release of jQuery v1.2.3. Primarily a bug fix for v1.2.2, this new release also includes new features to make it compatible with the Adobe AIR runtime and SDK:

The primary purpose of this release was to fix a couple outstanding bugs from the jQuery 1.2.2 release. Specifically, this release is now compatible with Adobe AIR, will be included in Drupal 6, and will be the base for jQuery UI 1.5. A couple minor features, for plugin developers, were included in this release.

Downloading
jQuery 1.2.3:
jQuery Minified (15kb with Gzipping)
jQuery Packed (29kb)
jQuery Regular (94kb)
If you wish to checkout the full release from the Subversion repository, you can do so by following the instructions and checking out the source from the following location:

svn co http://jqueryjs.googlecode.com/svn/tags/1.2.3

Atlas becomes: Microsoft AJAX Library and ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions

Scott Guthrie has announced the "Atlas" 1.0 Naming and Roadmap, which includes the news that Atlas 1.0 will ship around the end of this year, that it will become "fully supported" by Microsoft, and that this means some renaming:

As part of releasing “Atlas”, we have also finally locked on an official set of product names that we will begin using moving forward. What was formerly called “Atlas” will now have a few names:

1) The client-side “Atlas” javascript library is going to be called the Microsoft AJAX Library. This will work with any browser, and also support any backend web server (read these blog posts to see how to run it on PHP and ColdFusion).

2) The server-side “Atlas” functionality that nicely integrates with ASP.NET will be called the ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions. As part of this change the tag prefix for the “Atlas” controls will change from to . These controls will also be built-in to ASP.NET vNext.

3) The “Atlas” Control Toolkit today is a set of free, shared source controls and components that help you get the most value from the ASP.NET AJAX Extensions. Going forward, the name of the project will change to be the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit.


Closing remarks

We are really excited about being able to get a fully supported 1.0 release out. It will be 100% cross-browser and cross-platform. It will simplify adding rich AJAX functionality to ASP.NET applications, and it will enable hugely improved UX for end users. Getting this functionality into your hands in the most flexible way possible is our number one priority and we think the plan I outline above does just that.

Things will get even better next year with Visual Studio “Orcas” where we are adding rich JavaScript intellisense, debugging and WYSIWYG designer support for the ASP.NET AJAX Extensions within Visual Studio and many other great features to take advantage of.

Microsoft announces the ASP.NET Ajax 1.0 Release

Microsoft has announced the final 1.0 release of ASP.NET Ajax (a.k.a. Atlas).

It consists of a core platform, and a bunch of controls:

ASP.NET AJAX 1.0

ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 delivers a rich client-side AJAX library that provides cross platform, cross browser support for a core JavaScript type-system, JSON-based network serialization stack, JavaScript component/control model, as well as common client JavaScript helper classes. ASP.NET AJAX also delivers a rich server-side library that integrates AJAX functionality within ASP.NET, and enables developers to easily AJAX-enable existing ASP.NET 2.0 sites with minimal effort.

ASP.NET AJAX is available for free, and can be used with ASP.NET 2.0 and VS 2005. It is a fully supported Microsoft product, and is backed by a standard 10 year Microsoft support license (with Microsoft Product Support available via phone 24 hours a day x 7 days a week).

ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit

In addition to the fully-supported ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 release, you can use the more than 30 free ASP.NET AJAX enabled controls available within the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit. The control toolkit is a shared-source collaborative project built together by a team containing both Microsoft and non-Microsoft developers (visit the CodePlex Project to learn more, or volunteer to contribute). All source for the controls is provided completely for free (with full re-use and modification rights).

The majority of controls within the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit leverage the "Control Extender" pattern that the core ASP.NET AJAX library introduces, and which delivers a super powerful way to easily enable specific AJAX scenarios on a site with minimal effort.

Future Plans
While the core ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 release is now officially shipped, we are definitely not slowing down. :-)

All of the ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 features will be integrated directly into the next release of ASP.NET (codename: "Orcas"). Visual Studio "Orcas" will also provide client-side JavaScript intellisense, JavaScript compilation checking, and rich JavaScript debugging support for ASP.NET AJAX scenarios.

We are also already at work on the next ASP.NET AJAX release, and will continue to add new features and improvements to the supported ASP.NET AJAX core. You can already start using many of these new features with the ASP.NET AJAX Futures CTP (available for download now on the ASP.NET AJAX site - it also supports a "go live" license).

Is the Microsoft camp of developers going to listen to the ivory tower and use this? Or will you be looking for alternatives?

ASP.NET Ajax-aware JavaScript IntelliSense

A new release of Visual Studio "Orcas" shows off the intellisense features nicely, including:

Proactive Completion List: No more waiting for '.'
Keywords in Completion List: fun your way to function
ASP.NET AJAX Concepts in Completion List: Direct support for Atlas
IntelliSense from Script Libraries for ASPX Pages: Now you can see objects that exist in other external script files
This comes along with the release of an updated Ajax Control Toolkit.

MS.Services: A .NET AJAX Data provider

MSServices is a server-side data processing application for HTTP (AJAX Data provider). It can execute Database SPs, MSMQ, Assemblies, IronPython script and generates JSON, Web Service, Text, Excel or RSS file through HTTP. The system has authentication/authorization, caching, compression and logging support.

This allowed you to access URLs such as http://localhost/Web/Northwind.GetCustomerOrders.ws?CustomerID=ALFKI from your Ajax applications.

LINQ to JSON

James Newton-King has posted a new bit of code called LINQ to JSON which is a .NET LINQ style API over JSON.

For example, here is how you could get out categories and how often they are used:

JAVASCRIPT:
var categories =
from c in rss.PropertyValue("channel")
.PropertyValue("item")
.Children()
.PropertyValues("category")
.Children()
group c by c into g
orderby g.Count() descending
select new { Category = g.Key, Count = g.Count() };

There is also a project, JSLINQ which is an implementation of LINQ to Objects implemented in JavaScript. It is built using a set of extension methods built on top of the JavaScript Array object. If you are using an Array, you can use JSLINQ.

AjaxDataControls v1.0 Ajax Extensison for .Net

We've been trying to get more .Net-related content on Ajaxian and luckily we were contacted by the AjaxDataControls team about their new v1.0 release.

The AjaxDataControls is a DotNetSlackers.com's open source project built on top of Microsoft Asp.net Ajax Extension. Currently it contains GridView, DataList, Repeater and Pager controls. The main goal of this project is to provide a similar kind of data controls in the client side which the asp.net developers are already familiar with while working with the server side version. The Server side versions of these controls were developed long before the Ajax came into scene, so there is no client side API which the developer can utilize and it is also not possible to bind data which is returned from a Web Service or Page Method call. On the other hand, AjaxDataControls was specially developed keeping these things in mind. It Provides:

1. Exact same API as the Original Server Side version.
2. Exact same declarative model in aspx page.
3. Full Design time support.
4. Lots of extra features like drag and drop, animation, etc.

It is also possible to use these controls in non-MS platform.

Live examples are hosted:
http://dotnetslackers.com/projects/AjaxDataControls

Source:
http://www.codeplex.com/AjaxDataControls

Forum:
http://dotnetslackers.com/community/forums/71.aspx

CommandProxy: Integrating AIR and .NET

CommandProxy is a proof of concept by Mike Chambers (Adobe AIR team) that offers a solution to a feature that Ben and I have wanted in AIR.... the ability to talk to native code:

Two of the most requested features for Adobe AIR have been the ability to launch native executables from an AIR application, and the ability to integrate native libraries into an AIR application. Unfortunately, neither feature will be included in Adobe AIR 1.0.

However, this does not mean that you cannot build an AIR application that has closer / tighter integration with the underlying operating system. This lower level of integration is possible, but it requires some work on your part. I have put together a proof of concept project, which shows how to integrate Adobe AIR applications with c# / .NET code on any operating system that Adobe AIR currently runs on (Mac and Windows). The project is called CommandProxy. It provides a communication proxy between an AIR application and the underlying operating system and could theoretically work with other web based desktop runtimes (such as Mozilla Prism).

How does it work?

The general concept behind the project is similar to the now defunct Artemis project (which was Java based). The AIR application communicates with the CommandProxy process to communicate and integrate with the underlying operating system. Currently the command proxy supports launching processes (and getting the output from the processes) as well as taking a screenshot of the user’s current screen. However, the framework is built in such a manner that it is possible to add new functionality to the proxy.

The project is opensource and more info is available on the project page on Google Code.

Dell Dumps AMD, Launches Intel Penryn-Based Inspiron Laptops

It’s been only a few days since Dell dropped all the AMD-based systems off its online store, and now plans to introduce several Inspiron laptops built around Intel’s latest 5-nanometer Penryn processors. According to Dell spokeswoman Anne Camden, the new Penryn-powered laptops will kick in during the next few weeks. Dell customers will be able to pick Penryn-based Inspiron 1420, 1525 and 1720 systems in the next few weeks, but only in the United States market. UK availability has not been announced yet. The company spokeswoman also said that Dell will also introduce Intel’s processor to its XPS M1330 for starters, with other XPS notebooks to follow during the spring.


“People want it because it’s Intel’s newest processor technology,” Camden said. “The 45nm technology delivers better performance, and it also brings in better battery performance.” Dell has quite a history with Intel’s 45-nanometer Penryn CPUs: the PC manufacturer was the first vendor to ship Intel Penryn workstations.


However, back in November, IT analysts were expecting that the new 45-nanometer technology would bring significant performance boosts over the previous generations of CPUs. They were partly disappointed to note that the processors were faster, but they did not mark a milestone in desktop computing performance.

The news about the Penryn turn comes right after Dell’s announcement that it’s cutting back on online sales of consumer systems based on AMD chips. The AMD-based computers will keep on selling, but only at Dell’s retail partners’ shops, which is an important drawback for the customers who would like to customize their systems. “Any stories about us backing off AMD altogether are completely false,” said David Lord, a spokesman for Dell. “It’s a merchandising position.”

Olympics – A Major 2008 Computer Threat

2008 may be a busy year when it comes to computer threats, as the attackers prepare an avalanche of malicious attempts over our systems, Websense wrote in the “2008’s Top Ten Security Threats” report published today. Although the security vendor presented all the top ten threats which may appear next year, I prefer to talk about the first and the most dangerous one: the Olympics. It may sound a little bit weird, but the hackers/ attackers/ scammers/ spammers/ phishers can’t wait the Olympics because many of their attempts will be based on this major event of 2008.


Just think at spam. Many unsolicited messages arriving in your inbox will be related to the competition, asking users to download and install infected files. Websites will also be affected, many attackers aiming to inject dangerous codes which could affect every new visitor of the page. Phishing attacks will rise as the hackers may want to steal users’ bank information, by luring them on Olympics related pages.

“As the Olympic torch burns, Websense researchers predict the possibility of large scale denial-of-service (DoS) attacks on Beijing Olympic-related sites as political statements and fraud attempts through email and the Web surrounding the Olympics. Additionally, Websense predicts compromises of popular Olympic news or other sports sites —attacks designed to install malicious code on end-users’ machines and steal personal or confidential business information,” Websense wrote in the report.
Certainly, an antivirus technology, a firewall and an antispyware technology are a “must have” during the Olympics. In addition, extra care is also recommended, as users are advised to avoid malicious websites and emails coming from untrusted persons, who might attempt to install dangerous codes on potential victims’ computers.

“Looking at the current attack trends, cyber criminal techniques are evolving quickly and efficiently to not only evade detection, but to steal data and manipulate trusted content such as Web sites and applications,” said Dan Hubbard, vice president of security research, Websense. “It’s critical that organizations and individuals recognize that attackers are changing techniques and launching targeted attacks”, he concluded.