Best Gaming PC for 2006-VoodooPC Omen

From ExtremeTech:

The Ultimate Game Machine competition in Games for Windows Magazine (formerly Computer Gaming World) is brutal. Every maker of high-end gaming PCs submits their very best, cost be damned. They push everything to the limit, use the very best parts, and really work their butts off to show what the company can do. There are always several great PCs, each worthy of praise and your hard-earned dollars, but there can only be one winner. This year, that winner goes to VoodooPC's Omen, a black monolith of stylish power that managed to edge out even the most impressive competitors.

Video: Newest Qaud Core AMD Revealed for First Time

Man uses Digital Audio Player to siphon cash from ATMs

While sniffing out ATM info has been used by tricksters criminals for years, a Manchester-based bloke was trafficking private bank information from various cards to illegally purchase goods -- with the help of DAPs, no less. Although your evil twin could manage to reprogram an ATM to disperse 300 percent more cash than it really should, this fellow secretly attached an (unsurprisingly anonymous) "MP3 player" to the backs of free-standing cash machines in "local bars, bingo halls, and bowling alleys." The device recorded the tones from transactions, which were then decoded and "turned into information used to clone new credit cards." The fellow learned his savvy computing skills from "a friend in Cambridge," and was oddly not caught jacking cash or throwing down on a new HDTV; rather, police caught on to his scheming when they located a counterfeit bank card in his vehicle during a routine traffic stop, which led them back to his presumably disclosing home. While we applaud the ingenuity, the motives are certainly below traditional moral standards, but this certainly isn't the first (nor the last) criminal offense involving DAPs.

Kevin Mitnick's Security Advice

From Wired:

Here's my Top 10 list of steps you should take to protect your information and your computing resources from the bad boys and girls of cyberspace.

-Back up everything! You are not invulnerable. Catastrophic data loss can happen to you -- one worm or Trojan is all it takes.

-Choose passwords that are reasonably hard to guess -- don't just append a few numbers to a no-brainer. Always change default passwords.

-Use an antivirus product like AVG or Norton, and set it to update daily.

-Update your OS religiously and be vigilant in applying all security patches released by the software manufacturer.

-Avoid hacker-bait apps like Internet Explorer and disable automatic scripting on your e-mail client.

-Use encryption software like PGP (pretty good privacy) when sending sensitive e-mail. You can also use it to protect your entire hard drive.

-Install a spyware detection app -- or even several. Programs that can be set to run frequently, like SpyCop, are ideal.

-Use a personal firewall. Configure it to prevent other computers, networks and sites from connecting to you, and specify which programs are allowed to connect to the net automatically.

-Disable any system services you're not using, especially apps that could give others remote access to your computer (like Remote Desktop, RealVNC and NetBIOS).

-Secure your wireless networks. At home, enable WPA (Wi-Fi protected access) with a password of at least 20 characters. Configure your laptop to connect in Infrastructure mode only, and don't add networks unless they use WPA.

Zune MP3 players' opening salvo a dud

"I didn't even know they were there until a customer pointed them out," said sales clerk Jake Brooks.

"I'm sure we have more in a closet in the back somewhere."

By mid-afternoon the store had sold one Zune player and one other person had inquired about them.

The scene was bleaker at a CompUSA store a block away, where the manager said an oversight by Microsoft sales people had resulted in the store not getting Zunes for display.

No apparent harm was done though, said the manager, because no shoppers came asking about Zunes.