I already own a Griffin iTrip FM transmitter for my old iPod, but when I connected this up to my iPhone it suffered from annoying, and sometime deafening, howls of interference unless the handset was in airplane mode.

So I had two choices - live with the howling or buy a new FM transmitter.

I bought a new FM transmitter, and since I'd previously been so impressed by the iTrip, I bought an updated iTrip from Amazon.

There are several things that I like about this FM transmitter:

• First, no howls. Maybe the sound quality isn't as good as a Bluetooth connection, and it does involve having to set up the iPhone and the radio, but it works and overall sound quality is more than acceptable.
• I can control the transmitter either from the physical buttons or using the app that you are prompted to install.
• I can fit the iTrip onto the iPhone without having to remove the case it's in (in my case a Switcheasy Rebel).
• SmartScan technology makes finding a quiet patch in the FM spectrum easy.

Very happy with my new iTrip!

Interesting fix released a few days ago:

A computer that is running Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7 stops responding randomly. Applications or services that are running on the computer stop working correctly. Additionally, you cannot log on to the computer by using the remote desktop connection utility.

This issue occurs because of a deadlock condition between the Lsass.exe process, the Redirected Drive Buffering Subsystem (Rdbss.sys) driver, and the Winsock kernel.

Not much to go on. but if you#'re having problems, it might be worth a try.

(via Five Nines)

From the Microsoft Security Research Center blog:

We are releasing the bulletin as we’ve completed the required testing and the update has achieved the appropriate quality bar for broad distribution to customers. Additionally, we’re able to confirm that, in the past few days, we’ve seen an increase in attempts to exploit the vulnerability. We firmly believe that releasing the update out of band is the best thing to do to help protect our customers.

Good news! Well done Microsoft!

Check Windows Update now if you've not already installed this update. Go on, do it now!

A lot of you are asking me if you should download and install the new Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) beta that Microsoft has made available.

My take on it is this - unless you need it for comparability testing, don't bother.

Basically, SP1 for Windows 7 is a roll-up of all the updates and patches already released. If you've been keeping up with your Windows Updates, then you've already got everything you need.

It's worth pointing out that SP1 doesn't add anything new to the OS at all, so you've not missing anything out. In fact, you're saving yourself a 50 - 450MB download!

My advice, wait until the first quarter of 2011 for the final release and install it then.

Over on Hardware 2.0 I've posted my mammoth "Best Kit List" detailing the best hardware available, along with pricing.

If you are interested in upgrades or building your own system, you gotta check this out!

Hey, cool! BBC News app available for the iPhone/iPad!

This app was scheduled for release back in April but was delayed after concerns that the free app would damage the news market. Unlikely really since all you need to access the information was a web browser ...

Just got these iPod USB cables from an Amazon affiliate. On them is says "Designed by Apple in California and assembled in China" ...

I guess that's been printed on the cable to give them an air of "genuine-ness" ... thing is, none of the genuine ones seem to have this printed on them.

Fakey? I think so!

I've now been ad iPhone owner for a few months, and in that time one of the questions I get asked the most often is "What's your favorite app?" Well, I don't have a single favorite apps, but I do have a set of favorite apps.

Games

Let's begin with my favorite games!

• Plants vs. Zombies - There's zombies, and you use plants to defend your home. It doesn't make a lot of sense but it's a lot of fun. Link
• Cat Physics - There are cats, and you have to pass a ball from one to the other by making use of in-game physics. Again, it sounds odd, but it's entertaining. Link
• Angry Birds - You fire birds at pigs lining in houses made of wood and glass. Again, the premise makes no frickin' sense, but the game is a lot of fun. Link

Office apps

I don't just use my iPhone to play games on. I use it for work too!

• Pocket Informant - A great calendar tool that integrates with my Google Calendar. It also integrates Getting Things Done methodology. Helps me keep organized! Link
• Documents to Go - A great app that allows me to work with Word, Excel and Powerpoint files when on the move. Integrates with MobileMe iDisk. Link
• Air Sharing Pro - A great way to view and move documents when on the go. Duplicates some functionality of Documents to Go but adds the ability to share files over WiFi with other systems (including iPhone and iPad) as well as support for ZIP and PDF files. Link

Photography

I've taken more photos with my iPhone than with my digital camera this year. Two useful apps are:

• NightCamera - Let's you take great night photos! Link
• Pano - Creat stunning panoramas easily. Link

Other apps worth a mention

• Osfoora - Best in class Twitter client. Link
• Pzizz Sleep and Energize - For keeping me going! Link & Link

It's already April 1st in some timezones, and thanks to the connectivity of the WWW, that means that you can be fooled outside of your own personal timezone!

That means you should be on the lookout for "foolings" ... basically, it's gonna be hard to trust anything you read between now and April 2nd!

There are new security warning(s):

·         Microsoft Internet Explorer Vulnerabilities

What does it affect?: Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista

What does it do?: Microsoft has released an update to its Security Bulletin Summary for March 2010 and has included the out-of-band bulletin MS10-018. This bulletin addresses ten vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, including one previously announced in Microsoft Security Advisory 981374. The most severe of these vulnerabilities may allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the affected system.

How do I fix it?: Update your copy of the software with the download available from the supplier.

Details of Underlying Problem(s):For more technical information about this warning visit:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms10-mar.mspx.

Date modified: 31/03/2010

Source: HM Government (CPNI)

IRS tax phishing scams on the increase ... so be careful out there!

Researchers at McAfee Labs continuously monitor threats to best protect our customers. We have identified a cluster of fake IRS URLs. Victims might visit these phishing and malicious websites via any number of effective redirection methods: phishing attacks, forum postings, and black-hat search-engine optimizations, among others. However, a few simple precautions will help you avoid identity theft during tax season. If you get an email from the IRS, it’s probably a scam. The IRS does NOT usually contact taxpayers via email. Avoid replying or clicking on links that take you to suspicious sites. You should delete these messages.

Here's some advice on scams from the IRS:

Don't fall victim to tax scams. Remember that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If you think you're being scammed, you can report suspected tax fraud activity by sending completed Form 3949-A, Information Referral, to Internal Revenue Service, Fresno, CA 93888. You can download the form or call 1-800-829-3676 to order by mail.

Apple has released Mac OS X 10.6.3 update, and it's a massive 760MB, plugging up 88 vulnerabilities.

Here's what it contains:

Full changelog for Mac OS X 10.6.3 update:

General operating system fixes and improvements provided for:

* performance of Logic Pro 9 and Main Stage 2 when running in 64-bit mode.
* printing reliability.
* sleep and wake reliability when using Bonjour wake on demand.
* a color issue in iMovie with HD content.
* glowing, stuck, or dark pixels when viewing video from the iMac (Late 2009) built-in iSight camera.
* an issue in which the Finder reports a -36 error when copying directories to a drive formatted as FAT32.
* reliability of photo screen savers.
* compatibility issues with OpenGL-based applications.
* an issue in which shadows in PDF of Aperture book are black instead of gray.
* an issue in which the microphone level in iChat may not increase the volume after reducing it to prevent a feedback event.
* the reliability of certain third-party USB devices.
* the Accounts preference pane can now limit login to members of groups hosted by a non-Apple directory service, such as Active Directory.
* DNS server ordering as specified in Network Preferences and DNS reliability. For details about how Mac OS X v10.6 handles unresponsive DNS servers, see this article.
* the reliability and compatibility of QuickTime X.
* Data Collection: Mac OS X v10.6.3 can collect diagnostic and usage information from your Mac and send it to Apple for analysis automatically. The information is only collected with your explicit consent, and is submitted anonymously to Apple. For more details, see this article.

AirPort and wireless networking fixes for:

* general reliability for wireless connections.
* improvements to 802.1X reliability, including closed network connections , and WPA2.
* sleep/wake reliability for current iMac models when connected to 2.4GHz wireless networks.

Date and Time fixes provided for:

* Daylight Saving Time rules to reflect recent changes in areas including Argentina, Fiji, Pakistan, and Antarctica.

Directory Services fixes provided for:

* an issue that could cause the system to become unstable or unresponsive when bound to an LDAP server using SSL.
* an issue in which the 802.1X Loginwindow Profile is in place, but the wireless network is not available, directory authentication over Ethernet will now succeed.

File Services fixes provided for:

* an issue that could prevent saving files from Microsoft Office 2008 to an SMB server volume.
* issues copying, renaming or deleting files on an SMB server volume.
* clear-text authentication enabling to an SMB file server.

iCal fixes provided for:

* changing the invitation list for a single instance of a recurring event will no longer "un-book" the location of the meeting.
* an issue in which new invitations on a Microsoft Exchange server might not appear in the Notification pane.
* properly showing recurring Microsoft Exchange events which have a set end date. For details, see this article.

Mail fixes and improvements provided for:

* an issue that causes background message colors to display incorrectly in Mail.
* signing and encrypting messages, such as when using an Entrust PKI (Public Key Infrastructure).
* synchronization of the "Sent" mailbox on a Microsoft Exchange server.
* an issue that could cause Mail to delete mailboxes on a Microsoft Exchange server that is hosted behind an Internet load balancer.

Mobile Accounts fixes and improvements provided for:

* home directory synchronization when the home directory is stored on an SMB file server.
* properly warning mobile users in an Active Directory domain about upcoming password expiration.
* creating a Mobile Account that uses smart card authentication, without using a command-line tool.
* reliability in background synchronization.

MobileMe fixes and improvements provided for:

* an issue in which movies could not be viewed in Safari when visiting www.me.com/gallery.
* reliability of iDisk Sync.
* reliability of syncing calendars.

Parental Control fixes and improvements provided for:

* restoring Safari bookmarks functionality to parental controls users.
* better handling of Safari bookmark management when using Parental Controls.
* more reliable application launch restrictions when using Parental Control.

Rosetta fixes provided for:

* an issue that prevented files with the # or & characters in their names from opening in Rosetta applications.

System Imaging fixes and improvements provided for:

* the asr command, which now accepts the "--allow fragmented catalog" option, for restoring images that have a fragmented catalog file. For details, type man asr in Terminal.
* the installer command, which can now be used to upgrade a Mac OS X v10.5 system with a QuickTime 7 Pro key installed to Mac OS X v10.6.

Time Machine fixes and improvements provided for:

* reliability from Time Machine-to-Time Capsule backups, including multiple computers.
* an issue with Time Machine in which system backups could be restored onto unsupported Mac configurations.
* an issue in which a Time Machine backup might not work using an AirPort connection.

Xsan fixes and improvements provided for:

* the reliability of Fibre channel connections to an Xserve RAID.
* an issue that could cause the size of certain Fibre channel LUNs to be mis-reported.

Additional Information

The Mac OS X v10.6.3 combo update also includes improvements provided in the Mac OS X v10.6.1 Update and Mac OS X v10.6.2 Update.

Those who like to tinker will like this:

A group of Russian hackers have done something that Microsoft said wouldn’t happen - shoehorned a working Windows Phone 7 Series OS ROM onto an HTC HD2 handset.

Remember though that this “upgrade” from Windows Mobile to Windows Phone 7 OS breaks some stuff … like copy’n'paste and multitasking!

FYI, this is NOT official. If things go wrong/break/your handset turns to the dark side, you are on your own!

there's a lot of free software available out there, but finding it all can be a real pain, And then when you do find it, all that jumping from site to site downloading multiple applications can be very time-consuming.

This is where http://ninite.com/ comes in. This site makes downloading free software a snap!

1. Pick your favorite software.
2. Start your customized installer.
3. You're done!

Ninite installs software fast with default settings and says "no" to browser toolbars and other junk.

Ninite checks your PC's language and 64-bit support to install the latest, best version of each program.

Ninite runs on Windows XP/Vista/7 and works in the background unattended and 100% hands-free.

All Ninite does is automatically download and install the apps you select. Not even Ninite is installed.

Sweet!

Top 20 list of the most commonly used passwords as disclosed by a breach of Älypää, a popular Finnish game and quiz site:

The word "salasana" is Finnish for "password" ...

(via F-Secure blog)

Antivirus vendor AVG Technologies has announced that it is making its Rescue CD utility available to all customers.

The CD is designed to recover PCs that are not longer able to boot up properly following malware infection or other disaster.

On the CD you get the following:

• Comprehensive administration toolkit
• System recovery from virus and spyware infections
• Suitable for recovering MS Windows and Linux operating systems (FAT32 and NTFS file systems)
• Ability to perform a clean boot from CD or USB stick
• Free support and service for paid license holders of any AVG product
• FAQ and Free Forum self-help support for AVG Free users

You can also get a download specific for USB flash drives.

Download here.

Over on Hardware 2.0 I've put up a poll asking readers which browser they think will be the first to fall at this year's Pwn2Own hacking contest.

The event is spread over three days.

Day 1:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7
• Mozilla Firefox 3 on Windows 7
• Google Chrome 4 on Windows 7
• Apple Safari 4 on MacOS X Snow Leopard

Day 2:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 on Windows Vista
• Mozilla Firefox 3 on Windows Vista
• Google Chrome 4 on Windows Vista
• Apple Safari 4 on MacOS X Snow Leopard

Day 3:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP
• Mozilla Firefox 3 on Windows XP
• Google Chrome 4 on Windows XP
• Apple Safari 4 on MacOS X Snow Leopard

OK, want to know all about Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Series announcement at Mobile World Congress today? Check out these two posts over on Hardware 2.0:

Live Analysis: Microsoft Phone press conference, Mobile World Congress '10

Windows Phone 7 Series ... what we know, and what we don't

Enjoy!

OK, a lot of people are getting in touch with me over this issue, so I thought I'd pass this on ...

If you are having restart issues after installing update MS10-015 (which may or may not be malware related), Microsoft wants your help!

In our continuing investigation in to the restart issues related to MS10-015 that a limited number of customers are experiencing, we have determined that malware on the system can cause the behavior. We are not yet ruling out other potential causes at this time and are still investigating. Please review our blog post from yesterday for additional information.

One of the key components when investigating issues like this are obtaining memory dumps from computers experiencing the problem. In order to get the information we need to fully analyze the issue, some of our support engineers have actually driven to customer locations and picked up affected systems so we can get the needed crash data directly and help inform our investigation. For more information about memory dumps, please see: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/254649

Also, if your PC has been hosed by this (or any other update), remember that Microsoft is there to help you too!

This can be a difficult issue to solve once a computer is in an un-bootable state so we encourage customers who feel they have been impacted by this to contact our Customer Service and Support group by either going to https://consumersecuritysupport.microsoft.com or by calling 1-866-PCSafety (1-866-727-2338). International customers can find local support contact numbers here: http://support.microsoft.com/common/international.aspx.

Look no further!

If you're encountering BSoDs and reboots on your XP machines following the installation of this month's load of Patch Tuesday updates, your machine might be infected with malware.

Patrick W. Barnes, a systems administrator at Cat-man-du, a technology services firm in Amarillo, Texas, said at least three different customers came into his shop with the same blue screen of death after installing Tuesday’s patches on their systems. Barnes said that on closer inspection, he found that each had been previously infected with a rootkit, a set of tools sometimes installed by malware that are designed to hide the presence of the infection on the host system.

Barnes said he traced the problem on each machine back to “atapi.sys” — a Windows storage driver(which lives in %System32\drivers\). When he sent the atapi.sys files that were on the customer machines up for a scan at Virustotal.com, the results suggested malware had injected itself into the system file.

It might be a good idea for anyone seeing this problem to give their system a quick scan with F-Secure’s Blacklight rootkit detector after removing the Windows Update patches and getting the system up and running.

The Life and Times of IE6 ... in cartoon form!

iPhone users sure do know how to suck on the data teat:

According to the data provided Consumer Reports, the average iPhone user consumes 273MB of data per month. Compare this to the average Blackberry user who only consumes 54MB of data each month. The data also showed that 12% of iPhone users use 500MB per month of bandwidth, while some manage to eat over 1GB of data per month.

What could possibly go wrong?

So, what are the risks of activation exploits? Searching for, downloading, or installing activation exploits or counterfeit software on the Internet is risky, because sites that advertise these pirated products often contain malware, viruses, and Trojans, which are found bundled with or directly built into the activation exploit or counterfeit software. A study by research firm IDC, The Risks of Obtaining and Using Pirated Software, shows that one in four Web sites offering counterfeit software attempted to install unwanted or malicious code upon downloading. And this rate is rising. Media Surveillance, an anti-piracy solutions company based in Germany, recently downloaded more than five hundred pirated copies of Windows 7 (and Windows activation exploits) and found that 32% contained malicious code. These are very disturbing figures – especially when considering that resellers may be using these downloads to claim that the PCs they sell include genuine Windows. Buyers of new PCs should always check for the Certificate of Authenticity (COA) to verify that the PC they are purchasing contains only genuine Windows. A quick visit to our How to Tell website tells buyers what a genuine COA should look like.

Over on Sunbelt Software's blog, Research Center Manager Tom Kelchner offers some sound advice on how to schedule the installation of patches:

Possibly a good strategy would be phased updates especially for enterprise systems:

-- Immediately install just the patches that fix vulnerabilities with in-the-wild exploits if you are running the vulnerable applications, modules, plug-ins, etc.

-- Wait three days for all others

-- Wait a week for non-critical (no reported exploits) updates to less-used flavors of Windows and less-used applications.

Meanwhile, have someone keep an eye on the security news sources to spot problems like this one.

Good medicine, and I think that this advice would work well for home and small office users too.