Thursday, December 20, 2001

Fear the Sith! -- 10:32 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

What if Microsoft really WAS the evil empire? Well, now we have proof! Check out this site as the horrible truth is finally unveiled! Thanks to Haus contributor J for the link.

Generations Arena Beta Released -- 10:26 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

One of the Quake III mods I've been eagerly anticipating has finally been released, albeit in beta form. It is Generations Arena, a mod that enables you too play using the weaponry and physics of Doom, Quake I, Quake II, or Quake III Arena. You can grab the 61M mod here. Thanks Blue.

Baseball is in Bad Shape -- 9:13 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Or so Bud Selig would have you believe. Apparently things are so bad that the Boston Red Sox are about to be sold for a record $660 million, double the previous high paid for a baseball franchise. If things are really so bad, why are people paying such astronomical sums to get in, especially folks like those in this group, some of whom used to own other teams. Sheesh. Cry me a river.

Q3A/Q3TA 1.31 Patch Released -- 2:57 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

And here I thought that they weren't working on any other patches. id has released the 1.31 patch for Quake III Arena/Team Arena. Win32 users can get it through the auto-update feature. Otherwise it is a 26.1M download from id's FTP site or Blue's list of mirrors. Here's what has changed.

12-14-01 - Notable Changes and What's New

Windows Fixes:

• fixed Doppler effect
• changed protocol from 66 to 67
• fixed simple developer 1 cvar cheat hack
• changed a few warnings to developer warnings
• rcon commands no longer fragment, sent buffered to the rcon client
• fixed connection issues / broken userinfo
• only printing R_AddPolyToScene
• warnings with +set developer 1
• various dedicated server issues fixed

There is also a sound crash fix and a workaround for a glibc bug in Linux. The Linux patch should be coming soon.

Major WinXP Vulnerability -- 2:01 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

The Washington Post is reporting on a major vulnerability in Windows XP. The flaw is in the universal plug-n-play code. It will allow someone to take total control of a WinXP box if it is connected to the Internet. Check Windows Update for a fix. If you have WinXP, check Windows Update NOW. Here's a quote from Microsoft:

"This is the first network-based, remote compromise that I'm aware of for Windows desktop systems," said Scott Culp, manager of Microsoft's security response center. "Every Windows XP user needs to immediately take action." He called it a "very serious vulnerability."

Thanks Slashdot.

The Master comments: Sigh . . .

UPDATE! Ars Technica is reporting that the patch is not on Windows Update yet. You have to get it from Microsoft directly. Apparently it also affects Windows 98 and ME if you have XP's connection sharing installed. This exploit has been known for five weeks but took this long for a fix. They also posted Microsoft's security bulletin.

UPDATE #2! Aaarrgghh! It's a buffer overflow! Aaaarrrgghh. Oh yeah, it could be used to DDOS a site too. Great.

Wednesday, December 19, 2001

Pondering the Imponderable -- 10:55 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Well, it's pretty much a non-descript news day. I've been scouring the hardware sites trying to plan my next upgrade. I need to keep things as cheap as possible. The big debate is whether to go with a Duron with DDR or get an Athlon Tbird but use my PC133 SDRAM. The SDR route would give me a faster processor, but far less bandwidth. The DDR route would give me more bandwidth, but without a processor that can really make use of it all. Decisions, decisions.

The Verdict -- 3:13 pm CST, Update by J.t.Qbe

I just got back from seeing The Fellowship of the Ring. It's amazing. Whether you've read the book or just want to see a good movie, go. And in case you haven't heard, it's 3 hours long, so don't drink a large pop at the beginning.

And the preview for Spider-Man was a nice treat too!

A.T. Hun comments: I'm really amazed that this movie has been so well received. There are so many hardcore Tolkein geeks out there any minor problems would be torn to shreds. Every review I've read has been very positive. I may actually have to read the books now.

Past Two Days' News

The Haus is powered by:

All original information on this website is copyright © TheHaus.Net, 1999-2005. The use of original images, text, and/or code from this website without expressed written consent is prohibited. The authors of this site cannot be held responsible for any damage, real or imagined, which comes from the use of information presented on this site. All trademarks used are the properties of their respective owners. This site is not to be used as a floatation device (but if you try, I want a video tape of it).