Virus poses as Microsoft patch

Virus writers are taking advantage of Microsoft`s patching cycle to trick users into executing a malicious attachment, reports eWeek.

Potential victims receive an e-mail with an attachment that purports to be a "cumulative patch" for May 2005. The claim is that the executable file contains patches for vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express.

However, the file is actually an executable for a variant of the W32.Pinfi virus, also known as Pate or Parite, designed to infect every PE and SCR file on every drive and network share.

Microsoft says legitimate software updates would never be sent as attachments to security e-mail notifications. Microsoft has also provided an online guide to help identify genuine security messages.

In the latest strike in the competition war between high-definition (HD) DVD and Blu-ray Disc (BD) manufacturers, TDK has announced a four-layer recordable BD that holds up to 100GB of data and supports a write-speed double that of today`s 50GB BD-Rs.

TDK`s announcement comes a week after Toshiba unveiled a three-layer disc that can hold 45GB, reports The Register.

The report says getting discs up to 100GB and beyond was always part of the Blu-ray plan. The report also comments that TDK has talked about making 100GB BDs in the past and this latest announcement gives no indication as to when these discs might actually appear on the market.

A new investment venture called Simula Labs is to attempt to create businesses around open source development projects, reports News.Com.

The approach is similar to that used by Gluecode, a company founded in 2001, which was bought by IBM earlier this month. Companies will employ the important engineers behind an open source project and sell subscription services for support, training and more functional products based on the open source code.

Simula Labs is believed to have raised up to $15 million for six to eight start-ups during the next three years.

The report says entrepreneurs and venture capitalists are increasingly using open source software and a subscription-pricing model to build new companies.

Samsung is gearing up to show off a prototype 40-inch, single-sheet, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screen, paving the way for super-skinny TV sets just under 3cm thick, reports The Register.

The report says Samsung plans to combine its larger OLED displays with the results of its research into field emission displays that use a phosphor coating as the emissive medium and an array of carbon nanotubes instead of a single electron gun.

In addition to being very thin, OLEDs have better resolution than liquid crystal displays and consume less power. Samsung`s new large screen OLED is expected to be unveiled officially next week.