Workarounds released for XP SP2 flaw

The Microsoft Security Response centre has released a security advisory to offer pre-patch workarounds for a denial-of-service flaw in Windows XP Service Pack 2, reports eWeek.

The company`s advisory follows the public disclosure of the vulnerability in Remote Desktop Services, a feature that allows XP users to remotely control computers from another office, from home or while travelling.

However, Microsoft is adamant the flaw is not as serious as some researchers are making it out to be.

"Our investigation has determined that this is limited to a denial-of-service, and therefore an attacker could not use this vulnerability to take complete control of a system," the advisory read.

Apple has released DVD Studio Pro v4.0.2, the new version of the DVD creation tool for professionals that addresses isolated stability issues.

The font size in PAL templates, menu duplication when Text Objects are active, simulation of long PAL MPEG2 stream with MP3 audio, and an isolated issue involving recognition of certain media have been improved in this release, reports MacCentral.

System requirements call for Mac OS X v10.3.9 or later, DVD Studio Pro 4.0 or 4.0.1 and QuickTime 7.0 or later.

Verizon Wireless and Sprint, two of the US mobile providers, plan to offer their customers video games from Electronic Arts (EA), the companies said.

EA shares were up slightly on the news, while shares of rival Jamdat Mobile, which specialises in mobile games, saw its shares drop more than 4%, InfoWorld reports.

"It indicates a potential for increasing competition against Jamdat," says Moors & Cabot analyst Jason Willey.

He adds that the EA deals are not surprising but may have dampened recent rumours that the company might buy Jamdat.

Apple Computer says music-minded consumers have purchased and downloaded over half a billion songs from the iTunes music store.

Newsfactor reports that an iTunes user in Indiana, US, bought Faith Hill`s Mississippi Girl as the 500 millionth song.

"Just over two years ago we sold our first song," says Apple CEO Steve Jobs. "Yesterday, we sold our half-billionth song. Wow! As we cross this major milestone, we couldn`t be more excited about the future of digital music, iTunes and iPod."