There are no feature releases in this version, as it is mainly a security fix.

The update is dished out as an automatic update, but if you didn’t get the update, you can download the update from the Firefox official site.

Here is a summary of changes:
-Tagging support for Windows Live writer
-Login bug fixes
-Faster loading of tags and categories
-Link importer fixes
-Cross server scripting vulnerability patched

Download Wordpress

Sony, normally seen as a large antagonist to the homebrew scene, isn’t all that anti-homebrew after all. While they have been releasing patch after patch to stop homebrew in its tracks, they did it to protect the consumer’s precious gadget. Dave Karraker (Senior director of corporate communications with Sony) stated that there is one big problem to overcome before they can enable homebrew - figuring out how to support the new content yet not putting the PSP at risk. After all, “some hacker wants to brick your baby for fun”.

Via IGN, QJ

In a swift move by Sony and Ubisoft, copies of Lumines now appear to require an update to 3.51, the only firmware where homebrew cannot run. While this is in effect in Japan, such copies may soon arrive in Europe and USA as well.

If you want to run homebrew on firmwares 3.11-3.50, you would need the unpatched copy of Lumines (Launch Title, no firmware update required). Its not known if the exploit may still work if the update restriction is bypassed (say with the help of 2.71 OE-B”).

The patched version of Lumines have the following serial no. found on the UMD:
-ULS19005

What’s interesting is that while it took RockStar and Sony 6 months to patch the GTA: LCS game, it took only Ubisoft and Sony a few days to do the same (though maybe through an indirect approach by forcing users to update to the latest firmware).

Firmware 3.51 does not offer anything new in terms of features compared to 3.50 (aside from an icon that said “Coming Soon” when accessed, and a security fix on the Illuminati Exploit). The new copy of Lumines still function the same as the original, except with the inability to run homebrew.

Fortunately or unfortunately, many internet users have got hold of that word. How? MediaDefender apparently didn’t mask their domain registration, and it is a direct tell-tale sign that MediaDefender is up to something again. The online buzz has led to MiiVi being widely notorious despite being out there for a few months. Some have even deliberately uploaded as much legal content as they can find to the servers, hoping it would crash under such stress (and strangely, the plan may actually have worked, as the site went down after getting DDos attacks from normal visitors when word got round in popular sites like Digg).

Currently, MiiVi has been temporarily silenced due to immense traffic from popular sites. The domain’s DNS records has also been altered to make it seem like the domain is not owned by MediaDefender.

Via TorrentFreak, Digg

Why downgrade you may ask? Older firmwares have greater support for homebrew. This downgrader is tailored for firmware 3.50, so if you want to downgrade your PSP which is at a firmware lower than 3.50 (and higher than 2.80), you will need to update your PSP to that version. The downgrader will automatically detect the correct motherboard type to downgrade the PSP appropriately.

Note that if you downgrade a TA-082 (or tA-086) PSP with this downgrader, you may not be able to update to the latest version, since firmwares past 3.11 (3.30 onwards) will have checks that prevent downgraded PSP using new motherboards from updating (the problem is some corrupted registry values). However, you can use new custom firmwares (like the OE series).

To use the downgrader, you will need:
-A PSP, with official firmware 3.50. The language settings should also be set to “English”.
-A legal copy of Lumines, either the Europe or US version.

The instructions for using the downgrader is provided in the “readme” text file.

As with any downgrader, there is a risk that you may accidentally render your PSP unusable, so always read the readme.

In addition to the downgrader, they have released a port of HEN (Homebrew ENabler), which allows the execution of homebrew on 3.50.

You can get the downgrader from Noobz.

A member (Plakasoft) claims that the exploit works, and he/she has succeeded in creating a “hello world” application that simply displays 3 blinking lines and would return the user to the XMB.

There is also a discussion on this in English at the MaxConsole forums.

Below is the video (Youtube):

This exploit is yet to be tested fully, and is just a rumor.

Via MaxConsole, PS3Gen site (French)

The changes are as followed:
-Security fixes
-Increased Windows Vista support
-New languages

This update was made available 2 days ago (can be accessed via “Check for updates”).

Robert Alan Soloway is about to face 35 charges related to suspected fraudulent Internet activities. Soloway, the owner of Newport Internet Marketing, was indicted by a federal grand jury on the 23rd of May, 2007, for 10 counts of mail fraud, 5 counts of aggravated identity theft, and 13 counts of money laundering.

Dubbed as the “Spam King”, Soloway is in no way one of your daily spammers, as he is responsible for circulating millions of spam messages in the form of Emails online. Soloway is also accused of managing false websites posing as legitimate “broadcast Email services” with “permission-based opt-in Email addresses”, which have largely deceived many businesses into spending their money for tools that turn out to be spam tools. Soloway has also been accused of creating more than 2000 proxy computers or “zoombies” (computers that are hijacked by hackers without the user’s knowledge) used to send spam Emails.

With the arrest of Soloway, spam can be expected to decline a little, and users with nearly flooded mailboxes filled with Email spam can breath a sign of relieve. However, spam is not yet eliminated, simply because it can’t be eliminated easily with other spammers around.

Microsoft, Adobe, Apple, and Real develop media player softwares, and even gadgets. These software can be used to play digital music streams and files. However, when one uses them for streaming (e.g. Radio stations and Podcasts), such streams are not protected by any DRM encryption, and hence, anyone with a stream ripper can rip off segments of the stream. MRT claims that these companies should have used one such DRM technology, called the “X1 SeCure Recording Control”. Guess who’s the maker of that technology? That’s right, it’s MRT.

So in other words, they are suing those companies for not using their products. How “sweet”…

The subject of DRM has been a rather rough topic, with half of the people agreeing or are against it. While DRM is designed to be protecting the rights of music artists, it is killing the right of the users using digital music. DRM basically enables the user to play the copy of the protected music, on a specific device. So, what happens if the user wants to listen it on something else, like an MP3 player? That’s right, they need to buy the song for that particular device. Imagine buying at least 2 copies of your legally owned music. In addition, it is difficult to recover lost DRM files (or backup DRM-protected files for future use). It is received a significant amount of criticism, especially amongst hard-core music listeners.

This decrypter opens new doors to the creation of a possible downgrader for the 3.30 official firmware, as well as custom firmware and all sorts of stuff.

Via QJ

According to postings on Microsoft’s OneCare forum, erasures have been caused when the antivirus programme finds a virus in an e-mail attachment. Instead of then quarantining that single e-mail, users have reported that entire .pst or .dbx files - the personal folder where non-Exchange Server users’ messages and other details are kept - have been quarantined or, in some cases, even deleted.

One user commented on the forum: “Is there a chance to recover it? If not, OneCare will have done more damage than any virus in my 30 years of active computing.”. Forum postings indicate, however, that recovery is possible in some cases, where the .pst or .dbx file is still available in OneCare’s quarantine facility.

Stephen Boots, a forum administrator, commented that he was “very unhappy about this problem as it was reported over a year ago and fixed in the 1.0 release”, adding: “It never appeared throughout the beta, but suddenly appeared when 1.5 was released”.

In a statement reported on Computerworld, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that the company was “working to address an issue where the antimalware engine for OneCare is erroneously quarantining Outlook .pst files or Outlook Express .dbx files, when the .pst file or .dbx file contains an infected attachment”. The spokesperson added that a fix would be included in the next OneCare update, which is due on 13 March.

Wordpress 2.12 have been released, and is not very much different from the original version of wordpress 2.11. Users using Wordpress 2.11 are advised to upgrade to the latest version.

Via Wordpress

Eiffel56 have released a custom firmware, 1.53 (no it isn’t made by Dark_Alex, so don’t think it came from him). The features in this firmware are:
-Recovery Menu**
-Boot Menu**
-Integrated uxMB
-Ability to run 1.0 EBOOTS*
-Ability to hide corrupted data icons*
-Ability to start ISO/DAX files**
-Ability to load custom firmware plugins tailored for Dark_Alex’s custom firmwares**
-Autoboot EBOOTs at startup**
-Never turn off the backlight in XMB***

*The EBOOTs can actually be modified in a way to achieve the same effect on a 1.50 based PSP (like 1.50 and other Dark_Alex custom firmwares).
**This feature can be found in most Dark_Alex custom firmwares
***All firmwares have this feature under “Power Saving” in “Settings”…

Via QJ.net

In order to use the plugin, download it, and extract the plugin to the appropriate folder in your PSP. After that, access the “Recovery” mode on your PSP, and enable the plugin.

Of course, as a precautionary measure, always read the “readme”.

Via QJ.net