On the show, we did a test. We blew up a photograph to 16 x 24 inches at a professional photo lab. One print had 13-megapixel resolution; one had 8; the third had 5. Same exact photo, down-rezzed twice, all three printed at the same poster size. I wanted to hang them all on a wall in Times Square and challenge passersby to see if they could tell the difference.

Even the technician at the photo lab told me that I was crazy, that there’d be a huge difference between 5 megapixels and 13.
I’m prepared to give away the punch line of this segment, because hey—the show doesn’t air till February, and you’ll have forgotten all about what you read here today, right?

Anyway, we ran the test for about 45 minutes. Dozens of people stopped to take the test; a little crowd gathered. About 95 percent of the volunteers gave up, announcing that there was no possible way to tell the difference, even when mashing their faces right up against the prints. A handful of them attempted guesses—but were wrong.

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Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP offers great new ways to store and enjoy all your music, video, pictures, and recorded TV. Play it, view it, and sync it to a portable device for enjoying on the go or even share with devices around your home—all from one place.

Note: Windows Media Player 11 is designed to work with all versions of Windows XP Service Pack 2, including Windows XP Home Edition N and Windows XP Professional N.

Download: Windows Media Player 11 (x86)
View: Windows Media Homepage

The Lavasoft Support Forums have been deluged with daily cries of help from victims of the “Smitfraud” desktop hijackers that are using fake codec to infect their prey.

Watch out for the Zlob Trojan that poses as a codec needed to view a video, then installs a fake virus and urges its victims to download a rogue anti-spyware program to remove it. Lavasoft has also confirmed that this malware takes advantage of unpatched systems using exploits on web pages. Visit Microsoft Update to ensure that ALL of your critical Windows security pages are updated.

Other victims have been infected by a fake e-card greeting, or even a spoofed e-mail that claims to be Windows Update (Microsoft never sends updates via e-mail). Still more unassuming victims received an e-mail asking them to open a link to see the message (these can be fake e-mails, intended only to infect), or even a link from your ‘buddy’ in instant messages – but don’t trust it if you aren’t expecting it. Even your buddy could be infected without his/her knowledge and the virus on their computer is sending you the link with one purpose, and one purpose only – to infect you!

A few of the fake codecs out there include:
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News source: Lavasoft News