If rumour mills are to be believed, Apple is slated to announce a slew of new products early next month. The products could include new Macbooks and Apple might as well throw in some surprises as well.
Although details of anykind are unavailable, I do hope Apple atleast announces a newer iPhone model -- which I guess is asking for too much.
In any case, these are rumours and we will need to wait till the 9th to actually confirm how true this might be.
I will update as soon as I have more on this!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Videocon Integra 32 HD Review
Videocon is one of India's largest consumer electronic brands and sells a host of products ranging from plasma TVs to washing machines. Once considered a premium brand, it still continues to be the market leader - but at the same time, has managed to carve a niche for itself by managing to produce competitive products for a comparatively cheaper price bracket.
The once nascent large screen TV market has opened up with continuous drop in the price of LCD and Plasma displays. There still is a premium tag applied to LCD and plasma displays -- although screen sizes below 26" have become affordable even for lower middle class income groups. But what if you are a movie freak who needs to set up a budget home theater on a shoestring budget? A 26" won't do justice for large screen viewing. You would require at least a 32 incher for that. Forget high definition for the moment.. because there is no way you'd be able to set up an HD system under 1 lakh. But, I bet you'd be happy with a cheap 32 inch screen that could offer you the big screen experience at home. That is where Videocon's LCD TV range comes to your aid.
Enter the Videocon Integra 32 HD! Let me start off by saying - this is no Sony Bravia. You'd find basic features with this TV.. most of which would suffice for a moderately demanding user.. (like yours truly)
Design and Looks
The 32 HD might as well be one of the largest 32 inchers around. It simply dwarfed the other 32 inchers I saw at the showroom. At a time when we've been inundated with "all black", glossy panels, the 32 HD offers visual relief by sporting a black+silver look. However, this might not go well with design connoisseurs.. nevertheless, the large speaker grills and the overall size does make it stand out from the crowd.
Features & Connectivity
The 32 HD supports a resolution of 1366 x 768, has a dynamic contrast ratio of 6000:1, which seems to be good enough considering even direct sunlight did not affect the picture quality as much as I expected. The response time is a decent 6.5 ms and the panel supports a maximum brightness of 500 cd/m2.
On the connectivity front, the set has two HDMI ports, component input, S-Video, a VGA in, and AV IN and out ports. Oh and there is a rarely used SCART input as well. A decent AV receiver should be able to take care of whatever is lacking here.
Picture quality:
I had the opportunity to compare the picture quality of this TV with that of more more expensive models - including a Sony Bravia and -- the Videocon did manage to hold its own in the illustrious company that included an LG and Samsung as well. The contrast seems to be very good and produces good brightness levels. The DCDi technology supposedly produces crisper and more realistic pictures. However that is yet to be seen as I did not notice much difference with DCDi turned off. As I do not have a PS3 or Xbox 360, I am not able to comment on the gaming performance now. But the low response time and the good brightness levels does promise a decent performance with fast moving images. Cable TV watching up close is not at all enjoyable -- although it looks great from a distance greater than 2 metres. This is however common with any LCD display in the market. Not really the Videocon's fault. To sum it up, unless you're a hard-core videophile, you would not mind the quality that this set offers.
Sound
The sound quality is nothing exceptional.. but heck, you do not expect great sound with an LCD display -- as in most cases, it would be connected to external speakers.
Conclusion
At a decent price of 28,000 (or less!)this TV is a steal and compares well with other similarly spec-ed TVs. If you do not prefer the dual tone look, there is an all black version as well in the 32 C. To sum things up, this is a good buy for someone on a tight budget. With a large scale network of Videocon dealers and service centres, warranty should not be a concern.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Tutorial: Setting up the Dlink ADSL-2640T wirelessly with BSNL
Here is a small tutorial that could help you set up a wireless network at home with the D-Link 2940T wireless router. The reason for this tutorial is because, I myself had to do quite a bit of searching and analysis, before I finally managed to get it up and running. Note that these steps are for BSNL folks only.
This is a basic router for home and small business usage.. lets delve straight into setting it up.
Initially, what you need to do is to connect all the cables. This includes connecting the phone line to the splitter (provided) and then connecting the RJ-15 cable to the router. Then connect the blue RJ-45 cable to one of the LAN ports at the rear of the router. Connect the other end of the LAN cable to your computer. Power the router on. Check if the LAN link light is lit up.The ADSL light should blink and then steady once the connection with the server is established.If this does not happen, check if the cables (RJ-15) have been properly connected. Also ensure that the ADSL service has been activated for you. The "Status" LED will keep on blinking on this router. THIS IS NORMAL.
Once all this is set, access the router by browsing to http://192.168.1.1 in your browser. This is the default IP for the router and ideally, your XP/Vista PC should open this up fine. It will prompt you to enter an username and password. The default ID and password are admin. After you log in, you will see an option to run a wizard.Run the Wizard. Select "Bridged Mode" as the option and leave the values at default. Save the settings and the router will restart after the settings are saved. Once back online, browse to the WAN settings in the router configuration utility and create a wireless network. You can add WEP key for added security and you will also get a default SSID. You can either stick with the dlink SSID or choose an ID of your own.
Check if your PC/Laptop is now able to connect to the wireless network. If not, try to run the wireless set up wizard. That is about the wireless part.
Now, go to "My network places" and create a new connection.Select the "Set up connection manually" option and the select "Connect using a broadband connection that requires an username and password". Enter your ISP name (or any name) and then enter the user name and password. You will get the PPPOE dial up box. Click connect and voila! You're online!!
That's what I did to set it up and it is working just fine. In case you folks have any queries or suggestions, do post and let me know. Hope this helps someone! A problem associated with this set-up could be that you might have issues adding another system to your network. However, for a one system wireless network, this should work just fine.
Friday, August 22, 2008
New Surface apps surface
We were all aware of Microsoft Surface’s commercial applications at interactive information kiosks. A highly capable platform, it would not do justice to limit the Surface experience to boring information kiosks.
Vectorform, a design firm has been actively working on new Surface apps for the past few months and has some interesting Surface based apps for preview now. They even have a surface blog which is updated with new additions and is used to document all developments.
Some of the interesting ones to feature are the Vector drum kit a video grab of which is shown below:
Then there is the BMW konfigurator, which has been now taken offline for some strange reason. Developed originally for BMW, It involved selecting a small BMW car model which brings up an interactive brochure. The Vectorform Surface website should keep you engrossed for a while – especially, the Surface section.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
HTC: amongst top five by 2009?
HTC CEO Peter Chou seems to be upbeat about HTC’s long-term fortunes. He has expressed the desire to be amongst the top five mobile phone manufacturers by 2009!
Currently, HTC is amongst the top 10, and is desperately trying to increase the sales and with it, the market share. With launches like the Touch diamond and the forthcoming Dream— which will run on Google’s Android platform, the plans certainly look on-track. Also on its way is the HTC Touch diamond Pro.
However, there are quite a few things that HTC needs to take care of. These include the ever present iPhone threat and HTC’s high end image. Certainly, if market share is a concern, HTC ought to have quite a few mid, to low end handsets. Now, a HTC low-end phone is something that we would love to see!
Speaking to Commercial times, Mr. Chou also mentioned that HTC is planning to increase its sales by six times – from 15 million handsets to almost 100 million. This figure could place HTC ahead of Motorola who currently sells around 100 million phones.
With Chinese manufacturers like ZTE too aiming for the top five slot, the battle for market share supremacy is getting hotter by the day!
Source: Techradar
The Megalodon: 7.1 for your ears
If you though 5.1 channel surround in headphones was going too overboard, look what folks at Razer have done!
Presenting, the Razer Megalodon, a 7.1 channel surround USB headset with microphone. For those who are unaware, Megalodon is the name of a prehistoric giant shark, which would have made the current Great white sharks turn in their graves.
This beauty (or beast, depending on which side of the divide you stand), comes with Megalodon’s maelstrom audio processor and has something called HRTF (head-related transfer function) which supposedly enriches the surround sound experience. The kit includes a remote control, which has buttons to switch from standard 2.0 stereo mode to 7.1 mode. And yes, its plug and play.
At $149.99, this is strictly for those who cannot afford a full-blown 7.1 set up but would still like to have a share of the fun. Expect this in Q4 this year.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Windows 7 –Microsoft readily disclosing details
However good (or bad) Vista may be, the latest OS from Microsoft has had a torrid time establishing itself. It is still very common to see folks willingly downgrade from Vista to XP and according to some reports, almost a third of the buyers who had had a computer that came with Vista pre-installed have downgraded to XP! Recent attempts to change the perception of Vista being a dud included the Mojave experiment which seemed to have little effect as well.
That said, Microsoft seems desperate not to have a similar reaction to its next OS, the Windows 7 and is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that. If you recall, most of the information we have had regarding Longhorn (Vista, as it was known earlier) were part rumours and part speculations. There was very little official communication during the development of Vista. That is set to change this time it seems.
Rather than hearing rumours and half-baked stories from other sources, why not have a channel where details are posted about the developments? That is what seems to have prompted the creation of the Windows 7 blog - an official channel for details regarding the development of the new OS.
The blog has went ahead and revealed facts about the huge number of people working on Windows 7 –almost 2000 developers and with as much as one manager for every four developers – as PC World puts it. Expect a preview of the OS during Microsoft PDC (Professional Developers Conference) which is scheduled to be held from Oct. 26-29, 2008.
That said, Microsoft seems desperate not to have a similar reaction to its next OS, the Windows 7 and is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that. If you recall, most of the information we have had regarding Longhorn (Vista, as it was known earlier) were part rumours and part speculations. There was very little official communication during the development of Vista. That is set to change this time it seems.
Rather than hearing rumours and half-baked stories from other sources, why not have a channel where details are posted about the developments? That is what seems to have prompted the creation of the Windows 7 blog - an official channel for details regarding the development of the new OS.
The blog has went ahead and revealed facts about the huge number of people working on Windows 7 –almost 2000 developers and with as much as one manager for every four developers – as PC World puts it. Expect a preview of the OS during Microsoft PDC (Professional Developers Conference) which is scheduled to be held from Oct. 26-29, 2008.
WiFi Mouse from Ozmo!
In a move to compete with established wireless solutions like Bluetooth and IR, Ozmo is working on a low –power, Wi-Fi Personal Area Network solution. One of the first products to use this might be the optical mouse reference kit announced earlier this month.
The reference design kit code-named OZMO-AV35-RD supposedly uses the Ozmo Devices OZMO1000 IC, and Avago’s ADNB-3532 optical mouse sensor.
Dave Timm, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ozmo Devices says “Wi-Fi PAN is rapidly emerging as the technology of choice for peripheral product connectivity. Our Wi-Fi PAN solution leverages the Wi-Fi capability already present in many platforms, eliminating the need for an additional radio or a dongle. Through this collaboration, Ozmo Devices and Avago Technologies make possible the rapid development of Wi-Fi PAN based mouse products. By combining our low-power single chip IC with Avago’s industry leading LED-based and laser-based navigation sensors, mouse manufacturers now have a solution superior to any based on legacy wireless methods.”
The reference kit is currently being demonstrated at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.
Source: I4U News
The reference design kit code-named OZMO-AV35-RD supposedly uses the Ozmo Devices OZMO1000 IC, and Avago’s ADNB-3532 optical mouse sensor.
Dave Timm, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ozmo Devices says “Wi-Fi PAN is rapidly emerging as the technology of choice for peripheral product connectivity. Our Wi-Fi PAN solution leverages the Wi-Fi capability already present in many platforms, eliminating the need for an additional radio or a dongle. Through this collaboration, Ozmo Devices and Avago Technologies make possible the rapid development of Wi-Fi PAN based mouse products. By combining our low-power single chip IC with Avago’s industry leading LED-based and laser-based navigation sensors, mouse manufacturers now have a solution superior to any based on legacy wireless methods.”
The reference kit is currently being demonstrated at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.
Source: I4U News
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Google, others keen on “White space”
Google seems to be always in hunt for newer avenues to increase revenue. The latest Google attempt is the call for the usage of the vacant “white spaces” that have been left unused –thanks to the void left by the switch to digital television. White spaces are nothing but the unused “bands” of spectrum that has been left unlicensed. To make it simpler, we will quote the example that Google frequently mentions. “Remember that fuzzy static between channels on the old TVs? Today more than three-quarters of those radio airwaves, or "white space" spectrum, are completely unused. This vast public resource could offer a revolution in wireless services of all kinds, including universal wireless Internet.”
Google says, it sees tremendous potential to increase Internet penetration to the masses – and to areas where broadband connectivity has not made inroads using this. However Google does admit a clear business interest in promoting this. Google’s Minnie Ingersoll, product manager, Alternative Access Team quips “When it comes to opening these airwaves, we believe the public interest is clear. But, we also want to be transparent about our involvement: Google has a clear business interest in expanding access to the web. There is no doubt that if these airwaves are opened up to unlicensed use, more people will be using the Internet. That’s certainly good for Google (not to mention many of our industry peers) but we also think that it’s good for consumers.”
That said, Google seem to have found support from the likes of Intel, Motorola and Microsoft.
However, roadblocks in the form of the NAB (National Broadcasters Association) might just cause Google and party a nice headache. The NAB is vehemently opposing the proposal citing wireless broadband would interfere with digital television transmissions. It is already going strong with an advertising campaign to increase awareness amongst the masses on how digital picture and sound quality might be compromised by the usage of white spaces.
With the FCC all set to decide on this later this month, things should get interesting. Watch this space for more!
Source: Gigaom
Google says, it sees tremendous potential to increase Internet penetration to the masses – and to areas where broadband connectivity has not made inroads using this. However Google does admit a clear business interest in promoting this. Google’s Minnie Ingersoll, product manager, Alternative Access Team quips “When it comes to opening these airwaves, we believe the public interest is clear. But, we also want to be transparent about our involvement: Google has a clear business interest in expanding access to the web. There is no doubt that if these airwaves are opened up to unlicensed use, more people will be using the Internet. That’s certainly good for Google (not to mention many of our industry peers) but we also think that it’s good for consumers.”
That said, Google seem to have found support from the likes of Intel, Motorola and Microsoft.
However, roadblocks in the form of the NAB (National Broadcasters Association) might just cause Google and party a nice headache. The NAB is vehemently opposing the proposal citing wireless broadband would interfere with digital television transmissions. It is already going strong with an advertising campaign to increase awareness amongst the masses on how digital picture and sound quality might be compromised by the usage of white spaces.
With the FCC all set to decide on this later this month, things should get interesting. Watch this space for more!
Source: Gigaom
USB 3.0 Specification and details released.
Almost eight years after the introduction of the now ubiquitous USB 2.0 High Speed standard, it is time to up the ante. Intel has showcased USB 3.0 details recently.
The release comes after a cold war between AMD/Nvidia and Intel regarding the disagreements between the two concerning sharing of USB 3.0 specifications. AMD at one point had threatened to develop its own USB 3.0 standard. However, things seem to have settled down after the following statement from AMD: "USB 3.0 is an answer to the future bandwidth need of the PC platform. AMD believes strongly in open industry standards, and therefore is supporting a common xHCI specification."
Let’s delve into the juicy details now. The most important improvement over the previous version is the increased transfer speeds and support for dual data lanes. What this means is that not only can you transfer files at 4.8 Gbit/s (600MB/s), you can do it both ways, i.e, both read and write at the same time. Although that may not sound like much, this was not possible earlier. This is achieved by the introduction of two lanes each--one for receiving and the other pair for transmitting data. Intel claims about the speed include an example, which says that you would be able to transfer a 27 GB HD movie to your device (USB 3.0 compatible of course) in about 70 seconds. This would have taken about 15 minutes with “high speed” USB 2.0! To take advantage of the speeds, new drivers for mass storage devices would have to be developed and yes, hard drive data speeds would be limited owing to their RPM and corresponding read/write speed limitations.
Note that is that these transfer speeds would be achieved only with USB 3.0 compliant devices – which brings us to another facet of USB 3.0. It would be completely backward compatible with earlier USB devices. The only physical differences being the thicker cable and slightly different connectors.
Apart from being more energy efficient than the current standard, they will also be able to carry more power – which will translate in to quicker recharge time for your future mobile phone! Expect a slew of devices by early 2010. This is because the final specs will be out only by Q4 this year and post that, there is the task of designing USB 3.0 controllers. Worth the wait? You bet!
Source: Maximum PC
The release comes after a cold war between AMD/Nvidia and Intel regarding the disagreements between the two concerning sharing of USB 3.0 specifications. AMD at one point had threatened to develop its own USB 3.0 standard. However, things seem to have settled down after the following statement from AMD: "USB 3.0 is an answer to the future bandwidth need of the PC platform. AMD believes strongly in open industry standards, and therefore is supporting a common xHCI specification."
Let’s delve into the juicy details now. The most important improvement over the previous version is the increased transfer speeds and support for dual data lanes. What this means is that not only can you transfer files at 4.8 Gbit/s (600MB/s), you can do it both ways, i.e, both read and write at the same time. Although that may not sound like much, this was not possible earlier. This is achieved by the introduction of two lanes each--one for receiving and the other pair for transmitting data. Intel claims about the speed include an example, which says that you would be able to transfer a 27 GB HD movie to your device (USB 3.0 compatible of course) in about 70 seconds. This would have taken about 15 minutes with “high speed” USB 2.0! To take advantage of the speeds, new drivers for mass storage devices would have to be developed and yes, hard drive data speeds would be limited owing to their RPM and corresponding read/write speed limitations.
Note that is that these transfer speeds would be achieved only with USB 3.0 compliant devices – which brings us to another facet of USB 3.0. It would be completely backward compatible with earlier USB devices. The only physical differences being the thicker cable and slightly different connectors.
Apart from being more energy efficient than the current standard, they will also be able to carry more power – which will translate in to quicker recharge time for your future mobile phone! Expect a slew of devices by early 2010. This is because the final specs will be out only by Q4 this year and post that, there is the task of designing USB 3.0 controllers. Worth the wait? You bet!
Source: Maximum PC
Monday, August 18, 2008
Nvidia to ship Open GL 3.0
Nvidia has released drivers for the recently released new Open GL 3.0 standard making it the first vendor to support it officially. The new drivers implement the Open GL 3.0 API and the GLSL 1.30 shading language for both Windows XP and Windows Vista on selected GeForce® and Quadro® boards. No Linux or Mac support as of now.
The Open GL 3.0 release comes almost four years after the release of the earlier version and has upgraded shading language, 32 bit floating point textures and more.
Barthold Lichtenbelt, Manager, Core Open GL Software at NVIDIA and chair of the Open GL working group at Khronos, (Open GL is controlled by the Khronos group) quips: “Open GL 3.0 is a significant advance for graphics standard and we’re proud that NVIDIA has played a major role in developing it. Open GL 3.0 will be a first-class API on both GeForce and Quadro boards. Shipping drivers two days after this new specification is released demonstrates our strong commitment to the Open GL developer community and our partners who rely on the standard.”
For more information and download, click here
The Open GL 3.0 release comes almost four years after the release of the earlier version and has upgraded shading language, 32 bit floating point textures and more.
Barthold Lichtenbelt, Manager, Core Open GL Software at NVIDIA and chair of the Open GL working group at Khronos, (Open GL is controlled by the Khronos group) quips: “Open GL 3.0 is a significant advance for graphics standard and we’re proud that NVIDIA has played a major role in developing it. Open GL 3.0 will be a first-class API on both GeForce and Quadro boards. Shipping drivers two days after this new specification is released demonstrates our strong commitment to the Open GL developer community and our partners who rely on the standard.”
For more information and download, click here
Nvidia to ship Open GL 3.0
Nvidia has released drivers for the recently released new Open GL 3.0 standard making it the first vendor to support it officially. The new drivers implement the Open GL 3.0 API and the GLSL 1.30 shading language for both Windows XP and Windows Vista on selected GeForce® and Quadro® boards. No Linux or Mac support as of now.
The Open GL 3.0 release comes almost four years after the release of the earlier version and has upgraded shading language, 32 bit floating point textures and more.
Barthold Lichtenbelt, Manager, Core Open GL Software at NVIDIA and chair of the Open GL working group at Khronos, (Open GL is controlled by the Khronos group) quips: “Open GL 3.0 is a significant advance for graphics standard and we’re proud that NVIDIA has played a major role in developing it. Open GL 3.0 will be a first-class API on both GeForce and Quadro boards. Shipping drivers two days after this new specification is released demonstrates our strong commitment to the Open GL developer community and our partners who rely on the standard.”
For more information and download, click here
The Open GL 3.0 release comes almost four years after the release of the earlier version and has upgraded shading language, 32 bit floating point textures and more.
Barthold Lichtenbelt, Manager, Core Open GL Software at NVIDIA and chair of the Open GL working group at Khronos, (Open GL is controlled by the Khronos group) quips: “Open GL 3.0 is a significant advance for graphics standard and we’re proud that NVIDIA has played a major role in developing it. Open GL 3.0 will be a first-class API on both GeForce and Quadro boards. Shipping drivers two days after this new specification is released demonstrates our strong commitment to the Open GL developer community and our partners who rely on the standard.”
For more information and download, click here
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Suburban ticketing system hacked: Security concerns loom
In this age of terrorism and cyber crime, here is one more news that could send security analysts and researchers in a tizzy.
A bunch of young researchers at Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands have managed to crack the ticketing system used by major suburban transportation systems around the world. The chip in question is called the “MiFare” and is manufactured by NXP Semiconductors. Generally considered very safe, the system is being used by transit solutions in cities around the world – including Delhi, where it is used in the Metro Railway. Apart from suburban rail networks, MiFare cards are also to control access to buildings.
The researchers claim that the proprietary CRYPTO1 encryption system used by these cards can be easily retrieved, especially when a common key is used for all RFID (Radio-frequency identification) readers and cards. Common keys are used on a large scale in large buildings and organizations. The hack itself is a simple affair, at least theoretically. What the hack does is to retrieve the secret key from the Mifare reader, which takes a while. Once the key is retrieved, the data is taken offline and then decrypted -once this is done, the cracked key can be used to predict other random keys as well. The retrieved cryptographic key can provide various possibilities for abuse depending on the situation. For example, if all the cards share the same key, the card of a genuine employee/personnel can be cloned just by close contact and the affected person might not be even aware that his identity has been stolen.In case different keys are used, things become a lot more safer – but it still remains vulnerable.
Earlier, two German researchers Karsten Nohl en Henryk Pl̦tz had also reported security flaws with the technology. These two had actually managed to reconstruct CRYPT01 and had announced about the same at a hackers conference back in 2007. The Dutch team however did not replicate the encryption system Рthey simply exploited the weaknesses in the armour. This had happened in March 2008, and the news was immediately not revealed owing to concerns regarding security. The Dutch Government was involved and and kept in the loop. Later, the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service confirmed that the hack was as effective as an attack. Post this, the companies involved; NXP and Trans Link Systems were briefed and technical representatives from the company are working with the researchers to analyse the impact of the security breach Рand to develop countermeasures to patch the weaknesses.
The researches cited security concerns for the delay in reporting this security flaw. They also wanted to ensure basic steps are taken to counter the vulnerability before the flaws are discussed in the open.
More on this can be read here
A video by the team:
A bunch of young researchers at Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands have managed to crack the ticketing system used by major suburban transportation systems around the world. The chip in question is called the “MiFare” and is manufactured by NXP Semiconductors. Generally considered very safe, the system is being used by transit solutions in cities around the world – including Delhi, where it is used in the Metro Railway. Apart from suburban rail networks, MiFare cards are also to control access to buildings.
The researchers claim that the proprietary CRYPTO1 encryption system used by these cards can be easily retrieved, especially when a common key is used for all RFID (Radio-frequency identification) readers and cards. Common keys are used on a large scale in large buildings and organizations. The hack itself is a simple affair, at least theoretically. What the hack does is to retrieve the secret key from the Mifare reader, which takes a while. Once the key is retrieved, the data is taken offline and then decrypted -once this is done, the cracked key can be used to predict other random keys as well. The retrieved cryptographic key can provide various possibilities for abuse depending on the situation. For example, if all the cards share the same key, the card of a genuine employee/personnel can be cloned just by close contact and the affected person might not be even aware that his identity has been stolen.In case different keys are used, things become a lot more safer – but it still remains vulnerable.
Earlier, two German researchers Karsten Nohl en Henryk Pl̦tz had also reported security flaws with the technology. These two had actually managed to reconstruct CRYPT01 and had announced about the same at a hackers conference back in 2007. The Dutch team however did not replicate the encryption system Рthey simply exploited the weaknesses in the armour. This had happened in March 2008, and the news was immediately not revealed owing to concerns regarding security. The Dutch Government was involved and and kept in the loop. Later, the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service confirmed that the hack was as effective as an attack. Post this, the companies involved; NXP and Trans Link Systems were briefed and technical representatives from the company are working with the researchers to analyse the impact of the security breach Рand to develop countermeasures to patch the weaknesses.
The researches cited security concerns for the delay in reporting this security flaw. They also wanted to ensure basic steps are taken to counter the vulnerability before the flaws are discussed in the open.
More on this can be read here
A video by the team:
Dell India: On track with 99% growth.
The first quarter of 2008-09 saw Dell post an impressive growth of 99% over the previous year. This comes at a time when the economy is reeling and the slowdown has forced companies to invoke cost cutting in order to remain competitive.
Michael Dell who was on a trip to India to launch the latest line of Latitude business notebooks in India said 'Dell has fared tremendously in the last one year. On the global scale, we grew by about 50 percent faster than the industry in the last nine months alone” Dell also reported 70 to 80 percent growth in the number of units sold in India as well.
Speaking on the occasion, Michael Dell also implied the global importance of India for Dell. Dell has 13000 employees in India – a number second only to the United States. In the commercial business segment, Dell is the market leader here. They would like to replicate the success of the commercial division with the Home and Small business division as well for sure.
Also speaking o the occasion was Mr. Paul-Henri Ferrand, the president for the Asia Pacific region. When asked about the introduction of Dells Alienware line of highly customizable, high end systems in India, Ferrand confirmed that India was not on the Alienware radar at least for the time being as the current XPS series fills the high-end void pretty well.
As for the new products launched, more on that story here
Source: IndiaPR Wire
Michael Dell who was on a trip to India to launch the latest line of Latitude business notebooks in India said 'Dell has fared tremendously in the last one year. On the global scale, we grew by about 50 percent faster than the industry in the last nine months alone” Dell also reported 70 to 80 percent growth in the number of units sold in India as well.
Speaking on the occasion, Michael Dell also implied the global importance of India for Dell. Dell has 13000 employees in India – a number second only to the United States. In the commercial business segment, Dell is the market leader here. They would like to replicate the success of the commercial division with the Home and Small business division as well for sure.
Also speaking o the occasion was Mr. Paul-Henri Ferrand, the president for the Asia Pacific region. When asked about the introduction of Dells Alienware line of highly customizable, high end systems in India, Ferrand confirmed that India was not on the Alienware radar at least for the time being as the current XPS series fills the high-end void pretty well.
As for the new products launched, more on that story here
Source: IndiaPR Wire
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Future watch: Nanoantenna Skins
How many times have you been left stranded in the middle of nowhere when your top of the line gizmo went limp as soon as the battery dried up? We have had groundbreaking developments on almost all fronts except that ubiquitous little black cylinder called the battery. While cell phones have evolved from specimens having a single line display that only displayed the caller’s number, to the stage where you watch You tube videos on the iPhone, batteries have remained more or less the same. So, what do we do to in a situation where you have squeezed out every ounce of battery life and there is no charger in sight? You take out your cellphone out of the pocket! That’s it!
Sounds far fetched? Could be – however, if researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory (INL) are to be believed, a new, special kind of flexible solar cell is under development which can collect and store energy from various sources – sources like the sun, light from a bulb. Infact, every potential energy consumer is a source of energy for the nano antennae. This microscopic antenna has been designed to capture energy left behind by existing processes and targets a certain wavelength range of mid-infrared rays. These rays are constantly emitted by the earth, thanks to the solar energy absorbed by the earth during the daytime. Steven Novack, the lead member of the team behind this initiative says "Every process in our industrial world creates waste heat. It's energy that we just throw away."
The most important fact to notice here is the anytime availability of this “waste” energy. It does not matter if its day or night, this leftover energy is always around us. The researchers have also found a way to mass-produce these nanoantennae skins on a flexible sheet of plastic. Say, if you have a coating of these cells on your cell phone, the moment you take it out of your pocket, it can be potentially charged!
Apart from helping you charge your gadgets, these nano antennae have another possible usage. Cooling! These antennae has the capability to absorb the infra red radiation and re-emit them at a harmless wavelength which sort of cools things down. This technology Can be used to cool PC components that require active cooling.
The INL foresees a future where we will have cars and electronic goods covered with the skin. However, obstacles remain. The main obstacle here is to convert the alternating current to DC current. The device produces alternate currents –but it alternates at trillions of times a second –making it impossible for modern rectifiers to detect it –let alone convert. Additionally, they will need to mass produce nano sized rectifiers, which is not possible on a large scale with existing technology.
Source: Dailytech
Sounds far fetched? Could be – however, if researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory (INL) are to be believed, a new, special kind of flexible solar cell is under development which can collect and store energy from various sources – sources like the sun, light from a bulb. Infact, every potential energy consumer is a source of energy for the nano antennae. This microscopic antenna has been designed to capture energy left behind by existing processes and targets a certain wavelength range of mid-infrared rays. These rays are constantly emitted by the earth, thanks to the solar energy absorbed by the earth during the daytime. Steven Novack, the lead member of the team behind this initiative says "Every process in our industrial world creates waste heat. It's energy that we just throw away."
The most important fact to notice here is the anytime availability of this “waste” energy. It does not matter if its day or night, this leftover energy is always around us. The researchers have also found a way to mass-produce these nanoantennae skins on a flexible sheet of plastic. Say, if you have a coating of these cells on your cell phone, the moment you take it out of your pocket, it can be potentially charged!
Apart from helping you charge your gadgets, these nano antennae have another possible usage. Cooling! These antennae has the capability to absorb the infra red radiation and re-emit them at a harmless wavelength which sort of cools things down. This technology Can be used to cool PC components that require active cooling.
The INL foresees a future where we will have cars and electronic goods covered with the skin. However, obstacles remain. The main obstacle here is to convert the alternating current to DC current. The device produces alternate currents –but it alternates at trillions of times a second –making it impossible for modern rectifiers to detect it –let alone convert. Additionally, they will need to mass produce nano sized rectifiers, which is not possible on a large scale with existing technology.
Source: Dailytech
iPhone connectivity issues chip related?
Gigaom reports that multiple connectivity issues faced by new iPhone 3G owners could be due to issues with the Infineon 3G chip.
Ever since the launch of the iPhone 3G, there were multitudes of complaints related to poor reception and low speeds. AT&T was blamed – but the company denied of any issues with its network while adding that they would look in to all the complaints on a case-by case basis. Additionally, similar reports were coming from other networks as well.
AT&T might have been true after all. Latest news suggest that the Infineon 3G chips used in the latest edition of the iPhone could be the cause of these connectivity related issues. Richard Windsor, a Nomura Securities analyst quips “We believe that these issues are typical of an immature chipset and radio protocol stack where we are almost certain Infineon is the 3G supplier.” If this indeed turns out to be an issue with the chip, it would be the second major reported chip failure this year. Nvidia grabbed the headlines a few days ago when some of its laptop graphic chips were found to be faulty -- owing to poor packaging.
To make things worse, these kinds of faults cannot be fixed by a simple firmware flash. It is not clear if Infineon makes these chips themselves or outsource the manufacturing bit to others. Imminent product recall? Let us hope not!
Intel, Microsoft killed the $100 laptop?
Times Online reports that Nicholas Negroponte’s dream of building a 100 $ laptop for underprivileged children around the world was broken by giant corporations in various ways. Times says, “Microsoft tried to kill it with words while Intel tried to kill it with dirty tricks”
The 100-dollar laptop was the idea of Nicholas Negroponte, who first mentioned about it at the World Economic Forum at Davos in 2005. It was a solar powered device, low cost; to be made available to underprivileged children around the world. The idea was to spread enlightenment and freedom of information. Large, cash rich corporations were gung ho about the project and pooled in with money and support. Then later, as Times puts it, “some of them tried to kill it” and they succeeded. Well almost! The following quote from Negroponte sums things up “I had wildly underestimated the degree to which commercial entities will go to disrupt a humanitarian project.”
Three years on, the OLPC foundation (One Laptop per Child) has managed to produce one cheap laptop. It still costs $190, only 370,000 has been sold – a far cry from the numbers actually envisioned, it is called the XO and yes, it is solar powered. So, what went wrong?
First reason. This was going to be cheap. Microsoft had objections because they go to enormous lengths to ensure their products are expensive and necessary and this laptop certainly held their cause. Reason number two was the involvement of AMD. Being a cheap product, the 100$ laptop was always a mass product, produced in large numbers. Market leader Intel definitely did not want millions of cheap AMD chips out in the market, which could also have significant bearing on its unchallenged market share. Another reason was the software. No Microsoft or Apple here. The XO uses Sugar, a custom based interface for the Fedora Core. Ethan Beard, a former OLPC board member representing Google says, “This was a project that could operate outside the regular business world, and that’s not an unreasonable expectation.”
However, when there are some things that could hurt your business, large businesses -- the big boys will react in ways that could hurt badly. Intel went ahead and made their own cheap, laptops, the Classmate while Bill Gates was heard saying, “Jeez, get a decent computer”
The article points that the stand taken by Intel and Microsoft is similar to the stand by large drug companies who instead of working for the illnesses that plague the poor, (Malaria for example,) are still concentrating on low volume, high margin drugs for cancer, heart ailments and diabetes – usually diseases of the rich.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Snowl from Mozilla Labs
Mozilla is working on a new project it calls the “Snowl”. An add-on for Firefox, Snowl aims to help you access all your messages at one place –within the browser. Currently the support is basic though. Atom, RSS feeds and Twitter are supported right now – but we can expect SMS and e-mail support later. Support for social networking sites and other sources like Gtalk, AIM are also in the pipeline.
That makes it kind of similar to the existing Thunderbird client – although Mozilla claims that the objective of Snowl is to “help you follow and participate in online discussions.”
Users can choose to have the feeds served in two different ways. One is a typical three paned window –email style. The other option is to have it served in a “river of news” view. Messages, no matter what the source, would be searchable and it does not matter whether the messages are private or public.
Snowl is available for download. But be warned, the current version according to Mozilla is “primitive” and buggy. Updates to future versions could result in loss of messages and stored data. Unless you are a nerd who would like to test it
Snowl is a part of the Concept Series initiative that invites external contributions in terms of ideas and innovations for designing the development of future browsers and an enhanced web experience. More details on the other concepts here
That makes it kind of similar to the existing Thunderbird client – although Mozilla claims that the objective of Snowl is to “help you follow and participate in online discussions.”
Users can choose to have the feeds served in two different ways. One is a typical three paned window –email style. The other option is to have it served in a “river of news” view. Messages, no matter what the source, would be searchable and it does not matter whether the messages are private or public.
Snowl is available for download. But be warned, the current version according to Mozilla is “primitive” and buggy. Updates to future versions could result in loss of messages and stored data. Unless you are a nerd who would like to test it
Snowl is a part of the Concept Series initiative that invites external contributions in terms of ideas and innovations for designing the development of future browsers and an enhanced web experience. More details on the other concepts here
DNS flaw explained at Black Hat conference
DNS vulnerability has been the talk of town since early July when Dan Kaminsky revealed that a flaw in the DNS software can allow a form of attack called DNS cache poisoning.
On Wednesday, at the Black Hat conference held at Las Vegas, Dan Kaminsky addressed anxious attendees and explained what the fuss is all about. He revealed that the DNS,which acts like the on line version of the 411, is the component which decides and controls how and where on line information gets routed. Say, you type in www.google.com and hit enter, it is the DNS that takes care of the request and opens up the web page you wanted. This holds true for any similar requests you make. (For those who do not know, 411 is a local directory number widely used in the US and Canada)
That was just a basic example of what DNS does.
What DNS cache poisoning can do is to alter the association between the domain names and IP addresses. This is an alarming scenario. A simple example would be like hitting www.google.com and the website that opens up maybe www.yahoo.com – or any other website that the hacker chooses to -- as they now have control where on line information gets routed. Although the example above is a tad far fetched, what can happen is that the hacker could flood a DNS server with multiple requests for similar-sounding domain names -- confusing the server into querying a root server for name server/s handling lookups for these domains.
After the July 8 announcement, Kaminsky had requested security researchers to not reveal details about the vulnerability so that affected entities could have enough time to patch . However, security researchers Halval Flake and an analyst from Matasano Security on July 21 did post details about how the flaw worked.
Kaminsky estimates that there are about 35 known and unknown ways to execute this attack. After the announcement, almost 80 technology vendors have been working overtime to fix the bug – and it seems to be working. Information Week reports that the percentage of vulnerable unique name servers that subjected themselves to self –test on Kaminsky's blog has come down from a scary 85% to about 50%. However, that still isn’t enough – as even Fortune 500 companies have had issues patching the bug due to issues with NAT (Network Address Translation)
As for the bug being actually exploited by hackers, a reported incident from AT&T suggests that its Internet Services DNS cache server was altered to replace the cached entry for www.google.com with another web page that served advertisements. Although not a critical security flaw, it did highlight the dangers about the bug and that Kaminsky's concern is warranted.
For more, you may check Dan Kaminsky's blog where your DNS server can also be subjected to a vulnerability test.
On Wednesday, at the Black Hat conference held at Las Vegas, Dan Kaminsky addressed anxious attendees and explained what the fuss is all about. He revealed that the DNS,which acts like the on line version of the 411, is the component which decides and controls how and where on line information gets routed. Say, you type in www.google.com and hit enter, it is the DNS that takes care of the request and opens up the web page you wanted. This holds true for any similar requests you make. (For those who do not know, 411 is a local directory number widely used in the US and Canada)
That was just a basic example of what DNS does.
What DNS cache poisoning can do is to alter the association between the domain names and IP addresses. This is an alarming scenario. A simple example would be like hitting www.google.com and the website that opens up maybe www.yahoo.com – or any other website that the hacker chooses to -- as they now have control where on line information gets routed. Although the example above is a tad far fetched, what can happen is that the hacker could flood a DNS server with multiple requests for similar-sounding domain names -- confusing the server into querying a root server for name server/s handling lookups for these domains.
After the July 8 announcement, Kaminsky had requested security researchers to not reveal details about the vulnerability so that affected entities could have enough time to patch . However, security researchers Halval Flake and an analyst from Matasano Security on July 21 did post details about how the flaw worked.
Kaminsky estimates that there are about 35 known and unknown ways to execute this attack. After the announcement, almost 80 technology vendors have been working overtime to fix the bug – and it seems to be working. Information Week reports that the percentage of vulnerable unique name servers that subjected themselves to self –test on Kaminsky's blog has come down from a scary 85% to about 50%. However, that still isn’t enough – as even Fortune 500 companies have had issues patching the bug due to issues with NAT (Network Address Translation)
As for the bug being actually exploited by hackers, a reported incident from AT&T suggests that its Internet Services DNS cache server was altered to replace the cached entry for www.google.com with another web page that served advertisements. Although not a critical security flaw, it did highlight the dangers about the bug and that Kaminsky's concern is warranted.
For more, you may check Dan Kaminsky's blog where your DNS server can also be subjected to a vulnerability test.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Jobs admits Mobile Me “not up to Apple standards”.
The Mobile Me launch debacle is still haunting Apple it seems. After the troubled launch of the service on July 9 and several issues that plagued the transition from the .mac domain, Steve Jobs in a recent circular to Apple employees -- admitted that the Mobile Me launch was not perfectly timed, nor was it “upto Apple standards” he said.
He added, "It was a mistake to launch MobileMe at the same time as iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store. We all had more than enough to do, and MobileMe could have been delayed without consequence."
That incidentally is the popular sentiment from Mac fans as well. Mobile me could have been launched in a phased manner after more important services like over-the-air iPhone syncing and web apps could have been launched initially.
The launch troubles has also resulted in a reorganization of the MobileMe team which is now headed by Eddy Cue (Former VP, iTunes). Eddy will also head the App Store and will report directly to Steve Jobs.
"The MobileMe launch clearly demonstrates that we have more to learn about Internet services," Jobs says. "And learn we will. The vision of MobileMe is both exciting and ambitious, and we will press on to make it a service we are all proud of by the end of this year."
He added, "It was a mistake to launch MobileMe at the same time as iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store. We all had more than enough to do, and MobileMe could have been delayed without consequence."
That incidentally is the popular sentiment from Mac fans as well. Mobile me could have been launched in a phased manner after more important services like over-the-air iPhone syncing and web apps could have been launched initially.
The launch troubles has also resulted in a reorganization of the MobileMe team which is now headed by Eddy Cue (Former VP, iTunes). Eddy will also head the App Store and will report directly to Steve Jobs.
"The MobileMe launch clearly demonstrates that we have more to learn about Internet services," Jobs says. "And learn we will. The vision of MobileMe is both exciting and ambitious, and we will press on to make it a service we are all proud of by the end of this year."
Monday, August 4, 2008
Lenovo jumps in to the “Netbook” bandwagon.
After the likes of Acer and Asus, it seems Lenovo is keen on having its share of pie in the lucrative “Netbook” market. Netbooks are low-cost, compact, cheap laptops directed at emerging markets where affordability and compactness hold the key.
Lenovo announced that they would be introducing the IdeaPad S10 with two spec levels. An 80 or 160 GB hard drive along with Intel's low cost Atom processor are in the pipeline. Finer details will emerge soon.
Lenovo is also planning to offer special versions of this Netbook especially designed for teachers and students.
Source: CNN Money
Lenovo announced that they would be introducing the IdeaPad S10 with two spec levels. An 80 or 160 GB hard drive along with Intel's low cost Atom processor are in the pipeline. Finer details will emerge soon.
Lenovo is also planning to offer special versions of this Netbook especially designed for teachers and students.
Source: CNN Money
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