Friday, November 30, 2007

Playstation 3 Turned Into "Crackstation" for Super Hacking Goodness [Hax]

ps3s.jpgForget Folding@home and its feel-good applications. There are cooler things to be done, like cryptography cracking. Taking advantage of the Cell's vector architecture , a security consultant with Security-assessment.com has cooked up a way to to bust passwords open like bad Easter eggs really, really fast. His Crackstation shoves past "the current upper limit of 10-15 million cycles per second—in Intel-based architecture—up to 1.4 billion cycles per second." To put that in non-geek, "Intel processors are designed to do all kinds of complex calculations, whereas the PS3 is good at doing simple things very quickly." The work apparently stands to change the whole cryptography industry.

For one, it shows that using Intel processors or ones with similar architecture as benchmarks "just is not good enough anymore." Cracking cryptographer will probably get faster all around as well, which should ultimately drive stronger cryptography with better implementation. Though they haven't tried it yet, by using a technique similar to Folding@home with distributed loads, the cracking power could obviously be increased exponentially.

All of that said, I just think it's funny how it's emphasized over and over again how "simple" Cell's architecture is, after Sony's spent all this time telling us how complex and awesome it is. [PC World]

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Verizon Switches to GSM's Side For Ultra Highspeed 4G Technology [Cellphones]

Verizon_Chooses_LTE.jpg Verizon Wireless today announced it would support "Long Term Evolution" (LTE), the super fast 4G technology currently in testing from Nokia and its European friends in the 3GPP group, and operating at a blistering 100Mbps. It's certainly hot technology, but one seen as an extension of GSM's high-speed packet technology. This is a rejection of CDMA's EV-DO (which has a faster Rev. C that could have been rolled out) and a definite rejection of WiMax, which has been Sprint's chosen 4G technology . As dramatic as the shift is, it's not totally surprising when you look at Verizon's historic lack of compatibility with its European co-owner, Vodafone, an early LTE supporter. It also fits with Verizon's new pledge of openness : presumably this means interchangeable SIM cards for easier-to-swap phones and mobile devices. (Press release with lots of nice details after the jump.)

VERIZON SELECTS LTE AS 4G WIRELESS BROADBAND DIRECTION

Technology Platform to be Trialed in 2008

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. - Verizon today announced plans to develop and deploy its fourth generation mobile broadband network using LTE - Long Term Evolution - the technology developed within the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards organization. The selection of LTE provides Verizon and Vodafone - joint owners of U.S.-based Verizon Wireless - with a unique opportunity to adopt a common access platform with true global scale and compatibility with existing technologies of both companies.

Verizon and Vodafone have a coordinated trial plan for LTE that begins in 2008. Trial suppliers include Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia-Siemens, and Nortel. These suppliers, along with others in the world community, have contributed significantly towards development of the standards in 3GPP. Discussions with device suppliers have expanded beyond traditional suppliers such as LG, Samsung, Motorola, Nokia, and Sony Ericsson, as consumer electronics companies anticipate embedded wireless functionality in their future products.

Working within 3GPP, Verizon and Vodafone, as well as a broad group of infrastructure suppliers, device suppliers, and technology companies from around the globe, have advanced the standards to enable a technology that will deliver unprecedented wireless broadband service for high performance mobile computing, multimedia, and consumer electronic devices and applications. The technology is designed to deliver mobile data networks with higher speed and throughput performance, lower latency, global roaming, and improved efficiencies.

Today's LTE announcement builds on Verizon Wireless' technology leadership as the first company to launch high-speed wireless broadband service in the United States using CDMA Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) technology. Its data innovation and leadership have been marked by the introduction of new multimedia handsets and innovative applications such as V CAST Music, V CAST Video, VZ NavigatorSM, V CAST games, e-mail, Internet access, and picture and video messaging on a variety of devices, including handsets, PDAs and laptops.

Richard Lynch, executive vice president and chief technology officer of Verizon Communications observed that "while this next generation technology will be exciting to develop and deploy, it comes at a time when we are adding record numbers of customers to our existing CDMA2000 1x and EV-DO networks. We relish the challenge of preparing for the time when our customers start demanding such 4G capabilities, while continuing the expansion and operation of our existing technologies for many years to come."

"The company's move toward a 4G network is driven by our vision of pervasive wireless Internet connectivity and mobility," said Lynch. "Customers want to be truly untethered with advanced communication devices that provide functionality comparable to today's wired networks - whether it's downloading or uploading video, gaming, downloading their favorite music, or social networking. They want to be able to communicate in new and innovative ways whenever and wherever they choose around the globe. A number of factors are setting the stage for our 4G network migration; most importantly, our view of customers' evolving appetite for more information, entertainment, and functionality, combined with an increasing customer expectation for easy access, high speed, easy handling, and seamless mobility. With a host of new devices and applications, and a particular focus on embedded wireless in virtually every piece of electronics you buy in any store, we believe LTE is the best technology with global scale to deliver on the promise."

"Vodafone is delighted to be working alongside Verizon in the development of LTE technology, and we're looking forward to assessing the results of the joint engineering trials. We fully support Verizon's decision to select LTE as their next generation wireless broadband solution," said Steve Pusey, Vodafone's global chief technology officer. "We expect LTE to form a key part of Vodafone's future technology strategy, and the prospect of moving towards a common platform with Verizon Wireless is an attractive long-term goal. LTE will build on the capabilities of Vodafone's 3G broadband High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) network technology, which is available across the entire Vodafone 3G footprint."

"Today's 4G announcement, coupled with our Open Development initiative announced earlier this week present a major growth opportunity for Verizon Wireless," said Doreen Toben, chief financial officer of Verizon. "Fourth generation's higher data speeds will usher in a new era of wireless applications and appliances, all of which can benefit from connecting to the nation's premier wireless network."

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Wall Art That Will Get You Drunk: A True Masterpiece [Alcoholic Art]

winewall.jpgEven someone who has never set foot in a museum before can appreciate art like this. This "interactive" art installation by artist Hannes Broecker in Dresden, Germany, features wall-mounted containers filled with deliciously intoxicating cocktails for patrons to enjoy. The idea behind the work is that art should stimulate the senses. In this case, the sense of taste is being stimulated while all the other senses are being dulled. Call me crazy, but Broecker could be the next Picasso. [Coolhunter]

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Comcast Getting 100Mbps Cable Modems Next Year, Fiber Scared?

quicksilver2.jpgComcast confirms we'll see the rollout of DOCSIS 3.0—the next-gen data over cable standard allowing bandwidth of 160Mbps down and 120Mbps up— starting next year, with 20 percent of its footprint expected to be blanketed in bandwidth goodness by the end of 2008. Even though Comcast isn't saying where it'll fall, markets where there's FiOS are probably going to continue having all of the fat pipe fortune—competition is good for people in those areas, bad for the rest of us. Now for the real bad news:

The upstream magic—where cable is so sorely gimped right now—is going to remain hobbly, at least at first. And it's not 'cause Comcast is incompetent (for a change). As "a reflection of the status of upstream channel bonding technology" we won't see upstream on steroids until deep into 2008 or even 2009. Consequently, while downstream's getting a Rosie O' Donnell plumping with initial offerings in the 20-50Mbps range—what Verizon's offering now—upstream speeds still aren't going to stack up, dulling the competitive edge DOCSIS 3.0 was supposed to bring against fiber.

That means The Flash is going to stay ahead of Quicksilver for the foreseeable future, since by 2009 Verizon's GPON-based FiOS will probably cover the majority of its footprint, allowing them to flip a switch to out-juice whatever cable's got by then. [Broadband Reports]

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Google Takes a Lesson From Digg?

a840e102_screen.jpgTaking a lesson from Digg and similar sites, Google Labs is testing out a new reader response interface for search results (with only a select few users for a limited time). Essentially, your normal search results are enhanced with "like it" and "don't like it" buttons that would tweak the order of said results on your list. And you can also add URL results that you would have liked to receive given your search premise. Google explains:

When you search for the same keywords again, you'll continue to see those changes. If you later want to revert your changes, you can undo any modifications you've made.
But your poor tastes/opinions won't screw everyone.

The system only works within browser...for now...meaning that your opinions will not affect other users. Of course, if such a system were deployed in a widespread fashion, we're guessing Google would aggregate data trends to alter search results over time for better relevance.

And would such a system be better? What do we trust more, man or machine? Or sweatshops full of children adding "Nike.com" to every query result? [google via theregister]

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