Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Thursday, March 13, 2008

OCZ announces 32, 64GB SATA II SSDs

Posted Mar 13th 2008 12:13AM by Ryan Block

Filed under: Storage

32 and 64GB capacities aren't all that impressive when it comes to SATA II 2.5-inch solid state drives, but OCZ's new devices do claim 120MBps read and 100MBps write speeds which would put it up there on the ranks. Unfortunately, OCZ neglected to clue anyone in on price or release date for these puppies.

One billion RFID cards vulnerable to hacks

Posted Mar 13th 2008 8:16AM by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Even as RFID tech grows more and more ubiquitous, fears about its safety and security haven't dwindled -- which is why we're just disappointed, not surprised, to learn that over 1 billion RFID cards based on the Milfare Classic RFID chip are now at risk. Two different teams of security researchers managed to crack the encryption on the cards, which form the basis of a national payment system in the Netherlands and are used widely in other applications around the world. With the encryption broken, hackers can now make perfect clones of the cards, spoiling all that radio-frequency fun. There's no word on how easy that actually is yet, however -- one of the two hacks will be demonstrated later this week, and the other is being kept secret -- but still, it might be time to go back to cash and bump-proof locks, eh?

Read

Copy and Paste on Your iPhone With iCopy

Everyone wants it, but for some strange reason we have been denied copy and paste functionality on the iPhone. With a new bookmarklet called iCopy, we can finally copy text and URLs that can be plugged back into Safari or an email later on. To get this miraculous technological development, simply visit the iCopy site and follow the instructions. It isn't a perfect solution by any means (all of the text you paste is sent across the internet), but it should tide you over until someone at Apple decides to make an official solution. Videos of iCopy in action are available after the break.

N78 Comes Loaded with Wi-Fi, HSPDA, GPS, Touch Surfaces, Tricorder

The new Nokia N78 candybar cellphone comes absolutely loaded: HSPDA 3G support, Wi-Fi connectivity, FM music transmitter and integrated Assisted GPS. The later has obligatory Nokia Maps support and automatic geotagging of photos taken by its 3.2-megapixel sensor with Carl Zeiss optics. Unlike the previous N73, the
$507 (350 euros) pianoblacktabulous N78 gets rid of real keys in favor of touch surfaces, with raised lines on the front to give you tactile feedback. Full details after the jump.

Color Changing Concert Hall May Be More Interesting Than the Performances

A concert hall has just been unveiled in Aurillac, France, that will be used for everything from sporting events to theater performances. However, the interesting thing about this building is not what is going on inside it, rather, it is what is taking place on the outside. Using a combination of glass bricks and fluorescent lights with color filters, the building displays a serene color spectrum across the entire length of the structure. All that aside, the building itself is beautiful—whether you are looking at in during the day or night. [Dezeen via io9]