| Separating Explosives from the Detonator |
[Dec. 26th, 2009|05:43 pm] |
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http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/12/separating_expl.html Chechen terrorists did it in 2004. I said this in an interview with then TSA head Kip Hawley in 2007:
I don't want to even think about how much C4 I can strap to my legs and walk through your magnetometers.
And what sort of magical thinking is behind the rumored TSA rule about keeping passengers seated during the last hour of flight? Do we really think the terrorist won't think of blowing up their improvised explosive devices during the first hour of flight?
For years I've been saying this:
Only two things have made flying safer [since 9/11]: the reinforcement of cockpit doors, and the fact that passengers know now to resist hijackers.
This week, the second one worked over Detroit. Security succeeded.
EDITED TO ADD (12/26): Only one carry on? No electronics for the first hour of flight? I wish that, just once, some terrorist would try something that you can only foil by upgrading the passengers to first glass and giving them free drinks. |
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| From the Exact Middle of Nowhere |
[Dec. 26th, 2009|09:14 pm] |
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http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/12/from-exact-middle-of-nowhere.html posted by Neil
Waving from the Middle of Nowhere, where there's no TV, my cell phone doesn't work and the internet is slow and klunky enough that semaphore might be more efficient.
Statuesque aired last night on Sky 1. I didn't see it. Didn't get to see the first part of the last David Tennant Doctor Who either. ( Statuesque is currently available on Sky Anytime, for UK Sky subscribers, until the 31st of Dec. Look it up under the title of "Ten Mintue Tales") (Yes, Mintue. I know they mean Minute, but that's what it's up as right now.)
On the other hand, we got a few hour's sunlight today. I saw some of that. And yesterday we went for a walk and, using map coordinates and the GPS Mike's amazing new Google Cell Phone (aka Dogfood) we found a Viking stone circle. And I'm cooking a lot on the Aga. My favourite present was one my children had clubbed together to get me: a painting of my dog, by artist Kelli Bickman. They know I love Kelli's stuff, and figured that I would be made happy by a painting of Cabal by her. And I am, very happy indeed.
Anyway. I hope you had a very happy Boxing Day, and that all your boxes belong to you.
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| Brief: Week in review: post-Christmas edition |
[Dec. 26th, 2009|10:30 am] |
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http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/gaming/~3/aLdLubzZp1k/week-in-review-post-christmas-edition.ars http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/12/week-in-review-post-christmas-edition.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss
Hope that Santa was good to all of you. This week, we're wrapping the top stories from all across Ars into a single, tidy package. Enjoy! From Cinepak to H.265: a brief history of video compression. Today's video-rich Internet wouldn't be possible without highly efficient compression. Ars rewinds the history of digital video compression to help understand how we arrived at the land of YouTube and Hulu. How to obtain and install an SSL/TLS certificate, for free. Anyone operating a server on any scale should want a digital certificate to encrypt data between clients and services, whether for personal, office, or public use. Ars tells you how to obtain and install one, for free. Verizon: $350 ETFs are a good thing, and they help the poor. Verizon tells the FCC that its new jumbo sized early termination fees don't even compensate the telco for the total cost of VZ's latest lineup of smart phone devices. The statement comes in response to an FCC letter of inquiry on the matter. 3D high-def movies coming to your living room on Blu-ray. Get ready for the 3D movie revolution to come your your home theater next year. The Blu-ray Disc Association has approved a final spec to deliver high def 3D movies on Blu-ray discs. If you don't want to spend the cash for 3D hardware, it is thankfully backward compatible with today's Blu-ray drives. App Store success several times what Apple likely expected. The success of the iPhone App Store surprised everyone, even Apple itself. Intel reveals next-generation Atom details. Intel has revealed the launch specs for the first-ever line of x86 products that contain both a GPU and CPU on the same die. Pine Trail, the next-generation Atom platform, will pave the way for future integrated CPU/GPU parts from both Intel and AMD. Microsoft barred from selling Word, has plan for workaround. A federal appeals court has told Microsoft it needs to stop selling Word on January 11, 2010 due to its patent-infringing support for editing Custom XML. Apple allegedly preparing devs for mystery demo in January. Apple may be planning to demo a device that's larger than an iPhone in January of 2010, according to the latest rumors. In fact, some developers may already be preparing their apps for it. Satellite TV to FCC: we're special, don't make us open up. DirecTV says that the new FCC push to bust open video should only apply to cable; satellite is plenty competitive already. Also, a tale of woe from a Comcast subscriber illustrates just why some common video decryption standards are needed. Has Atari gone Chaotic Evil over D&D publishing rights? Atari is facing a lot of legal drama over the way it has conducted itself lately concerning its Dungeons & Dragons game publishing rights. Comcast settles P2P throttling class-action for $16 million. Comcast got itself in hot water when it decided to use reset packets to slow down BitTorrent traffic back in 2007. Now, the company has settled a class-action lawsuit in Pennsylvania, promising to pay out $16 million to affected users. Big Music: damn the numbers, give us antipiracy laws anyway. If P2P use is declining or holding steady without new "antipiracy" laws, are those laws still needed? Music trade groups say yes.
From Australia to the UAE: why games get the banhammer. We're all used to hearing stories about games being banned in different countries, but what will actually get a game banned outside of the USA? The answers might surprise you.
What is a "Brief" post?"
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| I win! |
[Dec. 25th, 2009|06:36 am] |
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I win the present game. Because I bet none of the rest of you got the Captain Star Omnibus comic book, and I did. I look forward to reading it while sipping hot chocolate from my awesome blue mug with power poles on it. |
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| Today’s bible reading |
[Dec. 25th, 2009|03:05 am] |
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http://www.badscience.net/2009/12/todays-bible-reading/ On the birthday of Jesus Christ – who was clearly a very nice guy, giant sky wizard issues aside – I can think of no better bible reading than this, Daniel 1:8, a description of the first ever clinical trial.
Daniel and his people have been dragged off to the court of king Nebuchadnezzar, [...] |
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| Charlie Brooker: why I love video games |
[Dec. 11th, 2009|01:51 pm] |
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/dec/11/charlie-brooker-i-love-videogames Don't play video games yet? Then it's time to get with the program – just try not to jab the console too hard Try as they might, video games still don't seem to really register in the mainstream "old media". Newspapers and television still largely report on the gaming world as though it is something mildly amusing that happens overseas. Statistics about how many billions the industry is worth, or how many billion players there are worldwide, tend to be recited with an air of amused disbelief. It's almost as if video games only exist in the imagination of a few friendless dreamers. It's not just wilful ignorance on the part of rusty old media. It's hard to make games interesting in print or on TV, especially to non-players. Compared to other popular artforms, there aren't many "personalities" in games; no George Clooneys to interview or Britneys to pap. What's more, when addressing a casual audience, it's incredibly hard to describe what a game actually consists of. The majority of people don't speak the lingo. Everyone understands terms such as rom-com or thriller, but mention first-person shooters or MMORPGs and you might as well be speaking Gaelic. And when it comes to explaining even rudimentary game mechanics – well, that's like trying to recount an abstract dream you once experienced. End result: for all the talk of just how many trillion units Modern Warfare 2 has shifted, games strike around half the population as utterly inaccessible: a peculiar situation for a mass- market industry. It's partly an image thing. The lack of mainstream coverage means an exasperating number of non-gamers persist in the assumption that all video games consist of either laser beams and bleeping noises or unrelenting graphic violence. But it's also because, to the layman, many games are still off-puttingly complex. This can be frustrating for seasoned gamers, who just want to spread the love. Take Grand Theft Auto IV. It's amazing: one of the most impressive satirical works of the 21st century (I'm not exaggerating). If you're a gamer, you'll naturally want others to share the experience. So you try to introduce the game to your flatmate, your girlfriend, your boyfriend. But they're wary and intimidated. From their perspective, even the joypad is daunting. To you it's as warm and familiar as a third hand. To them it's the control panel for an alien helicopter. But you persevere, press the pad into their unenthusiastic hands, and offer to talk them through a few minutes of play. And almost immediately you have to bite your tongue to avoid screaming. They run into walls or hit pause by mistake. They swing the camera around until they can see nothing but their own feet, then forward-roll under a lorry. They try to put the controller down, complaining that they're "no good at this". You force them to have another go, but within minutes you're behaving like a bad backseat driver. "You're in crouch mode," you sigh, as their character waddles comically up the street. "Take it out of crouch mode." Instead they throw a grenade at their own feet, killing themselves and several bystanders. They moan that it's too hard. You force them to try again. Their character respawns. They run against a nearby door and jab at the buttons. "You can't open that door," you offer helpfully. "Why not?" they ask, "I opened another one a minute ago." "That one's just scenery," you sigh. "How do you know?" they say, jabbing all the buttons again. "It just is. Stop it." "Maybe it'll open in a moment," they suggest, jabbing. "It won't." But they stay there, running against the door. And then, apparently just to annoy you, they start spinning the camera round and round and in and out, going "wheeee!" as they do so. And then they blow themselves up with another grenade, say they can't see the appeal, drop the controller, and leave you sitting there alone, impotent and furious. Veteran players have years of experience. We're schooled in the way games work. It's as if we have learned a new man-made language, like Esperanto. And games are the equivalent of Esperanto-language movies – except they're better than movies. They're engrossing and exciting, playful and challenging, constantly evolving, constantly surprising. They're interactive and, thanks to the rise of modern multiplayer, infinitely more social than mere television. But because they're in Esperanto, it's hard for non-speakers to appreciate them. If you don't play games, you're not just missing out, you're wilfully ignoring the most rapidly evolving creative medium in human history. And they're not all high-level Esperanto-fests. What follows is a list of recommendations for people who haven't tried a game in years, either because they find them too complex, or consider them mindless, or have simply assumed that games just aren't their bag. I've tried to avoid the usual Wii stick-waving efforts (currently promoted by Ant and Dec in a series of ads that feel a bit like meetings for some kind of support group; I keep expecting someone to break down). The games here are all relatively simple and incredibly surprising. Some are available free online: you can try them out right now. Where to startCanabalt (Mac, PC, iPhone) adamatomic.com/canabalt Games don't come much simpler than this. There's only one button, and you can play it online for free, right now. You're a bloke escaping from an unnamed catastrophe. He runs automatically; you just have to hit the spacebar each time you want him to jump. Also available for the iPhone. Peggle (PC, Mac, iPhone, DS, X360) The one thing on this list that might ruin your life. The Peggle phenomenon had passed me by until literally a night or so ago. I was up till 5am. Simple and almost unbearably addictive, even though it sounds incredibly dull: you drop balls into a sort of surreal pinball table (or pachinko machine, to be more specific). The idea is to hit all the orange pegs. Like I said, it sounds tedious, but within seconds of picking it up you'll be stuck in a helpless trance, like a lab rat repeatedly nudging a button for a tiny shot of heroin. Ever played Tetris? It's simpler and more addictive than that. Flower (PS3) Available for download via the PlayStation network (look, just get a gamer to do it for you). Here is a game that may very well make you cry for reasons you can't quite put your finger on. The gameplay almost defies description: you control a breeze buffeting a bunch of petals around in a field. There's only one button; you control movement by simply tipping your hands in different directions. Again, it sounds dull, but in practice it's captivating, beautiful and strangely heartbreaking. Anyone who dismisses games as violent or soulless needs to experience this as soon as possible. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS) Don't be fooled by the children's book presentation: this is essentially an interactive detective story, although the story is just an excuse to present you with a series of increasingly challenging puzzles, some of which could cause even the most sophisticated brain to overheat. If I had children, I'd force them to play this on the basis that it would almost certainly turn them into geniuses. Those are some pick-up-and-play examples. The next few require a bit more investment, but not much. All of the games below will ease you into things gradually, showing you the ropes as you play, entertaining you as you go. Portal (PC, X360) An astounding accomplishment; part abstract brainteaser, part sci-fi thriller, part black comedy. Imagine being stuck inside a 3D puzzle with a playfully cruel sense of humour. Something that simply couldn't be replicated in any other medium. Grand Theft Auto IV (PC, PS3, X360) Yeah, yeah: the game where you shoot cops and kill innocent bystanders. What 99% of the coverage of GTA fails to note is that a) NONE OF THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING, and b) IT LOOKS LIKE A CARTOON . . . but most importantly c) THIS IS A WORK OF SATIRE. Incredibly dark satire at that. Adjust your filter, view it as a black comedy, and once you're past the outrage you'll come to appreciate what a staggeringly realised piece of entertainment it is. Left 4 Dead (PC, PS3, X360) A brilliant introduction to the world of multiplayer gaming. You and three other players (real ones) try to survive a zombie apocalypse together. A co-operative, bonding experience and, again, a very funny one. That's something else that's rarely commented on in the mainstream media: games are funny. Fallout 3 (PC, PS3, X360) OK, so this isn't simple, but it's so rewarding that it's worth dangling in front of you as a carrot. It's a role-playing game without a dwarf or an orc in sight, set in a satirical post-nuclear US wasteland that's part 1950s Pleasantville and part Hiroshima. Funny and horrible in equal measure. Other games definitely worth trying: Bioshock (a lushly stylised thriller with digs at the cult of Ayn Rand); Modern Warfare 2 (think of it as an interactive Bond movie); any of the Burnout titles (impossibly exciting racing games); Picross (for the DS; twice as moreish as sudoku); and Braid (like a platform game designed by Kurt Vonnegut). You've got a list now, so there's no excuse. Get stuck in. From January … Game reviews will be published every Thursday in G2.
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| /~ Driving in a winter wonderland /~ |
[Dec. 24th, 2009|11:09 pm] |
From Eynsham today, to Edinbrr. The main roads were all clear, though there was a lot of snow beside them in places. There was a fair amount of fog around Brum, and patches later. A little snow briefly fell on me a few times on the A8 and M8, but not so it stuck. It is a balmy 0C here tonight, up from -12 last night; my car is filthy and is parked on what I presume is still slush. I'm slightly gutted by having filled the tank at Tebay for 113.9p/l, then passing Gretna (40 miles up the road) and seeing the first petrol in Scotland - still motorway services so you'd expect a gouging price - at just 103.9p/l...
There's a photo en route I wish I could have stopped to take. There is a particular pair of hills up in the Lakes in the vicinity of Tebay which the M6 snakes between. I don't drive the M6 all that often, but I remember them, and this time I saw them illuminated by the fading sun behind me. I can't quite articulate why, but there was a particular sense about them today, more so than before. (The fact that I've recently been reading up about Japan and picking up the vaguest sense of the notion of kami may or may not have something to do with this.) |
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| Merry Christmas! |
[Dec. 24th, 2009|10:01 pm] |
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I'm sneaking in a quick spod before we head out for Midnight Mass. This seems a good time to wish all of my fiends a very Merry Christmas, and happy 2010! |
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| For NVIDIA and Intel, Flash video is a double-edged sword |
[Dec. 24th, 2009|12:57 pm] |
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http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/gaming/~3/Mwpcmkk81rM/for-nvidia-and-intel-flash-video-is-a-two-edged-sword.ars http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/12/for-nvidia-and-intel-flash-video-is-a-two-edged-sword.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss
One of my favorite Intel foibles to ridicule is the way that the company continues to stress Flash support as a rationale for x86 in handheld portables—x86, we're told repeatedly, gives you "the full Internet experience," by which Intel means, "you can run Flash on it." This is supposed to make x86 a better option than ARM for portable CPUs, but the chipmaker doesn't bother to mention that ARM Flash support is here as of Flash 10.1, making their favorite talking point inoperative.
With the arrival of Flash 10.1, ARM-based SoCs from vendors like NVIDIA can now offer "the full Internet experience," so the company's Tegra line competes with x86-based SoCs for Web-enabled design wins on pure price/performance/watt. But the Open Screen Project doesn't just hurt Intel PR; it's turning out to be a headache for NVIDIA PR, as well.
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| Brief: Indigo Prophecy a hint of the future, under $5, non-edited |
[Dec. 24th, 2009|12:14 pm] |
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http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/gaming/~3/lgXOxhR5oCw/indigo-prophecy-a-hint-of-the-future-under-5-non-edited.ars http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/12/indigo-prophecy-a-hint-of-the-future-under-5-non-edited.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss
There is some debate over just how commercially and critically successful Quantic Dream's Heavy Rain will be in the marketplace. The game seeks to emulate real life, sometimes to a fault, but the characters and interactions are some of the best we've seen in gaming. Now, with the recent holiday Steam sale, you can enjoy the company's previous game, Indigo Prophecy, for only $3.40.
The game features a wonderful story, even with a final act that gets... weird, and you get to see just how well Quantic Dream can draw you into the life of normal people in extraordinary circumstances. You can read our review of the Xbox version of the game for an idea of what to expect. Many of these gameplay mechanics are being sharpened and updated for Heavy Rain, so in order to look forward, this is a good time to look backward.
One bit of contention involves the American version of the game. Originally called Farenheit in other territories, the game featured an interactive sex scene and a few other bits of content removed in the US to avoid an Adults Only rating. That rating would have kept the game out of stores, and it never would have been approved for consoles. Luckily, restoring the content is a simple process on the PC: simply dig into the game's files, find Indigo_Prophecy.ini, and change USMode=1 to USMode=0.
It's just that simple—you now have the international version of the game, with all the content, and one of the best adventure experiences of the past decade. Enjoy!
What is a "Brief" post?"
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| Brief: Apple exec: Jobs "happy" with unannounced Apple tablet |
[Dec. 24th, 2009|11:31 am] |
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http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/apple/~3/2XG-2CdUhkI/apple-exec-jobs-happy-with-unannounced-apple-tablet.ars http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/12/apple-exec-jobs-happy-with-unannounced-apple-tablet.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss
The flood of Apple tablet rumors isn't abating, especially now that the device is expected to be unveiled as soon as a month from now. Now, a source from inside Apple suggests that Steve Jobs himself may be as excited as anyone to see Apple finally unveil the long-rumored device.
It came out last summer that Jobs was intimately involved with every detail of bringing the tablet to market. It seems that the device has finally gotten Jobs's seal of approval: when asked if the tablet rumors were true, a senior Apple executive gave The New York Times a rather coy reply. "I can't really say anything," he said, "but, let's just say Steve is extremely happy with the new tablet."
Such a statement is pretty uncharacteristic of Apple executives (even anonymous ones), but the tablet is arguably past the point of outright denial. One Apple employee who recently left the company also told the Times that the interface won't be anything expected. "You will be very surprised how you interact with the new tablet," the former employee said.
Another former Apple employee named on a number of Apple's multitouch patents, Joshua A. Strickon, told the Times earlier this year that Apple has been working on a tablet for several years. A PowerPC-based prototype existed as early as 2003, though those early attempts were underpowered and overpriced. However, the concepts and technology developed for those prototypes ended up in several Apple products. The iPhone, Strickon said, is essentially a mini version of some of the early prototypes.
If Apple's top talent put six years or more into development, and it meets Steve Jobs's legendary high expectations, we're sure Apple's tablet will be yet another game-changer in a long line of game-changing devices.
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| And To All, A Good Night... |
[Dec. 24th, 2009|04:34 pm] |
So, a lot of my lj recently has been pretty heavy, mainly because the end of the year seems to have pushed many heavy thoughts into my head and life, but ya know, this isn't the time for that right now.
Right now I just want to bask in the wonderfully peaceful mood that descended as I left the office at 12:30 today. So, without further ado, I just want to take this opportunity to wish you all a very, very Merry Christmas. Everyone should be nice to everyone else all year round, but it just seems that little bit easier on Christmas Eve, whatever your belief set.
The sun is coming back, and that alone should be a good thing.
So have a great evening, have a good day tomorrow, enjoy those around you, spread some peace and love if you can, try not to start arguments if you can't. But really, just party on and be excellent to each other, what could possibly be wrong with that?
Merry Christmas! |
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| $40 gets you stereoscopic pseudo-3D on the PSP. No... really |
[Dec. 24th, 2009|07:59 am] |
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http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/gaming/~3/OUhJ00jGMAM/40-gets-you-pseudo-3d-on-the-psp-no-really.ars http://arstechnica.com/gaming/reviews/2009/12/40-gets-you-pseudo-3d-on-the-psp-no-really.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss
Back in July of this year, we previewed a device that was supposed to add stereoscopic depth to any PSP game, even video files. We expressed some skepticism at the company's claims, and the product has since been delayed until January of next year. RealView recently sent Ars Technica what seems to be a production model of the device, and now that we have the thing in our hands... it's actually very cool.
The product will retail for around $40, which seems steep for what amounts to a lens and a chunk of plastic. When you slide your PSP into the case, there is a rubber mat that you put between the plastic and the PSP to allow later models to fit in snugly. The whole thing kills some of the portable nature of the system, but once the screen flips up and you see what it can do, you may not mind: there is actual depth added to the images, and the screen appears larger without sacrificing brightness or resolution.
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| Intercepting Predator Video |
[Dec. 24th, 2009|05:24 am] |
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http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/12/intercepting_pr.html Sometimes mediocre encryption is better than strong encryption, and sometimes no encryption is better still.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Iraqi, and possibly also Afghan, militants are using commercial software to eavesdrop on U.S. Predators, other unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, and even piloted planes. The systems weren't "hacked" -- the insurgents can’t control them -- but because the downlink is unencrypted, they can watch the same video stream as the coalition troops on the ground.
The naive reaction is to ridicule the military. Encryption is so easy that HDTVs do it -- just a software routine and you're done -- and the Pentagon has known about this flaw since Bosnia in the 1990s. But encrypting the data is the easiest part; key management is the hard part. Each UAV needs to share a key with the ground station. These keys have to be produced, guarded, transported, used and then destroyed. And the equipment, both the Predators and the ground terminals, needs to be classified and controlled, and all the users need security clearance.
The command and control channel is, and always has been, encrypted -- because that's both more important and easier to manage. UAVs are flown by airmen sitting at comfortable desks on U.S. military bases, where key management is simpler. But the video feed is different. It needs to be available to all sorts of people, of varying nationalities and security clearances, on a variety of field terminals, in a variety of geographical areas, in all sorts of conditions -- with everything constantly changing. Key management in this environment would be a nightmare.
Additionally, how valuable is this video downlink is to the enemy? The primary fear seems to be that the militants watch the video, notice their compound being surveilled and flee before the missiles hit. Or notice a bunch of Marines walking through a recognizable area and attack them. This might make a great movie scene, but it's not very realistic. Without context, and just by peeking at random video streams, the risk caused by eavesdropping is low.
Contrast this with the additional risks if you encrypt: A soldier in the field doesn't have access to the real-time video because of a key management failure; a UAV can't be quickly deployed to a new area because the keys aren't in place; we can't share the video information with our allies because we can't give them the keys; most soldiers can't use this technology because they don't have the right clearances. Given this risk analysis, not encrypting the video is almost certainly the right decision.
There is another option, though. During the Cold War, the NSA's primary adversary was Soviet intelligence, and it developed its crypto solutions accordingly. Even though that level of security makes no sense in Bosnia, and certainly not in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is what the NSA had to offer. If you encrypt, they said, you have to do it "right."
The problem is, the world has changed. Today's insurgent adversaries don't have KGB-level intelligence gathering or cryptanalytic capabilities. At the same time, computer and network data gathering has become much cheaper and easier, so they have technical capabilities the Soviets could only dream of. Defending against these sorts of adversaries doesn't require military-grade encryption only where it counts; it requires commercial-grade encryption everywhere possible.
This sort of solution would require the NSA to develop a whole new level of lightweight commercial-grade security systems for military applications — not just office-data "Sensitive but Unclassified" or "For Official Use Only" classifications. It would require the NSA to allow keys to be handed to uncleared UAV operators, and perhaps read over insecure phone lines and stored in people's back pockets. It would require the sort of ad hoc key management systems you find in internet protocols, or in DRM systems. It wouldn't be anywhere near perfect, but it would be more commensurate with the actual threats.
And it would help defend against a completely different threat facing the Pentagon: The PR threat. Regardless of whether the people responsible made the right security decision when they rushed the Predator into production, or when they convinced themselves that local adversaries wouldn't know how to exploit it, or when they forgot to update their Bosnia-era threat analysis to account for advances in technology, the story is now being played out in the press. The Pentagon is getting beaten up because it's not protecting against the threat — because it's easy to make a sound bite where the threat sounds really dire. And now it has to defend against the perceived threat to the troops, regardless of whether the defense actually protects the troops or not. Reminds me of the TSA, actually.
So the military is now committed to encrypting the video ... eventually. The next generation Predators, called Reapers -- Who names this stuff? Second-grade boys? -- will have the same weakness. Maybe we’ll have encrypted video by 2010, or 2014, but I don't think that's even remotely possible unless the NSA relaxes its key management and classification requirements and embraces a lightweight, less secure encryption solution for these sorts of situations. The real failure here is the failure of the Cold War security model to deal with today's threats.
This essay originally appeared on Wired.com.
EDITED TO ADD (12/24): Good article from The New Yorker on the uses -- and politics -- of these UAVs. |
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| Brief: Class action suit targeting iMac G5 displays dismissed |
[Dec. 23rd, 2009|05:33 pm] |
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http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/apple/~3/io54BV-1NnM/class-action-suit-targeting-imac-g5-displays-dismissed.ars http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/12/class-action-suit-targeting-imac-g5-displays-dismissed.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss
A class action suit filed against Apple over iMac G5 displays that eventually went south after the warranty expired has been dismissed by a federal judge. However, the judge left open options to amend certain claims in the suit if sufficient detail surrounding Apple's alleged concealment of foreknowledge of the problem can be explained.
Aram Hovsepian originally sued Apple at the beginning of this year, accusing Apple of concealing knowledge that displays on some iMac G5 models would fail, displaying random vertical lines across the display. "Apple remained silent knowing its iMac display screens would malfunction while consumers purchased iMacs, made warranty claims arising from the vertical lines on display screens, and made out of warranty repairs related to the vertical line problem," Hovsepian claimed in his complaint.
In the motion, District Judge Jeremy Fogel noted that the plaintiff did not meet the necessary "heightened" requirements for statutory fraud claims in his pleadings to sufficiently establish a cause of action. Furthermore, Judge Fogel also noted that Hovsepian did not define the proposed class narrowly enough—as described in his second amended complaint, the class would include anyone who bought an iMac G5, and not necessarily those affected by the alleged problem. However, the judge noted that Hovsepian could amend his complaint to address a claim of common law fraud if he could offer "further elaboration as to whether such a duty [to publicly disclose the problem] existed and as to the means by which Apple actively concealed a known defect from its customers."
The iMac G5 display issues describe in the lawsuit aren't the only complaints about iMac displays Apple has had to deal with recently. The lawsuit's dismissal comes just after Apple released a firmware update for 27" iMacs to address problems with flickering LCDs. A number of other display issues have been detailed on Apple's support forums, and those screen issues may have been at least part of the cause for weeks-long shipping delays of the gargantuan iMac.
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| Brief: Apple may bump camera in next-gen iPhone to 5 megapixels |
[Dec. 23rd, 2009|03:11 pm] |
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http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/apple/~3/E9EYcGUir3Y/apple-may-bump-camera-in-next-gen-iphone-to-5-megapixels.ars http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/12/apple-may-bump-camera-in-next-gen-iphone-to-5-megapixels.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss
When Apple unveiled the iPhone 3GS in mid-2009, it included serious improvements to the built-in camera hardware, bumping the resolution from 2 to 3.2 megapixels. That trend may well continue with the next version of the iPhone: the latest intelligence about CMOS image sensor supplier OmniVision suggests that the company will be supplying Apple with 5 megapixel sensors for the next-generation iPhone, expected to launch in summer.
The original iPhone and the iPhone 3G made use of compact and relatively low-cost imaging hardware consisting of a rather average-performing 2 megapixel CMOS sensor mated to a fixed-focus, fixed-aperture lens. This combination proved serviceable for most average picture taking—even downright good given ample lighting—but definitely suffered in low light, close focus, and tricky lighting scenarios.
For the iPhone 3GS, Apple switched suppliers to OmniVision, utilizing the company's 1/4" 3.2 megapixel CIS paired with a true autofocus lens. This combination offered increased resolution, a truly useful 30 fps video option, and vastly sharper close-up shots. Combined with a "touch to focus" software feature that linked focusing and metering to an area of the image that the user could choose by simply touching the screen, the new hardware proved far superior to previous iPhones.
Taiwan-based DigiTimes, which broke the news of the iPhone 3GS's impending camera upgrade last year, reports that OmniVision is expected to double the number of image sensors—from about 20 million to about 40 million—that it will supply to Apple in 2010. Unnamed sources indicated that an unknown fraction of that 40 million will be the new, 5 megapixel sensors, which Apple will use in next summer's expected iPhone hardware revision.
As many readers may know, packing more megapixels onto the same sized sensor generally results in smaller, less-sensitive pixels. However, OmniVision's 1/4" 5 megapixel sensor uses a technique called backside illumination to maintain—and in some cases increase—sensitivity of these smaller pixels. It works by flipping the traditional architecture of CMOS image sensors upside down, letting light fall on the "back side" of the sensor. This means that more light hits the actual sensing diode in each pixel location.
The result of using backside illumination is that Apple can use OmniVision's 1/4" 5 megapixel sensors as a drop-in replacement for the current 3.2 megapixel one in the iPhone 3GS. It significantly increases the resolution without compromising on low-light performance or requiring a larger lens to accommodate for a larger sensor. These sensors also offer full 1080p HD video resolution at 30 fps—a significant improvement over the iPhone 3GS's paltry VGA video resolution.
DigiTimes was completely accurate when it came to revealing that OmniVision's 3.2 megapixel sensor would be used in the iPhone 3GS, but not so accurate when it reported that cameras with such sensors would end up in revisions to the iPod touch, iPod nano (which ultimately ended up with a low-resolution video camera), and, of all things, the iPod classic. If this latest report is accurate, though, the next iPhone could pack some serious imaging horsepower. It should also keep the iPhone competitive with recently released smartphones such as the Motorola Droid, which have higher resolution camera sensors.
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| A magazine for witches |
[Dec. 23rd, 2009|07:57 pm] |
On the way back from Swansea we stopped to go to that mega Tesco on the road on the way out of town and we noticed a Borders book shop going through its throes and decided to nip in and see what was what. Place'd been picked nearly clean but with everything priced at 10p it was silly not to just go through buying any old random crap for a laugh. So I ended up with some mag for New Agers, a copy of Cigar Aficionado full of ads just as pretentious and you'd expect them to be, another mag in much the same vein for Scotch boozers, a magazine guide to weird shit from Fortean Times and an armful of books about this and that for £1.10 all told.
Probably weirdest of all was this magazine for witches I found. I had no idea witches needed magazines but there it is, and it is as full of ads for all manner of crap like crystals, idols, runes, magickal supplies and strange things to do with the hallowed cycle of menstruation as you can imagine.
The whisky mag's great for some properly berzerk tasting notes too. One $500 bottle is described as tasting like "peat kiln smoke, fresh asphalt, damp earth warehouses, morning-after campfires and old boat dock". YUMMY!
Still, glad to be back home now, it was rainy and a zoo in Swansea, and now I don't have to lift my arse to go anywhere farther than down the pub for a few days. Bliss :).
We pretty much just treat Christmas as a complete break from work and routine, and just sit around eating, watching telly, drinking and generally chilling out. No need for any more shopping now as we are sorted for food, booze, strange reading material, bog roll, sheep food and hay. We have a huge pile of meat. There's the new zelda to play through, I've a game of New Super Mario Bros Wii on the go, and there's always the odd poke at the score tables on Gridrunner Revolution to be had now too thanks to our shiny new online scoring stuff.
We've had some nice interest taken in our iPhone dev stuff from Touch Arcade and Pocket Gamer already and with that and some other interesting stuff that looks like it may be happening soon we should be able to begin next year's work on a positive note.
But for now it's time for a bit of chill }:-). |
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| Brief: Apple allegedly preparing devs for mystery demo in January |
[Dec. 23rd, 2009|01:38 pm] |
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http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/apple/~3/cLmq-wVarLo/apple-allegedly-preparing-devs-for-mystery-demo-in-january.ars http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/12/apple-allegedly-preparing-devs-for-mystery-demo-in-january.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss
Apple is telling "select" developers to prepare their apps for a demo in January—one that won't be limited to a fixed 320x480 iPhone screen—according to sources speaking to Business Insider. (Update: the rumor mill has now placed its bets on January 26.) This is offered up as the latest evidence that Apple is planning to introduce its long-rumored tablet very soon, although it's not expected to go on sale in January.
Apple apparently hasn't told developers much, except that apps for the demo next month should be available in full resolution. This, of course, indicates that they will run on a device with a larger screen than that of the iPhone and iPod touch, and the latest rumors about the as-yet-unannounced tablet indicate that Apple may be going for a 10" or 11" screen.
Other recent rumors have indicated that the tablet will be more about media than computing—unsurprising, since computing on a device that is limited to tablet form can be kind of a pain at times—and that it may be available to consumers in the spring of 2010. However, if Apple is telling iPhone app developers to prepare for this demo, it would support the previous rumor that the device will be running a modified version of iPhone OS.
At this point, it seems all but guaranteed that something is up at One Infinite Loop (the rumors, whether correct or not, always come to a head just before an announcement). The only questions that remain are: what will it actually look like, how will it work, and how much will it cost?
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