Pinboard (guardiantech)

Researchers can slip an undetectable trojan into Intel’s Ivy Bridge CPUs >> Ars Technica

guardiantech — 2013-09-18T21:47:45+00:00

In a recently published research paper, scientists devised two such backdoors they said adversaries could feasibly build into processors to surreptitiously bypass cryptographic protections provided by the computer running the chips. The paper is attracting interest following recent revelations the National Security Agency is exploiting weaknesses deliberately built-in to widely used cryptographic technologies so analysts can decode vast swaths of Internet traffic that otherwise would be unreadable.
The attack against the Ivy Bridge processors sabotages random number generator (RNG) instructions Intel engineers added to the processor. The exploit works by severely reducing the amount of entropy the RNG normally uses, from 128 bits to 32 bits.

Stack >> Mugi Yamamoto

guardiantech — 2013-08-18T20:07:02+00:00

My diploma project is a compact inkjet printer, which is placed on top of a paper pile. When printing, “Stack” slowly moves downwards and swallows the pile until no paper is left. The paper disappears under the printer and exits on top, where it creates a new pile.
Thanks to this new way of printing it is possible to remove the paper tray, the bulkiest element in common printers. This concept allows a very light appearance and avoids frequent reloading.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it: ancient computers in use today >> PCWorld

guardiantech — 2013-04-23T12:39:44+00:00

Sparkler Filters of Conroe, Texas, prides itself on being a leader in the world of chemical process filtration. If you buy an automatic nutsche filter from them, though, they’ll enter your transaction on a “computer” that dates from 1948.
Sparkler’s IBM 402 is not a traditional computer, but an automated electromechanical tabulator that can be programmed (or more accurately, wired) to print out certain results based on values encoded into stacks of 80-column Hollerith-type punched cards.
Companies traditionally used the 402 for accounting, since the machine could take a long list of numbers, add them up, and print a detailed written report. In a sense, you could consider it a 3000-pound spreadsheet machine. That's exactly how Sparkler Filters uses its IBM 402, which could very well be the last fully operational 402 on the planet. As it has for over half a century, the firm still runs all of its accounting work (payroll, sales, and inventory) through the IBM 402. The machine prints out reports on wide, tractor-fed paper.

But wait! Before the data goes in, it has to be encoded into punch cards. Amazing. More examples welcomed.

Logitech Harmony Touch Review >> AllThingsD

guardiantech — 2013-03-21T16:01:03+00:00

Bonnie Cha:

I’ve been using the Harmony Touch for the past week, and there’s a lot to like about the remote. Setup is easy. The touchscreen provides one-touch access to 50 of your favorite channels, and you can use gestures to perform various tasks. That said, it also poses some problems.
Due to the location of the remote’s 2.4in display, some key buttons are placed out of easy reach. Those who like physical buttons might also take issue with the remote’s reliance on the touchscreen for things like entering channel numbers.
But the biggest hurdle may be its expensive $250 price tag. At this point, the touchscreen is a nice-to-have feature, not a must-have, so it’s not worth the extra cost.

If you ever needed proof of the ocean between hardware companies - which solve problems by adding more buttons (or touch screens) - and software companies, which solve problems by repurposing features and adapting to the user, here it is. Also: $250??

Building my own laptop >> bunnie's blog

guardiantech — 2013-02-05T06:43:44+00:00

We are building an open laptop, with some wacky features in it for hackers like me.
This is a lengthy project. Fortunately, ARM CPUs are getting fast enough, and Moore’s Law is slowing down, so that even if it took a year or so to complete, I won’t be left with a woefully useless design.

Er, OK. (Thanks @sputnikkers for the link.)

HAL 9000 Life-Size Replica >> ThinkGeek

guardiantech — 2013-01-07T21:55:28+00:00

Good morning, gentlemen.
The most accurate HAL 9000 replica ever created.
Built from the 1967 blueprints and image files (for the label).
Says 15 different phrases - responding to voice and most IR remotes.

$499.00? I'm sorry, Dave, I'm not sure I can afford that.

iPad mini Review >> Anandtech

guardiantech — 2012-11-27T15:28:16+00:00

One iPad is better to look at and one is better to hold. It's a real problem. The obvious solution would be to give the iPad mini a Retina Display. Once again, in our Podcast on this topic, Brian offered poignant insight: a Retina Display likely won't come to the iPad mini.

The reasoning is solid, at least for next year - though Moore's Law suggests that it could get there in a few years. (Thanks @hotsoup for the link.)

Hardware Failure Analysis >> Kynosarges Weblog

guardiantech — 2012-10-15T19:57:21+00:00

Based on a Microsoft detailed report (linked in the blogpost):

Perhaps more interesting are the report’s unexpected results:
Underclocking significantly reduces hardware failures, by 39% to 80%. This really shouldn’t be happening. Manufacturers apparently sell a lot of hardware that doesn’t quite meet advertised specifications, or else is inadequately integrated with the system (e.g. poor ventilation).
Laptops are 25% to 60% more reliable than desktops. Portable systems have much tougher operating conditions – smaller cases with greater potential for heat buildup, physical movement and battering while active – but evidently their sturdier design overcompensates for these conditions.

The PC is over >> Coding Horror

guardiantech — 2012-10-01T16:04:42+00:00

Jeff Atwood:

But even as an inveterate PC hot-rodder, I've noticed that in the last few years I've started to lose interest in the upgrade treadmill of ever faster CPUs with more cores, more sophisticated GPUs, more bandwidth, more gigabytes of RAM. Other than solid state drives, which gave us a badly needed order of magnitude improvement in disk speeds, when was the last time you felt you needed to upgrade a powerful desktop or laptop computer? If I dropped a SSD in it, do you honestly think you could tell the difference in real world non-gaming desktop usage between a high end 2009 personal computer and one from today?
Because I'm not sure I could.

This, from a guy who used to have "Windows" written through him like he was a stick of rock.

Ballmer pitches Windows 8 to developers, but keeps tight rein on Surface >> Wired.com

guardiantech — 2012-09-26T20:44:05+00:00

For such a rah-rah event meant to get developers excited to start building for Windows 8, Ballmer and the rest of the Microsoft team spent very little time talking about or showing off the Surface tablet, arguably Microsoft’s most exciting product. The tablet is due to launch at midnight on Oct. 26, at the same time as Windows 8. Yet the company has not let people have much hands-on time with the Surface and its innovative Touch Cover.
This was no exception. In the hands-on time after the event, the Surface was missing from the product table, where several other Windows 8 tablets and ultrabooks were available to test and examine.

The Pluto Switch that fell to earth >> Wired

guardiantech — 2012-09-11T15:02:46+00:00

Fascinating tale of what happened when two telecoms engineers discovered a piece of networking gear sitting on its own in the middle of Iowa with no identifying marks apart from some writing - in Finnish - on the back.

The iPad 2,4 review: 32nm brings better battery life >> Anandtech

guardiantech — 2012-08-31T11:54:12+00:00

The "new" iPad 2 uses a different chip with a 32nm process - see if you can guess who manufactures it - and the engineering involved is fascinating. Ignore the iPad stuff; this is an absorbing explanation of a core technology that matters to anyone who uses a chip-driven device.

Google goes back to the drawing board for Nexus Q >> NYTimes.com

guardiantech — 2012-08-20T20:59:02+00:00

A bit late to this, but anyway:

In June, Google engineers took to the stage in front of thousands of cheering software developers to introduce the Nexus Q, a black ball meant to stream video and music. It was Google’s first try at building its own hardware — in the United States, no less — and Google called it “a third wave of consumer electronics.”
Google engineers with the Nexus Q, which is assembled in a factory in San Jose, Calif. But last week, just five weeks after the introductory pomp at the annual developers’ conference, Google indefinitely postponed shipment of the device.

A show-and-tell with Google's hardware >> NYTimes.com

guardiantech — 2012-07-15T21:35:19+00:00

While Mr. Schmidt acknowledged that Google purchased the company and its patents, in part, as a reaction to rival “Apple’s behavior,” he said its hardware business was a real draw. Mr. Schmidt was tight-lipped about Google’s plans for Motorola but he promised that a new batch of products were nearly ready for prime time.
“We always wanted to be in the hardware business,” he said. “Larry and Sergey have always wanted to do hardware in one form or another. This was a way to get into it quickly.”

If anyone can find a quote from any of Schmidt, Page or Brin from any period before 2012 in which they have indicated that they want to get into the hardware business, please point us to it. (Note: "Android" isn't the hardware business. It was always software, and intended to be software.)

Google at Work on an ‘Entertainment Device’ - NYTimes.com

guardiantech — 2012-02-10T08:25:50+00:00

The device, which exists as a prototype and will eventually be sold as a branded item to consumers, is the company’s most significant venture into hardware. While the initial purpose of the device will be for streaming music, the eventual use could be much wider.

Google's Foray Into Hardware Will Be A Total Disaster — Here's Why

guardiantech — 2012-02-10T08:24:29+00:00

Matt Rosoff writes:

Google has never shown that it has any of the characteristics necessary to build, market, and sell consumer goods.

Ultrabook: Intel's $300m plan to beat Apple at its own game >> Ars Technica

guardiantech — 2011-09-11T20:31:50+00:00

"My desktop isn't the only computer I plan to replace in the next few months. I need a new laptop too, and my goal is simple: to find a 13" MacBook Air that isn't made by Apple.
"It turns out that I'm not the only one wanting this mythical non-Apple MacBook Air. Intel wants them too—it calls them Ultrabooks. The chip company has been kicking the Ultrabook idea around for a few months now, and it has grand ambitions: by the end of next year, it wants 40% of PC laptops to be Ultrabooks."

To which end it has a $300m fund to "invest in companies that are working to build that kind of hardware - ultrathing, rapid boot, metal case, long battery life, long standby time.

But as the article shows (and other analysts agree) that's not so easy. A really good examination of why the PC OEM business can do some things really well, but others far less well.

Q&A: can a £15 computer rekindle the UK tech industry? >> PC Pro

guardiantech — 2011-05-11T05:17:03+00:00

Eben Upton: "I used to teach at the University of Cambridge and was part of the process of interviewing sixth formers for Computer Science, and that's where I noticed the need to do something.
"When I was there as a student in the mid-1990s, the typical skillset that undergraduates came through the door with would be assembly language, maybe a bit of C, BASIC and a certain amount of hardware hacking.
"By the time I was actually interviewing, ten years later, that had changed to mostly HTML from people who had done a web page and the really good ones would maybe have done PHP – you'd get the occasional exception, but the skills have declined.
"It was as if there was a pipeline of hobbyists and then one day we stopped topping the pipeline up with ten year olds and gradually this wave has passed through the pipeline, first through the universities and then the workplace."

The Hot/Crazy Solid State Drive Scale >> Coding Horror

guardiantech — 2011-05-02T10:51:13+00:00

First, be scared: Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky, early SSD adopters, have seen them going down like ninepins. Average life: 12 months.

So are they swearing off them? Not on your life.

"Solid state hard drives are so freaking amazing performance wise, and the experience you will have with them is so transformative, that I don't even care if they fail every 12 months on average! I can't imagine using a computer without a SSD any more; it'd be like going back to dial-up internet or 13" CRTs or single button mice. Over my dead body, man!"

Just have a good rotating backup.