Gadgets and New Technologies

Posted Feb 21st 2008 6:18PM by Nilay PatelFiled under: Desktops, Laptops, Storage It’s an old adage that no security measure is worth anything if an attacker has physical access to the machine, but things like heavy-duty disk encryption are supposed to at least slow things down. Sadly, that may not actually be the case, as a group of Princeton researchers has just published a paper detailing an exploit that requires little more than a spray duster and a screwdriver. Since the encryption key for systems like BitLocker and FileVault lives in RAM, all an attacker has to do to get it is cool the RAM modules with the air duster held upside down, yank the DIMM, and insert it into another machine, where it can then be read to access the key. (Read the full post about ‘Cold boot disk encryption attack is shockingly effective’…)

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Normally, I’m all for what Uncle Sam needs to do in order to maintain National Security … so long as it doesn’t go too far. The question is, with this story in Hack N Mod, has Uncle Sam (and Dell Computers) gone a bridge too far in surveilling America? Big Brother is indeed watching you, my friends … One man found a keylogger connected to the integrated Ethernet board of his Dell PC. The story goes on to state that Dell gave him a nondescript reply and after consulting local law enforcement, he made a FOIA request regarding it. The reply is interesting, but may not be the entire story. Not everything is black helicopters and wiretaps. (Read the full post about ‘Has Homeland Security Gone Too Far with Tech Surveillance?’…)

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Sprint is making the case that Nextel Direct Connect subscribers can now use the service for more than just talking. Earlier this week, Sprint announced a number of “push-to-x” capabilities. The company listed a number of specific services with the promise that more “push-to-x” services would be launched later this year.

The new services will be launched on new Sprint Nextel phones. Services include Push-To-Email, which allows subscribers to record a voice message and send that recording to any e-mail address. The NextMail service will be available for US$7.50 a month.

(Read the full post about ‘Sprint announces Push-to-X services’…)

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Motorola has always proven itself the best when we talk about its mobile products. And this same trend is continued by the mega slim Cell Phone, the Motorola L2 cell phone. This tiny winy toy can play a lot more pranks apart from only mere communication. It is flooded with the multimedia features such as downloading games, music, video clips and what not! The Motorola L2 Cell Phone is powered with the Bluetooth wireless technology. It uses screen that satiates the features such as 65K Color CSTN and resolution power of 128 x 160 pixels. This cell phone is embedded with 22 Hz polyphonic speakers, MPEG4 video Playback and MP3 ringtones along with the capacity of downloading wallpapers and ringtones. (Read the full post about ‘Motorola L2 Cell Phone’…)

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Posted Feb 21st 2008 9:54AM by Joshua TopolskyFiled under: Portable Audio, Portable Video We don’t want to get too granular on these firmware updates, but it looks like another YP-P2 re-up has imbued the device with some interesting new features. Apparently, version 3.15 adds three new games to your device, the ability to record FM radio as an MP3, new repeat functions, control over the speed of music playback (which we think is totally boss), and EmoTure 1.5, which has a handful of improved features (or so we’re told). The whole shebang is available right now for your downloading pleasure… (Read the full post about ‘Samsung’s YP-P2 gets firmware v3.15, a handful of new features’…)

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Posted Feb 21st 2008 8:34AM by Joshua TopolskyFiled under: Misc. gadgets Sure, it’s one thing to hear about that satellite getting blown to bits, but there’s nothing like cold, hard video evidence to really cement our belief in the Navy’s extreme skill at hitting fast moving objects in space with huge missiles. Yes — the video is grainy and hard to make out, but if you can’t tell how bad we blew that thing out of the sky… well maybe you’re not looking hard enough. (Read the full post about ‘Video proof of the renegade satellite’s destruction’…)

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Posted Feb 21st 2008 4:53AM by Richard LawlerFiled under: Displays, HDTV Sony continues to update its Bravia line, with these new V1- and J1-series sets just announced in Japan. The V1 series (pictured) brings 1080p res with 120Hz MotionFlow technology in a ¥460,000 ($4,267) 52-inch, ¥370,000 ($3,432) 46-inch or ¥260,000 ($2,412) package. It keeps the 3,000:1 contrast ratio, 2.4GHz Bravia Link remote and HDMI control tech from the slim F-series, along with twin HDMI inputs, three composite jacks and ports for Ethernet and USB. The J1 series only has room for 720p worth of pixels in its 32-, 26- and 20-inch frame along with a max 2,500:1 contrast ratio. (Read the full post about ‘Sony’s new V1, J1-series Bravia LCDs priced & dated’…)

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Posted Feb 21st 2008 7:33AM by Thomas RickerFiled under: Robots var Prepare to be amazed. Thank the good lorf for embedded video because any words used to convey our awe in Dan Paluska’s and Jeff Lieberman’s ping pong ball hurling, robotic Absolut Quartet orchestral machine would fall limp upon your liquid crystal cells, rods and cones. Should have sent… a poet. Video after the break. (Read the full post about ‘Absolut Quartet: robots making music with ping pong balls and brandy glasses’…)

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Imagine if your TV was strong enough to withstand any Wii-mote strikes, you could then indulge in your favorite Wii games wholeheartedly without worrying about accidentally damaging your expensive TV. Panasonic has unveiled a new line of Wii-proof plasma TVs at its HD Networking Conference in Valencia, Spain. Panasonic claims that the plasmas can resist up to 4 joules of energy, which is enough to protect it from a flying Wii-mote unless it is purposely thrown with great force… Read [Gamertell] Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! (Read the full post about ‘Panasonic unveils Wii-proof Plasma TVs’…)

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This is certainly an interesting PC design concept - the Momenta. It was one of the finalists in Microsoft’s Next-Gen PC Design Competition, and is worn around the neck so that it will be able to actively record everything in a rolling buffer. Curiously enough, it also boasts sensors that read your pulse, whereby chancing upon an increased heart rate, it will TiVo the last five minutes for you to review whatever the cause is for that increased pulse rate. I guess folks who surf NSFW sites at the office will exhaust the built-in memory rather quickly. I also wonder what kind of processor will be used, and the cooling system must be pretty efficient considering how fast today’s processors heat up. (Read the full post about ‘Momenta Concept PC Design’…)

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