Archive for Hardware category
Hiding secrets behind the law – DRM, AACS and the 16-byte key
It surprises and annoys me when I hear of individuals or companies trying to use the law to hide secrets. Surprise at the sheer stupidity and annoyance that tax payers money is used in the process.
The latest secret under suppression is a short 16-byte key which locks away the content on HD-DVD discs that only licensed software and hardware can play it back and prevent you from making copies.
This type of protection used to be called copy-protection but these days it goes under the equally unpopular name of "Digital Rights Management (DRM)". It enforce the copyright holders rights whilst denying you yours and does it in such a way that in some countries re-asserting your legal rights means you end up breaking others.
The AACS Licencing Authority believe they can now protect by law what they failed to protect using technology. This is particularly amusing because their predecessor, the DVD-CCA, failed on both counts when the encryption on DVD was broken in 1999 by an enterprising trio. Apple gets it and is going down the DRM-free route and not treating their customers like criminals.
Basing an entire business model on keeping a sequence of characters secret defies belief and thinking you can wipe the secret off the face of the internet once it’s out is laughable especially when you consider the infinite number of ways you could represent it. The AACS are at it anyway with take down notices to the likes of Digg and others. Amusingly the take down notice itself includes the ‘magic key’.
Alternative 16-byte sequence where each byte is an offset on the previous one is "09 F0 18 F1 9B D7 6F 78 7D 69 15 6F 9E F3 32 38" which if run through the following program yields a certain magic key.
class Program {
static void Main(string[] argv) {
byte b = 0;
string key = string.Empty;
foreach(string a in argv) {
b += byte.Parse(a, System.Globalization.NumberStyles.HexNumber);
key += string.Format("{0:x2} ", b);
}
System.Console.WriteLine(key);
}
}[)amien
So you believe Apple is more expensive than Dell…
Apple are often accused of being more expensive and that Dell are much cheaper.
The reality is that Dell offers a wider range that includes real low-end products that are often constrained or using older technology. Apple, quite rightly in my opinion, doesn’t compete there.
Okay Apple have some other gaps in their line-up most notably the typical home power-user who doesn’t want a twin processor Mac Pro, needs more configuration options than the Mac Mini and already owns a display so doesn’t want an iMac. A box half the size of the Pro with a single dual/quad core CPU and no supplied peripherals would be perfect.
That aside I was checking out the prices for their new twin 3GHz quad Xeon boxes after some individuals baulked at the price. They obviously haven’t seen similar specifications from Dell…
| Apple MacPro | Dell Precision 690 | |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | 2xQuad Core Xeon 3GHz | 2xQuad Core Xeon 2.66GHz |
| Memory | 4×1GB DDR 667 | 4×1GB DDR 667 |
| Storage | 500GB 7200RPM SATA | 500GB 7200RPM SATA |
| Optical | 16x DVD-RW | 16x DVD-RW |
| Input | Wired keyboard/mouse | Wired keyboard/mouse |
| OS | Mac OS X 10.4 | Vista Ultimate 64-bit |
| Graphics | NVIDIA Quadro FX4500 512MB | NVIDIA Quadro FX4500 512MB |
| Price ex.VAT | £3,605.95 | £5,890.00 |
| Price inc.VAT | £4,436.99 | £6,920.75 |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT 256MB | NVIDIA Quadro FX550 128MB |
| Price ex.VAT | £2,712.34 | £4,595.00 |
| Price inc.VAT | £3,187.00 | £5,399.13 |
In this scenario the Dell is over 60% more expensive and comes with slower CPU’s.
So much for the “Apple Premium Tax”.
[)amien
My windows 64-bit experiences
Windows XP 64-bit has been on the market for some time and both Intel and AMD’s current processors are 64-bit. Even cheap office Dell boxes are coming equipped with the 64-bit Core 2 Duo. (This is the x64/x86-64/EM64T/AMD64 architecture which comprises of 64-bit extensions on top of the existing x86 32-bit architecture and not to be confused with Intel’s IA64 Itanium stuff or DEC’s Alpha 64)
You can run 32-bit Windows XP on these processors but if you want to use more than 2-3GB of RAM then you’ll need to switch to Windows XP 64-bit edition (or Vista 64-bit if you’re really brave).
With all this in mind I was a little surprised at the state of 64-bit Windows software when I finally got my hands on my first x64 machine. Here’s what I found.
Microsoft SQL Server 2005
Installing Microsoft SQL Server 64-bit (any edition) complained about a missing or corrupt sqlclin_x64.msi file which could leave you running in circles.
This problem occurs if you have the 32-bit native client already installed. Unhelpfully Add or Remove Programs describes both versions as Microsoft SQL Server Native Client regardless of whether you have the 32-bit or 64-bit version installed. The SQL Installer fails to check for the 64-bit version and throws this cryptic error message at you instead.
Solution: Remove Microsoft SQL Server Native Client.
Internet Explorer only sites that use Flash
There are a number of IE only web-sites that use Flash – Microsoft’s Online Learning is one such example. The problem is that Adobe have not made a 64-bit version of the Flash player available.
Solution: Create a shortcut to C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\IExplore.exe to run 32-bit Internet Explorer for now.
Mozilla Firefox
There is no official 64-bit Windows version of Firefox although the 32-bit version runs just fine.
Solution: Try one of the unofficial builds although they are a little dated and there is no patching policy.
TortoiseCVS
There is no 64-bit version of TortoiseCVS and the 32-bit version will not run from the 64-bit Windows Explorer.
Solution: Install the 32-bit version and run from the 32-bit version of Windows Explorer (a pain).
A 64-bit version of TortoiseSVN is now available.
Note: If you like to be able to access TortoiseSVN from the File dialogs in Visual Studio 2005 you will also need to install the 32-bit version as VS 2005’s devenv.exe is a 32-bit application.
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
Whilst the Profession and Team editions will let you write 64-bit applications Visual Studio 2005 itself is 32-bit only and has some additional performance and compatibility problems beyond those experienced on x86 32-bit Windows.
Service Pack 1 resolves some issues relating to debugging on 64-bit but leaves a whole host of other x64 issues unresolved including debugging SQL code.
Solution: None.
.NET Reflector
Fails to draw properly the debugging or lower left info pane. Curious considering it is a .NET application that shouldn’t care whether it is running on 32-bit or 64-bit architectures. So much for VM abstraction.
Solution: None.
This bug has been subsequently fixed.
Resources
- Start64 contains articles, news and information on all things 64-bit
- Compatibility overview from Microsoft
- Unofficial compatibility database of hardware, applications and games submitted by users
Overall a very disappointing state of affairs.
[)amien
New browsers on Windows Mobile 5+
One of the disappointments of Windows Mobile 6 is the lack of any major improvements on the web browser (they improved the rendering a little as well as favourites/history…).
Thankfully unlike other phones you can install extra applications and these alternatives are worth consideration.
DeepFish
Straight out of Microsoft’s Labs is DeepFish which renders the whole page and then lets you zoom in. Whilst the concept is similar to the iPhone the major difference appears to be that a server does the rendering for you making the web browser do little more than display these server-side rendered images.
The results are a bit hit-and-miss at the moment hence why it is still a technology preview which seems now to be full however there are alternative places to get the files and activation codes but be warned it doesn’t yet support sites that require form submissions/logins.
Minimo
Minimo takes a more traditional approach to browsing and uses the core Mozilla technologies as used in Firefox to provide a very feature-reach browser that includes support for JavaScript, AJAX, RSS and tabbed-browsing.
Opera Mobile
Opera Software produce Opera 8 for Windows Mobile Smartphone as part of their suite which seems to target every hardware and software combination under the sun. This version includes tabbed browsing and the usual assortment of tricks to improve rendering on small screens.
A trial version is available which I’d recommend before parting with your cash as unlike the others this one will set you back $24 USD.
[)amien
PlayStation 3 launch disaster?
I’ve known for a little while now I wasn’t going to bother with the PS3 unless some truly unique titles come up and the price subsequently drops so buying one at launch was a no-no for me but once I found out only two of my friends were getting them (and I have a lot of geeky friends) I knew Sony were in trouble.
A quick browse shows Amazon.co.uk still have some available, Play have them left, hell even my local HMV here on the tiny island of Guernsey had over 100 unallocated at lunch today and had canceled their midnight launch event – albeit for ‘technical’ reasons.
People on eBay have been finding their pre-order auctions not even meeting their cost price and looking at the negative feedback they are refusing to honour them now.
How could Sony have screwed this up so much? Take your pick:
- Shafting Europeans with a 33% price increase over the Americans? ($599 vs £425 vs €599)
599 USD = 304 GBP = 449 EUR - Cutting backwards compatibility when costs aren’t even passed on to the consumer?
But as we have made clear before, in the future our resources will be increasingly focused on developing new services and entertainment features exclusively for PS3, rather than on delivering PS2 backwards compatibility.
- Forcing Europeans to buy the more expensive model – because “that’s what they demand”
Responding to retail and consumer demand, SCEE confirmed that initially only the 60GB model would be available, with the 20GB model to follow later in the year dependent on demand.
- Forcing Blu-Ray upon consumers when they have failed with so many proprietary formats already?
- Repeated delays?
15 March 2005, November 2006, 23 March 2007 - Nothing worth playing at launch?
27 launch titles, 6 exclusive titles for sale plus Gran Turismo HD Concept free download. Gran Turismo HD Concept looks interesting … but not £425 to play essentially a demo interesting. Resistance: Fall of Man and MotorStorm are the top selling titles with EuroGamer scores of 6 and 8 respectively. - Pathetic attempt at on-line service in the face of Xbox Live!?
- Dropping rumble in exchange for a not-as-good-as-Wii movement sensor?
- That Sony are so full of themselves they think being expensive is something to be proud of?
Jeff Minter, writing in his regular column for Edge, said:They seem absolutely certain that even when they say it’s going to be considerably more expensive than existing consoles… nevertheless us eager customers will rush out in droves to buy it because it’s, hey, a new PlayStation.” … “incredibly arrogant.”
Of course it comes down to just one thing: Give people what they want, not what you want them to have.
I doubt Sony can stop their downward trend whilst they exude arrogance that sounds like “you’ll take this and you’ll like it – we’re Sony”.
In order to try and save face Sony performed a PR stunt by giving away 46″ HD TV’s to everybody who brought a PS3 at the Virgin London store. This would hopefully mean the press and sites would write about this instead of poor turnout or nothing at all – a snip at £250,000 to Sony. Check out the BBC, GameIndustry.biz or UK Resistance for coverage of the launch event.
Update
Yeah, pathetic turn-out all round with reports of media outnumbering shoppers at a couple of events, general disappointment and even big venues getting under 100 people. On-line retailers such as Amazon and Play have plenty left.
Last night 50 regional HMV stores were open for midnight launches across the country, and “at least” 1,000 units had been sold, according to Ellis.
…only 100 or so people came to the event, as opposed to the 1,500 or so who queued for a Wii, or the 3,000 who turned up for the World of Warcraft expansion pack
[)amien