Embedded Linux goes Open Source

DeviceVM, the maker of Splashtop software which features embedded Linux “Fast Boot” products like featured in the Asus P5E3 Deluxe WiFi-AP @n has just released the source code to its software under GPL.

The software is loaded onto a hard-wired USB device in the PC which then gives the option of booting into the main OS or the Splashtop client – which currently offers basic Skype and Firefox functions. We highlighted in the review that allowing program installation so we could customise it with other software such as a media player or email, perhaps, would make it much more useful.

It looks like Splashtop hopes the coding community will jump at the chance to expand this for the company, providing there’s enough product popularity to get it off the ground.

Unfortunately for DeviceVM, Phoenix (the company that makes virtually every consumer and OEM PC BIOS on the market) has just launched its embedded Hyperspace application that goes down a similar route of “Fast Booting OS”. It looks like DeviceVM suddenly came across a rather large hurdle for mass adoption.

In order to inquire about what’s coming up for Splashtop, we managed to grab Sergei Krupenin from DeviceVM for a little while to nail down what the future will hold for it.

He told bit-tech that “there are a couple new motherboards with Splashtop targeted for release at the end of the year, but we cannot announce the specifics until the OEM gives us the green light. At the same time, all the major manufacturers are talking to DeviceVM about doing laptop and desktop products for next year.

“Another thing is that we feel our open platform (with a soon to be released SDK) also allows consumers to do more with Splashtop than with other solutions.

“For the P5E3 motherboard, Splashtop was designed to reside within the limited non-volatile on-board memory. While it is a restricted environment that may vary in size for other models, additional programs can be accommodated and we are working on enabling that through an SDK. Since speed and security are two of our core value propositions, the main challenge we are addressing is how to create an extensible environment without slowing down Splashtop or opening vulnerabilities.

“The consumer feedback after the launch tells us that people want to add applications such as IM or music playback to Splashtop – just as you pointed out. So this is a major direction. We are planning to start by offering selected applications for download through our web site, initially within a Beta program, and later open this up.”

Thankfully, DeviceVM recognises that security is as important as an open system, but it’s certainly a very difficult balance to achieve. Contrastingly, Phoenix is going to heavily lock down Hyperspace to foreign intervention and only allow updates from secure servers.

When asked about the competition from Phoenix, Mr. Krupenin said that “the competition is good, as it helps educate consumers about the availability of “Fast Boot” offerings, and also encourages manufacturers to bring products to market. We are interested to see what Phoenix has in store. In the meantime the P5E3 is already out and the pipeline of Splashtop-enabled products is growing.”

Unfortunately the Asus P5E3 Deluxe WiFi AP @n is a seriously expensive motherboard, so we asked Asus what else is in the pipe that’s a bit more consumer wallet friendly. We were told that there was nothing specifically being made just yet because there are many economic factors that go into a motherboard design.

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Study: Internet could run out of capacity in two years

Consumer and corporate use of the Internet could overload the current capacity and lead to brown-outs in two years unless backbone providers invest billions of dollars in new infrastructure, according to a study released Monday.

A flood of new video and other Web content could overwhelm the Internet by 2010 unless backbone providers invest up to US$137 billion in new capacity, more than double what service providers plan to invest, according to the study, by Nemertes Research Group, an independent analysis firm. In North America alone, backbone investments of $42 billion to $55 billion will be needed in the next three to five years to keep up with demand, Nemertes said.

The study is the first to “apply Moore’s Law (or something very like it) to the pace of application innovation on the ‘Net,” the study says. “Our findings indicate that although core fiber and switching/routing resources will scale nicely to support virtually any conceivable user demand, Internet access infrastructure, specifically in North America, will likely cease to be adequate for supporting demand within the next three to five years.”

The study confirms long-time concerns of the Internet Innovation Alliance (IIA), an advocacy group focused on upgrading U.S. broadband networks, said Bruce Mehlman, co-chairman of the group. The group, with members including AT&T, Level 3 Communications, Corning, Americans for Tax Reform and the American Council of the Blind, has been warning people of the coming “exaflood” of video and other Web content that could clog its pipes.

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USB 3.0 — 10 Times Faster — In the Works for 2009

USB, that little rectangular plug that can be found on just about every computer peripheral cable you come across, is one of the biggest success stories in the history of computing. Ditching the slow serial and parallel cables of yore and replacing them with a fast, universal standard that could draw power and allowed connecting of dozens of peripherals without rebooting… well, it was genius. When USB 2.0 arrived, with much faster performance, it got even better. It’s not hyperbole to say that USB, despite its humble status as a mere connector, is one of the most important computer technologies to ever be invented.

Well, USB fans, things are going to get even more interesting and soon. USB 2.0 may be fast enough right now, but with more high-definition video products arriving and bigger and bigger files being transferred, that won’t be the case forever. Enter USB 3.0, which moves the bandwidth needle from 480Mbps to roughly 4.8Gbps, 10 times faster than the current version.

The new standard, which was recently demonstrated using a new optical cable (but the same connector), will be backward compatible with older USB formats and promises better power efficiency, too, in order to decrease the load on portable devices. Possibly in the works: Better ability to charge devices over USB, some of which still require an A/C adapter or two USB connections to draw enough juice.

Specs are planned to be delivered early next year with commercial availability for 2009. Just do us a favor and clearly label USB 3.0 products with an appropriate logo this time! (USB 2.0 got caught up in a mini scandal when vendors started labeling USB 1.1 products as “USB 2.0 capable,” with vendors later claiming they only meant the products worked with USB 2.0 connections. Fail!)

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Firefox 3 Beta 1 now available for download

Please note: We do not recommend that anyone other than developers and testers download the Firefox 3 Beta 1 milestone release. It is intended for testing purposes only.

Firefox 3 Beta 1 is now available for download. This is the ninth developer milestone focused on testing the core functionality provided by many new features and changes to the platform scheduled for Firefox 3. Ongoing planning for Firefox 3 can be followed at the Firefox 3 Planning Center, as well as in mozilla.dev.planning and on irc.mozilla.org in #granparadiso.

New features and changes in this milestone that require feedback include:

• Improved security features such as: better presentation of website identity and security, malware protection, stricter SSL error pages, anti-virus integration in the download manager, and version checking for insecure plugins.
• Improved ease of use through: better password management, easier add-on installation, new download manager with resumable downloading, full page zoom, animated tab strip, and better integration with Windows Vista and Mac OS X.
• Richer personalization through: one-click bookmarking, smart search bookmark folders, direct typing in location bar searches your history and bookmarks for URLs and page titles, ability to register web applications as protocol handlers, and better customization of download actions for file types.
• Improved platform features such as: new graphics and font rendering architecture, major changes to the HTML rendering engine to provide better CSS, float-, and table layout support, native web page form controls, colour profile management, and offline application support.
• Performance improvements such as: better data reliability for user profiles, architectural improvements to speed up page rendering, over 300 memory leak fixes, and a new XPCOM cycle collector to reduce entire classes of leaks.

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Facebook Offers $85 Million To Acquire Chinese Social Networking Site Zhanzuo.com

Facebook is said to have offered $85 million to acquire Zhanzuo.com, a Chinese social networking site with seven million users.According to The Times, Jack Zhang, Zhanzuo’s chief executive, and Mark Zuckerberg have been discussing the deal but it has not been accepted yet, with a spokesperson saying that the result of the talks will be disclosed towards the end of the month.

The acquisition would give Facebook a base from which it can tap into the growth in what will soon be the worlds largest online marketplace by user numbers.

Zhanzuo ranks in the Top 250 sites in China according to Alexa, but strangely both Alexa and Compete show a big drop in traffic for the site over July and August. Although Alexa may not be the most accurate metrics source, the massive drop for the site at once might suggest issues with governmental blocking; the site primarily operates on a .com domain as opposed to a .cn (.com’s are more regularly blocked or redirected), and there is no other logical explanation for the massive and immediate drop in traffic. I’d suspect that the site may find it has more problems in the future should it end up owned by Facebook.

Zhanzuo was funded by Sequoia China and Morningside Capital.

Update: as pointed out in the comments, the traffic dip might be related to users heading back to school…that’s one big dip, but I’m willing to accept it as an explanation. Certainly other Chinese companies operate on .com’s without problem, although it would be interesting to see how a social network such as Zhanzuo.com deals with censorship, particularly with 7 million users. Given the previous heated debate over Yahoo and China, it will be even more interesting again to see how Facebook deals with it if the takeover is successful.

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AT&T talks with Google about joining wireless software group

AT&T has talked with Google about joining its mobile-phone software alliance. The phone company is “analyzing the situation” and may use Google’s software for phones, Ralph de la Vega, chief executive officer of the wireless unit, said in an interview Friday. He refused to give details of discussions and said he hasn’t personally met with Mountain View-based Google. The search-engine giant announced Nov. 5 that it would work with 33 companies to develop software for mobile phones. Wireless carriers Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA joined the alliance, looking for features such as local shopping searches that could help them lure new customers.

– Bloomberg News

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An Introduction to TCP/IP

TCP/IP , or Transmission Control protocol/Internet Protocol, is literally the backbone of internet and network communication. The concepts of TCP/IP are difficult to grasp without previous experience, so don’t be dismayed if it doesn’t click instantly. To better help you out, we’ll start from the very beginning- with a definition of just what a network is.

Networks, Protocols, and Suites, Oh My!

A network is simply a collection of computers or similar devices that can communicate over a transmission medium. Don’t worry- that is just a fancy phrase that usually refers to Ethernet cable and other connective wire. You can see a basic network in the diagram below- odds are you’ve already seen something similar.

Simple enough, isn’t it? Just three computers linked together for communication. Sadly, it is a little more complex than that. To actually send any data from one computer to another we need to make use of a network protocol. A network protocol is a set of common rules that defines how data should be sent. These protocols ensure that a message sent from one computer will reach the next, and that it is interpreted correctly. These many different protocols make up TCP/IP, which is referred to as a protocol suite.

But why do we need a special suite? Back when TCP/IP wasn’t around, there were many different proprietary protocols. Since many different companies developed different protocols, many networks just weren’t compatible. Without a common suite like TCP/IP, the internet would not be possible.

A Brief History of TCP/IP

Now that we have a basic understanding of what TCP/IP is for, let’s review how it came to be. Believe it or not, TCP/IP was developed way back in the 1960’s by the United States Department of Defense. Its original designers had a problem- networks at the time were very small and incompatible. Proprietary protocols were in wide use, contributing to the compatibility problem.

In the early days, it was believed that relying on networks could be a disastrous idea. If a particular network node were to be destroyed for any reason, it would likely bring the entire network down. Since a missile or bomb could literally make any point on a network a target, a decentralized system was needed. The goal was to create a network that didn’t depend on other parts of the network to operate- one of the key features of TCP/IP. Review the diagram below for a visual representation of what happens if a computer fails on a centralized network. As you can see, both right and left computers have lost connection to the central computer, since the middle computer is down.

To actually provide a decentralized network, two important features of TCP/IP are used. Instead of one computer having authority over others, computers generally operate as equals. Dynamic routing is another feature that ensures decentralization. If computers are connected through multiple paths, computers will check for alternative routes if one seems to be down. In the above image, we could achieve dynamic routing by connecting both left and right computers to the first centralized computer- this enables us to completely bypass the downed middle computer.

This ambitious project was initially named ARPANET after the Defense Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). A few years later, research institutions wanted in on the protocol system too. This is the start of what became the foundations of the internet.

Soon after, we had another networking concept arise- the Local Area Network, or LAN. These networks were the solution for offices and institutions to share resources with ease. The first LAN connections were crippled from today’s standards- they lacked internet access. The advent of the gateway enabled protocols to be translated for LAN connections to access the internet- and the popularity of TCP/IP exploded from there.

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Tips From Web Greats

It’s sad, really sad, to see so many Americans work hard and play by the rules without ever getting ahead.

YouTube is bulging with videos from citizens, especially young ones, who want nothing more than the American Dream: celebrity status without appreciable talent. They work long hours chasing the dream, doing take after take of their mash-ups, their parodies, their response tapes. But at the end of the day, they’re no more famous than when they woke up, most likely in a bedroom in their parents’ home.

If this sounds like you, you’re probably telling yourself that you’ve just had bad luck. But real-life Web celebrities know better: They got where they are today not just because they were lucky, but because they knew a few secrets you probably don’t.

That fact was abundantly clear when I interviewed some of the biggest Net stars last week, asking what advice they’d give to someone trying to break into the business. Here’s what they told me about “Becoming a Viral Web Superstar: Tips From the Experts.”

The most important thing is to understand the dynamics of the medium and the nature of your audience. “The Internet moves very fast,” says Gary “Numa Numa” Brolsma. “Your video has to be funny, or get to the point, very quickly. People are clicking all the time. If you don’t hook people in the first 15 seconds, they’ll move on.”

Mr. Brolsma certainly knows what he’s talking about. He was voted “Greatest Internet Superstar” by VH1. You may not have heard of him, or for that matter, any of the other megasuperstars mentioned in this column. Well, you can read about them on Wikipedia. Or, ask the guy in your office who seems always glued to his computer, “working on PowerPoint.”

Another glide path to online fame involves pushing as many demographic buttons as possible. That’s the word from Judson “Evolution of Dance” Laipply, whose video has long reigned as the most-viewed on YouTube.

“My video crosses almost every generation — it doesn’t have a language barrier and it has nostalgia going for it, too,” he says. “One of my favorite emails was from a grandmother who said she watched it with her daughter, her granddaughter and her great-granddaughter, and they all were laughing hysterically.”

Tenacity and self-confidence also should be in your arsenal. “Be obsessive,” says Fritz Grobe, the short, bearded one on the right in the famous Diet Coke and Mentos video. “We spent six months developing our experiments and asking ourselves, ‘Is this cool, or are we just crazy?’ Lots of the biggest Internet videos have been made by real people showing what they are passionate about.”

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Dell’s Latitude XT and XPS ONE make first public appearance

Dell fans, we’ve got some juicy meat for you to sink your teeth into. During Michael Dell’s keynote address at Oracle OpenWorld today, the company unleashed (or at least demoed) its forthcoming all-in-one PC, creatively named the XPS One. Of course, we’ve been hearing rumblings about the One for some time now, but Dell also whipped out its sparkly new Latitude XT tablet, which should please all the Gatesian types out there who think TPCs are the future. But wait — there’s more! The new Latitude isn’t just some plain-jane scratchpad. Besides being the thinnest in its 12.1-inch, convertible category, and having a screen which is 25-percent brighter than the competition… it’s multi-touch. At the keynote, the Dell folks demonstrated a multiple-finger paint program, which lets you draw five simultaneous lines, and also showcased a Surface-like photo viewer which allows you to scramble, resize, and generally get physical with your fond memories. Check the pictures of the tablet in action after the break and feel its magical vibes.

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Patch Tuesday: Microsoft Fixes Critical Windows Bug

Microsoft has released its November security updates, fixing a critical Windows bug that has been exploited by online criminals.

Microsoft released just two security updates this month, but security experts say that IT staff will want to install both of them as quickly as possible. The MS07-061 update is particularly critical because the flaw it repairs has been seen in Web-based attack code, said Amol Sarwate, manager of Qualys‘s vulnerability research lab. “This was a zero day [flaw] that was being used in the wild by hackers,” he said.

The flaw has to do with the way Windows passes data between applications, using a technology called the URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) protocol handler. This is the part of Windows that allows users to launch applications — an e-mail or instant messaging client, for example — by clicking on a Web link. Because Windows does not perform all of the security checks necessary, hackers found ways to sneak unauthorized commands into these Web links and the flaw could be exploited to install unauthorized software on a victim’s PC.

This type of flaw lies in both Windows and the programs being launched by the Web link and Microsoft had initially said that it was up to third-party software developers to fix the issue. It later reversed this position and decided to fix the flaw in Windows as well. These URI protocol handler problems have turned up in Adobe, Firefox and Outlook Express.

Microsoft was forced to revise its position on the URI bugs after researchers discovered that they were far more problematic than first thought, said Nathan McFeters, a security researcher with Ernst & Young, who has been studying this problem. “I think that early on it wasn’t clear that this was an issue,” he said via e-mail. “There’s really a handful of issues with this URI use and abuse stuff.”

Microsoft’s patch for this problem is rated critical for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 users, but the bug does not affect Windows 2000 or Vista, Microsoft said.

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