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Bluetooth Gains Direct Internet Access, Security Enhancements
jfruh writes: The Bluetooth spec never quite became the worldbeater it was billed as, but it's aiming to become indispensible to the Internet of Things. Updates to the spec make it possible for low-powered Bluetooth devices to gain direct access to the Internet, and, perhaps more importantly, make those devices a lot harder to hack.
Harder to hack or harder to crack? It would be nice if we could use hack to mean hack at least here "News for nerds".
Reading comprehension.
They have made updates to the spec. Those updates make devices following that spec harder to hack and allow internet access.
How exactly does it connect "directly to the internet" ? It doesn't have 3G/WiFi capability.
All I can see is that a BT 4.2 device can connect to an 'internet connected' router / phone which also supports this BT 4.2 profile (similar to PAN in BT3 with which we could do an internet tether or file share etc).
How is this "directly connected to the internet" when it is using a router to access the net. And all BT4 devices connected to smartphones are anyway getting data to/fro from the internet - like uploading your running data to a website etc.
Anyone with a better understanding care to explain ?
DRTFA and BRTFS but I can give you an few lil tidbits about this:
1) Everything connected to the internet is connected to a router somewhere along the line... that's not interesting.
2) There are a lot of ways to connect to the internet that have absolutely nothing to do with WiFi or 3G.
3) Right now a Bluetooth device can connect to another device. That device may provide a variety of services for said Bluetooth device including providing network connectivity BUT that device isn't really connected to the Internet itself. The new spec provides this device to be connected "more directly" to the net as in it will have its own IP address. The router that it is connecting to supporting the BT4.2 protocol is really no different from the WiFi access point your WiFi equipped device is talking to. Just need to add to the alphabet soup: a,b,g,n,bt
How is this "directly connected to the internet" when it is using a router to access the net.
By that definition, NOTHING connects directly to the internet.
Anyone with a better understanding care to explain ?
The proper definition of a host running an internet-facing application being "directly connecting to the internet" is using IP for the first hop, with the packets having a route from there to and from the rest of the Connected (capital-I) Internet.
Bluetooth 4.2 added support for IPv6 to/from bluetooth devices. This means IP packets formed on, or directed to, the Bluetooth 4.2 hosts, for delivery to/from other Internet-connected devices, do not require a protocol-translation gateway to select and translate some subset of the packet types, services, and features, modifying the transport semantics to support some tiny subset of functionality that the gateway explicitly understands. An IP packet formed on the bluetooth device goes all the way to its destination semantically unmodified, and ditto packets going from some other device to the bluetooth device. The full feature set of IP (or as much of it as the stack implementer choses to support) is available, while the routers can be "as dumb as rocks" and totally ignorant of what the application on the Bluetooth device is up to, in classic Internet style.
A Bluetooth 4.2 device, using IPv6 and with a route, IS on the Internet, and is a peer to all other internet-connected hosts.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
You will be attacked by your refrigerator.
Why is Snark Required?
"The Bluetooth spec never quite became the worldbeater it was billed as"
What are you talking about, BT is the de-facto standard for connecting wirelessly with almost any device today, ranging from audio devices to input devices to applliances, how has it not beaten any comparable specification, in fact is there even another _usable_ alternative?
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
"What possibly could go wrong?"
You will be attacked by your refrigerator.
When you step on the iScale you have to step on to access the menu screen of your SmartFridge, it might decide you've already had enough to eat that day, and report your repeated attempts to overeat to your insurance company, and activate your Schwinn Over the Airflow exercise bike to beep every 5 seconds until you hop on and do a brisk 5 miles before allowing the SmartFridge to open again.
After it allows it to open again, you decide you want a beer to cool off with. The beer has an rfid chip in it, and upon opening, disables your automobile, and reports to your employer. You open a second beer, and the insurance company is notified, your employer, the manufacturer of the beer, and the local police. Before you can open the SmartFridge again, you'll have to blow into a breathalyzer, that reports to everyone. When you blow below .02 BAC, (hey, impairment begins with the first thought about drinking) the SmartFridge will open again.
Then checking your smartphone, there will be email from your insurance company and employer expressing concerns about your drinking and weight problems, and an ad from BuMilCoors about needing to restock your beer supply.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.