On a side note, a few years back, I was working on designing a tape robot that would be able to use bare 2.5" drives.
It had almost zero time to load (once it was plugged into a reader slot and spun up.)
It also had various uses it could work as, be it a VTL, the disks presented as tape libraries, spanning disks where data that wasn't used would be moved to platters, then demounted.
The problem was the robotics. Only one company was able to make the robots that could reliably grip, move, and ungrip the drives, and they were asking $10,000 per unit for starters.
Eventually, the project got shuttled aside, but having a silo that was able to use disks without any special enclosure required would have been nice for the enterprise (IMHO, of course.)
From what I've seen, the US has been a moderating force in the region since the 1900s, from keeping Japan from attacking Russia, through WWII, to keeping the peace in the area.
People seem to forget, but if that area went to war, it would make the turmoil of the Middle East look calm, so even though the US isn't perfect, the peace has been kept in that area for the most part.
SSD has its uses, but long term storage isn't one of them. Hard disks can be recovered, but a SSD, good luck... that data is gone.
Of course, the trick is to have some media for backups or just even snapshots, except that it seems that IT shops are embracing geographically separate SANs and async mirroring as opposed to archive-grade media. Virtually every shop I've worked with, no matter how big a SAN they get, if one doesn't watch out, it will get full overnight.
Since it appears that the pendulum finally is swinging away from "the cloud" as a means of long term storage, I'm wondering what the next few years will bring for backup/archive media. LTO-6 is the last tape holdout, and there doesn't seem to be much progress on archival grade optical (no, BD-R isn't enterprise grade.)
There are tons of improvements in the upper tiers, but the bottom slow/reliable/archival tiers are important too. I will not be surprised to see more data retention laws out being passed, not to mention the existing ones (Sarbanes-Oxley, FERPA, HIPAA) which require heaps of data to be stored for long periods of time, and storing stuff that likely will never be accessed on even tier 3 drives on a SAN is a waste of electricity.
It will only hit market when there is some new DRM standard applied to it, similar to SD cards with 20% of their capacity set aside for encrypted stuff.
What might work would be a pseudo-anonymous service:
Company "A" demands some personal info, validates it, chucks it, and makes a master certificate on your private key. You can then have other private keys (as many as you want) certified, each completely separate from the others, and the only connection is company A's certificate. Company "A" can even charge a small fee, say 25 cents for each key certified, and an initial fee of $1.
Then, the website could ask for you to just copy, sign, and paste some random text with your key. Then, the website checks if your key is validated with company "A", and grants/denies access.
If the website noticed that they are getting spam from someone with the key, they notify company "A" about it, and they revoke all keys owned by that user. This prevents any new accounts from being made, although current ones are left intact.
Of course, there would have to be degrees of separation, so that the user info that is validated never leaks to the throwaway keys used for each site, and there are some tuning items such as what constitutes validated, and what to charge. It isn't 100%, but it can be used.
Of course, another solution is requiring clients to have a client cert from a known good CA (and making sure the cert is a paid one, not a temporary, 30 day.)
Abloys use a totally different principle of working. Instead of a shear line, they have a small indentation that a sidebar engages. Picking an Abloy lock is more like guessing a safe combination (false gates included) than rattling spring-loaded pins. There are no springs in an Abloy cylinder, so a bump key would just move the tumblers around, not getting anyone any closer to opening the lock.
It doesn't mean they are 100% secure, but with the improvements made by the company over the years, it is a lot harder for all but the most dedicated locksport guys to get those open. Locksmiths just drill them out.
How are high security locks low safety? Pushing on an exit bar opens the door regardless if there is a Best, Medeco, Abloy, or a 5 cylinder special on the door. Same with magnetic locks. All the ones I've seen will open from the inside by bumping the bar. This is also a law by fire code.
Some sites require a badging out, but one can still hit the exit bar... it might sound an obnoxious alarm, but one can still get out.
A high security lock keeping people -in- is a no-no in every fire code in the US, unless one is dealing with an institution or a jail.
Yes, one can blow the doors off with a shotgun. However that leaves a signature. I use high security locks because if someone tries getting in, they leave evidence behind (which makes it more believable come the police reports and insurance claims.) A bumped lock leaves zero evidence (good luck getting a theft claim), and a picked lock leaves very little.
At a lot of places I worked, there was a short list of people who had mechanical keys:
1: The security desk had a master key which was in a paper envelope, in a sealed box which was the "break glass in case of emergency" type. Facilities tended to use the keycards.
2: The building had a Knox box with a master key on the front so the local PD or FD could get unfettered access.
That mechanism is used in Mul-T-Locks and Abloy locks (the Mul-T-locks use it as a patent, the Abloy locks use it for a way for the user to know the key is all the way inserted.)
What I wouldn't be surprised in seeing is something similar to Ace round locks, except with the bitting inside the barrel. Of course, we then are back to the age old Bic pen way of opening those, but I'm sure there is a way to help with that (especially if a tumbler or two slid on an axial path somehow.) This would require someone to closely examine the key, or at the minimum, take good photos of the depth down the barrel.
It is a new technology, and the first thing that happens are the fearmongers coming out. Next come the regulators because they want to enforce the status quo.
Same old thing, we had this with computers, we had this with the Internet. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a law or international treaty that gets passed forcing all 3D printer makers to have a DRM stack, or only allow signed files to be printed on the machines (with people having to send all stuff they want printed to a third party for "approval" and a certificate.)
Some English prison locks do this, because part of their design is to make the key and keyway as hard to eyeball as possible (so prisoners can't carve one out of soap or whatnot.)
The Internet is a "stone soup". It was a DoD effort at first, but the world has put in a lot of technologies in general.
If I were to state who "owns" the Internet now, I would probably say China, since they are the top producer of L1 gear (switches, routers, NICs, motherboard chips, etc.,) and without that layer, everything else isn't going to happen.)
Last time I read, the locksport guys have managed to get it open in 10-12 hours. The Protec is about ten years old, and Abloy has put out the Protec2 with minor changes recently which, AFAIK, has not been opened.
I'd probably say the Protec2 + CLIQ is probably the best out there. It isn't 100%, (as the 2009 DEFCON got them back to the drawing board to deal with the vibration and magnet attacks and made a rev using a disk that turns as opposed to a pin that retracts), but it is as good as it gets for this department.
Of course, there is one step up from there -- going with Kaba-Mas X-10 combo locks on the doors as a backup. However, for almost any task, the Protec2+Cliq is probably the best of breed we have right now.
I have been at several places where the key card system goes toes up and will not allow anyone in. The controller on a lot of HID systems is an XP box, and computers can fail, locking everyone out.
You have to have a high security mechanical override somehow. A lot of places use Best locks (which are 6-7 pins, have spool/mushroom tumblers, and unique keyways.) Others tend to go with Medeco3.
If you want resistance to 3D printers, there are already three methods which work well. The first is what is on Mul-T-Locks and Abloy PROTEC2 locks, and that is an active pin on the side of the key.
The second is a method like the Evva MCS, and having magnets embedded in the key. Duplicating this is a lot harder than just 3D printing a replacement, one would have to know where all eight magnets are facing and precisely align them. Not impossible, but not trivial.
Finally, there is the "CLIQ" technology that is going through multiple revisions. This combines a high security mechanical key with an electronic chip and tiny rotating pin powered from a battery on the key. Since each cylinder keeps the authorized keys in memory, there is no one central point of failure. The CLIQ system has gotten better over the years since it was opened at a previous DEFCON. First it was a pin that would retract, but that was changed to a small disk that rotates to allow the key to turn.
Nothing is perfect, but Assa-Abloy's CLIQ system is getting decently secure to be used as a backup cylinder with a card access system.
Nail, head hit. As for energy, it can be added without requiring a new plant.
Solar [1] has hit a point recently where having it part of a building design is not a matter of "why", it is a matter of "why not". Solar panels are fairly inexpensive and decently efficent. PWM controllers are dirt cheap. MPPT controllers are starting to come out of China that are reliable enough for long term use, even the no-name brands. For grid-tie, one can get charge controllers to maximize charge on a panel by panel basis.
Germany spearheaded this effort, and it would be wise for the US to follow in their footsteps. One doesn't need to have a complete off-grid system. Just a few panels and a battery to power a couple 15-20 amp circuits for computers and such would go far in reducing the need for new power plants.
With larger buildings, economies of scale can come into play. Carports can become places for panels which can help with charging vehicles, or at the minimum, powering outside lighting.
Yes, the utility companies might not get as much revenue, but this will be more than offset by the cost of not having to expand infrastructure as quickly. A plant won't likely pay for itself from utility company recenue for 20+ years; some say a solar panel install will pay for itself in less than five years (but this can be argued either way.)
The use of solar whenever possible, combined with better technology in insulation is almost a no-brainer.
[1]: Solar does have a few caveats. There are way too many installations using too thin gauge wire. That, proper angle setting for the geographic area, and the fact that any shading on any part of a panel will significantly reduce the energy collected.
How unlockable (if at all) is the bootloader? Just an OEM unlock (like the Nexus line), sign in and get an unlock key (like HTC and Sony), or a special "dev" edition like previously.
I love the quality of the radios on Moto products, but for a decent Android ROM, unless Motorola opens their devices up, I'll probably pass this round of their offerings.
Even with USB debugging enabled (which some handsets constantly nag to have it turned off), Android handsets use a public/private key system. If the charger tries to get access, the phone will ask if it should have full data rights to it.
Of course, this means that if someone clicks OK, they are hosed, but it is better than just sticking an adapter on and doing dirty work without knowing the device's PIN or password.
Correct me if I'm wrong (please), but with the recent kernel check-ins, Linux is Android on the ring 0 (or whatever equivalent ARM uses) level. In a twisted way, Android revs are just Linux distros that are specialized, and have special drivers for the SoC stuff that is on phones and devices.
Again, I could be wrong, but this is how it appears to me.
We nearly had it far worse than this. In 1996, a law was passed called the Communications Decent Act. Initial drafts made any ISP where a packet of someone writing "fuck" criminally liable for the traffic (it made all ISPs considered as content makers, thus they "owned" any traffic coming from their peerings). The final draft made it a Federal crime of 2-10 years to use profanity.
The law never saw a day of enforcement. It was soon struck down by a lower court, then killed forever by a 7-2 verdict by SCOTUS.
So, it did happen here in a worse way than any of this ever even dreamed.
Very true. I wonder if this is a trial balloon before Sony puts another format out.
However, I put more credence into this test than I do some company announcing holographic storage yet again, be it Tamarak in 1992, or inPhase as of a few years ago.
Squeezing more bytes in from 100 gigs to 300 gigs can be done a number of ways. Additional layers is one. Pit "shapes" and lengths is another. Maybe with moving to ultraviolet lasers is another way of fitting more data in.
If the optical format is in some shape other than a CD, then more stuff can be done, as backwards compatibility can be tossed out the window, since scratches would be less of an issue. Perhaps more layers could be done, or a smaller disk used that can spin at a higher speed.
Cheap HDDs have made optical storage less of a mainstream thing, but HDDs are not an archival medium, and never were meant to be. Optical storage can be made to have a very long shelf life.
The key is archive life. Tapes are rated and warrantied to store data for many years (although something warrantied for 10 years may not mean anything there is readable a decade later... but you get a free tape if it isn't.)
Oddly enough, I have had very good luck with optical disks for long term storage. I recently restored a ten year old multi-CD archive of an old MMO client I used to play just for kicks, and had no issues. Other people have had complete collections go bad on them. I don't know if it is the way media is stored (I use CD pocket binders, and store the media vertically), or if I got lucky with the right dye batches.
The downside of optical is that I get lazy. Even with a decent utility that can toss a folder full of stuff onto multiple pieces of media, it does take time to scribble out a date, what the stuff was, etc., and repeat every time the drawer of the burner opens. Then, there is the fact there are no programs that can index data CDs/DVDs/Blu-Rays (plenty of music/movie indexers, but try to find a simple utility that can tell you that file "x" is on DVD "y" just doesn't exist outside of a proprietary backup utility.)
If they can get this with the same features as modern LTO media with a drive that sells for a fraction of the price and media with a reasonable price, not to mention a lower-tier interface (USB preferably), it would be useful, since there is a gap of backup media between the high-end tapes, and using HDDs for backup.
Even if this competed with something older like LTO-3 where media can be obtained for $15 each, it will still be useful as a backup/archive tool.
This is easy to do, but it would make the price of drives more expensive: Add a hard disk whose sole purpose in life is to buffer the content being written. That way, a 300GB disk can be copied to the writer's HDD, and then the drive burn from that, which would be completely independent of the I/O channels on the computer (thus no chance of buffer underruns, although that isn't an issue with newer drives.)
For security, the RAM of the burner could hold a temporary encryption key, and the file stored on the HDD be encrypted via AES, then once the burn completes or fails, the key is purged from RAM, and the file deleted. That way, data can't be pulled from the HDD like it can be from old copiers.
Of course, this solves the disk at once issue. Burning data as tracks or packets may require some better engineering.
I have plenty of dead USB flash drives. I have plenty of optical media stored in cases, so far, almost all of it has been completely recoverable when it comes time to pull an old file. I even have backups of DVDs and such stored in cake boxes that are stored on their sides, and I've had at most 1-2 disks go bad. Either they wind up as coasters during the verification pass, or they seem to hold data for a long period of time.
Granted, this is anecdotal evidence, but at least if I had to recover media, it is stored as physical color changes on dye. A USB flash drive, once the electrons come out of the cell, that's that.
You hit the nail on the head. There is a sweet spot for backups. For example, Blu-Ray disks were not worth the trouble until the 25 gig versions ended up within the same range as DVD media.
Here is what I want to see with a new type of optical media:
1: At a decent price point. Too expensive, it won't catch on. For media in a case/caddy, I don't mind paying up to $45. For a bare disk, $5-$10 each.
2: Very good storage life. It would be nice for the dye, if exposed to oxygen somehow, wouldn't rot over the years.
Now here is where things branch. If the optical format is to replace Blu-Ray (and be compatible with it, CDs, and DVDs), that is one thing. If it is going to be all new optical media in a format starting from scratch, maybe it would be nice to see some additional items:
1: I'd like a case/caddy. That way, if the media is dropped, I'm not worried about scratches. This also protects against dust.
2: A decent size. Something like a 3.5" disk would be a good size, although 5 inches would be tolerable. Any bigger, the media gets unwieldy.
3: The read/write lasers are on both sides. No having to flip media as you had to do with some older optical disks.
4: Some resistance to bit rot in the dye, so oxygen getting between the glued layers doesn't render the disk unreadable in a few years.
5: Onboard encryption. Not DRM. Encryption, similar to LTO-4 and newer's SPIN/SPOUT SCSI commands. That way, I can set a password on a silo, and the media encryption would be transparant, or if I wanted a more elaborate encryption scheme (with each media piece having its own key), that would be doable. This would be part of the standard, not an optional add-on.
6: The ability to add as much ECC as the disk can hold. It will slow down writes, but as a whole, would help archive life overall.
7: Another dye layer so labels can done via a Lightscribe or Disk T@2 process. It would be nice if this could be automated, perhaps with a barcode, or if the disk is stored in a case/caddy, perhaps some type of inexpensive e-Ink mechanism. That way, labels are handled the "right" way, and not with a Sharpie, or with barcode stickers. For rewritable media, this would also allow the media to be re-labelled instantly.
8: A way of allowing the media to have an El-Torito like RAM image, or at least some method.
9: A case/caddy that is designed for a jukebox, where the media can be gripped, moved, unloaded, reloaded, shuffled, etc. for many thousands of tries with low probably of error or the media getting dropped. LTO silos are pretty reliable, and this media likely would be smaller than that.
10: Ideally the drive would have the ability to store an image of the data being burned before the burning process starts. That way, the computer's I/O is not the bottleneck when burning media, nor is there any chance of buffer underruns.
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On a side note, a few years back, I was working on designing a tape robot that would be able to use bare 2.5" drives.
It had almost zero time to load (once it was plugged into a reader slot and spun up.)
It also had various uses it could work as, be it a VTL, the disks presented as tape libraries, spanning disks where data that wasn't used would be moved to platters, then demounted.
The problem was the robotics. Only one company was able to make the robots that could reliably grip, move, and ungrip the drives, and they were asking $10,000 per unit for starters.
Eventually, the project got shuttled aside, but having a silo that was able to use disks without any special enclosure required would have been nice for the enterprise (IMHO, of course.)
From what I've seen, the US has been a moderating force in the region since the 1900s, from keeping Japan from attacking Russia, through WWII, to keeping the peace in the area.
People seem to forget, but if that area went to war, it would make the turmoil of the Middle East look calm, so even though the US isn't perfect, the peace has been kept in that area for the most part.
SSD has its uses, but long term storage isn't one of them. Hard disks can be recovered, but a SSD, good luck... that data is gone.
Of course, the trick is to have some media for backups or just even snapshots, except that it seems that IT shops are embracing geographically separate SANs and async mirroring as opposed to archive-grade media. Virtually every shop I've worked with, no matter how big a SAN they get, if one doesn't watch out, it will get full overnight.
Since it appears that the pendulum finally is swinging away from "the cloud" as a means of long term storage, I'm wondering what the next few years will bring for backup/archive media. LTO-6 is the last tape holdout, and there doesn't seem to be much progress on archival grade optical (no, BD-R isn't enterprise grade.)
There are tons of improvements in the upper tiers, but the bottom slow/reliable/archival tiers are important too. I will not be surprised to see more data retention laws out being passed, not to mention the existing ones (Sarbanes-Oxley, FERPA, HIPAA) which require heaps of data to be stored for long periods of time, and storing stuff that likely will never be accessed on even tier 3 drives on a SAN is a waste of electricity.
It will only hit market when there is some new DRM standard applied to it, similar to SD cards with 20% of their capacity set aside for encrypted stuff.
What might work would be a pseudo-anonymous service:
Company "A" demands some personal info, validates it, chucks it, and makes a master certificate on your private key. You can then have other private keys (as many as you want) certified, each completely separate from the others, and the only connection is company A's certificate. Company "A" can even charge a small fee, say 25 cents for each key certified, and an initial fee of $1.
Then, the website could ask for you to just copy, sign, and paste some random text with your key. Then, the website checks if your key is validated with company "A", and grants/denies access.
If the website noticed that they are getting spam from someone with the key, they notify company "A" about it, and they revoke all keys owned by that user. This prevents any new accounts from being made, although current ones are left intact.
Of course, there would have to be degrees of separation, so that the user info that is validated never leaks to the throwaway keys used for each site, and there are some tuning items such as what constitutes validated, and what to charge. It isn't 100%, but it can be used.
Of course, another solution is requiring clients to have a client cert from a known good CA (and making sure the cert is a paid one, not a temporary, 30 day.)
Abloys use a totally different principle of working. Instead of a shear line, they have a small indentation that a sidebar engages. Picking an Abloy lock is more like guessing a safe combination (false gates included) than rattling spring-loaded pins. There are no springs in an Abloy cylinder, so a bump key would just move the tumblers around, not getting anyone any closer to opening the lock.
It doesn't mean they are 100% secure, but with the improvements made by the company over the years, it is a lot harder for all but the most dedicated locksport guys to get those open. Locksmiths just drill them out.
How are high security locks low safety? Pushing on an exit bar opens the door regardless if there is a Best, Medeco, Abloy, or a 5 cylinder special on the door. Same with magnetic locks. All the ones I've seen will open from the inside by bumping the bar. This is also a law by fire code.
Some sites require a badging out, but one can still hit the exit bar... it might sound an obnoxious alarm, but one can still get out.
A high security lock keeping people -in- is a no-no in every fire code in the US, unless one is dealing with an institution or a jail.
Yes, one can blow the doors off with a shotgun. However that leaves a signature. I use high security locks because if someone tries getting in, they leave evidence behind (which makes it more believable come the police reports and insurance claims.) A bumped lock leaves zero evidence (good luck getting a theft claim), and a picked lock leaves very little.
At a lot of places I worked, there was a short list of people who had mechanical keys:
1: The security desk had a master key which was in a paper envelope, in a sealed box which was the "break glass in case of emergency" type. Facilities tended to use the keycards.
2: The building had a Knox box with a master key on the front so the local PD or FD could get unfettered access.
3: The corporate officers have keys.
4: The top IT manager had a key.
That's pretty much it for the most part.
That mechanism is used in Mul-T-Locks and Abloy locks (the Mul-T-locks use it as a patent, the Abloy locks use it for a way for the user to know the key is all the way inserted.)
What I wouldn't be surprised in seeing is something similar to Ace round locks, except with the bitting inside the barrel. Of course, we then are back to the age old Bic pen way of opening those, but I'm sure there is a way to help with that (especially if a tumbler or two slid on an axial path somehow.) This would require someone to closely examine the key, or at the minimum, take good photos of the depth down the barrel.
It is a new technology, and the first thing that happens are the fearmongers coming out. Next come the regulators because they want to enforce the status quo.
Same old thing, we had this with computers, we had this with the Internet. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a law or international treaty that gets passed forcing all 3D printer makers to have a DRM stack, or only allow signed files to be printed on the machines (with people having to send all stuff they want printed to a third party for "approval" and a certificate.)
Some English prison locks do this, because part of their design is to make the key and keyway as hard to eyeball as possible (so prisoners can't carve one out of soap or whatnot.)
The Internet is a "stone soup". It was a DoD effort at first, but the world has put in a lot of technologies in general.
If I were to state who "owns" the Internet now, I would probably say China, since they are the top producer of L1 gear (switches, routers, NICs, motherboard chips, etc.,) and without that layer, everything else isn't going to happen.)
Last time I read, the locksport guys have managed to get it open in 10-12 hours. The Protec is about ten years old, and Abloy has put out the Protec2 with minor changes recently which, AFAIK, has not been opened.
I'd probably say the Protec2 + CLIQ is probably the best out there. It isn't 100%, (as the 2009 DEFCON got them back to the drawing board to deal with the vibration and magnet attacks and made a rev using a disk that turns as opposed to a pin that retracts), but it is as good as it gets for this department.
Of course, there is one step up from there -- going with Kaba-Mas X-10 combo locks on the doors as a backup. However, for almost any task, the Protec2+Cliq is probably the best of breed we have right now.
I have been at several places where the key card system goes toes up and will not allow anyone in. The controller on a lot of HID systems is an XP box, and computers can fail, locking everyone out.
You have to have a high security mechanical override somehow. A lot of places use Best locks (which are 6-7 pins, have spool/mushroom tumblers, and unique keyways.) Others tend to go with Medeco3.
If you want resistance to 3D printers, there are already three methods which work well. The first is what is on Mul-T-Locks and Abloy PROTEC2 locks, and that is an active pin on the side of the key.
The second is a method like the Evva MCS, and having magnets embedded in the key. Duplicating this is a lot harder than just 3D printing a replacement, one would have to know where all eight magnets are facing and precisely align them. Not impossible, but not trivial.
Finally, there is the "CLIQ" technology that is going through multiple revisions. This combines a high security mechanical key with an electronic chip and tiny rotating pin powered from a battery on the key. Since each cylinder keeps the authorized keys in memory, there is no one central point of failure. The CLIQ system has gotten better over the years since it was opened at a previous DEFCON. First it was a pin that would retract, but that was changed to a small disk that rotates to allow the key to turn.
Nothing is perfect, but Assa-Abloy's CLIQ system is getting decently secure to be used as a backup cylinder with a card access system.
Nail, head hit. As for energy, it can be added without requiring a new plant.
Solar [1] has hit a point recently where having it part of a building design is not a matter of "why", it is a matter of "why not". Solar panels are fairly inexpensive and decently efficent. PWM controllers are dirt cheap. MPPT controllers are starting to come out of China that are reliable enough for long term use, even the no-name brands. For grid-tie, one can get charge controllers to maximize charge on a panel by panel basis.
Germany spearheaded this effort, and it would be wise for the US to follow in their footsteps. One doesn't need to have a complete off-grid system. Just a few panels and a battery to power a couple 15-20 amp circuits for computers and such would go far in reducing the need for new power plants.
With larger buildings, economies of scale can come into play. Carports can become places for panels which can help with charging vehicles, or at the minimum, powering outside lighting.
Yes, the utility companies might not get as much revenue, but this will be more than offset by the cost of not having to expand infrastructure as quickly. A plant won't likely pay for itself from utility company recenue for 20+ years; some say a solar panel install will pay for itself in less than five years (but this can be argued either way.)
The use of solar whenever possible, combined with better technology in insulation is almost a no-brainer.
[1]: Solar does have a few caveats. There are way too many installations using too thin gauge wire. That, proper angle setting for the geographic area, and the fact that any shading on any part of a panel will significantly reduce the energy collected.
How unlockable (if at all) is the bootloader? Just an OEM unlock (like the Nexus line), sign in and get an unlock key (like HTC and Sony), or a special "dev" edition like previously.
I love the quality of the radios on Moto products, but for a decent Android ROM, unless Motorola opens their devices up, I'll probably pass this round of their offerings.
Even with USB debugging enabled (which some handsets constantly nag to have it turned off), Android handsets use a public/private key system. If the charger tries to get access, the phone will ask if it should have full data rights to it.
Of course, this means that if someone clicks OK, they are hosed, but it is better than just sticking an adapter on and doing dirty work without knowing the device's PIN or password.
Correct me if I'm wrong (please), but with the recent kernel check-ins, Linux is Android on the ring 0 (or whatever equivalent ARM uses) level. In a twisted way, Android revs are just Linux distros that are specialized, and have special drivers for the SoC stuff that is on phones and devices.
Again, I could be wrong, but this is how it appears to me.
We nearly had it far worse than this. In 1996, a law was passed called the Communications Decent Act. Initial drafts made any ISP where a packet of someone writing "fuck" criminally liable for the traffic (it made all ISPs considered as content makers, thus they "owned" any traffic coming from their peerings). The final draft made it a Federal crime of 2-10 years to use profanity.
The law never saw a day of enforcement. It was soon struck down by a lower court, then killed forever by a 7-2 verdict by SCOTUS.
So, it did happen here in a worse way than any of this ever even dreamed.
Very true. I wonder if this is a trial balloon before Sony puts another format out.
However, I put more credence into this test than I do some company announcing holographic storage yet again, be it Tamarak in 1992, or inPhase as of a few years ago.
Squeezing more bytes in from 100 gigs to 300 gigs can be done a number of ways. Additional layers is one. Pit "shapes" and lengths is another. Maybe with moving to ultraviolet lasers is another way of fitting more data in.
If the optical format is in some shape other than a CD, then more stuff can be done, as backwards compatibility can be tossed out the window, since scratches would be less of an issue. Perhaps more layers could be done, or a smaller disk used that can spin at a higher speed.
Cheap HDDs have made optical storage less of a mainstream thing, but HDDs are not an archival medium, and never were meant to be. Optical storage can be made to have a very long shelf life.
The key is archive life. Tapes are rated and warrantied to store data for many years (although something warrantied for 10 years may not mean anything there is readable a decade later... but you get a free tape if it isn't.)
Oddly enough, I have had very good luck with optical disks for long term storage. I recently restored a ten year old multi-CD archive of an old MMO client I used to play just for kicks, and had no issues. Other people have had complete collections go bad on them. I don't know if it is the way media is stored (I use CD pocket binders, and store the media vertically), or if I got lucky with the right dye batches.
The downside of optical is that I get lazy. Even with a decent utility that can toss a folder full of stuff onto multiple pieces of media, it does take time to scribble out a date, what the stuff was, etc., and repeat every time the drawer of the burner opens. Then, there is the fact there are no programs that can index data CDs/DVDs/Blu-Rays (plenty of music/movie indexers, but try to find a simple utility that can tell you that file "x" is on DVD "y" just doesn't exist outside of a proprietary backup utility.)
If they can get this with the same features as modern LTO media with a drive that sells for a fraction of the price and media with a reasonable price, not to mention a lower-tier interface (USB preferably), it would be useful, since there is a gap of backup media between the high-end tapes, and using HDDs for backup.
Even if this competed with something older like LTO-3 where media can be obtained for $15 each, it will still be useful as a backup/archive tool.
This is easy to do, but it would make the price of drives more expensive: Add a hard disk whose sole purpose in life is to buffer the content being written. That way, a 300GB disk can be copied to the writer's HDD, and then the drive burn from that, which would be completely independent of the I/O channels on the computer (thus no chance of buffer underruns, although that isn't an issue with newer drives.)
For security, the RAM of the burner could hold a temporary encryption key, and the file stored on the HDD be encrypted via AES, then once the burn completes or fails, the key is purged from RAM, and the file deleted. That way, data can't be pulled from the HDD like it can be from old copiers.
Of course, this solves the disk at once issue. Burning data as tracks or packets may require some better engineering.
I have plenty of dead USB flash drives. I have plenty of optical media stored in cases, so far, almost all of it has been completely recoverable when it comes time to pull an old file. I even have backups of DVDs and such stored in cake boxes that are stored on their sides, and I've had at most 1-2 disks go bad. Either they wind up as coasters during the verification pass, or they seem to hold data for a long period of time.
Granted, this is anecdotal evidence, but at least if I had to recover media, it is stored as physical color changes on dye. A USB flash drive, once the electrons come out of the cell, that's that.
You hit the nail on the head. There is a sweet spot for backups. For example, Blu-Ray disks were not worth the trouble until the 25 gig versions ended up within the same range as DVD media.
Here is what I want to see with a new type of optical media:
1: At a decent price point. Too expensive, it won't catch on. For media in a case/caddy, I don't mind paying up to $45. For a bare disk, $5-$10 each.
2: Very good storage life. It would be nice for the dye, if exposed to oxygen somehow, wouldn't rot over the years.
Now here is where things branch. If the optical format is to replace Blu-Ray (and be compatible with it, CDs, and DVDs), that is one thing. If it is going to be all new optical media in a format starting from scratch, maybe it would be nice to see some additional items:
1: I'd like a case/caddy. That way, if the media is dropped, I'm not worried about scratches. This also protects against dust.
2: A decent size. Something like a 3.5" disk would be a good size, although 5 inches would be tolerable. Any bigger, the media gets unwieldy.
3: The read/write lasers are on both sides. No having to flip media as you had to do with some older optical disks.
4: Some resistance to bit rot in the dye, so oxygen getting between the glued layers doesn't render the disk unreadable in a few years.
5: Onboard encryption. Not DRM. Encryption, similar to LTO-4 and newer's SPIN/SPOUT SCSI commands. That way, I can set a password on a silo, and the media encryption would be transparant, or if I wanted a more elaborate encryption scheme (with each media piece having its own key), that would be doable. This would be part of the standard, not an optional add-on.
6: The ability to add as much ECC as the disk can hold. It will slow down writes, but as a whole, would help archive life overall.
7: Another dye layer so labels can done via a Lightscribe or Disk T@2 process. It would be nice if this could be automated, perhaps with a barcode, or if the disk is stored in a case/caddy, perhaps some type of inexpensive e-Ink mechanism. That way, labels are handled the "right" way, and not with a Sharpie, or with barcode stickers. For rewritable media, this would also allow the media to be re-labelled instantly.
8: A way of allowing the media to have an El-Torito like RAM image, or at least some method.
9: A case/caddy that is designed for a jukebox, where the media can be gripped, moved, unloaded, reloaded, shuffled, etc. for many thousands of tries with low probably of error or the media getting dropped. LTO silos are pretty reliable, and this media likely would be smaller than that.
10: Ideally the drive would have the ability to store an image of the data being burned before the burning process starts. That way, the computer's I/O is not the bottleneck when burning media, nor is there any chance of buffer underruns.