Camellia, the 128-bit common-key block encryption algorithm which was
jointly developed by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. and
Mitsubishi Electric Corp. in 2000 has been adopted as an international
standard by ISO/IEC. This algorithm has already been standardized as
the recommended encryption by the EU and the Japanese e-government.
Further, standardization of Camellia is now under deliberation by IETF.
more
1 Minute Charge Batteries
Toshiba Corporation has developed a lithium-ion secondary battery that
can be charged up to 80% of its total capacity in only 1 minute. In
addition to the conventional capabilities of the lithium-ion secondary
battery, this battery has also achieved charge-discharge behavior that
is equivalent to that of the electric double layer capacitor. A test
cell for high-power output realized the volumetric energy density of
150 – 250 Wh/L and the volumetric output density of 10kW/L.
Want a new house? Just print one!
Contour Crafting is a fabrication process by which large-scale parts
can be fabricated quickly in a layer-by-layer fashion. The chief
advantages of the Contour Crafting process over existing technologies
are the superior surface finish that is realized and the greatly
enhanced speed of fabrication. The success of the technology stems from
the automated use of age-old tools normally wielded by hand, combined
with conventional robotics and an innovative approach to building
three-dimensional objects that allows rapid fabrication times. Actual
scale civil structures such as houses may be built by CC. more
Mouse and Keyboard sharing the proper way!
Synergy lets you easily share a single mouse and keyboard between
multiple computers with different operating systems, each with its own
display, without special hardware. It’s intended for users with
multiple computers on their desk since each system uses its own
monitor(s). Redirecting the mouse and keyboard is as simple as moving
the mouse off the edge of your screen. Synergy also merges the
clipboards of all the systems into one, allowing cut-and-paste between
systems. more
Flocks of communicating UAVs: Gridswarms
Imagine a large group of small unmanned autonomous aerial vehicles that
can fly with the agility of a flock of starlings in a city square at
dusk. Imagine linking their onboard computers together across a
short-range, high-bandwidth wireless network and configuring them to
form an enormous distributed parallel computer. Imagine using this huge
computational resource to process the sensory data gathered by the
swarm, and to direct its collective actions. You have now grasped the
idea of a flying gridswarm. Essex University are are working to bring
this vision to reality. more
Diamonds in double quick time
Researchers at the Carnegie Institution’s Geophysical Laboratory have
learned to produce 10-carat, half-inch thick single-crystal diamonds at
rapid growth rates (100 micrometers per hour) using a chemical vapor
deposition (CVD) process. This size is approximately five times that of
commercially available diamonds produced by the standard
high-pressure/high-temperature (HPHT) method and other CVD techniques.
In addition, the team has made colorless single-crystal diamonds,
transparent from the ultraviolet to infrared wavelengths with their
process. more
Honda ASIMO can run now!
I love this video of Honda’s new-and-improved Asimo robot running. From
the press release:
"The combination of newly developed high-response hardware and the new
Posture Control technology enables ASIMO to proactively bend or twist
its torso to maintain its balance and prevent the problems of foot
slippage and spinning in the air, which accompany movement at higher
speeds. ASIMO is now capable of running at a speed of 3km/hour. more
RF Access control card hacking
Lots of companies use proximity cards to control physical access. An
employee holds their card within a few inches of the reader; the reader
receives a unique id from the card and transmits it to some central
computer that tells it whether or not to open the door. Alas, reading
those cards without permission is just as easy with only hobby
electronics and some knowhow more
Fibre reinforced bendable concrete
A new type of fiber-reinforced bendable concrete will be used for the
first time in Michigan this summer- and University of Michigan
scientists hope that their new material will find widespread use across
the country. The new concrete looks like regular concrete, but is 500
times more resistant to cracking and 40 percent lighter in weight. Tiny
fibers that comprise about 2 percent of the mixture’s volume partly
account for its performance. more
Create your own buffer overflows
Every now and again we all hear about an exploit that takes place
thanks to a buffer overflow, but what is a buffer overflow? By
definition it is when a program attempts to store more data in an array
(buffer) than it was intended to hold and attempting to overwrite the
return address of a function. To show how this is actually done, lets
do a simple attack on a fairly small program more
Hyper-Threading Considered Harmful
Hyper-Threading, as currently implemented on Intel Pentium Extreme
Edition, Pentium 4, Mobile Pentium 4, and Xeon processors, suffers from
a serious security flaw. This flaw permits local information
disclosure, including allowing an unprivileged user to steal an RSA
private key being used on the same machine. Administrators of
multi-user systems are strongly advised to take action to disable
Hyper-Threading immediately; single-user systems are not affected.more
Serious Crypto problem with VPN Tunnels
Britain’s national emergency response team, the National Infrastructure
Security Coordination Centre, issued a warning this week about the
safety of virtual private networks that use IPsec encryption and
tunneling to connect remote workers to corporate networks. The flaw,
which the NISCC rates as "high" risk, makes it possible for an attacker
to intercept IP packets traveling between two IPsec devices. more
Nuclear battery with 10 year life
A battery with a lifespan measured in decades is in development at the
University of Rochester, as scientists demonstrate a new fabrication
method that in its roughest form is already 10 times more efficient
than current nuclear batteries—and has the potential to be nearly 200
times more efficient. The details of the technology, already licensed
to BetaBatt Inc., appears in today’s issue of Advanced Materials. more
Wire in the Blood!
A Japanese research team has developed a fuel cell that runs on blood
without using toxic substances, opening the way for use in artificial
hearts and other organs. The biological fuel cell uses glucose, a sugar
in blood, with a non-toxic substance used to draw electrons from
glucose.“Since the electron mediator is based on Vitamin K3, which exists in
human bodies, it excels in safety and could in the future generate
power from blood as an implant-type fuel cell,” the group said in a
statement.
Most other bio-fuel cells under study use a metal complex, spawning concern about harm if used for implants.
The newly developed cell in the size of a tiny coin is able to
generate 0,2 milliwatts of electricity, enough to power a device that
measures blood sugar level and transmits data elsewhere, the group said.