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Zotac Packs WiFi and Nvidia Graphics on an Oh-So-Cute Mini-ITX Board

Paul Lilly — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:28:46 -0600

The mini-ITX form factor is still alive and kicking, and to prove it, Zotac has just expanded its mini-ITX lineup with the nForce 630i-ITX WiFi motherboard. As the board's nomenclature suggests, WiFi comes integrated with 802.11b/g support, as does graphics chores, which are handled by Nvidia's GeForce 7100 chipset.

The pint-sized board comes ready for Intel's lineup of Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad processors with support for a full 1333MHz frontside bus. RAM support, on the other hand, comes somewhat gimped topping out at DDR2-800 instead of DDR2-1066 or DDR3. Other features include:

Eight USB 2.0 ports (four on back panel, four on pin header)
Onboard 10/100 Ethernet
HD Audio 5.1
Dual display ready (VGA / DVI)
Four SATA II ports with RAID Support

Not a bad feature-set for a compact board, particularly if you're in the market for an HTPC build, where the integrated WiFi could end up a major selling point.

IMOVIO Raises Curtain on Linux-enabled iKIT Ultra Mini-PC, the Size of a Nintendo DS

Pulkit Chandna — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 07:35:35 -0500

A Los Angeles-based manufacturer IMOVIO has announced an avant garde mobile messaging device called iKIT. The diminutive iKIT runs Linux and is as small as a Nintendo DS. IMOVIO is touting the iKIT as an affordable alternative to both smart phones and netbooks.

The device includes a 312MHz Marvell PXA270 processor, Linux 2.4.19, full QWERTY/AZERTY keyboard, an 8GB SD card slot ,Opera Mini 4.1 internet browser and 2.8 inch screen. The iKIT has inbuilt WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities, and supports HSDPA over USB. It has a standby time of 250 hours and power-up time of up to 3 hours.

The suggested retail price of roughly $170 makes it far more affordable than an Apple iPhone – a fact specifically called to attention by IMOVIO. However, practicality of such a product is just as important as the price, if not more, and will play a vital role in iKIT’s case as well.

Quantenna Chips to Reinforce WiFi Signal, Prevent Interference

Pulkit Chandna — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:34:48 -0500

Many of you might have played cat and mouse with WiFi signals inside your home. WiFi coverage tends to be inconsistent if the client and the WiFi access point are separated by walls. But a Sunnyvale-based startup, Quantenna Communications, is readying three chipsets to ensure that you don’t have to search for WiFi sweet spots inside you house ever again.

The chips will not only prevent WiFi signals from loosing their strength while traversing walls but also reign in on any interference from other devices operating in the 2.4 or 5GHz bands. The chipsets are expected to cost between $20 and $40 each. These chips are expected to make their maiden commercial appearance sometime in 2009.

Hackers Get in the WiFi Cracking Game with Nvidia GPUs

Paul Lilly — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:33:36 -0500

When it comes time to shop for a videocard, most people are concerned about the pixel pushing power and how well a new GPU can handle Crysis. Yet others are more concerned with a videocard's ability to fit into a home theater PC setup, both physically and functionally. Some GPUs are even sought after for their ability to fold proteins, but apparently there's another use emerging, one with malicious intent.

According to Global Secure Systems, a Russian firm used Nvidia GPUs to break through WPA and WPA2 encryption. Assuming the report is accurate, the implications are nothing less than frightening, as GSS claims the brute force attack managed to accelerate WiFi 'password recovery' times by up to 10,000 percent.

"This breakthrough in brute force decryption of WiFi signals by Elcomsoft confirms our observations that firms can no longer rely on standards-based security to protect their data," noted David Hobson, managing director of GSS. "As a result, we now advise clients using WiFi in their offices to move on up to a VPM encryption system as well."

But even moving to a VPN may not be enough, as many VPNs use AES encryption just like WPA2. And by throwing videocards into the mix (it remains unclear which specific Nvidia GPUs were utilized), accessibility quickly becomes a growing concern.

Does this latest attack concern you? Hit the jump and post your thoughts.

Russian Firm Breaches WiFi Security Bulwark Using Nvidia Graphics Cards

Pulkit Chandna — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:46:20 -0500

Elcomsoft, a Russian firm, has devised an ingenious method of breaching WiFi’s WPA and WPA 2 encryption systems, according to a report at SC Magazine.

The technique leverages the parallel processing power of Nvidia’s latest graphics cards to speed up the “password recovery” process by 10,000 per cent. Global Security Systems (GSS) has advised enterprises to deploy VPNs for safeguarding their WiFi networks.

We, too, can only advise you to secure your office WiFi network using VPN encryption before professional industrial sleuths start waging brute forcing blitzkriegs using ordinary graphics cards.

20 Gigabit Per Second Transfer Rate Achieved with Lasers

Paul Lilly — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:53:36 -0500

Commercial wireless systems, which top out at hundreds of megabits per second, still have a ways to go before being on the level of optical fiber, which boasts tens of gigabits per second. Looking to close that gap, engineers at Battelle, a research and development firm based in Columbus, OH, have found a way to send data through the air using millimeter-wave technology.

Achieving faster speeds by harnessing the millimeter-wavelength frequency of the wireless spectrum isn't new, but it is both expensive and complex due to the equipment involved to generate the signal. Or at least it used to be. The Battelle team has taken off-the-shelf telecommunication components and, by modulating data on two low-frequency laser beams, has been able to create a pattern of interference that acts as a 100GHz signal (millimeter-wave technology operates on frequencies between 60GHz and 100GHz). By doing so, the team demonstrated a 20 gigabit-per-second signal in its lab.

While the research looks promising, a shipping product could still be years away. Putting the system together using existing components has helped to break through the cost barrier, but the new challenge will be to create a smaller device that's less unwieldy.

OpenPeak's Atom-based Home/VOIP Phone on Steroids Ready for Production

Pulkit Chandna — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 09:39:09 -0500

OpenPeak is trying to spruce up the bland world of home or VOIP phones with its OpenFrame phone range. The company announced that its OpenFrame IP Media Phone is now ready for production. Service providers are expected to begin supporting the phone in Q1 2009.

It is certainly not a generic home phone as it deploys the Intel Atom processor. The touchscreen phone will provide a rich media experience along with voice and data services. OpenPeak believes that the phone will present new revenue opportunities to VOIP service providers. We will have to wait for a while to learn about its fate.

Netbooks Aimed at the Future, Not the Present: Analyst

Pulkit Chandna — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 02:04:28 -0500

Since netbooks deploy quaint technology as compared to their full-blown cousins, it can be difficult to believe that they are actually aimed at the future. But that is exactly what Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle group, thinks. His reasoning is that netbooks would be more practical and fun when WiMax becomes ubiquitous in the near future. A netbook quickly transforms into a worthless, nondescript device once you have no internet access to breathe life into it. Rob Enderle’s point about netbooks being useless without internet might appear to be a mere reiteration of the obvious, but it is actually a very insightful observation.