Less Radiation

So Sony have now launched an update to version 3 of their PS3 operating system.

The ‘killer-application’ for me is a simple link to BBC’s iPlayer application. You’ll need to register a free account with Sony HQ and then the magic TV option appears in the main menus. Following the link takes you directly to a chunky web-appliance version of iPlayer. Now you can catch up on all those missed programmes directly on your flat screen HDMI attached telly. Wonderful.

Of course this site is lessradiation.co.uk, so we feel duty bound to point out all the extra electrosmog you’ll be exposing yourself to if your PS3 is attached to the network via WiFi and you’re watching hours of telly over it. Much better, more secure & faster to use the Homeplugs instead – a pair of devices that send Ethernet over you household mains supply cabling.

With the PS3 Slim also being launched now, Sony really has the opportunity to become the essential home media hub, even for non-gamers. My PS3 even has Ubuntu loaded on it, but I believe the new slim version doesn’t allow you to load a 2nd operating system (I’m sure a hack for that will appear soon).

So, if you want your PS3 experience to be electrosmog-free, you’ll need to use Homeplugs instead of WiFi, and use USB cables to attach the controllers to the PS3 (which stops them using Bluetooth).

A report at TheRegister.co.uk on 25th August suggests that basic GSM handset encryption will shortly be thwarted.

For several years now, interested people have been doing ever more with GNU Radio and the USRP ‘software radio’ hardware from Ettus Research. The USRP is a USB hardware device that can be made to act like any radio, using the GNU Radio software to alter its behaviour. Thus, the $1000 USRP can be made to act like a GSM phone, a WiFi Router, a regular FM radio or indeed a Tetra radio.

The OpenBTS project first showcased what was possible: a DIY GSM mast that allowed you to use a regular mobile phone to make calls without using the regular legitimate GSM carriers – using just a laptop & USRP peripheral. Calls were routed through an Asterisk VOIP gateway. This project was actually tested for real at The Burning Man festival & also the 2009 Hackers At Random conference .

Once the open-source GPL’d OpenBTS was out there regular coders could look and see how everything fitted together. Of course it was only a matter of time before other GSM applications followed.

The report at The Register states that the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) of Germany will be releasing tools in the next couple of months that will allow anyone with a laptop & antenna (and presumably a USRP) to listen in on encrypted GSM calls. They plan to build a huge A5/1 Rainbow Table of pre-computed encryption hashes (which is basically a lookup table of every possible answer for an encryption key) of some 2 terabytes in size. Presumably you’ll be able to post your key online and get a result from the rainbow table, in the same way you can with Windows Login passwords right now. Of course posting such a request to the table via the internet would probably get you a black mark down at Spooks HQ – and i’m quite sure they’ll be listening!

It’s amazing to think that this year will have seen both Dect and GSM hacked to bits. All this is possible because of the USRP hardware & ever faster PCs. 3G phones however will be safe for some time to come, as it will be only the original implementations of GSM that can eventually be eavesdropped upon.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/28/mobile_phone_snooping_plan/

Also, an article from the German Financial Times, translated to English.

I just needed to know whether my 3G USB dongle was going to work when I move house shortly.

It got me thinking about whether the information that the mobile phone network providers supply is more up to date than Ofcom’s. Guess what? It is!

So if you need to know what kind of signal coverage you can expect at a particular location, just enter a postcode or town name using the links below. If they show no 3G coverage you can still use a Vodafone Access Gateway connected to your internet router, which acts like a mini phone mast (assuming you can get broadband). If you’re with another network, try searching for ‘femtocell’ ‘picocell’ & ‘orange’ ‘O2’ etc.

www.three.co.uk/_popup/Coverage_checker?maptypeForm=mbb&placename=knutsford&postcode=

maps.vodafone.co.uk/coverageviewer/web/default.aspx

www.webmap.o2.co.uk/map.asp

web.orange.co.uk/coverage/index.php

and of course finally, that stalwart of mast hunters everywhere:

http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/

Vodafone have now launched a 3G Mini-Mast (Access Gateway – it plugs into your broadband router) for your home! This is the femtocell that the various mobile phone operators have been promising to unleash on the general public for so long. Other operators are expected to follow suit shortly.

The blurb makes much of the fact that it’s a mast in your lounge with one ten-thousandth the output of its regular big brother masts. The Sagem box costs £160 to buy outright, which can be added to your bill at £5 per month – or if you upgrade your phone/package you might get it included for free.

If you’ve always struggled to get decent mobile phone reception in your home, maybe now you have a solution. You’ll need to be with Vodafone, have a 3G mobile & a broadband router for it to work.

The Access Gateway plugs into the router, you register up to 4 mobile phone numbers and the units serial number online, and then about 18 hours later you can make calls through the unit. As it’s 3G you can also access data services – if you’re on one of the all-you-can-eat plans, of course.

It doesn’t turn your mobile into a BT home cordless phone or anything fancy like that, but for people living in cellars & under-builds it should prove a godsend – now you can call for rescue!

The Access Gateway will provide 3G coverage throughout your home for the four devices (phones) you pre-approve. As you’re now much nearer to the mast your mobile will transmit on much lower power than it would if you were depending on a mast 1000 metres away – which means slightly less RF soaking into your brain & slightly longer battery life!

Range is apparently less than you would expect from a WiFi hub, and with some using Skype over WiFi cordless phones, this won’t appeal to everybody.

I do think it makes a good alternative to just sticking up ever more masts with no regard for whether people actually want them in their streets.

The Leichtenstein parliament has confirmed its intention to enforce the law adopted in May 2008 to restrict exposure (in sensitive areas: homes, workplaces, schools, hospitals and other public buildings) to 0.6 V/m from mobile telecommunication base stations.

This was met with dismay by the telecommunications industry, who have stated that this will make it unfeasible to run a financially viable mobile phone service under these restrictions. The goal is meant to be met by 2013, but the industries are expected to provide an annual progress report towards the goal as well. The 4 main mobile phone companies based in Leichtenstein have threatened to pull out of the country if this restriction is not lifted, to which the government has responded by exploring the possibility of running a state owned mobile telecommunication network if they were to do so! (courtesy of powerwatch.org.uk).

The Interphone study into adverse mobile phone effects has so far produced very little.

Bickering amongst the scientists involved, as to how any data should be presented has pretty much ensured that nothing useful has emerged.

Now it seems that the Dect-effect will be left out of the exposure figures too. This is completely stupid, given that most people will spend more time in the field generated by their constantly-emitting home Dect phone than anything else.

Ten minutes on your mobile a day or five hours sat next to your Dect cordless docking station while you watch TV in the evening? It’s a complete no-brainer for an amateur to figure out, so why’s it so hard for scientists in the pay of the mobile phone industry?

Go figure…

Acars is the wireless data system that planes use to relay information about their general state of health to ground stations. In a scenario like that with Flight 447, it can give clues to the sequence of events that build-up to the tragic loss of the plane,crew & passengers.

Acars transmits data at 1200 baud over a 131.725MHz radio link. It can be received on a regular PC using the headphone socket on an Airband radio connected up to the Line-In socket on your PC’s soundcard. You then need to download Wacars software (the Wacars site also contains a very thorough description of how the system operates).

If you don’t want to go to these lengths to see some Acars data you can go to this Virtual Air France site instead – it shows markers with flight details overlaid on a Google Map (it even lists the captain’s name!).

I read some time ago that the Americans were pushing to get the Acars system updated to use some digital encrypted transmission standard, i’m not sure how far this got? At least the current system is transparent!

Here’s a science update from the Powerwatch website. Fifteen different studies finding real effects on human beings from cellphones & masts. From decreased fertility to brain disturbances, they’re all in this round-up.

Remember, it’s not just cellphones you need to dump. Your Dect cordless home phone & that pesky WiFi Router need to go too (just use a wired router).

Here’s the link

The Times has an interesting article today about Barack Obama’s Blackberry.

Apparently the president of the free world loves his Blackberry, but those sneaky spooks at the Langley puzzle-palace have been unhappy about his Blackberry’s security since he became president (I bet they paid very close attention to it before he won the election, funny some people aren’t they).

For the past few months he’d been using a Windows-based Sectera Edge Smartphone, which costs $3500 & is practically indestructable – it’s also fully NSA approved… Apparently the user can switch between secure & non-secure mode at the push of a button, but why do that? Surely that leaves room for user error? ‘Nuke Tehran now, oh shit I thought I was in secure mode’…

Anyway, the free world can sleep much easier now as Obama has taken delivery of a Blackberry 8830 international model (a snip at just $550 off contract). It comes with custom software from Genesis Key Inc that encrypts everything. This souped-up model has been dubbed the ‘BarackBerry’, and thoughtfully it’s been decided that his close family will also be given them.

Incredibly, El Presidente may have to wait up to 50 minutes for his push-emails to arrive at the BarackBerry – as the NSA will be scanning them for malware! (Like it really takes more than a few seconds to do this).

I suppose we should be grateful that the new president at least has opposable thumbs & a functioning pre-frontal cortex… (Even I  don’t read kids’ books upside down, so why should George Bush get away with it? Hillbilly.)

New Scientist magazine reported last week that the US military have got a prototype of a new weapon. It’s a high-power laser that ionises the air between the weapon and target, the plasma channel this creates then acts as a waveguide for a stream of microwave radiation, this radiation then destroys the electronic ignition/trigger system in a vehicle or bomb. Clever stuff indeed, we’re just glad we’re not operating the bloody thing!

On a brighter note, this week’s New Scientist reports that the Obama administration are getting rid of some of the more pie-in-the-sky defence ideas. Apparently they’ve given up on some of the more wild ‘Star-Wars’ defence shield ideas. The massive-laser-mounted-on-a-plane idea has been shelved for now.