WiMAX Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) (X.509 certificates)

A PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) enables users of a basically unsecure public network, such as the Internet, to securely and privately exchange data and money through the use of a public and a private cryptographic key pair that is obtained and shared through a trusted authority. The public key infrastructure provides for a digital certificate that can identify an individual or an organization and directory services that can store and, when necessary, revoke the certificates. The WiMAX Forum® has defined the policies and profiles for the WiMAX Public Key Infrastructure (“PKI”) which utilizes X.509 certificates and their associated keys to identify and authenticate the identity of devices and servers in a WiMAX network.

WiMax vs. LTE: Which Will 'Win' in a Fast Deployment Cycle?

One of the biggest stories during the next year or so will be the rollout and subsequent marketing of 4G wireless networks.

It will be an interesting process as the two approaches – Long Term Evolution (LTE) and WiMax – vie for supremacy. The die already seems to be cast, however: WiMax, through Clearwire and its Clear service, is first out of the gate. LTE, however, through its use by Verizon and AT&T, seems positioned to be the dominant player when the dust settles.

WiMax suffered a bit of a blow earlier this month when Cisco decided not to build radios for the platform:

Technology is not an either/or game.The Cisco move clearly is not good news for WiMax, both in terms of image and because the vendor brings a lot to any table at which it chooses to sit. It’s also clear that WiMax will not be as big as LTE. All that said, however, it is apparent that WiMax remains a significant wireless networking force.

It is important to remember that the platform that comes in second in such a massive market will still be very successful. There are, for instance, secondary and specialty niches:

…WiMax is making strides with at least one significant niche category: smart grid networking. Earth2Tech reports that startup Arcadian Networks has released the AE20r gateway, a WiMax-focused device. The story says that Arcadian, which owns spectrum in the middle of the country, sells smart grid services to utilities. The story notes other vendors in the smart grid/WiMax arena, including Grid Net, General Electric, Alvarion and National Grid.

To be sure, Clearwire is not backing down:

Clearwire seems to be at the center of cable’s move to mobilize voice and advanced mobilized applications. FierceWireless, in a general report about Clearwire’s progress, said that the company plans to introduce a WiMax-enabled smartphone during 2010. The aim, according to CEO Bill Morrow, is to have the device in the field during the second half of the year. The story says that Sprint is planning 3G/4G phones, also by the end of 2010.

On the other side of town -- or of the R&D lab hallway -- is LTE. While WiMax was first out of the gate, the LTE sector is making up for lost time:

The LTE trial and test phase is white hot.

Driven by the increase in demand caused by fixed-rate data plans, coupled with the popularity of the iPhone and other advanced devices, the pace of testing of one of the two flavors of 4G technology, Long Term Evolution (LTE), is accelerating.

LTE is particularly active on the international front. ABI Research says that as of the end of September, 100 mobile networks were holding trials or were set to start. More than 40 of the trials are ongoing in the Asia-Pacific region – led by Japan and South Korea, with 33 contracts awarded. ABI Research says that though the first networks won’t start commercial operation until the end of next year, a robust 32.6 million subscribers will be served by LTE by 2013. The pressure is so great that many operators are taking the interim step of upgrading 3G networks to High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) status.

The stage was set once AT&T and, especially, Verizon made their choices:

Details are emerging on Verizon Wireless’s LTE rollout. Softpedia reports that the carrier, in one configuration, will offer per-user data speeds of 5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps). The system will support video sharing, surveillance, conferencing and streaming. The story runs through the other advantages that Verizon Wireless is touting, and some of the challenges to older technologies that it supposedly alleviates.

The interesting thing is that LTE and WiMax are fairly close from the technical point of view. That means that it is theoretically possible for differences to be overcome and competition to become a thing of the past. While possible, it is thought unlikely:

On one hand, the battle for the future of 4G between LTE and WiMax will be fully joined. However, both are IP-based and use Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and, experts say, are relatively close on the telecommunications family tree. Indeed, the biggest difference may concern the other IP: intellectual property. Despite the maneuvering today, it is possible that in a few years the two will blend together.

The next year or so will be a good deal of fun for folks who like mano-a-mano competition, price pressure, glitzy ads -- and high-speed wireless networks. At the end of the day, it almost certainly is destined to end up as expected:

LTE will be the top dog, with WiMax a strong supporting player.

Review Command & Conquer 4: A new way to command & conquer

Kane has returned for his grand finale in this revamped version of Command & Conquer.

CONSIDERING the popularity of all the previous versions of the Command & Conquer series (including Red Alert), the hype surrounding C&C4 was subdued at best.

There was no grand launch, no lines of people queuing up on release day. When we received our copy of the game on the day of its release (March 16), we found it was almost an entirely new game with very few similarities to previous C&C titles and even took some features from Red Alert and Generals.

Persistence is futile

The very first requirement written on the box is that the game requires a persistent Internet connection to play. This means that you need to have an uninterrupted connection even to play the single-player campaigns - just like Assassins Creed 2.

This is an attempt, by both EA and Ubisoft respectively, to stamp out game piracy by way of digital rights management (DRM).

Suffice to say, the forums are alive with vitriol over this decision. Why should you need an Internet connection for a game that is supposed to be installed and saved on your PC? What if you had a terribly unreliable Internet connection, or none at all?

Only a week after its release, the Web is full of reports of gamers being extremely dissatisfied at losing their game progress because they got disconnected.

To be fair, I never had an extreme encounter with the server. In seven days, I was disconnected six times and only twice fatally. Usually, if your Internet connection re-establishes itself quickly, you can continue with the single player game. The co-op mode is another story altogether and we will get to that later.

For Kane!

The storyline begins with the world being consumed by the rampant growth of Tiberium, which is threatening to render the earth uninhabitable. Kane and his Brotherhood of Nod joins forces with the GDI to find a solution and to deal with Nod separatists lead by Gideon.

This was meant to be the game where Kane's background and motives will finally be explored and explained with an epic conclusion. The Nod prophet and his followers are supposed to "ascend."

PROTECTED: Crawlers have a 'repair radius' around them while unpacked which gives the friendly units a defensive boost.

Unfortunately if you are dying to connect the dots in the story, you will be disappointed.

You must start with the GDI campaign and after about four levels you have to decide which side you want to stand with.

The campaign and the gameplay have got a more serious tone to them compared to the previous games. This will certainly appeal to those who thought the game was becoming far too "kiddy."

EA seemed to have a small budget for the cinematics this time around as the cutscenes are not nearly as long or feature as many celebrities as they used to. They did not explain as much as I thought they would in relation to Kane or how the brotherhood came to be. The videos were relatively short and uneventful. I guess the economic recession really did affect everyone.

Fight light

When you start any level, you will be asked which of the three available classes you want to play - Offense, Defence or Support. You build all your units from your "Crawler" which is an MCV that you can now take with you wherever you go.

You are given a set amount of command points, 50 for example, and each unit costs a certain amount of command points to build. This means there is a maximum number of units you can build at any given point.

LIMITED: The Crawler can only spawn in designated areas and you must take it with you wherever you go.

So what is missing? Firstly, there is no harvesting of Tiberium (probably because the planet is overrun with the stuff).

Secondly, you cannot build any buildings (save for the Defence class which has the option of building towers like the Obelisk of Light).

Thirdly, you must choose your units carefully based on the opposition and it is difficult to overwhelm your enemy when you have a cap on how many units you can build.

You cannot build too many tanks if you are up against a fleet of aircraft or you are in for a beating.

The list goes on and on. It is, for better or worse, a complete reinvention of the traditional C&Cgame structure.

After you have completed the first two missions, every game you play after that earns you experience points. What is really interesting is that the experience points are shared across all game modes (single player, multiplayer, skirmish).

If you are stuck on a mission, you can always leave and play a few skirmish matches until you have levelled up enough to dominate the map. Each level-up unlocks a new unit or upgrade for the units. By level 20 you would have pretty much unlocked everything for both sides.

BUILDING ON POINTS: Based on the number of command points available at each level, you can only build a certain number of units at a time so you must pick wisely.

Another thing they took out entirely was the ability to run over ground troops or for big tanks to run over smaller tanks.

Since the number of units is limited, it would be terribly unfair if Offence tanks could run over Defence foot soldiers. So now units just walk over and through each other without a scratch. A bit unrealistic and hard to figure out at times.

Graphically speaking

At some parts, the level of graphical detail was astounding. For instance, when a unit gets hit by a laser blast or rocket, you can actually see bits and pieces flying off.

However, I felt that the designers could have done better with the terrain and how they integrated the obstacles with the variable units. It does not flow as well as modern games should. This was especially striking when my Crawler was "walking" over my Scorpion tank and I couldn't move either of them until that part of the map was less crowded.

One great thing about C&C4 is that they seemed to have made the game as light as possible. The loading time has been dramatically reduced and games can begin within six seconds of clicking "start."

The flip side of this is that the game (connected to the EA server) is a little unstable. It crashes from time to time and this is not always due to a momentary lack of Internet connection.

Ironically, EA's attempt to fight game piracy may actually be promoting it. Many people in the game forums, even those who claim to have already bought the original game, plan to wait for someone to come out with a patch to avoid the DRM requirements and game crashes.

Beyond the campaign

If you are eager enough, you can finish the campaign in one day. It was surprisingly short but there are other aspects of the game that are arguably better.

There are quite a few skirmish maps and several types of games (Capture The Flag, Free For All).

One of the more exciting aspects of the game is the co-op mode. Since you are always connected to the EA server, starting a multiplayer game is pretty straightforward.

You can ask anyone in the chatroom if they want to finish the campaign with you or have a one-on-one or even a five-on-five skirmish match up (assuming you have enough players and it does not crash).

Playing co-op is also intensely more fun since the single-player campaigns are pretty limited.

In the pre-match situation room you can talk to other players verbally if you have a mic connected. Even with 10 players in one map, there is no lag to speak of. Now that is a mazing.

Conclusion

Many of those I went online with felt that this is not the C&C they grew up with from 15 years ago. They bought the game because they are fans and they play it because it they are fans. Nobody thinks C&C4 is one for the history books.

It is by no means an epic game but it is intensely fun while you are levelling up and unlocking new features. However, in a few short months we will all move on to bigger and better games, and chances are C&C4 will just end up as a footnote in the C&C line of games.

Pros: Speedy load times; great co-op modes; relatively low system requirements.

Cons: Needs a persistent Internet connection; limited gameplay; cinematics not up to par.

COMMAND & CONQUER 4: TIBERIUM TWILIGHT

(Electronic Arts)
Real-time strategy game for PC
System Requirements: Windows XP SP3, Vista SP1 or 7; Intel Core 2 or better processor/ AMD 64 X2 or better processor; 1GB RAM or more; 10GB free hard disk space; 256MB nVidia GeForce 6800/ATI Radeon X1600 or better video card; DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card
Price: RM139

Seagate unveils HD media player

Now you can easily view your photos and HD videos with the Seagate FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player.

The player supports HD videos (up to 1080p) and Dolby Digital and DTS 2.0 + Digital Out surround sound.

It is able to play a myriad of multimedia files and connects to a TV via composite, component video or HDMI connection.

For movies, the media player supports MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, DivX HD, Xvid HD, AVI, MOV and more.

Song formats supported include AAC, MP3, WMA, WAV and OGG. And for images, the player supports JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG and TIFF formats.

It also has a special docking system for Seagate FreeAgent Go portable drives which allows the external drive to slide into the media player.

Other brand of external drives, thumdrives and digital cameras can be hooked up to the player thorugh its two USB2.0 ports.

FreeAgent Theater+ HD also has an Ethernet port for connecting it to a network for accessing media files located on a PC or notebook.

Also, the media player is bundled with a remote control.

Source: ERM Blog

What is new in Windows mobile 7

After bulks of complaints and dissappointment on WM6, Microsoft is seems to walk out with their new game plan, Windows Phone 7 Series (WP7s). So, whats new in WP7s? According to Xbox Live general manager Ron Pessner and XNA Game Studio manager Michael Klucher, the new WP7s platform will be integrated with XBox and ZuneHD. Hence the users will have a new experience in gaming experience and more advanced graphical interface compare to the slumpy WM6. The important facto is to maintain a consistent gameplay experience amongst different hardware, and the reasoning behind limiting devices to asynchronous multiplayer.

Windows Phone 7 Series prototype device with accelerometer and touch controls, and the Xbox 360 with the Xbox gamepad. Interestingly, not only is the development cross-platform friendly, but the game itself (a simple Indiana Jones platformer was demoed) saves its place and lets you resume from that spot on whichever platform you happen to pick up. Pretty impressive stuff, and while the words “Windows Phone 7 Series” weren’t spoken by Eric Rudder, in TechEd Middle East,  the use of the prototype ASUS device and the clear emphasis that this would place on Xbox Live for making the magic happen make it obvious that this is the “wave of the future” for all three platforms — at least for casual gaming.

Review God of War 3: Epic showdown

Can anything stop Kratos from getting his revenge in the final chapter of the God of War series?

IT is the beginning of the end for the God of War series as the venerable PlayStation exclusive title draws to its epic conclusion.

Fans have been waiting for three long years for the final chapter of the trilogy, so let's not waste any time and get right to the review of GoW3.

Big battles

As with all other GoW titles, the game starts with a major battle scene. This time it's on the cliffs of Mount Olympus as Kratos leads the Titans up to the home of the gods to kill Zeus.

The game's sheer graphical spectacle is quite a sight to behold as you fight enemies on the back of one of Titans Gaia and eventually face a showdown with Poseidon.

LAYING THE SMACKDOWN: God of War 3's has great combat mechanics that let you bring on the pain to your enemies.

The story in GOW3 is more straightforward that the last two, without any unexpected twists. Kratos wants his revenge and he is going to scale all the way up Mount Olympus to do battle with the big daddy of the gods.

Great presentation

GOW3's high production values truly show in its graphics. The in-game graphics looks simply amazing to the point that it doesn't need to rely on any CG cutscenes to move the story along.

There's truly a high level of polish to the graphics as nearly everything looks great with crisp textures detailing every environment and characters.

Kratos looks more realistic than ever in his third outing (fourth if you count the PSP title) - his ash covered skin and battle scars never looked so good (or bad).

Complementing the great looking graphics is the constantly shifting dynamic camera angles which zooms in for best view of the action and pans out to show the great wide vistas that the game has to offer.

It is a shame though that much of what you see is limited to a fixed camera angle. We would have preferred some degree of freedom to marvel at the scenery.

SETTING THE MOOD: God of War 3 has some amazing backdrops such as this huge titan in the background.

The animation is also done extremely well and runs at a constant frame rate while keeping things looking natural even though there are a lot of things happening on-screen at once.

It's amazing that so many things are happening in the background - for instance, you'll see huge Titans wreaking havoc in the distance as Kratos battles his way up.

The path is still linear and with little to no exploration though the benefit is that there isn't any back tracking required as you are constantly pressed to go forward.

At times it feels like there's no end to the obstacles the gods can throw at you but the journey is definitely interesting as you explore the dark depths of the Underworld to the very top of Mount Olympus, the domain of the gods.

Tools of destruction

Kratos' quest for revenge doesn't go exactly as planned as early on in the game he is stripped of his powers and has to start (literally) from the ground up again.

Still, not all of the abilities he gained in the last game are completely gone. You will make use of various items like the Golden Fleece for deflecting attacks and Icarus' Wings for travelling up hot pockets of air.

TIME TO FLY: Kratos brings along some abilities from his previous adventures like the Icarus Wings from the second game.

Also, you'll eventually gather a host of new weapons along the way like the powerful Gauntlets of Cestus, electrifying Nemesis Whips and deadly Claws of Hades.

New to GOW3 are items that players can use both for finding hidden locations and in combat.

Early on you'll gain Apollo's bow which sets brambles and enemies on fire and a light emitting object for stunning foes and revealing hidden items.

Like in previous games, you collect red orbs to power up your weapons, maxing them out to unlock new deadlier moves and stronger magic attacks.

Also scattered across the game are items that increase your health, magic and item power. Most are cleverly hidden but not too difficult to locate.

Refining the formula

GOW3 isn't a major revolution in the series, but it takes many elements from the previous games and improves upon them.

DEADLY: Kratos' trademark Blades of Exile will make short work of most enemies you encounter.

The game splits evenly between combat, puzzle solving and platforming, and alternates between them to keep things interesting.

The combat system still feels fast and visceral as Kratos uses his trademark blades to cut enemies to shreds.

Dishing out devastating attacks on your foes is satisfying as the combo system and controls are well tuned.

Just as important, players have to learn the attack patterns of enemies and bosses in order to survive.

There's a steady ramp in difficulty as you start fighting multiple big enemies like cyclops and centaur at once.

Taking down larger foes during quick time events is now easier as the game places the button you need to press along the side of the screen which corresponds with the location of the button on the controller.

Interestingly, a new enemy introduced in GOW3, the Chimera, has three distinct attack patterns that changes depending on the head you are fighting.

It certainly makes for an interesting enemy to fight alongside the host of other uglies that you meet.

NEW ENEMY: The Chimera presents an interesting opponent as its attacks vary depending which head it is using.

The challenge is much appreciated and will give veteran players a run for their money. It feels really good to survive a major encounter with a god or titan as the fight can be really tough.

Ironically, Kratos' new ability to ride on top of certain enemies, seems to be directly lifted off Electronic Art's Dante's Inferno that happens to draw inspiration from the God of War series.

Kratos is able to momentarily control enemies like a cyclops or a cereberus hound to attack enemies. Kratos can also grab smaller enemies and use them as a battering ram to smack other foes.

In between bouts of combat, blood and mayhem, there are puzzles to solve so you will need your thinking cap.

Most of the puzzles are very straightforward - you have to pull levers that are out of reach and such - though there is a very interesting puzzle in the game that involves navigating through a labyrinth.

Conclusion

The expectations for God of War 3 runs extremely high and it is amazing that the game doesn't disappoint.

There's definitely something interesting happening around every corner and with hardly any loading times we could easily move on to the next segment of the game seamlessly.

The campaign takes approximately nine to 10 hours to complete and once you are done you can go through the game for a second playthrough using various items used by the gods in the game.

There are also additional challenges and arena modes to tackle once you are done with the main story.

All in all, God of War 3 is all that a fan could hope for and more. An engaging story, excellent combat system and epic boss battles maker for a truly great game that no PlayStation3 gamer should be without.

Pros: Fantastic graphics, engaging combat system; epic story; interesting puzzles.

Cons: Fixed camera angle.

Cisco makes companies more smartphone friendly

CHANGING WORLD: The popularity of smartphones like the Nexus One and iPhone is prompting Cisco to build systems that can be accessed easily and securely from almost any kind of smartphone. — AP

SAN FRANCISCO: Cisco has unveiled a way for businesses to feel comfortable about letting workers use whatever smartphones tickle their fancies.

While hip new mobile devices such as Apple iPhones or Google’s Nexus One smartphones have captured people hearts, businesses have been averse to such change out of concerns for network security and compatibility.

US technology titan Cisco believes it can put the minds of corporate IT managers at ease with a new “Security Without Borders” platform that lets networks be accessed easily and securely from almost any kind of smartphone.

“Mobile devices are like jewelry; it is a fashion item,” Cisco vice-president of security products Tom Gillis said while demonstrating the new platform slated for release by July.

“For me to tell you what kind of jewelry to wear is just not possible. I need to be able to give you the ability to use whatever device you want.”

Cisco built the system on top of its widely used virtual private network (VPN) software used by companies to establish protected links between internal networks and outside computers.

Cisco struck partnerships with handset makers to get hardware compatible with the Borderless platform.

“There is an explosion of new mobile devices and this is spilling into the enterprise,” Gillis said, referring to how workers increasingly want to be able to pick the smartphone they use for business.

Real smart

The Cisco platform is crafted to instantly establish secure VPN connections for work programs and scan files or links for computer viruses of other hacker mischief.

The system even allows for Web conferencing on smartphones, with connections seamlessly switched to laptops or desktops by a wrist-flick gesture command, Gillis showed while demonstrating with an iPhone.

People’s taste in gadgets in their personal lives is beginning to change workplaces, with iPhones cracking the business market with help from high-ranking executives that insisted on using the smartphones.

“You can’t tell executive vice-presidents they can’t have an iPhone,” said Cisco chief security officer John Stewart. “It was a very clever way to inject yourself in the enterprise.”

Cisco is aiming the Borderless platform at businesses interested in protecting their networks while allowing workers to chose smartphones that will hopefully make them more productive at their jobs.

“You can embrace it instead of trying to hold the water at bay,” Stewart said. “I’m actually kind of excited; massive diversity usually ends up making healthy environments.” — AFP/Relaxnews

CPU battle - is AMD really going to die?

I still remember somewhere in middle of 2000 when I bought my first PC with my own money ( still 19 that time), the latest AMDk6-II 500 MHz. Really awesome. And I ran it with Windows 2000 (Win2k) since I still blind with Linux during that time. That was my first PC and I really love it. I don`t care if the blower make jumbo jet sound or even the CPU can cook egg 2 or 3 times as long as I can get rid of Intel PC (bad experience when my father bought me stupid 486 with win 3.1).  As the time goes along, so do my PC as well, from Thunderbird to Sempron and the latest AMD Athlon X2-dual  core (waiting for phenom X4 series ). All generation dammed good. Even the market penetration done by AMD (Anti- Microsoft Development ….heheheh)  was very very great until the middle of 2006.

The AMD performance start shrinking. Why?..People say it is because of the huge debt due to big acquisition of the Fat Uncle Bob maker, ATI  Company, and some from other side claim that AMD fail to deliver Barcelona or Opteron Quad-core processor on time. Not even that, AMD also now suffer of the battle among the Top Management due to their performance recently. Poor Ruiz. Undoubtedly, for me, AMD really need ATI in order to boost their track on the game-line compare with Intel. But, is it really a right time just to get the uncertain result from the acquisition together with a bulk loan from Ah Long (shark loan)? Just to remind, Not all PC user are gamers and not All are really highly dependent to great workstation. Most are simple user. And they really not bother about highly giga performance PC.

Another de facto is that most of the users are really comfortable when they heard about intel, compared to AMD. From day one, everybody knows that AMD is an electronic boiler, able cook while operating. And most still think of that till now even though AMD has made a great step to overcome the ‘boiling CPU’ issue.Why?because AMD really not get close to the simple users to sell their new ‘chilled’ CPU series, instead they fight for high end performance features. That is the problem actually. Just do not expect users to go to amd website or anandtech or even tomshardware website to read about new AMD ‘chilled’ CPU series.

From the bottom of my heart, I do believe that AMD will sustain to compete the giant shrek, Intel.  But how long they can survive is depend on their road-map. Whether they really want to gain on gamers and workstation segment, which is really niche market or they have to do something to change people`s mentally about their product performance and quality (if they really have).

Why Dell, or HP, Acer, IBM, Compaq really hard to change to AMD processor? Just think - Politics? performance? friendship? monopoly?…

‘The future is fusion’ - and a lot more confusing……..