A few days ago we found out that some, if not all SD cards actually contain computers. At the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Intel unveiled an offshoot of those flash devices. The Edison is a computer that looks like an SD card and can be read by SD card readers.
The Edison has an x86 dual-core 400Mhz Quark processor as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity. It also has LPDDR2 RAM and flash storage, though Intel has not yet revealed how much of either is in the tiny computer. It runs Linux by default but can be loaded with “multiple operating systems to run sophisticated high-level user applications.”
Intel made Edison as part of its bid to stay relevant in the emerging class of wearable devices, but the company also said that the Edison can be used in pretty much any project that needs a low-power and small computer, similar to Arduinos and the Raspberry Pi.
As you saw in MAKE’s video, Intel collaborated with Rest Devices to create prototype smart gadgets for parents, all of them powered by the Edison. The onesie monitors a baby’s “respiration, skin temperature, body position, and activity level”…
… and can supposedly trigger this baby bottle warmer to activate when the baby is awake and hungry…
…or help this coffee mug inform parents about their baby’s status using embedded LEDs.
Intel also promised that Edison “will be compatible with accessible developer tools used by the maker community”, although it did not yet provide a release date or price for the computer. With its size and capabilities I highly doubt that it will be as cheap as the Raspberry Pi, but I’m sure lots of tinkerers are still keen to get their hands on one.
Ever wonder why SD cards are dirt cheap? At the 2013 Chaos Computer Congress, a hacker going by the moniker Bunnie recently revealed part of the reason: “In reality, all flash memory is riddled with defects — without exception.” But that tidbit is nothing compared to the point of his presentation, in which he and fellow hacker Xobs revealed that SD cards and other flash storage formats contain programmable computers.
Bunnie also summarized his presentation in a relatively easy to understand post on his blog. The images I’m sharing here are from the slides (pdf) that he and Xobs used in their 30C3 talk. Here’s the full paragraph where Bunnie claims that flash memory is cheap because they’re unreliable: “Flash memory is really cheap. So cheap, in fact, that it’s too good to be true. In reality, all flash memory is riddled with defects — without exception. The illusion of a contiguous, reliable storage media is crafted through sophisticated error correction and bad block management functions…”
“…This is the result of a constant arms race between the engineers and mother nature; with every fabrication process shrink, memory becomes cheaper but more unreliable. Likewise, with every generation, the engineers come up with more sophisticated and complicated algorithms to compensate for mother nature’s propensity for entropy and randomness at the atomic scale.”
Simply put, Bunnie claims that flash storage is cheap (partly) because all chips made are used, regardless of their quality. But how do flash storage makers deal with faulty hardware? With software.
Apparently flash storage manufacturers use firmware to manage how data is stored as well as to obscure the chip’s shortcomings. For instance, Bunnie claims that some 16GB chips are so damaged upon manufacture that only 2GB worth of data can be stored on them. But instead of being thrashed, they’re turned into 2GB cards instead. In order to obscure things like that – as well as to handle the aforementioned increasingly complex data abstraction – SD cards are loaded with firmware.
And where does that firmware reside? In a microcontroller, i.e. a very tiny computer. The microcontroller is packed inside a memory card along with the actual chips that store the data. Bunnie and Xobs then proved that it’s possible to hack the microcontroller and make it run unofficial programs. Depending on how cynical you are, that finding is either good news or bad news.
For their talk, Bunnie and Xobs hacked into two SD card models from a relatively small company called AppoTech. I wish I could say more about their process, but you can read about it on Bunnie’s blog…
…or you can watch their entire presentation in the video below:
Long story short, Bunnie and Xobs found out that the microcontrollers in SD cards can be used to deploy a variety of programs – both good and bad – or at least tweak the card’s original firmware. For instance, while researching in China, Bunnie found SD cards in some electronics shops that had their firmware modified. The vendors “load a firmware that reports the capacity of a card is much larger than the actual available storage.” The fact that those cards were modified supports Bunnie and Xobs’ claim: that other people besides manufacturers can manipulate the firmware in SD cards.
The slide above outlines the other ways a memory card’s microcontroller can be abused. Malware can be inserted into memory cards to discreetly open files, make data impossible to erase (short of destroying the card itself) and even discreetly scan and replace data. On the other hand, Bunnie and Xobs note that this revelation opens up a new platform for tinkerers and developers. If a memory card is both a storage device and a computer, then it may be powerful enough to control another device on its own.
It’s worth noting that this particular investigation had an extremely small sample size. That being said, Bunnie believes that this vulnerability exists in “the whole family of “managed flash” devices, including microSD, SD, MMC as well as the eMMC and iNAND devices typically soldered onto the mainboards of smartphones and used to store the OS and other private user data. We also note that similar classes of vulnerabilities exist in related devices, such as USB flash drives and SSDs.”
Turns out the memories of our computers are as unreliable as ours.
Stop starving your camera with that old 1 GB off-brand SD card that you’ve had since the aughts. There’s a memory sale on Amazon and it’s calling your name. Today only, go there now.
Many devices these days tend to make use of a SD memory card when it comes to additional and expandable storage. Digital cameras and tablets, they do make use of these relatively cheap modes of storage. Heck, even the Ultrabook that I use at the moment, which has a 256GB SSD underneath the hood, can have additional storage space thanks to an SD memory card slot. Toshiba knows this, which is why they have come up with the Toshiba FlashAir II wireless SD card that offers a whole lot more than just additional storage space.
The Toshiba FlashAir II wireless SD card will allow you to share your images, videos and files sans wires. In fact, you will be able to choose from various storage capacities of up to 32GB in size. Apart from just functioning as a place for you to deposit files, you can also use this as your very own wireless LAN access point. This would mean the FlashAir II enables users to quickly, easily and securely share multimedia content via your PC, smartphone or tablet.
Maciek Brzeski, vice president of product marketing and development, shared, “We wanted to make it even easier for our customers to share important life moments instantly with their friends and family. The FlashAir II Wireless SD Card offers easy access, fast performance and exceptional storage space, enabling users to focus more of their time on capturing moments rather than uploading them.”
This means you are now able to snap photos and videos with your digital camera, while accessing and storing them across multiple PCs, Macs, Ultrabooks, tablets and smartphones in a jiffy and of course, simultaneously. It will arrive with Class 10 speed, so you need not worry about the kind of Full HD video quality that has been recorded using your digital camera. The 16GB and 32GB version of the Toshiba FlashAir II would retail for $79.99 and $99.99, respectively.
Whether you like it or not, 4K video is coming to blow your minds with the amount of detail you can see over your everyday 1080p LED TV set. That means we’re going to have to upgrade our gadgets to start shooting content in 4K, which also means memory cards will have to receive a boost as well in order to keep up with these new products. Thankfully, the SD Association has confirmed next-generation SD cards will support 4K media. (more…)
A couple of smartphones aside, 4K video has until recently been the preserve of pro-level equipment, and the memory cards found in most devices just can’t keep up. But the next generation of SD cards will change that.
Need a cheap stand for your iPad? Or what about creating a smartphone stand with sunglasses? Did you know a piece of tape could work wonders on an SD card? The helpful folks at Household Hackers have continued their quick and simple life hack videos with seven new ones. I like the idea of misting the heck out of annoying flies. [Household Hacker]
Toshiba is going to release the UHS-Ⅱ compatible SD memory card “EXCERIA PRO” series (32GB and 16GB) in October – It has the world’s fastest writing speed 240MB/s.
The writing speed is 2.5 times faster than the existing UHS-Ⅰ compatible models so that “EXCERIA PRO” series can transfer large volumes of data more quickly. Its reading speed s 260MB/s.
Also, around November “EXCERIA” series (32GB and 64GB) will be out as well. Its writing speed is 260MB/s and the reading speed is 120MB/s.
Apple’s been imagining the things of the future again, with a newly-discovered patent showing it has plans to combine USB and SD card slots to save yet more space on the Macs of tomorrow.
Buffalo is releasing a new card reader “BSCR16UD2 series” that is compatible with 45 different kinds of media such as SD card, microSD, memory stick etc. It will be out in mid July.
Also, it features “Docchimo USB connector”. It’s a USB connector that can be inserted into the USB port smoothly regardless of which sides of the USB connector part is facing up. This makes it fast, easy and smooth.
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