Fullscreen HTML5Med Res (??MB)HTML4

Net Work Alan Winstanley In barely a dozen weeks we’ve entered a different world. This month, Net Work looks at the accelerated rise of video conference calls and Yubico’s latest Security Key. A t the time of writing, there are some welcome signs that the ‘lockdown’ is starting to ease, as authorities grapple with the problem of allowing our socially distanced lives to return to normality once again. In these strange and surreal times, our society has, thanks largely to Internet access, adapted and continued functioning even when we’re forced to stay indoors and avoid physical contact with anyone else. Whether we like it or not, the current crisis is smashing us into doing things differently – as a timely example, just when I was typing this month’s copy I also had a doctor’s consultation via my mobile phone camera: video meetings that were once unthinkable are destined to become normal. Amazon’s Echo Show desktop LCD has a built-in camera for video calling, messaging your contacts or checking your Blink security cameras. Chatting via Facebook-owned Whatsapp, Microsoft Skype or Apple’s FaceTime is now second nature for many. Facebook continues to push the latest version of its Portal hardware (see: Net Work, February 2020) at families, as a user-friendly way of making widescreen video calls. Back in May, Facebook also launched Messenger ‘rooms’ which accommodate groups of up to 50 users, and Google Meet fired back with a revamp that made it feel less ‘corporate’. Google Meet is free for individuals (up to 100 per session) and business plans are also available. Launched in 2017, Microsoft has been heavily promoting Teams, their own ‘chat-based workspace’ for collaborative networking, while video-conferencing provider Zoom now faces the classic dilemma of satisfying those who pay nothing for the service anyway, since profits lie with their business users instead. Education has also seen some action: in Britain, many educators tackled the challenge of teaching pupils online for the first time using a choice of these tools, akin to launching Australia’s School of the Air (Net Work, April 2019). With our unease about video calling now overcome, the idea of talking by video has come of age. Camera, action While tablets and laptops often have built-in cameras for making video calls, it’s been a bit tougher for some desktop PC owners wanting to embrace video calling during the lockdown. Retail stocks of PC webcams flew out the door, leaving only anonymous unbranded webcams stuck on the shelf. Needing one to make a Skype call to some lockeddown relatives, the author eventually resurrected an HD Logitech Webcam Pro 9000 for his PC, the same one that readers first saw back in February 2012, when it cost £35 – used ones now fetch double or triple that on auction websites. After the usual installation and software hassles, and against all the odds, it finally installed successfully and works well in Skype, thanks mainly to finding an earlier (and more compatible) driver buried on a hard disk. You can download Skype for Windows (from: www.skype.com). On mobile devices (iPad, Android and Kindle Fire HD), check the usual app stores. The digital motion tracking on this legacy webcam also works well: if I move, the image follows me, though colour rendering is very odd under night-time LED lighting. Video-calling has become all the Amazon’s Echo Show is a desktop LCD available with 5.5, 8 rage with TV news and 10-inch screens. 12 programmes and government meetings. Fortunately for participants, popular video chat software can recognise a human face and electronically ‘blur’ the background or swap it altogether for another JPEG. We sometimes lose track of how far this digital technology has advanced in the past 10 or 15 years, starting with static ANPR cameras picking out car licence plates, fingerprint scanning, facial recognition and now even AI-driven lip-reading (Net Work, November 2019). With developments in AI racing ahead, autonomous pre-programmed machines and their sensory systems are being entrusted with the interpolation of data, ‘deep-learning’ and taking decisions themselves or even driving cars automatically; often, all but eliminating human intervention from the proceedings. As machines become more ‘intelligent’, this trend towards utilising human-crafted AI will dominate many areas of our lives in years to come. Speed limits When checking broadband deals to help out a new neighbour, I found the market for residential services seemed to be hardening, with consumers facing less choice from the handful of ISPs that now control most of the sector. When trying to source ‘basic’ ADSL/ADSL2 broadband in my postcode, several telcos stated it was ‘not available’ – but were happy to quote for fibre broadband tariffs instead. I also noticed some confusion over naming conventions. ‘Superfast’ broadband (say 30-50Mbps or more) typically delivers fibre Internet to a roadside cabinet, with the telephone cable wire carrying the last leg. So-called ‘Faster’ broadband may refer to legacy ADSL2+ (say up to 20 Mbps or more – depending on distance over the phone lines), which may still be used today by customers having modest demands. (In some locations it’s all that might be available.) But I found that even when searching for the cheapest tariffs, superfast fibre was the only choice on offer: BT suggested ‘Fibre Essentials’ with a 25Mb guarantee, or 50Mb ‘Fibre 1’. Obviously, the network is moving to Practical Electronics | August | 2020 Yubico’s USB Security Key adds physical ‘fingertipping’ verification to web services: check hardware and service compatibility before investing. migrate users onto fibre broadband as a matter of course, and prices are levelling up across the board. Coming next is ‘Fibre to the Premises’ (FTTP) with fibre Internet streaming directly to your property. Some small independent UK ISPs are starting to roll this out, including Internetty (www. internetty.uk). They call their 250Mb fibre ‘Ultrafast’ (£32 per month) and 1Gb is dubbed ‘Hyper-fast’ (£45). Cable operator Virgin Media delivers its own ‘superfast’ broadband over its own cables and, commendably, they avoid the use of meaningless product names. You can check whether they operate in your area by searching your postcode on: www.virginmedia.com When shopping for broadband, buyers might need to factor in line rental and the cost of landline calls, or the ISP may bundle in TV or mobile calls too. ‘Broadband only’ deals with no phone are available, but do check contract lengths, availability of free routers (delivery extra) and exit fees if you move house. At the time of writing, TalkTalk charges £60 to leave. Most of all, double check the speeds and don’t be swayed by confusing marketing jargon! Yubico Security Key: fingertap control Previously, I covered the use of Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) as an extra security step to safeguard your social media, shopping and email accounts against unauthorised access. Instead of receiving SMS texts containing PIN numbers, so-called ‘hardware tokens’ such as the Yubico range of USB keys (see previous months) simply need a fingertap to verify your identity and they work with an expanding selection of online services (see: www.yubico. com/setup/compatible-services). Yubico kindly sent Practical Electronics a USB Security Key, a slim but tough plastic USB device that fits an ordinary Type-A USB port found on desktops and laptops. It was easily set up with Facebook: after typing in logins as normal on a PC the security key’s gold touchpad flashed, inviting a fingertap to complete the process. It worked flawlessly and I logged in on both W7 and W10 PCs without a hitch. Mobile devices probably have a USB-C port instead, potentially a job for the diminutive YubiKey 5C (also supplied). Unfortunately, I found Facebook’s mobile app did not recognise hardware tokens in the first place, which shows how disjointed this evolving market currently is. Apart from that, if USB is a problem then NFC USB Security Keys are sold, and an NFC version of the 5C is in the pipeline. Users should consider what USB form factors meet their needs, or whether NFC is usable instead, to get the best out of these security keys. NFC versions are likely to prove more futureproof. Yubico lists setup instructions for a range of web services, including Google, Microsoft Accounts and Azure Active Directory, and UK Government Verify (but not Gateway). For everyday Internet users, it’s still relatively early days for USB hardware tokens as website operators edge towards integrating this added security into their own systems. At the moment, and taking Facebook as an example, a Yubico key makes access more secure, but not faster. However, single-factor (passwordless) standalone operation, which requires no username or password, is promised by Yubico as the FIDO2 protocol rolls out. Gradually, it should become possible to log in directly into services with just a single touch tap. Yubico security products are available direct from Yubico.com and Amazon. Intellivision lives! Intellivision Amico launches this October and promises reimagined video gaming fun for family and friends. (Image: Intellivision, YouTube) Practical Electronics | August | 2020 Now something for retro videogaming fans. Old hands from the 1980s will remember the Mattel Intellivision games console, which in 1979 was the first 16-bit video game system to hit the market. Its ‘D’ pad and CRT-friendly screensaver were ahead of their time. Mattel Electronics introduced the first speech synthesis unit (the Intellivoice), The SpaceX Starship is aiming for the moon, then Mars, with ambitious plans to build a moon base. a music synthesiser keyboard and was first with game downloads, via a cable subscription. Mattel had grand plans for their console, but some ambitious add-ons were poorly supported and quietly dropped. A former engineer posted that he worked on an adaptor (never launched) that would have enabled Intellivisions to handle simple online banking – 40 years ago! Mattel Electronics then dabbled disastrously in the nascent home computer market, following their ill-fated Aquarius computer in 1983: a modem and futuristic home automation control using X10 were pencilled in, but the Aquarius barely made it off the drawing board. After a lot of bloodletting in the 1980s retail market, Intellivision disappeared when both Nintendo and proper home computers arrived on the scene. The excellent news for Intellivision fans is the promised launch of a smart new console – the Intellivision Amico – with HDMI and touchscreen controllers that are fit for the 21st century. The Amico hopes to disrupt the market and it promises ‘clean fun for family and friends’ like it used to be, rather than being for ‘hard core gamers’ playing in isolation. Shunning the complexity of 3D games, many familiar old titles will be re-imagined and ported onto the new system (more details at: www. intellivisionamico.com). The launch date is 10 October 2020, in good time for Christmas, and I can’t wait! In comparison, a forthcoming new Atari-badged console has suffered from nothing but endless delays and an excoriating commentary seen on The Register makes for very painful reading. More at: https://tinyurl.com/y9u3nsu5 13 The Space Race June was an exciting month for space program fans, starting with a commercial SpaceX capsule docking with the international space station. Frustratingly, though, the vertical landing of its re-usable booster stage onto a drone ship was a feat lost on TV news presenters. Fortunately, an accurate (and fun) ISS crew docking simulator was put online for surfers to try, see: https:// iss-sim.spacex.com Another 60 SpaceX Starlink satellites were deployed in June, bringing the total to nearly 500 with possibly tens of thousands more slated for the future. One satellite has a test pop-up sun visor designed to block dazzling reflections from the spacecraft, in an effort to appease astronomers. Still undergoing tests is Starship, their heavy lifter aiming for the moon, Mars and beyond. Small rival OneWeb (see Net Work, May 2019) had launched 74 satellites in its own program, but filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the end of March, citing market turbulence and Covid-19 disrupting its finances. It hopes to refocus operations and find a way forward. In Britain, Scotland-based private venture Skyrora conducted the first GET T LATES HE T COP Y OF TEACH OUR -IN SE RIES A VAILA B NOW! LE successful rocket engine test on UK soil in 50 years and hopes to offer satellite launcher services in 2022. The company is also working hard to inspire and attract tomorrow’s engineers. More news on: www.skyrora.com News in brief Microsoft is fighting back in the browser wars with its Edge web browser, now available in automatic updates for Windows 10. Based on Chromium and rebuilt from the ground up, it promises better compatibility with websites that will ‘work as they’re supposed to work’. Windows 7+ users can fetch it from: www. microsoft.com/en-us/edge and macOS, iOS and Android versions are there too. Edge has been well received, seems very fast in use and is also compatible with third-party Chromium extensions. The latest in 5G communications has reached Mount Everest, after five 5G base station upgrades were installed by Huawei Technologies near the top of the world’s highest mountain. Huawei is also investing in its first new factory outside of China. Dedicated to 4G and 5G production for Europe, the plant is expected to be built in France at a cost of € 200m. In the US, America’s war on Huawei continues: a bill was passed to Order direct from Electron Publishing PRICE £8.99 (includes P&P to UK if ordered direct from us) rip out and replace ‘communications equipment or services posing a national security risk’, naming no names. The Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 was signed off earlier this year and may cost America upwards of $800m to implement. Britain’s stance on Huawei is said to be changing too, as the UK is now considering ways of sourcing 5G hardware from other manufacturers in Japan and South Korea, in light of political challenges facing the UK. Britain’s BT says it would take seven years to eliminate Huawei entirely from its network. Ransomware has now been found running within virtual machines, reports British security firm Sophos. ‘Ragnar Locker ransomware was deployed inside an Oracle VirtualBox Windows XP virtual machine. The attack payload was a 122MB installer with a 282MB virtual image inside – all to conceal a 49kB ransomware executable,’ they blogged at: https:// tinyurl.com/y7tk8y3s See you next month for more Net Work! The author can be reached at: alan<at>epemag.net EE FR -ROM CD ELECTRONICS TEACH-IN 9 £8.99 FROM THE PUBLISHERS OF GET TESTING! Electronic test equipment and measuring techniques, plus eight projects to build FREE CD-ROM TWO TEACH -INs FOR THE PRICE OF ONE • Multimeters and a multimeter checker • Oscilloscopes plus a scope calibrator • AC Millivoltmeters with a range extender • Digital measurements plus a logic probe • Frequency measurements and a signal generator • Component measurements plus a semiconductor junction tester PIC n’ Mix Including Practical Digital Signal Processing PLUS... YOUR GUIDE TO THE BBC MICROBIT Teach-In 9 Teach-In 9 – Get Testing! A LOW-COST ARM-BASED SINGLE-BOARD COMPUTER Get Testing Three Microchip PICkit 4 Debugger Guides Files for: PIC n’ Mix PLUS Teach-In 2 -Using PIC Microcontrollers. In PDF format This series of articles provides a broad-based introduction to choosing and using a wide range of test gear, how to get the best out of each item and the pitfalls to avoid. It provides hints and tips on using, and – just as importantly – interpreting the results that you get. The series deals with familiar test gear as well as equipment designed for more specialised applications. The articles have been designed to have the broadest possible appeal and are applicable to all branches of electronics. The series crosses the boundaries of analogue and digital electronics with applications that span the full range of electronics – from a single-stage transistor amplifier to the most sophisticated microcontroller system. There really is something for everyone! Each part includes a simple but useful practical test gear project that will build into a handy gadget that will either extend the features, ranges and usability of an existing item of test equipment or that will serve as a stand-alone instrument. We’ve kept the cost of these projects as low as possible, and most of them can be built for less than £10 (including components, enclosure and circuit board). © 2018 Wimborne Publishing Ltd. www.epemag.com Teach In 9 Cover.indd 1 01/08/2018 19:56 FREE COVER-MOUNTED CD-ROM On the free cover-mounted CD-ROM you will find the software for the PIC n’ Mix series of articles. Plus the full TeachIn 2 book – Using PIC Microcontrollers – A practical introduction – in PDF format. Also included are Microchip’s MPLAB ICD 4 In-Circuit Debugger User’s Guide; MPLAB PICkit 4 In-Circuit Debugger Quick Start Guide; and MPLAB PICkit4 Debugger User’s Guide. ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY JUST CALL 01202 880299 OR VISIT www.electronpublishing.com 14 Practical Electronics | August | 2020