The winner of Name that Ware April 2007 is Bruce Walker. Great work! email me to claim your prize. Seems like this one was a breeze. This ware is similar to one previously featured on Name that Ware; perhaps one could argue that this is its big brother. I actually paid about 400 quai (USD 52) for it, but that’s probably because my haggling skills aren’t that great. Then again, most vendors wouldn’t even talk to me with an opening offer below 400.

I thought this ware was particularly interesting because of the functionality it offered at its price point. For around 50 US, you get a digital camera/video recorder with flash, video playback, FM radio, sound recorder, and best of all–an NES emulator built in.

There are some important misconceptions that need to be corrected.

1. I did no technical work on the Xbox 360 hack. Felix Domke (tmbinc) is the true technical genius behind the hack — please give him proper credit for his hard work. My role in this is entirely diplomatic; I was consulted because my previous work on the Xbox meant I was already familiar with the legal risks and the best contact methods. And, as with any hack, there were many other unsung heros involved who are forced to choose anonymity due to risks and circumstances out of their control.

2. No money was involved. The hack was reported to Microsoft per legal requirements, and per security industry standard operating practice. It is no coincidence that this is the exact same path that was taken on the first Xbox hacks (Hypertransport, 007 and Dashboard). The difference is that this time, Microsoft took the time to listen, and eventually invited us to their house to give a talk.

3. Finally, this was the opportunity to tell Microsoft that locking out low-level code development (and consequently Linux) will never work. It’s neither sound technically nor good for business development in the long term. We believe they have listened. Although this approach has never been tried before, based on their reactions, future Microsoft devices may not lock out homebrew; at least, we have planted the seeds of a feasible technical and business path to such a future in key minds at Microsoft.

In closing, I don’t think Microsoft is right in locking down hardware to outside developers; I also don’t think that the pirates are right, either. As a result, I must walk a fine gray line, and I am continuously faced with many a difficult and ambiguous decision.

And, to quote Felix, who posted in the comment round on a previous blog entry:

“The reason to stay anonymous so long was…about not getting sued. But after Bluehat, it become clear that this was no issue anymore.

And my strict demand for working on a project like free60 is that i can publish stuff in public, under my real name, without hiding anything, and still be able to sleep well at night. This would not have been possible if we hadn’t worked together with Microsoft.”

I love looking at PCBs using x-rays. Great for failure analysis. One of the coolest things, I thought, was seeing a PCB tilt in real-time; you get a good sense of the actual spacial relationship between all the layers on a PCB. I took a series of stills today and strung them together into this animation so I could share the experience with you (you’ll need an embedded Flashplayer plug-in to view this movie):

Thanks to concisys (a San Diego-based contract manufacturer) for letting me use their tool to take these images!