Kotaku: cell processor

PlayStation 3 Used To Break SSL

Mike Fahey — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 09:40:00 MST

The PlayStation 3 was instrumental in the efforts of an international team of security experts to successfully hack VeriSign's SSL website security scheme, and it only took 200 consoles to do it.

I'll try not to get too technical here, mainly because I don't truly understand a great deal of this myself. Using a pool of 200 PlayStation 3 systems, the team of researchers managed to create a rogue certificate authority which could then be used to issue fake security certificates to websites. This was done by exploiting a bug in the MD5 hashing algorithm used to create the real counterparts to said security certificates. What this all means, in layman's terms, is that a hacker could theoretically use such an exploit to convince users they were entering information into a real website, then using said personal information for various nefarious hacker purposes, like installing a cookie monster virus or something.

Researchers are doubtful a real-world attack like this would actually occur, but suggest their results indicate that schemes that use MD5 should really think about swapping out for something a bit more secure.

Once again the power of the PlayStation 3's Cell processor has been proven, making the world a better place to live!

Researchers hack VeriSign's SSL scheme for securing Web sites [Computerworld]

PS3's Cell Processor Powers World's Fastest Supercomputer

Mike Fahey — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:40:00 MDT

The United States' nuclear stockpile in Los Alamos will soon be monitored by a powerful computer made out of parts you might have in your living room - the PlayStation 3's Cell processor. Nicknamed the Roadrunner, the IBM-built supercomputer is comprised completely of off-the-shelf components, including nearly 7,000 dual-core AMD Opteron processors and almost 13,000 Cell processors. The machine can process more than one thousand trillion calculations per second, making it twice as fast as the world's current fastest computer, IBM's Blue Gene.

If only we had had access to this sort of technology back in 1983. The movie WarGames would have been so much better. "Would you like to play a game? How about Resistance: Fall of Man?"

IBM unveils fast new computer for US Energy Dept. [Newsday.com]

Kojima Disappointed With Metal Gear Solid 4

Mike Fahey — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:00:00 MDT

Looks like Kojima Jr. isn't the only one disappointed with Metal Gear Solid. The latest issue of the UK's Edge magazine contains an interview with Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima, who expresses disappointment with the latest game in the series, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. It isn't so much the gameplay itself as it is the graphics.

"Game-wise, it's pretty close to the original vision: you sneak into the battlefield and can choose whether to do a stealth game or interfere with the battle more directly. But the graphic, side things like motion-blending and the size of the map, totally was not accomplished to my original vision - to my satisfaction.

Now Kojima is a well-known perfectionist, but it is a bit disturbing to see him voice his dissatisfaction with what is supposed to be the masterpiece of the franchise. So where does he lay the blame for not fully realizing his vision?

"When we first showed the game engine at TGS, the staff were really proud and happy. PS3 was a dream machine, y'know, and we were going to work on this and that - and we had so many ideas. But when we actually started developing the game, we realized there were a lot of restrictions and so it turned out how you see it today. The original vision was to go ten steps further, the reality was just one step, which isn't to say we didn't progress.

So there was certainly progress made, but not enough progress...or more specifically, not enough power for progress. Apparently the team overestimated what the PlayStation 3 was capable of.

I remember saying three years ago that we wanted to create something revolutionary, but in reality we couldn't really do that because of the CPU. We're using the Cell engine to its limit., actually. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing the PS3 machine, it's just that we weren't really aware of what the full-spec PS3 offered - we were creating something we couldn't entirely see.

Well there you have it, straight from the man himself. Metal Gear Solid 4 is not revolutionary. Personally I think the man is being a bit hard on himself, but that's what great minds do.

Check out the latest issue of Edge for the full story, as well as a 6/10 Mario Kart Wii review. Eep. Thanks to mescalineeyes for the scan and the info!

U.S. Air Force Wants To Buy 300 PS3s For Cell "Assessment"

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:00:03 MST

Ripped from tomorrow's press releases comes word that the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has submitted a purchase request for a bunch of PlayStation 3s—three hundred of the 40GB model, to be exact. They're not (officially) intended for playing Grand Theft Auto IV or training pilots under the harsh control conditions of Lair, mind you, but for "conducting a technology assessment of certain cell processors." Uh huh.

The Sony marketing coup disguised as purchasing request reads "The processors in the Sony PlayStation 3 are the only brand on the market that utilizes the specific cell processor characteristics needed for this program at an acceptable cost." We can only assume they're going to be running something fairly code intensive in a Linux install or that an announcement about the the War On Giant Enemy Crabs is imminent.

Presolicitation Notice: 70 — 40 GB Console Systems [FBO.gov via PS3mods]