5 ms·

How would you extend the functionality? Programming in JavaCard is really not fun (my opinion) and the space and processing power are really limited. The bigges

How would you extend the functionality? Programming in JavaCard is really not fun (my opinion) and the space and processing power are really limited. The biggest use of it is verifying information (like pins or certificates), but what else would you do that your phone can't?

jingo 13y ago
Consider that some might not program for "fun". They might do it out of necessity: to "scratch itches". Limitation breeds creativity. This is true in general, but certainly in computers. Ever heard of demoscene? By comparison to the constraints we had to work with in the 80's, the power of today's handheld computers (one usage of which is as a "phone") is hardly a limitation. But I guess it would depend on what you are trying to do. I have no idea what you would want to do. Only you know that. As for what others might do, were they to be able to upload their own software to their phones, well, the only way to answer that question is to let them and see what comes out of it. Only a fool would believe he could direct, let alone predict, all the uses that might be made of a particular software program, a particular language or a particular computer. One use of a computer is as a communications device, aka a "phone". Another is a "game console". There are plenty of other uses for handheld computers even if you yourself cannot think of them.
- Genmutant 13y ago
  But you can already upload your software to phones. You don't need the simcard for that.
  - jingo 13y ago
    I thought we were talking about SIM cards. Can I upload software to my SIM card? No. Most phones accept some type of SIM card, while not all phones have a means of user-controlled offline external storage (microSD, etc.). Why can't the user access a SIM card? Why can't she look at the software stored on a SIM card? The SIM card slot is pretty much off-limits to the user. Yet the user owns the phone. This is like buying a computer that has a special card slot owned by a single company or a consortium of companies that produce special cards only for their own use. The user is effectively denied access to the slot.
    - pjmlp 13y ago
      Do you program your PC BIOS or firmware?
      - nitrogen 13y ago
        http://www.coreboot.org http://www.coreboot.org
        pjmlp 13y ago
        How many PCs ship with it?
        jingo 13y ago
        Usually, whatever software PC's "ship with" is crapware. Go figure. "Crapware" is just my opinion. Although I've heard others note the same thing.
        nitrogen 13y ago
        I think at least some Chromebooks use it. It finds use in HPC clusters and embedded/industrial settings as well.
        pgeorgi 13y ago
        All Chromebooks except for the ARM model and the CR48 prototype use coreboot. The ChromeOS developers are currently porting coreboot to ARM, too.
      - __david__ 13y ago
        I wish! I hate my PC's bios. So many superfluous timeouts, so much waiting around (clearly braindead programming that doesn't do hardware well). A stupid text based config interface. Nothing about the BIOS is good.
        pjmlp 13y ago
Torgo 13y ago
I would like to be able to take an older smartphone and use it as a smartcard-like device but with a full-fledged computer on it. For example, being able to use a Motorola Droid with a USB cable as a password manager. Keep the key secured on the SIM card. Use the touchscreen to enter the unlock password, and choose a password off a list. Send the password to a computer over USB by emulating a keyboard, or a custom driver that creates a secure channel to a specific app for authentication.
- greenmountin 13y ago
  Sounds like a lot of work. I don't trust LastPass et al., and really just need a single encrypted password file. My method doesn't provide a driver secure channel, but it is achievable today. 1) Buy a slim ipod touch 2) Jailbreak (unnecessary) 3) App CryptMe allows transfer of plaintext from your computer through iTunes, password unlock on the device, quick search (nice), and according to Firewall iP (Cydia program) doesn't connect to the internet (or you could just always keep wifi off).
- Spooky23 13y ago
  Look at the OpenPGP card. You can get a smartcard reader with a PIN-entry pad for like $50, and boom, you have a secure certificate store with GPG. GPG isn't pretty, and support lags with OS X releases but you can do alot with it. I've been using this methodology for securing cloud backups for several years. Using tools like Duplicity, you can safely encrypt data on potentially untrusted devices or networks using a public key, and keep the private key safely stored somewhere on the smartcard. The downsides to these sorts of approaches is that encrypting data is easy, key management for decrypting it is a pain.

jingo 13y ago

Consider that some might not program for "fun". They might do it out of necessity: to "scratch itches". Limitation breeds creativity. This is true in general, but certainly in computers. Ever heard of demoscene? By comparison to the constraints we had to work with in the 80's, the power of today's handheld computers (one usage of which is as a "phone") is hardly a limitation. But I guess it would depend on what you are trying to do. I have no idea what you would want to do. Only you know that. As for what others might do, were they to be able to upload their own software to their phones, well, the only way to answer that question is to let them and see what comes out of it. Only a fool would believe he could direct, let alone predict, all the uses that might be made of a particular software program, a particular language or a particular computer. One use of a computer is as a communications device, aka a "phone". Another is a "game console". There are plenty of other uses for handheld computers even if you yourself cannot think of them.

Genmutant 13y ago
But you can already upload your software to phones. You don't need the simcard for that.
- jingo 13y ago
  I thought we were talking about SIM cards. Can I upload software to my SIM card? No. Most phones accept some type of SIM card, while not all phones have a means of user-controlled offline external storage (microSD, etc.). Why can't the user access a SIM card? Why can't she look at the software stored on a SIM card? The SIM card slot is pretty much off-limits to the user. Yet the user owns the phone. This is like buying a computer that has a special card slot owned by a single company or a consortium of companies that produce special cards only for their own use. The user is effectively denied access to the slot.
  - pjmlp 13y ago
    Do you program your PC BIOS or firmware?
    - nitrogen 13y ago
      http://www.coreboot.org http://www.coreboot.org
      - pjmlp 13y ago
        How many PCs ship with it?
        jingo 13y ago
        Usually, whatever software PC's "ship with" is crapware. Go figure. "Crapware" is just my opinion. Although I've heard others note the same thing.
        nitrogen 13y ago
        I think at least some Chromebooks use it. It finds use in HPC clusters and embedded/industrial settings as well.
        pgeorgi 13y ago
        All Chromebooks except for the ARM model and the CR48 prototype use coreboot. The ChromeOS developers are currently porting coreboot to ARM, too.
    - __david__ 13y ago
      I wish! I hate my PC's bios. So many superfluous timeouts, so much waiting around (clearly braindead programming that doesn't do hardware well). A stupid text based config interface. Nothing about the BIOS is good.
      - pjmlp 13y ago

Torgo 13y ago

I would like to be able to take an older smartphone and use it as a smartcard-like device but with a full-fledged computer on it. For example, being able to use a Motorola Droid with a USB cable as a password manager. Keep the key secured on the SIM card. Use the touchscreen to enter the unlock password, and choose a password off a list. Send the password to a computer over USB by emulating a keyboard, or a custom driver that creates a secure channel to a specific app for authentication.

greenmountin 13y ago
Sounds like a lot of work. I don't trust LastPass et al., and really just need a single encrypted password file. My method doesn't provide a driver secure channel, but it is achievable today. 1) Buy a slim ipod touch 2) Jailbreak (unnecessary) 3) App CryptMe allows transfer of plaintext from your computer through iTunes, password unlock on the device, quick search (nice), and according to Firewall iP (Cydia program) doesn't connect to the internet (or you could just always keep wifi off).
Spooky23 13y ago
Look at the OpenPGP card. You can get a smartcard reader with a PIN-entry pad for like $50, and boom, you have a secure certificate store with GPG. GPG isn't pretty, and support lags with OS X releases but you can do alot with it. I've been using this methodology for securing cloud backups for several years. Using tools like Duplicity, you can safely encrypt data on potentially untrusted devices or networks using a public key, and keep the private key safely stored somewhere on the smartcard. The downsides to these sorts of approaches is that encrypting data is easy, key management for decrypting it is a pain.