In 2009, Chris Paget showed the world the vulnerabilities of RFID by downloading the contents of US passports from the safety of his automobile. This year, he's doing the same for mobile phones. Demonstrating at DefCon 2010, the white hat hacker fooled 17 nearby GSM phones into believing his $1,500 kit (including a laptop and two RF antennas) was a legitimate cell phone base station, and proceeded to intercept and record audience calls. "As far as your cell phones are concerned, I'm now indistinguishable from AT&T," he told the crowd. The purpose of the demonstration was highlight a major flaw in the 2G GSM system, which directs phones to connect to the tower with the strongest signal regardless of origin -- in this case, Paget's phony tower.

The hacker did caveat that his system could only intercept outbound calls, and that caller ID could tip off the owner of a handset to what's what, but he says professional IMSI catchers used by law enforcement don't suffer from such flaws and amateur parity would only be a matter of time. "GSM is broken," Paget said, "The primary solution is to turn it off altogether." That's a tall order for a world still very dependent on the technology for mobile connectivity, but we suppose AT&T and T-Mobile could show the way. Then again, we imagine much of that same world is still using WEP and WPA1 to "secure" their WiFi.

Hacker intercepts phone calls with homebuilt $1,500 IMSI catcher, claims GSM is beyond repair originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 22:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We know you missed us last week, and for that we're sorry. But here we are again, with another raft of news and an explorer's account the 6-hour line that stood between her and two unlocked Canadian iPhones.

PS - Chris turned into a robot at about an hour and change into the podcast. Don't ask us why, but these things happen when you spend most of your day staring into cell phones.

Hosts: Chris Ziegler, Myriam Joire (tnkgrl)
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Daestro - Light Powered (Ghostly International)

01:14 - Motorola Droid getting Android 2.2 next week (update)
02:52 - EVO 4G's Froyo firmware was available for download, manual install (update)
04:43 - Canadian iPhone 4 launch details emerge: Rogers offers 6GB for $30, iPad sharing for $20 (update: Bell's iPad deal cheaper)
19:50 - Samsung Galaxy S review shootout: Captivate for AT&T and Vibrant for T-Mobile
33:00 - Dell Streak review redux: thoughts from the New World
50:13 - Listener questions



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Engadget Mobile Podcast 048 - 07.31.2010 originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 19:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Radio Shack is at it again, expanding your perceptions of the place that once actually sold radio components. A year after that ill-received 'The Shack' marketing campaign the company is now making a rather more substantial move, securing an arrangement with Target stores to see the creation of so-called Bullseye Mobile kiosks. This has started with a 100-store pilot program but, throughout this year and into summer next, the expectation is to prop them up in 1,750 big box locations. Something tells us they won't all be wired up for WiMAX, but we can hope.

[Thanks, Breon]

'The Shack' downsizes, opens Bullseye Mobile kiosks in many Target stores originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 16:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It doesn't have the X10's beefy spec sheet -- nor the X10 mini's cute-as-a-button looks -- but if you're looking for a midrange Android device that's a little lighter on the pocketbook, you might want to keep your eyes glued to O2 in the UK where the X8 is now slated for a September launch. Pricing hasn't been announced, but considering that it tops out with a 3.2 megapixel camera and will go unsubsidized for €259, we imagine you won't need to spend very much on your monthly plan to get it for free. Let's hope it comes off Android 1.6 rather quickly, eh?

[Thanks, Peow]

Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 coming to O2 UK in September originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh, Enso -- must you really give us a reason to hope? After dealing with what felt like a case of the vaporwares, and then being epically disappointed with the zenPad (which is now out of stock, curiously) that you finally shipped, we just can't muster up the courage to look fondly upon the five new products that are gracing your webstore. That said, those that don't mind risk taking and actually enjoy the thought of fighting for a refund have three new MIDs / slates to ponder along with a pair of Android-based smartphones to consider. Let's break 'em down real quick, shall we?

• zenPad 2 ($219; shipping now): Here you have a 5-inch, Android 1.5-based MID with an 800 x 480 resolution resistive touchscreen, a bundled stylus, inbuilt 3G, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, microSD slot (8GB included), 128MB of RAM, 256MB NAND Flash, a 624MHz Marvell PXA303 Xscale CPU, integrated accelerometer, onboard GPS, micro-USB port, 3.5mm headphone jack and a battery good for 4.5 hours of use. We're told that an Android 2.1 update is "imminent," but we believe that about as much as we believe BP's promise to "make it right."
• zenPad 3 ($249; pre-order): This here tablet boasts the exact same specifications as the zenPad 2 (right down to the battery life and resolution), but it rocks a 7-inch design that'll aid those who can't squint hard enough to see fonts on the 5-inch sibling.
• zenPad 4 ($199; shipping now): We hate to state the obvious, but this is quite obviously an iPad KIRF -- right down to the Home button. You'll find a 10.2-inch resistive touchpanel with a 1,024 x 600 resolution (one that Enso swears up and down "has a fast response and works very well"), along with Android 2.1, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, 256MB of RAM, 2GB of storage, a microSD slot (8GB included), a 1GHz Cortex A8 CPU, built-in accelerometer and a 2,400mAh battery that's good for 5 to 7 hours of life.
• zenPhone ($349; shipping now): So... it looks like a Nexus One KIRF, it's called a zenPhone, yet it says it's a MID. Oh, and it's not this ZenPhone. Whatever the case, it's got a 4.3-inch resistive touchscreen (800 x 480), 3G HSDPA radio, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, 256MB of NAND Flash, a microSD slot (8GB included), a 3.2 megapixel rear camera, 0.3 megapixel front-facing camera, a 2,600mAh battery, onboard GPS, 3.5mm headphone jack and -- wait for it -- Maemo 5 running the show. Yeah, seriously.
• zenDroid ($319; pre-order): In the market for a Droid KIRF, are you? You've come to the right place, with this one offering a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen (800 x 480), 3G HSDPA, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, an FM radio tuner, Android 2.1 ("upgradable to 2.2," we're told), a microSD slot (8GB bundled in), 512MB of NAND Flash, a 624MHz Marvell PXA935 processor, 5 megapixel rear camera, 0.3 megapixel front-facing camera, a 1,500mAh battery, onboard GPS, 3.5mm headphone jack and a micro-USB connector.

[Thanks, Neil]

Enso whips up two smartphones and three new slates, but we wouldn't order any of 'em originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 08:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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