A few weeks back I went on eBay and got myself two Pogoplug devices. Very nice little media and file sharing devices, you plug storage in the USB ports and you get access to the data anywhere on the internet. The devices are not expensive at all and very functional. One of the things that interested me in the device is that you can enable SSH on them, login and install and run more software. Of course, the Meshcentral peer-to-peer agent would be a great target for such a device. You can leave your Pogoplug on all the time and then, use it as a low-power presence on the network to wake up other computers, monitor sleeping Intel AMT computers, etc. Best of all, you can use both Meshcentral along with the original Pogoplug software.

So, earlier today I downloaded the proper cross-compiler. I am really getting the hang of this, it took me about an hour to compile the mesh agent and get it running on the device! I also added the new mesh agent to the list of available agents on Meshcentral.com. Now, this is not for everyone just yet, you need to have a good idea what you are doing with Linux and the command prompt. I also did not research how to auto-start the mesh agent yet when the device boots up. Regardless, enable SSH on the Pogoplug web site in the settings and security menu, then I log in and remount the root file system and create a new folder with these commands:

mount -o rw,remount /
mkdir /usr/local/mesh
cd /usr/local/mesh

I am then ready to cut & paste the agent download and launch code from the Meshcentral.com account page (hit the Install link). After about a minute, the device will show up on Meshcentral.com and you can access file, get the command prompt, etc. Obviously, no remote desktop available.

That's it for now. Have fun with your new Pogoplug features!

Ylian
meshcentral.com

One of the problems I have been facing over the last few months was around the Mac OSX mesh agent. It just did not work right and so, over the last two weeks, I really made a big effort to improve it. Today, I released version 1.54 of the agent that seems to work much better. First, the remote desktop feature is back into the mesh agent. It's been out of over two months. So you get the same, entirely web based remote desktop that is already available on Linux and Windows. The mesh agent is also improved with all the latest features and bug fixes.

One of them problems the MacOSX agent still has it that it can't seem to resolve the DNS name of meshcentral.com correctly. So in this version and for MacOSX only, the IP address is hard coded into the mesh agent.  I will need to work to figure out that is causing this problem.

Anyway, Mac users, please try the latest agent and let me know what you think!

Ylian
meshcentral.com

• Cppsample.zip
• Download End User License Agreement

Initializating COM

The beginning of CppSample.cpp starts with COM initialization as follows so that COM is initialized before _tmain and de-initialized after _tmain is done. EzPwrLibrary.dll itself should be imported as a header.

Initializing COM

Setting up parameters

• Create a smart pointer: create an interface to the library - "IEzPwrCtrlPtr pEzPwrCtl" followed by instantiation -"pEzPwrCtl.CreateInstance(L”EzPwrLibrary.EzPwrCtl”);"
• Log file: The library takes a log file name and append the time stamp to the log file name. In order to specify the file name, assign the file name to "ExportFileName" property. Usually, full path to the file is specified. In order to get the file name, use "GetExportFileName" or "GetExportFileNameExtended" to get the exact file name with the time stamp appended. In order for GetExportFileNameExtended to succeed, the logging should have been started by setting "Logging" property to 1. Setting "Logging" property to 0 stops the logging.
• Sampling Resolution: The gadget itself is updated once every second. But you can specify much finer sampling resolution for the logging by calling  "Reset(millisecond)" method. It is not guaranteed to get the specified resolution due to thread scheduling, but it will try to get up to the resolution. It is recommended to set this to 50 ms.

Setting up Parameters

Getting Power and Frequency Information

All the methods in the library are non-blocking calls, but the actual data is updated once per second. The log however, has much finer resolution as specified in the "Reset" method.

• Multi-socket support: The library supports multi-socket systems and can get the power and frequency information per socket. You can get the number of sockets in the system by calling "GetNumSockets" method.
• Frequency: In order to get the base frequency (maximum frequency without turbo,) call "GetMaxFreq" method. Be aware that modern processors including Penryn, Nehalem, Sandy Bridge, and Ivy Bridge can not only throttle down the frequency to save power, it can go higher than the base frequency temporarily for performance. It is very important to understand the frequency is not fixed to the base frequency to properly understand power / performance. CPU utilization alone is not going to tell the whole story - x % of CPU utilization really doesn't mean much without the running frequency information at the moment. "GetFrequency" method gives the average frequency from all the sockets, and GetSocketFrequency(int iSocket) gives individual frequency for each socket. If there is only one socket, both methods have the same result.
• Power: There are 2 ways to get power - total power from all the sockets (GetPackagePower) and individual sockets (GetSocketPower(int iSocket)). GetPackagePower is just a sum of all GetSocketPower.

Getting Power and Frequency

Clean up

Be sure to stop logging and close & release the interface.

Clean up

With this post, I want to cover how Meshcentral.com powers up sleeping computers. As many of you know, you can go on the web site, see all your computers and select one or many and remotely powered them off, reset them, etc. These operations are fairly simple, just tell the mesh agent to instruct the operating system to do the operation. The real magic comes when you want to wake a system back up. I use this operation myself to wake up my Microsoft Home Server which is set to go to sleep after an hour.

To remotely wake a computer, the web site can't just hop in a cab, go to the computer's location and press the power button... but almost all desktop computers sold in the last 10 years support "wake-on-lan", also know as the "magic packet". Your are very likely to have this on your computer if, when you power your computer down, your Ethernet port is still blinking. Meshcentral has two requirements to get wake working. You need another mesh computer on the same network powered on, and you need your computer to have wake-on-lan enabled.

The first requirement is required since, in order to get passed the home router, there needs to be a mesh agent acting as the relay. The relay node can be a full computer, a laptop, a plugpc, router or android device. As long as it runs the mesh agent and belong to your account, you are set. If you have more than one, even better.

The second requirement is also important since, by default Wake-on-LAN is often disabled. You may need to go into the BIOS and enable it, also in Microsoft Windows, go in the device manager, go in the properties of your network card, power management tab and enable it. I suggest also selecting "Only allow a magic packet to wake the computer" because if you don't any packet that hits a listening port with wake the computer (it's called wake on pattern) and it causes the computer of wake up too often.

Well, that is it. If you meet these two requirements, your computer will wake up, even from a full S5 power off using Meshcentral.com or the Meshcentral mobile application.

Have fun!
Ylian
meshcentral.com

As many of you know, Meshcentral.com works best when you have a few computers on your local network. For example: To wake up a computer within your network, another computer needs to be on. Whatever computer is powered on will serve as the relay to send the wake-on-lan packet to the computer that is off. Same goes for Intel AMT if you have it, one powered computer needs to be present to monitor the others. In my own home network, it's my mesh enabled router that serves as the always-on computer. It's small, reliable, low-power and serves as a presence in my network for Meshcentral to use to do it's thing.

Well, I have been looking around the Internet for small low-power computers that I could mesh-enable. Something the is network enabled and runs a Linux kernel. In the past, I enabled PlugPC's, in fact I have a blog and video about it. At 99$, these boxes are quite pretty and work very well, I have one in my lab and put a "meshcentral.com" sticker on it. More recently, I have been following the story of Raspberry Pi, a 25$ computer. I am actually more interested in the 35$ version that has a Ethernet jack. It would make for and outstanding mesh network presence and it's powered with a micro-USB cable. So, as soon as I can get my hands on a few, I want to compile the mesh agent for it and have them fully Meshcentral enabled. That would just be great. The Ubuntu/ARM port of the mesh agent may even work on it as-is... I can't wait to give it a try.

In the mean time, I ordered another PlugPC and it should be in the mail now. Plenty more toys to play with. If you know of other low-cost Linux computers, please comment!

Ylian
meshcentral.com

Just two days after spotting an article about Meshcentral.com on The Verge, I noticed some more traffic on the server and started looking around to see why. Well, I found another article on a German online publication, Golem.de. I am often confused for a German but, sadly, I dont' speak the language and can't ready it... well, can still pick up a few things here and there.

Also just a quick update to mention that I have been fixing bugs. One of them involved using some special characters in password that would cause the session to fail. I got that fixed today, if Meshcentral did not work for you today, I noticed the problem and fixed... sorry to that unlucky person, but thank you for finding the bug! I am also working on getting remote desktop working again on Mac OS X. I got the new agent working almost perfectly, I still have a glitch to fix. I am hoping to a release early next week. Ever since The Verge published the article with a Mac OS X screen shot, I saw the number of Mac clients go up a lot... making fixing that remote desktop feature a higher priority.

Ylian
meshcentral.com

A few people within Intel today mailed me to said they had seen an article about Meshcentral.com on The Verge, an online publication. The full article is here, titled "Meshcentral: multi-platform remote access built on HTML5". It's short and accurate except they misspelled my name! One of the thing that most surprised me about the write up how they got the security story right. Some users ask why Meshcentral uses two passwords, a web account one and a mesh one. Indeed, it's because the second password is not stored by Meshcentral and so, imposes limits what the web site is capable of doing (Also, that second password can't be recovered). I will probably write much more about security in upcoming blogs since it's such an interesting topic to me.

I had no knowledge of the online publication until today, I am sure to put it in my reading list from now on.

Ylian
meshcentral.com

It's 2012 now and time to get back to work, but not before telling you a little about what I have been doing over the holiday break. Yes, I have been coding! About two months ago, I started working on a new version of the Meshcentral mobile application, this time, I wanted it to work on Android and iOS, and both phones and tablets, all with a single code base. Well today, I am unveiling the Meshcentral.com mobile application!

For Android devices, you can get it on the Google Android Market. For iPhones and iPads, just add this link as a desktop icon. This application requires having a Meshcentral.com account, once you sign in, you will see all of your computers, current and past power stat. You can then remotely turn computers on/off/sleep/hibernate and, if you are on a tablet device, you get the "Terminal" option allowing you to remotely go to the computer's command prompt. Other features include posting text messages on the remote compute and changing the computer's icon in application. It's just my first version, but so far it's working pretty well.

Now for some technical details. This application is entirely built on HTML5 and wrapped on Android as a native application using PhoneGAP 1.3. PhoneGAP is a framework that allows developers to turn a web application into a native app you can post on the Android Market. For iOS, I added some HTML tags, icons and bitmaps to make this web application look like a native application. Since it's a web application, you can even try it right now, on your browser.

Already I have been using this application to wake up my Microsoft Home Server 2011 when I need it, otherwise I put it on a 1 hour sleep timer to save some power. I need another mesh node in my network to be always on and my mesh-enabled DD-WRT router serves that role. So Meshcentral uses my router as the source of the wake-on-lan packet.

In any case, please feel free to try the application out and give me feedback. I am already preparing an updated version with some bug fixes.

Ylian
meshcentral.com

In the past few weeks I have been working hard to add load-balancing support to the Meshcentral server. Mind you, Meshcentral.com itself is currently still running on a single computer, with double power-supply, mirrored hard drives, but still, it's a single computer and so, easy to code against. As other groups within Intel get interested in running their own version of Meshcentral, it's been important to upgrade the design and software to be able to run in a truly scalable way.

One of the key features of being hosted in big professorial environments is the presence of load-balancers that stand ahead of the servers and split the incoming connections evenly to the servers in the back. If your connections are completely stateless, this is not a problem at all, you handle the request, close the connection and move on. This is why I have been moving as fast as possible to web sockets lately, it allows for complex sessions while still being state-less across connections.

For older browsers that don't support web sockets, I have to hack the system to allow for some sessions state on one of the servers that would still work in the back of the load-balancers. The hack involved creating state on one server and having the other servers re-route HTTP calls that land on the wrong server to the correct one. Not real load-balancing but it will do until we can move entirely over to web sockets.

In general, I am very excited to be working on this project, it's just a load of fun.

Ylian
meshcentral.com

A few months back, I had added support for web sockets in Meshcentral.com, up until now it's only been used for noVNC, the all-Javascript VNC client and nothing else. Web sockets allow for full two-way communication between the server and the web browser for almost all browsers except Internet Explorer (this will be fixed in IE10). Using web sockets instead of the emulated technique using a series of HTTP calls allows for better performance and much less overhead. I can also handle many more sessions on the server side.

Well, in the last few days, I have been attempting to make use of web sockets more broadly thru out the site. Yesterday I released a new version of the site that makes use of them, when the browser supports it, for the remote desktop and remote terminal. If you notice any issues, please post a comment below. In general it seems to work ok, I am still working out all the kinks.

Quick update: I had to back-off using web sockets on Safari browsers including iOS because web sockets seems to be crashing the browser. So, it's back to AJAX HTTP for Safari just like IE. Firefox and Chrome seem to be powering thru with web sockets.

Ylian
meshcentral.com

To start ESRV with the Intel® Power Gadget, type:

• 1 socket:  esrv --start --daq --library "C:\Program Files\Intel\Power Gadget 2.0\daq_driver.dll" --channels "1-4" --default_suffixes "decimals = 2" --counters "Number of Sockets=C1, CPU Average Power (Watt)=C2, CPU Energy Consumed (Joule)=C3 integral, CPU Frequency (MHz)=C4"
• 2 sockets: esrv --start --daq --library "C:\Program Files\Intel\Power Gadget 2.0\daq_driver.dll" --channels "1-7" --default_suffixes "decimals = 2" --counters "Number of Sockets=C1, CPU Average Power_0 (Watt)=C2, CPU Energy Consumed_0 (Joule)=C3 integral, CPU Frequency_0 (MHz)=C4, CPU Average Power_1(Watt)=C5, CPU Energy Consumed_1 (Joule)=C6 integral, CPU Frequency_1 (MHz)=C7 "
• Etc.

 To monitor – this is not required –, start the PL GUI Monitor typing the following command. Double-click on the newly created PL configuration file in the C:\productivity_link folder (and click Cancel when done). The following figure shows the monitor output. Note that these commands can be saved in a batch file for convenience. 

 pl_gui_monitor --gdiplus --process --trend --transparency 30 --format --geometry "gauges=3x1 position=topxright" --top --title "Powered by Power Gadget"

Intel® Energy Checker SDK

Please refer to the EC User Guides – including the Companion Applications User Guide – for details on ESRV and PL GUI Monitor and advanced options from Intel® Energy Checker SDK.

EC SDK is shipped with ESRV (Energy Server) which monitors a platform’s energy consumption of monitored or instrumented components. ESRV provides counters for the cumulative energy consumed, as well as the immediate power draw from the power meter or power supply. More detailed information can be found in the Intel® Energy Checker Device Driver Kit User Guide.

ESRV also provides a Data Acquisition (DAQ) mode, which allows the monitoring of system components, such as memory or IO subsystems.

In my new role, I have been learning about many of Intel’s security technologies and am excited about bringing these technologies to light in my blogs, and Intel Software Network TV.

To see why I am excited, and a little daunted with my new tasks, take a look at a couple of clips of Mooly Eden at Intel’s recent Intel Developer Conference. These technologies are amazing ,…but there is so much ground that they span! The first clip showcases Intel’s Anti Theft technologies (starting at 31:10 mark and ending at 34:57). Here Mooly invited McAfee co president, Todd Gebhart, to the stage to discuss McAfee’s Anti Theft which allows a user to lock their laptop or even wipe their data by issuing a poison pill in the event that their laptop is stolen. Then Mooly introduced a new technology called Intel Identity Protection Technology (IPT) . To showcase this technology, Mooly had a hacker, garbed in a ninja costume, attempt to use a key logger and frame grabbing software to attempt to hack, demo presenter, Mark’s bank transaction. In this amazing clip, the hacker successfully grabs the username and password to Mark’s bank account, using a nefarious keylogger. BUT – the hacker cannot capture or generate a third authentication token which has been set up between Mark & his bank. The hacker is thwarted from any mischievous activity by IPT. Using this IPT technology, a random layout pin pad is generated and displayed to Mark, which allows Mark to send an additional credential to the bank in order to authenticate the transaction. Mark’s bank account is safe! See this part of the clip at 35:08 to 38:44. If you want to learn even more, see Intel’s Ned Smith’s IPT foils at 2011 Kerberos conference.

I plan to be interviewing experts from various corners of Intel to help describe these technologies in more detail. We will also be working to bring API’s to light with Software Developer Guides, tech briefs, and whitepapers, videos and more.

I also hope to keep one eye on new developments in the security space in the rest of industry to help articulate security, virtualization and manageability trends that I see developing.

It’s that time of year again where I speculate on what the big technology announcements and impacts are going to be for next year 2012. The lens I use for this are those things that will in some way have a profound short or long term impact, or implications, for the various gaming ecosystems.

I also want to preface this by saying that I intentionally try to close myself off from various discussions that would implicate me from divulging anyone’s roadmaps. In instances where I do have some inside foreknowledge of what’s going on I have to remain mute on those topics. In those instances where I’m dangerously close it would be by sheer coincidence and is tied to my own predictive models.

Before we get started though, I’d like to recap some of my 2011 predictions; of which a few came true. I was only 4 for 10; and am kicking myself for not posting so you’ll have to take my word for it. Some of the things I didn’t accurately predict I’ll actually ‘carry-over’ into 2012. What I did predict accurately for 2011 was:

1) Microsoft would sign some major deals with additional content providers & pipelines. (In this case Comcast, Verizon, and a host of other TV networks)
2) Microsoft would pitch Xbox 360 as an Entertainment System (Expect even more of this)
3) Knew that GameStop had to buy some digital distribution partner. (Impulse)
4) Free to Play would start hitting the Western Hemisphere’s shores like a sledge hammer. (Too many games to list)

So what’s in store for 2012? Let’s get started. Some of these may seem painfully obvious, but there are often some things taking place between the lines that may not be so apparent. (Note: These are stack ranked in ‘my-view’ of importance)

1) Voice and Artificial Intelligence (AI) (Bucket I’ll use for things like Apple’s Siri, Personal voice assistant)
There are big implications here and I expect this to be a huge battlefield for the likes of Apple, Google, and Microsoft. Will be very fun to watch! Will obviously be used by Games in the future. I’m hoping this sparks a new renaissance in voice recognition software coupled with artificial intelligence. Doesn’t everyone want a protocol droid? Oh wait… that’s just a few more years off… before becoming more affordable. This does however; segue into a stronger #2 below:

2) Cloud Services: Sure, this may sound painfully obvious but I truly believe we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg here. The biggest implications come back to more and more content that can be digitally delivered or consumed. So expect things like the DECE Ultraviolet initiative. Things like Ultraviolet could very easily be extended to also include the various gaming devices. The big players here will continue to be: Apple with iCloud, Valve with Steam, Sony with PSN, Xbox with LIVE, and so forth. However; expect Amazon to come on very strong. I also predict we’ll see a few more *Uber* consortium pacts formed as well. Where does it settle? I’m not sure it does. However; the first partner that delivers something on the order of ‘Jarvis’ from Iron Man, my own ‘personal cloud’, will be who I crown the winner.

3) iPad and Slate/Tablet mania begins to wear off: By the end of 2012 we’ll likely see Microsoft spend more on Windows 8 and “Project Denver” marketing than what’s left in the Federal Reserve. However; what I find more fascinating is that the form-factor is already evolving beyond a simple ‘slate’ like form factor. (e.g. Asus Transformer) We also have Amazon playing in this space with the Kindle. How many more 100’s of knock-offs will we see in the meantime? Don’t get me wrong I think they’re nifty and cool little devices. Perfect for easy to do tasks and some PC usages. However; it’s a device that I’m likely to buy in addition to a PC; and not as a replacement for. Given that the #1 peripheral bought for these are the keyboard – why not just get a thin and light laptop? (e.g. Ultrabook, Macbook Air?) IF I were a Console Mfg… this is the form-factor I’d adopt for a next gen console. Why? Tough to crack the case open.

4) Smart’er TVs and All in One’s converge: I was hoping to see more of this in 2011 and it didn’t happen. However; I’m still hoping for at least (1) of the big HD TV Mfg’s, like Samsung, or LG, to offer a compelling All in One in the 42” range or greater. I’m hoping for moderate upgradeability, WHDI/WiDi; and an integrated Kinect/Primesense-like sensor in the bevel or stand. I’ll keep that on my wish-list for Holiday 2012 if the Mayan calendar proves to be incorrect.

5) China lifts it’s Console ban? Perhaps… however; as a PC Gamer I’m hoping not. For their culture’s sake I hope not. Otherwise they can suffer along with our W.Hemisphere’s culture of fostering more PC illiteracy. Yes… I feel it’s extremely important for our kids to understand the inner workings of any form factor a Personal Computer has evolved into.

6) CES News (Project Denver on multiple Form Factors/TVs?): I think the biggest news splash for the 2012 CES will likely be around Windows 8 and Xbox LIVE services, new partners, form factor announcements. My best guess here, and I could be wrong, would be around the Project Denver stuff from Nvidia running Windows 8. The conspiracy side of me expects a bait & switch; so expect to see Win 8 Metro running on a host of devices and screens. In other words, not just Slate like devices, but mobile SmartPhones, HandHeld Devices, PC Form Factors, and last but not least - TVs. This would all dovetail well into Microsoft’s long term vision of attaining the 3-Screen, now Multi-Screen initiative.

7) E3 News (New Console Splash): I’m hoping to see an announcement for at least (1) of the Next, 8th Generation of Consoles. Good luck! My bets are on Sony. If they’re smart about it they’ll go with a cross device, cross platform play. If for any reason it helps the Game Publishers/Developers get to a better ‘buy once, plays anywhere’ scheme.

8) Google goes big in 2012: I expect Google to do bigger things in 2012. Especially along the lines of some things I’ve previously mentioned. 1) Imagine a Google-voice(Siri) offering couple with Google Search? 2) What Google Android did on SmartPhones will likely be attempted to be duplicated on the Slate/Tablet form-factor. Sure.. they’re there now, but I expect it to be much finer tuned for 2012. It has to be fine-tuned given Microsoft’s push, with Metro, on that form factor. Google and a bigger push towards gaming. Not sure if that will entail an acquisition or not. We’ll have to wait & see.

9) Large name Game Engine Company gets acquired by a bigger fish: Well… I keep expecting to see this happen and it doesn’t. However; I’m keeping it on my list.

10) Globalization and Economic Climate continues to remain flat: Believe me when I say I hope I’m wayyyyy off on this one and dead wrong. There is however always the random act of nature, or conflagration in the Middle East, that we can almost bank on. So domestically speaking, continue to pay off those credit cards, keep your debt to income ratio down, expect taxes to go up. The implications here, if I have to spell them out, for technology are: 1) Continued ASP erosions, 2) Lower disposable income rates, 3) Discerning and savvier buyers. This all translates into smart business leaders will want to ensure they can offer more compelling content at low rates; and may require or warrant another look at new business models. Proprietary devices with lower Total Available Markets (TAMs) will be very unattractive places to be.

So there you have it, my predictions for 2012. I hope you enjoyed this. I have other predictions for 2012. Some others that frankly I can’t post. I’d love to hear if you have anything to add to my above predictions.

Hope you all have a great Holiday!

Matt

A few weeks ago I released the first support for Windows Management Interface (WMI), at the time, you should type in direct queries but everything was not very end-user friendly and not elegant at all. Today, I just released version 1.51 of the mesh agent which will take about 24 hours to update all the computer. In this new agent I now support WMI method invocation which allows remote access to pretty powerful stuff. For example you can enumerate running processes, start and stop them.

So, I then added the first version of a remote task manager on Meshcentral.com. When you go to the device page of a specific device, you will see a "tasks" link at the bottom of the page, this will bring up the web-based task manager. You need to have the remote computer powered on for this to work and it is only supported on Windows.

The other thing to note is that, when you launch a new application, it will launch it in the background system account. So you can remotely launch notepad, but your are not going to see it on the local desktop. This is something I can fix in the future, but for now, this is a limitation.

For quick an easy demo, you can launch notepad on the local desktop, head over to your iPad or anyt other web device and use Meshcentral to terminate notepad. Always very cool. Below, picture of the new web based remote task manager.

Ylian
meshcentral.com

As some of your may already know, I have been working on the side on maintaining and improving the Intel System Defense Utility (ISDU). It's an easy to use simple Intel AMT management console that is given for free on the Intel web site and comes with Intel Executive Series motherboards, that is, Intel motherboards that support Intel Active Management Technology (Intel AMT). A few weeks back, I was invited to tape another episode of Tech10, the Intel manageability web show to talk about ISDU. We discuss various topics, for example, many will not know that ISDU will automatically adapt to small displays like Netbooks, so you can manage your Intel AMT computers from your own, very portable Netbook.

The video is on YouTube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJYy-UqScQ0

Once again, I have to thank Michele Gartner (front of camera) and Daniel Brunton (Producer, camera & editing) for putting this together. Michele is the community manager over at the Intel vPro Expert Center.

If you have an Intel AMT computer and have not tried ISDU yet, give it a shot, it's available here.

Ylian
http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/software/isdu/