protocols
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Google puts False Start SSL experiment down, nobody notices
Back in September of 2010 Google started experimenting with a new Chrome feature called False Start, which cut the latency of SSL handshakes by up to 30 percent. While the delay in forging a secure connection never seemed like a major concern for most, the pause (which could be several hundred milliseconds long) before a browser starts pulling in actual content was too much to swallow for Mountain View engineers. The tweak to SLL was a somewhat technical one that involved packaging data and instructions normally separated out -- reducing the number of round trips between a host and a client before content was pulled in. Unfortunately, False Start has proven incompatible with a number of sites, in particular those that rely on dedicated encryption hardware called SSL Terminators. Chrome used a blacklist to track unfriendly sites, but maintaining that repository proved more difficult than anticipated and became quite unwieldy. Despite reportedly working with over 99 percent of websites Adam Langley, a Google security researcher, has decided that False Start should be retired with version 20 of the company's browser. The change will likely go unnoticed by most users, but it's always a shame to see efforts to make the web as SPDY as possible fail.
Where IPs go to die: a theoretical look at the belly of the online beast
The key to a secure online world of tomorrow? Why, that would be an internet that spends a bit more time padding its waistline at the protocol buffet. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed an evolutionary model, dubbed EvoArch, that simulates a survival of the IP fittest battle for the interweb's belly. Separated into six distinct layers, the top-to-bottom structure -- specific applications, application protocols, transport protocols, network protocols, data-link protocols and physical layer protocols -- reveals a fiercely competitive middle tier that often sees newer, non-specialized competition cannibalized in favor of an older, more dominant framework. The team created the theoretic model as a guideline for "architects of the future Internet... to increase the number of protocols in these middle layers," thus protecting the web from potential security vulnerabilities. Despite these proposed layer variances, however, further simulations of the model only churned out more midriff slimming eventualities. It seems our dear internet is destined for a damned if you do, damned if you don't hourglass-shaped evolution. Full PR after the break.
New iTunes protocol calls unearthed
The always-awesome Evan DiBiase has decoded iTunes' "initiateSession" call, which can be found in this online file, encoded with Base-64. In it, he found quite a few interesting calls that support the announcements made by Steve Jobs on Tuesday[1], including references to a relatedItemsShelf for AppleTV, checking in and checking out the rentals, rental recommendations, a "Digital Copy Wizard". Neat stuff. If you want to look for yourself, head on over to an online base64 decoder and make sure to cut the results into pieces around the double-equal signs (==) and omit the names, e.g. for == bag PD94bWwgdmV start the decoding with PD94b... [1]Just for the sake of recognizing his sheer awesomeness, let me note that he actually called the Apple TV update before Jobs announced it...
