Bluetooth Predators?

[BigEvil]

Here is a post from Bob Sandifer I found on PBN.
Here is a link to the thread.

ok....I guess the word is out.
First off we waited to announce this until the boards were in production. We also did not list ALL of the boards we will be releasing. The EMAG and several others will be released at the same time. We have been waiting on "something" to come through for us and now we can finish our current projects.

The cheetas can be upgraded and the etek board will be designed within the week we get the gun. The boards will arrive within 3 weeks from that time.

10.0 code will also be released with all of these new boards and ALL current boards can be upgraded for FREE as long as you are the original owner.

For those of you that realized that the faceful article was about our new products, we will not be releasing our bluetooth boards as of yet. Due to the number of teams calling us for "technical" assistance on the field with this new technology we might have to reconsider our position in the release of our "ghost" boards and go in another direction. Our intention was to offer easier updates and have the ability to store players performance stats. That does not seem to be the direction the players would like to go with this technology.

WTF? Anyone know anything about these things? What would the point of having it Bluetooth enabled? I would imagine it would make re-flashing the software a ton quicker, but wouldnt something like this also open up a huge opportunity for cheating? I can see the day where instead of someone sitting up in a tree on the sidelines with a gun shooting at players, I can imagine a guy with a laptop and antena changing gun settings remotely.

What do you think?

[Rudz]

tag

Yeah they had baord with blue tooth, and yeah sure its easier to flash, but u can prolly figure out a way to change settings and other teams settings, bad idea if u ask me, maybe if the worked in connection with a halo, it wouldn't be so bad

[Troen]

id be pissed if they finally decided to release the emag board and have it blue tooth, and i go to shoot and its limited to 3 bps....

[Hexis]

Basically think of bluetooth as a cable replacement technology. Instead of having a usb or serial port that you have to find the right cable for, you use bluetooth and have a standardized interface that's on most current laptops and other devices.

Security is a real concern. Bluetooth has a decent set of security measures, but it's not fully secure (like anything).

[BigEvil]

Basically think of bluetooth as a cable replacement technology. Instead of having a usb or serial port that you have to find the right cable for, you use bluetooth and have a standardized interface that's on most current laptops and other devices.

Security is a real concern. Bluetooth has a decent set of security measures, but it's not fully secure (like anything).

Hmmmm... so if this technology is applied for paintball, then if it theoretically possible, for a Tournament to be able to flash the participating players guns with a legal software?

[warbeak2099]

That is a positive side of it, but it would be just as easy for the coach or other members to reflash the boards from the sidelines with cheater modes.

[BigEvil]

That is a positive side of it, but it would be just as easy for the coach or other members to reflash the boards from the sidelines with cheater modes.

Look at it this way though.. a judge could 'inspect' a suspect marker by hooking it up to a computer. If everyone is playing say Semi-15pbs, an illegal If the software doesnt match - BANG - disqualified. That could actually be very easy to do, if all of this theoretical hardware comes into existence.

[Hexis]

There are some significant issues with using bluetooth to enforce policies. Anytime you query the gun for info, you are asking an unknown peice of software for an answer.

That doen't even begin to address the issues of flashing a board with a wireless technology. (you need to be able to copy a full copy of the software to a secondary buffer and run checks agaist it to make sure it's all ok before actually flashing the image).

Like I said, it's just a cable replacement technology.

[Arstron]

hmmm bluetooth built into a board? hmmm you could make a wireless google system with a HUD now!

Bluetooth on a board just sounds like a really bad idea. Not only could you reprogram a board at the field. You could have somone reprograming somone elses boards while they are playing. As bigevil said though, it would be a nice feature for refs to monitor guns from the side lines.

[RedEyes]

Look at it this way though.. a judge could 'inspect' a suspect marker by hooking it up to a computer. If everyone is playing say Semi-15pbs, an illegal If the software doesnt match - BANG - disqualified. That could actually be very easy to do, if all of this theoretical hardware comes into existence.

I remember reading something on here about bluetooth guns and it would be used to check if ppl were shooting 15bps, 300fps, and etc. I remember someone PS or they had a picture of an Angel with an antena near the feed neck.

[68magOwner]

wow, i feel special now. Bob told me he was sending me a new prototype board, he neglected to tell me it would be bluetooth enabled. Makes me more excited to get this thing than i was before. I should show up soon.

[BigEvil]

wow, i feel special now. Bob told me he was sending me a new prototype board, he neglected to tell me it would be bluetooth enabled. Makes me more excited to get this thing than i was before. I should show up soon.

If you are refering to the Emag boards I dont think they will be. I believe it is something new they are working on, but I havent been able to find anything else yet.

[eNder159]

hexis nailed it on the head its more of a cable replacement technology

Since its a cable replacement technology it allows officials to hook up to a gun and basically peek inside of it instead of running a physical wire into the board to see what settings are there.

as far as bluetooth works there is a passkey that's associated to each device. So when you bring a laptop to the field and you see a bunch of markers discoverable to your laptop you need a passkey in order to pair it with the laptop. Kind of like a home wireless router that uses WEP and/or WPA. Yes you can probably hack into it but i havent seen programs out there that can successfully crack a passkey. Here's just an example of how officials can keep the bluetooth board in check

person brings in their marker for a check they hook up their marker to the laptop and pair the two devices together. Official checks settings and sets everything to semi 15bps cap. Sets marker so its not discoverable to any devices. Log out. Marker is set for tourny play official repeats.

Now people would probably ask well how do you get back into the marker? Both devices are already paired. That one marker is associated with the laptop so there will be a connection between the two when they come in range. But the marker wont be seen by other devices. Kinda like a MAC address filter on your home WiFi router.

Security by Obscurity

Depending on the bluetooth stack technology they're using range is very limited. (30 feet is the current standard range). To cover the ENTIRE field is nearly impossible unless you have repeaters and things like that to boost and extend the signal. It would be pretty obvious if a coach were to be running up and down the field to catch up to players.

[68magOwner]

If you are refering to the Emag boards I dont think they will be. I believe it is something new they are working on, but I havent been able to find anything else yet.

no, its a shocker board

[BigEvil]

no, its a shocker board

Cool. You gotta let me know how it is.