标签: black

嵌入式系统开发正越来越多地受到电子工程师和在校大学生的热衷和喜爱，各种嵌入式开发板也不断涌现。德州仪器(TI)前不久推出的BeagleBone Black便是一款针对嵌入式应用、基于1GHzCPU且售价仅为45美元的单板计算机。然而该产品在美国生产，中国用户想要购买，需要克服用美元支付、跨国寄送、报关和缴税等层层阻碍。 TI半导体事业部DSP业务拓展经理牟涛指出，TI推出BeagleBone Black的目的有三：一是希望给用户提供一个灵活的开放式平台，客户可以基于这个平台做自己的创新和新技术开发。二是希望方便客户使用，所有软硬件及配套器件都由一个产品提供。客户拿到整个产品到开始软件的调试，仅需三五分钟时间。第三，TI一直在推动开源社区beagleboard.org和开放式的平台，只有有了一个稳定的生态系统，开源社区才有生存的基础。另外，该公司为使更多用户能够使用，在成本上也做了极大的优化。 BeagleBone Black的软硬件资源 BeagleBone Black的基本硬件包括：1GHz的Sitara AM335x ARM Cortex-A8处理器、512MB DDR3和2GB的eMMC。除电源以外，它还提供了非常有用的调试接口，包括以太网、USBHost和HDMI，以及MicroSD。这些接口都是电子工程师和发烧友在开发和调试时必须使用的外设。考虑到用户会采用BeagleBone Black做新的应用，TI在开发板上预留了两排扩展接口。这两排扩展接口把AM335x芯片的功能延伸出来，包括65个GPIO、7个模拟接口、4个串口、2个SPI、2个I2C、8个PWM、4个定时器，以及其他的外设和接口。用户除可以利用板上现有资源进行开发调试外，还可以利用这些接口进行板卡扩展和应用扩展。 BeagleBone Black有很多的Cape(配套板卡)，可用于电源、Profibus、串口、LED和显示的扩展。牟涛强调，所有这些板卡都不是由TI设计的，而是由beagleboard.org社区的用户针对BeagleBone和BeagleBone Black开发出的衍生产品。这也说明BB和BeagleBone Black的成功，有越来越多的用户基于它们做开发。 BeagleBone Black提供了开放式的软硬件平台，能够帮助工程师将概念快速转化成产品；帮助学生了解嵌入式的编程方法，对操作系统、编程语言开发提供支持；帮助发烧友、游戏玩家实现创新性新技术。 该开发板的所有软硬件资源都是完全开放的。开源社区的基本原则是，所有的设计资料开放，所有开发成果共享。这样才能为用户提供互动的基础，给他们充分的自由和想象空间，专注产品开发。 嵌入式系统开发的基本组成部分不外乎操作系统(Linux、WinCE或QNX)、图形用户界面(Ubuntu、Angstr?m或Android)、编程语言(C、C++或Java)和开发环境(Qt或OpenCV)。BeagleBone Black使用户可以对以上部分进行自由选择，比如用户可选的一个链路是采用Linux操作系统、搭配Angstr?mGUI、采用C++语言、在OpenCV的环境下开发应用。这样不同用户可以根据个人喜好、实际环境，选择采用何种环境和语言对软件进行最优开发。 牟涛介绍，早在四五年前，TI先后开发出BeagleBoard、BeagleBoard-xM(在BeagleBoard基础上提升了处理器主频和存储器空间)，直到今天BeagleBoard仍然是目前较成功的开源平台之一。这两个产品是基于TI前代应用处理器OMAP3530和DM3730设计的。去年的BeagleBone则是基于AM335x的产品，今年的BeagleBone Black在此基础上做了主频和存储器的优化。除了在功能和性能上不断改进，BeagleBone Black在成本上也在不断优化，这样才能促进更多的用户用更低成本获得这款开放式的平台。 中国版BeagleBone Black方便国内工程师采购 以前，中国工程师从美国购买这些产品时困难重重，导致它们在国内推广不佳。因此，TI在推广BeagleBone Black时采取了新的模式。TI和英蓓特合作，由其在中国本土设计、生产、分销和支持，中国用户花费人民币就可以得到产品和支持，极大地方便了用户。 英蓓特副总经理张国瑞补充道，中国版BeagleBone Black在中国售价仅为399元人民币(包含17%的增值税和快递服务费)，并且可以马上发货。中国版BeagleBone Black和国际版的设计完全一致，只是考虑到个别元器件采购不便，可能有适当调整，其软件和配置以及扩展功能板支持与国际版完全一致。如果用户是老式VGA显示器而没有HDMI显示器也没关系，可以采用HDMI转VGA转换器转换使用。另外，英蓓特也正在开发配套的3G模块、USBCamera模块以及4.3"和7"LCD触摸屏模块等产品。

We have black hat hackers who break into secure networks to destroy data or make the network unusable. Similarly, black hat selling employs unethical manipulation to goad you into buying something you really don't need or want. It doesn't happen often in the technology business, because most companies exist to retain customers for the long term. Black hat techniques don't withstand scrutiny in business for long, and the word gets out fast when unethical sales tactics are used. I'm not advocating the techniques discussed below, but I believe they're worth studying so that you are familiar with them and recognise them if they're applied to you. The chances are that you won't see them in professional technical sales, but I guarantee that you will experience them firsthand in spam emails, and you're certain to run into them if you follow many Internet marketers. There's a fine line between ethical manipulation and full-on, dark-side manipulation. It's hard to use these dark triggers effectively without lying or misleading people. That is the crux of the matter: At best, one must omit facts. The white hat salesmen won't like the following comment, but generally speaking, though sales and marketing professionals who completely avoid these psychological motivators are seen as nice folks, they often fail to close sales. Now for the really dark side: There are some triggers that nobody talks about, except for people exposing cults. Here are six, but there are more. 1. Vanity: People who think they are more important than others for superficial reasons will do many stupid things. Flattery works on most of us most of the time. Pile it on in sales copy, and you're loading the game. Presenting calls to action right after the flattery often results in the action being taken. I suppose a vanity trigger can be used in an ethical manner, but it's easy to slip deeper into the dark side. 2. Laziness: There are a great many ways of sugar coating this, but people in general like to automate routine stuff, so they don't have to think. With more than 20 years of being urged to "work smarter, not harder" behind us, it's easy to avoid the central fact that people are lazy. People prefer to push a button and have everything handled. This makes them feel like they are masters of their domain—without having to study to get it right. You can see this in spammy email. All you have to do is tell people they will learn a secret or a simple-to-learn technique nobody knows. Desired results like profits are supposed to happen magically. The mark will pay handsomely for such a secret, but it's the black hat marketer who reaps the rewards. 3. Inner thief: Nice euphemisms like secret weapon, special technique, loophole, hedge, and sidestep do the trick. The bad guys don't say "steal." This way, prospects can lie to themselves and pretend they are not stealing. It's a sad fact of life that almost all people will steal if they think nobody will find out. 4. Tribe member: You can see this one at work almost every day by the black hatters, and it's used by the good guys, too. An us-against-them approach is the most common way to activate this trigger. Potential customers feel they are part of a special minority striking a blow against an enemy of truth. (It seems like an advertisement for Marvel comics.) The implied promise is that they will get rich by being virtuous. This is often reinforced with some easy-to-learn insider jargon for common concepts. Black hatters use these words and phrases frequently in presentations and add subtle cues like nodding their heads. The deal is sealed once group contact with the customer is established and the expert singles them out for special praise in front of the group. Bang. Tribal feelings combine with vanity. Now the customer will do most anything. 5. Guilt: Lazy people are easy to exploit with guilt. They know deep down that they don't know jack, so black hatters remind them once in a while that they really don't know anything. The customer only needs to push the magic button. The lazy customer always tries to get off the easy way and doesn't do the work needed to master the job. 6. Greed: This one is my personal favourite. It works in a sinister manner. Tell people they are not to be greedy but must seek inner balance. Then, because these people are very special and enlightened, the scammers will teach them how to make millions. Now, visualisation techniques come to the front. Black hatters make their customers think the millions are arriving soon—tomorrow, the next day, or even in the next week. Pictures of money, beaches, expensive cars, mansions, and members of the opposite sex are used to reinforce the message. Even if the magic secret doesn't work, people who fall for this gambit will continue falling for it. Scammers counter lack of success with a promise of even more coming with a new and better secret (often something made up). Customers will fall for it again and again, because the larger amounts being promised cater to their greed. There's plenty to learn about black hat manipulation. One of the best ways is to study cults. Cult leaders are masters of the dark psychological triggers. Grey hatters will be more ruthless using all psychological trigger techniques. Perversely, black hatters use these techniques sparingly. But look out when they're promoting special projects and spam email. Then they use the triggers without mercy. Using psychological triggers responsibly is separated from becoming a con artist by a thin line. Marketers and sales people need to be highly disciplined to use the triggers well without crossing into black hat territory. Fortunately, most technology companies do a good job of using triggers responsibly. Finally, a piece of trivia: What 1957 movie was used to influence people subliminally to buy popcorn and drink Coca-Cola? Share your answers in the comments section below. Henry Davis Independent Contractor  

Just as black hat hackers break into secure networks to destruct data or render the network unusable, black hat selling employs unethical manipulation to goad you into buying something you really don't need or want. It doesn't happen often in the technology business, because most companies exist to retain customers for the long term. Black hat techniques don't withstand scrutiny in business for long, and the word gets out fast when unethical sales tactics are used. I'm not advocating the techniques discussed below, but I believe they're worth studying so that you are familiar with them and recognise them if they're applied to you. The chances are that you won't see them in professional technical sales, but I guarantee that you will experience them firsthand in spam emails, and you're certain to run into them if you follow many Internet marketers. There's a fine line between ethical manipulation and full-on, dark-side manipulation. It's hard to use these dark triggers effectively without lying or misleading people. That is the crux of the matter: At best, one must omit facts. The white hat salesmen won't like the following comment, but generally speaking, though sales and marketing professionals who completely avoid these psychological motivators are seen as nice folks, they often fail to close sales. Now for the really dark side: There are some triggers that nobody talks about, except for people exposing cults. Here are six, but there are more. 1. Vanity: People who think they are more important than others for superficial reasons will do many stupid things. Flattery works on most of us most of the time. Pile it on in sales copy, and you're loading the game. Presenting calls to action right after the flattery often results in the action being taken. I suppose a vanity trigger can be used in an ethical manner, but it's easy to slip deeper into the dark side. 2. Laziness: There are a great many ways of sugar coating this, but people in general like to automate routine stuff, so they don't have to think. With more than 20 years of being urged to "work smarter, not harder" behind us, it's easy to avoid the central fact that people are lazy. People prefer to push a button and have everything handled. This makes them feel like they are masters of their domain—without having to study to get it right. You can see this in spammy email. All you have to do is tell people they will learn a secret or a simple-to-learn technique nobody knows. Desired results like profits are supposed to happen magically. The mark will pay handsomely for such a secret, but it's the black hat marketer who reaps the rewards. 3. Inner thief: Nice euphemisms like secret weapon, special technique, loophole, hedge, and sidestep do the trick. The bad guys don't say "steal." This way, prospects can lie to themselves and pretend they are not stealing. It's a sad fact of life that almost all people will steal if they think nobody will find out. 4. Tribe member: You can see this one at work almost every day by the black hatters, and it's used by the good guys, too. An us-against-them approach is the most common way to activate this trigger. Potential customers feel they are part of a special minority striking a blow against an enemy of truth. (It seems like an advertisement for Marvel comics.) The implied promise is that they will get rich by being virtuous. This is often reinforced with some easy-to-learn insider jargon for common concepts. Black hatters use these words and phrases frequently in presentations and add subtle cues like nodding their heads. The deal is sealed once group contact with the customer is established and the expert singles them out for special praise in front of the group. Bang. Tribal feelings combine with vanity. Now the customer will do most anything. 5. Guilt: Lazy people are easy to exploit with guilt. They know deep down that they don't know jack, so black hatters remind them once in a while that they really don't know anything. The customer only needs to push the magic button. The lazy customer always tries to get off the easy way and doesn't do the work needed to master the job. 6. Greed: This one is my personal favourite. It works in a sinister manner. Tell people they are not to be greedy but must seek inner balance. Then, because these people are very special and enlightened, the scammers will teach them how to make millions. Now, visualisation techniques come to the front. Black hatters make their customers think the millions are arriving soon—tomorrow, the next day, or even in the next week. Pictures of money, beaches, expensive cars, mansions, and members of the opposite sex are used to reinforce the message. Even if the magic secret doesn't work, people who fall for this gambit will continue falling for it. Scammers counter lack of success with a promise of even more coming with a new and better secret (often something made up). Customers will fall for it again and again, because the larger amounts being promised cater to their greed. There's plenty to learn about black hat manipulation. One of the best ways is to study cults. Cult leaders are masters of the dark psychological triggers. Grey hatters will be more ruthless using all psychological trigger techniques. Perversely, black hatters use these techniques sparingly. But look out when they're promoting special projects and spam email. Then they use the triggers without mercy. Using psychological triggers responsibly is separated from becoming a con artist by a thin line. Marketers and sales people need to be highly disciplined to use the triggers well without crossing into black hat territory. Fortunately, most technology companies do a good job of using triggers responsibly. Finally, a piece of trivia: What 1957 movie was used to influence people subliminally to buy popcorn and drink Coca-Cola? Share your answers in the comments section below. Henry Davis Independent Contractor  

We toss the phrase "safety-critical system" around without reflecting much on its meaning. What does "safe" mean? Can you prove your system is safe? I doubt it, since that's rather analogous to proving the absence of bugs. There's really an epistemological problem with the notion of safety, since one can only create arguments for risks one understands, not the entire universe of possible risks. Does it even matter if a "system" is safe? A system – a black box, instrument, device or other stand-alone device might be "safe," but could be a disaster in practice. That system is undoubtedly just one component in a bigger product, and its interaction with the rest of the world may not be safe. The rest of the world includes people, and people are notoriously competent at injecting an idiot factor that defies most safety reasoning. A case in point: A couple of weeks ago I was on a long-haul flight and was pleased that the seat had a 110 VAC outlet to power the laptop. A 14 hour hop is about three times longer than my laptop battery lasts. But early in the flight I was engrossed in Jean Smith's new Eisenhower biography and sort of oblivious to my surroundings. Eventually looking up I noticed that my seatmate, a rather elderly Chinese woman, had her earbuds on and was trying to insert the 1/8" connector... into the power outlet!! ( see below )   The 110 VAC outlet is next to the screen A safety case for the power outlet would probably figure on low-amp fuses, proper grounding, and other parameters. But who would factor in "elderly" and "earbud"? Even more confounding, the outlet was of the North American three-prong configuration, which was possibly foreign to this Chinese national. ( I once knew a Thai woman who had grown up in a bamboo shack with no electricity – it's probably dangerous to assume any familiarity with technology when catering to the general public ). Was she an idiot? Of course not. On reflection, it's sort of logical to expect the audio socket to be near the screen instead of hidden on the armrest.