FBI Seizes 'Joke' Hard Drive From Los Alamos Store
The FBI seized several storage devices from the Black Hole Surplus Store and Museum In Los Alamos, New Mexico, which the stores owner says were "jest" items he personally labeled with the word "secret." The Los Alamos National Laboratory has been closed while authorities investigate the disappearance of two hard drives containing classified information.
Kyowa Exeo Corp is now accepting orders for a system that sends surveillance camera pictures to NTT DoCoMo FOMA mobile phone handsets. Users can control up to 10,000 cameras with the phone. If an unauthorized person enters a secure area, the system calls your phone and sends you a picture of the intruder.
Found Photos: Apollo Moon Pictures Newly Digitized
NASA has taken all of the film taken on the moon on July 20, 1969, out of the freezer, thawed them out and digitized them using a very high-quality process. Incredible!
Ad Campaign Turns Billboard Into SMS-Controlled Pinball Machine
A Ford Fiesta ad campaign in Belgium enables people to play "pinball" on billboards using their SMS-capable cell phones. People driving by can "ping" the billboard, which will ask questions via SMS. Correct answers cause the billboard to light up like a pinball machine, and the "player" is entered into a contest to win a car. Wrong answers cause the billboard to display "tilt." (props to The Mobile Technology Weblog)
How Do You Cut a Cell Phone's Background Noise? Give It Two Ears
University of Toronto researcher Professor Parham Aarabi is working on a system of dramatically reducing background noise during cell phone calls by using two microphones to identify and favor the closest source of noise, which is your yapping mouth.
Democratic National Convention: A War-Driver's Paradise?
Thousands of Democratic National Convention attendees will be using wireless laptops at the Boston event next week. A local security firm says that could invite war drivers and Republicans to try and gain access to the network that runs the convention.
McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas plans to have its "SpeedCheck" up in running in time for Comdex. (Unfortunately, however, Comdex has been cancelled...) The system enables airline passengers to check in at computerized kiosks inside their hotels. Passengers run a credit card or frequent flier card through a reader and the kiosk prints their boarding pass. What's next? In-room security strip searches?
Gizmodo Leaps Into Culture Wars, Takes Radical-Left Position On Military Hardware
Gizmodo, the popular gadget blog, has uncharacteristically entered the realm of political activism by equating unmanned aerial drone technology with killing babies, hearkening back to the 1960s and 70's when soldiers returning from Viet Nam were spat upon by protesters and called "baby killers." "The call to meet the challenge of the relentless Defenseless Baby Scourge is addressed once again as Northrop Grumman joins Boeing in unveiling a new automated flying drone," the post said. Because the technology was not finished, "for now flesh-and-blood pilots will still have to risk loss of life to bomb back the laconic hordes of adorably drooling infants that currently terrorize the world's most dangerous orphanages," the poster wrote. Gizmodo is published by for-profit publisher Nick Denton, who also publishes Gawker, Fleshbot, Wonkette and Defamer. Now watch this drive...
Dell may be planning to release their first Tablet PC before the end of the year. It will convert to a clamshell laptop like the other successfully tablets and sport a 12.1-inch screen. (props to Engadget)
Duke University freshmen will each get a free Apple iPod when they show up for school. University officials expect that students will use them for academic purposes, such as foreign language instruction, playing back lecture notes and listening to novels and not for playing the music they illegally download over Duke's T3 line. Hahahahahaha!
A security-oriented venture firm called SuperWave has invented a phone that won't work unless the phone's owner is nearby. The newly patented system involves the installation of a module in the phone that requires proximity to a second module, which can be carried on a keychain. If a thief steals your phone AND your keys, well, they've got themselves a cool new phone, don't they?
The LAPD says the installation of $10,000 cameras all over downtown L.A.'s MacArthur Park has caused crime there to drop by some 45 percent. The city's police department is going nuts with the cameras, installing them at most major intersections, tourist-trap areas like Hollywood Boulevard and places that gang members frequent. The only cameras they don't like are the ones citizens use to film police beating motorists.
Microsoft will pay Lindows Inc. $20 million to settle a trademark dispute between the two companies, according to a regulatory filing this morning. Microsoft will buy the rights to the Lindows.com domain and other web domains.
