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Archive for the ‘Gadgets’ Category
Thursday, May 16th, 2013
The Minister of Corrections is requesting a review of GPS tracking of offenders.
Officials will be asked to look into whether current legislation can be extended to include the tracking of high-risk domestic violence offenders.
It follows the revelation that Christchurch woman Alexsis Tovizi was murdered by Nikki Roper, despite holding a protection order against him.
Minister Anne Tolley says GPS tracking has already proved to be a valuable tool with a number of offenders identified and dealt with for straying near banned areas. (more…)
Tags: GPS, GPS Technology, tracking criminals
Posted in crime, Gadgets, GPS Technology, National News, safety, Security, Technology | No Comments »
Monday, April 22nd, 2013
An accused robber got more than he bargained for during a pharmacy holdup: a bag of loot, plus a tracking device that led to his arrest.
Unbeknownst to the thief, the pharmacy manager who was held up at gunpoint slipped a GPS unit into the gunman’s pillowcase — along with $5,000 from the store safe, according to records filed today in U.S. District Court in Detroit.
The suspect, Tevin Clay, was arrested shortly after the incident, along with the getaway driver, Adrian Roberts, records show. Their ages and hometowns are not known.
This all happened on April 11, just before 10 p.m. at the Rite Aid on South Dort Highway in Burton. According to an affidavit filed in federal court, a masked gunman in a hooded sweatshirt entered the store and ordered the manager to open the safe and place the money inside a pillow case. (more…)
Tags: Caught!, GPS, real time tracking, theft
Posted in busted, Caught!, crime, Crime News, Gadgets, GPS Technology, How To Catch a Criminal, National News, Technology | No Comments »
Friday, March 1st, 2013
Please remember this is very illegal and to never use the camera for anything sordid like this.
BALTIMORE (AP) — A Johns Hopkins Hospital gynecologist accused of secretly videotaping patients wore a pen around his neck that may have been used to conceal a camera, according to the employee who reported the doctor.
The employee told hospital officials of her suspicions Feb. 4, according to a letter from the hospital’s CEO, Dr. Paul B. Rothman. The letter was dated Tuesday and sent to the law firm of Silverman Thompson Slutkin & White, which is working with the Maryland Crime Victims’ Resource Center. The law firm gave a copy of the letter to The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The employee’s report to officials ultimately led to the discovery that Dr. Nikita Levy had been recording patients during exams at a Hopkins clinic. Police have said Levy, 54, killed himself in his home on Feb. 18.
Rothman’s letter said the Hopkins employee had noticed what she believed to be a device, like a writing pen, that Levy had worn around his neck while examining patients. She said she believed the device was a camera.
Rothman writes that Hopkins security personnel questioned Levy at his office on Feb. 5, and devices similar to the one described by the employee were seen in the office and on Levy.
Levy was barred from patient contact that day and escorted off hospital grounds. Hopkins notified Baltimore police the day after, and investigators have said they found large amounts of multimedia evidence.
Police have said more than 2,000 patients and former patients of Levy have called a hotline set up by the hospital. Class-action lawsuits have been filed against Hopkins.
Meanwhile, investigators are trying to determine if anyone else was involved in making the records, and whether any have been posted on the Internet or sold.
Read Story Here: yahoonews.com
Tags: busted, hidden camera, Idiot, privacy
Posted in busted, Caught!, crime, Crime News, Gadgets, hidden camera, Idiot, National News, privacy | No Comments »
Monday, February 11th, 2013
Researchers at Universidad Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M) and the firms Abertis and Solusoft have developed an intelligent system that analyzes video surveillance camera images in real time, detects anomalous situations and alerts the nearest security agents in urgent situations, such as the presence of a vehicle moving in the wrong direction.
This platform, which combines artificial vision technology with geolocalization and ITC is part of DONDE, an R+D+i project that studies and validates mobility, localization and video processing technologies in order to offer new services to the public. Specifically, this system can be applied in the area of public and road safety, as the researchers explain. “It can automatically detect the presence of a driver moving in the wrong direction, recognize a danger, identify its position, indicate which security agent can handle the situation the fastest, and alert nearby drivers,” declares Professor Antonio Berlanga, of UC3M’s Grupo de Inteligencia Artificial Aplicada (GIAA- Applied Artificial Intelligence Group). In the area of emergency management, this system can accelerate decisions and shorten response time.
The main advantage of this platform is that it makes it possible to know exactly what is occurring and where it is occurring. The researchers add that it does not require an expensive, complex, new infrastructure to be built, because most cities already have surveillance cameras and other types of sensors that can be integrated into the system. “Furthermore, we include citizens in the concept of 360 degrees, because users do not just receive information, but they can generate it as well, using their smartphones,” points out the Solusoft’s Director of R+D+i, Sergio Alcalde. For example, with the implementation of this platform, a person who notices a dangerous situation caused by a specific object (a sewer without a grate, a cornice that may fall off, etc.) can photograph that object and situate it using a mobile phone’s GPS, and then send the photo to the corresponding maintenance services so that they can intervene as soon as possible. (more…)
Tags: road safety, vehicle surveillance, video surveillance
Posted in Gadgets, National News, safety, Security, Technology, Video Security | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 15th, 2012
Yesterday, I let our readers know that Chicago CBS local news would be covering a story about Valentine’s Day and cheating spouses/partners. CBS 2′s Mai Martinez spent the day with the staff at MSI Detective Services to talk about why Valentine’s Day is such a busy day for private detectives. Martinez also visited the U-Spy Store (owned and operated by MSI Detective Services) for those wishing to purchase their own spy equipment.
If you missed the segment, you can watch the video by clicking on the link to this story at the end.
We expect florists to be busy on Valentine’s Day and candy to fly off the shelves, but did you know it’s also a busy holiday for private investigators?
Forget flowers and chocolates, all some people want for Valentine’s Day is to know if their significant other is cheating.
This is where Perry Myers and his team of private investigators at MSI Detective Services come in.
Theresa Cheriachangel keeps busy with her case load at MSI Detective Services. She said, “A case that I have going on today, she’ll be meeting her … boyfriend for a Valentine’s lunch, and her husband around the same vicinity, actually, for Valentine’s dinner.”
Wow, that is one busy woman. I couldn’t juggle two men let alone keep a straight face. I am a horrible liar.
Private investigators say the above scenario is often the case, making Valentine’s Day one of the best days to catch cheaters.
“As soon as they leave their house, until they come back, we’ll keep an eye on them,” Cheriachangel said.
For those who would rather do the detective work themselves, you can buy some of the same gadgets the pros use such as GPS trackers. “You can actually see where the car is in real time,” said Perry Myers, private detective and owner of MSI Detective Services and the U-Spy Store. (more…)
Tags: cheating partner, cheating spouse, computer spyware, GPS Trackers, hidden camera, infidelity, Remote Access Security Cameras, spying, surveillance, video surveillance
Posted in "Hmm.", busted, Gadgets, GPS Technology, hard to find security equipment, hidden camera, Local News, Remote Camera Viewing, U-Spy Product Reviews, U-Spy Store, U-Spy Surveillance Equipment | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 17th, 2012
Can you imagine being able to hear the noise a bacterium makes when it moves between hosts or what a virus sounds like? Thanks to the development of the world’s smallest ear, you may hear these noises someday. Scientists have developed the “nano-ear”- a microscopic particle of gold trapped by a laser beam, which can detect sound a million times fainter than the threshold for human hearing.
Sound a bit Sci-Fi? This is an amazing development for science, but what if this technology gets into the wrong hands and gets used by the wrong people – primarily our enemies?
It’s still at the experimental stage, but this could lead to far more sensitive surveillance microphones in the future. The required laser beam could be carried by a difficult-to-detect optical fiber strand to the sensor. Combined with DSP and advanced acoustic signal processing algorithms, this could represent a major security threat.
We already have listening and viewing devices that can be planted in target locations and people can wear or carry audio listening devices on their clothing, etc. However, all of this requires some work or being within a reasonable range of proximity to your target. In addition, listening/recording quality may not be perfect. How would you feel if the human ear could be turned into a super- sonic listening device? (more…)
Tags: eavesdropping, invasion of privacy, security, spying, surveillance
Posted in "Hmm.", eavesdropping, Electronic Countermeasures - Debugging, Gadgets, privacy, Security, Technology, U-Spy Store, U-Spy Surveillance Equipment | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011
This story is tantamount to arms trading where weapons are sold by governments and companies to countries and then a blind eye is turned as to the misuse of such weapons. The newest weapons? They are hacking tools that enable governments to break into people’s computers and cellphones and “massive intercept” gear that can gather all Internet communications in a country.
Documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal open a rare window into a new global market for the off-the-shelf surveillance technology that has arisen in the decade since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. More than 200 marketing documents, spanning 36 companies were obtained from attendees of a secretive surveillance conference held near Washington, D.C., last month. TeleStrategies holds ISS (Intelligence Support Systems) World conferences world-wide. The one near Washington, D.C., caters mainly to U.S., Canadian, Caribbean and Latin American authorities. The annual conference in Dubai has long served as a chance for Middle Eastern nations to meet companies hawking surveillance gear.
The Journal this year uncovered an Internet surveillance center installed by a French firm in Libya and reported that software made by Britain’s Gamma International UK Ltd., had been used in Egypt to intercept dissidents’ Skype
conversations. In October, a U.S. company that makes Internet-filtering gear acknowledged to the Journal that its devices were being used in Syria.
Companies making and selling this gear say it is intended to catch criminals and is available only to governments and law enforcement. They say they obey export laws and aren’t responsible for how the tools are used. There goes that blind eye.
Among the most controversial technologies on display at the conference were essentially computer-hacking tools to enable government agents to break into people’s computers and cellphones, log their keystrokes and access their data. Although hacking techniques are generally illegal in the U.S., law enforcement can use them with an appropriate warrant, said Orin Kerr, a professor at George Washington University Law School and former computer-crime attorney at the Justice Department. (more…)
Tags: government spying, invasion of privacy, privacy, security, spying, surveillance
Posted in "Hmm.", Abuse, cell phone security, eavesdropping, Electronic Countermeasures, Gadgets, hacking, Mobile Phone Security, Online Security, privacy, Security, Technology, U-Spy Store, U-Spy Surveillance Equipment | No Comments »
Monday, November 21st, 2011
U.S. researchers at Northwestern University say they’ve created batteries for portable devices that charge faster and last 10 times longer.
By combining two methods, Professor Harold Kung and his team members created lithium-ion batteries they said could make a smartphone run for a week on an 8-minute charge, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Friday.
The batteries, still two to five years from commercial production, could transform the electric-vehicle industry, which is hampered by limited mileage ranges and lengthy charging times, Kung said.
Conventional lithium-ion batteries charge by sending lithium ions between the two ends of the battery, the anode and the cathode. By sandwiching a layer of silicone between the graphene sheets used to construct the anode, the battery can reliably hold far more lithium ions, increasing its capacity, Kung said.
And by making tiny holes in the graphene sheets, the ions can travel back to the anode more quickly, drastically reducing the recharging time, he said.
“The challenge to supply and store energy in an clean and sustainable way is very exciting and important,” he said.
“We just need to take one or two more steps down the road,” he said.
Copyright 2011 by United Press International
Tags: cameras, long lasting batteries, U-Spy Store
Posted in Gadgets, hard to find security equipment, Home, Personal & Travel Security, Technology, U-Spy Store, U-Spy Surveillance Equipment | No Comments »
Friday, November 11th, 2011
Here is a case where the saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” applies. I had to laugh when I read this, although I am sure the New York taxpayers are not laughing.
According to a discovery made by the city comptroller, John C. Liu, the Bloomberg administration invested millions of taxpayer’s dollars to install custom-made GPS tracking devices on its fleet of fire and garbage trucks, only to have them inexplicably show up on computer screens as if they had sunk to the bottom of Long Island Sound or New York Harbor.
In a statement, City comptroller, John C. Liu said, “Once again, millions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted on technology that falls short of what’s promised, raising questions about the oversight of expensive outside consultants.” He goes on to call the automated vehicle projection-project, “a classic case of what not to do – build a complex new system when simple, already available consumer-oriented devices could do the job at a fraction of the cost.” (more…)
Tags: GPS Technology, GPS Tracking
Posted in "Hmm.", Gadgets, GPS Technology, Technology, Technorati, U-Spy Store, U-Spy Surveillance Equipment | No Comments »
Thursday, November 10th, 2011
Dear Readers:
Although our blog stories are usually about serious crimes that have been committed, we like to occasionally lighten the mood. An internet service provider sent me this story and I thought I would share it with you.
If you have a relative that is a technology geek, you are grateful. He can sit down at your computer and accomplish in a matter of minutes what may have taken you hours or days to figure out. Plus, he can save you a ton of money on tech support. If he is a ‘true’ technology geek, he will fit these 10 signs. (more…)
Tags: technology, technology geeks, U-Spy Store
Posted in Gadgets, Technology, Technorati, U- Spy Spy Toys, U-Spy Product Reviews, U-Spy Store | No Comments »
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