To the naked eye or even to powerful telescopes, it may well look like a flying insect or bug. But it is much more than that: it is a tiny unmanned microvehicle. PhD candidates are working on different prototype designs for artificial flying creatures which will blend innocuously into the atmosphere.

The Wright-Patterson Air Force Base at Dayton, Ohio is the scene of this activity. There are many people working on such micro machines which have been inspired by nature. Major Ryan O’Hara created a carbon filter tobacco moth wing which can flap 30 times a second. O’Hara is basing his bugs on bioengineering, by using very thin carbon fibers, much thinner than the human hair, putting them in epoxy resin, and laying them in different orientations so that they look and act as wings.

Steve Ross, another PhD candidate has built a small quad-rotor helicopter which has four motors to keep it moving. This one, however, is big, being the size of a laptop. Ross is concerned about the battery power and so is exploring means to allow the microvehicles to ‘steal’ power from utility lines. These bugs would have a hook so that they can anchor themselves to the lines and get more power.

These covert gadgets have many potential applications, but the Air Force has still not decided how they will be used. While possible visual surveillance is one application, another one is audio surveillance. These microvehicles may even be used to carry chemical weapons.

Sony has recently released the DAB Radio IP Spy Camera System. Over the last decade individuals as well businesses have been looking for additional security. Some come in the form of entire network security systems for the home or office. Others are just looking for a basic system that can provide peace of mind.

The Sony DAB IP Spy Camera System can be used in an office setting or in your home environment. The capabilities of this item are very impressive. At first glance the device looks just like a regular radio, even upon close inspection it would be extremely difficult to detect that there is a camera system inside. This is an immediate positive as other types of hidden camera systems are not always as undetectable looking as this one.

How might you use it? Are you concerned with your children’s safety? Do you have valuables or specific items in your office that are off limits to others? The Sony DAB Radio may relieve some of your worry, and provide you with assurance. Set up is very easy; Software is downloaded to your PC, or Laptop, and once you plug in the radio and sync it with your PC or other device your up and running.

The Sony DAP IP Spy Camera System is state of the art! It provides a clear colour picture. You can set the camera for continuous recording, timed recording, or motion detected recording. The camera system is also capable of being run by way of remote. This will allow for you to record events as you monitor what is happening. Some people may feel a little weird setting up a private hidden camera system in their home to spy on workers, or child minders, but safety and security is extremely important today.

Other great features on the Sony DAB Radio IP Spy Camera System include, real time recording, time and date stamped capabilities. One great feature is the remote ability that directs to mobile handhelds such as the iPhone. There are numerous personal settings, including immediate email or contact upon any movement in the area.

As for comparability, there are products on the market that have the same capabilities that the Sony DAB Radio IP Spy Camera System has, however there are not many that are all in one. Most competitors have focused on one area or another, however the negativity of those are the lack of sound, poor picture quality, inability to provide personal preference settings etc. The only real drawback to the Sony DAB is the cost, it is rather pricey at £1,074.00.

Depending on exactly what you require would likely be the main deciding factor here with regard to a purchase such as this. If you are simply looking for a basic spy cam, then the Sony isn’t likely for you. If you are looking for a full functioning all aspects audio video security system then the Sony DAB Radio IP Spy Camera System would be one of the better options available on the market today.

It looks like a smart analog clock which you can place on a desk or even a wall unit or shelving. And it is old-fashioned enough to have numbers, and hands, including a second’s one to tell the time. But inside is it has the latest technology. Despite its innocuous looks, it has a built in video surveillance camera which is capable of recording audio, video and still pictures.

The camera is a motion sensor one and can capture video in a 62º angle from nine feet away with a 720 x 480 resolution. It also has a sensitive microphone picks up sound from 16′ away. The still pictures have a resolution of 1,280 x 960, which is quite sharp. Made by Hammacher Schlemmer, the camera/clock comes with an extra 4 GB card, so it can store six hours of video or 52,000 images.

If that is not enough, it supports a total of 8 GB memory. It is rechargeable thanks to its lithium-ion battery and USB cable and you can download the contents into your computer. Now just think, you can use it as a nanny cam, to see what your spouse or children are up to or in the office to capture all the action particularly if you are not in your seat. In fact, you can put one in every room at home or office, if you need to catch the goings-on or keep an eye on your kids’ activities.

The clock itself looks good, with a nice metallic exterior which would look good on any shelf. The camera is nicely hidden behind a hole above the numbers which actually looks part of the clock design so should not really arouse any suspicion, which of course is always an important part of these types of device.

But although the quality of the video should be good, the angle and distance is fairly limited, but still an improvement on other similar devices.

The original price of this clock is $159.95 from the manufacturer but can be obtained at half that price elsewhere.

Most people wear a wristwatch, so if you have a recorder which takes the place of a watch, then it is as innocuous as it can get. Imagine you are in a situation where you want to record what somebody is saying to you and you don’t have another recorder with you. You can simply use your wristworn recorder.

This wristworn recorder has voice activation features, so it saves battery life, and saves you the pain of listening to blank pauses or unnecessary sounds. On a single full charge, it can record for 12 hours and comes with 500 MB storage SD card (you can optionally buy larger capacity cards with memory up to 2 GB). . One gig of memory is good for 18 hours of recording time. You can easily get more cards, so when one card is full, you can switch to another and continue recording as long as the device is charged.

However, there is one downside to this: you can only listen to the recordings on the card by inserting into it into the card slot on your computer. Other wristwatch recorders have sound playing capabilities and also tell the time whereas this one will need a computer so that you can listen to the recordings. Once inside, the computer will be able to play the files, you can burn them into a CD or put them on a flash drive or save them on your computer.

Some caveats to how good a job the recorder does will depend on the recording environment, the sound card on your pc and your speakers or headphones. OK its fairly expensive for a recorder since these days you can get a recorder for as little as £20-£30, but the quality and length of recordings on those cheaper models are fairly limited. This, though more expensive, carries with it advantage of very long recording time.

A voice recorder such as this need not necessarily be for secret recordings as some people carry voice recorders with them for the purpose of taking notes or recording important bits of information that come to their mind that they worry they may forget later on, especially those who are prone to lapse in memory. So a handworn recorder such as this would be more convenient than carrying a standalone voice recorder because its conveniently worn on the hand.

It looks and works like a regular mouse. It comes with a USB cable so it can be attached to any desktop or laptop. It is not a simple mouse; it contains an audio bug to enable you to listen to conversations around and near the mouse.

You have to install a GSM sim card into the mouse, dial the number of the sim and the device gets activated. The user will not know about the bug, unless he or she actually opens the mouse and sees the sim. From your mobile, you can then eavesdrop on the conversations and you can record the sound from your phone into a voice recorder.

However, this mouse does require action from you as it has to be called to hear sound. There are no specific details on the specs, so we are unsure what to make of their claim that it transmits great sound. The battery also charges while the mouse is being used. It works on all GSM bands, so you should theoretically be able to use it in anywhere.

Interestingly, the discreet nature of the mouse is enhanced by the Lenovo name on the mouse, giving the impression it is manufactured by the well-known computing hardware manufacturer even though it is not in fact made by them. Since Lenovo only do genuine computing gear, it will reduce the likelihood of being thought of as anything other than a genuine computer mouse, but I am not sure how they get away with using the name of a well-known company on spy gear when it is not made by the company concerned.

How many times do you wish you could hear what other people are saying and eavesdrop on their conversations? Whether it is for work purposes or family matters, this directional zoom microphone will enable you to do just that. The microphone allows you to pick up sounds from a distance quite clearly.

It has high sensitivity and low noise settings. And you can also set it for short or long distances. What’s more, it has a zoom mode which can target a particular area or a normal mode which will give you a wider listening area. The device comes with a high gain amplifier which can be attached to headphones to enable you to listen in discreetly.

What makes this listening-in device different from other similar ones is that it has a recording socket. With this you can record conversations for later listening or as back-up. It is small and can be hand held, so like good quality spy gear, it is not obvious.

The PDLPENTX pen is a normal looking office pen with a secret microphone cleverly hidden inside of it. This pen is perfect for hidden audio surveillance. When you have a need to hear and record every word your target is saying, this ingenious audio surveillance pen will get the job done without being detected.

One of the features of the pen is that it can be used for up to ten hours at a time, allowing you to catch even the longest of conversations. Since the audio transmitter is cleverly disguised as a normal office pen, you can simply set it on the target’s desk in plain sight and capture every word they say without them ever knowing!

The pen actually works of course, so if your target picks up the pen and uses it, they will never discover the pen’s hidden secret. The pen will transmit up to six hundred metres away, which allows you to be a safe distance from the device while listening in on every word. There are both good and negative points to this. Six hundred metres is a good distance, an improvement on previous pens of this kind but it still means you have to be in a fairly close range from the target to listen in compared to, say, bugging devices that use mobile phone technology and can be used to listen in from anywhere. But of course this has a slightly different use and has high value in terms of the covert nature of it.

Another one of the features of this pen is that you can use it on a target that is on the move. Simply have the subject put the pen in their shirt pocket and you have a mobile audio surveillance mechanism on their person so you can catch everything they say while walking around. You can have fun with it or put it to work for more serious stuff.

You can use the microphone pen with a regular 12 channel hand held receiver. That makes it great for mobile use because both the pen and the receiver are easily concealed. The receiver for this pen is sold separately. The small hand held receiver will allow you to trail your subject or simply be in another room while listening in on them. It captures audio and transmits it to the receiver where you can easily listen in or even record it if needed.

The pen itself looks nothing out of the ordinary so should not raise any alarms from the unsuspecting. When people think that a room is bugged for sound, they look in light fixtures and plants, but they are not likely to take apart all the pens in the room.

There are so many different types of spy cameras now available, all of which promise to be covert, but some are quite often not as undetectable as they claim. However, this one mimics a wall switch, so it has a very good chance of going undetected. But there are some down points to this camera as well.

This camera has video and audio recording of up to 6 hours of recording when it is on. It has a stand-by time of 13 days and works on an internal rechargeable lithium-ion battery. It has a range of 3 meters and further than that, it won’t catch what is happening.

It record continuous video or even stills at intervals. The best thing is that when it is on it works on motion detector technology so only starts recording when it detects something is happening. So it does not use too much power, either. You can store everything on a memory card of up to 8 GB. It is simple and easy to use and comes with screws and USB cable.

One problem is that there is a small but quite visible hole where the camera lens point out from which is not ideal and might be detected as there is a glowing LED light when it starts recording. This might be noticeable to those who know what to look for and are weary of these things.

It has a range of 3 metres which is fairly short coverage so may not really be ideal for a room as such, especially a biggish one thus it might be a better idea to have it in a small storage room or something of that sort where valuables are kept and where footage is wanted only when someone enters it rather than round the clock recording.

More can be found on this wall switch camera here.

Whether you use it as a nanny cam or for any other covert purpose, it can sit innocuously on your desk or adorn your wall, looking innocently like a clock which it functions as. This sophisticated DVR works on motion sensor technology and so does not cause any unnecessary battery drain.

It provides up to 20 hours of actual video and can last for a year on a stand by basis with just one full charge. It starts working when it senses body heat 30 feet away and ceases recording one minute after it stops sensing body heat or movement.

It records fairly high resolution video of 640 x 480 even in low light conditions. While the package comes with a 4 GB SD card, which is fairly limiting but can be upgraded for an extra cost. And it comes with no power cord which would give the game away – it is completely portable.

And it works as an extremely accurate clock as well; you just have to synchronize your time zone and it will set itself to the correct time.

With it looking very much like a normal clock, this could be used to monitor a baby’s nanny, for example, without arousing any suspicion while it stands proudly on a table or a shelf since its normal but a very stylish looking clock.

The reason why this might be a good option to use as a nanny cam is that its is a clock and unlikely to be moved around which is a risk with other nanny cams like those designed to look like a teddy bear or other toys. However, at $649, you do get the sense that it is quite a bit on the expensive side, even withstanding the fact that it does provide high quality video and being a stylish clock to boot.

Its available here

We have seen a calculator hide a covert camera before which has been covered by this site, but this is an even better idea – a calculator that is also a listening in device built around GSM technology.

The calculator picks up sounds with a coverage of around 20 feet radius around where it is positioned. It is a normal functioning calculator so it won’t raise any suspicion as the high sensitive microphone is stacked inside.

It is a clever device that secretly sends an alert via SMS whenever sounds are picked up so you will know when to listen in rather than wait impatiently. It also has a long (30 days) standby time meaning you can leave it for a long time if there is no activity without having to replace batteries.

The reason why I say this is better than the covert calculator camera is because a small hole needs to pip out to record the activity and the recording will be hindered somewhat by where the calculator is placed, these restrictions do not apply here with this one because the calculator hides the microphone inside so there is no visible element that might be a giveaway and also because sound can be picked irrespective of where the calculator is placed.

But the price is quite a bit on the expensive side; at well over £300, there are definitely cheaper options available, but this sound detection calculator does provide an excellent disguise other similar listening devices lack. There may also be cheaper imitations available from an online electronics store in China. If there is, I doubt it will match the quality of this particular one.