In existence and use are highly advanced scanners which can scan people and even objects. But the current scanners have some limitations. Now a scanner has been made which can detect hidden objects in solids. It uses millimeter wave and microwave signals in real time and special software decodes all the information.

It can thus detect objects in structures and solids and display the images on the computer. The focus can be moved so that the entire structure can be scanned. Originally developed in 2007, researchers led by Dr. Reza Zoughi at Missouri S&T have developed a device which is smaller in size and more efficient. Research is still ongoing to find a system which can show images in 3D. (more…)

Not too long back, witnesses looked through photos of criminals in files or albums and tried to identify them or match them with the person they saw. If required, or if they could not identify the person, they would sit with the artist and get sketches made. With computerization all this has become much easier. It becomes easier to make the sketches and go through all the pictures. Of course this helps only if witnesses have actually seen the criminal and it is not going to be of much help if the perpetrator has worn a disguise like a mask. (more…)

The porn detector comes on a USB drive, so is portable and easy to use on many computers. You just put it in the USB port and it will scan the computer for pornographic content in the form of images. It can even find deleted files and history files and prepare a report of images. And it uses advanced image analysing algorithms to find porn and rarely returns false positive results.

Why would you want to use it? If you are a parent, you can find out if your children or other people who have access to your computers are surfing porn sites. If you are an employer you can learn if your employees are wasting time. If images are stored on your computers, you will be held responsible for any illicit activity. (more…)

A small virtually invisible camera clipped to the uniform of the police officer can help fight crime. When police officers go to a crime scene to talk to people, they either take notes or also take photos. But if they wear video recorders, they will have to do neither, as the camera will record everything.

In West Michigan, police officers are wearing body cameras to capture crime scenes. This way there is less room for error and other officers, too, can see and hear what has been recorded. These tiny body cams cost only about $100. Many police cars have cameras on their dashboards, but these have limitations as the cruiser has to be close enough to record. (more…)

If you use the internet, you must be aware that a lot of data about your usage is collecting without your being aware of it. Forget about the ads that you may click on the pages you go to – your internet behavior is up for grabs by data miners. In fact, many anti-virus and internet protection suites come with pop-up blockers and ad blockers as do older versions of internet explorer. But till now there was little that you could do about unwanted tracking. (more…)

The Nano Hummingbird has been five years in the making by the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and AeroVironment Unmanned Aircraft Systems. This hummingbird can fly up, down, sideways, can rotate clockwise and anti-clockwise and even hover. It is sized slightly bigger than a real hummingbird, weighs only 19 grams and even looks real.

It is equipped with a front facing camera and is a mini spy plane. It can fly for eight minutes at a time. This spybot is an example of advanced nanotechnology, is battery powered and built specifically for spy missions. It is capable of flying through open windows or sitting on power lines, capturing audio and video without any raising any suspicion that it is not real. (more…)

The British economy is suffering huge monetary losses as cyber crime figures keep mounted. Current estimates are £27 billion – a staggering figure. The major chunk of the loss is borne by British businesses, the sum estimated being £21 billion. The rest is dividing into losses by the government and citizens.

Unfortunately these figures are only guesstimates – the actual losses may be higher as many companies simply don’t report losses due to fear of brand erosion or damage to their reputation. Security minister Baroness Neville-Jones met industrial leaders to start work on a program to battle this very real threat. (more…)

People living in England and Wales simply have to go to the police.uk website, enter their postal code and get a plethora of information regarding all kinds of crimes in their neighbourhood. They will learn of crimes like burglary, robbery, vehicle crime, violence, other crime (including rapes and sexual crimes) and anti-social behaviour, put in respective categories, which have taken place near their homes. And it appears millions have gone on the site on its first day of the site going live.

They will also learn about the police officers in charge of that area, the appeals issued by the police and details of community meetings. The Home Office hopes that this will bring a level of transparency to the whole process, as well as keeping people informed. It will also make the police more accountable. (more…)