Free DME & DFIR Resources

For those that do not know, Websense is a Web/Email security company that now sells a multitude of products, to include software and hardware.  Many government agencies use them, as ours did initially when I was with a NY agency, and quite frankly my first-hand experience with them was more problematic than problem-solving.  I totally get error-ing on the side of caution, but at the same time find overly cautious classifications based on IP addresses is not the way to filter the Web; especially given that the vast majority of the Web is hosted on shared servers.  Anyway, since I've responded to a few of these email inquiries from our users lately, I figured I share my canned email response globally with all users....

Digital signatures enable paperless contracts and can speed up business transactions. The 2001 E-Sign Act was meant to ease the adoption of electronic signatures, yet the mechanics of what makes up an e-signature were left deliberately wide open.

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My smartphone saga entered another new chapter yesterday, as I personally migrated from a Samsung SCH-i760 to the original Motorola Q. While I liked many of the features of the Samsung, I have been using it for several months now and have missed two important voice mail messages, which is simply unacceptable. Although both are Windows Mobile devices, at least with the Q I don't have to go looking for voice mail.

I first got my hands on the Q in June of 2006, within days of its release through Verizon Wireless. I had been testing various Windows mobile devices and had already submitted an order for three Treo 700w units, which were shortly thereafter sent back and replaced with new Q's. Now normally I give new products some time to grow and work through their initial bugs before I make a jump, but in this case I for some reason jumped on the bandwagon early; and subsequently, I suffered through the initial firmware issues.

I'm looking to pick up an HD camcorder disguised as a contact lens which accepts microSD behind my earlobe, but I'm not finding anything.  Go figure.  Until then, I'm thinking of picking up an HD pocket camcorder.  You know, something the size of the Flip but in HD.

Still image capability isn't that important to me for this thing, but I would like decent 720p HD video under various typical lighting conditions (e.g. nothing extreme).  SDHC storage would be ideal.

To be honest I was thinking a fully decked out RED rig until my wife walked by, shook her head and smiled.  I don't think she even knew that I started my search looking for a sub $300 pocket camcorder, and ended up looking at a camera rig that would cost about as much as our last car. What I can say is that I'm pretty sure she was thinking "I dare you, you silly little man." 😄

The Technical Support Working Group (TSWG) recently made their flip-book "Best Practices for the Retrieval of Video Evidence from DCCTV Systems" available electronically as a PDF file.  Visit the URL below to access the PDF and other TSWG resources:

http://www.tswg.gov/subgroups/isf/electronic-evidence/products.html

3D graphics have, for many years now, been based on the idea of polygons -- flat shapes fitted together to form three dimensional objects. There have been some experiments with other approaches -- volumetric 3D pixels or "voxels" became quite popular with some developers in the late 90s, but for the most part, polygons were seen as the way forward. New consoles and graphics cards were marketed based around how many polygons they could push around the screen at once, and it looked like the industry had settled on a good solution.

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Still tweaking this one, but I think it simplifies adding and managing articles/posts for members and provides a place for each to have their own blog...how cool is that? Each member's posts are displayed in the "community blog" and listed on their profile's "My Blog" tab. Posts can be displayed by author, category, tag or (obviously) searched through our site search engine.

Additionally, visitors can subscribe to the Media-Geek blog RSS feed OR an RSS feed based on author, category, tag, etc... Sweet. Don't have your own blog? Now you do! Posts can be a single sentence to several pages. Images and videos are easily uploaded and embedded, and we're providing all the functionality you'd expect from a blogging tool. Trackbacks, stats, comments, feeds, tags, and more!

Easy to use and free for members, so what are you waiting for...share your thoughts already!

Perian, the "Swiss Army knife for QuickTime," has decided to cease development after six years on the market. The Perian team posted a notice to its users this week, saying that the software is "as complete as it will ever be under our stewardship." Though we can't disagree with the team's reason for wanting to move on, Perian's retirement is a bittersweet reminder of the earlier days of Apple, when watching videos of different codecs was a challenge on the Mac.

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Here's a list of 25 articles, how-tos, production guides, websites, white papers, webinars, presentations, and conferences that can help you cut through the confusion about the H.264 video codec, learn what it is, and start using it for online video.

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By Josh Lowensohn

Thought 1080p video on YouTube was big? Think bigger.

YouTube on Friday announced that its player now supports 4k, a standard resolution for films that measures 4096x3072 pixels. As YouTube Engineer Ramesh Sarukkai explained in the announcement on YouTube's official blog, "4K is nearly four times the size of 1080p," and it dwarfs even Imax, which projects films in the slightly smaller 2k format, with its 2048?1080-pixel resolution.

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LEVA has officially published the latest version of their Best Practices for the Acquisition of DME, version 3.0 dated 4/14/2010.

Click here to download the PDF (77KB)

It's been three years since we first heard about DARPA's ARGUS-IS, but thanks to a PBS Nova special entitled "Rise of the Drones," we finally have more information about the 1.8-gigapixel camera that is supposedly the highest-resolution surveillance system in the world.

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For Immediate Release:
January 7, 2014

Digital Media Expert Larry Compton Joins Ocean Systems

Certified Digital & Multimedia Analyst and Former NYS Peace Officer/Municipal Police Instructor brings over 25 years of video experience to his new position with Ocean Systems

Burtonsville, MD January 7, 2014 – Ocean Systems, the market leading provider of forensic video analysis solutions, announced today it has hired Larry Compton to the position of Digital Media Expert. This hire further demonstrates Ocean Systems’ dedication to provide the Law Enforcement Community the best forensic video solutions for collection, clarification & analysis, as well as expert training and customer service.