Free DME & DFIR Resources

The Cheshire Constabulary will be hosting the LEVA Photographic/Video Comparison course in the United Kingdom April 26 - 30, 2010. This is the same highly regarded course that will be held at the LEVA Lab at UIndy again in May.

Photographic/Video Comparisons focuses on the science of comparing known objects, vehicles, clothing and humans with CCTV images of questioned objects, vehicles, clothing and humans. The process of cataloguing class characteristics and unique characteristics found in questioned evidence is examined in detail. Using Adobe Photoshop and other generally accepted scientific tools for imaging comparison work, analysts/examiners develop a scientific workflow involving the hands-on analysis of video evidence, criminal-case report writing and courtroom presentation.

For information on all of LEVA's training courses, including a complete schedule, please visit our LEVA Course Overviews & Schedule page.

A few words of inspiration from JFK, along with a little nonsense from me on this Independence Day.

Happy 4th of July my friends. Hoping you're having a great day & spreading ❤

If you believe what Apple is saying about the dying media format that is the CD/DVD (hence the lack of optical drives on the MacBook Air and the latest refresh of the Mac Mini), then you have to wonder why would a company still attempt to innovate the CD despite reports of its declining status. However, if you believe that optical media is still the best way to back up your data then perhaps the M-Disc might be something you could be interested in.

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If you live in the world of digital forensics, you see hard drives of all form factors and ages (along with plenty of dust bunnies). You also likely wipe and re-purpose hard drives quite regularly. You know more acronyms than your typical teen textaholic, and you went out and celebrated with friends when Serial ATA was released, because you were sickened by the old master/slave relationships associated with IDE/PATA drives. So why do we still see jumpers on SATA drives? Rest assured my friends, it has nothing to do with a master/slave relationship.

At Adobe MAX 2010, held in Los Angeles last October, Adobe showed a sneak preview of an HTML5 authoring tool. The company cautions that any of its sneak peeks may not see the light of day, but today the company launched a public preview of the authoring tool, now named Edge.

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As Adobe's Creative Cloud lineup of art and design applications gains prominence on the company's landscape, the quantity and pace of updates to Creative Suite 6 and related subscription-based products is gathering momentum. New features for subscription products and services, in the pipeline throughout the summer, are being prepped for public release over the next few weeks.

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I've posted a new tutorial on Adding & Managing Events, and you'll find it on the Tutorials page under the Help menu after you login.  Did you know that you can setup recurring events in our community calendar, so that you don't have to do a seperate entry for your regular user group or other meetings?  Check out this brief new tutorial for more information.

Apple boasts that its just-released OS X 10.7 operating system (codenamed Lion) includes over 250 new features. While the marquee features make Mac desktops and notebooks a little more like the iPad, there's far more than that. Some of the improvements make QuickTime more usable.

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by Thomas C. Christenberry, "Digital Multimedia Evidence Processing Laboratory - Training," The Police Chief 77 (March 2010): 62–63, http://policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display&article_id=2041&issue_id=32010

"For many television viewers and forensic science enthusiasts, shows like CSI and the spin-off television shows CSI: Miami and CSI: New York are fun to watch and, with their various characters and story lines, continue to fascinate viewers of all demographics. Viewers anxiously marvel at the forensic technology, the latest scientific methodology, and the amazing deductive skills of the forensic specialist. Best of all, the whole case is completed in just one hour."

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I just returned from another great week of DME training at our office out on the east coast last week. One of the themes I've come to recognize through my travels teaching the fundamentals of DME Processing, is that even some of the most seasoned technicians and analysts don’t really understand the significance of hardware to accurate and proper processing of DME. It’s completely understandable why, given the marketing messages of some DME vendors, the fact that we're all constantly asked to do more with less, and the rate of related technological advancements.

F.C.C. Says Adoption of New Broadband Plan Is Vital, By BRIAN STELTER

The agency characterized its proposal, which it sent to Congress on Tuesday, as a step for keeping the country competitive.

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Let me start by saying that I am by no means trying to imply that DVR, NVR or any other digital or IP based video system cannot produce good quality video evidence. There are even 2 or 3 high-end, mega-pixel quality digital surveillance cameras and systems on the market today whose capabilities far exceed those of a traditional analog based system. However, to my point, it seems more often than not digital based systems are producing very poor quality video evidence regardless of the system's actual capabilities.

So why do DVRs typically provide poor quality video evidence? Here are a few of the common reasons:

A new imaging system could use opaque walls, doors or floors as 'mirrors' to gather information about scenes outside its line of sight.

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