Free DME & DFIR Resources

The DVR database will be moving into the new secure members area effective February 11th, in conjunction with our official launch of Media-Geek.com. Having the database available to the public has always been a security concern as well as a target for spam bots, among other things. There is no membership fee or advertising based revenue generated from this site, and I'm hopeful most will understand and take the few minutes to register. Look forward to seeing you "on the inside!"

There's no question that Creative Cloud has transformed the way Adobe does business with their customers. I've been a huge fan from day one, but enterprise and government customers...well, not so much. Here's your chance to provide direct feedback to the Adobe Product Manager of Enterprise Tools, Karl Gibson.

Click here for details.

The first module in the very first course published to my new online training library is in the books! The course is on learning to use DME Resources. It will provide a basic overview of DME Resources through five training modules, the first of which is titled "Introduction and Overview". I should warn you, there's a quiz at the end, but I'm giving you two shots at passing it due to the level of complexity. ;)

Navigating & Using DME Resources Training Course

I’m excited to announce that I’ll be attending this year’s 100th IAI Educational Conference in Sacramento, CA. This year’s conference is anticipated to be one of the largest, as it’s the IAI’s Centennial event. I will be there representing my employer, Ocean Systems, and we will be showcasing our latest Digital & Multimedia Evidence (DME) solutions in the event's Exhibit Hall.

For more information about the event visit the IAI 100th International Educational Conference web site. Hope to see you there!

Several balls in the air and many exciting DME projects in the works that have been keeping me busy lately. Here's what I'll be working on for the DME Resources site over the holiday weekend:

Imagine the following scenario:
You're the first responding officer to a crime scene and have just completed taking the victim's statement. You then tell the victim you have to leave for another call. Before you go you politely ask the victim to take photos of the scene and their injuries, collect all of the DNA and fingerprint evidence, and note that you'll either be back later in the day or maybe tomorrow or the next day to pick it all up. You note that they can just leave the evidence at the front desk for you.

This is exactly how many agencies have chosen to deal with the overwhelming amount of DCCTV evidence available to them today. "Oh, there's video? Okay, have someone export it and we'll come back to pick it up."

One of the features still in BETA for the new member's area is a video sharing service, which will allow users to upload videos or add their videos currently hosted elsewhere to the Media-Geek video library.  In addition to a searchable, categorized library, each member's profile will list their videos.

  Although this feature wasn't initially slated to be rolled out with our launch on the 11th, it now looks like it will be!  Get your training videos together, get registered, and come back next week to upload!

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.

Full Story

Tableau President to Lead Dedicated Business Unit Focused on Forensic Software and Hardware

PASADENA, Calif., May 10, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Guidance Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: GUID) today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of Tableau, LLC, a privately-held developer and manufacturer of computer forensic hardware. This acquisition extends Guidance Software's existing leadership in computer forensics technology by combining software with hardware for a complete forensic framework for the law enforcement, legal and corporate communities.

Read the complete press release: http://investors.guidancesoftware.com/releaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=468120

A few weeks ago, I signed up for Amp'd Mobile service, and shortly thereafter received my new Kyocera Jet multimedia phone via FedEx. I was immediately very impressed with the look, size and form factor. I've always been a flip man, but I'm very keen on this slider from Kyocera.

The new OS is very cool, user friendly, and customizable. The Amp'd multimedia service is pretty sweet, effectively replacing my previous phone, mp3 player, and even the game system for short trips, etc. The microSD capability adds even more value, as you can simply transfer your existing content from the PC using the provided SD adapter. It should be noted that you cannot transfer purchased music from iTunes to the device or card as it is protected; however, you can rip CD tracks all day long or transfer other unprotected content (music, vids, images) - supports mp3, aac, mp4, 3gp, 3g2, m4a, and m4b file types.

If you're responsible for recovering video evidence from DCCTV systems, be sure to check out our new class "DVR Assessment & Video Recovery". We'll be in WA, MD, TX and NY in the coming months. Hope to see you in class!

Training Schedule

It looks like Verizon might have underestimated the amount of iPhone 4 subscribers they would be getting on their service. It has just been reported that Verizon will be preventing users from downloading entire videos at once to help “ease capacity burdens on the network. "They will also be reducing the quality of the videos by eliminating colors and data “not visible to the human eye.”

Full Story

It's the video millennium. Every modern mobile phone is a video camera and a video player. Video displays are everywhere, from taxicabs to endcaps. Webcams perch like pigeons on every major tourist destination in the world. So it's no surprise that video sharing has become an industry, and that legal controversy has followed. The Southern District of New York recently announced its much-anticipated decision in Viacom International Inc. v. YouTube Inc., 2010 WL 2532404 (S.D.N.Y. June 23, 2010), granting summary judgment in favor of YouTube. The decision breaks no new ground, but it continues a trend: Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, owners of copyrights to videos will have the burden of policing the internet.

Full story:
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202466695461