Free DME & DFIR Resources

Among the announcements made at today's Google I/O keynote is WebM, a new open-source, royalty-free video format based around the VP8 codec intended for use with HTML5 video. The WebM project's goal is to develop "a high-quality, open video format for the web that is freely available to everyone." The project has the backing of Google, Mozilla, Opera, and numerous other companies. If it catches, on, it could settle the rift that currently exists with HTML5 video support, thus speeding up HTML5 adoption.

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Sprint's recent roaming agreement with Verizon Wireless opens the door for many more potential customers, and products like this one are likely to get them to step on through that door. The Linksys Wireless G router for Sprint Mobile Broadband allows you to share your Sprint EvDO connection with others via Wi-Fi, and also serves as a full-duplex 10/100 switch.

The Media-Geek community is now well over 600 members strong and growing!  Although I was literally operating in a state of emergency for the entire month of April and on the road most of May, this morning I managed to finish a significant system upgrade for our site.  This upgrade provides better integration of the video posting capability, improves efficiency for many features and addresses a few other minor bugs.

Complete Omnivore Training
Secured, Password Protected USB Drive - No Windows Administration Rights Required.

Omnivore is a secure, password protected 32GB USB thumb drive that contains specialized digital video & image capture software that runs directly from the drive so there are no administrative rights required to operate it. With Omnivore you can easily capture digital video and images into uncompressed formats directly from the system that recorded the media. With each capture, Omnivore generates a complete, easy-to-read capture report, which documents your work.

Learn the following:

Improper cabling is the most common mistake made when setting up home theatre systems. Periodically I'll get a call or email from a friend or family member who just brought home their new HDTV, and the picture just doesn't seem right. More often than not, the obvious difference in picture quality from when you watched it in the store to when you set it up at home is the direct result of improper cabling. So here's the skinny, short and sweet.

ALWAYS USE COMPONENT VIDEO CONNECTIONS
Component video provides the best quality image, as it separates the video signal into three channels (red, green, blue), subsequently providing more bandwidth per channel. Audio is carried separately, usually via stereo RCA connections. For true HDTV you'll need to use the component connection, and its obviously ideal for other video sources as well (such as DVD players/recorders).

1. What is File History
File History is a new backup service introduced in Windows 8. By default this feature is off and to turn it on, user has to select a backup location – either a network drive or external storage media. Thus, it does not allow user to use the same disk. File History backs up files of the Libraries, Desktop, Contacts and Favorites folders. There is an option to exclude any folder(s) that users don’t want to backup. Notice that File History is unable to backup your folders synced with cloud storage service(s). According to Microsoft, “File History doesn’t back up files on your PC that you have synced with SkyDrive, even if they’re in folders that File History backs up.” Once turned on, File History automatically backs up the folders after every hour by default; however this interval can be changed easily in advanced settings. In addition, at any time, user can manually run the service. File History appears as fhsvc in the Task Manager and some associated dlls are fhcfg.dll, fhcpl.dll and fhsvcctl.dll.

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A peer recently shared this article, as he is one of the co-authors, and I personally feel it contains vital fundamental information for those who testify as Forensic Experts.  Hope you find it helpful.

"The following material was revised from an original article, “Survival Checklist for Medical Experts,” written by Deputy District Attorney Michele McKay-McCoy, Solano County District Attorney’s Office. With her permission, it was revised for forensic experts by Deputy District Attorney Michael S. Groch, San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, and Deputy Attorney General Robert M. Morgester, California Department of Justice."

Survival Checklist for Forensic Experts (PDF) 

This week the SWGDE released a couple of new DRAFT documents for public comment relating to DME acquisition. The links below are directly to the related PDF documents. For more information please visit www.swgde.org:

• SWGDE Best Practices for Data Acquisition from Digital Video Recorders
• SWGDE Best Practices for Digital and Multimedia Evidence Video Acquisition from Cloud Storage

Locating forensic DME resources just became a bit easier with the introduction of the Media-Geek Forensic DME Resources Map. Several DME related geo-tagging resources are currently being developed, to include a Media-Geek membership geo-tagging feature. Members are encouraged to log-in and update the contact information in their profile, which now includes an option for permitting inclusion in the membership maps.

(Credit: Amazon) The scarcity of hard disk drives will only get worse in the coming weeks and months, according to an analyst at Piper Jaffray.

"We could run out of drives by the end of November," Piper Jaffray analyst Gus Richard said in an interview Tuesday while discussing the shortage in the wake of the severe flooding in Thailand, where roughly half of the world's production of HDDs takes place.

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http://m.cnet.com/Article.rbml?nid=57320282&cid=null&bcid=&bid=-64

One of the many reasons Cloud solutions are so attractive is because of the substantially lower capital investment costs to implement them, when compared to building your own solution. Many vendors are willing to give away equipment & services initially, knowing full well that once you're in their ecosystem they'll get their money back, tenfold. How can they be so confident? Well, generally because it'll cost far more than your agency can ever afford up front in order to leave their ecosystem/solution. That's their business model.

I gave up my dream of one day owning a single remote control that could replace my basket of "universal" remotes several years ago. As you can imagine I lived in extreme sadness for quite some time, constantly criticizing myself for being so naive to believe such a device existed. As time passed however, I forgave myself for setting such an unrealistic goal and eventually moved on. Then yesterday the delivery man arrived, unknowingly carrying the answer to this long-forgotten dream.

Okay, to be honest, I haven't actually gone out and bought any universal remotes until just the other day. With that said, each time I've replaced a component in my entertainment system I end up with another "universal" remote that just doesn't cut it. Either it won't even work with one or more components or, as is more often the case, you lose a ton of functionality and have to keep the original remote close by anyway. While advanced universal remotes are nothing new, in my opinion finding one within a reasonable price range (below $100) is. If you're willing to invest $80-$100 in a universal remote that will actually replace all of your other remotes, so far I am very pleased with my Logitech Harmony Advanced Universal Remote for Xbox 360.

I'm excited to announce that on July 1, 2013 I officially launched my own consulting business, and I will be transitioning to work full-time for the new business effective January 1, 2014. I will remain full-time with FVS throughout 2013, and I'm honored to say FVS has offered to keep me on board through a consulting and/or retainer arrangement thereafter.

For more information on my new endeavor please visit my LinkedIn profile.

I'd like to personally thank everybody here for your participation and support over the years. I'm excited about so many different possibilities of getting to assist you and/or you organization in the future! Stay tuned over the coming weeks for more. All the best! - LC