Surveillance Robot Granted FCC Waiver for Video Transmissions

April 27, 2011 by Nathan Miloszewski

There’s a small two-wheeled surveillance robot that’s been used by the military in combat zones called the Throwbot made by Recon Robotics.

The name implies that you can physically hurl this device wherever it’s needed and that’s true. Check out the video for a demonstration.

Matthew Lasar’s article, Army sruveillance bot approved for use by police, fireman, at Ars Technica explains that while military tools are often just as useful to local law enforcement and fire departments, the problem Recon Robotics had with putting the Throwbot into domestic use was getting permission from the FCC to allow live video feed transmission from the device.

Emergency responders urged the FCC to allow them use of the Throwbot as a “life saving tool” that would help them save themselves from injury, or worse.

Despite opposition from petitioners, the FCC issued a waiver that allows limited use of the contested spectrums to broadcast live surveillance video.

Parking Lot Surveillance

April 26, 2011 by Nathan Miloszewski

Recognizing that parking lots are areas of high traffic, accidents and crimes IP Video Market Info has put together a Parking Lot Shootout testing IP camera surveillance kits from leading manufacturers like Axis, Bosch, IQinVision, and Sony.

Monitoring a wide area to simulate everyday activity, they then analyzed 12 different scenes from midday to nighttime to twilight hours with several variables.

Click here for the full report.

T-Mobile + Facebook = Free VoIP Calls

by Nathan Miloszewski

Because Facebook wasn’t happy with just being the “home to more than 500 million-plus of your family barbecue photos or updates about cats” they’ve teamed up with T-Mobile to deliver a new app. Also, a survey says that 88% of Facebook fiends want to have voice capabilities from the site.

T-Mobile has announced a new brand called Bobsled with the intention of “bridging traditional telecommunications and Internet-based voice and data services” with it’s first product being an application that allows free calls through Facebook’s chat window.

The highlights:

The Bobsled application for Facebook is available today as a free download for all Facebook users and is not exclusive to T-Mobile customers.
Allows people on Facebook to more easily connect and gives a voice to social networking.
Use of the Bobsled application for Facebook to place voice calls to friends through Facebook Chat requires just one click — The need for dialing has been eliminated.
T-Mobile plans to evolve Bobsled to include video chat, to create the ability to place VoIP calls to mobile and landline U.S. numbers and to offer applications on smartphones and tablets across various mobile platforms, regardless of the carrier that powers such devices.

So, another avenue for making free calls over the internet has entered the fold with new applications including, possibly one day, calling your favorite VoIP Expert for free via Facebook?

ClearOne Speakerphones – CHAT 50 and CHAT 150

April 18, 2011 by Nathan Miloszewski

ClearOne CHAT speakerphones feature a simple USB connection so you can enjoy plug-and-play installation with with quality full-duplex audio and great microphone sensitivity all with the hands free comfort and convenience in a small package that easily travels wherever you go.

In recent news, the ClearOne CHAT 50 and the ClearOne CHAT 150 USB speakerphones have been validated by IBM assuring interoperability with their UC platform – Sametime Unified Telephony. Chris Wildfoerster, ClearOne’s VP Business Development remarks:

“The IBM validation immediately increases the appeal of our products to Sametime users, and we look forward to working with IBM and its partners to evangelize our Sametime Unified Communications interoperability to the SMB and large enterprise communities.”

The ClearOne CHAT 50 is great for personal use while the ClearOne CHAT 150 works for both personal and small group environments with three built-in microphones for full 360-degree voice pickup. Both are highly portable and versatile and offer noise and echo cancellation to optimize clarity.

Designing an Intrusion Detection System

April 14, 2011 by Nathan Miloszewski

There’s a detailed tutorial by John Honovich at IP Security Market Info titled “Designing Intrusion Detection / Alarm Monitoring” where he answers fundamental questions and shares understanding of the options and tradeoffs when designing this system such as:

Cost
Designing intrustion detection in layers
Control panel selection
Control / Input / Output devices needed
Use of wireless devices
System monitoring options

If you’re considering using alarm monitoring devices as described in the tutorial and wondering how to integrate them into your IP camera or video server systems, read this post for more details:

IP Video Management – Input / Ouput Ports

Electronic Surveillance Occurs Off the Books

April 12, 2011 by Nathan Miloszewski

Requests by law enforcement agencies for traditional types of surveillance such as wiretaps are reported to U.S. Congress as mandated by U.S. federal law. Modern types of surveillance (electronic surveillance methods) like accessing stored data from email, IM’s, and cell phone locations require no such reporting.

A paper published by Christopher Soghoian, Indiana University Bloomington – Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research, titled “The Law Enforcement Surveillance Reporting Gap” explores the issues:

“Third party facilitated surveillance has become a routine tool for law enforcement agencies. There are likely hundreds of thousands of such requests per year. Unfortunately there are few detailed statistics documenting the use of many modern surveillance methods. As such, the true scale of law enforcement surveillance, although widespread, remains largely shielded from public view.”

Via PCWorld, Jeremy Kirk goes on to highlight the growing number of requests by law enforcement for stored communications:

In 2006 AOL was receiving 1,000 requests per month.
In 2009, Facebook reported receiving 10 to 20 requests from police per day.
Sprint was so overwhelmed for cell phone location data that it set up a website to give police direct access to this data which was then used more than 8 million times in one year.

Expect privacy concerns and legal issues of proper reporting and use to mount as surveillance methods, be they in the form of video from IP cameras or tracking electronic data, continue to expand.

Video Phones for the Masses

April 11, 2011 by Nathan Miloszewski

In his article “Video Phones In The Office?,” Frank Ohlhorst reveals that in addition to there being little to choose from in the way of affordable video phone solutions, the question remains if what’s currently being offered can make sense for desktop office workers?

(more…)

New App Turns Mac into Video Motion Detector

April 8, 2011 by Nathan Miloszewski

Via The Next Web, there’s a new app developed by Orbicule called Witness that “turns your Mac into a home alarm system, using its iSight camera as a motion sensor. If motion is detected, Witness sends mugshots and video to your iPhone or iPad.”

TNW explains that whether you’re trying to capture your evidence of your roommate’s sticky fingers or using the app as a simple home surveillance solution, Orbicule has designed Witness to:

“…eliminate recording hours of uneventful footage and it also saves you from wasting precious bandwidth. While operating Witness remotely from an iOS device, users can activate or turn off the alarm in addition to receiving a notification that something has triggered the camera.

When the alarm is activated, Witness will capture approximately 15 seconds of video and will automatically upload the footage to Orbicule’s servers while sending a push notification to the iPhone or iPad.”

If the intruder steals your Mac, you’re out of luck. But at only $39 with a 30-day full refund, it’s an interesting tool to get some surveillance from your iSight camera by turning it into a VMD device.

Axis Unveils Dual-Lens IP Camera with Panoramic View

by Nathan Miloszewski

Available in July, Axis has just introduced the P5544 PTZ dual-lens IP camera. Similar to the Mobotix DualDome D12 series this Axis camera has two different lenses for two different functions. Unlike the Mobotix DualDome D12 series which offers 180° recording, the Axis P5544 offers a complete 360° field of view.

One lens is for panoramic views and the other provides mechanical pan, tilt, zoom (PTZ) functionality. This camera is advertised as ideal for wide surveillance overviews and detailed zoomed-in views for identification in applications such as:

Airports
Train stations
Logistics centers
Shopping centers

The Axis P5544 supports 720p HDTV with 1280 x 720 resolution with H.264 compression to limit bandwidth and storage loads. With an IP51 rated casing for water and dust protection, this Axis states that:

The camera’s other features include day and night functionality for clearer video in low light conditions, and wide dynamic range for better visibility of objects in dark and light areas of a scene. AXIS P5544 supports two-way audio as well as audio detection, which can be used to trigger an alarm when unusual sounds are detected. The camera can connect to external devices such as sensors and relays to, for example, turn on lights or lock doors.

Pricing has yet to be announced.

Mobotix Highlights Hemispheric Technology

April 7, 2011 by Nathan Miloszewski

With Mobotix announcing a 50% year-over-year revenue growth in the America’s, it wants to continue that growth by focusing on their hemispheric technology.

Specifically, in addition to their full line that offers high-resolution capabilities, Mobotix is looking to expand their market with unique offereings such as:

Mobotix expects a strong year and has stated that these cameras are “in high demand due Mobotix T24 to the products’ superior image quality, decentralized infrastructure, low upfront cost and long-term return-on-investment.”

With their decentralized approach Mobotix IP Cameras also utilize the following advantages:

High-speed computer and internal flash memory card (SD/MicroSD card) to enable all recording and storage to occur within the camera.
Reduced need for a separate PC or DVR.
Lower network bandwidth is needed as all data is processed within the camera.
Robust features including virtual PTZ and 360-degree hemispheric technology with panoramic view.

Surveillance Robot Granted FCC Waiver for Video Transmissions

Parking Lot Surveillance

T-Mobile + Facebook = Free VoIP Calls

ClearOne Speakerphones – CHAT 50 and CHAT 150

Designing an Intrusion Detection System

Electronic Surveillance Occurs Off the Books

Video Phones for the Masses

New App Turns Mac into Video Motion Detector

Axis Unveils Dual-Lens IP Camera with Panoramic View

Mobotix Highlights Hemispheric Technology

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