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UAV updateLaser-powered, ground-charged UAV stays aloft for hours
A UAV is only as good as its power source: if the drone cannot stay over target for long periods of time and must return to base to refuel, this not only adds to the costs of operating the drone but it also degrade its intelligence gathering capabilities; Seattle-based company demonstrates that it can use a laser beam to charge the UAV's photovoltaic cells, generating enough power to keep the drone in the air for hours; the company has bigger plans for extending flight duration of military craft -- and much more: in the longer term, it envisions lasers powering remote ground-based sensors, delivering power to forward military bases, or supplying emergency power during disasters
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Secure communicationITU chief supports governments' need to access BlackBerry communications
In an interview with AP, ITU head Hamadoun Toure said RIM should provide law enforcement access to customer data; Toure characterized the governments' needs as "genuine" concerns that cannot be ignored
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Smart gridCisco buys Arch Rock, beefing up smart-grid business
Cisco is beefing up its smart-grid and data center businesses by acquiring San Francisco-based Arch Rock, a maker of a system for collecting information from mesh networks of IP-based wireless sensors, routers, and servers; On Wednesday, Cisco announced a deal with meter maker Itron to develop communications products that use the Internet Protocol, rather than proprietary protocols for sending information from meters back to utilities
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The food we eatSeafood stewardship questionable: experts
The world's most established fisheries certifier -- the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) -- is failing on its promises as rapidly as it gains prominence, according the world's leading fisheries experts; "The MSC is supposed to be a solution, but a lot of what they do has turned against biology in favor of bureaucracy," says one expert
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ImmigrationIllegal immigration to the U.S. dropped sharply since 2007
Between March 2000 and March 2005, 850,000 illegal immigrants entered the United States annually; between March 2007 and March 2009, the number dropped to 300,000 annually; the flow of Mexicans, who represent 60 percent of all illegal immigrants in the United States, plummeted to 150,000 annually during the 2007-9 period, compared with the annual average of 500,000 during the 2000-5 period; experts say that the slowing economy and bleak job market for low-skill workers, not tighter border security, have played the biggest role in the drop in illegal entrants
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Biometrics -- facial recognitionIdentifying faces in a crowd in real-time
U.K. company develops a face recognition technology that can recognize individual faces in a crowd -- and do so in seconds, even when they are moving, at a wide angle, or in poor light; the system captures and analyzes images and compares them to a database, and alerts security personnel if a match is made
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U.S. nuclear power plants bolster defenses against cyberattacks
The threat to digital systems at the U.S. nuclear power plants is considerable -- especially for new nuclear power facilities that would be built in the United States and throughout the world, as control rooms would employ digital systems to operate the plants; these state-of-the-art instruments and systems make them targets for hackers
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Need for digital security spurs growth of cyber security field
The growing need for digital security has made the shortage of cyber security professionals in the United States even more apparent, and the U.S. government is now engaged in a campaign to train, hire, and retain thousands of cyber professionals; the private sector is doing its share, too: Raytheon initiated the MathMovesU program in 2005, to inspire middle school students to consider math, science, and engineering education and careers; Raytheon awards more than $2 million annually in scholarships and grants to students, teachers, and schools nationwide
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China syndromeChinese government funds research based on stolen U.S. trade secrets
Chinese national, Kexue Huang, charged with economic espionage involving theft of trade secrets from Dow AgroSciences, a leading U.S. agricultural company; Huang published an article without Dow's authorization through Hunan Normal University (HNU) in China, which contained Dow trade secrets; the article was based on work supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), an agency of the Chinese government
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RoboticsCarnegie Mellon launches robotics start-up
Carnegie Robotics LLC will partner with Carnegie Mellon to manufacture robotic components and systems; startup to create products based on technology from CMU's National Robotics Engineering Center
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Secure communicationIndia gives BlackBerry reprieve, saying Google, Skype are next
BlackBerry users in India have received a 60-day reprieve: RIM has offered the Indian government a solution to interception issue (the Indian government wants to have the ability to intercept BlackBerry communications), and the government says it will examine the offer during the next two months; the government also said that services offered by Google and Skype are next, but unlike BlackBerry, Skype and Google Talk are both encrypted end-to-end, so intercepting communications is extremely difficult
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DARPA awards additional $11 million for video search technology
As a result of advancements in intelligence gathering technologies (think UAVs), the U.S. military and intelligence community have been accumulating video archives over the past decade which make YouTube look puny; it is not only the number of pictures, but their quality: mere HD movies and TV are small and tightly compressed compared to the high resolution, full-motion imagery which pours in like an avalanche from every Predator or Reaper drone -- and dozens of these surveillance drones are airborne above southwest Asia every minute of every day; DARPA is looking for an effective, automated video search technology
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Rapiscan in $12 million nuclear detection contract
DHS's Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) has contracted Rapiscan Systems for detection of shielded nuclear materials; the company has been tasked with developing a Liquefied Noble gas detector -- in collaboration with Yale University -- a threshold activation detector, a human portable system, and an aircraft inspection solution
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Maritime securityU.S. Navy buys sensor system from FLIR to protect ships from terrorist attacks
U.S. Navy ship systems designers needed electro-optical sensor systems for the Shipboard Protection System (SPS), which helps protect Navy surface vessels from terrorist attacks while moored to piers, at anchor, or during restricted maneuvering; they found their solution from Wilsonville, Oregon-based FLIR Systems
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Law-enforcement technologyWolfhound sniffs out contraband cell phones
Wolfhound Cell Detector is a handheld, wireless sniffer specifically tuned to the RF signature of common cell phones; it helps universities, government and military installations, hospitals, law enforcement agencies, financial institutions, and prisons and correctional facilities enforce their No Wireless policies
The Long View
Intel-McAfee dealIntel wants security built directly into silicon
A consensus is emerging that the main reason for Intel's acquisition of McAfee is that Intel wants to build directly into its hardware the kind of security features more traditionally provided by software like McAfee's
Cybersecurity businessThe reason for Intel's acquisition of McAfee
The merger between the two companies takes place ahead of the release in 2011 of new -- and as yet undisclosed -- products developed by a joint venture the two companies have operated in the past eighteen months; those undisclosed products may be part of the reason why Intel decided to purchase McAfee instead of extending or expanding the two companies' joint venture; says one analyst: "If what came out of that joint venture was revolutionary it could be that Intel wanted to lock that [intellectual property] down"
Top 10 smart surveillance systems from Israel
Video surveillance systems have become an important tool in enabling authorities to trace criminals and terrorists; Israel is one of the leading players in the field of intelligent surveillance; here is a list of the Top 10 video security technologies from Israel; these companies offer solutions that range from "seeing" through walls to reducing twenty-four hours of video to a few (indexed) minutes to detecting subtle changes in the landscape to offering high-resolution under-water images, and much more
Israel's top 10 airport security technologies, II
No-one understands security as the Israelis do, and this is why some of the world's best new innovative airport security technologies are being developed in Israel; since the foiled Christmas Day attempt on a Detroit-bound plane, airport authorities around the world are in a race to find novel solutions to fight terror, and the strategies and technical tactics Israel has adopted feature high on their lists
Israel's top 10 airport security technologies, I
No-one understands security as the Israelis do, and this is why some of the world's best new innovative airport security technologies are being developed in Israel; since the foiled Christmas Day attempt on a Detroit-bound plane, airport authorities around the world are in a race to find novel solutions to fight terror, and the strategies and technical tactics Israel has adopted feature high on their lists
IT securityTrend: Businesses increasingly rely on SAS for security
More and more companies have gravitated toward the idea of "software as a service" (SAS) -- using software that is delivered remotely instead of hosted on in-house servers; more and more companies are now offering security products as services -- but is it the best approach to security?
Guest columnHow soon they forget: Organizational memory and effective policies // Jon Shamah
Large organizations, either in the private sector or public sector, always have a churning of staff; the problem is that within one or two cycles of churn, anecdotal knowledge, and other unwritten information, just gets lost from the organizational memory; when something bad happens, few people know those solutions which have proven to work in the past and those that have failed miserably
