If you've driven overseas or any mildly large city in America, there's a good chance you slipped by (or not) a red-light camera at a busy intersection. If you happened to be in the unlucky bunch that had to endure a stiff fine for trying to squeeze the lemon tomato, you'll certainly be interested in what Cobra's uncoiling next week. The company so widely known for its speed / radar detectors and GPS units is breaking into the stoplight camera detection game, giving haphazard and flustered drivers a second chance that ticketers would rather them not have. The device will reportedly sync with GPS satellites to determine when a red-light camera, "black spot" (highly watched area), or school zone is being approached, and will give an early warning to the person behind the wheel in order to save them a few bucks, and potentially their life. A spokesperson for Cobra insinuated that the unit would cause drivers to take extra precaution when approaching a target zone, which would also cut back on the daring attempts to blaze through intersections when the light is red; folks who profit mightily from the fees, however, aren't as enthused about the forthcoming device. Nevertheless, Cobra should have its red-light warning device on display at next week's CES, and while we're not sure how much it'll cost just yet, we're certain there are those who'd pay anything to avoid yet another ticket.

[Thanks, Chris L]

While homemade nuke detectors patrolling our waterways seems sufficiently plausible, remote-controlled rats searching for explosives is certainly pushing the bounds of acceptability, but to expect a swarm of "highly trained" bees to sniff out destructive material (without getting medieval on somebody) sounds like an awful lot of buzz. Nevertheless, an 18-month research study -- dubbed the Stealthy Insect Sensor Project -- at the US Energy Department's Los Alamos facility has just concluded, and team members have announced resounding success in teaching your average bee to "stick their proboscis (that tube they use to feed on nectar) out in the presence of explosives." The DHS sees potential in using the little buggers to "find dynamite and C-4 plastic explosives" as well as relatively dodgy "Howitzer propellant grains." Scientists have used a reward system to train the animals, by offering up a "sugar treat" each time they correctly signify explosive material, and suggest that teams of detectors (read: incensed bees) could be carried about in "portable containers about the size of a shoebox." While theoretically, this plan may seem sound, what happens when our enemies start covering their tracks in nectar -- or worse, when the insects unleash a painful revolt against our own brethren?

While being in the weapons distribution biz may seem a bit dodgy, an enterprising team in San Francisco is looking to prove their device is out to protect and serve (and save a lot of money). The Department of Homeland Security is looking to add safeguards to American ports by installing a series of radiation scanners designed to detect hidden nukes (and, we hope, dirty bombs) on incoming shipments. The problem is the $1.15 billion this project is supposed to cost, not to mention the five years it'll take to get it installed, so we're still pretty much exposed for awhile. Not one to take a (potential) threat lying down, physicist / Sandia Lab weapons subcontractor Stanley Glaros is manning a team which has already built a "boat-mounted radiation detection device from off-the-shelf components." The homebrew rad sniffer gives a visual alarm via a "sodium iodide crystal" that turns blue when danger is near (remember Frodo's sword?), but the mechanics behind the lighthearted signifier is no laughing matter. An Ortec Digibase photo-multiplier picks up signals over the air, which are collected into dynodes, and then run through a multichannel analyzer to identify radiological signatures. Regardless of the means, this nuke detector has been running "successfully" for eight months, and coming in at a cool $12,000 apiece, we're all for getting the job done on the cheap (and showing up the DHS in the process).

WiFi detectors are a dime a dozen, but this two-faced device adds a second dimension not found on typical sniffers. Informatica's "WiFi Pen," as the name clearly implies, is an ink pen at heart, but also has the ability to alert you of any local wireless networks in range. The lack of a true antenna limits the sniffer's radius to 50 feet, but you get a green, yellow, or red LED indicator to help you quickly determine the signal strength. Priced at $18.95, these won't last long, and according to Informatica's store, these are "available in limited quantities for a limited time only" (which is, of course, the oldest trick in the book to get someone to buy something). Surely it can't be any less effective than the slew of other WiFi locators, but at worst you get a somewhat expensive pen -- infinitely better than an odd looking paperweight -- to draw up a better design.

[Via BoingBoing]

Ever wonder if you'd object to currency, clothing, or even your body getting embedded with an RFID chip? The idea isn't that far-fetched, and it's just a matter of time before something you own is tagged. Joining a growing list of RFID-shielders, Vrije University's Andrew Tanenbaum, an anti-RFID advocate, is pressing forward with a team of researchers in Amsterdam to finalize a palm-sized device that would block incoming RFID searches and alert the user that they just about got violated. The RFID Guardian is powered by a 550MHz XScale processor (as found in many PDAs) with 64MB of RAM and runs on the eCos open source OS. The mechanics are pretty complex, but the short of it is the Guardian uses "standard authentication algorithms from cryptography" to recognize RFID readers and to accomplish its two primary objectives: tag spoofing and tag jamming, both of which prevent your RFID tagged object from being identified. The likelihood of mainstream adoption of the device is probably slim, but if your paranoia gets the best of you the RFID Guardian can keep the digital violators at bay. There's currently no estimated price as finalized specs have yet to be determined, but just to get a better idea of its design, peep a picture of the prototype after the break.

[Via Personal Tech Pipeline]

Yogesh Gianchandani, a researcher at the University of Michigan, has developed a tiny wireless Geiger counter that can be used in a network to cover large areas like stadiums or malls and distinguish between harmful and non harmful sources of radiation. And since they're so small (about the size of a postage stamp, as you can see), they can be placed in inconspicous areas, which is both more feasible and much less likely to freak people out than a bunch of dudes in white lab coats walking around with ticking boxes. While development of the device seems to be well on track, it's probably still a ways off from going into production, which means you'll need to look to other solutions if you want to be prepared for when the Commies finally drop the big one.