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Banjo AI surveillance is already monitoring traffic cams across Utah
A small company called Banjo is bringing pervasive AI surveillance to law enforcement throughout Utah, Motherboard reports. In July, Banjo signed a five-year, $20.7 million contract with Utah. The agreement gives the company real-time access to state traffic cameras, CCTV and public safety cameras, 911 emergency systems, location data for state-owned vehicles and more. In exchange, Banjo promises to alert law enforcement to "anomalies," aka crimes, but the arrangement raises all kinds of red flags.
Recommended Reading: The making of Elton John's VR retirement party
How Elton John's VR retirement announcement hit your headset Emma Grey Ellis, Wired If you haven't heard, music legend Sir Elton John announced his retirement and final tour this week in the most 2018 way possible: VR. Wired goes behind the scenes to get the details on how that montage was made before it beamed out to your headset.
China uses facial recognition to monitor ethnic minorities
China is adding facial recognition to its overarching surveillance systems in Xinjiang, a Muslim-dominated region in the country's far west that critics claim is under abusive security controls. The geo-fencing tools alert authorities when targets venture beyond a designated 300-meter safe zone, according to an anonymous source who spoke to Bloomberg.
Watch 540 dancing robots celebrate Chinese New Year
Ten robot cheerleaders isn't enough when it comes to celebrating Chinese New Year. To kick off the year of the monkey, Chinese broadcaster CCTV's TV special included 540 dancing robots, with a fleet of drones to top it all off with a layer of glitter. The robots thrust, do handstands, and dance in that ever-so-robotic way (in unison), but it's the sheer scale that makes it must-see. Watch the spectacle below.
ICYMI: Dark matter search, the personal plane and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-123513{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-123513, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-123513{width:570px;display:block;}try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-123513").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: The new Icon A5 personal aircraft is available for $189,000, shrinking middle class be damned. China's space agency launched a spacecraft to hunt for signs of dark matter's existence. And Netflix's latest Make It project is a cosy nod to what too many of us will likely be doing over holiday breaks: Going on prolonged Netflix binges. The company is giving instructions for how to construct socks that will pause your show if you should fall asleep.
Professor saves home with smart sprinklers from 3,000km away
Deadly bushfires have swept across South Australia this week, destroying countless properties and natural spaces. One ingenious professor was able to save his rural home, however, by remotely activating sprinklers using a smartphone. Simon Maddocks, the President and Vice-Chancellor of Charles Darwin University, had been notified of the fires by friends and messages sent by the Country Fire Service (CFS). He was sitting comfortably in his Darwin office, far from danger, but knew his wheat farm on the other side of the country was at risk. Maddocks started tracking the flames from over 3,000 kilometers away using CFS maps on his phone before connecting to CCTV cameras at his house.
Malware turns hundreds of security cameras into a botnet
Closed-circuit security cameras are supposed to make you safer, but some malware is turning them into weapons. Researchers at Incapsula have discovered code that turned about 900 Linux-based CCTV cameras into a botnet, which promptly bombarded an unnamed "large cloud service" that serves millions of people. The intruders compromised cameras from multiple brands, all of which had lax out-of-the-box security -- in some cases, they'd been hacked by more than one person.
London's police vans are getting fitted with CCTV
London's police forces are adopting cameras and other recording equipment in earnest. Twenty-thousand officers are already in the process of receiving body-worn cameras and soon, every police van will be equipped with CCTV too. The initial target is to have at least one vehicle fitted with the technology -- five cameras, three microphones and two monitors -- in every London borough within the coming months. Roughly 120 vehicles have already been kitted out and the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) says all future vans will come with the gear as standard. Recording begins as soon as the ignition is switched on and all data is overwritten after 22 days. Should the footage be required as evidence in a trial, however, it can be downloaded from the system and stored for longer periods.
Microsoft, NYPD build new policing software, NYC takes 30 percent of the profit
Microsoft is releasing the Domain Awareness System, a software kit, designed with the NYPD, for law enforcement agencies. Pulling together data from CCTV Cameras, radiation detectors and license-plate readers, it uses a detailed database to give instant tracking when things take a turn for the worse. It's also taking some cues from the city's CompStat, using geographical patterns to help effectively deploy members of the 5-0 in areas statistically likely to suffer more crime. DAS is being marketed worldwide, with the city of New York taking a cut of 30 percent of the profit and a copy of any useful tweaks that are made in the field. We're just sad that none of the NYPD:Blue fans at Redmond decided to call the system Sipowi...ndows (geddit?).
Dropcam's Android app is now native, improved and live at Google Play
Sure, Dropcam already had an app for monitoring its web-connected home monitoring cameras on Android smartphones. The thing is, it wasn't native -- it was built using Adobe Air and was therefore limited to specific phones, processors and OS versions, while tablet users didn't even get a look-in. The new app, which landed at Google Play just this moment, was built totally in-house to "better match" its iOS counterpart. In addition to broader compatibility with new and old Android devices, a bunch of other improvements come along for the ride, including two-way audio, free-of-charge motion and audio alerts and a "smoother user experience." Head to the link below to download.
CCTV cameras help solve 'six crimes a day' in London, says Metropolitan Police
Been questioning the value of having omnipresent surveillance cameras tracking your every move? Well, if you're an outlaw, you still won't like them, but for the rest of us law-abiding types, London's Metropolitan Police has a comforting stat to share: almost six crimes a day are being resolved with the help of CCTV footage. It's being used primarily to aid the identification of perps on the run, and the number of suspects identified as a result has gone up to 2,512 this year. There is a bright light for criminals, however, as the Met admits digital recordings aren't kept around as long as VHS ones used to be, meaning that if you slip the dragnet once, you'll probably be alright. So good news for everyone!
England puts CCTVs in the homes of lousy parents
We love England, especially the way they use all these adorable names for things: "lorry," for truck, or "loo" for bathroom, or "sin bin" for an Orwellian program whereby "problem families" (currently numbering 2,000, but someday as many as 20,000) are placed under 24/7 CCTV surveillance in their own homes. Chris Grayling, something called the "Shadow Home Secretary," puts it thusly: "This Government has been in power for more than a decade during which time anti-social behavior, family breakdown and problems like alcohol abuse and truancy have just got worse and worse." Meaning, of course, that cameras must be moved from the streets of England into people's homes, where they'll be used to make sure that kids go to school, go to bed at a decent hour, and eat proper meals. If only they'd had programs like this when we were kids -- maybe things would have turned out differently.
Gaze tracking system keeps an eye on CCTV operators as they keep an eye on you
In his analysis of control systems, William S. Burroughs once noted that as they become larger, so do the opportunities for evasion increase. Sure, you can have CCTV cameras at (nearly) every intersection in your sleepy village, but someone has to watch all those things. What do you do when the sheer number of displays becomes too much for our poor Big Brother? Researchers at the Gebze Institute of Technology in Turkey have developed a gaze tracking system that trains cameras on the irises of the CCTV operator -- noting which video sequences he or she views on the shift, and producing a summary of video sequences they've overlooked. If that weren't enough, the system uses an algorithm that discards frames with no people or moving vehicles in them, leaving only a few key frames for each scene of interest. According to New Scientist, this all runs on a standard PC and processes and catalogs images in real time. Now, if only there were a system that let us watch Two And A Half Men and Becker at the same time -- that would be sweet.
Scallop Imaging wide-angle security cams look to the sea for inspiration
We're not too sure what's up with New England-based institutions and inspiration from the depths, but the two seem to have some kind of intrinsic connection. The latest company to prove such a wacky assertion true is Boston's own Scallop Imaging, a Tenebraex subsidiary that has developed a "low-cost" security camera that sees 180 degrees of view without fisheye distortion or the lag present in pan-and-tilt alternatives. Additionally, the multi-eyed cam automatically stitches and downsamples images, and can capture a new 7-megapixel still to transmit over Ethernet "every second or two." It's small enough to be placed into a light socket-sized hole, and it's powered by the same Ethernet cable that links it into a building's surveillance system. Of course, the fun won't stop there, as the outfit is already looking at automotive applications of the Digital Window, including "distortion-free backup cameras for the rear ends" of vehicles.
Intel and China Central Television establish research lab for HD initiatives
Not sure if you've been paying close attention, but Intel's been scrounging around in China for awhile now in hopes of latching on to a few television-related projects. Back in April, it paired with Legend Silicon to push USB dongles for HDTV viewing, and in March, it shook hands with OKI and Huashu to develop a next-generation STB. Now, the mega-corp is getting in bed with China Central Television (CCTV) in order to establish a research laboratory to "jointly study image processing technologies." Furthermore, the lab will provide "IT support for CCTV's high-definition programs," and it will help improve the processing of HD content in particular. Intel helping the global push for high-def adoption? Who woulda knew?
Warcraft restaurant opens in Beijing
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/World_of_Warcraft_restaurant_opens_in_Beijing'; World of Warcraft continues to find ways to trickle beyond our virtual lives and into our day to day real lives. In Beijing, a new restaurant has opened up with a Warcraft theme, from the decor to the food. The entrance, which you can see above, is designed to look like the Dark Portal (The Burning Crusade's intro screen) and the interior walls are lined with artwork from the game and shots of characters in epic gear. TV screens throughout the restaurant play footage of the game, too.The food itself is even based on the game, and while CCTV.com reports that the menu is named after denizens of WoW, I wonder if they borrowed anything from the in-game recipes. The food shown in CCTV's video definitely looks Chinese in style, so I doubt you'll find anything there you would see in our very American Well Fed Buff, but that's probably a good thing. Personally, I'd love to see a menu. I'm also curious if this restaurant was given the go ahead from Blizzard or the9, or if they even need it.[via CCTV, thanks brucewain!]
Los Angeles Traffic Cam brings live gridlocks to your cellphone
We have all ideas (okay, so we know it for a fact) that the Los Angeles Traffic Cam was designed for those living in LA, but we can't help but imagine how drivers in less congested cities could use this to make their own daily commute not seem so bad. NBC4 and 3rd Dimension have teamed up to beam out live video and nearly live still shots from some 270 LA-area traffic cameras to those with compatible mobiles, and being that it's ad-supported, the whole thing is completely free to end users. Of course, for all you know, they could just loop a clip of gridlocked traffic during rush hour and call it reality. Sadly, said idea would almost work.
TruMedia says its facial-recognition billboards will never record video, it won't share with cops
Those billboards with facial-recognition-based tracking systems we mentioned last week caused quite a bit of consternation amongst those of us who value our privacy (read: everyone), but it at least one of the firms involved is engaging the debate and promising that it won't share any data it record. In a letter to the New York Times and a much longer, more boring version of the same letter sent to us, TruMedia Technologies says that none of its tech will ever record or store any video, only analyze frames and increment various demographic counters. TruMedia also says that no individually-identifiable information is ever stored, and that it'll never share any video or images with any private or governmental body. There's also mention of a standards body working to address methodologies and metrics for the tech. All excellent promises, sure, but we're never going to be entirely comfortable with this stuff, even if we live in an age of ubiquitous CCTV monitoring. Full letter after the break.
Billboards with facial-recognition software trickling out
Putting cameras in billboards to measure how many people look at them isn't a new idea, but it's starting to get a little more creepily-high-tech, with several advertisers now using facial-recognition software to record things like age and gender. A company called Quividi has supplied camera-equipped ads to McDonald's in Singapore and Ikea in Europe, and it's now bringing the tech to the States, where it's been deployed in New York in ads for A&E's The Andromeda Strain mini-series and in Philadelphia in train station ads for the Philadelphia Soul. Another company called TruMedia Technologies has supplied similar tech to about 30 locations in the US, including malls in Chesterfield, Missouri, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Monroeville, Pennsylvania. None of the systems currently record or store video, but no one's ruling that out as a possibility -- and even worse, there's talk of gathering racial data in an effort to even further target ads. Great, now we have yet another reason to break out the Nixon mask every time we leave the house.[Via Techdirt]
Chicago's CCTV network to be autonomously monitored starting this summer
Chicago residents are no strangers to the city's many CCTV cameras by this point -- if anyone knows exactly how long to stop at Roosevelt and State to avoid the red-light cam there, you let us know, okay? -- but it looks like this summer is going to bring a new twist to the city's surveillance racket: automated camera monitoring. Video from the several thousand cameras in Chicago's Operation Virtual Shield project currently comes into the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communication's ops center, but starting this summer, it'll also be watched by an IBM-developed autonomous system that can be programmed to watch for specific activities or objects, like certain cars or unattended backpacks. Since the video is stored on a 60TB storage array for 30 days, law enforcement can also do retroactive searches using the tech. That's a huge step up from San Francisco's useless CCTV system, sure, but we've never really believed any of this stuff is actually effective at deterring crime -- hopefully we'll be proven wrong. Check out the full news vid at the read link. [Via Boing Boing]
