Important Innovations

Very Controversial Street Surveillance System Stock Image:  Surveillance Camera Purpose to Stop Violent Crime London is becoming one of the largest city in the Western world to utilize advanced and highly controversial facial recognition cameras on its streets.  China is the biggest user of the technology.  Critics are calling London "Beijing Lite".  Critics argue facial recognition technology violates individual's privacy and has an extremely high false positive rate of 81%, according to independent research. European Union, Google and Microsoft Snooping Wars Major players are weighing in on this emerging, disruptive technology.  The European Union has proposed a 5 year temporary ban on use of facial recognition technology until the kinks are ironed out and abuses can be thwarted.  At Davos this week, Alphabet/Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed that he supports a temporary ban.  On the other hand, Microsoft CEO Brad Smith does ...

New China Regulations: Facial Recognition Reaches Mobile Phones Source:  Facial ID Scanning Stock Image May Prevent Fraud in Cyberspace But Does it Increase Citizen Surveillance? This is a new use of facial recognition technology that the world is watching.  China put new regulations into effect on Sunday that require Chinese telecom operators to scan the faces of people registering for new mobile phone services in China.  The consumer or business could be buying a new SIM card or any new mobile phone services.  The purchaser has no choice but to have their face scanned.  The Chinese government says it's combating cyber-fraud and protecting its citizens from being hacked.  This is facial recognition at the cutting edge of use, controversy and possibly usefulness. Once your face is scanned on your mobile phone, anyplace you use it, such as in your home and stores, could be tracked. Controversial This could be viewed as a legitimate and ongoing pus...

Combat Surveillance Source:  Russia Add caption Bird of Pre y Russia has designed a new combat surveillance drone that has the appearance of a snowy owl.  The drone was just unveiled at the Defense Ministry's annual military expo in Moscow. UAV that's Laser Equipped The drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle.  It's equipped with a laser in its tail that can guide artillery,  laser-guided bombs and aircraft to swoop in for an attack.  Russia's Defense Ministry says it will be able to spot targets without being detected. Portable This new device weighs only 5 kilograms and can be handled, carried and launched by one person.  It can fly up to 40 minutes and has a range of 12 miles.  It's one of Russia's new military assets now on display at the expo.

Package Deliveries and Surveillance Source:  Amazon US Patent for the Technology Amazon has found yet another way to make potentially significant money.  It's just secured a patent to utilize its package delivery drones for security surveillance for its customers. Geofencing According to the patent, the surveillance would be limited by geofencing.  That's a technology which draws a virtual line around a property under surveillance.  According to the patent, the drone would record video of the customer's house at the customer's request for security.  The drone would pick up such issues as a broken window or open garage door. Drones Ready for Takeoff In the next few months, Amazon's fleet of delivery drones will start flying purchases to customers starting at a distance of 30 minutes or less.  Interestingly, Amazon filed for the patent to enable drone surveillance in 2015 and just received the patent this month.  No word on if or when Ama...

Spy Fish - DARPA'S Secret Submarine Surveillance Weapon All Natural - From the Sounds of Fish The Pentagon's DARPA (US Defense Dept.'s Advanced Research Projects Agency) is launching a 5 year research program to enable fish sounds to be picked up by underwater sensor networks to detect silent submarines that are undetectable at this time.  This starts with a rigorous study of fish reactions to disturbances in their environment and the development of underwater sensor monitoring stations to pick-up those sounds and provide alerts to the US military about silent submarines. DARPA calls it the third wave of surveillance  that's adds on to passive and active sonar detection systems.  For a great news blog on this, go to Important Innovations Collection: Sounds of Sea Creatures as Sub Detection : DARPA'S SPY FISH Source:  DARPA Living Sea Creature Submarine Detection Sensor System This is an incredible concept that does n...

Downloads 50 Gigabit Movie in 4 Seconds DARPA-Northrup Grumman's 100 gigabit Transmission System Northrup Grumman and DARPA have successfully tested super high speed, 100 gigabit transmissions.  The tests were conducted over a 12 mile stretch in Los Angeles.  They've proved that 100g transmissions work and have set the standard for it.  Northrup disclosed the system can download a 50 gigabit Blu Ray move in 4 seconds. 2-Way and Wireless DARPA is the Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency.  The system makes for much faster delivery of intelligence and surveillance data for the military over long distances. It's a 2-way, wireless transmission data link. Various Speeds The system features active tracking.  The transmission speed can vary from 9g to 102g depending on what the transmitting and receiving networks can handle.  Of great note:  it can send 100g speed data directly from aircraft.  That provides real-time access to intelli...