Archive for 'Random'

Lobster Vision is the forefront of a new technology being developed for Home Security by Physical Optics Corporation of Torrance, California.

The handheld device prototype called the LEXID (Lobster Eye X-ray Imaging Device) is based on the lobster’s ability to see through the dark murky waters of the deep sea and may help security officers see through wood, concrete and steal.

Rick Shie, senior vice president at Physical Optics Corporation said that the patented device, which radiates objects with tiny amounts of X-ray energy,

“Is modeled exactly after the lobster living in the deepest, darkest part of the ocean,”

A lobster’s eyes are made up of thousands of tiny square channels that focus by reflection, rather than by refraction (or the bending of light) as human eyes do.

This unique optical geometric design, which allows lobsters to see in the dimmest light, is being adapted into a “lobster-eye lens” that focuses the X-ray images so that the device can actually see through solid objects.

The Californian Company are still in the early stages of development however She says his company hopes to have the device perfected within a year so that Homeland Security agents can test it on the job.

I am sure everyone has heard about it, but what exactly does it meant to have your identity stolen and how much of a threat is it actually.

What is Identity Theft

Identity theft is a catch-all term for crimes involving illegal usage of another individual’s identity. The most common form of identity theft is credit card fraud. While the term is relatively new, the practice of stealing money or getting other benefits by pretending to be a different person is thousands of years old.

According to the non-profit Identity Theft Resource Center, identity theft is sub-divided into four categories:

* Financial Identity Theft (using another’s identity to obtain goods and services)
* Criminal Identity Theft (posing as another when apprehended for a crime)
* Identity Cloning (using another’s information to assume his or her identity in daily life)
* Business/Commercial Identity Theft (using another’s business name to obtain credit)

Identity theft may be used to facilitate crimes including illegal immigration, terrorism and espionage. Identity theft may also be a means of blackmail. There are also cases of identity cloning to attack payment systems, including medical insurance.

How Much of a Threat is Identity Theft to Me?

Surveys in the USA from 2003 to 2006 showed a decrease in the total number of victims but an increase in the total value of identity fraud to US$56.6 billion in 2006. The average fraud per person rose from $5,249 in 2003 to $6,383 in 2006.

Defense Link Article About Military Member Identity Theft Battle

The 2003 survey from the Identity Theft Resource Center found that :

* Only 15% of victims find out about the theft through proactive action taken by a business
* The average time spent by victims resolving the problem is about 40 hours
* 73% of respondents indicated the crime involved the thief acquiring a credit card
* The emotional impact is similar to that of victims of violent crimes

(Click Here To Read More…)

Staying up to date with the latest software and applications can be expensive. Professional applications like Photoshop and Microsoft Office certainly don’t come cheap, even the Windows operating system required to run your PC is costly.

Many are unaware of expensive applications’ free open source and online alternatives.

Click To See The Battle Plan of The Software Wars

Open source products comprise the work of many collaborators. Each person works on small portions of a project, and anyone is welcome to contribute. The finished product is available freely for anyone to download or even modify.

After the jump is a list of fourteen free open source applications.

(Click Here To Read More…)

SLEEP LAST NIGHT?

Bed a little lumpy…

Toss and turn any…

Wish the heat was higher…

Maybe the a/c wasn’t on…

Had to go to the john…

Need a drink of water…

:: :: :: ::
:: :: ::

Yes.. It is like that!

Count your blessings, pray for them,

Talk to your Creator

And the next time when …

The other car cuts you off and you must hit the brakes, or you have to park a little further from Walmart than you want to be, or you’re served slightly warm food at the restaurant, or you’re sitting and cursing the traffic in front of you, or the shower runs out of hot water,

Think of them…
Protecting your freedom!

The proud warriors of Baker Company wanted to do something to pay tribute to our fallen comrades. So since we are part of the only Marine Infantry Battalion left in Iraq the one way that we could think of doing that is by taking a picture of Baker Company saying the way we feel. It would be awesome if you could find a way to share this with our fellow countrymen.

I was wondering if there was any way to get this into your papers to let the world know that “WE HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN” and are proud to serve our country.”

Semper Fi

1stSgt Dave Jobe

The attached photo was forwarded from one of the last U.S. Marine companies in Iraq They would like to have it passed to as many people as possible, to let the folks back home know that they remember why they’re there and that they remember those who’ve been lost.

Below is a high resolution photo I stumbled across on the internet that shows before - during - after the tsunami that took place on December 26, 2004. I know many military member took part in the tsunami relief effort and seen first hand the destruction.

Click on the picture to enlarge - image opens in a new window

A Japanese company recently unveiled a new device that will allow people “speak” through their ear so they can use their mobile telephones in noisy places.

The device - named “e-Mimi-kun” (good ear boy) - doubles as an earphone and a microphone by detecting air vibrations inside the ear, developer NS-ELEX Co. said.The ear piece and the accompanying device can be connected to a mobile phone, or wirelessly to a Bluetooth handset, so users no longer have to cover their mouths when speaking in a loud environment.

“Exterior noise is reduced six-fold by the ear piece, while a chip developed by Sanyo Electric for the accompanying device reduces sound levels ten-fold.”

NS-ELEX believes the product would be useful for people working in places such as factories, restaurants and amusement parks.

There isn’t really much left to comment on regarding this neat concept iMac, a picture really does say a thousand words. The concept design by Adam Benton is based on, “current Apple design trends, as well as the previous iMac incarnation” and pitches a 30 inch transparent screen which can be set to different levels of transparency and is totally transparent when switched off. The keyboard, also transparent is ergonomically designed with light sensitive illuminated keys and the whole set-up is of course wireless. No word yet on whether this design will go to production, we’ll just have to wait and see!

View Apple iMac Computers Financed

View Apple MacBook Pro Laptops Financed

Most computer users quickly get to grips with the software and applications that are used on a regular basis. However there is one application included in every version Windows that many people over look, the Task Manager.

The Task Manager’s purpose in life is to provide computer performance information along with details about currently running programs and processes. It also provides the ability to monitor your network traffic if you are connected to a network.

Savvy computer users will know that a couple of quick short cuts can take you to the task manager; Ctrl + Alt + Delete and Ctrl + Shift + ESC. The task manager can usually be accessed even when other programs have crashed, enabling the user to quit an application or process, or shutdown the PC.

(Click Here To Read More…)

Armored vehicles are taking paint balling to the next level, all hail the Paintball Tank, otherwise known as ‘Paintball Armored Vehicles’ or PAV. There are a few types of tank available ranging in size from large automobile-based machines to lighter models, some of which are portable by foot but act more like personal armor than a fully fledge tank. But no matter which tank you take to the battlefield you will be sure of one thing, to unleash a barrage of pain.

Check out the video of a light paintball tank in action>>>

Paintball tanks may be armed with either single or multi paintball marker’s, carbon dioxide-powered cannons, grenade launchers and sometimes even rocket launchers. Many different types of projectiles have been used in the past; however Nerf cannons are more commonly replacing the PVC cannons that fire regular paintballs.

The tanks provide impenetrable armor for the user but that’s not to say they can’t be ‘destroyed’ or ‘killed’. Most tanks have kills zones which will sound an alarm or disable the tank when hit.

Rules for using the tanks differ from field to field but they are strictly enforced. Some places will not allow the heavy automated-tanks on the field and most places have speed limits. Some places may also let tanks be invincible where as others require the kill zones to be active.

(Click Here To Read More…)

A team of Hungarian engineers have created jet powered fire extinguisher. The team of crazy engineers removed the gun turrets from an old Russian tank, replaced them with 2 turbines from a MIG-21 fighter jet and injected the whole thing with gallons of water. The result is the ultimate jet powered fire extinguisher. Whilst this may not be practical for most residential fires (imagine not only putting out the fire but blasting your whole home to smithereens) it will certainly help with large oil blazes that typically last for days. The concept is somewhat old and used in Australia mines and even back in Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm. However, this is a more powerful and effective system. It was originally known as the “The Great Wind” for obvious reasons.

Google are always up to something, and we could dedicate a whole blog to them if we simply had the time on our hands! In what seems to be their never ending quest to take over the Information Technology World they have announced yet another FREE application, language translations for the Google Talk chat client.

Using the same technology as, the translation application is delivered as a series of chat bots. These tools can quickly translate a phrase or paragraph for you, and they can also be added to group chats to act as real-time translators.Google lists out about 30 total language bots with which are all logically named according to their translation duty, such as en2ko@bot.talk.google.com, signifying English to Korean translation. English is the dominant language across the translations; however there are some non-English bots available such as fr2de.

(Click Here To Read More…)

A bionic hand that can also help restore the sense of touch to amputees could soon be developed thanks to new research that has enabled two patients to feel sensations.

Both patients Claudia Mitchell, 27, a former U.S. Marine who lost her left arm at the shoulder in a motorcycle accident three years ago, and Jesse Sullivan, 60, who lost both arms to electrical burns, were fitted with prosthesis by Dr. Todd Kuiken of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago this past year. These two patients are the first patients to receive this revolutionary new process that is leading the advancements in prosthesis.

(Click Here To Read More…)

I know for military members and their families, duty stations and overseas deployments can either put you at a disadvantage or be a once in a life-time experience. Regardless, of where you were on New Years Eve, you were most definitely not everywhere. If you found yourself at a house party or with the family in front of the T.V., you might have caught the 24 hour feed of New Years traveling across the globe.

(Click Here To Read More…)

After our Email fiasco by Jerry Hart Creative Marketing Email Scam, we sent out our first internal newsletter. We focused it on delivering helpful and entertaining articles that made it big on our blog or on other websites that our Military customers may appreciate. Most of our customers do not realize we have a blog and was a double plus.

I will include a link on the home page to our newsletter archives that will catalog our Newsletter, not including Jerry Hart terrible Email. This will allow you to keep track of our Emails, submit your thoughts, and refer to links or articles later on. I think this will also be helpful for users who may accidentally delete or may not receive the newsletter due to spam filters.

Email boxes are constantly attacked and quickly filled from spam, so if you decide that you do not want one more newsletter added to your Email inbox, you can access it via the website. You can unsubscribe at anytime via a newsletter or from your 800HighTech customer account or when you register. We will announce all new Emails Newsletters here on the blog and post a link to it (See Below for this month’s newsletter link).

I have titled our new newsletter “HighTech Edge”. I was considering keeping it a consistent layout, so it would be easier to find the information you want but in the end decided against it. I will not feature ads, promotions, or products in the Email unless we are running a really hot deal. It is not our intent to use the newsletter to push our sales, but to increase our communication with our customers and give them the edge over other geeks on IT information that is actually useful!

We have a high ratio customers return and we have spent years improving our customer image. We depend on you all to help us improve, and keep us above the competition.

Click to View the HighTech Edge Newsletter Catalog

Click to View the HighTech Edge January 2008 Issue: 1-1

Photoshop has clearly become the industry standard software for graphic design and digital photography. Those of you who are Photoshop savvy will know that plug-ins and filters can extend Photoshop capabilities by providing new functions and effects. For those of you who aren’t, perhaps its time to explore Photoshop’s expandable features.

(Click Here To Read More…)