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It looks like Sony is on a roll with discontinuing legacy recording formats. First it killed the cassette Walkman last year, a few weeks ago it stopped producing MiniDisc Walkmans and now the company announced that it will no longer support the 8mm video format. The video cassette format that was popular way back in the 1980s will no longer get any new Sony hardware to run on.

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Our all-new downloads area is LIVE and accepting uploads!  Registered members can upload files up to 100MB in size, and the new upload form will list all files the member has uploaded.  The files from our previous download library are still accessible via our Wiki and site search, but we've created all new sections and categories to make it easier to browse the new download library and did not import the old files into those listings.  When members log-in they'll also now find the 10 newest uploads listed on the community home page.

Speaking of the community home page, we've also added comments and "likes" to our community and user activity streams!  Now, similar to other social networking sites, you can comment on member wall posts, easily share URLs, and let members know you "like" their status or wall post.  Log in today to check out these and other new features.  -LC

Your solid-state drive sits there in silence. It’s sleek. Elegant. More than a little mysterious. The hard drive it replaced was easy to understand: A soft hum assured you that its platters were spinning. A quiet mechanical click informed you of its read/write operations. You’d groom it with the occasional defrag. Times were good.

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The Media-Geek.com Wiki is officially launched! Oh, Wiki you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind hey Wiki! Hey Wiki! Yep, I've officially lost my mind, but at least you didn't have to hear me actually sing that.

The Media-Geek Wiki is now available for our registered members, adding yet another way for members to share information, documentation, files, etc... One might think that a forensic community content management solution/system (CMS) with a multitude of additional content submission, categorization, and search abilities would be enough...but then, one would be wrong, wouldn't they?

Using a Wiki was one of the original concepts for this site discussed over three years ago while I was attending LEVA's Advanced Forensic Video Analysis & The Law course. Since then, there have been various tests and even a BETA launch in the summer of last year that was based on Microsoft's CMS product SharePoint. What it boiled down to was CMS or Wiki, knowing that both have advantages and disadvantages regardless of what product(s) or platforms you use. Then it hit me - why not both?

The new Media-Geek site layout is more intuitive (I hope) and accessible, and it should also load faster in your browser.  Sure there are a few little scripting bugs to hunt down and squash, but for the most part the site seems to be functioning in all modern browsers.  I hope you find the new layout an improvement.

Did you know you can make your profile public? By default profiles are private and only accessible to members who are logged in to the site, but if you want you can make yours available to the general public.  Check out your profile privacy settings more (Click on Community to go to the Community main page, then select "Privacy" from the Profile menu option.

The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, Ontario Provincial Police, is seeking a qualified individual to examine and analyze audio/video recordings for the purpose of developing, enhancing and clarifying evidence, and presenting, defending and supporting associated findings in courts of law as required; undertake research and maintain ongoing research and forensic studies related to the sciences of digital audio processing, digital image processing and video recording technologies, both analog and digital. To attend crime scenes and recover evidence using sophisticated audio/video equipment for examination as required and to provide training and guidance to colleagues/front line officers and assist Manager in equipment maintenance and policy as they relate to these sciences.

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Just finished reading the CNET article "Cops to Congress: We need logs of Americans' text messages". As someone who has analyzed mobile devices and call records for law enforcement for many years, I'm not surprised at all that law enforcement wants service providers to store more data. As a citizen of the United States, I'm a bit surprised the public seems to be sleeping on this one.

Make no mistake people, the issue under consideration here is whether or not you have the right to communicate via text message privately.

I've had a handful of inquiries this week about the frequency of our relatively new automated newsletter, so I thought I'd post a brief note for everyone on the topic.  The automated newsletter sends the five most recent articles and five most recent forum posts out to registered members once per week, once every two weeks or once per month.  Members can change these settings or completely unsubscribe from the newsletter by logging in selecting "Newsletter" from the "Community" menu options.

The automated newsletter was implemented to help keep members abreast of site activity.  Changing your preferences is easy and only needs to be done once.  I hope you find the service helpful. - LC

As more and more companies turn to Linux for mission-critical operations, making sure IT staff have the necessary skills is becoming more important than ever.

That's a significant challenge, because demand for Linux skills now far outstrips supply, making them a particularly hot commodity in the hiring market as companies large and small struggle to equip themselves with the talent they need.

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Stumbled on to a well done video from Computerphile called "How Blurs & Filters Work", which I thought some of you may find interesting. Discussion centers on what an image kernel is and how they're used in image processing. Video is under 8 minutes and is embedded after the break. Enjoy.

Registration is now open for the Law Enforcement & Emergency Services Video Association (LEVA) 26th Annual Training Conference being held November 2 - 6, 2015 in Clearwater Beach, Fl. Hope to see you there!

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Remember those days? Back when your beeper went off and people would glare at you? Pull out a snazzy 3-Watt bag phone in the early '90’s and chances are someone was calling you an arrogant ass under their breath. New technology brings new social challenges, but don’t condemn it before you have had it in your hands, see what it can do, understand it’s strengths and weaknesses, and have actual data to draw your conclusions from.

I know it’s a marketing video but take a minute and a half to check out this video on Google Glass Explorer Patrick Jackson (video after the break). I freakin’ love technology.