Free DME & DFIR Resources

Popular media player VLC has been pulled from Apple's App Store at the request of one of the program's original developers--in a move that's caused some hard feelings in the world of open-source software.

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(Credit: Lexar Media) Lexar announced a 1000X-rated CompactFlash memory card line today that the company guarantees can keep pace with professional-quality video recording.

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http://m.cnet.com/ces2012/Article.rbml?nid=57353184

Whew. I've been crazy busy lately and have been meaning to throw up a post about this product for a few weeks. It's one of the latest freeware programs I've added to my thumbdrive, which has come in quite handy for resolving various common PC problems via a point-and-click interface. If you regularly get calls from friends, family, co-workers, etc., regarding their PC problems, you might want to consider this neat little freeware ap - Advanced WindowsCare V2 Personal

Advanced WindowsCare V2, made by IObit, looks to resolve issues that cause less than optimal performance in Windows based PCs. The personal version:

Earlier this evening Jim Hoerricks, author of the book "Forensic Photoshop", announced the availability of a new online training course - "An Introduction to Forensic Photoshop". Jim's new online course is hosted and provided through the American Institute of Forensic Eduction, Inc..

A major revamp of the ports and cables of the ubiquitous connection technology will make USB connectors reversible, slimmer, and better at transmitting data and power.

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Seagate has unveiled new models of its Pulsar line of solid-state drives (SSD)--delivering performance, endurance, and reliability that business can trust. The new drives bring the benefits of SSD to organizations with demanding data storage needs.

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At the request of the public safety community, UL has begun development of a performance standard for tactical (e.g., hand-deployed, covert placement, robot-mounted) and operational (e.g., body-worn) video camera systems. We are seeking input from end users to determine your needs and requirements: who uses which systems, when and how they are typically used, and what features are used.

We would appreciate your completing a questionnaire using the link below:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/tacticalcamera

Your input is requested by June 30th so that it can be used to guide the path forward and help to ensure that the standard meets the needs of end users.

Dear Media-Geek members:

You clearly represent a group of professionals who would add value to our newly formed Association of Forensic Multimedia Analysis (AFMA). Our shared goal is to improve the effectiveness of Forensic Multimedia Analysts. This group includes anyone who analyzes or processes multimedia evidence, including images, video, audio and digital data.

I just returned from another great week of DME training at our office out on the east coast last week. One of the themes I've come to recognize through my travels teaching the fundamentals of DME Processing, is that even some of the most seasoned technicians and analysts don’t really understand the significance of hardware to accurate and proper processing of DME. It’s completely understandable why, given the marketing messages of some DME vendors, the fact that we're all constantly asked to do more with less, and the rate of related technological advancements.

It's after 4:00 am in the morning and I'm writing about codecs.  That isn't right.  Just curious what lossless video codecs others are using or have used and/or compared for forensic screen capture?  I'm sure the most common answer will be TechSmith's TSCC, but there are others out there that work quite nicely and are priced just right....FREE.

I posted a new member poll on the topic, which you'll find on the right-hand side of your profile page.  Also recently added the free LZO and GZIP based CamStudio codec to our files & downloads library and have been fiddling with some others.    Are you using something else, or do you prefer to keep all captures uncompressed?

The Law Enforcement and Emergency Services Video Association (LEVA) is interested to know how the FVA community is handling law enforcement body worn video. One of their instructors, Keith Swanson, has compiled a brief survey on how the forensic video community is dealing with body worn video that addresses numbers of cameras, types of processing requests and whether or not community members are being asked to consult on an agancies' research and evaluation of this rapidly growing technology.

Jonathan Lewin, Chicago’s managing deputy director of public safety, believes that video cameras help officers protect citizens — and he has numbers to back up his claim. The Chicago Police Department says that Operation Virtual Shield, the city’s network of public and private surveillance cameras, has led to more than 5,500 camera-related arrests since 2006.

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Despite our efforts to educate everyone in the digital evidence chain on the proper way to label and care for CDs, DVDs, and BDs (see CD and DVD Care and Handling: Stop Destroying Your Evidence!), read errors still happen...a lot. Here are two of my favorite tools for repairing and recovering data from disc-based media.