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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?

A producer for Discovery ID recently reached out to me looking for cases to research for the upcoming 4th season of Discovery ID's "See No Evil"program. They are looking for "cases whereby surveillance footage was key to cracking a mysterious homicide case."  This could be a case you recently worked on which has now been through the courts, or it might be a historical case from 10 or 15 years ago. At this stage, they are merely looking for interesting cases to research, and stated they'd of course go through proper channels to obtain media should the case pass their initial research stage.

For more information please log-in to the members area and see the related Forum post, which contains the producer's contact details.

SanDisk on Wednesday announced a Secure Digital card that can store data for 100 years, but can be written on only once.

The WORM (write once, read many) card is "tamper proof" and data cannot be altered or deleted, SanDisk said in a statement. The card is designed for long-time preservation of crucial data like legal documents, medical files and forensic evidence, SanDisk said.

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You can just press play if you want to, but if you're forensically processing evidence, I wouldn't advise it. Know the playback software, as it is just as important to proper playback and interpretation as the hardware. Take Windows Media Player, for instance.

In the following video I discuss a few quirks about Windows Media Player v12, a shortcoming of the popular metadata tool MediaInfo, and more.

The chicken littles have been worried about this since long before the first Blu-ray (or even HD DVD) title was ever released, and the first step towards the analog sunset has officially come. Any new Blu-ray player announced after January 1st 2011 will only output HD via HDMI -- players that started shipping last year can still be sold until the end of this year though.

Full story:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/10/analog-sunset-begins-all-the-new-blu-ray-players-will-only-outp/&category=hd&icid=hd_eng_latest_art

Those who have been recovering video evidence from CCTV systems for any length of time know that every case starts as a research project. In some cases DCCTV evidence is submitted with little or no information about the recording device. In other cases the entire device may be submitted, but more often than not it’s submitted without any manuals or documentation.

CNET - Older hard-drive enclosures may be limited in the size of drive they can present to your system.

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I’m excited to announce that I’ll be attending this year’s 100th IAI Educational Conference in Sacramento, CA. This year’s conference is anticipated to be one of the largest, as it’s the IAI’s Centennial event. I will be there representing my employer, Ocean Systems, and we will be showcasing our latest Digital & Multimedia Evidence (DME) solutions in the event's Exhibit Hall.

For more information about the event visit the IAI 100th International Educational Conference web site. Hope to see you there!

Apple boasts that its just-released OS X 10.7 operating system (codenamed Lion) includes over 250 new features. While the marquee features make Mac desktops and notebooks a little more like the iPad, there's far more than that. Some of the improvements make QuickTime more usable.

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By Ryan Paul

Mozilla has announced the availability of Firefox 4 beta 8, a new pre-release milestone build of the open source Web browser. Beta 8 brings better support for WebGL and introduces an improved setup process for Firefox Sync that simplifies the steps for configuring the synchronization service across multiple devices.

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"Who designed this user interface, Stevie Wonder?" Actual statement from a LE technician and point well taken when it comes to proprietary DCCTV players. They're often horribly designed, and like all multimedia players/editors/tools regardless of who makes them, they are time & resource dependent (e.g. hardware resources, drivers, frameworks, codecs, etc.).

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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Back in May of this year Google announced Wave at their developer conference, and the social Web has been buzzing about Wave frantically ever since. Some love the concept, others are unimpressed and have nothing positive to say; I refer to the latter as schmucks (just saying). So, personally, I see big things coming from this browser-based collaboration tool, but who knows when. If you're not familiar with Google Wave yet, check out this video.