Free DME & DFIR Resources

What's the best way to deter a thief? Ruin the spoils, of course. Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint have agreed to a broad outline that will culminate in the creation of a central database for stolen cellphones. The goal? To block lifted units from functioning on US shores. Over the next six months, each firm will build out its own stolen device database for integration into a larger, central database, said a Wall Street Journal source, with regional carriers joining the effort over the following two years.

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Sweet niblits!  Use your Verizon Pre Plus as a Wi-Fi mobile hotspot...for free!    

Check out : "Verizon Mobile Hotspot on webOS devices now free, Pre Plus and Pixi Plus fall to $49.99 and $29.99" - Verizon Mobile Hotspot on webOS devices now free, Pre Plus and Pixi Plus fall to $49.99 and $29.99

Perian, the "Swiss Army knife for QuickTime," has decided to cease development after six years on the market. The Perian team posted a notice to its users this week, saying that the software is "as complete as it will ever be under our stewardship." Though we can't disagree with the team's reason for wanting to move on, Perian's retirement is a bittersweet reminder of the earlier days of Apple, when watching videos of different codecs was a challenge on the Mac.

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Last week I was back in Albany, NY to provide a free seminar on digital video evidence at the New York State Police Academy, followed by Ocean Systems 3-day DVR Assessment & Video Recovery training course. It was a sold-out class comprised of both students new to the field, as well as very seasoned digital and video evidence technicians and analysts. The end result was a really great week of training and peer networking. Many thanks to all of those who attended, and special thanks to the New York State Police (NYSP) for hosting both events!

The NYSP had a new academy class under way as well, with approximately 250 new recruits marching to-and-from the various classrooms within their renovated facilities. It was very cool to see so much activity at the academy again throughout the entire week. Best of luck to all the recruits in training. Hang in there and regardless of the outcome, thanks for stepping up to the plate!

LEVA will be providing the Advanced Forensic Video Analysis & the Law course September 14th - 18th, 2009 at the LEVA DME Lab. Only graduates of LEVA's Basic and Intermediate “Forensic Video Analysis and the Law” courses may apply, and seating is limited.

Visit the LEVA training schedule for the latest on all of LEVA's course offerings or click here for the complete advanced course details (PDF).

The new Documents & Downloads library is quickly growing and we've recently added a new category for members to post Forensic related job opportunities, and their personal CVs if their currently looking to advance their career.  The new category is appropriately titled "Employment Opportunities & Member CVs". 😄

Media-Geek.com is just over two weeks old and we have over 150 registered members, with more joining every day.  If you're interested in a new position or your employer has a forensic video, audio, or image analyst opening, post your CV or the related position's details today! 

This Friday, 9/30, is the cutoff date to be guaranteed a reservation in the LEVA block at the Coeur d'Alene Resort & Conference Center.

The 2011 Annual LEVA Training Conference returns to beautiful Coeur d'Alene this year and is just a few short weeks away. Click the links below for an updated conference schedule or to register today!

» 2011 LEVA Conference Schedule (PDF)
» Register Today!

This past weekend I migrated the entire DME Resources site to a new platform and updated multiple components, including member profiles, member chat, member messaging, our HelpDesk and Downloads. A few new features:

• More Mobile Friendly! Several mobile browser fixes & tweaks.
• Added "My Inbox" tab to profile, so member can easily see latest messages.
• Added "HelpDesk" tab to profile, which lists any Trouble Tickets submitted and their status.

The DME Resources site will be unavailable periodically due to scheduled maintenance throughout this coming weekend, April 11th & 12th. The site may be unavailable for hours at a time as core upgrades are implemented and tested.

As always, should you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me. Thank you for your valuable time and continued participation!

It's been three years since we first heard about DARPA's ARGUS-IS, but thanks to a PBS Nova special entitled "Rise of the Drones," we finally have more information about the 1.8-gigapixel camera that is supposedly the highest-resolution surveillance system in the world.

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It's Saturday afternoon and I'm in the lab today working on the cellular phone of the suspect from yesterday's tragic mass murder here in Binghamton, NY.   While waiting for the device to image I wanted to take a quick moment to thank those from the Media-Geek community who've reached out to me and my family since the tragic events began unfolding yesterday morning.   

Let’s talk a little more about aspect ratio. Always a lively topic everywhere I go, and regularly misunderstood by industry leading CCTV equipment manufacturers, engineers, and other video professionals. Should we correct, when do we correct, how do we correct, and of course the why. I’ve done a few short posts on the topic in the past (here's one), but this will be in a little more detail. Still writing on the fly, just going to break it down into a few posts over time.

George Reis, Media-Geek.com member and well respected digital imaging author/instructor, has posted a brief survey on law enforcement's use of digital asset management systems. George is working on an article pertaining to the topic, which he will make available via his Website www.imagingforensics.com in a few weeks.
Click here to take the brief survey.

If you haven't already, you should check out George's book on using Photoshop CS3 in your forensic workflow...simply click on the image to the right to visit Amazon.com for further details.