Free DME & DFIR Resources

As demonstrated in a series of articles published earlier in this blog, solid-state disks (SSD) tend to wipe deleted information on their own pace due to the way their garbage collection mechanism is designed. Wiped information cannot be recovered by any means, not even with expensive hardware, and not even by pulling flash memory chips out. It’s gone forever.

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If you're using Picasa you don't need to read any further, as I'm sure you already know this.  If you're not using Picasa for any reason, let me tell you one of the main reasons I do.   As you probably know Picasa is a pretty handy little free program for editing, managing and sharing your photos, but I rarely use it for any of those things.  What I love most about Picasa is the included Picasa Photo Viewer application.

I was hoping I’d be able to wrap this series up with this post, but it’s clear to me now that I won’t be able to. There’s simply too much to cover and I’m certain that at least a few are still scratching your heads (like I was), wondering why we shouldn’t just rely on the pixel matrices to calculate Pixel Aspect Ratio (PAR) from analog sources. It is critically important to understand that I am approaching this topic from a forensic perspective, with the goal of standardizing the methodology used for forensic processing, interpretation, and presentation.

3D graphics have, for many years now, been based on the idea of polygons -- flat shapes fitted together to form three dimensional objects. There have been some experiments with other approaches -- volumetric 3D pixels or "voxels" became quite popular with some developers in the late 90s, but for the most part, polygons were seen as the way forward. New consoles and graphics cards were marketed based around how many polygons they could push around the screen at once, and it looked like the industry had settled on a good solution.

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Windows 8 will introduce a slew of interesting features, but will they benefit you?

Upgrades, system migration, support headaches -- IT folks are probably dreading the next major Windows rollout. Yet Windows 8, which is scheduled to move to the beta stage in late February and will likely launch in the fall, does offer several compelling new features for both IT and end users.

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Headed out to Cincinnati, OH today for the IAI's 101st Forensic Educational Conference. If you're attending, stop by the Ocean Systems booth (#513) and say hello! Safe travels my friends. - LC

By Sean Hollister

NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 460 hasn't even been officially announced, much less reviewed, but that won't keep you from buying the company's latest Fermi-based graphics card anyhow. Over at Newegg, usual suspects ASUS, EVGA, Gigabyte, MSI and Palit have fielded twelve models in all, most with slightly different features, thought it seems the base configuration has 336 CUDA cores (down from 352) and a mere 768MB of GDDR5 memory.

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Maybe it's just me, but it seems every other week someone's releasing a new "SmartPhone" that's going to change the way you do business as a mobile professional. But in my opinion, when you peel back that slick new protective plastic and fire it up it's the same old thing. No new killer apps, nothing really new as far as functionality or capability, and more often than not each new "exclusive release" seems to have more bugs than your local landfill on a hot summer day.

How long have they been making "Smartphones" now anyway? Well, to be honest, that I don't really know. I can tell you this, my first Smartphone was a Kyocera QCP6035 that I picked up in 2000 or early 2001. I can't remember for sure, as I think I might have killed those brain cells banging my head on my desk while trying resolve the plethora of issues I've been having with the latest generation of Smartphones. Either way, I'm pretty sure it was one of the first available and can remember how giddy I was to be able to toss my cell and my Palm Pilot for one device.

Johnny Cash. The Man in Black.

He wrote this song one day while in Binghamton, NY to do a show.

I'm pretty familiar with Binghamton, and can totally understand why Johnny felt this way on that day.

I felt this way a lot of days in Binghamton, and I know that courthouse pretty well too (Even the tunnel beneath it).

Anyway, life is about moments, my friends. Make the most of moments.

Sending ❤

The new Media-Geek.com members area is officially open, and I'm really pleased with how the pieces have neatly snapped together so far.  There's still a lot to do, particularly in the way of tutorials and documentation, but all of the core functionality that was planned for the official launch (and even some that wasn't) is up and running.

The most recent additions to the new members area are the new Video Library and the Forensic Community Events Calendar.  These are two of my favorite features so far in the members area and, as geeky as this sounds, I'm really thrilled that they were ready in time for the official launch. Additionally, with Brad Doell's approval, I've added direct access to the FVA list through the members area.  Thanks again Brad!

If you're a registered member who wants to hit the ground running, check out the Getting Started tutorial.

This brief (approx. 9min.) introduction into the world of digital video evidence is intended to provide law enforcement professionals with a better understanding of the basic concepts and related issues.  It was geared towards first responders, who in many cases are the ones initially seizing video evidence.

Booked my travel yesterday for next month’s DVR Assessment & Video Recovery course at the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office in Kissimmee, FL. This 3-Day course is designed for anyone who is doing digital video evidence recovery from DCCTV systems, from those brand new to the field to Certified Forensic Video Analysts with several years of experience.

Snow on the ground again this morning here in the pacific northwest, and looking at the pictures for the hotel options in Orlando made me anxious. ;) Hope to see you in class!

On Wednesday, March 9th at 10:00 AM PST (1:00 PM EST) I will be hosting a LIVE online tour of the members area.  This brief tour is to provide new and long-time members with a quick overview of navigating the members area and locating the multiple resources within.  The tour will last approximately 10-15 minutes and be followed by a short Q & A session, if necessary.  Seating is limited.  If you are an active member that is interested in participating, please register through our EVENTS calendar.