Free DME & DFIR Resources

Need to download a web video from YouTube, Facebook, etc. Here are two Freeware tools that can help, one of which you likely already have. 

Let's make it a great Friday, my friends. 😎

It seems like an easy question, and when posed as such those asking it clearly want make & model info so they can just add one to their wish list or pull the trigger and purchase it.  Purchasing a PC for almost any need should take a little more thought than that though, especially when it comes to multimedia processing needs.

Review Application Requirements

Understanding the hardware requirements for the software applications you intend to leverage is key.  Minimum specs, GPU & I/O driver support of course, and more should be taken into consideration.  This is also a great time to consider improvements throughout your multimedia workflows, looking for opportunities to save even more time with a new configuration (e.g. transcoding, data transfer, storage & backup efficiencies, etc.).

We've added another great feature for Media-Geek.com members that will further facilitate the efficient sharing of documents, images, videos, presentations, and even programs; a shared, categorized, document library. In addition to the personal files & images storage area allocated to each new member, the document library provides an organized, searchable, shared location for forensic related content. Content can be uploaded from your computer, added via a link to another server, or even imported from another server.

Additionally, you'll notice some minor changes to the Member Menu. A new "tab" has been created on the Member Menu called "Other FVA Resources", where you'll find the link to our shared DVR database, the FVA FTP server, as well as the FVA list-serv. We have more features planned and will also be working on some minor bugs that still exist with the Video Library, so be sure to check-in often for further developments.

From day one I have sought to provide a secure online platform for Digital & Multimedia Evidence (DME) professionals to connect and share information.  For several years now, I have considered hosting an annual DME Resources Peer Networking & Training Event.

Of course, one of the many challenges is location.  Our members are from all over the world, not just the U.S. and Canada.  Naturally, this lends to "Regional" annual events, which in turn leads to Regional Coordinators, etc. 

There have been many, many rumors about Windows 8.1 this past couple of months. A couple of days back Microsoft finally unveiled some of the new features that this update is going to bring. Today at the Tech-Ed conference Microsoft detailed some additional features. Windows 8.1 has now been confirmed to support Miracast streaming. For Miracast to work, both display and PC manufacturers will have to ensure that their devices are compatible with this format.

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If you're looking for filters for VirtualDub or just want to know what filters are available be sure to visit the detailed listing at www.thedeemon.com. Someone inquired about a particular filter earlier, and I've been meaning to post about their listing for several weeks, but just haven't had time.

Part of the reason I've put off posting the link was prior to doing so I wanted to test and report on their Video Enhancer Super Resolution program. I've just been too swamped lately to get to it, so I figured it was time to get off the pot. I hope to find time to do the testing with Video Enhancer and report back in the not-so-distant future, and when I do, we'll all look back at this and laugh...or at least I will. Sorry for the delay. 😎

I was out in Tacoma, WA last week to teach our DVR Assessment & Video Recovery course, and to provide a free seminar on Digital & Multimedia Evidence for area prosecutors, law enforcement and support staff. It was a really great class, and as always the group discussions during both the class and the seminar were really interesting and informative. Thank you to everyone who attended for their participation, and many thanks to Kim, Chris, and the entire Tacoma Police Department for being such amazing hosts.

If you missed the free seminar, we’ll be back out that way to provide it again on July 8th at the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Center, in cooperation with the Washington State Homicide Investigators Association (WHIA).

If you’re interested in our DVR Assessment & Video Recovery training course, check out our upcoming training dates and locations or contact us to inquire about hosting one of our training events.

Thanks again everyone. Be safe out there my friends!

We recently purchased a new cellular phone for our eight-year-old son. The phone allows him to make or receive calls only from a defined list of telephone numbers, which we enter into it, and provides emergency 911 access. A few months ago, a friend of his from school came over and she had a new LG Migo "kid-friendly" cellular phone from Verizon Wireless. Once we saw the LG Migo, we knew we'd be getting him a cellular phone long before we had initially planned. While the Migo is a neat device, we ended up going with the Firefly, which uses Cingular's network.

The Firefly can be used as a pre-paid device, or you can subscribe to a monthly service plan. As with nearly all pre-paid services, the per minute rates are a little outrageous ($.25/min.), but since we anticipate minimal usage, we should be alright for the immediate future. The fact of the matter is this was an impulse purchase, and we may eventually change to the LG Migo and Verizon Wireless anyway.

Adobe's primary tool for tweaking and organizing photos was always destined to be part of the Creative Cloud offering, but for whatever reason it didn't make it in time for launch. As of today though, Lightroom 4 is available to download on PC or 64-bit Mac (or both, since you're allowed multiple installations) as part of a CS6 monthly license.

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Sprint's recent roaming agreement with Verizon Wireless opens the door for many more potential customers, and products like this one are likely to get them to step on through that door. The Linksys Wireless G router for Sprint Mobile Broadband allows you to share your Sprint EvDO connection with others via Wi-Fi, and also serves as a full-duplex 10/100 switch.

The Media-Geek community is now well over 600 members strong and growing!  Although I was literally operating in a state of emergency for the entire month of April and on the road most of May, this morning I managed to finish a significant system upgrade for our site.  This upgrade provides better integration of the video posting capability, improves efficiency for many features and addresses a few other minor bugs.

The future does bring some rather interesting additions to the fore, among them include contact lenses that are capable of projecting images right on top of your retinas, according to researchers at the University of Washington who have been hard at work on super small and semi-transparent LEDs which will be integrated into existing contact lenses. 

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Who doesn't love free stuff? Even better, who doesn't love free stuff that actually works? Here's my Fab 5 list of Freeware programs, in no particular order. The quotes are from the respective Web site for each program. While I've found all of these programs helpful in one way or another, make sure you've read and understand my Web site Terms of Use before visiting any of these links.