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Written by Irfan
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A camera that can "see" explosives, drugs and weapons hidden under clothing from 25 metres has been invented. The ThruVision system could be deployed at airports, railway stations or other public spaces.
It is based on so-called "terahertz", or T-ray, technology, normally used by astronomers to study dying stars.
Although it is able to see through clothes it does not reveal "body detail" or subject people to "harmful radiation", according to the designers.
"It is totally and utterly passive - it receives only," said a spokesperson for Thruvision.
The portable camera, which has already been sold to the Dubai Mercantile Exchange and Canary Wharf in London, will be shown off at the Home Office scientific development branch's annual exhibition later this week.
Body glow
Unlike current security systems that use X-rays, the ThruVision system exploits terahertz rays, or T-rays.
This electromagnetic radiation is a form of low level energy emitted by all people and objects.
These are able to pass through clothing, paper, ceramics and wood but are blocked by metal and water.
The system works by collecting these waves and processing them to form an image which can reveal concealed objects.
"If I were to look at you in terahertz you would appear to glow like a light bulb and different objects glow less brightly or more brightly," said the firm's spokesperson.
"You see a silhouette of the form but you don't see surface anatomical effects."
In addition, the system does not involve any of the "harmful radiation associated with traditional X-ray security screening", according to the firm.
The company has made previous versions of the camera, but the T5000, as it is known, is the first that works both indoors and out.
The system exploits technology originally developed at the government owned Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in Oxfordshire.
"Astronomers use T-ray cameras that can see through dust and clouds in space, revealing what lies beyond," explained Dr Liz Towns-Andrews, of the Science and Technology Facilities Council which runs RAL.
Other terahertz systems, developed by companies such as TeraView, are used to probe the structure of pharmaceutical compounds.
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Written by Irfan
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With the highly-anticipated title Grand Theft Auto IV due for release late next month, Wedbush Morgan has said that it expects the game to sell over nine million units during the fiscal year, and that Take-Two is likely to ship six million of those in the first week of sale.
The analyst predicts the game will be responsible for around USD 450 million of Take-Two's expected USD USD 1.073 billion publishing revenue this year, generating USD 135 million of the company's operating profit.
But the expected success of the title does not compensate for the poor portfolio of titles for 2008 and 2009, says Wedbush's Michael Pachter, as Take-Two fails to produce timely sequels to its popular franchises, and delays key releases.
"As we look at Take-Two's line-up, we see GTA IV, and several games that look much like Take-Two games from past years," commented Pachter.
"We are fans of Midnight Club, but question the decision to delay the game's launch into the competitive Burnout and Need for Speed window as ill-advised. We also note that the Q4 2008 launch of Midnight Club will mark three and-a-half years between versions of the game, highlighting Take-Two’s failure to "sequelise" its key franchises on a regular basis."
Pachter pointed out that of Take-Two's touted franchises, the last Max Payne game was released in late 2003, Red Dead Revolver in May 2004 and Mafia in January 2004.
"Unless management surprises us, sequels to these key franchises will require five or more years of development," he said, noting that Max Payne 2 isn't due for release until 2009.
The analyst also remains unimpressed with other titles already announced by Take-Two, including Top Spin 3, Don King Presents: Prizefighter and Carnival Games: Mini Golf. "These games appear to us like the Manhunt, BIGS, All-Pro Football, Ghost Rider and Fantastic Four games of last year, when the company generated a net operating loss of more than USD 100 million," he said.
Read full story at GameIndustry.biz |
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Written by Irfan
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Two respected privacy campaigners have praised the user protection measures of a controversial online advertising system about to be deployed in the UK. The tools, developed by US firm Phorm, track users' online surfing habits.
BT, Virgin and Talk Talk have signed up to trial the technology.
Campaigner Simon Davies said: "We were impressed with the effort that had been put into minimising the collection of personal information."
Mr Davies and Gus Hosein were invited by Phorm to assess its privacy protection measures.
The two work with campaign group Privacy International but their work for Phorm was done as part of a new privacy start-up, 80/20 Thinking Ltd.
Phorm has said its tools anonymise the data it collects and that users can opt out via their Internet Service Providers (ISPs) at any stage.
But almost 1,000 people have signed a Downing Street online petition saying the system, called Webwise, breaches customers' privacy.
The Information Commissioner's office has said it has contacted Phorm to find out more information about how the system works.
In a statement, a spokesman for the office said: "We are currently reviewing this information. We are also in contact with the ISPs who are working with Phorm and we are discussing this issue with them."
Mr Davies told BBC News: "Phorm does advance the whole sector of protecting personal information by two to three steps.
"The problem is that may not be good enough for consumers."
He added: "Behavioural advertising is a rather spooky concept for many people."
Read full story at BBC Technology Website |
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Written by Irfan
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A security consultant based in New Zealand has released a tool that can unlock Windows computers in seconds without the need for a password.
Adam Boileau first demonstrated the hack, which affects Windows XP computers but has not yet been tested with Windows Vista, at a security conference in Sydney in 2006, but Microsoft has yet to develop a fix.
Interviewed in ITRadio's Risky Business podcast, Boileau said the tool, released to the public today, could "unlock locked Windows machines or login without a password ... merely by plugging in your Firewire cable and running a command".
Boileau, a consultant with Immunity Inc., said he did not release the tool publicly in 2006 because "Microsoft was a little cagey about exactly whether Firewire memory access was a real security issue or not and we didn't want to cause any real trouble".
But now that a couple of years have passed and the issue has not resolved, Boileau decided to release the tool on his website.
To use the tool, hackers must connect a Linux-based computer to a Firewire port on the target machine. The machine is then tricked into allowing the attacking computer to have read and write access to its memory.
With full access to the memory, the tool can then modify Windows' password protection code, which is stored there, and render it ineffective.
Read full story at The Age |
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