The Geek Church

FiOS is adding Internet Radio and YouTube.

TiVo has a Wireless N Network Adapter.

Denon has two 3D-ready Bu-Ray players.

Eye-Fi has Geo X2 Wireless Storage Card.

Here’s an RC Helicopter with mounted Canon 7D camera.

I don’t know what Jackie Chan has to do with camera. But the Canon Rebel T2i has a special edition camera devoted to him.

The Samsung Exec comes from US Cellular.

TomTom Go Live 1000 is a new flagship PND.

Here’s a secure USB drive has a combination on it. Meet the Lok-it.

Here’s the University of Tokyo’s concept controller.

SoundHound is an App available for free for the iPhone and iPad.

RIM has announced BlackBerry App World 2.0.

Check out this Future Kitchen that is controlled by text messages.

Here’s this interesting fact. The Nazi’s were working on jet-packs.

Check out this Domestic Transformer turns 344-foot square space into a 24-room house.

In the development of new military technology, researchers continue to make breakthroughs in creating better equipment for every branch of military and law enforcement personnel. In this present age, we see the development of hybrid vehicles for land and air, automated vehicles that doesn’t require a human operator and new weaponry designed with the option of non-lethal force. Now, with funding from DARPA, the University of Florida has discovered a way to create better night vision technology.

They have found a film-thin material that can be used to make inexpensive and lightweight night vision tech to be added to any piece of equipment like cameras, special gadgets and even car windshields. This is made possible through use of the same technology that powers OLED displays. This film-thin material is made from seven layers of Organic Light Emitting Diodes, which react to infrared light. Electrical charges are generated as light passes through the layers and the power is increased as it passes through each successive layer. Thus, creating complete clarity of vision in total darkness.

Currently, the existing prototype can only cover one square centimeter but researchers are sure that this technology is capable of being produced at a larger scale, even up to the size of a car’s windshield. Apparently, this new night vision technology can literally turn a person’s view of night into day with perfect clarity. However, this film-thin material’s promise of better night vision does bring into question whether or not it will come with safeguards against blindness from intense light. If this conceptual technology is ever fully realized for real world application, I wonder if the general consumer will ever get access to it after it become standard issue for the military and law enforcement.

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Last night, Jason Chen, an editor and journalist of Gizmodo and his wife returned home at 9:45pm after having dinner to find police in their house, confiscating Chen’s computers and personal servers. Of course, the officers had a search warrant, which they showed to Mr. Chen when he asked for it. But they showed him the warrant after they ordered him to put his hands behind his head and searched him for weapons. Then Mr. Chen was informed that he wasn’t being arrested, he and his wife had the option of staying overnight at the home of a friend and neighbor and the couple had to wait for an half hour before their house was released from the search. Before leaving his home, the police gave Mr. Chen an inventory list of everything they seized and reassured him that he could be reimbursed for his front door, which they had bashed in.

These officers are members of the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team, a high-tech crime task force from various local Bay Area law enforcement agencies located in California. The search warrant they used was issued by a judge of the Superior Court in San Mateo county. According to the warrant, the police were authorized to confiscate personal property if there is probable cause that a felony was committed and if the removed items show that a felony was indeed committed. Furthermore, the warrant specified the seizure of computer systems, documentation of those computer systems, records and data from those computers and their hard drives and printed documents and images connected to the sale of the misplaced iPhone prototype. Other personal property of interest could also be taken to identify the suspect.

However, Gaby Darbyshire, Chief Operating Officer of Gawker Media LLC claims that the California police actually conducted an illegal search and seizure at Chen’s home because their actions could be in violation of section 1524(g) of the California Penal Code. Mr. Chen is an employee of Gawker Media, Gizmodo’s parent company and Darbyshire sent a formal letter to the police in Chen’s defense. In his letter, Darbyshire cites section 1524(g), which states that no warrant can be issued for the seizure of items described in Section 1070 of the Evidence Code. Furthermore, Section 1070 itself states that any employer or employee of a newspaper, magazine, radio station or other type of publication cannot be held in contempt by a judicial, legislative or administrative body for refusing to disclose information obtained for circulation to the public. Mr. Darbyshire also noted that the warrant was issued for “night search approval” only, which could have been violated by the police since Chen didn’t return home until 9:45pm and Darbyshire requested that Chen’s property be quickly returned to him.

It is possible that Mr. Chen was targeted for police investigation since he wrote extensively about the iPhone 4G prototype that was misplaced by a software engineer in Redwood City last March and Gizmodo consequently posted the story after buying the smartphone. Nevertheless, it is not clear whether or not Chen is actually being charged for a crime at this time.

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