Surveillance

How does Facebook occasionally deliver such disconcertingly timed advertisements? Is it really listening to users through their smartphone microphones? Or is the truth much more unsettling?

Computers

Facebook isn’t eavesdropping, but the truth is more disturbing

A longstanding conspiracy is the tale of how Facebook is listening in on your conversations, but the way it is actually serving you ads is much more unsettling.

The SX800 offers an optical focal length range of 20 mm to 800 mm, with the telephoto end extending to 1,000 mm when helped along by 1.25x digital zoom

Digital Cameras

Fujifilm zooms into surveillance cam business with SX800

Fujifilm has entered the surveillance camera market with a model that's capable of zooming in on a vehicle registration plate a kilometer away. The SX800 also includes a new image stabilization mechanism, real-time correction of heat haze and fog and fast autofocus.

Parrot has earned a contract with the US Department of Defense to adapt its technology for military surveillance

Drones

US military turns to Parrot to help develop new reconnaissance drones

Though Parrot hasn't reached the heights of some drone companies in terms of popularity, its expertise has seen it earn a contract with the US Department of Defense to adapt its technology for military surveillance.

NEC says that accuracy rates of up to 90 percent have been recorded during testing

Computers

NEC recognition tech can spot people even when their faces are obscured

You might think you're safe from being spotted by a camera if your face is covered or turned away, but the latest developments in AI-powered recognition tech are coming for you. NEC has announced a system that can identify people who are partially obscured, or even facing the other way.

"We are trying to make a building that is able to 'listen' to the humans inside," says the project's Ming-Chun Huang

Around The Home

Look out – there’ll be an “internet of ears” next

We’ve had the internet of things for years now. You may well already have smart devices controlling your home. But what might the future of smart home technology look like? Two scientists at Case Western Reserve University believe it could well be something they are calling the “internet of ears.”

The method is accurate to within two people

Science

Researchers show they can count people through walls using only Wi-Fi

In what may be seen as a worrying development to those troubled by the growth of the surveillance state, researchers at the University of California have demonstrated that they can count people through walls using only Wi-Fi signals.

Computers

AI in schools: China’s massive and unprecedented education experiment

In 2017, China revealed an ambitious masterplan to lead the world in both AI research and deployment by 2030. It has been revealed recently that several new technological innovations are now being tested in Chinese schools redefining how children can be educated in the 21st century.

DARPA and BAE Systems are collaborating on a program to let unmanned aerial system (UAS) payloads share hardware components, allowing for mid-flight multitasking

Military

DARPA program to allow for mid-flight multitasking drone missions

DARPA’s unmanned aerial systems (UAS) can be fitted for a wide range of missions, but compact UAS can usually only carry one such instrument at a time, and need to land fr a swap over. Now, DARPA and BAE Systems are collaborating on a program to enable smaller UAS to multitask.

The O-R3 combines an autonomous security robot with a surveillance drone to create a comprehensive security system

Drones

World's first autonomous security vehicle with companion drone

Surveillance drones and security robots are not new innovations on their own, but Singapore company Otsaw Digital has brought the two together. The O-R3 is the world's first ground-aerial outdoor security robot that combines an autonomous roving ground vehicle with a surveillance drone.

Nvidia's Metropolis is an intelligent video analytics platform that can process enormous amounts of security camera footage looking for patterns and usable data

Computers

Nvidia's slightly terrifying Metropolis platform paves the way for smarter cities

Nvidia's Metropolis intelligent video analytics platform applies deep learning to constantly process and contextualize the masses of data streaming from the ever-increasing number of cameras watching us every day.

It analyses focal points and the people nearby, not the complete crowd

Good Thinking

Mitsubishi develops real-time data analysis system for crowd safety

Mitsubishi Electric has developed a new technology to help security cameras predict risk and improve safety at crowded events. The system analyzes data from surveillance cameras and presents a heat map for monitors to act on.

Equipped with electro-optical and infrared cameras, Tether Eye can fly to an altitude of 150 ft (45 m)

Drones

Tethered drone provides a hovering watchtower to troops on the ground

Looking to further boost to its surveillance capabilities, the US military has begun testing a tethered drone system that hovers in the air and streams continuous aerial views to troops on the ground.