The trend today is people think of tactical gear as fashion items, and though a new release or a new launch of a tactical gear does not meet with the same kind of frenzy as the launch of a Provogue item or a Lee Cooper jean, the trend of tactical gears dominating the fashion sense of a lot of people can be seen. While you might have thought that only cops can buy tactical gears, be prepared to stand corrected, because even people like you and me can look at buying a tactical gear for ourselves.

The question though is – Do we even know the precise use of the tactical gear we are about to purchase? Well, if we are going to be purchasing night vision goggles, we probably know what we are getting into. We might want to go on a night trekking activity with our friends and obviously, we want the night vision goggles to help us out with seeing through the dark. The same could possibly be said about flashlights and microlights. But, buying a baton and a baton holder, unless we are in a law enforcement service, may not really make sense for us.

Let us be honest here – We have seen a lot of people actually purchasing ID Badge holders meant for cops, and storing their credit cards and company IDs in the badge holders. There is nothing wrong in this because at the end of the day, these are products, and products ought to be bought eventually. But, that being said, these badge holders just only look good on cops, because of the aura it adds to their personality. Again, this is subjective, because people would feel that the badge ID holders also suit them well.

One of the famous tactical gear that have hit a good note with most people, like you and me, is the tactical apparel. This series of apparel, also known as high performance apparel, works really well in protecting our body from extreme swings in temperature. Imagine you having to go out on a mountain and find out that the temperature out there are in the sub-zeros. Even before you could realize, you could freeze to a point when you would gasp for your breath. Don’t worry – You could wear tactical apparel like moisture wicking clothes, that will help you keep your body dry at all times. These tactical apparel also work well for military people who often have to combat inclement weather conditions, more than the enemies.

Finally, the boots! Military boots, or gum boots as a lot of people prefer calling it, can also be used by us, in non-law enforcement purposes. We could put on one of these boots and skip on for a forest expedition. The way these boots are built, one thing is guaranteed – They will deliver optimal performance and the safety of your feet will be ensured.

Do we really need any other reasons for us to know that tactical gear is not merely fashion? There are ways you could put them to productive use in your daily lives too.



By: chris dallmann

The electronics revolution shows no signs of slowing down.  When I was a youngster we had dial telephones, AM radio, and black & white TV with a tall antenna on the roof.  We did not have microwave ovens, cell phones, computers, FM radio, or GPS systems and there were no satellites.  Well hang onto your hats, because the revolution has just begun…

X-ray vision is already here… sort of.

Knowing that radio waves can pass through solid materials, in 2006, engineers at Cambridge Consultants in the UK announced they had built a device they called the Prism 200 which can detect people through a brick wall. The briefcase-sized system works by transmitting pulses of ultrawide-band radar and listening for returning echoes.

According to the company, these pulses can pass through building walls over 16 inches thick, and detect human beings behind those walls over a range of up to 50 feet. The device can only detect people when they are moving.

Erwin Biebl’s radar sensor. Biebl’s team at the Technical University of Munich in Germany has built a device that can pick up tiny motions like breathing, or even a beating heart, through a closed door. His device uses Doppler radar to sense small movements caused by the beating of a heart or the movement of the lungs as one breathes.

It’s not a big leap to envision a system worn on the head like night vision goggles.  Think of how valuable that might be in hostage situations, fire fighting, and urban warfare.

Invisibility, not just for Star Trek and Harry Potter

In 2006, a cloaking device was which worked only for microwaves, was unveiled.  Since then there have been a number of attempts to make invisibility cloaks.

Scientists have developed “metamaterials”, made with electronic components that interact with light and send it in the desired direction. The idea is to steer the light around the object. If the light goes around it then you won’t see it. So far it only works with specific bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, the goal being to create something that works with a broad band of frequencies.  The components however, must be smaller than the wavelength of the light they are steering, making them very small.

Recently, a group at the University of California, Berkeley, constructed a material that was able to bend visible light backwards for the first time, and Ulf Leonhardt at the University of St Andrews, UK, has demonstrated how metamaterials could work over a range of frequencies.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in China is claiming that it has worked out how to cloak objects at a distance. They suggest using “complementary materials” which have optical properties that cancel each other out making it look as if neither material is there.

They have a long way to go, but don’t be surprised if someday you don’t see something that is right there in front of you.

Unique new sources of energy

All those gadgets…your laptop, cell phone, ipod, and all those other gadgets use electricity. Batteries run down and then what?  How about running those devices with power from your clothing?

In 2008, Zhong Lin Wang at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta wove a fabric made from zinc-oxide nanowires grown on strands of Kevlar. Each time the material is bent or squeezed, it generates a tiny current. Wang and his team found they could harvest it by coating each fiber with a film of metal.  Just plug your cell phone into your pants and start walking.

US soldiers in Iraq are using a device that could become a universal interpreter. SRI International in Menlo Park, California, has developed the system, IraqComm, used by the soldiers, packing a laptop with speech recognition and language translation software.

When someone speaks into the microphone in Arabic, the software turns the phrases into written Arabic, and then translates it into English. When the person finishes talking, the computer speaks the translation.

IraqComm’s software, and other programs like it, learn to translate by studying conversations. The software searches for statistical connections between a series of Arabic statements and English translations. Given enough examples, the software can learn grammar too. A similar system running on a hand-held PDA was developed at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

These programs cannot deal with free-flowing language yet. The IraqComm works well because it focuses on around 50,000 words soldiers need. The broader the subject matter, the harder it becomes for the software to distinguish the alternate meanings required in different contexts. “We’ll get there,” says SRI’s Kristin Precoda.

It probably isn’t unrealistic to assume that in a few years tourists visiting foreign lands will carry with them portable speak-into devices.



By: William Lund

A staple tool in any action movie is the night vision. Whether it is a set of goggles, a camera, or some other form of surveillance, the effect of that grey grainy image is astounding. Whether it is for sport, surveillance, or just for fun, any person can harness the power of such a remarkable tool with the purchase of a night vision item.

Night vision works in one of two ways: through image enhancement or thermal imaging. Image enhancement takes whatever visible light that is available and combines it with light lower on the spectrum that is unperceivable to the naked eye. This has the effect of illuminating the viewer’s surroundings. On the other hand, thermal imaging captures light from higher on the spectrum to create illumination. The light that is captured is the light emitted whe the object releases heat.

The decision of whether to opt for image enhancement or thermal imaging night vision is really a matter of personal choice. Image enhancement devices are more commonly used and easier to find. They offer excellent images, especially when used outdoors. On the other hand, no environment can be too “dark” for a thermal imaging device.

If you are considering a thermal imaging product you can evaluate the quality by assessing a few specific areas of criteria. The first is the device’s scan rate. A rate of thirty times per second is considered optimal and obviously anything above this is superior. The second consideration is whether you would like your devise to be un-cooled or cryogenically cooled. Un-cooled devises are easy to find, operate at room temperature, and run silently on a built in battery. Cryogenically cooled devises are more difficult to find, more expensive, and very delicate; but they do offer astounding image resolution.

Night vision tools come in a variety of forms including night vision scopes, night vision binoculars, and night vision cameras. Night vision scopes are monocular tools that can be handheld or weapon mounted. This tool is best for specific item viewing rather than scanning. For scanning, the better choice would be night vision goggles, also known as night vision binoculars. These goggles can be either handheld, or worn on the head allowing for full mobility and constant use. Finally, night vision cameras are a necessity for any area at risk of a security breach. Considering that crime rates increase at night, it only makes sense that your security camera wor at its best in the dark.

With this basic information under your belt it’s time to researching specific products. A great place to start is with http://bljsselfdefense.com/index.php?target=categories&category_id=15 . This company offers a wide variety of items, including several night vision devices, and provides consumers with education on self protection. In addition to the onlin resources, BLJ’s Enterprises supplies its customers with personal attention to help ensure that they receive the self defense item that perfectly suits their needs.

RESOURCE BOX



By: Barry Jenkins

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By hannahpac:

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Soroush T asked:


For a windows OS, I am looking for an editing software that supports all sorts of formats while offering many cool video effects. For example, I saw a kinda night vision kinda effect and then high tech letter written around it which was cool… etc… i just need cool effects for my vids.

By inthefieldonthewall:

So I got these cameras all over our office. They are so cool. I can see anything real-time and recorded up to 120 days after! Look at this idiot I caught on tape! Wait….uh… that’s me…

Don’t look now! Someone’s staring at you from that far wall behind the artificial potted plants in this busy hotel lobby. But there’s no need for that furtive glance like you have some lint on your shoulder. There’s no need for those tiny furtive steps either. No one’s stalking you. It’s just the hotel’s CCTV surveillance system. The hotel has recently been caught up in the wave of video surveillance. That someone staring at you from across the room is just the camera from the newly installed CCTV surveillance systems. In hotels and in places where there is high human traffic, state of the art CCTV surveillance systems have been mounted for purposes of safety and as crime deterrents.

That Constant Fear

The world, it seems, is gripped by fear of terrorist attacks. In fact, after 9/11, it seems to be a Herculean effort to make life go on – do business, travel, interact with others in densely populated places. After all, if there’s anything 9/11 has shown us, it is that a bomb could go off in a sidewalk while you are having an al fresco lunch with a colleague, or blow up the trans-continental plane you are in while it’s in in the air, cruising at 125,000 feet.

The security guys you see milling about do not reassurance you. You have always felt that security guys patrolling public places have a very limited capacity for preventing crime. They only act when something happens in their line of sight. By then, however, you’d be beyond help.

You’re Safe Now

Installed in a strategic spot and equipped with cutting edge technology in surveillance cameras, CCTV surveillance systems can record everything that goes on in its line of focus. These recordings can later be retrieved and analyzed to recreate scenes.

Software developers now see the potential of CCTV surveillance systems in preventing a repeat of large-scale terrorism after the 9/11 attack at the World Trade Center. These developers are working hard to develop programs for surveillance systems, among them an important feature known as face recognition.

With face recognition installed in CCTV surveillance systems, it is now easy to recognize certain key features in the face of an individual. This face will be compared to a host of faces from a database of mug shots and photographs. A person flagged as dangerous can then be prevented from gaining access to buildings or public transportations, thus thwarting any planned attack or escape.

Big Investment That Pays Off

CCTV surveillance systems today now boast of functionalities not seen in the video surveillance systems of the past. This time, CCTV surveillance systems have

1. motion detection. This means that the surveillance system only records footage when movement triggers the surveillance system.

2. resolution as clear as day. Grainy footage is not a problem anymore with some video surveillance cameras featuring 1600 x 1200 dpi, or even more, resolution.

3. night and infrared vision. Even with low or minimal lighting, these new surveillance systems can record images with infrared technology.

Government administrators are seeing the positive side of surveillance systems. In fact, after 9/11, federal budget is flowing in for these new security measures. There are states which require the installation of surveillance systems in business establishments before these businesses can operate.

So, there is really no need to be afraid. CCTV surveillance systems, those new security guys, have your back. They are always watching.



By: Nahshon Roberts

Knowing what goes on around your house while you are not home is sometimes necessary to keep people honest. If you have noticed some unfriendly looking characters hanging around or by your house it might be time to invest in something like a wireless outdoor security camera.

The future is certainly leaning on wireless signals and an outdoor wireless security camera is certainly no different. The need to see surveillance cameras become wireless have been long overdue and the fact that your setup does not have to be so final any more is truly a huge step in the right direction for home security.

This can be a key feature because if you currently have a system in place that is setup to meet the needs of your present furniture or decorative layout you will be able change everything without missing a beat. When you change your arrangement in any way you are sometimes left with different home security signs that will need you to rearrange your surveillance placement.

Once you see what the issues are that are going on around your residence these home security signs will be clear as day. Once you know where the problems are taking place you can focus on points of entry, windows, window wells, or where ever you determine the most prominent place of risk would be.

With the capacity of an outdoor wireless security camera you will be able to use motion detection, night vision, face recognition, and even in some cases speech recognition. This is not to say they are not available to any type of camera but with the use of the wireless signal you are constantly connected to the Internet and can always download programs for free with whatever you would like.

As your home security signs change you can download different programs that will help you keep your camera working at its fullest potential. This is what makes the wireless world so desirable. People who don’t understand it just know they want it and it will soon replace hard wire connections in our homes eventually.

People have even started to make desktop computers wireless. This is how much we love the idea of hooking up to things with no wire. Even when we don’t need to we want to. Camera equipment and software is headed in a great direction as we are at the dawn of the digital age.

An outdoor wireless security camera is ideal for a homeowner or small business for this reason. Most companies that use CCTV or some other form of surveillance are getting these cameras in place and they are not going to move until the company goes out of business or relocates. Your home is the same way with a hard wire connection and it is one reason we see no wire in such high demand.



By: Leonard Rigsby