Spy Time!
This weeks focus is on Spy Gadgetry. Why? Simply because one of the girls expressed an interest in such devices (no, I'm not going to delve deeper into that!).So, here we go - what has the World of 007 got to offer Jane Bloggs? ...
Week commencing 08th Feb 2010
RIDDLES IN THE DARK
(Not exactly. Should’ve been ‘Pictures in the Dark’.)
Let’s say you’re a spy. (Whoopee!) Aaand, you want to take pictures in
low light. The world’s smallest camera won’t be much of a help here
will it? There you have us.
Now consider this beauty. This camera captures full motion video (up
to 30 frames per second) even in the dark (not only low light, but
total darkness too). And it can capture videos up to 30 feet from
where this is placed.
The device uses IR (InfraRed) technology to capture motion. Captured videos are in mp4 format which’ll work with PC’s and most phones too. Comes with a remote and a 32 GB SD card, and it is possible to adjust how many frames per second you want to capture depending on the space you have.
Resolution captured is 720 x 480 which is pretty good for a spy cam by the way – and all cleverly disguised as a clock. Touch of genius!
Here’s the link for this.
http://www.spygadgets.com/infrared-spy-camera
A YET SMALLER CAMERA
And you thought yesterday’s camera was small did you? If you really
were amazed at that, whatever will happen to you now, is what we’re
wondering. Anyway, here’s the deal. Japanese developer Misumi claims
that the camera they’ve built is the world’s smallest And for all we
know, this might very well be true. (Decide for yourself, once you
look at the image).
4.4 mm in diameter and 15 mm in length, this IS miniscule. Developed
for medical purposes, but if you’re a spy, the possibilities are
endless.
The resolution suffers though at 320 x 240, but even then the small
size is good enough to warrant buying this. Also features recording in
low light areas (not in the dark but!).
They call this the snake camera by the way, thought that was kinda obvious.
To buy this visit the developer’s site here.
http://www.misumi.com.tw/new/
Think of spy gadgets and the first that comes to mind is a spy camera. Now a spy camera could be of different types, but one of the most important requirements is that it has to be small in size. And how small can you get? Have a look at this.
Howz that for "Dinky"
This marvel occupies no more area than 1/3 of an inch squared and weighs 1/3 of an ounce. Has a battery life of 14 hours with a 9V battery. Features 380 lines over which resolution is spread, this captures light using a tiny pinhole. Also features functioning to certain degree of low light and white balance. Generally, pictures shot are of decent enough quality.
Claims that this is the world’s smallest camera might not be true, but heck, this is small, tiny perhaps is the word we’re looking for. I’m sure even 007 would have been proud to have such a device in his inventory.
Priced at about £ 77.00, you can buy this from Security and Spy cameras dot com (Suggestive name, no?).
Here’s the link
These days, no gadget performs just the one function. Probably the only gadget free from this epidemic was the watch, the wristwatch to be more specific. But the Pathfinder from Casio changes all that. The pathfinder is easily all that a traveller could want, maybe not on his watch but in general.
This watch has most devices that you’d want while you’re trekking or are on a wilderness exploring spree. Instead of taking all these things separately, how cool would it to be to have all of those on a wristwatch. And one that looks sexy at that too.
The Pathfinder has a thermometer, an altimeter to measure the height above sea level, a tide graph, a compass. The only meter missing is probably the sphygmomanometer (the one that measures blood pressure). (We forgot to mention the barometer. That’s there too.)
For more details you could visit Casio’s official site, here, http://pathfinder.casio.com/.
You take this to an airport. You get thrown in jail. No really, no kidding. If this isn’t a hazardous item, then wonder what is. This is one army knife that probably even the army would be proud to be using.
This 8 inch monster from Wenger features 85 tools, which is probably all the tools Wenger ever made put together into one. Weighing at 2 and a half pounds, you can kill a man with this just by throwing this at somebody. (Not that we encourage killing somebody, mind you.)
This knife, just for the sake of calling it something, has most things that you’ll ever need when out travelling. (Doesn’t have condoms if that’s your thing though). So to call it a knife would be an injustice really.
This costs a mammoth £800.00 and is available for purchase on Wenger’s official site. Just be careful you don’t run into any security checks, okay?
Here’s the link.
Please note, the image is pretty revolting and therein hidden at the base of the post …
How cool is this? Probably a little disgusting too. These undies are custom made to look revolting. (Though that in reality doesn’t take much effort) What others won’t know is that you have your credit cards, money and passport and other important items hidden in it.
These have secret pockets for your stuff and come complete with the artificially (we’re hoping) induced stain . Opportunists and petty thieves rummaging through your stuff will probably throw this away in sheer disgust.
A viable alternative to this would be to take your own undies, employ a cheap (in fact the cheapest) method to dirty them and then hide your stuff in it. But this does have its side effects – we’ll let you work that one out …
So if you’re travelling among areas not generally considered the safest on earth (wonder where that would be), you might want to consider getting these. These cost pretty reasonable too – about £18.00.
Here’s the link to buy it online.
With the advent of GPS technology, it seems kinda stupid that tourists and travellers do not exploit GPS facilities to the fullest extent. Most phones nowadays feature GPS facilities, but what they do not have is the ability to trace the exact path that you took from point A to point B. To help you with this, we have the Trackstick.
This device which is no bigger than a small USB drive (The Track Stick Mini), uses the help of 24 satellites to accurately determine your position. You can keep a track of where exactly you’ve been and what route you’re following to reach your destination. Think of it like placing pins on a map, only this is obviously much better and looks far sexier.
Featuring compatibility with Google Earth, this uses Lithium ion batteries which charge whenever you plug this into your PC. (Does take some time though)
If you’re travelling, possibly driving, this can pretty much be an invaluable tool. Come to think of it, GPS is like Nirvana isn’t it? The ‘Finding yourself when you’re lost’ part is the same in both cases no?
Buy this from the official site
150 Country Traveller Adapter & Converter
That’s not much of a name is it? But the device rocks pretty much, trust me.
This device is small, compact and easy to carry. This works well with the power transmission standards in 150 countries in the world. Fully automatic in its functionality, it detects different voltages and converts it to standard 120V AC power. The plug can be adjusted to fit a variety of sockets.
There are two outlets for charging purposes. One for standard AC devices and another via USB for MP3 players, iPods etc.
This is easily a boon come true for most travellers, as with this in hand you’ll probably not need anything else to fulfil your charging needs. Oh and another feature we almost forgot, this also features protection from power surges, pretty much a common feature in quite a few countries.
The name’s a mouthful but for all it’s called it’s not really worth that much. This is priced at about $30.00 USD ( about £18.00). Available online at Hammacher Schlemmer. ( By the way, don’t know if you’ve noticed, Hammacher Schlemmer is fast becoming my favourite geek stuff store! 
)
Talking of portable keyboards how’s this for one? A gadget that you’ve probably seen only in spy movies is one that you can now own.
This lighter sized device generates a laser beam which when projected creates a virtual keyboard (see image below). The device needs to be connected to your pc or whatever you’re using it for by Bluetooth. Using an optical recognition mechanism, your keystrokes are converted into digital signals which then type whatever you want to get typed.
It is possible to connect this device to a variety of devices like PC’s, laptops, phones like Blackberrys and Nokia Symbian phones, and PDA’s etc. Also this works perfectly well in the dark too.
It’s easy to carry and is easy to use and safe to operate in different environments like in hospitals etc. You can also customize this and change a variety of settings like keystroke sounds, sensitivity, intensity etc. An auto repeat feature is also available which repeats the same letter over and over again. (Useful in hack and slash games maybe?)
For a keyboard, it’s a tad expensive at 169.99 $ (about £100.00) but that is understandable.
This is available for purchase from here
As I remember mentioning in an earlier post, portability is in – very. A portable device is worth 10 (10.36 to be exact) non-portable ones. And what better portable computer accessory than a portable keyboard? Oh and by the way, we’re assuming you have a portable computer (also called a laptop sometimes) to go with it, or else this is pretty much useless.
Laptops generally have their own keyboard but unlike this, they aren’t fluid resistant ( as various members of the TTTech team like to prove with all too much frequency 
).
With a USB cable to connect to your laptop, a silicon water proof exterior ensures that you can’t spill anything over this (of course you can, but just that it won’t do any harm), usually the most annoying thing to a laptop user. If you do spill something, just wash it. (Just to be safe, don’t wash it literally but just wipe it with a wet cloth, ok?) So the next time you type, enjoy your coffee at the same time.
Add to it the fact that this doesn’t cost very much (AU $ 3.26 / £ 1.80) and you see why this is a good deal. Cool huh?
Among other places, there’s an ebay link we found for this which should be pretty convenient.
