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Results for posts tagged "spy" on Gizmodo Australia.

Gadgets

Every Taxi in Beijing Bugged With GPS-Tagging Microphone For Instant Surveillance

Posted by John Mahoney at 11:30 PM on August 6, 2008

If you're in Beijing for the Olympics kick starting this weekend, don't be spilling any beans (state secrets or otherwise) in your cab back to the hotel, because you're being listened to. As the WSJ is reporting, on your taxi's dash is a microphone that can be activated remotely, at any time and without the driver's knowledge, for a live listen into any one of Beijing's estimated 70,000 cabs. And then, if the folks on the other end don't like what they hear, they can take things even further.


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Gadgets

Bluetooth Two-Way Earpiece Communicators Reviewed (Verdict: Spy Movie Fun at 75 Metres Or Less)

Posted by Jack Loftus at 9:00 AM on August 4, 2008

Like many geeks, the New York Times' David Pogue watches movies, like the Bourne Supremacy or Mission: Impossible, and yearns for the wireless earpiece tech they use to communicate with their buddies without microphones, headsets or mobile phones. He's right, they're cool, and recently he had the chance to review two consumer versions, the SM100 (SoundID.com, US$86), and the Dragon V2 (CallPod.com, US$100). The final verdict? Both are *really* just average yuppie Bluetooth earpieces like the ones you see stuck in people's ears on the subway. The catch, however, is that with the press of a button, they become "secret-agent two-way radios."

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Gadgets

Spy Glasses Set International Espionage to Your Very Own Soundtrack

Posted by Mark Wilson at 11:45 PM on July 30, 2008

What's better than stealing highly guarded secrets through your special digital camera glasses? How about stealing said secrets to AC/DC's Night Prowler? An otherwise gaudy but inconspicuous set of Oakley Thump knockoffs, these Spy Camera+MP3 Sunglasses capture shots through a wireless shutter control--1.3MP photos saved in 2GB of storage--and they play your favourite MP3s for up to 6 hours through the rechargeable lithium ion battery. If only these were around when we were ten, oh the parliament buildings we could have pretended to infiltrate. US$165. [brando]


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Gadgets

DelFly Micro Dragonfly Is Smallest Creepy Autonomous Spybot Yet

Posted by John Mahoney at 9:20 AM on July 24, 2008

We told you the tiny DelFly II robotic dragonfly spy cam was just the beginning, and we were right. The same Dutch roboticist is now unveiling the DelFly Micro--with a wingspan of just 10cm and a weight of 3.07 grams, it's the first to be smaller than an actual real-life dragonfly. Granted, the dragonfly being used for comparison is Borneo's Tetracanthagyna plagiata, which has a frankly horrifying 20cm wingspan--the largest in the world, no less. But still, now you're even less likely to realise those annoying bugs whizzing around during your protest march are actually just autonomous insectoid ornithopters keeping an eye on you--nothing to worry about. See it take to the air, complete with live eye-in-the-sky video feed, below.


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Gadgets

Research UAV is Preview of Hovering Spy Drones of Tomorrow

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 12:40 AM on July 4, 2008

Meet STARMAC, the Stanford Testbed of Autonomous Rotorcraft for Multi-Agent Control. Possibly the cleverest remote control mini-helicopter you've ever seen, packed with GPS, sensors and computer power. It's a research quad-rotor that the Stanford team is using to develop algorithms for future aircraft like it.


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Cameras

$20,000 Spy Camera Disguised as Garbage Thrown Out With The Trash

Posted by Sean Fallon at 8:40 AM on July 2, 2008

A spy camera hidden in a black back beside a notorious UK "fly-tipping" (or illegal waste dumping in the King's English) hot spot was recently thrown out by local workers with the other garbage. Apparently, this operation was so top secret that the workers in question did not need to know the details before being sent off to pick up the trash. To make matters worse, the camera has been valued at somewhere between US$14 and US$20,000. Basically, its just a hilarious waste of taxpayer money illustrated using equally hilarious British terminology. [Telegraph via Digg]

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Vehicles

Voyeur Security Drone is For Spying At Sea, Not at Your Neighbours

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 8:09 PM on July 1, 2008

This helicopter mini-drone has been developed by the Navy to help it counter water-borne threats, despite its provocatively lurid name. Made by Lite Machines, the battery-powered Voyeur weighs just 1.8kg, stands 70cm high and is actually designed to be suicidal. It's meant to hop out of sonobuoy tubes, patrol for threats for a while and then sink itself. Much more economical than helicopters or jets wasting fuel by attempting to ID surface targets (has the Navy's gas bill gone up at the moment too?) Plus it looks waaay more creepily sci-fi. [Danger Room]


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Science

Photographer Puts 189 Non-Existent Spy Satellites on Show

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 2:40 AM on June 24, 2008

"Yesterday up in the air I snapped a sat that wasn't there"— so might photographer Trevor Paglen say about his show at the University of California at Berkeley Art Museum. It's a series of photos of 189 secret satellites: the ones that officially "don't exist." Dubbed The Other Night Sky the photos are time-lapse images of the snoop-sats moving through the night sky, made with a custom star-tracker. Apparently it's his attempt to draw similarities between government secrecy and Galileo's historic tangles with the Catholic church. Found with the help of an amateur astronomer, each photo is of a named spy sat, and they're quietly beautiful—if you can forget the eerie spying aspect. The show runs until September 14. [Wired]


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Peripherals

'Really Cool' Keyboard Is Silent, Waterproof For Underwater Spy-Typing Adventures

Posted by Jason Chen at 4:40 AM on June 4, 2008

This Really Cool keyboard mixes two things we really love about keyboards: the ability to type quietly and the ability to withstand a glass of milk being poured on it. It's completely sealed in a silicone outer shell with "no" moving parts, which explains its waterproof-ness. If our experience with silicone keyboards is worth anything, these things are pretty hard to type on, making this a silent, waterproof and awkward keyboard. [Man Machine via DVICE]

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Gadgets

5 Reasons to Check Out the CIA Spycraft Book

Posted by Wilson Rothman at 1:00 AM on May 30, 2008

Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs from Communism to Al-Qaeda goes on sale in stores today. I know you think I probably milked it for all it's worth, but there's actually a ton of mind-boggling spy gear in there that I didn't have a chance to cover on Giz, such as:


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