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.
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.
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]
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]
“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] galleryPost('paglensats', 3, '');
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]
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:
Even if eavesdropping on your co-worker’s personal phone calls is the closest you will ever get to becoming a spy, a watch filled with spy gadgets is hard for any man to resist. Perhaps that is why Veldini plans on releasing at least 3 different models of their new “Q” James Bond inspired wristwatch. Each will feature its own set of tools geared towards a specific scenario: outdoor use, spy use, and everyday use.
Not quite as high-tech as the CIA spy gear Wilson’s been showing, but almost a steampunk modding of a normal walking stick… this cane with built-in telescope gave me a smile the moment I saw it. Mainly because I pictured a Victorian gent strolling along, then popping out the 3x mag telescope to steal a forbidden glimpse of distant ankle. Simpler days, eh? It has a one-inch wide, 37-inch high African rosewood stick, so it should be good as a real walking aid, and there’s a brass handle for an extra touch of style. It’s available now for US$89.95… useful for countryside strolls, and, of course, for the odd bit of *ahem* bird-spotting. [HammacherSchlemmer via Red Ferret]
This week is Gizmodo’s salute to CIA spy technology. What’s the occasion? The May 29th release of Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA’s Spytechs from Communism to al-Qaeda, by Robert Wallace and H. Keith Melton (with Henry R. Schlesinger). While we don’t typically review books, this one happens to be the best we’ve ever seen on the subject of old-school spyware, a book the CIA itself held up for many many months before just barely deeming it safe for public consumption, a book that pretty much proves that all the freaky spy gadgetry you’ve seen in movies—and some that you haven’t—is ALL TOTALLY REAL.
