I have seen spy cameras hidden in alarm clocks, plants, fake digital cameras, stuffed animals and toys. Today we see the most common everyday item, the car key, as a spy camera.
Place this inconspicuous spy gadget just about any where and no one will know the wiser. They’ll just assume it’s someone car keys laying around. Little do they know, it’s a spy camera.
Great for spying on the boss. Spying on the nanny. Spying on your girlfriend [because they are the ones that always cheat] and spying on your kids.
Just perfect.
The fake car key spy camera does video, photo and sound recording. Image quality is 1600 x 1600 which is good enough for any court of law and 29 frames per second…again good enough for the court of law, although I’m no lawyer.
Don’t forget the microSD slot which is the reason this fake car key spy camera made it onto this website in the first place.
It’s safe to say that microSD media is the smallest physical device which holds the most memory. Just look around your house or office and think of all the things you could stuff a microSD card into. Here we have a microSD card playing hide-and-seek inside a nickle.
Sure there is no technological advancement within this post, but it does remind you of the possibilities.
For the DIY folks out there, save yourself a boat load of money getting the right gear to slice a nickle and pony up the $30 to get the pre-fab’d microSD card inside a nickle at Spy-Coins.com.
Source:Â The Gadgeteer.
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It’s about time companies put some unique branding to microSD cards. The format is #1 for mobile devices, and although it sits hidden in your SIM card slot 99% of the time, it’s nice to see some cool prints on the device. Maybe this will encourage users to mainstream on microSD rather than USB for data storage and transfer.
This design, the microSD skull is also accompanied by another sytle which features a heart – I guess Elecom, the manufacturer is going for a his and hers theme.
Pricing isn’t set, but I wouldn’t expect them to be a penny more than a typical microSD card.
Source:Â Ixplora.com.
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SanDisk and LG developed technology to lock data to a microSD card. Their goal was to data load information to a microSD card which could only be used with a specific device. This ability would insure content isn’t used with other devices or copied over to another user for unauthorized use.
These cards could help to make a particular handset or plan more attractive to a subscriber by offering songs, movies, maps for GPS (Global Positioning System) navigation or applications. However, locking the card will ensure consumers couldn’t use the content elsewhere.
SanDisk reports the data lock portion could be updated remotely via IP protocols which means a vendor could update music lists, content and video depending on the subscribers requirements, needs or membership.
Some critics believe this technology is coming at a bad time, since users enjoy cross platform sharing for their music, along with Apples move towards less DRM on their music. However, what these critics don’t see is the need to protect other types of intellectual property. Although music and video is the big numbers, mainstream target market, there is an infinite need in the pro-sumer and corporate world for data lock and protection.
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The highly anticipated Blackberry Storm is shipping with an 8GB microSD flash memory card – but there’s only one problem. The phone has gotten horrible reviews and lacks the functionality most require for a quality MP3 experience. So now the problem – what to do with 8GBs of flash memory. Sure you could find something to store up that card, like snaps shots from the 3.2mpix camera or store the entire yellow pages of phone numbers and address, but the reality is – without a good MP3 player mechanism the storage isn’t all that necessary.
Sorry for the rant, but to boost the value of the phone with a $20 8GB microSD card isn’t all that impressive.
Interested to hear more about the Blackberry Storm? You can read the following reviews:
Koolspan introduced a microSD card with encryption technology for voice telecommunications and today Certgate introduces encryption technology for data transactions through an integrated smart card chip they’ve developed.
The Certgate microSD card is definitely a gateway for them to get more products into your facility as you need their server network to run the back bone security software that syncs up with the microSD token.
However, it is the most efficient way to expand mobile data security in IT and PKI infrastructures from desktop systems to all kinds of portable devices (laptops to PDAs or smart phones). It is a perfect solution for mobile and desktop applications and highest security demands, because it is based on tamper-resistant strong encryption (2048 bit) within the smartcard and thus allows the usage of low-cost mobile devices.
Without getting to involved with rewording their key features, this is what Certgate bullet points for us:
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SanDisk is all about SlotMusic these days. SlotMusic is the concept of pre-loaded microSD cards where your music can be played on MP3 players, mobile phones and PDAs. Complete interoperability and mobility with SlotMusic.
To soften the blow and increase adoption of the SlotMusic concept, SanDisk is offer a very inexpensive MP3 player at just $19.99. The SlotMusic player may also be purchased with pre-loaded microSD cards for a total price of $39.99. This price point gives a significant advantage of the iPod Shuffle as you get device and music for the same price of just the Shuffle hardware.
SanDisk put together a great demo presentation about the SlotMusic concept and I highly recommend checking out the link.
Now that we see music making the shift to pre-loaded mircoSD cards, the concept of a microSD duplicator makes a bit more sense doesn’t it?
With the backing of SanDisk and it being one of the largest flash memory retailers in the world, they have the channel and connections to make SlotMusic a success. It will be interesting to see what artists jump on the wagon and explore the digital distribution of music via microSD cards.
SlotMusic demo.
SlotMusic player product page.
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Here is a slick looking mini USB web cam Brando tipped us on. The mini web cam is extremely compact in size at just 89 x 24 x 20mm in size, can rotate 180 degrees and swivel 270 degrees. On top of all this, the mini web cam also has a microSD card reader slot.
In no time you can have a web cam setup for family chat or spy camera to keep an eye on that questionable one. At just 89mm tall, it would be hard to tell what was sticking out of your PC.
The resoltuion isn’t bad either with a 1.3M pixel and resolution up to 640 x 480 [VGA] or 2560 x 2048 max.
The microSD slot does support SDHC formats and the entire system comes with an installation drive CD to support Windows 2000/XP/Vista. $29 at Brando.
Samsung is looking to strengthen their digital memory storage line with a possible purchase of SanDisk. SanDisk is currently the #1 supplier of solid state flash memory, world wide [such as Secure Digital, miniSD, microSD and many more]. Samsung is the top producer of flash memory chips.
Through an acquisition, Samsung would strengthen it’s channel for supplying it’s flash chip to retail and channel sales of end-user flash memory.
With weak chip prices and fluctuating buyer habits, a move like this could strengthen Samsung’s position and would put Samsung at over 50% of world wide control of production, distribution and sales of NAND flash memory.
Avi Cohen of Avian Securities said it was an “unlikely prospect” due to SanDisk being unwilling to sell at the bottom of the cycle, and Samsung becoming a direct competitor to many of its customers and regulatory concerns. “Regulators in the US, Korea and Europe among others will likely have issue with one player controlling north of 50 per cent of NAND [Flash memory] supply,” he said.
Another option is Samsung reducing it’s royalty license to SanDisk to gain synergy with the top seller, reduce SanDisk’s bottom line and secure channel distribution of flash memory.
However if a deal goes ahead, it could block efforts by Samsung rivals Toshiba and Hynix Semiconductor to topple Samsung’s market leadership. Toshiba runs joint production lines with SanDisk and Hynix is also conducting joint re-search with the US group. Samsung controls 42.3 per cent of the NAND flash memory market, trailed by Toshiba with 27.5 per cent and Hynix with 13.4 per cent, says market researcher iSuppli.
Did you know that SD (Secure Digital) memory cards should use a specific type of formatting software? I didn’t. I’ve been using the typical Windows formatting utility for years now – never seen a problem. However, I found out today that Panasonic has such a software utility. A utility that complies with the SD Memory Card Specification.
The SD formatting software is specifically design for this media type and should not be used with other media types such as Compact Flash, USB or Memory Stick.
However, the SD formatting software is ideal for SD, SDHC and all the sub sizes including miniSD and microSD.
It is difficult to determine exactly what the difference is from the Panasonic website but from our investigation it appears you get two benefits. 1) the card size is formatted correctly to maximize size. The Windows version will make your card slightly smaller and 2) with optimized format the flash memory will perform slightly better.
Of the two benefits, it’s difficult to determine how much of a difference a user would really see. Marginal at best. However, if you are anything like me, grab the utility package and give her a try.
Panasonic’s webpage for SD Memory Card Formatting Utility.
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It’s safe to say that microSD media is the smallest physical device which holds the most memory. Just look around your house or office and think of all the things you could stuff a microSD card into. Here we have a microSD card playing hide-and-seek inside a nickle.
Sure there is no technological advancement within this post, but it does remind you of the possibilities.
For the DIY folks out there, save yourself a boat load of money getting the right gear to slice a nickle and pony up the $30 to get the pre-fab’d microSD card inside a nickle at Spy-Coins.com.
Source:Â The Gadgeteer.
Continue Reading
8 Comments
Did you know that SD (Secure Digital) memory cards should use a specific type of formatting software? I didn’t. I’ve been using the typical Windows formatting utility for years now – never seen a problem. However, I found out today that Panasonic has such a software utility. A utility that complies with the SD Memory Card Specification.
The SD formatting software is specifically design for this media type and should not be used with other media types such as Compact Flash, USB or Memory Stick.
However, the SD formatting software is ideal for SD, SDHC and all the sub sizes including miniSD and microSD.
It is difficult to determine exactly what the difference is from the Panasonic website but from our investigation it appears you get two benefits. 1) the card size is formatted correctly to maximize size. The Windows version will make your card slightly smaller and 2) with optimized format the flash memory will perform slightly better.
Of the two benefits, it’s difficult to determine how much of a difference a user would really see. Marginal at best. However, if you are anything like me, grab the utility package and give her a try.
Panasonic’s webpage for SD Memory Card Formatting Utility.
Continue Reading
26 Comments
