igargoyle

Fictional Wearables

nym's earlier entry on StartleCams reminded me of something. A fair number of scientific advances were prophesied in science fiction (I keep on forgetting to read Thomas Disch' The DREAMS OUR STUFF IS MADE OF), and Warren Ellis' Transmetropolitan mentioned something similar back in the 90s.

Spider Jerusalem, the series' grumpy antihero journalist, wears camera-shades that happen to capture evidence of an embarrassing drunken night due to anti-assault defenses. There aren't many devices out there that provide this kind of functionality, but recording is becomming a much more commonplace activity. In the 90s there was a kidnapping/murder where the victim had a casette recorder on her, and without the murderer's knowledge, captured her pleading for life. The police found the tape later, and used it in court. This was turned into a Law & Order episode. More cases of crime documentation from victims with webcams, cellphones or wearables are coming.

On a cheerier tone, Transmet has SPKF feedsite (think 30th Cent. website) listeners that provide audio/video to their audience via attractive electronic and harness combos. Again, something that could be done today. A lot of sci fi (and its hipper, somewhat brain-damaged cousin cyberpunk) skips right over wearables to cybernetic implants, but who wants to go under the knife every time a faster model comes out?

Desires and Motivations

Infogargoyle came out of two of my desires, to collect information, and to build a community around the subject of high tech information gathering. I began with things like wardriving, and wanting to collect more information like geospatial wireless access points. This desire led me to research, the research led me to the fundimentals, and from that I've gained a lot of insight about my personal goals, in regard to igargoyle.com and the world. This site began as a pseudo blog, into a dynamic full fledged one, and in time is likely to become much more. Part of my aim to find and build the systems to support both effective data aqusition, as well as effective data storage.

WarSpying

From Steve Barr: "From Slashdot, how to tune into X10 camera broadcasts while walking around" (for ~ 220USD) I had never considered trying to pick up *other* people's cameras, but I suppose it does have a voyeuristic appeal. Since these cameras are only 80 dollars and dropping, I'd bet this device would be good for removing the pesky things from unwanted areas. Personally, I'm going to stay away from wireless cameras without crypto altogether.

POV and Button Cameras

Part of being a gargoyle seems to be recording video and audio. While computer software innovation is important, having cameras that are easy to wear and use on a day to day basis is very important too. Most notably, I've found a camera called the BonoCam, which is a Point Of View (POV) camera that rides on the side of a pair of stylish shades (pictured on right). This camera is only rentable, but one can buy a similar camera without the glasses, at a very reasonable price. another company that sells cameras designed for adventure sports makes a larger camera that can be attached to virutally any helmet or baseball hat. They also sell a remote that makes it easy to record with a LANC device.

I've found more concealed items such as the Button Cam (pictured on the left), which comes with ten matching buttons. For all the people who think they can find any hidden camera in a room, I've also seen this camera that looks identical to a generic screw. If you're going for a camera that costs less than a cheap laptop, go for a pager camera or a miniuture camera.