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IBM Touts Smart Surveillance System

mikesd81 writes "Reuters reports that IBM hopes to capitalize on the enormous growth in video surveillance. They'll begin selling technology from their research labs that performs real-time analysis on footage captured by security cameras in stores and sensitive locales. IBM contends that it is the first to add advanced search functions, which make use of computers' improving ability to recognize video content. For example, the IBM system would let a user search for all instances of a green car passing by a store on a certain day. It can also incorporate data gathered from audio or chemical sensors. And IBM said S3 includes important privacy enhancements, such as the ability to automatically obscure faces of customers or passers-by. IBM said that S3's target market includes retail outlets, banks, airports, freight terminals and mass transit systems. It is also being sold to public security agencies and other government departments." C|Net reports that the software is so impressive, it may be monitoring border crossings before too long.

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  1. Offtopic, but... by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    In your .sig you say "free 1680 x 1050 png desktops". So I checked them out. Nice pictures. I assume they are yours. So why do you compress them with zip when png files are already compressed? For example I downloaded the Japanese Fish example. The compressed file is 0.047% (less than half a thousandth!) smaller than the original png file. What's the point? By storing your images as zips you force viewers to download uncompressed files that could otherwise be viewed directly in the browser at full resolution. Adding this level of annoyance seems hardly worthwhile for something like a few microsecond reduction in download times. You've created a barrier for people who might otherwise get to enjoy your creations with little effort and it probably causes you extra hassle too.

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    Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.