Cameras

It seems you cannot go a day without hearing about someone or some group hacking a website or stealing credit card and other sensitive data from e-commerce sites. So how do you protect your e-commerce site from being hacked and sensitive customer data from being stolen? CIO.com asked dozens of e-commerce and security experts to find out. Following are their top 15 tips for protecting your e-commerce site from hacking and fraud. Choose a secure e-commerce platform “Put your e-commerce site on a platform that uses a sophisticated object-orientated programming language,” says Shawn Hess, software development manager, VoIP Supply. “We’ve used plenty of different open-source e-commerce platforms in the past, and the one we’re using now is by far the most secure,” Hess says. “Our administration panel is inaccessible to attackers because it’s only available on our internal network and completely removed from our public facing servers. Additionally, it has a secondary authentication that authenticates users with our internal Windows network.” To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Start-up Cumulus Networks this week has emerged with a Linux network operating system designed for programmable data centers like the ones Google and Facebook are building. The company's Cumulus Linux OS operating system includes IPv4 and IPv6 routing, plus data center and network orchestration hooks. Much like OpenFlow for independent, software-defined control of network forwarding, Cumulus Linux is intended to run on commodity network hardware and bring open source extensibility to high capacity data centers. Linux did the same for data center servers 15 years ago, Cumulus officials state, and ushered in widely-used innovations like virtualization. But networking has lagged the trend -- advancements like software-defined networking (SDN) and programmability are very recent, and strategies from the major vendors are typically tied tightly to their own OSes and hardware. The Cisco ONE plan, for example, is tied to Cisco IOS, IOS-XR and NX-OS. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

LeaseWeb, one of Europe's biggest hosting providers, has wiped 630 servers that contained Megaupload data and countered claims from the company that the file-sharing site wasn't warned."This is the largest data massacre in the history of the Internet," Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom said Wednesday on Twitter, where he criticized LeaseWeb for deleting the data.LeaseWeb did not warn Megaupload that it was about to delete the servers, Dotcom claimed, adding that they were informed Wednesday that the servers were deleted on Feb. 1. He maintained that Megaupload's lawyers repeatedly asked LeaseWeb not to delete Megaupload servers while court proceedings are pending in the U.S, Dotcom said.LeaseWeb disputes Dotcom's claims.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

George Lawrence was a commercial photographer with a knack for engineering and business. Born in Illinois in February of 1868, his career reached its zenith in the early 1900s when he took to the skies, creating incredible aerial panoramas using an invention of his called the ‘Captive Airship.’ Lawrence first attempts at aerial photography involved going up in hydrogen-filled balloons. But all of that changed in 1901 when the basket he was sitting in separated from the gas bag and sent Lawrence plummeting 200 feet to the ground. He was saved by a network of telephone and telegraph wires, but he knew then that he would have to find a better way. That’s when he came up with the idea for his ‘Captive Airship’: a massive kite train system that would allow him to take the same stunning aerial panoramas from the safety of the ground. The Captive Airship consisted of 17 Conyne kites strung together on a piano wire cable. The system of kites would then suspend a 50lbd panoramic camera of Lawrence’s own construction via a three-pronged stabilizing rig. The final product, when up in the air, looked something like the diagram above. The stabilizing system consisted of three, equally spaced 15-foot booms that radiated out from the cradle holding the camera. Each boom was equipped with a lead weight and a 120-foot length of silk cord at the end. Those cords were then tied together directly below the camera with an additional 3lbd weight. To actually take a picture, the camera’s spring operated shutter had to be triggered remotely from the ground by shooting current from a battery up to the camera, activating a solenoid. What resulted were 18 x 48-inch negatives that were taken from heights ranging from 400 to 2,000 feet. Here’s a sample of the kind of photography Lawrence and his Captive Airship were able to capture. Interestingly, Lawrence’s panoramic camera would always catch a glimpse of at least one of the stabilizing booms because of its large field of view. So even in the early 1900s, Lawrence often had to spend time “in post” removing them via retouching. These prints made Lawrence a pretty penny in his heyday. The photograph at the top is one of his most famous, capturing San Francisco from 2,000 feet above the bay after the devastating earthquake of 1906. Each of the resulting prints sold for $125, racking up a $15,000 profit for Lawrence. That might not seem like much at first glance, but that’s equivalent to over $380,000 by today’s standards — and all from one photo. Lawrence ultimately turned away from photography and towards a successful career in aviation design in 1910 after some embarrassing personal issues. He passed away in 1938, at the age of 70, leaving behind a series of brilliant photographic inventions and a collection of stunning panoramas. (via Coudal)

We finally got around to making the permanent Stock Status spot on the front page of the blog less ugly. We are now only showing one box at a time, instead of two boxes. Additionally, we are now going to include some of the more interesting Instant Rebates promotions. To keep it at a smaller size, we will only show one box at a time. The participating boxes will rotate every time the front page is loaded. If you are only interested in Stock Status updates, the Stock Status site is always waiting for you! Currently in the rotation are the Fuji X100S stock status page and the Ricoh GR stock status page and the Fuji X System Instant Rebates, which is the new development. You can see the Fuji Instant Rebates box in the Sidebar of this blog (another new experiment) and also right embedded right below... Please note these use Javascript and the AdSpeed professional ad-management service, so if you are not seeing them, it might be because of Javascript blocking or Adblock and such. The Latest Instant Rebates: Fuji X System (stackable, ends 6/29/13) and Nikon DSLRs (stackable, ends 6/29/13) and Canon DSLRs (ends 6/22/13) For the latest camera specials, check the Cameras Deals blog with full text RSS feed and easy to remember url noisydeals.com For the latest Camera Reviews, check the Camera Reviews stream with full text RSS feed and easy to remember url noisyreviews.com For the latest Lens Reviews, check the Lens Reviews stream with full text RSS feed and easy to remember url noisylenses.com For Stock Updates on hard to find cameras, check the Stock Status mini site Republication of this RSS feed on any website or blog or app is prohibited and violates the terms of use of this RSS feed. This text comes from the RSS feed of 1001noisycameras.com. This full-text RSS feed is provided as a service to our loyal readers for their personal use. Republication fees start at $1000 per month and will be billed to violating websites.

Earlier this month, Canon announced that there’s a firmware update for the Canon EOS M on the way that will boost the mirrorless camera’s sluggish autofocusing speeds by up to 2.3x. Given that AF slowness is one of the biggest gripes EOS M owners have with the camera, the news was likely music to many a EO M owner’s ear. If you want to see what this 2.3x looks like in real life, Korean photographer Daero Lee has published a number of comparison videos showing updated and non-updated EOS Ms focusing on things. EOS M + EF-M 18-55mm @ 18mm Here’s a comparison showing the camera shooting at 18mm with the EF-M 18-55mm kit lens. Left side is old (slow) autofocus speeds with firmware 1.0.6, and right side is what the camera is like after the v2.0.2 update: (This first test may not be a very good one due to the fact that the autofocus modes appear to be different in the two tests. e.g. multi vs single point) EOS M + EF-M 18-55mm @ 55mm Same test, except with the lens fully zoomed in at 55mm. Left is old and slow, right is new and fast: EOS M + EF-M 22mm Finally, the same test using the EF-M 22mm prime lens. Left is slow, right is fast: Now if only a nice viewfinder could also be added in via a firmware update… (via CanonWatch)

In this day and age, you’re likely to have a hard time walking down the street and not seeing a camera somewhere. If it isn’t held by the shutter-happy tourist in short shorts, it’s the CCTV camera mounted at the entrance of the local subway station. How does one maintain anonymity? Staying in? No! You put on fabulous privacy-protecting glasses under development by Japan’s National Institute of Informatics. The shades are designed to block facial recognition algorithms in use by many of today’s cameras. Eleven near-infrared LEDs block facial features like eyes and nose (though, of course, traditional sunglasses block your eyes as well). The LEDs can’t be seen by human eyes, so you wouldn’t be blinding every person you look at.When seen on camera, the subject emits bright white light from their faces. “By placing light sources mostly near dark parts of the face, we’ve succeeded in canceling face detection characteristics, making face detection fail,” says the invention’s presenter. Not all cameras are sensitive to infrared light, so the inventors are also testing out reflective materials. It may be a silly idea, but what’s interesting is that we’ve come this far to develop solutions like this to protect our privacy. We’ve come to expect to see cameras of all forms in our daily lives. They truly are ubiquitous. (via DigInfo via Engadget)

From Spider Holster: Ingenious Modifications Provide Quick, One-Handed Access for Easy, Safe Lens Swapping. Ithaca, NY (PRWEB) June 19, 2013 - Spider Holster, (http://www.spiderholster.com) a company specializing in unique holster-style camera carrying solutions for photographers, today announced the launch of its newest accessory, the SpiderPro Large Lens Pouch. Designed for the Pro-grade 70-200 mm zoom lenses with the hood attached, the pouch’s unique design provides superb quick-draw accessibility while maintaining optimal lens protection. All purchases will also include the Spider Monkey accessory holster (a retail value of $20.00), which is fully compatible and clips to the pouch exterior. Ideal for photographers that are looking to maintain a hands-free workflow while eliminating the tangle of shoulder bags and neck straps, the SpiderPro Large Lens Pouch includes some ingenious modifications on traditional top-load lens cases. To improve accessibility and enable swapping lenses safely with one hand, the SpiderPro Large Lens Pouch features a water resistant vertical zipper that runs down the middle. Where traditional lens pouches barely allow enough clearance to wrap fingertips around the large diameter of the lens, the expandable mouth of the Spider Holster pouch enables the photographer to comfortably reach all the way in and take a firm grip of the lens at the mid-section. This expandable zipper opening also allows for a much easier insertion of Pro lenses with the hood attached, as the photographer no longer needs to reverse the lens hood or change the lens’s configuration. Included with the Large Lens Pouch is the Spider Monkey accessory holster, which is specially designed to safely clip to the outside of the pouch. The photographer can then expand their carrying options by quickly attaching all Spider Monkey accessory line offerings (light meters, speedlights, battery packs) and future items such as lens pouches, rain covers and more. The SpiderPro Large Lens Pouch also provides a unique solution for the rear lens cap, saving time and hassle when exchanging lenses while keeping the rear lens cap secure while not in use. With a secure Velcro attachment point, the SpiderPro pouch easily hangs from any belt, allowing for rotation when not in use. The modular nature of the solution means photographers can quickly scale the carrying system up and down to meet their gear needs for any shoot. Crafted using both tough Cordura and flexible Neoprene, the pouch also offers flexibility and strength to safely carry and accommodate various lenses. “As our product development is conducted by professional photographers, we are able to envision how carrying solutions will work for wedding and event photographers on the job. It was this insight that led to the initial invention of the Spider Holster, and has informed all of our product development since,” said Shai Eynav, President of Spider Holster. “When our customers came to us with a desire to hang a lens pouch from their Spider Belt, we were determined to better the issues we saw with pouches available at the time, and the result was the SpiderPro Large Lens Pouch.” Features of the Spider Pro Large Lens Pouch include: Expandable pouch opening allowing for quick and safe access to lensesBuilt-in solution for tethering the rear lens cap while changing lensesA removable pouch lid that can fold back and out of the way when quick access is necessary to protect contents from the elementsSpider Monkey accessory holster clipBuilt in features to add Spider Monkey clip and full accessory lineFolds flat for ease of travelAccommodates third party industry standard beltsThe base SpiderPro Large Lens Pouch, which includes a Spider Monkey accessory holster clip, will carry an MSRP of $75.00. The product will be available for purchase at Spider Holster authorized dealers. B&H carries Spider Holster products.

Dumitrana, Romania-based astrophotographer Maximilian Teodorescu recently got his hands on an 1800mm f/12 Maksutov telescope and decided to put it through its paces this past weekend. He decided to test out the imaging quality by using it to photograph the International Space Station passing in front of the moon in broad daylight. The beautiful photograph above is what he ended up capturing. In the past Teodorescu had captured a number of photographs of the ISS’ silhouette passing on front of the Sun or the Moon, but this time the space station was fully illuminated — in fact, it was even more bright than the moon in the background. The Sun was still hanging at around 26 degrees above the horizon at the time. The original, uncropped photograph Teodorescu shot the photograph using a Canon 550D looking through the telescope. It was an ISO 800 image with a shutter speed of 1/1250s. Spaceweather writes that the ISS passes in front of the face of the moon for just “a fraction of a second” (around 0.6 seconds) as it orbits our planet at 17,000 miles per hour. Teodorescu looked up exact transit times using CalSky and then used his reflexes to nail the shot. After seeing the photograph being shared online, actor George Takei, best known for his role as Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek, commented on Facebook: “My goodness, from this angle it looks like a certain starship I once flew.” You can find a larger version of this photograph over on Teodorescu’s blog. (via Spaceweather via Imaging Resource) Image credits: ISS photograph by Maximilian Teodorescu and used with permission. Enterprise image courtesy of the National Air and Space Museum

B&H has the Domke Rolling Propack 217 camera bag for $84.99 (reg. $199.99) now through June 30. Check it out here at B&H Photo. Copyright/DMCA Notice: The RSS entry was originally published on Photography Bay and is protected by copyright laws. It is unlawful to (a) edit, modify, alter, or create derivative works of the text, content or links supplied by Photography Bay, (b) use any robot, spider, scraper, other device or manual process to monitor or copy any content from the Photography Bay RSS feed, (c) sell, retransmit or commercially exploit the Photography Bay RSS feed, headlines or content in any manner except as expressly permitted in writing by authorized representatives of Photography Bay, (d) incorporate advertising into or the placement of advertising associated with or targeted towards the Photography Bay RSS feed or (e) use the Photography Bay RSS feed for any unlawful purpose or in violation of the rights of others. RSSID#794326 Related posts: Think Tank Photo Airport TakeOff Rolling Camera Backpack iPhone Camera Rolling Shutter from Inside Guitar Think Tank Photo Announces Logistics Manager Rolling Photo Gear Case