The detector, $60, goes about camera locating in a two-pronged attack. First, you look through the device's lens while the unit bathes the room in IR light. Rogue lenses should come out of the woodwork (possibly literally), which will allow you to angle your body toward camera appropriately.

Then, you use the Wi-Fi detector to track down the radio receiver. This function is critical, as you can ensure the receiver has an uninterrupted power supply and isn't overheating in tight quarters.

Skeptics may argue that knowing a camera is filming destroys the purity of unintended exhibitionism. But you tell that to the guy changing JCPenney dressing room who, despite his best efforts, is showing half the world nothing but belly button lint. [Chinavision via RedFerret]

That's right, friends. No more pesky fiddling with your buttons when you've infiltrated deep inside the Russian Parliament.

Priced at $96, we're not exactly sure how the ring communicates with the camera. The technology could be based upon RFID, magnetism or simple metal detection. But we do know that 1200x1600 images and 608x488 video (at 15fps) should get the job done well enough, though you'll still need a decent explanation as to why you've been caught in the Russian Parliament's lady's locker room, wearing a wedding ring no less! [Brando]

For instance, you could pretend that you needed this $128 tie for important reconnaissance work, using its one button controls to grab footage of Joe using the copier, or Marie pouring another cup of coffee. Later, when downloading 30 hours of 352x288 .avi footage to an XP or Vista machine, scrupulous review could reveal that Joe had actually planted a miniature explosive while duplicating those expense reports, set to blow the next time someone made a double-sided copy. And there's Marie, making her way over to the machine now! That earth-loving hippie will surely make a double sided print. Run like the wind, my dull office companion! Run! [Thanko via DVICE]

This fancy pen has a small mic and a tiny earpiece, letting it function as a cellphone that's difficult to detect in class. Of course, you need to whisper in it, which is inherently risky, but not impossible to pull off. What's really going to be foolproof is the next generation of these things, a pen that streams live video from whatever the pen is looking at over the web. Combine that with that tiny earpiece and you've got a pretty foolproof way to stay in touch with someone with a Wikipedia connection and a vested interest in you passing that stupid class. [Mobilewhack via Ubergizmo]

A senior intelligence official told the Journal that "The Chinese have attempted to map our infrastructure, such as the electrical grid," along with the Russians. What's scary is that it's not just a few isolated points, but it's happening all across the whole country. Oh, and that the utility companies actually running the grid had absolutely no idea.

The reason US intelligence—who detected the intrusions and informed the utility companies—suspects the Commies is because the attacks are so sophisticated. They left behind backdoor software designed to muck up the works that "f we go to war with them, they will try to turn them on." And if you've seen Live Free or Die Hard, you know what happens when hackers go after our infrastructure. People die, Justin Long cries and cars run into helicopters. It's absolute chaos. I pray to god when that day comes, Bruce Willis is not sipping cocktails on a beach earning 20 percent Alan Rickman. [WSJ]

You can set the tissue box to record when scheduled, to be motion-triggered or to be controlled by remote control. The timestamped video is recorded onto a 2GB SD card (which is upgradable to 16GB) at a resolution of up to 720×480 pixels, even in low-light situations. So if you have a whopping $600, head on over to possibly catch your maid stealing or, most likely, just to find somebody playing around with their nose cooties. [Brickhouse via Boing Boing]

There's also an Ethernet port, Firewire, Mini DisplayPort and the old style mini DVI Mac display port? Two display ports? That seems odd. In any case, if this is real, it looks quite nice—and you can probably bet it'll run with at least the new Nvidia 9400 graphics chipset found in the newer MacBook and MacBook Pros. [Macrumors Forum via Apple Insider via 9 to 5 Mac]

Update: Adjusted credit. The image actually wasn't from Apple Insider, it was from Macrumors' Forums. Apple Insider just watermarked it for some reason.

Using a single rechargeable Lithium-ion battery, the pen can record up to 60 minutes of color video, and can be charged using a USB charging cable or an emergency AC power adapter. Also included is a special stand, which converts the Spy Pen from a simple video recorder into a webcam. And as for hiding all your important documents? Simply unscrew it in the mid section, and voila! The Spy Pen is now a 2GB USB flash drive.

It'll cost you $99 for the 5-in-1 Spy Pen, but if you pay just 10 bucks more, you can own one with 4GB of memory. Listen and sniff closely, do you hear/smell that? It's a collective orgasm from millions of spies around the world. [Product Page via Red Ferret]

According to prosecutors, Nathan's father taught him the ways of spydom from jail over his cellphone UPDATE: from his cell (duh), coaching Nathan through meetings with Russian agents in Mexico, Peru and Cyprus. And then, there was the issue of how to handle the money.

...Nathan Nicholson, a former Army paratrooper, had returned from his visits with the Russians with at least $35,000 in cash, some of it in a PlayStation video game case. The money was intended in part to settle a “pension” that Harold Nicholson said was owed him from his days as a C.I.A. spy for the Russians before his arrest in 1996, the prosecutors said.

[NYTimes Thanks ibelli!]

The Fenstar was built by Team MIRA, which includes students from England-based Warwick University and the Royal Grammar School Guildford. The British Ministry of Defense has already praised the innovation, pointing out that an aircraft that can “Look over walls or into compounds in Afghanistan will prove a real asset to the troops. The only problem so far is figuring out a way to minimize noise. Because, really, what good is a spy when everyone can hear it coming? That's some Get Smart tomfoolery. [Telegraph UK via Geekologie]

The algorithms the team develops will allow hovering 'bots like STARMAC to navigate, deal with collisions or avoidance and even to work as a team, sharing info on their environment and navigating around each other.

That has all sorts of cool implications for things like future automated search and rescue drones, able to search large areas efficiently and quickly. But it also means spy 'bots. And when you've watched the video, you'll have to agree that the way the things move reminds you of the flying cameras in (insert name of sci-fi movie of your choice). [Danger Room]

The mission was simple. At 10:26PM EST, a standard missile 3 carrying a kinetic warhead was launched northwest of Hawaii from the USS Lake Eire, a Ticonderoga Class missile defense cruiser. 24 minutes later, at 10:50, the Joint Space Operations Center at the Vandenberg Air Force base confirmed the breakup of the satellite at 153 nautical miles above the Earth from a direct hit.

While they can't confirm completely the destruction of the tank, which was needed to release the toxic fuel that may have posed a danger to us Earthlings, the Pentagon has declared the mission a complete success and with good reason. Some experts criticized the plan as probable failure during the past days, with the argument that the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense, part of the Ballistic Missile Defense System being developed by the US Missile Defense Agency, wasn't designed to do this and, therefore, it wasn't going to be able to hit the target and destroy it effectively.

Their reasons were three: first, the kinetic warhead, launched in a long range standard missile 3, a isn't designed to destroy targets by explosion but by the sheer force of multiple impacts. While this is enough to destroy other incoming missiles, the critics said that this wasn't going to be enough to destroy the much larger satellite. Second was the speed of the target, which was traveling at double the speed of the missiles which are the usual target of the Aegis. And third, the tracking system, which wasn't originally designed to operate in high orbits.

The video, however, shows that the direct kinetic hit has completely obliterated its target. Now the world can rest at peace. Until A542B, that asteroid ten times bigger than Texas, finally arrives. [Wikipedia, Defense Tech Org and BBC]