Want to build and program your own camera? You’ll soon be able to do so using Raspberry Pi’s new camera module. The new board will feature a 5-megapixel sensor (likely a cheaper CMOS chip) that can capture 1080p H.264 video at 30 frames per second.
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The Israeli army has a tactical intelligence device called the “Firefly” — a wireless camera that’s launched out of a grenade launcher, capturing eight seconds worth of imagery as it floats on a parachute from 500 feet in the air. It’s military grade technology that isn’t available to private citizens, but two hackers are trying to create a DIY version of the device for $500. Vlad Gostom and Joshua Marpet built their version of out of a 37mm flare gun, and showed it off this week at DefCon. They hope that, if perfected, the device could one day be useful for people ranging from law enforcement officers to search-and-rescue teams.

Build your own camera, launch it like a grenade (via PopSci)

Image credit: Photograph by Robert McMillan/TechWorld

If you tried to visit the Nikon Rumors site this morning, you’ve probably gotten an error message. According to the Google information, 47 pages from the site were tested over the last three months, and one page resulted in malicious software downloaded and installed without user consent. It appears that the site was flagged for that content yesterday. Yikes.

Another camera-related site, Cinema5D was attacked last weekend. Sebastian Wöber of Cinema5D wrote that primarily users running older browsers, particularly PC users running IE6 or users who downloaded Java or PDF apps were at risk of malware.

It’s unclear why these photo-related sites were attacked, but it’s a good idea to run a virus check if you frequent either of the sites, especially if you are in the at-risk group. Sophos has more information about the attack, which is common to sites running OpenX ad servers, here.