FREDERICK, Md., Jan. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Visual Analytics Inc. (VAI) and Family Watchdog LLC are pleased to announce their newly formed partnership as of January 1, 2009. Under the partnership agreement, Family Watchdog LLC, an expert in the field of sex offender information, will make their National Sex Offender Registry data available through the VAI Data Clarity technologies. This information is updated daily and will provide a real-time integration for agencies already using VAI's DIG and VisuaLinks software products. This high-value source of information will enable law enforcement officers to quickly identify sex offenders in the context of their Federated Search and Analysis by automatically comparing the Sex Offender Registry alongside of their existing local and information sharing sources.

The full production versions of the registry, including offender, offense, sentence, victim, and address information, will be available via the VAI Data Center subscription service, which already provides numerous referential data sources such as the Social Security Death Index containing the social security numbers of over 82 million people who have died since 1963, and dozens of "Most Wanted" and "Major Fugitive" lists from around the globe.

"The Family Watchdog information is a welcome addition to our Data Center and will give our customers the ability to reference sex offender information in context, and in the course of their normal operations," said Bennett McPhatter, COO of Visual Analytics.

The addition of the National Sex Offender Registry, containing over 600 thousand entries covering all 50 states, provides an even greater source of information to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to assist in the apprehension of criminals. Under the agreement, Family Watchdog, LLC will also provide VAI with photographs of the offenders in the registry along with geo- spatial references.

"For years, Family Watchdog has been the most trusted source of sex offender information for communities", said Family Watchdog CEO Steve Roddel, who went on to say, "Our partnership with Visual Analytics will allow law enforcement agencies access to the same information their communities rely on."

VAI will dedicate its own resources toward the integration of the data into its products, services, and existing customer installations. Data will be packaged into one or more online DIG services, product rule descriptions, and other value-added delivery mechanisms for customer markets. The service will be available to customers in the first quarter of 2009.

About Visual Analytics

Visual Analytics Inc. (VAI) is a leading provider of data analytics, decision support, and information sharing solutions for investigating money laundering, financial crimes, narcotics trafficking, terrorism, border security, embezzlement, and fraud in domestic and international commercial and government markets. The Visual Analytics Data Clarity Suite is the gold standard for unparalleled, enterprise-level analytics for organizations requiring the ability to integrate, access, and analyze any size and type of internal, shared, and/or public data stores. VAI's tools are delivering unprecedented results to the analytical community and satisfying the need for better and faster technologies for data analysis and investigative support around the globe. More information on Visual Analytics can be found at www.visualanalytics.com.

]]> Wed, 29 Jul 2009 07:27:24 GMT General Electric creates new 500GB holographic disc

The 500GB disc took more than six years to develop and is considered a major milestone in GE's quest to eventually produce optical discs capable of storing 1TB of data per disc. GE will first release holographic disc technology for the commercial archival industry, to be followed later by the consumer market.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at InformationWeek

The growth of the internet has provided advances in many fields but none more important to home owners than the effectiveness of internet home security systems. The internet can provide home security in many ways that were either not possible or less effective before its invention. Old techniques relied on telephone lines and human reaction to let any home owner sleep at night and generally were outsourced to a company instead of having the ability to monitor the security themselves.

As the world is getting smaller and more people find themselves traveling for work or play the need for internet home security regardless of physical location has become a must. Another growing reason for internet home security is the popularity of having a second home or vacation property located far away from their primary residence.

Here are some of the common ways that home owners have been able to merge the advancements of technology to provide comprehensive and reliable internet home security.

Home Security Advances

Cameras: Home owners can now know exactly what is going on in any room at any time in their house with internet home security cameras. Viewable anywhere from either a computer or hand held device, any home owner can look on their property and loved ones to ensure everything is peaceful and quiet. There is no limit either to how many you have set up or the location and angle in which you want it making this option very flexible and very effective.

Home Alarm Systems: Using a PDA or other portable device, home owners can be alerted if a door or window is opened in their home. Setting up motion sensors that make a loud sound to alert you is only effective if you are in the home; however, these motion sensors would now send you a signal over the internet to notify you immediately even if you are not at home when it happens. Smoke alarms systems can also be linked into the internet allowing the home owner to contact the proper authorities in case any situation should arise.

GPS: Popular with home owners whom have expensive treasures they want protected. It is used by attaching a GPS device to their property which allows them to track its location in case anyone does break in and steal anything.

These advances allow any home owner to provide wireless home security monitoring to ensure that if anything happens at their house they can find out immediately and can notify their loved ones and authorities to react to any situation. These options are generally one time expenses to setup unlike traditional home security which involves the monthly payments for a security company to monitor your home for you.

Log in to Atech Systems website and find ways to protect yourself.

Most recently, a fire tore through a mobile home in Eros on Wednesday night, killing 20-year-old Christopher Quinlan and his infant son Ryan Quinlan while the father was giving his son a bath.

The mobile home had a smoke detector, but it was not working.

Greg Thompson, Ouachita Parish fire prevention officer, said non-working smoke detectors have been too common factors in the spate of fatal fires.

"We've had nine fatalities in Ruston, Monroe and Ouachita Parish in the last three and a half months," Thompson said. "In the last two weeks, the state has had 15 deaths. It's unusual to Louisiana, and a high rate when you compare its 4.5 million people to the U.S. population."

Thompson said the parish fire department will be pushing for residents to make sure they have smoke detectors and that they are in working order. "We've already made a push once during October," Thompson said. "All these deaths come with no working smoke detectors. It would have made a difference. It's senseless, and it's extremely preventable."

State Fire Marshal Butch Browning, who will speak in Monroe on Thursday, called the deaths a "tremendous loss" and encouraged citizens to donate smoke detectors to their local fire departments.

In 2005 — the most recent year in which statistics are available — Louisiana had a rate of 28.3 fire deaths per million population, averaging 16 more deaths per million than the national average, according to United States Fire Administration data.

Only the District of Columbia, Arkansas and Oklahoma had higher rates during that period.

According to the U.S. Fire Administration, fire problems vary from region to region because of climate, poverty, education, demographics and other factors.

Students from the Columbia Secondary School in NYC Joined UL’s Gus Schaefer, FDNY Chief Sal Cassano and NFPA President James Shannon at the press conference to kick off CO Awareness Week.

UL’s Gus Schaefer, FDNY Chief Sal Cassano and NFPA President James Shannon join Heather Caldwell from Kidde at the press event to kick off CO Awareness Week. According to NFPA research, fire departments respond to more than 60,000 CO incidents each year.

Bitter cold weather can bring more than just frosty mornings and runny noses. Along with the winter chill come the dangers of deadly carbon monoxide (CO), whose odorless reach extends into household living spaces as more families turn to alternative methods - such as a fireplace, wood stove or portable heater - to heat their homes and save a few dollars. A new survey^*released by Underwriters Laboratories (UL), an independent product safety testing organization, revealed that while many Americans claim they have some familiarity with the dangers of CO, many others admit their knowledge is shallow, a red flag considering CO is a significant problem in the U.S., sending more than 15,000 people to the emergency room each year (according to a 2008 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). The survey also revealed only half of Americans actually have a working CO alarm installed in their home and a whopping seventy-seven percent of American seniors believe CO can be easily detected by human senses.

Known as the “Silent Killer”, CO is produced by incomplete burning of fuel, such as propane, kerosene, gasoline, oil, natural gas, wood and charcoal. A CO leak can be attributed to many common household sources including malfunctioning gas-fired appliances, space heaters, chimney flues and portable generators.

Because you cannot see it, smell it or taste it, you or your loved ones could be exposed to CO without even knowing it. The symptoms – headaches, fatigue, nausea, dizziness and shortness of breath – are often mistaken for the flu.