Word is spreading. Check out the MIT Technology Review's article on Prism Skylabs' innovative new uses for surveillance video.

Think unmanned aerial devices are relegated only to the skies over Iran and Afghanistan? Think again. Starting in September 2015, UAVs will be allowed into commercial airspace, even if they’re privately or commercially-owned drones.

This means companies like Google—or your neighbor that is fascinated by GPS—could deploy drones anywhere in the country for more advanced mapping or, you know, spying.

Why the change in policy? Congress passed the bill just yesterday, but they weren’t focusing on UAVs, exactly. Instead, the bill is to allow the FAA’s adoption of NextGen, a program that lets commercial aircraft install GPS technology. That will allow for more efficient (read: steeper) take-offs, which should be fun.

I’m all for more efficient air travel (will it also be cheaper?), but the privacy implications of this bill worry me. As Time explains:

Rigging a cheap drone with a video camera was no problem for an Occupy protestor; how hard would it be for someone with deeper pockets to finance a drone with even more powerful surveillance equipment to monitor, well, who knows what? How will we know what purposes any private citizen has for deploying a drone overhead?

Meanwhile, Forbes wonders how corporations will use this new-found freedom to gather more information on consumers.

Fines from red-light cameras are a pain. But in California, they really hurt—to the tune of $480.

In a recent San Francisco Chronicle article, residents vented their frustration over the technology, which happens to rake in about $130 million annually for the state and various cities. Meanwhile, intersection accidents have decreased 40 percent since many of the cameras were installed in 2000.

By far, California hands out the most expensive red-light camera tickets in the world, and a group of citizens is hoping to change the system.

The Red Light Camera Protest Group is calling for the elimination of red-light cameras and a reduction in the fine. If not, they say they’ll accept the duration of yellow lights, giving drivers more time to safely get through an intersection or turn right on red. (After all, a recent study in South San Francisco found that 98 percent of its tickets at one red-light camera were for rolling right turns.)

Not surprisingly, police and city officials maintain that red-light cameras make intersections safer for both drivers and pedestrians—even in right-turn-on-red situations.

Even citizens seem to be divided on the issue, the Chronicle reports:

Halfway down the block on 27th from the light, Phuong Nguyen works at MP Flowers and sees the camera light flicker all day. She shook her fist in its direction.

"Three members of my family got tickets at that light in the past month while driving to work," she said. "Lot of money for the government, not such a good idea for the rest of us."

Jessica Lubnieski, 27, lives a few blocks north of the light, though, and says she is grateful for it.

"I walk my dog this route all the time, and people go flying through that light when they turn," she said as she strolled by the intersection with Cooper, her mutt. "They so often don't even see us. I just have to think that camera makes people more careful."

It's a touchy subject. But maybe as technology advances--and these cameras become more adept at detecting vehicular crime--people will become more accepting of them.

In the meantime, consider the numbers:

$480 Current fine for violating a red light in California.

$80 million Paid annually to state.

$50 million Fines paid annually to cities and counties.

$4.2 million Amount generated in 2010 by one camera near the on-ramp to Interstate 980 at 27th Street and Northgate Avenue in Oakland.

Thomas Baekdal via MSNBC

Sure, the name is lame. And yes, changing passwords--and then keeping track of those new passwords--is tedious. But it's more important than you may realize, according to Gizmodo:

The thing to understand is that the biggest threat to your security isn't some creep sitting in front of your email login screen, randomly bruteforcing his way into your account. Nope, you're up against compuaters that can run thousands of encrypted passwords by dictionaries of several languages, everything in the World Fact Book, and Wikipedia in a matter of minutes.

As the image above illustrates, these computers are far too skilled at hacking most passwords. Your best bet? For important log-ins, like banking websites and personal email, opt for a password with six or more random characters. Make sure it uses mixed case and includes letters, symbols and numbers.

Having trouble remembering all your complex passwords? Try a password management application, like LastPass, KeePass, 1Password or Keeper.

These aren't exactly your everyday unmanned aerial vehicles.

Check out these amazing human-shaped RC mini-planes as they swoop through New York City. No doubt they caused plenty of double-takes.

Move over, Disney. The traditional theme park just doesn't cut it anymore.

Today's world demands even more interactivity for guests. Hence, the world's first "4-D" theme park: Live Park in South Korea. Live Park uses RFID and augmented reality technology to engage guests in a series of 65 attractions (that are actually 3-D).

D'strict, the interactive technology company that constructed the park, created its seven distinct stages using a huge array of RFID technology and Microsoft Kinects. As you see in the video, there's a lot of variety to the different attractions. In some, the Kinects enable guests to interact with augmented reality characters and holograms on huge screens and stages. In others, the guests create their own avatars, which interact with Live Park characters.

Over the next few years, D’strict plans to open similar theme parks in China and Singapore.

Everyone's favorite facial-recognition company, Face.com, has released a new facial recognition app for iPhones that automatically identifies your friends by name--before or after you take their photo.

KLIK must be configured to your Facebook account to work; it references the real-time image with all your friends' images to identity the friend in front of you. Usually, KLIK is sharp enough to ID each friend even before you snap a photo. Then, their name floats above them in your camera's viewfinder (like Tom above).

If KLIK doesn't recognize a given friend, you can opt to tag him or her, giving the software a chance to learn more faces and identify additional friends. The app has several photo filters (think Instagram) that let you customize your photos. It also includes a feed of nearby photos, friends' photos and sharing options. I was glad to hear that your photos aren't automatically posted to Facebook--which seems like something Face.com would do.

To me, the app seems fun and pretty sleek. I wouldn't be surprised if my friends and I all end up downloading it the next time we're at the bar.

Interested in trying KLIK for yourself? Download it here.

Image Source: engadget

Your dreams of creating amazing aerial photography are about to become a reality.

Thanks to one gadget-loving couple, your DSLR may be taking flight sometime soon. Meet the eye3 hexacopter, a six-armed carbon-fiber UAV that was created to take your camera airborne. It uses Google Maps and open-source code to navigate, and it's modular for simple repairs after unintentional crash-landings. 

The eye3 features three CPUs and a 350-watt motor on each arm. Surprisingly, it can carry a payload of 5 to 10 pounds, plenty of power for your DSLR to take to the air.

Check out some sample shots on engadget's video, here.

Our own Steve Russell (and founder of Prism Skylabs), an expert in computer vision and search, joined Vicky to show viewers how to serach and scan public images in order to detect fraudulent online profiles, if they exist. See video below for more details. Now, go ahead and stalk yourself on Google!

View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com.

Mercedes, the German luxury auto manufacturer, had an interesting submission at CES 2012: its Dynamic & Intuitive Control Experience (DICE). The Mercedes DICE concept is a fully customizable dashboard with gesture-based controls. It enables the driver to scroll through, select and control a variety of vehicle functions with basic hand motions.

Interestingly, the flat-panel dashboard also uses augmented reality to digitally display real-time information on the windshield. With a wave of a hand, users can skip music tracks, message friends, and even make a reservation at a local restaurant.

Damon Lavrinc from Auto Blog tested DICE in the video above. He said it's an interesting but buggy system. One big problem: The system's proximity sensors can’t yet distinguish between a gesture and a non-gesture -- for example, if the driver were telling a story and using his hands. No worry; the company will have plenty of time to de-bug DICE. After all, a Mercedes executive said we won’t be seeing gesture-based dashboard in mass-produced Mercedes vehicles for another 20 years.