Lockheed Martin Developing Maple Seed Flying Cameras

[Nomad559]

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/military/lockheed-martin-developing-maple-seed-flying-cameras-303009.php

The Pentagon is giving the war profiteers over at Lockheed Martin a nice chunk of change to develop a spy camera modeled after a maple seed. Loaded up with two rockets, the wee, single-winged camera would be used in large clusters over war zones, capturing loads of imagery to give a complete picture of a situation. In addition to the camera and rockets on board, the devices will be stocked with telemetry, communications, navigation and a power source. They look pretty neat to me, but it'd be nice if we didn't have as much of a use for them by the time they're developed.
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Tech wonders on homeland security horizon
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?alias=tech-wonders-on-homeland&chanId=sa003&modsrc=reuters

Americans are facing a brave new world of post-September 11 technology marvels that could soon find their way into billions of dollars of projected homeland security spending.

Gee-whiz know-how -- from swarms of tiny airborne sensors to ever-sharper satellite imagery -- is being developed by companies chasing potentially lucrative federal, state and local deals to address 21st-century security threats.

Already in use are such things as infrared cameras with built-in brains that capture license plate images and match them in milliseconds to police records of vehicles of interest to the authorities.

[annabanana]

1. Now that just makes me sad..

This was a favorite seasonal toy for me when I was little. I used to love watching then whirlagig down to the groud... And you could split them, remove the seed and stick them on your nose ("pinocchio noses" we called them)

damn