Laser louts to be targeted in new campaign
A CAMPAIGN has been launched to tackle the growing problem of lasers being maliciously directed at planes and helicopters.
Follows a spate of incidents in South Wales, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is urging anyone who sees a light being directed at an aircraft to contact police immediately.
via WalesOnline
Boeing’s airborne laser program might be cut
…… Mr. Gates said he would cut from programs for defense against missiles, including halting the increase in the numbers of defensive missiles deployed in Alaska. Defense experts were also expecting that Boeing’s airborne laser system, which would equip a modified 747 jetliner with a laser to shoot down missiles, might be killed…….
via Gates Budget Plan Reshapes Pentagon’s Priorities – NYTimes.com.
friendly-fire laser injuries
American troops in Iraq are reporting a series of incidents in which servicemembers have been blinded or required medical treatment after friendly-fire laser injuries.
via Stars and Stripes.
Sniffing keystrokes via laser and keyboard power
Using equipment costing about $80, researchers from Inverse Path were able to point a laser on the reflective surface of a laptop between 50 feet and 100 feet away and determine what letters were typed.
Chief Security Engineer Andrea Barisani and hardware hacker Daniele Bianco used a handmade laser microphone device and a photo diode to measure the vibrations, software for analyzing the spectrograms of frequencies from different keystrokes, as well as technology to apply the data to a dictionary to try to guess the words. They used a technique called dynamic time warping that’s typically used for speech recognition applications, to measure the similarity of signals.
Line-of-sight on the laptop is needed, but it works through a glass window, they said. Using an infrared laser would prevent a victim from knowing they were being spied on.
via Sniffing keystrokes via laser and keyboard power | Security – CNET News.
105.5 KW laser
Northrop Grumman reported that it got a solid-state laser to fire a beam with a potency of 105.5 kilowatts.
Laser sundial
This is a simple project of a sundial wherein the pinion is replaced by a line LASER I took from a LASER level. The LASER is mounted on a RC servo which in turn is driven by a micro controller. The micro controller keeps the time and turns the RC servo accordingly.
Laser-engrave euros, if …
Some people are seriously considering what if the eurozone broke up. If some countries are departing eurozone abruptly, they don’t have time to produce new currency. It would need to find temporary ways to separate its share of the euros from the rest. One people suggested laser engraving.
… it to laser-engrave distinguishing marks onto the portion of the euros, which would have been allocated to the country departing the eurozone. This can be done relatively quickly and would make the currencies irreversibly different, said Mathes, adding “but I suspect that the European Central Bank will not look kindly on a state burning holes in its currency.
That would be good for laser companies in the crisis. 
via Centre for European Reform: What if the eurozone broke up?.
First laser etched Kindle 2
Adafruit laser etched first Kindle 2.
I want to have laser etching mechine!
