Digital technology has made cameras and camcorders ubiquitous. Most of the time this is great news, except when someone snaps a pic of something they shouldn't (just ask Cameron Diaz) or — in a big pet peeve of the movie studios — pulls out a camcorder in a cinema. Those photo no-nos could become a thing of the past if this camera-neutralizing device ever gets off the ground. Designed by Gregory Abowd and his team of engineers at Georgia Tech, the cam zapper uses, kind of ironically, a pair of cameras to detect the reflective surface of a digital camera's image sensor (called a CCD or charge-coupled device), then renders it temporarily useless by flashing a thin beam of white light onto it. Movie theaters, government buildings, family gatherings with excessive drinking — there's certainly no shortage of scenarios where the gadget would be useful. It's said that the power levels used by the device make it harmless to people, and your eyes are probably safe (they are cameras, after all) since they don't exactly have CCDs. Speaking of which, analog cameras would be immune to the camera neutralizer, as would digital SLR (single-lens-reflex) models, since their optics mask their CCDs except when taking a picture. Rest easy, paparazzi. — Peter Pachal

Via Smart Economy