Remember back a few months when news broke about a little device that claimed to detect different sorts of bombs? The ones that the Iraqi government spent $85 million on over the last few years even though American military commanders and the FBI stated that they simply don’t work. Well, as we all assumed, the ADE-651 is a sham. It’s just a dirty racket. Good thing that the British government finally caught on, banned the device and threw the inventor in jail. (He’s out on bail as of writing)
It seems that the heart of the device is ID badge-sized cards that are supposed to be used for detecting different items. There are different cards for everything from TNT, plastique, to even money and elephants. However, as the Cambridge Computer Laboratory found out, these cards contain nothing more than a dumb RFID tag. Seriously, watch the BBC investigation video after the jump. → Read More
Let’s move onto something a little more serious for a moment. There’s a device that the New York Times highlighted yesterday called the ADE 651. It’s a small, hand-held explosives detector, or so claims the company behind it, the UK-based ATSC. It’s being heavily used in Iraq, and officials there swear by it. Meanwhile, American officials call the device about as effective and realistic as a Ouija board. It’s rubbish. → Read More
How great is this: in 2003, the Pentagon and intelligence agencies had a plan on the books to launch a cyberattack on Iraq that would have zapped the country’s money supply. In other words, Saddam Hussein wouldn’t have had any money to pay his troops or whatever. Three cheers for destruction! → Read More
Turns out the iPod is being used by soliders for psychological operations in Iraq. A very creative solider used his iPod and a loudspeaker to broadcast Iraqi pop music while on an operation to distribute food. Another soldier is using a transmitter to do the same thing. The transmitter and iPod use a very low powered system (normally used for rescue beacons) to transmit a pro-coalition message along with Iraqi pop-music. Religious extremeists in the area have recently cracked down on the transmission of certain types of music, so the broadcasts are more then likely welcome in the area. [via Wired] [Image via: Bluewave on Flickr] → Read More
The methods for detonating bombs, IEDs, mortars, missiles, and so on have multiplied and become more technologically advanced; it follows, then, that a bomb squad should be a high-tech outfit prepared for any tech contingency. This is a very interesting and in-depth article about the lucky soldiers (Army and Navy) whose job it is to detect, disarm, and collect unexploded ordnance and improvised explosive devices. One doesn’t need to be told how difficult and dangerous that job is, but on this occasion it looks like the Defense Dept actually put out, supplying the teams with versatile, heavily armored vehicles, multiple bomb-collecting robots (with guns), and sophisticated electronics. It’s a nice read for a Sunday afternoon, so settle in with another cup of coffee and learn something new. [image credit: Glenn Zorpette] → Read More
In an effort to “save bandwith”, the Department of Defense is blocking access to pipe-hogs like YouTube and MySpace on official computers. Lots of employers put up such filters, but this is different: Troops and families living on U.S. bases will still be able to view the sites through private Internet networks, but the move leaves service members in Iraq and Afghanistan who use the popular picture- and video-sharing sites with little or no access to them. → Read More
So it turns out that an iPod didn’t save Kevin Garrad’s life in Iraq, but that his body armor did. That’s a little less interesting (from a gadget blog perspective), but good news nonetheless. The rest of the meme holds true: the soldier got into a firefight with a bad guy and was shot, unbeknownst to him. When he got back to his barracks intending to listen to his iPod and clean his equipment, he noticed that an AK-47 bullet destroyed said iPod. Hence, that picture up there. Apple still wants to send him a replacement one, angels that they are. iPod tells soldier he was shot – the real story [HavanaLion] → Read More
An iPod saved a soldier’s life over in Iraq, or so the story goes. A picture of a destroyed iPod showed up on Flickr with a message saying that it was destroyed in a firefight between a U.S. soldier and some Iraqi miscreants. Supposedly an AK-47′s bullet tore through the soldier’s handy dandy iPod jacket pocket, where Apple’s little portable media player stopped the bullet from going through all the way. (Good thing it wasn’t a nano.) Word has it that Apple found out about the soldier’s ordeal and want to replace the iPod for free. How nice of Apple. Ipod saves Soldier’s Life [Flickr via iLounge] → Read More
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