What is it about today? First hunter-killers, then Terminator spare parts, and now the machines are infiltrating our armed forces. Actually, it’s not such a big deal; the United States Army is simply continuing to take advantage of its contract with iRobot, which provides the Army with hundreds of Packbots, small robots suited for dirty or dangerous jobs. They’re pumping out about 100… → Read More
I’m sure there are more of these scattered, undiscovered, throughout the Kush but it seems that Pakistan has found and captured an armed UAV during its reconnaissance of South Waziristan. “A surveillance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), while flying over the Pak-Afghan border yesterday [Tuesday] night, crash-landed on this side of the border… apparently due to… → Read More
You guys may have seen our many previous reviews of long range plane-mounted tactical laser cannons, but let’s be honest: none have really lived up to the hype. Like Ultra HD or mobile TV, long range plane-mounted tactical laser cannons have just been impractical and difficult to recommend — until now. This latest long range plane-mounted tactical laser cannon being promoted by the US… → Read More
http://www.liveleak.com/e/7bb_1210698031 Interesting article over on Military.com about how some Predator pilots are beginning to show signs of psychological stress even though they’re not technically fighting on a battlefield. The pilots spend most of their time in air-conditioned trailers in front of an array of monitors, piloting the remote-controlled unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) from just… → Read More
Well, I don’t want it, the U.S. Air Force does. I don’t think I have much practical use for a coating that would shield me from laser blasts. Yet. Real life laser weapons are a reality. Maybe not a common reality, but they do exist. As such, at some point the military will want to protect their missiles. If the Air Force gets what it wants, the tech will only need to be able to deflect laser… → Read More
Owners of super-light laptops can appreciate the miracle of carbon fiber, a strong but light material being used more and more in high-end notebooks. Airbus is now using the same carbon fiber material in the wings of its new A400M military aircraft. The reduced weight of the wings “cuts the fuel consumption by at least 20%," said Dave Phipps, head of the Airbus carbon fiber research… → Read More
http://p.castfire.com/Xu7m0/video/13954/bbtv_2008-06-03-180404.flv VRTs are used in Iraq to converse with folks who might not speak English and or/might want to kill you. Jöl uses the gear in the mean streets of Brooklyn where he amuses the local populace with Democracy-bringing phrases like “Down on your knees.” → Read More
A U.S. Army contractor has developed an Iron Man-like suit that can amplify human strength by up to 20 times. (You’d almost be able to lift Biggs, then!) The suit, developed by Salt Late City-based robotics house Sarcos, is expected to go into trials next year. If all the bugs are worked out—the battery currently only lasts about 30 minutes per charge—the Army says it may one day… → Read More
Chalk one up for humanity. Although IPv6 (AKA Skynet) is just around the corner, we have yet to accomplish the other technological advancements that will pave the way for the inevitable robotic apocalypse. We may have autonomous navigation, bee-powered nightmare dogbots, and Aliens-esque exoskeletons, it seems that we can’t create a decent murder machine. I guess it’s time to come… → Read More
It seems a bunch of current military gear is showing up for illicit sale online. I’m not really surprised, given how shoddy the military’s bookkeeping is. Investigators found F-14 parts as well as hazardous materials suits and accessories for sale on eBay and Craigslist. I don’t think Craig would approve. They guess the stuff was stolen from the Defense Department, but it seems… → Read More
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/24020044#24020044 In order to save American lives, which I’m all for, the Pentagon will employ a hand-held lie detector in Afghanistan. The device, which was developed by a team at Johns Hopkins (the algorithm, at least) and sold by Lafayette Instrument, Co., costs $7,500 a pop and goes by the name Preliminary Credibility Assessment Screening System. → Read More
Have a box of old photographs of people in places no one can remember? Viewfinder is a new project designed to “place” photos in the geographical location they were taken in less than a minute. While this might seem really nice to “place” Grammy in Times Square in 1972 it’s also a great way to “place” Osama Bin Laden next to a tree in Outer Burri Burri… → Read More
Lasers are already being used in the field to shoot down missiles and such, but they are limited in their applications because they require volatile chemical agents or fragile crystal arrays — neither one something you want in a battlefield situation. But the Free Electron Laser uses a “turbocharged stream of electrons” to start the reaction that fires the laser. For whatever reason… → Read More
[photopress:newpentrad.jpg,full,center] The Pentagon would like you to know that it has approved the development of a new type of radio system to be used in our future weapons of war. It goes by the acronym-friendly name Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS, not to be confused with JSR) and will be developed by either Boeing or Lockeheed Martin, which has “who would have guessed?” written… → Read More
[photopress:augcog_boeing.jpg,full,center] We’ve seen mind-reading game controllers, but the military is still searching for the perfect mind-controlled weapon, and is spending big money to find it. At issue is that different parts of the brain can do the same thing at the same time, so targeting the specific centers is difficult. In addition, some actions require parts of the brain to work… → Read More
Dell’s gone rugged. Like, super rugged. Like, military rugged with the Latitude XFR D630. Starting at just under $4,000 and weighing in at almost nine pounds (just shy of a regular consumer laptop from Dell — hay-oh!), the D630 comes with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, XP or Vista, 14.1-inch outdoor-viewable screen (at 500 nits), and shock-mounted components. It meets the military… → Read More
[photopress:killerrobots.jpg,full,center] An artificial life expert warned today that robotic soldiers (like the one pictured here) pose a threat to human life, and not just the bad guys’ lives. The robots, said the dude from the University of Sheffield, are currently safer in that they need a human being to give the final go-ahead to open fire. As the technology improves, however, this last… → Read More
[photopress:canadafb.jpg,full,right] Perhaps it isn’t wise to update your Facebook status with your location if you’re in the military. Just a guess. Canada’s military leaders have told their troops to refrain from posing sensitive information on social networks like Facebook and MySpace. The fear is that Al Qaeda (and other evildoers, presumably) could be watching your profile… → Read More
I don’t think anyone thought that converting an entire military-industrial complex to Linux would be easy. Well, now we know for sure it’s hard, and it seems that they forget to check whether their new free and open-source-based systems would play nice with their Windows-based legacy software. Apparently they chose Linux for their new multi-billion-dollar program because they… → Read More
[photopress:generalblogging.jpg,full,center] “The public has a voracious appetite for the sensational, the graphic and the shocking. We all have a difficult time taking our eyes off the train wreck in progress – it is human nature…When our Soldiers tell/share their stories, it has an overwhelmingly positive effect.” So blogs Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, on his blog… → Read More
Get the hell outta here. Special iPod software that our soldiers use to communicate with Arabic- and Kurdish-speaking people will be made available to regular Joe-Jobbers like you and me soon. That’s quacktastic. Here’s more from Computerworld… For example, soldiers can show Iraqi citizens a photo of a terrorist, and the iPod says in Arabic, “have you seen this… → Read More
Sure, you could build your own similar device for far less than $4.4 million (Australian) but would it look nearly as awesome as the vest that the bad mamma jamma on the left is wearing? My position is “no, it would not.” The aforementioned money was given to Australia’s national science agency as a grant in the hopes that it could develop an “electrojacket” that… → Read More
I think we all know what MS is doing with all the poopy brown Zunes that aren’t selling. They’re making Halo 3 Military Editions for the US military and they will go on sale in military retail stores at a discounted price this month. MS donated 300 of the special edition 30GB Zunes to the USO of Metropolitan Washington and soldiers leaving for duty today had special access to the Zune… → Read More
Today, we’re giving away a 42″ HDTV. That’s a cool prize, but it’s not really unique. You’re a geek. You want a prize that says “I’ve got more nerdcred than you.” We’ve found a contest that you might like. The makers of the Trojan line of infantry body armor are raffling off a full military-grade suit of body armor. They’re doing this to… → Read More
Today is Memorial Day in the greatest country on Earth, the greatest country in history. CNET knows this and has a patriotic slide show featuring freedom-spreading technology the U.S. Army uses or plans to use on the battlefields of liberty. I like this picture here the best because it shows our boys, Over There, controlling a Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle with an Xbox 360 controller. Now… → Read More
We tried to come up with reasons why you’d need to ruggedize a Mac Mini, but we came up with none. Really, a MacBook Pro and a nice bag should be good enough, but apparently some people want to take their diminutive Macs on the road. And there is a case for them. Here it is, enjoy. → Read More
In the annals of sci-fi and, in fact, history, it’s the lone inventor, toiling away in his basement, who discovers amazing insights and is ignored, tragically, by the general public. Luckily, Geoff Hatton got the word out before aliens/zombies/ninjas could attack the President. Hatton’s project, a hovercraft/helicopter platform that can fly at an almost unlimited height and offers full… → Read More
Yay! AP reporters! Yay! Pain guns! Yay! Effective military protection using high energy waves! Yay! Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic! via Giz → Read More
Samsung now makes guns and butter. The company will produce sentry robot guns that will be stationed along the Korean Demilitarized Zone. The SGR-A1, which was funded by the South Korean government, will make its debut along the most exciting border in the world sometime this year. The sentry gun uses a system of cameras and special software to differentiate between actual, evil North Koreans and… → Read More
Our brave men and women are fighting “over there” and they’re using some pretty advanced equipment to bring freedom to a desperate people. This video delivers eight glorious minutes of our bravest detailing the technology they use to spread democracy around the world. Lots of awesome explosions and guns in this one. My favorite is the eyepiece the soldiers use to check Google… → Read More
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