Pentagon Develops Handheld version of the Beam of Pain
October 2, 2009 by Rico Mossesgeld
Filed under Handhelds
Since 2005, US military research has worked on the Thermal Laser System (TLS), technology designed to cause enough pain to “repel individual adversaries”, but not enough to cause lethal or permanent damage. The TLS beam aims to do this by causing a burning sensation on the target’s skin.
The latest development? A handheld version the Pentagon hopes will end up in the hands of law enforcement officials in the US. Apparently the only kink to work out is developing an eye-safe beam, which produces the desired effect without blinding anyone unlucky enough to catch the beam straight into their own eyes.
Personally …read more
Australian Police to Patrol Against Wardriving
July 22, 2009 by Rico Mossesgeld
Filed under Laptops, Wireless, news
Now it’s clear: in Australia, wardriving is illegal. To drive home the point, police in Queensland will conduct regular patrols to identify unsecured hotspots. The plan is to sniff out these supposed havens of criminal activity (evildoers piggyback through WiFi to carry out their nefarious schemes apparently) and warn homeowners and businesses who’ve left their door open.
I don’t get the point of this exercise though: Yes, homeowners wouldn’t like random strangers leeching off their connectivity, but the neighborhood coffee shop isn’t exactly vigilant about who uses their hotspot, so long as the coffee’s paid for. If I was an evildoer, …read more
