I occasionally stumble across other references to other efforts at this work, I think in the suiting out of soldiers (a la “The Predator”) or on aircraft,
This prototype plasma antenna is stealthy, versatile, and jam-resistant. Credit: T. R. Anderson and I. Alexeff
Nifty! Plasma antennas…Now you see them, then you don’t. Tunable to multiple frequencies…don’t rust, won’t bust with the added bonus (at NO COST!) of being jam proof! And did I mention the use of them eliminates a massive reflective surface, that would be detected be radar looking for you?Just how do they do it? The answer is here.
The March Scientific American has an article on it, in which I read that the funding by the Navy has been pulled because, so far, the beams can only be steered in one plane, and they asked for it to be done in two planes. I’m sure the wizards will figure it out one day.
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It seems there is and organized effort from China to infect computer systems via consumer devices. Wow…our friends would do that? Like our friends the Saudis?
Friday, February 15, 2008
An insidious computer virus recently discovered on digital photo frames has been identified as a powerful new Trojan Horse from China that collects passwords for online games – and its designers might have larger targets in mind.
“It is a nasty worm that has a great deal of intelligence,” said Brian Grayek, who heads product development at Computer Associates, a security vendor that analyzed the Trojan Horse.
The virus, which Computer Associates calls Mocmex, recognizes and blocks antivirus protection from more than 100 security vendors, as well as the security and firewall built into Microsoft Windows. It downloads files from remote locations and hides files, which it names randomly, on any PC it infects, making itself very difficult to remove. It spreads by hiding itself on photo frames and any other portable storage device that happens to be plugged into an infected PC.
The authors of the new Trojan Horse are well-funded professionals whose malware has “specific designs to capture something and not leave traces,” Grayek said. “This would be a nuclear bomb” of malware.
By studying how the code is constructed and how it’s propagated, Computer Associates has traced the Trojan to a specific group in China, Grayek said. He would not name the group.
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Read it all. And, BTW, you have been warned!
More details: over 67K variations of the malware have been detected, and in checking some of the picture frames, other, older trojans were found.
Target was selling a model that has beeen pulled. I wonder why?
Can’t decide between black and brown shoes as a career accessory? A grounded aviator with a limited budget and a yard not big enough to put in your own runway?
This just may be the answer.
Kit built, 75 mph, max altitude about 10 feet, or hovers at 8 inches. Seats 4 (but only 2 if you’re going to fly)…so you can bring your GIB friends along for the ride, too.
I have a background in combat systems OS’ from way back. Had the men who actually wrote the ACDS Block 0 system working for me. Smart, smart guys, who explained just why it was important to make it the way it was…for the most streamlined movement of tactically important data, unmolested by interrupts like “printer offline.” After I listened, it made lots and lots of sense. “Open source” operating systems were not designed with a combat imperative in mind. Makes a huge difference when SS-N-22s are inbound, ya think?
US Navy Test Confirms Missile Firing Capability Of Aegis Open Architecture
Aegis Open Architecture will allow the Navy to stay on technology’s leading edge through its innovative use of commonly-available commercial off-the-shelf computing hardware and open system software, enabling the service to more easily implement technology refreshes and capability upgrades to the weapon system as they are developed in the future.
by Staff Writers
White Sands NM (SPX) Jan 31, 2008
In a successful first test of its advanced fire control system, Lockheed Martin’s [NYSE: LMT] Aegis Open Architecture Weapon System recently performed a successful missile firing from the U.S. Navy’s “USS Desert Ship” at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR). This was the first test of upgrades to both the Aegis Fire Control System and the MK 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) installed on the USS Desert Ship, the Navy’s land-based, live-fire test bed for surface-to-air weapons.
The platform is continually upgraded to meet the Navy’s live fire testing requirements.
[…]
I know it saves lots of hard won cash in the budget battles, but it also makes it easy for non-military types, as well as other then US military types to, if they get their hands on the code, to understand it much, much easier, if not the ability to decompile the code.
Call me a dinosaur in that way, but it makes my skin crawl.
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A flotilla of ships may have been dispatched to reinstate the broken submarine cable that has left the Middle East and India struggling to communicate with the rest of the world, but it took just one vessel to inflict the damage that brought down the internet for millions.
According to reports, the internet blackout, which has left 75 million people with only limited access, was caused by a ship that tried to moor off the coast of Egypt in bad weather on Wednesday. Since then phone and internet traffic has been severely reduced across a huge swath of the region, slashed by as much as 70% in countries including India, Egypt and Dubai.
While tens of millions have been directly affected, the impact of the blackout has spread far wider, with economies across Asia and the Middle East struggling to cope. Governments have also become directly involved, with the Egyptian communications ministry imploring surfers to stay offline so business traffic can take priority. “People who download music and films are going to affect businesses who have more important things to do,” said ministry spokesman Mohammed Taymur.
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Cool! Shove a piece of metal at a target at Mach 5 to 7. Forget about having to handle hazardous explosives, just route some juice to the rails and send some good old, time tested “F=M*A” at the bad guys for effect. Can you say “10.8 megajoules ON THE WAY!”
Check this out…Burt Rutan’s new design for Virgin Atlantic’s commercial space travel….
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WhiteKnight, a three-fuselage, four-engine plane in its new incarnation, will ferry the smaller spacecraft high into the sky and release it. The spacecraft pilot then fires the craft’s rocket engine, which burns a combination of nitrous oxide and a rubber-based solid fuel, and shoots the vehicle upward to an altitude of more than 62 miles, the realm of black sky.
Once there, the pilot is to activate the craft’s innovative feathered wing, which rotates into a position that greatly increases aerodynamic drag and slows the craft for a glider landing back on earth.
[…]
Apple, out ahead of the pack again. New idea: LEDs for LCD backlighting. Durable, survivable, lightweight, energy efficient. And that’s just the first of the innovation…
