October #DataDump: Info, Tech, Prophets and more

Capture Your Entire Life in 30-Second Snaps*
Apple rejects app for tracking U.S. drone strikes*
Walden GPS searches lead to wrong pond*
App Store - Airport Scanner*
What happened to this technology?*
Secret weapons programs*
Trying - and failing - to regulate the Internet*
Information Wants To Be Free*
Battle at the top for UFO disclosure*
Philip K Dick: Science Fiction Prophet*

Video game publisher pulls real weapons promotion

from smh.com.au: Electronic Arts has pulled a charity promotion that involved the sale of actual weapons featured in the first-person shooter game Medal of Honor.

This year, the game publishing giant teamed up with weapons manufacturers to create Project Honor - a fund-raiser that aimed to "benefit the families of special operations warriors".

As a part of the deal, arms makers had their weapons featured in the game and also produced merchandise that included actual weapons, the sale of which would benefit various war charities.

Medal of Honor - Warfighter's offical website, originally had links to the arms manufacturers' websites, where people could buy weapons, such as the "Voodoo Hawk" Tomahawk, which features an "extending cutting head". These have since been taken down after numerous complaints from both within and outside the gaming community about the promotion of the sale of deadly weapons on the game's website.

"We've been working with those partners because we wanted to be authentic, and we wanted to give back to the communities," Medal of Honour executive producer Greg Goodrich told gaming website Eurogamer.

Despite public outcry, it is understood that the partnerships between Electronic Arts and the arms manufacturers are still in place; the weapons are just not being promoted on the Medal of Honour of website.

Related Stories:
Who's Gaming Who? - from The Corbett Report
US military is meeting recruitment goals with video games – but at what cost?

#DataDump: #Mars, Meteorite, Mystery and more

Curiosity Lands Safely on Mars -
"most high-tech interplanetary rover ever built sent a signal to Earth"*

Man will walk on Mars within a generation, says Astronomer Royal*
14-year-old hit by 30,000 mph space meteorite*
Opening the X-Files in Australia*
Proposed Privacy Law Demands Court Warrants for Cloud Data*
Appeals Court OKs Warrantless Wiretapping*
Flame and Stuxnet Cousin Targets Lebanese Bank Customers,
Carries Mysterious Payload*
Man Orders TV from Amazon, Gets Assault Rifle*
FTC Dings Google $22.5M in Safari Cookie Flap*
There’s a Good Chance Your Friends Are Phonies*
Satire Video: Facebook users "overestimated"*

High-Tech Military Weapons Made From Cheap Chinese Goods

Counterfeit Parts In US Military Equipment
from brasschecktv.com: Yikes! I don't even know what category to put this under. Chinese companies, and companies from other nations, are selling bogus electronics parts to the U.S. military, which could down helicopters, planes, even missiles. How much more dangerous does it get? That's sabotage, isn't it? Good grief, and I thought the cheap Chinese goods at Walmart were bad.

'Laser Rifle' Is Latest US Weapon Against Enemies

from smartplanet.com: Last month, a British defense company demonstrated how a non-lethal laser weapon can be used to ward off pirates. Now, American researchers have created a laser gun that sea bandits really wouldn’t want to mess with. While the crystalline Neodymium Yttrium Aluminium Garnet laser canon, developed by BAE Systems, can temporarily disorient an assailant with a pulse of blinding light, another prototype called the TR3 Threat Deterrent Laser Rifle is compact and the laser settings can be adjusted to inflict some serious pain... The TR3, developed by Xtreme Alternative Defense Systems and SPA Defense, can deliver a pretty intense 3-watt green laser at targets stationed up to one and a half miles away when operated at night. The rifle’s re-chargeable lithium-ion battery allows for up to 30 plus minutes of continuous firing. David Crane of DefenseReview.com got to test out a prototype during the recent Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show and Conference or SHOT show... A company-produced video of the TR3 in action may exist and Crane plans to upload footage if he ever gets his hands on it. The TR3 is intended for military and defense markets only.

Hackers Attack Chemical Weapons Maker on V-Day

from bits: While many celebrated Valentine’s Day on Tuesday, hackers celebrated a different holiday: the one-year anniversary of the uprising in Bahrain, sometimes called the February 14 Revolution. They attacked Combined Systems, a company based in Jamestown, Pa., saying that the attack was in retaliation for sales by the company of chemical weapons “to repress our revolutionary movements.”