defense

Most addictive plant-eats-zombie game on the market

Plants vs Zombies is one of the most popular games on the Windows, iPhone, and iPad platforms, and now it's on the Mac. The goal of Plants vs Zombies is to stop zombies from marching across your lawn or roof and eating you. To defend yourself you have to put various plants in their way, each plant having special skills. Plants vs Zombies installs easily.

The plants in Plants vs Zombies get laid out on a grid. Some plants shoot peas, which injure zombies, some plants eat zombies, and so on. There's about a dozen different plants that … Read more

Defense Department drops exclusive contract for BlackBerry

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has been dealt another blow by the U.S. government. The U.S. Defense Department recently announced that it is opening its exclusive contract with the company to other device makers, including Apple and Google.

According to Reuters, the Pentagon said it would still use "large numbers" of BlackBerry smartphones but that it was also asking other companies to apply for a government contract to provide software that is capable of monitoring, managing, and enforcing U.S. military security requirements.

A Pentagon spokesperson told Reuters that it was broadening its reach with device … Read more

Watch this DARPA robot climb, leap, and walk past obstacles

Prepare to witness a tantalizing glimpse at our future robot overlords.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency yesterday released a stunning video showing how an autonomous robot can navigate and jump over obstacles with great ease.

In the clip, the Pet-Proto robot -- a predecessor to DARPA's Atlas robot -- traverses a simulated hallway containing a very tall step and a thin walkway. Pet-Proto easily uses its strong arms to balance itself as it climbs a step, then perfectly leaps down with a thud. The highly agile walker stretches its legs to continue its journey along the thin edges of a gutted hallway floor. … Read more

Phew! Britain has anti-alien weapons

I've become a bit of a worrier of late.

Not because I worry about the coming election, Windows 8, or things that seem to move in my fridge.

No, it's the idea that with man proving he can leap in from outer space, outer-spaceans might try to do the same.

I am sure that our government will want to reassure us. I know that President Obama has told NASA to call him the minute aliens land.

But how can we possibly defend against outerworld beings? We don't seem terribly good at defeating inter-world ones.

Thankfully, I bring … Read more

Report: 3D-printed handgun project faces setback with revoked printer lease

When I last spoke with Cody Wilson, Defense Distributed had just met its $20,000 funding goal, and he had taken delivery of his Stratasys uPrint SE 3D printer. Fast forward nine days and the outlook for his 3D printed firearm project looks less positive.

As reported here in September, Defense Distributed, a group headed by University of Texas graduate student Wilson, began navigating the uncharted material and regulatory waters around designing a gun to be printed from common plastic on a relatively low-cost 3D printer like the MakerBot Replicator.

Now, Wired's Robert Beckhusen reports that Stratasys has voided … Read more

Taliban said to use Facebook to gather info on soldiers

Facebook is a great resource to find out about friends graduating, getting married, and going on vacation. Apparently it's also a good resource for Taliban fighters to spy on soldiers.

According to Australia's Department of Defense's new report on social media (PDF), "the Taliban have used pictures of attractive women as the front of their Facebook profiles and have befriended soldiers" as a way to gather information.

These fake profiles are a cause for concern, notes the report. The goal of the report is to be a training guide and review for Australia's military … Read more

You don't bring a 3D printer to a gun fight -- yet

Welcome to the dark side of 3D printing.

The hobby is best known for creating colorful toys and trinkets, but some enthusiasts are working on design files that would allow anyone to print a working gun. These don't exist yet, but some believe it's only a matter of time.

Why would a 3D-printed gun be appealing? For one, it could potentially be cheap. You can buy a preassembled 3D printer for about $500. A spool of ABS plastic to print with goes for $50. Depending on where you shop, you can buy .38 Special ammunition for 30 cents a round. The plans will undoubted be distributed free like so many MP3s. … Read more

Defend against enemy onslaughts on iOS

My gaming addiction tends to go in phases. Sometimes I like puzzle games, then I'll move on to shooting games. After that, I might switch to racing games or go on to classic arcade. Whatever the flavor of the week is, I like to really get into it to see what the App Store has to offer.

The recent release of a classic iOS game sequel got me back into playing tower defense strategy games. There is something about finding just the right combination of turrets to pass challenging levels that appeals to me right now. After playing the sequel for a bit, I started to check out a few other games. If you like tower defense, this collection is for you.

This week's collection of iOS apps are my favorite tower defense games of the moment. The first has been around for awhile, but continues to be a go-to game when I'm playing tower defense. The second adds unique game elements that change the gameplay by keeping you busy. The third is a sequel to one of the most popular iOS tower defense games of all time.… Read more

Electronic Arts comes out against Defense of Marriage Act

Electronic Arts has joined a coalition of American businesses opposing the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

The game publisher said in a statement Wednesday that it was joining dozens of business in signing an amicus brief that urges the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to find the 1996 law unconstitutional. In part, the statement reads:

DOMA presents a number of problems for businesses like EA, as it creates regulatory, tax, and discrimination complications for employers, and that's why we're standing against it. … Read more

Shared-data plans push you to buy more

This Wednesday's top stories are sharing the love of data (but not the love of sharing data):

It began with Verizon, and now AT&T has joined the data-sharing movement. Starting in August, new AT&T customers will be signing up for "Mobile Share" plans. All have unlimited voice and text, but you pick how much data you need, and up to 10 devices can share from that bucket of data. Generally speaking, AT&T and Verizon's plan prices are pretty similar in the lower data tiers. Depending on your needs, one can … Read more