Terrorism

Russian loos to be safe haven from terrorists?

Worried about car bombs or random acts of violence? Russia is pondering a solution in the form of bomb-proof public toilets. In a way, this makes perfect sense. After all, there are few situations where you'll feel more vulnerable than when you're sitting down with your pants around your ankles.

Made from super-strong fibrous concrete, the portable loos are expected to be able to withstand a bomb blast or, at the very least, protect the occupants from shrapnel.

Also, the new toilets are expected to protect from cold even in the dead of winter as the temperatures inside won't sink below 61 degrees F, Anatoly Ashmikhin, head of Santekhrabot, the company in charge of all Moscow's public toilets, told The Moscow News.

While the effectiveness of this scheme as a terrorist protection is questionable, it is a nod to the concerns of the public regarding terrorists threats.

(Source: Crave Asia via Wired)… Read more

Reporters' Roundtable: Drones, UAVs, and the unmanned war on terror

Technology helped U.S. SEAL commandos get to Osama bin Laden's compound, but the outcome of the raid depended on old-fashioned soldiering skills. This from a military force that has made history through robotics in pursuit of its goals. Unmanned aerial vehicles have been used for surveillance, and more recently for attacks, on targets in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, and elsewhere. No other military, as far as we know, has put such stock in unmanned, autonomous, or remote vehicles.

Slideshow: First flight of the Phantom Ray

Today we're going to discuss the use of aerial drones, UAVs, and UCAVs with Spencer Ackerman, the main writer of Wired's great Danger Room blog.

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Some of our discussion points… Read more

I'm wearing a 'terrorist' watch, and I bought it for $20 at Duane Reade

Turns out the government's concerned about the threat possibilities of a low-tech piece of equipment--one that I just discovered on my own wrist.

Around the time I started working at CNET, I bought a Casio watch from my local Duane Reade pharmacy. My other watch broke, I just had a kid, and having a watch made things easier: no fishing for my iPhone while holding the baby, plus it had a stopwatch for timing feedings.

Who knew my watch would become this infamous?

According to training document on Wikileaks, the Casio F91W watch was worn on the wrist of a large number of Guantanamo Bay detainees, and has been linked to the manufacture of explosive devices. As I read this story, I glanced down at my very similar-looking watch, then checked the model number. It was different.

Of course, then I read that the document includes the metal-banded A159W, too. Mine is technically the A158W. Still, it's essentially the same watch. … Read more

The 404 795: Where we're shutting down for the weekend (podcast)

Two Natali Morris appearances in one week? It must be Friday. She joins us for the first half of today's episode, where we discuss today's top stories in tech and culture, including new terror alerts coming to Facebook and Twitter, a Vatican magazine that says hackers are doing God's work, a study linking physical pain to social rejection, and "LOL" earning its place in the English Oxford Dictionary.

The 404 Digest for Episode 795

The impact of a government shutdown. Terror alerts make their way to Facebook and Twitter networks. Vatican magazine compares hackers to the work of God. Scientists at Columbia link physical pain with social rejection. Laughing out loud all the way to the English Oxford Dictionary.

Episode 795 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Report: U.S. to issue terror alerts via Facebook, Twitter

The Department of Homeland Security plans to replace its color-coded, five-level system of terrorism alerts with a new two-tiered approach later this month and will issue some public alerts via Facebook and Twitter, according to a report.

The Associated Press reported today that it had obtained a confidential, departmental document outlining the plan, which, though not yet finalized, is set to go into effect by April 27.

According to the AP, the new plan will ditch the notoriously perplexing, green-to-red, low-to-severe-risk system put in place in 2002 with a two-level system that labels threats as either "elevated" or &… Read more

Twitter airport bomb joker loses appeal, tweeters revolt

The British are renowned for their sense of humor. It is, indeed, one of the only reliable British exports over the last 40 years. Together with airlines, Carey Mulligan, Cadbury's chocolate.

So you might have thought that even judges in a dreary place like Doncaster, U.K. have the ability to estimate when something might be intended to be a joke.

It seems not. As Paul Chambers, the man who tweeted his frustration about the possibility of a canceled flight, has lost his appeal against what some might think is one of the more putrid convictions of recent times.… Read more

Report: RIM offers monitoring tools to India

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has offered the Indian government information and tools to help government agencies monitor communications sent via the BlackBerry's email and messaging services, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

The Journal said that according to the minutes of a July 26 meeting between RIM and government officials--part of an ongoing series of negotiations--the company said it had "a setup to help...security agencies in tracking the messages in which security agencies are interested."

The Journal also reported that an Indian-penned summary of one of the discussions said RIM had agreed it could provide … Read more

The 404 640: Where we finally run Frash (podcast)

Adobe launched its Flash player for the Android 10.1 operating system back in June, and now Apple is getting the same treatment, but under the table. The same hacker group that released the Web site jailbreakme.com has released an early version of Flash for jailbroken iPhones.

The program is called Frash (pause for Jeff to laugh), and at the moment it can only handle Web sites with basic Flash animations, so don't expect to watch streaming videos from sites such as YouTube or Vimeo just yet. Keep in mind that jailbreaking your iPhone does make it vulnerable to a certain security exploit revealed last week. Of course, Apple is planning to patch the issue, so you may want to hold off on updating apps like Frash until then.

You've probably heard of cars that run on vegetable oil, but what about a vehicle that runs on methane gas extracted from human waste? Engineers at GENeco are testing a Volkswagen Beetle, aka "Dung Beetle," that uses methane harvested from bacteria stored in sewage decomposition containers.

The thought of a fart-powered car might tickle your gag reflex, but there's no denying its energy efficiency. Our own Rory Reid on Crave U.K. said the waste from 70 homes can create enough gas to run the Dung Beetle for 10,000 miles, and it's also carbon neutral since all of it normally is released into the atmosphere when the sewage converts to methane.

Join us in the second half of the show where we'll discuss yesterday's epic Classic Tetris World Championship in Los Angeles. More than 200 players competed in the Championship organized by former Nintendo World Champion player Robin Mihara, but only Jonas Neubauer was able to beat the other eight players in the semi-finals and win the trophy and $1,000 prize.

We asked for TerrorByte lyrics over the weekend and you guys certainly delivered! Check out today's submission from Mark after the break, and don't forget to send yours to the404(at)cnet(dot)com! If you just want to leave a comment about the show, feel free to give us a ring at 1-866-404-CNET or BBM our phone at 2482F452; we'll be waiting!… Read more

The 404 639: Where we can do this the easy way or the hard way (podcast)

We almost lost Jeff last year to Batman: Arkham Asylum, the hugely popular video game based on the popular bat-mythology. Good news for gamers: The Dark Knight will return next year with a sequel called Batman: Arkham City. According to inside sources, Arkham City will debut on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC next fall, but you can watch the teaser trailer and even preorder the game right now!

Images of the next-generation Apple iPod Touch have been popping up on the Internet, and it looks like the next version will feature an updated camera with a LED flash … Read more

The 404 637: Where college is expensive (podcast)

Credit for today's 404 Podcast show goes to the random madman in The 404 Live chat room this morning, who popped in only to shout "COLLEGE IS EXPENSIVE" before getting booted for using all caps. See you tomorrow, phantom screamer! Today's episode of The 404 takes a closer look at Blackberry's new Torch smartphone, Facebook's ethnicity trend study, regional gadget trends, and why it's never a good idea to sing John Denver at karaoke.

Tech Web site Retrevo recently conducted a gadget survey to find out which states buy up the most consumer … Read more