defense

Game maker Popcap today revealed Plants vs. Zombies Adventures (PvZA) beta for Facebook, but gamers might be more interested in the mention of Plants vs. Zombies 2.

The social spinoff PvZA takes gardeners out of the backyard (the primary setting in the first game) and sends them on the road to fight off ravenous zombies. To freshen up gameplay, Popcap enhanced the title with new plants, zombies, and defenses, as well as the implementation of social features that include leaderboards and community challenges. … Read more

Gadgets sometimes have alternative uses.

You can hold up a phone at a U2 concert and show that you, too, can create a religious light source.

You can use a hair dryer to bring your iPhone back to life after you've dropped it in the toilet.

However, I have never heard of someone attempting to pass off a golf-ball finder as a bomb detector. There again, I never thought Harvard could beat anyone at basketball.

Excitingly, there is a trial currently in progress in which a British businessman is accused of fooling the military, the police, nay, even governments themselves into buying bomb detectors that were golf-ball finders.

I cannot imagine how the two might have been confused. But the prosecution alleges that 56-year-old Jim McCormick persuaded many important people around the world that these things could spot bombs, ivory, drugs, and even bits of human bodies.

He allegedly claimed they even worked through walls, under water, and even from planes. … Read more

An unusual bipartisan revolt has erupted against law enforcement plans to fly more drones equipped with high-tech gear that can be used to conduct surveillance of Americans.

A combination of concerns about privacy, air traffic safety, facial recognition, cell phone tracking -- and even the possibility that in the future drones could be armed -- have suddenly placed police on the defensive.

A public outcry in Seattle last month prompted the mayor to ground the police department's nascent drone program. Oregon held a hearing this week on curbing drones, following one in Idaho last week. And on Tuesday, Rep. … Read more

The U.S. Department of Defense plans to purchase more than half a million iOS devices, according to a new report.

Citing "well-placed sources," Electronista says the government plans to purchase 120,000 iPads, 100,000 iPad minis, 200,000 iPod Touches, and 210,000 iPhones as part of an effort to update and mobilize its technologies.

As for the timing of such a deal, Electronista suggests it would happen following the current sequestration.

Apple declined to comment on the report, and the Defense Department did not immediately return a request for comment.

Last month the Department of … Read more

Tons of games are now available for Mac in many formats and styles. iBomber for Mac operates well, but the simple tower defense gameplay is more suitable for a free game on an iPhone or iPad than for a Mac system.

iBomber Defense for Mac comes as a limited trial version that only operates for 1 hour before shutting down. The full version costs $6.99. After we downloaded and installed a store application separately, the game itself loaded quickly without any additional interaction from us. The store's intuitive interface made it easy to locate and start the installed … Read more

Aaron Swartz, the Internet activist who committed suicide while facing the possibility of a felony criminal conviction, was prosecuted under a law that was never intended to cover what he was accused of doing.

The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1984 dealt only with bank and defense-related intrusions. But over the years, thanks to constant pressure from the U.S. Department of Justice, the scope of the law slowly crept outward.

So by the time Swartz was arrested in 2011, the tough federal statute meant to protect our national defense secrets covered everything from Bradley Manning's offenses to … Read more

The U.S. House of Representatives voted yesterday to require the Defense Department to disclose whether military drones are being operated domestically to conduct surveillance on American citizens.

A requirement buried in a lengthy appropriations bill calls on newly confirmed Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to disclose to Congress what "policies and procedures" are in place "governing the use" of military drones or other unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) domestically. The report is due no later than 90 days after the bill is signed into law.

The vote on the bill, which was overwhelmingly supported by Republicans and … Read more

The tower defense genre is very popular. The concept is simple: place defensive structures strategically on a map, use your gold wisely, and kill all of the enemies before they can reach your base, castle, home, or whatever else you are trying to protect. TapDefense for iPhone takes this formula and marries it with a throwback graphical style from the 1990s, numerous maps and objectives, and a slew of different types of enemies to create an engaging but often frustrating entry in the genre.

TapDefense is very similar to other tower defense games. You start with a certain number of … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Of all the multitudes of phones launching amid the grandeur of Barcelona this week, Motorola Solutions quietly broke champagne over one device from the back corner of a convention center here.

The Motorola AME 2000, originally announced a few weeks back, is not a phone for the average consumer. That makes sense, given that its public bow was at the RSA Conference 2013 this week, an annual confab of security nerds, experts, researchers, enterprise security vendors, and government representatives.

Motorola Solutions focuses on government and enterprise devices, and remains independent from the Google-owned Motorola Mobility. Its booth at RSA … Read more