military

Where should CNET Road Trip go in California?

Summer is just two months off, but over here at Geek Gestalt, with bright sunshine outside (and windows to keep the chilly wind out) it already feels like it's just around the corner.

That's also in large part because I've started the planning for Road Trip 2012, my seventh-annual journey to highlight some of the best destinations around for technology, military, architecture, science, nature, and so on.

For five of the past six years, the project has taken me all around the roads of the United States, giving me the opportunity to visit the Pacific Northwest, the … Read more

Hackers steal passwords from military dating site

Hackers broke into the database for a military dating Web site and stole passwords, e-mail addresses, and other information from nearly 171,000 accounts, according to a post on the Pastebin site this weekend:

"The website http://www.militarysingles.com/ was recently closed day ago or so, so we dumped email db," the hackers said in their post. "There are emails such as @us.army.mil ; @carney.navy.mil ; @greatlakes.cnet.navy.mil ; @microsoft.com ; etc.."

So-called "data dumps" are a common occurrence, but what makes this one notable is that the group is … Read more

Robotic jellyfish for U.S. Navy powers itself with seawater

Imagine a military surveillance robot that looks and moves like a jellyfish and can ply the seas indefinitely by powering itself with ocean water.

A team of researchers at Virginia Tech, the University of Texas at Dallas, and several other schools are working to develop just such a device.

In a paper published yesterday in the journal Smart Materials and Structures, team members outlined their recent progress on the "Robojelly" project, which is being funded by the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Research.

Made of a combination of silicone and various high-tech materials, the Robojelly uses … Read more

Litmus-like sensor could detect chemical weapons

Researchers at the University of Michigan say they have developed a simple litmus-like test for nerve gas that could clue military personnel into when they might actually need to use those heavy masks and protective gear. (Nerve gases, the most toxic of chemical warfare agents, and are colorless, odorless, and tasteless.)

"To detect these agents now, we rely on huge, expensive machines that are hard to carry and hard to operate," Jinsang Kim, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Michigan, said in a statement. "We wanted to develop an equipment-free, motion-free, … Read more

Google hires DARPA Director Regina Dugan

One of the Pentagon's most tech-forward leaders is heading to a new job at Google. Regina Dugan has been the director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which works on military technology for the U.S. Department of Defense, for the past three years.

"Regina is a technical pioneer who brought the future of technology to the military during her time at DARPA," a spokesperson for Google told CNET. "She will be a real asset to Google, and we are thrilled she is joining the team."

Although Google confirmed Dugan's hire, it … Read more

Pentagon: You know what's cool? A trillion-dollar fighter

The U.S. Air Force yesterday gave the go ahead to begin "introductory" flight tests of its version of the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter, a major step forward for the trillion-dollar program that, Wired reports, is expected to succeed nearly all of the Pentagon's tactical jets over the next three decades.

If you think maybe you read that number wrong, let me repeat: a trillion dollars. According to Reuters, the F-35 program is seen as a fleet of 2,443 jets over the next 50 years, a flying armada that is expected to cost $1 trillion over … Read more

Vintage military planes fly high in art exhibit

If there's one medium that you wouldn't expect to see get taken on by graffiti and other contemporary artists, it's military airplanes.

But thanks to the folks behind the Round Trip: Art from the Boneyard Project exhibition, now on display at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Ariz., visitors can see just that.

Although only five full airplanes have been painted--out of dozens in the museum's full collection--the show also includes two cockpits and a large group of airplane sections, all reimagined with an artist's flair. The exhibition, which runs through May 31, &… Read more

Military, government officials could get secure Android phones

Google's Android operating system may soon receive the U.S. government's seal of security approval, according to a report from CNN.

Citing a source close to the project, CNN says that developers in a government program are working on smartphones that run a customized version of the OS with security improvements. Though the first batch of test devices is authorized only for storing confidential documents, phones and tablets capable of transmitting such documents over wireless networks could arrive in the next few months.

Michael McCarthy, a director for the Army's Brigade Modernization Command, told CNN that the … Read more

Incoming! Self-guiding bullet could strike from a mile away

A new design for a self-guiding bullet could allow sharpshooters to accurately fire at targets a full mile away.

The bullet, which is still in a prototype phase, is the brainchild of Sandia National Laboratories researchers Red Jones and Brian Kast. It is designed with built-in actuators and tiny fins that should allow it to rapidly adjust its path in flight.

Designed with the military, law enforcement, and recreational shooters as potential customers, the bullet is four inches long and has an optical sensor embedded in its nose for the detection of a laser on its target, Sandia said in … Read more