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Military lightning gun parts sold on eBay, probably built in someone's garage
We're not sure where to start with this one. It's, in a word, unbelievable. Technologist Cody Oliver was digging through eBay for parts to build a robot car that Elon Musk could drive around Burning Man, when he came across surplus equipment from defense contractors Omnitech Robotics and Ionatron. The components were originally from the military's Joint Improvised Explosive Device Neutralizers, or JINs -- remote-controlled lightning guns designed to disable IEDs. But, the story quickly goes from interesting to terrifying. Oliver soon discovered the weapons were cobbled together largely from off-the-shelf parts, including a Linksys router with the serial numbers scraped off, and lacked even basic security. The now retired JINs were controlled over a standard 802.11 WiFi signal, with the encryption turned off -- leaving the multimillion dollar devices vulnerable to insurgents. Ultimately the parts were deemed unfit for even Musk's RC art car. You can read all of the horrifying details at the source link. [Thanks, Chris] [Image credit: Cody Oliver]
Ionatron building laser guided energy weapons for US Navy
Apparently, the the artillery development budget for the US Navy is bursting at the seams, as the branch is complimenting the myriad of other dazzling weapons that it's collaboratively developing with a LGE-based rendition from Ionatron. The company, which focuses on developing "directed energy weapons," has recently landed a contract just shy of $10 million in order to "fund the development of an advanced Ultra Short Pulse Laser, physics modeling related to laser guided energy requirements, a transportable demonstrator, and effects testing." The firm's website compares its devices to that of "man-made lightning," useful in disabling "people or vehicles that threaten our security." Moreover, it was noted that both lethal and non-lethal versions are available, but we've no idea when this literal lightning in a bottle will end up hitting the test floor (or some poor sap's torso) in Los Alamos.[Via El Reg]
