Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Tue, 13 Nov 2012 17:00:00 PST Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100415/0114419019/dailydirt-alternatives-to-projectile-weapons.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100415/0114419019/dailydirt-alternatives-to-projectile-weapons.shtml

The Russians are working on electromagnetic radiation guns that can attack a target's organs or central nervous system. Such electromagnetic weapons could burn people's skin from a distance or lobotomize crowds of people with a sweeping zap. [url]

Boeing and the US Air Force have tested a high power microwave weapon that can fry electronics and disable the electrical systems of an entire building. This weapon wouldn't kill anyone directly, but it could be useful for knocking out infrastructure in a prelude to a conventional military attack. [url]

A Laser-Induced Plasma Channel (LIPC) can direct an artificial bolt of lightning at a conductive target. A laser pulse shot directed at a bad guy can zap him by creating plasma from the air that is synchronized with extremely high voltage. But what if the enemy has a lightning rod? [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100415/0114419019 Wed, 10 Oct 2007 23:32:45 PDT Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071010/171139.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071010/171139.shtml ban the incandescent bulb in favor of fluorescent bulbs. Now it looks like they're getting ready to take on televisions. New regulations may end up effectively banning both plasma and LCD TV screens as energy hogs (found via The Raw Feed). We all know that these big screen TVs are the SUVs of the electricity world, but does that really mean they should be banned completely? There are definitely efforts under way to make the systems more energy efficient, and many buyers are certainly aware of these issues (or they are as soon as they get their electricity bills). If anything, this seems like the sort of problem that works itself out without the need for the government to step in and force folks back into the world of big bulky TVs with (gasp!) small screens. Update: As noted in the comments, the Australian gov't has come out to say that a ban on plasma and LCD TVs is greatly exaggerated.

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]]> just-replace-them-with-flourescents http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20071010/171139