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  • U.S. Arms Dealer Tests Legal Bounds in Middle East Arms Bazaar

    Former congressman Curt Weldon is helping broker deals between Russian and Ukranian weapons suppliers and the Iraqi and Libyan governments as part of his new job with a private American defense consulting firm, Wired.com has learned.

    Weldon, who is currently being investigated by the FBI over alleged corruption during his time in office, visited Libya in March to discuss a possible military deal, according to a letter describing the trip from Weldon to Defense Solutions CEO Timothy Ringgold. In May, Weldon, together with Ringgold and another company representative, traveled to Moscow to discuss working with Russia's weapons-export agency on arms sales to the Middle East.

    Both trips were part of the company's effort to tap into the growing -- and often legally murky -- market for selling weapons from former Eastern Bloc countries to the Middle East and Afghanistan.

    Ex-Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Penn., is helping broker deals between Russian weapons suppliers and the Iraqi and Libyan governments through his company, Defense Solutions.
    Photo: H. Rumph Jr/AP

    The Russians want to sell weapons to Iraq directly, but "must go slow on Iraq because of political reasons" and want to work with an "intermediary" like Defense Solutions, CEO Ringgold subsequently wrote to colleagues. "They have not spoken with any American company that can offer the quid pro quo that we can or that has the connections in Russia that we have," he boasted.

    A few years ago, an American company proposing to sell weapons to Libya might have triggered a congressional hearing. So, too, would have a proposal to conduct arms deals with Russia, which the United States has accused of selling high-tech weapons to Syria and Iran.

    However, U.S. government efforts to rapidly equip countries like Afghanistan and Iraq -- which have largely Soviet-origin weapons -- have created legal ambiguities and loopholes in export controls that didn't exist in years past and given rise to a new class of arms trade middlemen. So, even though both Libya and the Russian arms export agency are on official U.S. blacklists, government officials and analysts involved in weapons sales say the rules have become unclear as the push to equip allies in the global war on terror has blazed new but uncertain legal ground.

    Eagerly stepping into that virgin territory is Defense Solutions, a Pennsylvania-based company that is carving out a small but lucrative niche in a new international arms bazaar. The firm boasts as its advisors a number of influential Washington insiders, such as retired General Barry McCaffrey, the former White House drug czar.

    Helping the firm make key connections is Curt Weldon, a former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania at the center of an FBI investigation into alleged conflicts of interest during his time in office. Weldon, now a key executive at Defense Solutions, is working with the company to set up these weapons deals.

    Defense Solutions has also proposed refurbishing Libya's BTR-60 armored personnel carriers, according to a sales proposal seen by Wired.com. Defense Solutions denies drafting a sales proposal to Libya.

    It's an unusual, if not an entirely unexpected chapter for Weldon, whose time in office included frequent trips to Russia. As an influential member of the House Armed Services Committee, Weldon pushed for multibillion-dollar defense programs, like ballistic missile defense, and earned a reputation as a foreign policy gadfly, boasting of his contacts with officials in nations labeled by the administration as "rogue states" such as Libya and North Korea. Weldon's wild claims about a 9/11 cover-up and his sensationalist book warning of an Iranian terror plot, sometimes earned him official scorn and public ridicule, but it was accusations that he steered contracts to Eastern European businesses linked to his daughter's lobbying firm that drew the government's attention.

    Weldon was voted out of office in 2006 just weeks after the FBI raided his daughter's home, and that of one of her associates.

    Weldon did not respond to e-mails and phone requests to be interviewed or comment for this article. But in a 2006 interview, before the FBI probe was public, Weldon spoke enthusiastically about setting up a "front company" to work with the Russian arms agency, Rosoboronexport. Weldon hoped this company could sell weapons to the Middle East, and other regions, particularly to countries where the U.S. has strained relations. He claimed the director of Rosoboronexport approached him to work with "an American company that would act as a front for weapons these nations want to buy."

    Weldon called the proposal an "unbelievable offer."

    The administration, he acknowledged at the time, did not welcome the idea of an American company selling Russian weapons to potentially unfriendly countries. But two years later, Weldon, now a private citizen and chief strategic officer for Defense Solutions, appears to be working on precisely that sort of deal. And whether illegal or not, Defense Solutions' business represents a new phenomenon in the international arms trade business.

    In years past arms brokers -- firms or individuals who serve as middlemen to facilitate weapons sales between countries -- were largely the stuff of spy thrillers. Unlike traditional American defense companies, like Lockheed Martin or Boeing, which typically sell weapons directly to NATO countries or other governments regarded as friendly to the United States, brokers are often small outfits run by people with sometimes questionable experience and reputations they will sell to anyone. One of the most infamous arms brokers, a Russian named Viktor Bout, is charged by the United States, United Nations, Interpol and others of funneling arms to terrorists and rebels around the world. He was recently arrested in Thailand. The United States is requesting his extradition on charges of supplying arms to a terrorist organization.

    Two Marines lower the trim vane on the front of an Iraqi BMP-1 mechanized infantry combat vehicle that was captured during Operation Desert Storm. The American defense consulting firm Defense Solutions has proposed refurbishing Libya's aging fleet of BMP-1s. Defense Solutions denies drafting a sales proposal to Libya.

    But ironically, Iraq has fueled a new market for these professional middlemen; the United States is funneling billions of dollars into modernizing Iraq's army so that the country's government can fend for itself after coalition troops withdraw. And Iraq's largely Soviet-equipped military is a natural market for Eastern European countries brimming with old or out-of-date equipment they would like to unload. The middlemen, in these cases, serve a key role by allowing the U.S. government to do business with an American company, which in turn buys equipment from Eastern Bloc countries in deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars, much of it financed with U.S. taxpayer dollars.

    One of Defense Solutions' sales -- a deal to sell Hungarian-owed T-72 tanks to Iraq in 2005 -- was typical of these new foreign military sales. But on the more questionable side is the company's plans to work with Rosoboronexport, which is barred from doing business with the U.S. government, and Libya, which is still on the State Department's arms embargo list.

    The Eastern European-Middle East arms-brokering business, while in some cases sanctioned by the U.S. government, has run into problems, including outright corruption and quality. Defense contractor Dale Stoffel, the president of Wye Oak Technology, and another American were gunned down in Iraq in December 2004 after Stoffel alleged that the Iraqi Ministry of Defense was involved in a kickback scheme. Like Defense Solutions, the company Stoffel worked for was refurbishing the Iraq's army Eastern Bloc equipment.

    Another problem is quality. Weapons from the former Soviet Bloc, which the U.S. military euphemistically calls "nonstandard equipment," have been flagged as substandard, acknowledges Brigadier General Charles Luckey, who is in charge of security assistance at Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq. In an interview from Iraq, Brigadier General Luckey said: "One of the frustrating things about buying nonstandard [weapons], is that I'm the guy who has to deal with the fact that some broker I've never heard of allowed weapons to get to Iraq before they were inspected."

    Defense Solutions is carving a new niche in the arms trade, selling Soviet-made weapons to Middle Eastern countries like Afghanistan and Iraq. Defense Solutions sold Hungarian-owed T-72 tanks to Iraq in 2005.

    In one high-profile case, Iraqi officials alleged that a corrupt firm sold them $400 million in shoddy helicopters from Poland. More recently, a company led by a 21-year-old and a former masseur was offered a U.S. government contract worth nearly $300 million to sell ammunition to Afghanistan. The ammunition turned out to be outdated and of dubious origin and several people connected with the company have been indicted. A congressional investigation concluded that the company, which was on a State Department watch list, was able to take advantage of regulatory loopholes by using middlemen.

    For those concerned about illicit arms trade, this new wave of weapons deals is rife with the potential for corruption and abuse, but for companies eager to pursue markets once regarded as dubious, it represents a lucrative business opportunity. The problem in these cases, according to those familiar with arms sales, is that it's no longer clear what's legal and what's not.

    Rachel Stohl, an expert on international arms trade and a senior analyst at Center for Defense Information, says that in many ways, the rush to equip Iraq has led the United States to throw caution to the wind. She points to a report by the Government Accountability Office last year that found that some 190,000 weapons sold to Iraq have gone missing. "I think the reality is we won't know, until way after the fact, about all of these irregularities with the Iraq weapons provision program," she said. "We were providing them all these assault rifles that have gone missing. Why? They were not following the standard procedures that were in place."

    But Iraq and Afghanistan aren't the only markets available to arms brokers like Defense Solutions. The gradual normalization of relations with Libya opens another door into a quasi-legal area of sales.

    Like Iraq, Libya has a substantial arsenal of Soviet-origin military weapons, offering a potential market for brokers working with Russia and other former Soviet states. But even when there's not an outright ban, sales to the Middle East are often fraught with controversy, particularly to countries like Libya, which was under international sanction for more than a decade. Even as sanctions against it have been lifted, European companies proposing to sell arms to Libya have faced steep criticism, particularly since the country is still ruled by dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who took power in a military coup in 1969.

    While the United States lifted Libya's "state sponsor of terrorism" designation in 2006, other restrictions, such as on the sale of arms, remain in place. A State Department spokesperson confirmed that exports of "lethal munitions" to Libya, such as tanks or related equipment, are still banned, although sales of nonlethal equipment are now allowed on a case-by-case basis.

    In late March, Weldon traveled to Libya for a weeklong trip at the invitation of the Gaddafi Foundation, a group run by the son of Libya's leader, and the chairman of Libya's foreign affairs committee, according to the report he sent to Defense Solutions (.pdf), a copy of which was obtained by Wired.com. The trip reports states: "Agreement reached for Weldon to quickly return to Libya for meetings with son [of Libyan leader Gaddafi] Morti regarding defense and security cooperation."

    A document dated April 16, just two weeks after Weldon's trip, outlines Defense Solutions' proposal to Libya to refurbish the country's fleet of armored vehicles, including its T-72 tanks, BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles, and BTR-60 armored personnel carriers. A copy of the sales proposal, also provided to Wired.com, is on Defense Solutions' letterhead, appears to bear the signature of company CEO Timothy Ringgold, and is addressed to Libya's defense procurement council. "Defense Solutions is committed to delivering a full end-to-end solution to its clients," the proposal states. "Besides refurbishing these vehicles, we are capable of providing a full logistics support package, including a two year supply of spare parts, maintenance and repair services, and operator, maintenance, and repair training."

    In an interview with Wired.com, Ringgold admitted that he's interested in doing business in Libya and confirms receiving Weldon's trip report from Libya, but denies drafting or signing an arms-sale proposal. "I've never made such a document to Libya," Ringgold insisted, after being read the proposal, and told that his signature is on it.

    In addition to the Libyan arms-deal document, Wired.com has also reviewed copies of e-mails from Ringgold discussing the Libyan deal.

    While Ringgold denies proposing an arms sale to Libya, he is open about speaking with Rosoboronexport, which has been on a U.S. government sanctions list since 2006, after the Russian state agency allegedly violated the Iran and Syria Nonproliferation Act. An April e-mail provided to Wired.com describes Ringgold, Weldon and Stephan Minikes, a senior advisor to Defense Solutions and a former ambassador, meeting with Rosoboronexport. The conversations included a number of potential deals, including supplying Mi-17 helicopters to Afghanistan and spare parts for Iraq's infantry fighting vehicles. Ringgold wrote to colleagues following the visit, describing the meetings as a "spectacular success," saying the Russian agency "has the ability to undercut all cost proposals from brokers."

    Ringgold confirmed those discussions and said that his company has sought to do business with Rosoboronexport. Asked whether Ringgold considers his dealings with Russia to be legal, he argued that U.S. companies could work with Rosoboronexport on a "case-by-case" basis. "The particular purpose of the meeting we had -- and I want to be crystal clear -- was in response to a U.S. government requirement," he said.

    A number of officials at the State Department and in the Pentagon, when contacted for this article, could not say whether working with Rosoboronexport is legal or not. A Pentagon spokeswoman said she was familiar with the issue, but deferred the question to the State Department. When asked about Rosoboronexport's status on the blacklist, John Herzberg, a State Department spokesman replied: "What's on there is on there."

    Asked whether, given the ban, there was any way a company could legally work with Rosoboronexport, as Ringgold suggested, Herzberg provided an equivocal answer. "At the stage of the process we're at, I'm unable to give you an answer," he said. "You can try elsewhere in government, and maybe they'll be braver than me."

    In an interview from Iraq, General Luckey conceded it was a murky area, but said, "My understanding is they are currently on our no-go list."

    The confusion over debarred parties has even led the U.S. government into its own legal tangles, according to Jim McAleese, a Washington attorney who specializes in government contracting and foreign military sales. Because the Russian government violated U.S. nonproliferation laws, even NASA had to go to Congress to ensure it could work with Russia on Soyuz flights to the international space station. "What I'm warning you about is, don't be surprised by the confusion," McAleese said. "There are a whole bunch of different statutes that were adopted piecemeal and were never intended to be reconciled."

    But it's the very ambiguity of the law that troubles those who monitor export control. "It's highly unusual to do anything with the Russians, particularly Rosoboronexport," said Scott Jones, director of Export Control Programs at the Center for International Trade and Security at the University of Georgia.

    Legal or not, reputable American companies simply don't want to work with banned entities, Jones said, for fear of risking their reputations and business. "Even if it's not an outright prohibition, most companies don't want to put themselves in a liability situation that has really bad PR … and they stay away from it," Jones said. "But if that's your business, pimping out arms from the U.S. or Russia, that's the way it works, and you push as much as possible."

    Finding any U.S. defense company working with the Russian government at this point would be "remarkable," Jones added.

    In the meantime, the future for Weldon is unclear. The FBI investigation continues and Weldon's former chief of staff recently pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and is cooperating with the government, notes Melanie Sloan, the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which filed a complaint against Weldon in 2004. Sloan speculated that Weldon may be charged with "honest service fraud" for misusing his office for personal gain. "It's an easier standard than bribery," she said. "I wouldn't be surprised [if he's charged] with bribery, but I think it will be honest services fraud."

    Ringgold insists that he and Weldon are on the right side of the law. "Everything we do is in strict compliance with international and U.S. law and we operate only in the best interests of the U.S. government," he said. "I didn't serve 30 years in the United States Army to throw that away on a whim."

    Asked if Weldon is still working for the company, Ringgold replied: "Absolutely, proudly so."



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    Scientists warned today that if carbon dioxide emissions continue along their current paths, coral reefs could vanish from the oceans, and would take millions of years to grow back.

  • Latest Open Source Linux Phone on Sale July 4

    The latest attempt at an open source, Linux-based phone goes on sale July 4. Offered by OpenMoko, will it succeed where so many others have failed? We'll find out for sure on the Fourth.

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    Only 14% of Americans say they are still using dial-up connections to the internet because they have no choice -- 35% say it's too expensive and a hard core 19% nothing would persuade them to upgrade. The findings from the Pew Internet and American Life Project challenge the notion that the slowish spread of high-speed connections is because supply isn't meeting demand.

  • July 3, 1999: Gobbling Up a 'Pac-Man' Record

    1999: After nearly 20 years and millions of quarters, someone attains the unthinkable: a perfect score on Pac-Man.

    The world record was set by 33-year-old Billy Mitchell of Hollywood, Florida, during a U.S.-Canada clash over the Fourth of July weekend. Mitchell took more than six hours to complete the game at the Funspot Family Fun Center in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire.

    To achieve the game's maximum score of 3,333,360 points, Mitchell navigated 256 boards (or screens), eating every single dot, blinking energizer blob, flashing blue ghost, and point-loaded fruit, without losing a single life.

    "It was tremendously monotonous," said Mitchell, a father of three and president of Rickey's World Famous Sauces, a manufacturer of Louisiana hot sauces.

    Mitchell's record was confirmed by Twin Galaxies, publisher of the Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records.

    Walter Day, Twin Galaxies' chief scorekeeper, said the perfect Pac-Man score was one of the most difficult feats in the history of arcade gaming.

    "The level of completeness is so complete it's difficult to find an analogy to compare it to.... It took tremendous skill. The focus is extraordinary," he said at the time.

    Pac-Man has been one of the most popular arcade games ever made, and was played more than 10 billion times worldwide in its first 20 years, according to Day.

    "To the best of our knowledge, it [was] the first time someone's done this," said Patrick Fitzgerald, a spokesman for Midway Games, which distributed Pac-Man in the early 1980s.

    Mitchell and an American friend had spent the previous year in a grudge match against a pair of Canadians, trying to achieve the first perfect Pac-Man score as a matter of national pride.

    In May 1999, one of the Canadians, Rick Fothergill, came within 90 points of the perfect score while playing at the Funspot arcade, described then as the world's second-largest arcade, with about 500 games.

    The foursome set a Fourth-of-July-weekend rendezvous for their head-to-head competition. Mitchell said he came very close to setting the record on July 1 -- which coincidentally is Canada Day -- but a kid pulled the plug about four hours into the game.

    "I was noticeably upset," said the soft-spoken Mitchell.

    Wearing a red-white-and-blue necktie to celebrate the holiday, Mitchell said he didn't eat for two days of the competition.

    He said the record-breaking game's first 20 screens were tense and grueling, while the remaining 236 screens -- all identical -- strained his endurance.

    "It felt like I'd been playing forever," he said. "[After about four hours] I realized I still had 100 boards to go. I started talking to myself, coaching myself on. I was afraid I was going to get lost inside myself."

    Mitchell's entire game was recorded for posterity on videotape by a Funspot employee.

    Mitchell said he was an avid arcade player in his teens, holding world records for the highest score on Donkey Kong, which he first set in 1982 at age 17. Steve Wiebe's attempt to beat that record is chronicled in the 2007 documentary, King of Kong.

    "I was absolutely, totally consumed and obsessed by the idea that no one could beat me," Mitchell said. "I was the best."

    Mitchell, who signed his high scores "Play to Win," once retired at age 19 before attaining the perfect Pac-Man score. He turned his energies toward the family business, staying away from arcades until 1998.

    That's when Mitchell and his friend, Chris Ayra, the world-record holder for the high score on Ms. Pac-Man, a later version of the game, started their rivalry with the Canadians.

    "I had the knowledge [to get the perfect Pac-Man score] in 1984, but my enthusiasm and the incentive to do it weren't there," Mitchell said. "We felt the Canadians were Johnny-come-latelys and needed to be put in their place."

    After the record-breaking game, Mitchell immediately announced his second retirement, but added: "I'm like a boxer. I might come out for one more fight. Hopefully I won't get beat up."

    Source: Wired.com archives



  • Gear Gallery: New Ultralights, Easy Wireless Speakers and a Snappy DSLR

    :

    The Asus U2E is an update of last year's impressive U1F, correcting some early flaws with the model. Most notable is the addition of an optical drive to the system, which will certainly make the laptop more appealing to a broader range of buyers. Another big change: Out goes the FireWire port, in comes HDMI output, though we can't imagine who'll be plugging this into their A/V rig for entertainment purposes.

    Unfortunately, the U2E still has some troubling problems. Performance is uninspiring, and the machine is buggy, too. We encountered numerous odd crashes and Windows hiccups throughout our testing. The specs are decent (11.1-inch screen, 120-GB hard drive, 3 GB of RAM, Core 2 Duo, 2.9-pounds), but many competing machines (even the Air and the Lenovo IdeaPad U110) run circles around the U2E on every important benchmark. Still, if you feel the need to be surrounded by leather at all times (and you're fresh out of jeanless chaps) the choice is all but made for you.

    WIRED: Handsome. Fully loaded with connectivity options, including three USB ports. Weight on par with similar systems that don't include an optical drive.

    TIRED: Numerous software problems. Integrated BIOS/driver update system never completed successfully. Homegrown software works even worse than Vista; causes problems. Too-small keyboard. Too-small, too-stiff mouse buttons. Very loud fan and very quiet speakers. Standard battery is light (machine weighs just 2.9 pounds with it) but gives less than an hour of battery life. (Try the included, larger battery instead: 3.5 pounds total but offers over four hours of life.)

    $2,000 as tested, Asus

    Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

    Read our full Asus U2E review.

    Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily.

    :

    By the numbers, Eos' 100T1RB Wireless Audio System is what any wire-entangled apartment needs. The relatively small system consists of a base station with an iPod/iPhone dock, an auxiliary out port and satellite speakers capable of wirelessly syncing to the base. Wireless setups like this often come with a host of connectivity headaches, but the 100T1RB was surprisingly simple. I literally plugged everything in, connected my iPod and cranked up my favorite playlist.

    Distributing the satellites throughout my apartment was a cinch too. With their removable power supplies, I had the option of plugging the speakers in the old fashioned way, or removing them and plugging the speakers directly into wall outlets. On the downside, the audio quality of the individual speakers could use some work. Both the base unit and the satellites are equipped with subwoofers, but overall the bass output isn't the stuff of earthquakes. Paired with some of the gain I received at higher volumes, it's safe to say that this isn't the end-all-be-all for multiroom audio. Still, in terms of price and ease, the 100T1RB is well-suited for the no-fuss multiroom novice.

    WIRED: Great for "quick and dirty" multiroom music. Speakers automatically sync with base unit out of box. Mini stereo input allows connectivity with virtually any MP3 player and most audio devices. Fantastic range -- even in multistory settings. Rejoice, iFanatics -- it charges devices while docked. Ships with remote and a ton of iPod dock adapters.

    TIRED: Rechargeable-battery-powered satellites would've been nice. Audio quality doesn't hold a candle to wireless systems from Bose. Altec. 2.1 stereo driver is great for music, but stunts home theater possibilities. Buttons on base station feel flimsy.

    $510 as tested, Eos Wireless

    Read our full Eos 100T1RB Wireless Audio System review.

    Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily.

    :

    What appeared to be cool about the little Sony Ericsson W350 proved itself to be an annoyance and a hassle to use. Not that it doesn't look good. Sleek and petite, this Walkman phone is slimmer and narrower than most candy-bar handsets. A small flip panel that houses the controls opens to reveal a keypad composed of glossy Chiclets and a squared-off oval navigation pad. Though pretty, these design touches are the most irritating features of the phone. The smooth keys are hard to press in isolation. The navpad leaves little room for easy navigation. And the flimsy flip panel takes great skill to open one-handedly, which makes it bad for efficient answering.

    The phone comes with what looks like a 512-MB microSD card. But wait -- it's Sony's own memory card, the incompatible Memory Stick M2. When was the last time you've seen any Memory Stick slots in a non-Sony notebook? Don't forget to lock the phone after every call, because when it's flipped shut, the phone defaults to Walkman mode, and a key in your pocket could start an impromptu jam session in a company meeting. On the bright side, when this phone comes out, it'll be cheap, around $30 with a two-year contract.

    WIRED: It's as tiny and as pretty as a music-box ballerina. Includes an FM radio (which will be cool until the HD-radio takeover next year).

    TIRED: The keys and navpad are unfit for grownup human use. The phone's clunky headphone connector has all the charm of a tumor. The awkward flip panel makes for clumsy, fumbling answers.

    $30 estimated with two-year contract, Sony Ericsson

    Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

    Read our full Sony Ericsson W350 review.

    Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily.

    :

    The Nokia E66 has what we in the lab have taken to calling the "mullet button" (actual name: switch mode). This feature allows your mobile to toggle between two separate screen modes. Keep the first one full of all your spreadsheets, work e-mail, TPS reports and other boring business stuff. When you leave the office, let your hair down a little and switch to the personal mode and start using all the applications that hamper productivity.

    The E66 has a lot in common with an N-series device, and is functionally almost identical to the N78, sporting 3G, WiFi, media player, FM radio and a 3.2-megapixel cam. But there is one overarching quality that puts it squarely in the business world: Like many jobs, it sounds great at first, but gets old real fast once you see past the shine.

    WIRED: A magnificent piece of hardware, with Vertu-level build quality. Nice form factor: thin enough to disappear in your pocket but large enough for a 2.5-inch screen. Upgraded processor runs S60 even more snappily than the N95 8 GB. Automatic screen orientation. Finger-friendly textured keys. Hard buttons for silent mode and Bluetooth on/off.

    TIRED: Mullet mode adds yet another level of menus under which to bury functions. Arrgh! Swanky metal backplate gets hand-scaldingly hot. Road warriors will scoff at the battery life: around three hours of talk time (con Bluetooth). Must pay extra for business applications -- document, spreadsheet editor, etc. Camera sucks in anything but perfect light.

    $500, Nokia

    Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

    Read our full Nokia E66 review.

    Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily.

    :

    When we first reviewed the Toshiba Portege R500 in July 2007, it was a breath of fresh air, an impossibly portable ultralight that stood out against a field of also-rans. But the machine hasn't received a significant update in that time, and it is now having its lunch eaten by all of the competition it previously trounced. Our model came with a larger hard drive, a faster CPU and more RAM than the model we tested last year. None of these mild improvements served to boost the R500 up to hang with its newfound contenders.

    The R500 is still the lightest full-featured laptop on the market, weighing just 2.4 pounds while still offering an optical drive. But the Portege makes a lot of sacrifices to reach such an anorexic state, the most obvious being build quality and components that feel shaky, to put it mildly. Nearly as problematic is the dreadful performance of the R500, about 23 percent slower than both the Sony Vaio TZ-150 and the MacBook Air ultralights. Still, if the durability and performance concerns don't turn you off, there's a bit to like here. With three USB ports, FireWire, VGA, SD card and ethernet ports, the machine is pretty full-featured, and its $2,149 price is competitive next to most other ultralights.


    WIRED:     Amazingly, almost suspiciously, light. Integrated optical drive. 12.1-inch screen a decent compromise between 11.1- and 13.3-inch models.

    TIRED:Terrible screen quality, one of the dimmest on the market and hard to read if you're not looking straight on. Pitiful performance under Vista. Lack of sturdiness is outright scary. Only 1 GB of RAM.

    $2,150 as tested, Toshiba

    Read our full Toshiba R500 review.

    Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily.

    :

    With its buttonless face and black monolithic look, the all-touchscreen Instinct is immediately familiar: It's virtually the same weight and size as the iPhone, only about two-tenths of an inch narrower. Most of the expected specs are here: 3G, GPS, 2-megapixel camera (with video recording), and full e-mail and web browsing features. Of course, the real reason for the iPhone's success is its operating system, and here the Instinct is still playing catch-up. While everything is intuitive and pretty zippy, it's still not quite as polished as Apple's version.

    As well, the narrower body trims nearly a half inch off the iPhone's screen size, which really cramps page size. Even typing on the Instinct can be rocky: I made so many mistakes in notes and web URLs that typing slowed to a painful crawl even by iPhone's slow standards. The Instinct won't woo the Apple faithful from upgrading to the iPhone 3G, but it's definitely good enough to rank as a solid second-tier player in the smartphone space.

    WIRED: Turn-by-turn GPS navigation is very responsive, generally accurate and updates quickly. Easily customizable home screen. Painless e-mail setup works well with numerous hosts. Decent multimedia options (included with $99 all-you-can-eat service plan) include copious TV options. Works with any screen-tapping implement (not just your finger).

    TIRED: No WiFi. Clearly cellphone-quality photos. No internal storage: 2-GB microSD card included (upgradeable to 8 GB). Can't edit attachments. Web browser needs a serious reworking. Includes a stylus ... but provides no slot to stow it.

    $130 (with two-year contract), Samsung

    Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

    Read our full Samsung Instinct review.

    Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily.

    :

    The diminutive D60 is a fistful of photo-tech fun as the beneficiary of a bucketful of Nikon D300 trickle down like a speedier EXPEED image processor, a vibration-reducing zoom lens, Active D-Lighting and a dust-reduction system with a particle-purging vent. From the moment you flip on the power, the D60 is ready to shoot. Its 10-megapixel photos were punchy, sharp and pleasing. Not a big jump in sharpness from the D40x, but noticeable, especially at higher ISO settings where the new EXPEED image processor's noise reduction algorithm really kicks in.

    The simple user interface takes cues from Nikon's point-and-shoots and a variety of in-camera editing and touch-up features pretty much eliminate the need to use any post-production software. The D60 comes up a little short in frame rate. At just three frames per second in continuous shooting mode, you may be disappointed by its stop-action sports performance. Also, its three-point auto-focus system is one-third of its closest competitor, Canon's Rebel XSi. All in all the D60 is a straight outta the box, shoot-your-ever-smiling-face-off winner. However, if you harbor any ambition of getting more creative with your image making, then you may find that you outgrow this camera faster than you'd expected.

    WIRED: Brightest, sharpest LCD in category. Stop-motion movies. Active D-Lighting fixes shots during processing. In-camera RAW conversion. Fast start-up to shoot.

    TIRED: Compact styling means the controls are a bit cramped for big hands. Only three-point auto-focus system. Manual shooting a bit ungainly. Just three frames per second in continuous shooting mode.

    $700 as tested, Nikon

    Photo: Jackson Lynch/Wired.com

    Read our full Nikon D60 review.

    Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily.



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  • Will the Real Hans Reiser Lawyer Please Stand Up?

    Linux guru and convicted murderer Hans Reiser swaps his attorneys. But has he unswapped them? Is he mentally competent? The court may have to decide.

  • Immune to Critics, Secret-Spilling Wikileaks Plans to Save Journalism ... and the World

    When online troublemaker Julian Assange co-founded Wikileaks, the net's premiere document-leaking site last year, some were skeptical that the service would produce anything of interest.

    Now, after 18 months of publishing government, industry and military secrets that have sparked international scandals, led to takedown threats and briefly gotten the site banned in the United States, Assange says Wikileaks is just getting started changing the world.

    "In every negotiation, in every planning meeting and in every workplace dispute, a perception is slowly forming that the public interest may have a silent advocate in the room," Assange writes.

    Launched in January 2007, Wikileaks was conceived as a safe place for whistle-blowers to reveal their secrets to the world. Today, nobody doubts that the site has had an enormous impact -- much of it good. But critics charge that Wikileaks' hands-off policy of publishing nearly everything that comes its way has turned the site into a free-for-all. The U.S. military has decried Wikileaks as "irresponsible" for publishing classified information, and even critics of government secrecy have railed against the site's publication of secrets that have no obvious news value, and potentially harm some individuals' privacy.

    "That is a threat to the fabric of our society, which is based on the rule of law, and they are saying there is no law," says Steven Aftergood, head of the Federation of American Scientists' Secrecy Project.

    The site started off with a bang. It's first disclosure -- published even before its official launch -- was a suppressed report on the looting of the African nation of Kenya by former president Daniel Arap Moi, a leak that led to an upset in Kenya's presidential election.

    Then in November 2007, Wikileaks published never-before-seen operating manuals for the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, revealing that the United States had a policy for hiding some detainees from the International Red Cross, and used dogs to intimidate prisoners. The same month, the site published lists of U.S. munitions in Iraq, including stores of banned chemical weapons. Documents leaked from the Swiss bank Julius Baer in January strongly hinted that some customers were engaged in widespread money laundering.

    In February, the site published the Pentagon's 2005 rules of engagement for troops in Iraq, revealing that troops were authorized to pursue former officials in Saddam Hussein's government, as well as terrorists, into neighboring Iran and Syria. The document was classified "secret", meaning that in the eyes of the military, its release could be expected to cause "serious damage" to U.S. national security.

    The world's governments and press have taken notice. The New York Times reported on the rules of engagement leak, and the Iranian government held a press conference to warn the United States about crossing its border. The Washington Post reported on the Guantanamo documents, forcing the Pentagon to respond.

    More controversially, the site has begun posting confidential documents from the secretive and litigious Church of Scientology, and from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Those leaks demonstrate that the site has veered from its mission to expose the secrets of repressive governments, says Aftergood, treading instead on the dangerous ground of religious persecution.

    "They are close to becoming the oppressors that they claim to oppose," Aftergood says. "People ought to be free to practice their religious beliefs no matter how peculiar they are, in privacy and without harassment, and the Wikileaks folks seem not to understand that."

    "They think all secrecy is an evil to be opposed and that is just a juvenile point of view," he adds.

    Other Wikileaks documents sometimes seem to lack any news value at all. For instance, Wikileaks critics questioned why a site intended to bring sunshine to non-democratic countries published an earlier version of the movie script for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Others questioned Wikileaks' decision to publish a tax bill for Wesley Snipes that included his Social Security number.

    Wikileaks also published a classified operating manual for the U.S. military's guided bombs known as the Joint Direct Attack Munitions or JDAM that included information on its known weaknesses. No news organizations picked up on the manual, but Wikileaks' watchers certainly took notice of its publication. Aftergood, for one, found it irresponsible.

    "Are there military technologies that warrant protection against disclosure? My view is, and the Federation of American Scientists' view is, obviously yes, and there are things we withhold even though they are technically unclassified," Aftergood says. "I think they display atrocious editorial judgment."

    Assange, one of the site's original creators, is an Australian-born hacker and writer with a social conscience, who now lives in East Africa. Among other achievements, he co-invented Rubberhose deniable encryption, which would let a dissident being tortured reveal one key to unlock a hard drive, while not giving away that there was a second or third password-locked folder of information.

    The coder bristles at the criticism of Wikileaks standards. The JDAM document, he says, is a perfect example of a leak that's entirely consistent with Wikileaks' ethic, which owes no allegiance to any government or group.

    "Many countries face the risk of being attacked by JDAM guide bombs should they not toe U.S. foreign policy lines, so its specific capabilities are of intense interest to a knowledgeable audience," Assange says. "If governments do not like morally outraged soldiers leaking the specifications to their weapons systems, perhaps they should be more selective about who they kill with them."

    "Similarly if rebel groups like the FARC would like sources to stop providing us with their internal documents, they would be well advised to release their hostages," he says.

    In February a military spokesman lambasted Wikileaks' release of the Iraq rules of engagement in a statement to The New York Times, saying "the deliberate release of what Wikileaks believes to be a classified document is irresponsible and, if valid, could put U.S. military personnel at risk."

    The Pentagon isn't the only group with no love of Wikileaks. In January, Wikileaks published secret banking documents from the Cayman Islands branch of the Swiss private bank Julius Baer, despite not being certain of their veracity. The documents allegedly show the bank knew about, and even aided, money laundering. The bank sued Wikileaks in a federal court in California, briefly convincing a judge to order Wikileaks' domain registrar to de-list the site from web.

    Predictably, the censorship attempt backfired as netizens posted the IP address of Wikileaks, whose servers were unaffected. Press groups, the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, among others, filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the case, which brought more attention to Wikileaks than any of its previous -- and more spectacular -- document leaks.

    The judge in the case soon reversed himself, and Julius Baer, which declined to comment on Wikileaks, dropped the suit, realizing that the attempt to censor brought more attention to the documents than if they had just ignored it.

    Wikileaks's core strength -- its distributed and seemingly phantom-like presence on the net -- has yet to be tested legally or technically. The domain name owner lives in Kenya and purposely doesn't know much about Wikileaks. The site, which looks to be hosted from a server in Sweden, has multiple mirrors around the world.

    One of Wikileaks' advisers, security expert Ben Laurie, doesn't even know who runs the site -- other than Assange -- or where the servers are.

    That secrecy lets Wikileaks stay online even when one of its domain names is shut down. Similarly, it has thwarted efforts by the Church of Scientology to have a document removed using U.S. copyright law.

    Wikileaks' assertion of freedom from the world's laws is reminiscent of the early days of net rhetoric -- much of which has fallen away as governments learn to use laws and filters to impose at least some national standards on the net.

    For instance, in 2000, France succeeded in forcing Yahoo to ban Nazi paraphernalia auctions. And repressive regimes like China have used sophisticated tools and economic clout to censor the net.

    If Assange is unflustered by criticism of Wikileaks, he acknowledges that one of its founding ideas has not panned out. As conceived, Wikileaks would employ an army of volunteers to collaboratively evaluate the documents it leaks -- that's the "wiki" in Wikileaks. But despite the site's growing reputation and its emergence as a cause celebre on the net, nobody's shown much interest in poring over pages of documents that reveal the world's secret workings.

    Instead that work of vetting and analyzing documents has fallen to academics, journalists and Wikileaks' own staff, including Assange. Now Wikileaks is planning to drop the wiki model entirely. In the future, it plans to pre-release selected documents to investigative journalists, then publish them once a story appears. That gives the favored reporters time to analyze and verify documents without fear of being scooped.

    Assange is even toying with the idea of making his site a subscription service that pre-releases secret documents to paying reporters. The reporters would have the option of writing about a given leak, or passing on it and getting another, if the reporter doesn't find it useful.

    The change is partly due to economics, he says. Academics and journalists are among the few who have time to spend poring over documents. It's also partly because people online seem more inclined to comment on something that's already been analyzed, than analyze it themselves, says Assange.

    That change pleases Aftergood.

    "Working reporters can use all the help and sources they can get, and Wikileaks does have a track record of getting their hands on documents that other people haven't," Aftergood says. "It also has the potential to introduce another layer of editorial judgment and I believe in editorial judgment on matters of confidentiality."

    Assange says he's no enemy of the editorial process -- he is, in fact, a big fan of journalism. Indeed, he points to the ever-present news of layoffs at newspapers, and the lack of institutional support or funding for investigative journalism, as the reason Wikileaks needs to exist. With Wikileaks' help, journalists can change the world, he says.

    "It is time journalists and publishers starting actually engaging in 'fearless journalism' rather than simply placing the words on their mastheads," Assange says. "It is time activists serious about their mission used every technical and legal ploy they can to further it." Quoting Filipino political thinker Walden Bello, Assange says "it is time for less civil society and more civil disobedience."

    "Imagine a world where companies and government must keep the public, or their employees, or both, happy with their plans and behavior," Assange says. "That is the world we are striving to create."

    While the wiki-portion of Wikileaks has proven a flop, from a purely economic standpoint, Wikileaks works, even if the wiki part did not, according to Assange.

    "Based on the last 12 months, we catalyzed one mainstream press report or re-report per $40 of funding, which in turn has lead to concrete changes across the world that affect the lives of millions."



  • How-To Wiki: How to Treat Beach Wounds

    Waterproof sunscreen? Check. Sunglasses? Check. Beach towel? Check. Vinegar? ... Eh? Below that perfect blue azure surface lurk all sorts of prickly critters just waiting to penetrate your flesh. Here's our guide on how to treat the most common beach wounds.

  • Judge Orders YouTube to Give All User Histories to Viacom

    Google must turn over records of everyone who has watched YouTube videos to Viacom, which is suing the internet giant for copyright infringement. A rights group says the order violates the law and invades users' privacy.

  • Install Django and Build Your First App

    Django, meet Webmonkey. Webmonkey, meet Django. Django brings a web framework that allows you to easily and quickly build a professional-looking website. Webmonkey brings the tutorials to show you how to build your first one. Now that everyone is acquainted, let's build a blog and blog this party.

  • U.S. Satellites Snooping on Iraqi Army

    U.S. spy satellites are watching, to make sure Iraqi troops are where they say they'll be. But that doesn't mean American forces don't trust their new Iraqi counterparts, a military source swears.

  • 5 Vulnerable Nodes in the Global Energy Network

    National-security simulations show that a small disruption in oil supply -- caused by an accident or terrorist attack -- could cause oil prices to spike past $250, sending the world economy into crisis. Here are five key nodes in the energy infrastructure that could be in danger.

  • Preview: A Hilariously Gross Take on 'Grimm' Fairy Tales

    American McGee's new episodic game dispatches a disgusting, disgruntled gnome to befoul the world and take classic stories back to their dark roots.

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