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Submission + - Hacking Team and the Murky World of State-Sponsored Spying (ibtimes.co.uk)

Submitted by
DavidGilbert99
DavidGilbert99 writes: "Eric Rabe does not have the easiest job in the world. As head of communications for Hacking Team, Rabe has to defend his company's product which allows governments, law enforcement and intelligence agencies all around the world to snoop and spy on their citizens.
The revelation that Hacking Team softweare had been used by repressive regimes in Morocco and UAE to illegally monitor activists didn't help matters.
Rabe describes the process of checks and balances Hacking Team has put in place to ensure its powerful cyber-weapon doesn't fall into the wrong hands, but at the end of the day it is simply a judgement call by a private company, which, as Rabe admits, "is the best we think we can do on this issue.""

Submission + - Hitler assassination plotter Von Kleist dies (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
Dynamoo
Dynamoo writes: "The BBC reports that Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist who was involved in the 20 July plot to kill Hitler died last week at his home in Munich. He was arrested and later released for his involvement where many other plotters were executed, and after the war he created the Munich Security Conference which brought together heads of state and senior diplomats to discuss international security issues. What would have happened if Von Kleist and his associates had succeeded in killing Hitler? Perhaps a different leader might not have made so many mistakes?"
Games

Submission + - Maxis developer claims SimCity doesn't actually need servers (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: All along, the official line from EA and Maxis has been that SimCity requires an Internet connection to function. But a Maxis developer has come forward to claim that SimCity’s requirement for servers to run is actually false, as are the claims that significant calculations are done on the servers. All the servers are used for is to handle saves in the cloud and message routing. The core game doesn’t actually need a server connection to function.

The developer went on to say that removing the features that require a server “wouldn’t take very much engineering” to achieve. So what does this actually mean? On the face of it this looks like EA is making the features that require a server look far more important than they actually are. In reality, the main purpose of that server link is to ensure the game isn’t subject to piracy and remains linked to EA’s Origin system

Submission + - 3D printing dollars, not guns (venturebeat.com)

Submitted by guinea pig C
guinea pig C writes: This looks suspiciously like a Makerbot sponsored story, but even so, it is much needed relief from all the fear mongering and sensationalism about printed guns that often appear about here.

"MakerBot has a problem: While the 3D printer maker has done an unparalleled job of pitching its devices as toymakers, their status as moneymakers is still a dubious one.
That’s a big deal. The Replicator printer costs $2,200, which is a lot of money to put into something that won’t spit any cash back out.
But the 3D-printer-as-moneymaker model does have its adherents. One example is the business built by Chris Milnes, the creator of the Square Helper. A tiny 3D-printed widget, the Helper was built for a small but significant job: to prevent Square’s card reader from spinning in its headphone jack.
The idea is simple, but it’s already proven to be pretty popular: Milnes says he’s already sold over a thousand of the things, which, at $8 each, represents a pretty decent business for such a tiny invention."
Read more at http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/12/makerbot-square-helper-chris-milnes/#m5XDOhsijK0mS4I2.99

As a writer on this subject myself, I am so pleased to see that people are looking at the positive opportunities for this tech, rather than focusing on wiki-weapons, DEFCAD and the dark side of 3D printing. My own book, "3D Printing: The Next Technology Gold Rush — Future Factories and How to Capitalize on Distributed Manufacturing" (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B1UKZC6) is clearly aimed clearly at entrepreneurs just like Chris Milnes, and includes many similar examples of inspirational early adopters. I hope to see many more stories like this, so that people realize 3D printers can be used to make more than just firearms.
Games

Submission + - Former Atari CEO bids to save his old gaming company from bankruptcy (itworld.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Former Atari Interactive CEO Frédéric Chesnais has decided to take a 25.23% stake in the company in a bid to save it from bankruptcy, Atari announced on Tuesday.

He will pay principle shareholder BlueBay just €400 for 7,451,122 Atari shares, and for mandatory convertible bonds that give him access to another 5,528,736 shares.

"I made this move because I love the team, I know about games, I love the brand and in the past we have all spent nights and days to make it shine," Chesnais said in a statement, adding that he didn't hesitate for one second when he heard the bad news. He plans to work hard to seek the financing needed for Atari: "I am just given a few weeks to put the Company back on track and I have to give it a try," he said.

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