Arbiter
11-11-04, 10:30
Finally, a new version :) Enjoy reading!
Drones out of control
by Randolph Bennet
In the last issue we already reported about the problems with the drones, and reports of the last few days prove that the problems have become worse. There were incidents where riggers got attacked and seriously injured by their own drones in the public. To avoid any civil victims it is very important to find a solution to this problem as soon as possible. The NCPD advises riggers not to use their drones inside city borders until the problem is solved.
In case you have missed the last issue: Experiments in a laboratory have shown that there is a signal which can only be noticed by the most sensitive detector technology we currently have and that this signal seems to be the reason for several of the malfunctions of the drones. Last night there was a meeting of several experts of drone technology, to discuss what can be done about this.
This morning we had the chance to talk to one of the participants of this meeting, George Wilson. “There is no question, we have to develop methods to kill these disturbing signals. It is no problem to kill a constant signal, but unfortunately this one is not one of this kind. If we would cover the whole frequency range we have noticed, it would also cause problems for the connection between rigger and drone which is needed to control a drones movement.” Of course they are still looking for a solution, but this may still take a few days.
But there is another way they are thinking about. “To kill the signal is the one possibility, but this would only work for the drones we modify with the new technology – the other drones can still be affected by this signal which may cause more malfunctions. This is the reason why we are also trying to find out where this signal is coming from. They are analysing the data they have collected in the past few weeks and they are pretty sure to find the source very soon. We will need engaged runners to take care of that source then. We will only know where the source is, not what! ”
Later we got a press release from the TechHaven Administration, that as soon as the new technology is available, they will have “Drone Tournaments” for the riggers. The prize for the winner will be a prototype of a new drone, which was in development right before the resources to finish it had to be moved to solve the problem with this mysterious signal.
The official re-opening of Tech Haven - an interview
by Sharon Davidson
Sharon Davidson: Hello and thanks for allowing this interview, would you mind introducing yourselves to our readers?
Laureen Marnur: I'm Laureen Marnur, one of the two people hired as Tech Haven Guides.
William Haska: And I'm William Haska, the other guide.
SD: How do you feel about how the re-opening went?
LM: It went very well in my opinion, many people turned up, and there was a lot of trading going on at the height of the event.
WH: It was good to see that our security systems work as well as expected, not a single outburst of combat happened during the entire meeting. There were one or two verbal outbursts, but those runners were quickly escorted out unless they calmed down.
SD: That's an impressive feat, as I heard there were rebels present. Weren't you worried that allowing anyone but people from Neocron to go here for the re-opening would cause trouble?
LM: No comment.
SD: Very well... Could you give me some examples of the things traded?
WH: Basically everything you could think of was traded, from chemicals to fully assembled hoverbombers! I believe I even heard a man saying he was selling dog tags.
SD: It seems a shame I missed it. I'd assume that this is definitely going to be repeated?
LM: Yes it will be. We'll be holding a large auction in two weeks from now, and next month we'll have another meeting like this.
SD: Could I get an estimate of the money made on booth rentals?
LM: I'm afraid that's private business of the Tech Haven council, we're not allowed to tell you.
SD: What's the money going to be used for?
WH: The money made from the booths will be used for the general improvement of Tech Haven and the services we offer. Currently the money was only used to cover the preparations we had to make, and for hiring additional personnel to sell various fluids necessary for construction, research, recycling, implanting and repairing.
SD: Alright thanks for your time, that's all I wanted to ask.
One strike, you're out!
by Randolph Bennet
A few days ago, there was a citywide strike amongst the various companies supply managers. Sick of the frequent abuse they got from the runners employed by the various companies, they decided to turn the tables and give abuse to these same runners, regardless of their employment or loyalty. This idea had come from the leadership of the "Supply Manager Union".
Shortly after this came to light, the NCPD did an investigation into this so-called "Supply Manager Union" and it quickly became clear that these were in fact rebel infiltrants, intent on causing a disruption of the city-wide trading system.
“We are shocked by the audacity of these rebels,” says Officer Jenna of the NCPD, “it's not just the fact that they were hiding under our very noses, but that they were masquerading as an approved union of the city as well!”
This is not the first time in recent history that rebels have hidden under the guise of honest employees of our fine city, as reported in an earlier Neocronicle the city's janitors and trash collectors were found to be rebels as well.
Luckily, it appears that in this case the rebel "infection" had not gone so far yet as to pervert all of our supply managers to its cause. After the discovery of the real loyalties of the leadership of their now disbanded union, they quickly and eagerly resumed their normal, day-to-day work.
Artist dies in tragic accident
by Randolph Bennet
In news earlier today, the well known artist Klara Sheen died when trying to prop up her mosaic portrait of our leader Lioon Reza, what she had not anticipated however was the glue she used to not be cohesive enough to hold the glass for more than a few seconds. Her body was severely damaged by the falling glass, with gaping wounds on her wrists and forehead. Medicare personnel did the best they could to try and save her, but the blood loss was too severe to prevent her death.
The fact that her GenRep data was damaged led to a further investigation into the incident by the NCPD, who suspect that sabotage may have played a part in the accident.
"We suspect that an experienced hacker was behind this incident," says Officer Jenna of the NCPD "They had most likely hacked into the personal transaction data of Ms. Sheen and figured out where she ordered her glue from, then hacked into the control system of the factory where the glue is produced and made a minor, yet vital, adjustment to the mixing process."
This of course begs the rather worrying question whether or not the security of the GenRep system is as good as we thought. Officer Jenna reinsures us
with the following statement however: "The security of the networks in our system is still recovering from the blow made to it a few weeks ago. The
security is however being improved on every day. They are also planning a new feature: Your equipment will be stored as well and can be recreated with your body."
We at the Neocronicle would like to offer our condolences to the relatives of Ms. Sheen.
KKandy Inc. announces and scraps new product line
By Sharon Davidson
KKandy Inc., the producers of the well-known Milky Ren chocolate bar, recently started experimenting with various new kinds Milky Rens. These have been sent out to all restaurants spread around Neocron. These Milky Rens offered a special taste for those able to successfully remove their wrappers.
Reactions on these new Milky Rens have been generally negative however, and the Neocronicle decided to ask a few people about these new tasty snacks.
“What's the point?” says Andy Bruhill of BioTech Systems “I had a break, so decided to buy some lunch at the barkeep in our HQ, he told me had a few new version of the Milky Ren for sale. As I was curious about them, I decided to buy one along with a meal. Once I got around to eating it, I noticed the small print on the wrapper saying, "This Milky Ren requires sufficient psionic abilities to unwrap it", does KKandy seriously think that can be a success?”
Andy was definitely not alone in his views on the matters, and a KKandy official soon made the following statement: “Our research had shown that people wanted more than just the basic blue and white chocolate wrapper, and so we supplied. However, as the production costs for these wrappers definitely does not get close to our projected income, we have decided to scrap these products.”
This reporter would just like to point out that while KKandy's research on the wrappers was correct, their decision on what to do with the wrappers was not the best marketing choice ever made. We should just be glad they never got the actual "Impress your friends, unwrap a Milky Ren" advertising campaign started.
"Ghost of Death" sighted again!
by John Sparr
Last week another “Ghost of Death” was sighted. You could only see him for a few seconds, just long enough to execute a criminal. We were able to gather some more information about this mysterious group. Although most of it is rumours, we want to share this information with you.
The “Ghosts of Death” seem to be employees of Tangent Technologies, which have taken the task to execute everyone who have committed any crime against their company. They don't care about the faction of their victim, not about their loyalties, so everybody could be their next target. Tangent Technologies denies every connection to the “Ghosts of Death” and that they are getting their missions directly from the Tangent Technologies leadership.
We also got a voice message which was recorded by a observation drone of the CityAdmin. They say it was a message for a victim of the “Ghosts of Death”, which was delivered just one day before his death. This is the message: “You were found guilty for misdeeds against Tangent Technologies. The Ghosts of Death have judged!” Three shots right between the eyes, and their victim was dead.
The press officer of CityAdmin denied the existence of such a group and claims that this are just rumours spread by the Dome to cause panic amongst the citizens of Neocron. As always, we are trying to get more information for you about this topic.
Drones out of control
by Randolph Bennet
In the last issue we already reported about the problems with the drones, and reports of the last few days prove that the problems have become worse. There were incidents where riggers got attacked and seriously injured by their own drones in the public. To avoid any civil victims it is very important to find a solution to this problem as soon as possible. The NCPD advises riggers not to use their drones inside city borders until the problem is solved.
In case you have missed the last issue: Experiments in a laboratory have shown that there is a signal which can only be noticed by the most sensitive detector technology we currently have and that this signal seems to be the reason for several of the malfunctions of the drones. Last night there was a meeting of several experts of drone technology, to discuss what can be done about this.
This morning we had the chance to talk to one of the participants of this meeting, George Wilson. “There is no question, we have to develop methods to kill these disturbing signals. It is no problem to kill a constant signal, but unfortunately this one is not one of this kind. If we would cover the whole frequency range we have noticed, it would also cause problems for the connection between rigger and drone which is needed to control a drones movement.” Of course they are still looking for a solution, but this may still take a few days.
But there is another way they are thinking about. “To kill the signal is the one possibility, but this would only work for the drones we modify with the new technology – the other drones can still be affected by this signal which may cause more malfunctions. This is the reason why we are also trying to find out where this signal is coming from. They are analysing the data they have collected in the past few weeks and they are pretty sure to find the source very soon. We will need engaged runners to take care of that source then. We will only know where the source is, not what! ”
Later we got a press release from the TechHaven Administration, that as soon as the new technology is available, they will have “Drone Tournaments” for the riggers. The prize for the winner will be a prototype of a new drone, which was in development right before the resources to finish it had to be moved to solve the problem with this mysterious signal.
The official re-opening of Tech Haven - an interview
by Sharon Davidson
Sharon Davidson: Hello and thanks for allowing this interview, would you mind introducing yourselves to our readers?
Laureen Marnur: I'm Laureen Marnur, one of the two people hired as Tech Haven Guides.
William Haska: And I'm William Haska, the other guide.
SD: How do you feel about how the re-opening went?
LM: It went very well in my opinion, many people turned up, and there was a lot of trading going on at the height of the event.
WH: It was good to see that our security systems work as well as expected, not a single outburst of combat happened during the entire meeting. There were one or two verbal outbursts, but those runners were quickly escorted out unless they calmed down.
SD: That's an impressive feat, as I heard there were rebels present. Weren't you worried that allowing anyone but people from Neocron to go here for the re-opening would cause trouble?
LM: No comment.
SD: Very well... Could you give me some examples of the things traded?
WH: Basically everything you could think of was traded, from chemicals to fully assembled hoverbombers! I believe I even heard a man saying he was selling dog tags.
SD: It seems a shame I missed it. I'd assume that this is definitely going to be repeated?
LM: Yes it will be. We'll be holding a large auction in two weeks from now, and next month we'll have another meeting like this.
SD: Could I get an estimate of the money made on booth rentals?
LM: I'm afraid that's private business of the Tech Haven council, we're not allowed to tell you.
SD: What's the money going to be used for?
WH: The money made from the booths will be used for the general improvement of Tech Haven and the services we offer. Currently the money was only used to cover the preparations we had to make, and for hiring additional personnel to sell various fluids necessary for construction, research, recycling, implanting and repairing.
SD: Alright thanks for your time, that's all I wanted to ask.
One strike, you're out!
by Randolph Bennet
A few days ago, there was a citywide strike amongst the various companies supply managers. Sick of the frequent abuse they got from the runners employed by the various companies, they decided to turn the tables and give abuse to these same runners, regardless of their employment or loyalty. This idea had come from the leadership of the "Supply Manager Union".
Shortly after this came to light, the NCPD did an investigation into this so-called "Supply Manager Union" and it quickly became clear that these were in fact rebel infiltrants, intent on causing a disruption of the city-wide trading system.
“We are shocked by the audacity of these rebels,” says Officer Jenna of the NCPD, “it's not just the fact that they were hiding under our very noses, but that they were masquerading as an approved union of the city as well!”
This is not the first time in recent history that rebels have hidden under the guise of honest employees of our fine city, as reported in an earlier Neocronicle the city's janitors and trash collectors were found to be rebels as well.
Luckily, it appears that in this case the rebel "infection" had not gone so far yet as to pervert all of our supply managers to its cause. After the discovery of the real loyalties of the leadership of their now disbanded union, they quickly and eagerly resumed their normal, day-to-day work.
Artist dies in tragic accident
by Randolph Bennet
In news earlier today, the well known artist Klara Sheen died when trying to prop up her mosaic portrait of our leader Lioon Reza, what she had not anticipated however was the glue she used to not be cohesive enough to hold the glass for more than a few seconds. Her body was severely damaged by the falling glass, with gaping wounds on her wrists and forehead. Medicare personnel did the best they could to try and save her, but the blood loss was too severe to prevent her death.
The fact that her GenRep data was damaged led to a further investigation into the incident by the NCPD, who suspect that sabotage may have played a part in the accident.
"We suspect that an experienced hacker was behind this incident," says Officer Jenna of the NCPD "They had most likely hacked into the personal transaction data of Ms. Sheen and figured out where she ordered her glue from, then hacked into the control system of the factory where the glue is produced and made a minor, yet vital, adjustment to the mixing process."
This of course begs the rather worrying question whether or not the security of the GenRep system is as good as we thought. Officer Jenna reinsures us
with the following statement however: "The security of the networks in our system is still recovering from the blow made to it a few weeks ago. The
security is however being improved on every day. They are also planning a new feature: Your equipment will be stored as well and can be recreated with your body."
We at the Neocronicle would like to offer our condolences to the relatives of Ms. Sheen.
KKandy Inc. announces and scraps new product line
By Sharon Davidson
KKandy Inc., the producers of the well-known Milky Ren chocolate bar, recently started experimenting with various new kinds Milky Rens. These have been sent out to all restaurants spread around Neocron. These Milky Rens offered a special taste for those able to successfully remove their wrappers.
Reactions on these new Milky Rens have been generally negative however, and the Neocronicle decided to ask a few people about these new tasty snacks.
“What's the point?” says Andy Bruhill of BioTech Systems “I had a break, so decided to buy some lunch at the barkeep in our HQ, he told me had a few new version of the Milky Ren for sale. As I was curious about them, I decided to buy one along with a meal. Once I got around to eating it, I noticed the small print on the wrapper saying, "This Milky Ren requires sufficient psionic abilities to unwrap it", does KKandy seriously think that can be a success?”
Andy was definitely not alone in his views on the matters, and a KKandy official soon made the following statement: “Our research had shown that people wanted more than just the basic blue and white chocolate wrapper, and so we supplied. However, as the production costs for these wrappers definitely does not get close to our projected income, we have decided to scrap these products.”
This reporter would just like to point out that while KKandy's research on the wrappers was correct, their decision on what to do with the wrappers was not the best marketing choice ever made. We should just be glad they never got the actual "Impress your friends, unwrap a Milky Ren" advertising campaign started.
"Ghost of Death" sighted again!
by John Sparr
Last week another “Ghost of Death” was sighted. You could only see him for a few seconds, just long enough to execute a criminal. We were able to gather some more information about this mysterious group. Although most of it is rumours, we want to share this information with you.
The “Ghosts of Death” seem to be employees of Tangent Technologies, which have taken the task to execute everyone who have committed any crime against their company. They don't care about the faction of their victim, not about their loyalties, so everybody could be their next target. Tangent Technologies denies every connection to the “Ghosts of Death” and that they are getting their missions directly from the Tangent Technologies leadership.
We also got a voice message which was recorded by a observation drone of the CityAdmin. They say it was a message for a victim of the “Ghosts of Death”, which was delivered just one day before his death. This is the message: “You were found guilty for misdeeds against Tangent Technologies. The Ghosts of Death have judged!” Three shots right between the eyes, and their victim was dead.
The press officer of CityAdmin denied the existence of such a group and claims that this are just rumours spread by the Dome to cause panic amongst the citizens of Neocron. As always, we are trying to get more information for you about this topic.