American Technology Corp

Re William Arkin's "The Pentagon's Secret Scream" (Opinion, March 7), about American Technology Corp.'s Long Range Acoustic Device: First, LRAD is not a weapon. LRAD is a highly directional, long-range hailing and warning device that communicates intelligibly in a narrow beam at over 500 yards. LRAD supports the effort to defuse potentially dangerous situations by communicating instructions, reinforcing them and influencing behavior with an irritating warning tone. LRAD's main purpose is to determine, at safe distances, the intent of an individual or individuals approaching members of our armed forces and the installations or vehicles guarded or operated by them.

Re William Arkin's "The Pentagon's Secret Scream" (Opinion, March 7), about American Technology Corp.'s Long Range Acoustic Device: First, LRAD is not a weapon. LRAD is a highly directional, long-range hailing and warning device that communicates intelligibly in a narrow beam at over 500 yards. LRAD supports the effort to defuse potentially dangerous situations by communicating instructions, reinforcing them and influencing behavior with an irritating warning tone. LRAD's main purpose is to determine, at safe distances, the intent of an individual or individuals approaching members of our armed forces and the installations or vehicles guarded or operated by them.

American Technology Corp.'s independent auditor has "substantial doubt" about the electronics manufacturer's ability to keep operating, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company had net losses in fiscal 2000, 2001 and 2002 and expects to have more operating losses throughout fiscal 2003, it said in the filing. San Diego-based American Technology said it would need to raise more capital to meet operating costs.

American Technology Corp.'s independent auditor has "substantial doubt" about the electronics manufacturer's ability to keep operating, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company had net losses in fiscal 2000, 2001 and 2002 and expects to have more operating losses throughout fiscal 2003, it said in the filing. San Diego-based American Technology said it would need to raise more capital to meet operating costs.

The shrill cry of a baby can be one of the most annoying sounds of daily life, but it is music to Pentagon strategists. An electronics company, American Technology Corp., has turned the wail of a baby into a weapon that fires "sonic bullets," narrow beams of noise that exceed the human threshold of pain. It can incapacitate people or compel them to flee. "It gives you the equivalent of an intense migraine headache," said Elwood G. Norris, the company's chairman and inventor of the device.

Nevada Manhattan Group, a Calabasas-based mining concern, has completed an agreement that gives it 51% control of American Petroleum Technology Corp. or Petrotec. Los Angeles-based Petrotec has experience in the design, engineering, construction and management of petroleum refineries, pipelines and storage systems. Looking to expand its share of the world's $70-billion fishing industry, the company also announced the acquisition of Russian-based Rexco Inc.

The New Zealand government said Thursday that it would sell the Telecom Corp. to a consortium dominated by two big U.S. telecommunications companies. In a complex deal that will take several years to complete, Telecom will be sold for $2.5 billion ($4.25 billion Australian), the government said in a statement. The sale will be New Zealand's biggest privatization by far.

I read with great interest "The Pentagon's Secret Scream" (Opinion, March 7). Let me say that I am no fan of President Bush. I became an independent because, over the years (58 in my case), I have learned that hypocrisy exists in both parties. Still, I find it troubling that we would question using a nonlethal technology in warfare because it might give someone an earache. I would think even permanent deafness is a welcome alternative. What am I missing? Is it a question of the long-term health ramifications?

California inventor Elwood "Woody" Norris has been named to receive the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT prize this year to honor technology he developed to focus sound over long distances. Norris, founder and chairman of American Technology Corp. in San Diego, holds 47 patents, including one covering his invention of hypersonic sound technology. The largest cash award for U.S.

American Micro Technology Corp., a mail-order computer company based in Tustin, said Monday that it has agreed in principle to be acquired by a Denver firm. Video Data Network Inc. will buy all of the stock of Mansi Investments Inc., which conducts business under the American Micro name, for about $13 million in cash, according to Jack L. Legg, Video Data's president. Legg said his company decided to buy American Micro because of its "lean and mean" financial management.

The shrill cry of a baby can be one of the most annoying sounds of daily life, but it is music to Pentagon strategists. An electronics company, American Technology Corp., has turned the wail of a baby into a weapon that fires "sonic bullets," narrow beams of noise that exceed the human threshold of pain. It can incapacitate people or compel them to flee. "It gives you the equivalent of an intense migraine headache," said Elwood G. Norris, the company's chairman and inventor of the device.

Wile E. Coyote would love it. Under an Acme Gadget Division banner, Ryland Fleet enticed passersby to consider his product, a .30-caliber machine gun mounted atop a vehicle and fired by the driver using a joystick. "You don't buy it because you need it," explained Fleet, who wears all black and machine-tools his weapons at home in the Virginia woods. "You buy it because you might." America's post-Sept.

For 60 years, the reproduction of sound has depended on the loudspeaker. There have been many new means of getting the signal to the speakers--phonographs and radios and compact discs--and there have been many improvements in the mechanism. But in the end, sound always emerges from a device that uses electrical signals to cause a piece of material--usually a conical woofer or tweeter--to vibrate, which in turn excites air molecules in such a way that sound is re-created.