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Submission + - Volcanic ash heading towards North America (theglobeandmail.com)

Submitted by chocomilko
chocomilko writes: St. John's International Airport, the easternmost airport in Canada, has begun canceling flights due to worries of ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano, leaving travelers stranded after the weekend's Juno awards festival. Early reports stated that there was a 30% chance ash would reach the island by early Monday; Air Canada has issued an all-day travel advisory. A thick blanket of fog currently covering the city isn't helping matters, either.
NASA

Submission + - NASA tapped to help Toyota acceleration analysis (networkworld.com) 1

Submitted by coondoggie
coondoggie writes: If you want to solve a major engineering mystery why not bring in some of the world’s best engineers? The US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration today said it was doing just by bringing in NASA engineers with expertise in areas such as computer controlled electronic systems, electromagnetic interference and software integrity to help tackle the issue of unintended vehicle acceleration in Toyotas. The NHTSA review of the electronic throttle control systems in Toyotas is to be completed by late summer.

Submission + - Wikileaks receiving gestapo treatment? (twitter.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Wikileaks announced on Mar 21 (via its twitter account) its intentions "to reveal Pentagon murder-coverup at US National Press Club, Apr 5, 9am". It appears that during the last 24 hours someone from the State Department/CIA decided to visit them, by "following/photographing/filming/detaining" an editor for 22 hours. Apparently, the offending leak is a video footage of a US airstrike.
Networking

Submission + - New Facebook phish: in-depth (sophos.com)

Submitted by healwhans
healwhans writes: I received a suspicious chat message from a friend in Facebook. I sent it to one of my company's security experts for inspection. You can read his blog about how the phishing attack works.
Hardware

Submission + - Laser-Mapped Subterranean Passages (thenorthroom.org)

Submitted by derGoldstein
derGoldstein writes: La Subterranea is a project that uses lasers to map out underground structures: "La Subterranea, an ongoing research project which takes its name from a tunnel and viaduct system running underneath and through the city of Guanajuato, Mexico". They have a video of the area they've mapped so far. I imagine that one could take this geometry, along with photographic data, to create a virtual representation of the tunnel system. This could be a way to extend current 3D mapping projects like the ones in Google Earth and Bing Maps to incorporate underground and indoor environments.
(via Make)
Space

Submission + - Could the Tumbleweed Rover Dominate Mars? (discovery.com)

Submitted by
astroengine
astroengine writes: "Mars has been visited by orbiters, landers and rovers, but could the future of Martian exploration be inspired by a wind-blown sphere? NASA and other research institutions have been developing the Mars Tumbleweed rover for the last decade, but with the help of the Planetary Science Institute, the Tumbleweed is now vying for some serious funding to further develop the technologies required. Although the Tumbleweed would be wholly dependent on the prevailing winds on the Martian surface, the lightweight and relatively cheap design could lead the way for a "swarm" of independent Tumbleweeds to explore vast regions of the planet. In 2003 and 2004, NASA even tested an inflatable Tumbleweed prototype on Greenland and Antarctica — it traversed hundreds of miles with ease, continually relaying location and environmental data."
Idle

Submission + - Blog about Facebook gets mistaken for Facebook

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Scansafe has an article at http://blog.scansafe.com/journal/2010/2/24/cant-login-to-facebook.html about a personal blog about Facebook that got indexed by Google and received the top search result for 'Facebook Login'. This led to thousands of clueless users clicking the link thinking this blog was Facebook. The almost 2000 comments on the blog make for really disturbing reading — yes, there really are that many idiots out there.
Software

Submission + - Should I take Toyota's software update? (toyota.com) 1

Submitted by kiehlster
kiehlster writes: I'm a software developer, and I know most software has bugs, but how much trust can we put in the many lines of code found in our automobiles? I have a 2009 Camry that is involved in both of the recent Camry recalls. As part of the floor mat issue, they're offering to install a software update that would cause "the brake pedal to take precedence over the gas pedal if both were pressed" or, as their latest notice states, "would cut power to the engine if both pedals were pressed." In the computer world, we're all taught to only install firmware updates if there is a real problem because a large percentage of firmware updates actually brick the hardware or cause other unforeseen bugs. With 100 million lines of code can I really trust a software update to work safely when it is delivered in a three month development cycle? My driving habits don't cause the floor mat to slide much, so I see the update as overkill. What do you think? If it doesn't void the warranty, should I tell them to skip the software update?
Security

Submission + - Exclusive Video of Jester's XerXeS Attack Platform (infosecisland.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Infosec Island has gained exclusive access to a video demonstration of the XerXeS DoS attack as it is unleashed on the Official Taliban Shadow government website www.alemarah.info, and carried out by infamous patriot hacker Jester.

Submission + - Why I Regret Buying an iPhone (itbusinessedge.com) 1

Submitted by Lucas123
Lucas123 writes: After reading multiple reports of Apple's 'blatant, unapologetic contempt for its employees, its suppliers, the media and its customers,' long-time IT journalist Don Tennant, who was once Computerword's editor-in-chief and who formerly worked for International Data Group in China, just posted a poignant blog about why he now regrets purchasing an Apple product. 'What’s especially galling is that these [Apple] employees are subjected to [Nazi-like tactics] so that Jobs can turn every Apple product announcement into a self-aggrandizing media spectacle that wouldn’t be possible without the secrecy mystique. And it’s even more galling that the media and Apple enthusiasts buy into it like docile lap dogs, happily chasing the bones that Jobs throws out, and reverently licking up the crumbs under his theatrical table.'
IT

Submission + - Mattel launches 'Tech Support' Barbie (bbc.co.uk) 1

Submitted by Ivan Stepaniuk
Ivan Stepaniuk writes: The new 'geek' barbie comes with a pink laptop and comfortable shoes instead of high heels.
"It's very much a young man's industry," says Ms Andrew, now director of Edgeofmyseat.com. "Women find the need to become quite laddish. You try and become very geeky and not particularly feminine.", "We want girls to consider [IT] as a career, and not be turned off by the image of a spotty boy sitting in the corner, unable to hold a conversation," says Karen Petrie, a computing lecturer at the University of Dundee. "[Barbie] is someone they aspire to."

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