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Volvo Safety Demo Goes Poorly Screenshot-sm 34

Lanxon writes "At a demonstration of Volvo's new collision warning system in Sweden this week, Wired got first-hand experience (and video) of what happens when it goes badly wrong. The new Volvo S60, due for release later this year, was fired out of Volvo's testing tunnel at around 30MPH, and the collision detection system should have kicked in, bringing the car automatically to a halt before hitting the truck in its path. It didn't. Instead, the brand new car ploughed into the back of the truck in front of us, and indeed the world's press who had gathered in Sweden to see the collision detection system in action."

Comment MS "fuzzing" Pwn2Own results? (Score 2, Insightful) 522

How is Microsoft's response here not them trying desperately to spin their way past the latest Pwn2Own results from CanSecWest? Safari, Firefox and IE8 all went down pretty quickly. Chrome wasn't even attempted. Nobody there had a way to take it down. Money was left on the table.
( http://dvlabs.tippingpoint.com/blog/2010/02/15/pwn2own-2010 )

Microsoft's response?

First claim that Windows 7 isn't really meant to prevent you from hacking into it.
( http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9174309/Microsoft_defends_Windows_7_security_after_Pwn2Own_hacks )

Then try to convince people Chrome is somehow worse.

Seem's like that makes your choice to either accept that a company like Google knows what information you're looking for [turn off the option, heck even use a different browser. I'm sure they can figure it out anyway.] or letting random anyhacker access ALL the data on your system.

I'll take option A thanks.

Comment Re:Passwd is not the solution (Score 1) 135

You do not know what you are talking about.

While that might be "a" way to change the password, the MobileTerminal program provides a convenient shell from which passwd works just fine. It is strongly recommended that the root and the "mobile" accounts' passwords are changed from their default. Instructions for doing so abound even with screen shots for people who can't be bothered to read. While there is the "hassle" of having to install MobileTerminal, I'm not sure this is really too much trouble for someone that has gone to the effort to jailbreak in the first place.

That being said, Saurik should be able to make the installation process for OpenSSH ask the user to change the passwords. It also should not be enabled by default, or turn itself back on after it is turned off (in my experience the OpenSSH program has a tendency to do both).

Comment School & Sports ?? (Score 1) 276

It might make an interesting study to compare the success of kids with "late" birthdays who started on-time/early versus those who had to wait an extra year.

I thought I'd heard of a similar study where kids with winter birth dates excelled at sports because they tended to miss cut-off dates for teams, and therefore were older, larger, faster, and more mature than the kids they were teamed with each year. This leads to them getting more time handling the ball as they grow up.

United States

Submission + - FCC Probing Apple, AT&T Rejection of Google Vo (cnet.com) 4

suraj.sun writes: FCC Probing Apple, AT&T Rejection of Google Voice App

Already having raised the ire of some developers and customers, the decision to disallow the Google Voice application on Apple's App Store has also attracted the attention of the FCC.

According to a Dow Jones Newswire report, on Friday afternoon the FCC sent letters to Apple, AT&T, and Google. The FCC inquiry asks Apple why the Google Voice application was rejected from its App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and why it removed third-party applications built on the Google app that had been previously approved.

The FCC also asks whether AT&T was allowed to weigh in on the application before it was rejected, and seeks a description of the application from its creator, Google, according to the report.

CNET News : http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10301259-37.html

Idle

Submission + - Facebooking Judge Catches Lawyer in Lie (abajournal.com) 2

edadams writes: "A Galveston, Texas lawyer asked for a continuance because of the death of her father. But the judge she was asking knew the lawyer had earlier posted a string of status updates on Facebook, detailing her week of drinking, going out and partying."
Television

Submission + - Futurama cast signs up for

Lev13than writes: It looks like the recent threats to replace the voice cast of Futurama were just that, as news comes that the cast has just signed a new contract with Fox after weeks of intense salary negotiations. The compromise agreement, with the studio paying more and the actors accepting less, comes after the announcement of a 26-episode pick-up by Comedy Central. Hooray for Zoidberg!

Comment You are illiterate (Score 1) 921

Seriously. If you can't read well written cursive then you shouldn't just "feel" illiterate, you should acknowledge that you are, in fact, not literate. At least in my opinion.

illiterate - 2.a. Marked by inferiority to an expected standard of familiarity with language and literature. (Source: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/illiterate)

This leads to the discussion of whether or not reading and writing in cursive is an "expected standard of familiarity." I believe that it is. It might be argued, however, that our society either no longer expects -- or expects but no longer requires -- the capability to read and write script. Perhaps it is most accurate to say that true English language literacy (both using cursive and spelling as examples) is no longer required for adequate social acceptance and job performance due to the capability of our machines to be literate for us.

Comment Re:Too deep... (Score 4, Informative) 169

Except that according to the wiki page on the ship (already linked above) the draft of the Vandenberg is 24' and it's 71.5' wide. Add to that a significant amount of freeboard and superstructure (judging by the picture). Not sure how close that would put the top of the ship to standard recreational diving limits (~60') but PADI Advanced Open Water (AOW) cert allows for diving up to ~100' and the "deep diver" certifications (130') putting most of the ship within reach.

Comment Re:Was the racist overtone intended??? (Score 1) 198

Perhaps I just read it differently, but I think you're projecting "racism" where none was intended.

Internet usage penetration by population is still tends to be larger in countries with Euro-Centric histories. Isn't UNESCO headquarters also in Europe?

My take on the GP's statement was that it is unsurprising that European texts are more largely represented at first in terms of quantity that have been digitized. Would it be "racist" to point out the fact that the WDL was based on work already started by the [US] Library of Congress (which is probably a bit Euro-heavy).

When looked at in terms of potential for being added to the collection, I would think that the current amount of current Middle Eastern texts is indeed "paltry", and it was correctly pointed out that the percentages should change as the project grows. With the heavy financial contributions coming from the Middle East, the vast potential for ancient material from both there and from East Asia yet to be digitized, and the internet usage number (especially in E. Asia), I'd think those numbers should be very different before long.

Comment Re:It's all about the awesome (Score 1) 166

But again, it's about more than whether it's easy or difficult to hack the device. It's about being treated with respect by the vendor. A vendor that gives you specs and drivers is better than one that gives you no support and makes you fend for yourself, even if it's a fun challenge to reverse engineer their hardware. A vendor that lets you install your own software right out of the box is better than one that makes you violate their recommendations and terms (and, potentially, the law) in order to do the same thing.

That is a point I will concede. While there is some consolation to be found in Apple's rather passive attitude towards their devoted hacker community (compared to other companies who more aggressively try to put the kibosh on things), it would be hard to argue that things would be much sunnier if Apple were more permissive. Even if they didn't actively support independent developers, dropping the veiled legal threat would be progress.

Only a masochist would prefer the difficult way just for the sake of adding difficulty to his life.

I will posit that there are numerous tangible and intangible benefits gained from the "difficult way" that have nothing to do with masochism (at least I hope not).

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