Geekly Update - 15 June 2012
Will you be charged an extra tax for using Internet Explorer when making online purchases? Has something gone horribly wrong with the new bridge over the Hoover Dam? And are bed-making robots a vast conspiracy to reduce the domestic feline population? Get answers to these burning questions, and the scoop on the latest tech news, in this edition of the Geekly Update. It's guaranteed to make you 146% smarter, read on... |
The AskBobRankin Geekly Update
"Forget about taxing the rich, let's focus on the lazy..." Kogan, an Australian electronics purveyor, is threatening to charge customers who use outdated Internet Explorer 7 browsers an additional 6.8% tax on their online purchases.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation's second annual privacy report finds Sonic, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google among the most trustworthy tech companies. They award gold stars in four categories, two if they do not freely give information to the government and two for supporting user privacy in court.
"Talk about a reality distortion field!" Google's new 3-D view of the Hoover Dam shows US 93 plunging into the river, because the new bridge doesn't quite connect with the highway.
Sony released Million Moments on Google Play, a free app that allows users to capture, import, categorize and organize photos into an album. Once completed, the results can be transferred to Facebook for sharing with friends and family.
"Has anyone seen Fluffy lately?" OHEA's new Smart Bed makes itself. Sensors detect when you get out of bed, and mechanical arms straighten up the blankets in under a minute.
A big to-do at the E3 2012 this week was Nintendo's new Miiverse, an online portal to games, texting, drawing and other social avenues. Check out the video presentation captured by IGN that shows that how Miiverse will be available to those with Wiis, PCs and mobile devices.
"I think we have a bad connection..." Both eHarmony and LinkedIn were hacked this week. eHarmony reset passwords of those affected while LinkedIn sent emails to users to do the same as passwords were made invalid.
Netflix will soon deliver 100% Instant Streaming through its own content delivery network. Open Connect will save them some bucks and the company generously plans to share its hardware design and open-source software with high-volume media file providers.
The ad-supported Kindle's 4.1.0 update delivers a cleaner font and extended parental controls. The download provides improved image viewing and support for Format 8 and books with complex layouts.
Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning, the fathers of Napster, released their latest collaboration this week, a Facebook app. Airtime can almost be compared to Chatroulette with the added advantage of pairing users up with topics in common.
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This article was posted by Bob Rankin on 15 Jun 2012
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Most recent comments on "Geekly Update - 15 June 2012"
Posted by:
Louis Winter
15 Jun 2012
Thank you Bob for what you do for us. Great article today.
Posted by:
JD Rosen
15 Jun 2012
Re: tax for using Internet Explorer
It's probably a reaction to all that Kangaroo meat he's been eating. His brain is flipping around in his skull instinctively looking for is hoppy sweetheart. He will, no doubt be looking to hop around some IRS issues and they will put him in a banana cage.
Posted by:
Russell Coover
16 Jun 2012
Re: "Talk about a reality distortion field!" Google's new 3-D view of the Hoover Dam shows US 93 plunging into the river, because the new bridge doesn't quite connect with the highway.
Huh? I just took a look at the Google Map and the bridge connected. Perhaps Google read your comments already and fixed the old map?
Posted by:
Richard Robertson
22 Jun 2012
I just looked at the bridge from the link. The bridge is there and you can follow the highway that is supposedly crossing it following the it beneath and running in the river. It's very funny. No, they haven't fixed it. The road still plunges into the river.
@JD Rosen's reply is just confusing.