Geekly Update - 17 May 2012

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

"The new phone book's here!" Or maybe not. The Louisiana Public Service Commission is deciding if they should grant AT&T's request to eliminate delivery of the white pages.

"Another good reason to lie about your age on Facebook." Nightclubs in the UK and Ireland now have bouncers checking Facebook to find out if customers at the door are of legal age.

"Friends with (employee) benefits..." Missouri high school principal Louise Losos has resigned after it was discovered that she created a Facebook page under a fake name to friend (or spy) on hundreds of students. But don't cry for her... she walks away with $140K of taxpayer money.

"Safe sects?" Ironically, the latest Internet Security Threat Report by Symantec finds that religious and "ideological" websites are more likely to harbor viruses than p0rn0graphic ones. Presumably, this is because adult sites have a profit motive to keep them malware free, and the church/political/hobby sites are typically run by volunteers with limited resources and security skills.

Security company Zscaler developed the tool Zulu that ran 27,000 website URLs and found that 9.5% were malicious, 9.5% suspicious and 81% were ummm, delicious. You can check a website to see if it contains any threats.

Verizon plans to offer 911 via texting. The new system will benefit those who are deaf or hard of hearing, people who cannot make voice calls or who could be placed in danger by speaking.

"Another example of life imitating Star Trek." A team from Ontario's Queen University has created Telehuman, a 360-degree communication device made from 6 Kinect sensors, 3D cameras, and a projector that casts an image in an acrylic cylinder. BodiPod, another application they made, can be used to study a 3D anatomy model.

"In other words, blah blah blah..." A San Francisco Federal District Court decided that Google infringed on the structure of Oracle's Java API but not its source code. Fortunately for Google, they will not have to redesign the Android OS.

"You will stay in the Comfy Chair until lunch time!" Washington state's Attorney General's Office has scolded Adscend Media, who netted $1.2 million a month by "likejacking" Facebook users. The marketing company has agreed to stop the practice, pay $100K in attorney fees, and promise to never, ever be naughty again.

The beta app Nokia City Lens Augmented Reality Browser is for Windows Phone users who want to check out an unfamiliar neighborhood. By pointing a camera and clicking on a location, more data or walking directions can be found, and shared with others.

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