Geekly Update - 19 April 2012
Why is Bank of America celebrating the results of the latest Worst Company survey? Should you be worried that your car's LoJack device might be conspiring against you? And what's the biggest downside to owning a 3D chocolate printer? 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
Grand Theft Auto in real life... Ricardo Felix falsely reported his car as stolen, hoping to scam the insurance company. But he didn't realize the car was equipped with LoJack, which led police to the home of a relative who was hiding the car.
"Only partially assimilated..." Trevor Prideaux of the UK worked with Nokia personnel and a prosthetist to create an artificial arm that doubles as a dock for his Nokia C7 phone.
Last week, 250,000 Consumerist surveyers chose EA as the Worst Company In America, with Bank of America coming in second. The day after the news came out, EA's Bioware label promised to change the ending of Mass Effect 3 game. Wanna guess how many of those votes came from Bank of America IP addresses? :-)
Choc Edge plans to place 10 of their 3D Chocolate Printers on eBay. You can buy one of these printers for about US$4000, but as usual, the ink is where they get you.
The FCC, in cooperation with most of the wireless carriers, will be establishing a database for stolen cell phones and tablets by 2014. After it's set up, users can register stolen devices, and providers will block those that are reported stolen, to prevent them from being reactivated by a different carrier. Suggestion: get government out of the way, and this project could be done in 24 days, instead of 24 months.
Speaking of 2014, Windows XP and Office 2003 users only have 2 years left of support. Microsoft suggests that they update to Windows 7 and Office 2010 before the deadline, especially businesses that have multiple PCs. Don't tell anyone, but my plan is to wait for Windows 9 and Office 2014. Both will be running on my wrist watch.
Apple has made updates available to find and remove the Flashback Trojan that infected over half a million Macs. The company suggests you run Software Update to make sure you have the fix. Or buy a PC.
Speaking of security, SurfEasy is a USB key promising "plug-in privacy" with a password protected web browser that encrypts and secures your browsing history, bookmarks and passwords.
Superman is not gonna like this. About 250 of NYC's pay phones are to be transformed into 32-inch digital signs. The kiosks will display area business information, transportation updates and emergency messages.
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This article was posted by Bob Rankin on 19 Apr 2012
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Article information: AskBobRankin -- Geekly Update - 19 April 2012 (Posted: 19 Apr 2012)
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Most recent comments on "Geekly Update - 19 April 2012"
Posted by:
timw128
20 Apr 2012
Being that Windows XP is, at this moment, still more popular than Windows 7, does anyone think that a third party may develop security patches for the OS after the Microsoft support for XP ends? I have both systems and for a lot of the work I do, I like XP better. Oh well, just some thoughts.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Not likely, unless MS makes the source code public. Which is not likely.
Posted by:
ebbwhite3
20 Apr 2012
I have office 2003. Does that mean I will not be able to send files to other computers and it properly open.
EDITOR'S NOTE: No it doesn't mean that. It's just that there will be no more support (fixes) for the product.
Posted by:
Rodney
20 Apr 2012
I'd heard that stolen phones were going to be tracked and providers would not provide service on them if they were brought in. Thus removing incentives to steal cell phones.
This indicates that the database will be set up by the gov't and won't be done till 2014. (Given that it is done by gov't that is probably optimistic).
Why has this not already been done by the providers? Why does the gov't have to be involved at all? Seems an obvious service that cell phone service providers could have undertaken.
Oh, wait. They make money coming (new service on stolen phone) and going (old customer has to buy a new phone)!
Posted by:
James
20 Apr 2012
Seriously? What a stupid survey. Stick to the geek side of things to report.
Posted by:
jd
21 Apr 2012
Re win xp support. There is a group of people (mostly in Europe) trying to develop a binary compatible version of win xp. They have been at it a long time but they are still making progress.
Maybe the loss of support from Microsoft will increase interest in the project.
Link to react os website. http://www.reactos.org/
There is also a Wikipedia article detailing its history.
Posted by:
Bill
24 Apr 2012
Bob Rankin wrote: "Apple has made updates available to find and remove the Flashback Trojan that infected over half a million Macs. The company suggests you run Software Update to make sure you have the fix. Or buy a PC."
Has something changed, and PC Users never get Trojans anymore? So, Apple gets ONE, and all of a sudden I should dump my MacBook Pro and go buy a Dell? Okay, I'll get right on that!
EDITOR'S NOTE: Insert smiley face icons as needed.
Posted by:
carmen
10 May 2012
RE:
"EDITOR'S NOTE: Insert smiley face icons as needed"
ha ha ha :)