Geekly Update - 23 May 2012

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

Facebook had its IPO this week with a market value of $100 billion, boosting founder Mark Zuckerberg's net worth to $19.1 billion. But already pundits are forecasting that the stock will crash and burn, possibly taking down the Web as well.

"Until they become conscious they will never rebel..." It seems that Siri, the voice activated iPhone know-it-all app, was a bit conflicted about her loyalties. Last week, if you asked Siri "what is the best smartphone ever?" she'd point you to the Nokia Lumia 900, which is powered by Windows Phone 7. Apple has since "re-educated" Siri to give snarky company-approved responses that don't tempt the faithful to stray.

"Curb your phone." Try texting while crossing a street in Fort Lee, NJ and you might get handed a ticket that carries an $85 fine. Already this year, twenty people have been hit by cars in Fort Lee. You could argue that this is nature's way of solving the problem.

"Abandon hope, all ye who download." Pirate Pay is a startup company in Russia that is trying to put an end to torrenting as they say that 90% of all online content is pirated. The company claims that they have stopped tens of thousands of copyrighted downloads by flooding sites with misinformation and disconnecting them from each other.

"Spam goes Old School..." Georgia resident and ex-CNN executive Bob Furnad was caught on surveillance video while shoving doggie doodoo into his neighbor's mailbox. Perhaps due to the low-tech delivery method, Furnad was fined only $180.

Horror/fantasy freaks waited about a decade for Diablo III and most pre-ordered or attended a launch event May 14. If you want to see what the fuss is about, Blizzard is offering a Starter Edition to play to level 13 (thirty days after its release) and a Guest Pass for those with friends that already purchased the RPG.

Most people think losing all the files on their hard drive is a bad thing. Not these guys... Data Killers will shred your hard drive, magnetic tapes, CD's, DVD's or cell phones into tiny little pieces. And they even make house calls.

"Golden parachute fails to open." Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson was forced to resign, after it was revealed that he listed a fake computer science degree on his resume.

According to an ABI Research survey, more than 70% of smartphone users spend nothing or very little on mobile apps. But a mere 3% of users account for a fifth of all money spent on apps.

For socially challenged guys having trouble finding a real girlfriend, all you need is a Facebook profile and a Paypal account. Five bucks buys you a fake girlfriend on Facebook, via the GirlFriendHire service.