Geekly Update - 26 December 2012

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

The “Facebook killer” may be coming... from Facebook itself. Rumor has it that auto-playing video ads will appear in Facebook Timelines next year. "Hi, it's June Allison for Depends underwear!"

The Dragonfly Drone has become one of the top fundraisers on Indiegogo, garnering over $645,000 to top its $110,000 goal. The palm-sized creation silently flies and hovers; with various options, it will retail for $119 to $250 next July. (Note: DragonFly not compatible with most household ceiling fans.)

For Sale: Your Inbox. Facebook announced a test program that lets users who aren’t your “friends” pay one dollar to get a message to you. Scroll down to “Inbox delivery test” on this Facebook blog page. "Hi, it's June Allison again. Are you ignoring me??"

"Anything you say can and will be used against you..." The U.S. Census Bureau has finally joined the Internet era, encouraging respondents to its complex American Community Survey of household demographics to respond online. A new section of the survey, which of course will still be sent "snail mail" via the Postal Service, will ask about Internet and computer usage. And your answers will all be (cough cough) anonymous.

Would you pay $799 to watch your dog eat? If so, the Remoca Dog Food Bowl Camera system is just what you need. It includes a remote-control app for tablets or smartphones, and a microSD slot to save the precious moments you might miss.

“Even after just five minutes of Facebook use, people showed higher levels of self-esteem and a reduction in observable self-control,” say researchers at the Columbia Business School and University of Pittsburgh. They also found higher levels of body fat and credit card debt among social media users. Perfect! Now they'll have so much more in common with the online gamers.

Kodak has sold its digital-imaging patents portfolio for $525 million, leaving us to wonder exactly what it’s going to do when it emerges from bankruptcy. Maybe they'll start one of those website thingies.

Geek Trivia: To stream movies to almost any device (Xbox, iPad, connected TV, etc.), Netflix has to encode 120 different versions of each film. I can't wait to see the ASCII version of "The Hobbit" on my 1996 Tamagotchi!

The latest tablet costs $400, has a 10.1 inch display and 8 GB of memory, doesn’t work with any app store, and is flying off the shelves. The QOOQ (pronounced “cook”) is a kitchen-proofed tablet filled with recipes.

Yahoo’s Flickr has a holiday gift for new and existing subscribers: Three free months of Flickr Pro Service, which includes unlimited uploads and viewing; posting to 60 different groups; downloading of high-resolution photos; and unlimited HD video transfers. Pro Service is regularly $24.95 per year.

Everyone knows how to convert music from vinyl records into digital files. Right? Well, if you ever change your mind, here is an Instructables lesson on creating vinyl records from MP3 files using a 3D printer.