Geekly Update - 26 July 2012

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

"India takes GOLD in the Spam Olympics!" The latest Dirty Dozen report from Sophos says that India is the top spam sending country, accounting for 11.4% of all junk emails. Italy takes home the silver medal with a 7.0, and South Korea edged out the USA with a score of 6.7. Surprisingly, the Russians racked up a paltry 2.9 percent, and the East German women's team didn't even place in the top twelve.

"A new focus on blurring..." Youtube now offers a "blur faces" tool to protect the privacy of journalists, human rights activists and others who want anonymity.

When Rovio added to their Angry Birds success with the hero Amazing Alex last week, they probably had no idea that it would become a top seller at the iOS App Store so quickly. The physics game is also out for Android and soon Windows devices and Mac will have their own versions.

"The act was a bomb, and vice versa..." Jonathan Venagas and Vitaly Zdorovetskiy, infamous for their zombie act on YouTube, face felony charges after they made another video, this time claiming a briefcase contained a bomb. Adding injury to insult, the prank victim punched and kicked one of the video pranksters before calling police.

"Not our problem..." A communication system used by the U.S. Naval Submarine Base in Groton, CT is causing trouble with garage door openers in nearby towns. Some openers have reduced range, while others won't work at all. Neither the Navy nor the Overhead Door Company is willing to provide a fix for affected homeowners.

An Android app has been launched for the blind that allows users to dial numbers, send text messages and even take a bus ride with a voice assisted touchscreen. Bundled with the Samsung XCover and Motorola Defy, Georgie is also available on Google Play.

"Businessman has grave concerns with new technology..." When the owner of Allen Monument Company in Crawfordsville, IN wanted to add technology to his business, he decided that QR codes were the way to go. Smartphones can scan a tombstone to connect with a website with information and photos of the dearly departed. Users can also send text messages to the family.

David Braben and Eben Upton's $42 Linux-based Raspberry Pi is now available in quantity for schools that cannot afford higher priced ones. During their recent Raspberry Jam meeting they announced that a camera addon for taking 5 megapixel photos and decent quality video can soon be purchased.

Russia's Alexy Borodin created In-App Store, a way to make in-app purchases without paying. Naturally, Apple was upset by the theft, but even after getting his server and PayPal account shut down, Borodin was able to keep the service running, at least for those who have not installed iOS 6.

Last month Verizon unveiled Share Everything, their new data and text plans, and in August AT&T will debut Mobile Share. Both are designed to encourage multiple device usage, while sharing a "bucket" of talk time, texts and data. They're apparently also designed to be very confusing, and to jack up your monthly mobile phone bill.