Geekly Update September 8

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

• The Wall Street Journal reports that YouTube is rumored to be in talks with Hollywood studios to bring full length feature movies to the Internet. Ummm, Mr. YouTube? You might want to check on this little thing called BitTorrent. Just sayin'...
• Garmin has released a GPS device for cyclists. The Edge 500 tracks your speed, distance, time and calories spent on your trip with HotFix satellite prediction. It also incorporated an altimeter, and climb and descending information. The GPS system will set you back $250.00 or an extra hundred to include a heart rate monitor and speed/cadence sensor.
• The space shuttle Discovery finally made it back up to the space station this week carrying about 10,000 pounds of stuff. Onboard were supplies for repair after and the Stephen Colbert treadmill. And according to ABC News, coming back will be a Buzz Lightyear figurine. I guess he finally made it to infinity.
• Trend Micro has reported that there are several fake Snow Leopard download sites that will infect your Mac with a Trojan named OSX_JAHLAV.K. It will alter your DNS and redirect you to a phishing site that houses FAKEAV. It's easy to avoid; make sure you only download from Apple.
• Disney has announced plans to purchase the comic book publisher/conglomerate Marvel. The former owners are selling the company and icons Spiderman, X-Men, the Hulk and about 5,000 other icons for about $4 billion. Coming soon to a theater near you: Beauty and the Hulk.
• The Governator did his part to make a dent in the $26 billion deficit by putting about 6000 items on eBay and Craigslist last weekend. Included in the California Garage Sale were cars, computers and other electronics and Arnold has even autographed the sun visors of some of the vehicles to raise the value. The garage sale raised around $1.5 million, so that brings the state's deficit down to about $25.985 billion.
• The FTC has declared that telemarketers' robocalls are now illegal . Calls from businesses that try to sell something can face a fine of up to $16,000 per call. Unfortunately, calls from politicians are exempt, which is not surprising as the bill was created in Washington. Other exempt callers include banks, phone companies and charitable organizations. Pardon me, I have to get this call...
• A study conducted by the Mind Research Network claims that playing Tetris can improve brain efficiency and grow a thicker cortex. Teenage girls played it over a three month period for thirty minutes a day and the researchers claim that the result is due to using attention, hand/eye coordination, memory and visual spatial problem solving. And besides, who doesn't want a thicker cortex?
• Windows Mobile 6.5 will appear this October in a slew of new HTC smartphones. Included is the HTC Touch2 with enhanced UI, Google Maps, YouTube, Microsoft Exchange to juggle email accounts and other features. No word yet from the company on pricing, or which carriers will be offering the Touch2.
• Firefox's v3.5 release has been downloaded over 207 million times. Real time Firefox download stats show there are as many as 100 per second. The stats, which include a world map, and trends broken out by country, are worth a look. It would be even more interesting if they showed how many people at microsoft.com downloaded Firefox.
• Yoostar is a new system for budding actors that allows you to watch famous movie scenes and literally inject yourself into them. The $170 system is composed of software, a webcam and stand, a remote and a 6 x 6 ft. green screen. There are about a dozen scenes now and others will become available later. After honing your chops, you can upload your vids to prove you have what it takes to stand up against Bogey or Bacall.