Geekly Update - 03 March 2022

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

Wired Magazine reports that "Ice Cream Machine Hackers" are suing McDonald's for almost a billion dollars. The so-called hackers are actually a startup called Kytch, which was selling a device to help McDonald's franchise owners monitor and troubleshoot their famously finicky McFlurry machines.

Scientists may have accidentally proved that people actually see their life flash before their eyes when they are dying. Doctors were performing an electroencephalogram (EEG) on an elderly patient who died during the procedure. They captured brain waves that were "remarkably similar to those seen during dreaming, memory recall and meditation."

That story reminded me of the Robin Williams movie "The Final Cut," which imagines a world in which people have brain implants that capture every memory. But science fiction has a way of becoming reality. Neuralink is brain/computer interface spearheaded by Elon Musk, who hopes eventually it will cure brain disorders, help paraplegics walk again, and save memories so people can scroll through them like photo albums.

Apple's AirTags are sold as a competitor to the popular Tile tags, which help people locate lost keys, wallets and other objects. But some clever folks have found that AirTags can also be used to surreptitiously track humans. Stories have been published about people slipping them into another person's jacket or car to track them without permission. There's an app called AirGuard for Android that promises to provide protection from AirTag tracking.

For years, tech pundits have been predicting the demise of the desktop PC. Now they're adding passwords to the soon-to-be-a-dinosaur list. Technology Review reports that many companies are replacing passwords with other forms of authentication. Some options include facial recognition, fingerprint scanning, and authenticator apps.

The Underground Railroad was a network operating in the U.S. in the mid-1800s, which helped many Southern slaves escape to freedom in the North. Now archaeologists and historians have used technology to learn new details about the Underground Railroad. Drones, lasers and radar that can peer under the ground have revealed tunnels and caves used by the freedom seekers.

As the saying goes, "Luck favors the prepared." But Stanley Aryanto was prepared. After quitting his job as a mechanical engineer, he focused his attention on photography. Aryanto captured an astrophotography trifecta, a shot that included the Comet Neowise, the Aurora Borealis, and Milky Way.

An Internet user who goes by the name [fhuable] was tired of trudging down to the mailbox, only to find it empty. So he whipped up some hardware to put his mailbox on the Internet of Things. Combine one solar panel, a tiny CPU, a camera, and an FTP server, and voila, he can see what's inside the mailbox. But he may have re-invented the wheel. The US Postal Service offers Informed Delivery, a free notification feature that gives people the ability to digitally preview their daily mail.

Almost every appliance now is billed as "smart"; even your outlets and light bulbs want to be connected to your home WiFi network. But a writer for Yahoo News says "actually making a smart home that works in harmony is a nightmare that the average person is unlikely to be able to navigate on their own." The reason: too much tech jargon, incompatible standards, and difficulty of installation.

Here's a clever gadget that doesn't need an Internet connection, a video feed, or even a power supply. Read about the minimalistic doorbell that uses an induction motor linked up to a bell inside the shell of an old hard drive. So much harder than attaching a knocker to your door, but much more fun!

Your thoughts on these topics are welcome. Post your comment or question below...