Geekly Update - 04 November 2015

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

Mira Modi, a New York sixth-grader, is selling strong passwords generated by rolling dice and looking up words on the Diceware list. So far, she’s earning about $12/hour.

Microsoft has cried "Uncle!" and is reneging on its promise of unlimited OneDrive cloud storage for Office365 subscribers. Apparently, some users were actually taking them at their word, and stashing tons of terabytes. MS set new limits at 1TB for paid users, and also reduced the quota for free OneDrive accounts from 15GB to 5GB.

“Synths” is the new term for people who are implanting microelectronics in their bodies so they can answer phones or switch TV channels with a wave of a hand.

“Robobees” developed at Harvard may replace declining natural bees as pollinators, but they also have applications in surveillance, search-and-rescue, climate research, and more.

Glass that is nearly as strong as steel has been made by Japanese researchers using aluminum oxide and silicon dioxide mixed and melted in midair, without a container.

The Sacramento Kings NBA team has purchased a Knightscope K5 robot to patrol parking lots and report unusual activity, such as a Kings fan celebrating a win.

Each Tuesday, Facebook employees will get a taste of what the social network is like at the 2G cellular data speeds experienced by 57% of Facebook’s 120 million African users. The idea is to keep employees mindful of slow connections when they design Facebook features. (Facebook employees who have read Huxley's "Brave New World" will see life imitating art here. Rural Americans still stuck with dialup will be jealous.)

Samsung’s new Galaxy View tablet/TV is an 18.4-inch giant that you carry around like a briefcase. "For kids, this finally becomes the TV they can touch," says a Samsung exec who must have grown up in a very strict household.

The AltWork Station is a standing desk that automatically reclines at the press of a button; monitor, keyboard, and mouse all tilt with you so you can keep working when horizontal.

In December, Facebook will publish streamlined procedures for proving your user name is your “real name.” The company now says a “real name” isn’t necessarily one’s legal name, just the name that you’re generally known by.

The Tor Project has released a chat client that enables users to communicate over the Tor network of proxy servers without fear of government tracking.

A full-sized, self-propelled replica of Star Wars’ R2-D2 droid is also a 12-can capacity beer fridge with WiFi and a movie projector. It even makes beep and boop noises, and has whirring lights.

Robotic sensors that simulate the multimodal human sense of touch can measure and respond to pressure, texture, and temperature, but still can’t replace “wet paint” signs.

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