Geekly Update - 10 January 2018

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

An 85 year-old Italian grandma met Google Home for the first time, and they’re adorable.

Printing $3 bills on your inkjet is *so* 2017. Joke cryptocurrencies like “Jesus Coin” are attracting hundreds of thousands of stupid people’s dollars even when their sites say, “Do Not Buy These Coins!”

Security journalist Brian Krebs reported a glitch in the bitcoin payment option at Overstock. For about three weeks, customers could have bought any item at a fraction of its price, an returned it for a windfall. The software didn't understand the difference between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, which have vastly different valuations.

"Are we even now?" Michael Oleksik was arrested after he reported himself for punching an ATM machine in Cocoa, Florida -- because “it was giving him too much money.” His rage against the machine, which was caught on video, caused $5000 in damages.

Laptops roasting in a open fire... HP is recalling the batteries used in its Notebook and mobile workstation laptop lines due to batteries catching fire.

Google deploys about 1,100 bicycles around its Mountain View, CA, campus for employees to use. Every week, 150 to 250 of them go missing and have to be hunted down like shopping carts “borrowed” from a supermarket. If only there was a way to make bicycles harder to steal and easier to locate using technology and the Internet.

Apple has vowed new parental controls for its products following concerns about “screen addiction” voiced by major shareholders Jana Partners and the California State Teachers' Retirement System, which together own $2 billion of Apple shares. "Apple has always looked out for kids," a company representative said. (Right, the ones that don't have iPhones yet.)

India has captured the dubious title of Biggest Government Data Breach by managing to lose the biometric identity data of One Billion citizens. Undoubtedly, there will be challengers.

Twitter showed its feeble commitment to combatting hatred by permanently banning Imposter Bot, an account that exposed fake accounts created by Nazis and used to spread vile misinformation. Seems Imposter Bot was generating too many complaints -- from Nazis.

You will soon be able to tell your toilet to flush itself and it will, if you have Amazon Alexa and a $6,000 toilet made by Kohler. Or, if you have that kind of money, you can hire someone to do the job.

Your next car may serve you ads and suggest pizza stops if a company called Telenav persuades automakers to install its ad-serving system in all new cars. Before you think, “Not a chance,” consider that Telenav has been selling GPS-based stuff to automakers since 1999.

A smart(?) thermostat from Johnson Controls costs over $300. Naturally, it works with Microsoft Windows’ Cortana.

Coming Soon... The Voice-Activated Personal Assistant Smackdown! Amazon Alexa will soon challenge Cortana on Windows 10 PCs. Most OEMs, including HP, ASUS, and Lenovo, are adding Alexa compatibility to their hardware lines. Meanwhile, Google Assistant is coming to tablets and screen-equipped speakers made by LG, JBL, Lenovo, and Sony.

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