Geekly Update - 17 May 2018

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

"Quick, get the phone, the baby is crying!" Ariana Anderson is a computational neuropsychologist and mother of three. She's created an AI-powered app called Chatterbaby that claims to decode a baby's cries.

Would you pay $85 million for a NYC condo with a great view? How about if it came with a Rolls Royce, a Lamborghini, a 75-foot yacht, and two seats on a Virgin Galactic space flight?

Robots are ready to rumble! Here is the 2018 lineup of twenty mayhem-making mechanical monsters that will go toe-to-doorknob on BattleBots.com this season.

The April 2018 Windows Update - formerly called the Spring Update - is finally here. It’s being rolled out gradually; depending on what edition of Windows you have, it may take a few weeks to reach you. But you can go get it now at this Microsoft page.

Robot dogs can now climb stairs and know they’re not supposed to bump into the railings. Robotics firm Boston Dynamics says mechanical mutts are just about ready for public prowling.

The next Mars rover will pack a helicopter for swift remote observations. NASA says the softball-sized, 4 pound chopper’s blades will spin at 3,000 rpm - ten times the rate of Earthly helicopters - in order to hover in the thin Martian atmosphere. No word if it can deliver pizza.

Uber says it will test 5-minute food deliveries via drones. “The FAA will never permit that!” Did you not read who is going to do this?

This just in from the Infinite Loop department: IBM has chosen North Carolina State for its first quantum computing hub. According to Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, one cannot know both an object’s state and its location. So where is IBM’s first quantum computing hub going to be?

If you had any doubt that the DUI game is rigged in favor of prosecutors, it should be dispelled by this expose’ of software flaws and deliberate government sabotage of one of the most widely used breathalyzers.

"This has been a major annoyance for developers, IT Pros, administrators, and end users throughout the community," Microsoft acknowledged in a blog post on May 8, without explaining why it has taken 33 years to fix - er, “update” Notepad so that it recognizes line-ending characters used by Mac OS, Linux, and UNIX systems. As a result, text files will no longer look like unbroken walls of text no matter what was used to write them.

Google has added Morse code to the languages supported by its Gboard keyboard for Android. (.-- .... --- / -.- -. --- .-- ... / .-- .... -.-- .-.-.-)

No USB for you! IBM has banned all removable storage for all staff, company-wide, saying in a memo from the Chief Information Security Officer, “the possible financial and reputational damage from misplaced, lost or misused removable portable storage devices must be minimised.”

The ongoing audit of Equifax’s minor miscue of last year has yielded good news. The number of Americans whose personal data was stolen from the credit reporting agency has remained steady at 146.6 million; those folks only lost their names, dates of birth, and Social Security Numbers. Additionally 99 million addresses and details of 209,000 payment cards (number and expiry date) were lifted. Now, it seems that 38,000 American drivers' licenses and 3,200 passports leaked, too.

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