Geekly Update - 18 April 2013
Which popular search engine is five times more likely to deliver malware links? Should you join the Zero TV movement? And what happens to your online accounts if you go offline, permanently? Get answers to these burning questions, and the scoop on the latest tech news, in this edition of the Geekly Update. It's guaranteed to make you 146% smarter, read on... |
The AskBobRankin Geekly Update
Bing delivers five times as many malware websites as Google, according to an 18-month study by AV-Test. Google was rated as the safest search engine, returning only 272 malicious results out of 10 million studied.
“Zero TV” households that don’t subscribe to cable or satellite services rose from 2 million in 2007 to more than 5 million today. Broadcasters are struggling to deal with the Internet streaming and time-shifting trends, which threaten ad prices and revenues.
If you press a button to scan a document and email it, you owe $1,000 to patent troll MPHJ Technology Investments. Or you can just ignore their demand letter and they’ll probably give up.
Nearly one terabyte of super-fast solid-state hard drive for 60 cents per gigabyte? That’s the new Crucial M500 SSD, delivering a max of 960 GB for $600. Smaller capacities down to $130 for 120 GB are available.
Hard drives containing customers’ personal information were stolen from VUDU, Walmart’s streaming video service, last week. VUDU says in its email alert that passwords are encrypted but that leaves names, addresses, phone numbers, and credit card info vulnerable.
TV is going to the dogs. DogTV is a cable channel and streaming service with programming designed to keep dogs stimulated while their humans are not around. DirecTV plans to charge $5.99 per month for it, not including a splashguard for your TV.
Desktop PC sales plunged 14% in Q1 2013 from the same period last year, according to researchers at International Data Corp. Windows 8 is not helping. PC sales are still predicted to be around 300 million units this year, compared to an estimated 200 million mobile devices.
A West Virginia bill would ban driving while wearing Google Glass or any other “wearable computer with head mounted display.” But don’t call its sponsor a Luddite; Gary G. Howell says, “I can’t wait to get my hands on” Google Glass.
Google added a digital estate planning service on April 10, 2013. An “Inactive Account Manager” feature lets you designate who should receive keys to your Gmail, YouTube, Google Drive, and other Google-stored goodies if your Google account remains inactive for a set period of time.
Good news for RIM: Blackberry chosen by over 71 percent in survey. Bad news: the question was, “Which phone would you never, ever buy?”
Netbooks are doomed, if you were wondering. Worldwide sales have plummeted from a high of 32 million in 2010 to a projected 4 million in 2013 and exactly zero in 2015.
Tinder.com could replace Groupon. A fake “sexy girl” profile on the dating app invited 250 guys to a frozen yogurt shop; more than 70 showed up, presumably buying yogurt while they waited.
This article was posted by Bob Rankin on 18 Apr 2013
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Most recent comments on "Geekly Update - 18 April 2013"
Posted by:
Rick Lewis
18 Apr 2013
For the life of me, I can't understand why netbooks fell so out of fashion so fast. I bought one of the last models made and it's a lean, mean little machine. I much prefer it over my tablet and laptop.
Posted by:
Robert
18 Apr 2013
I agree with Rick Lewis. Love the netbook I got. Very portable, long battery life... but then again I'm a "creator" (computer user) not a "consumer" (tablet/phone) of information.
Posted by:
John Marshall
18 Apr 2013
What I want and need is a tablet . . . with full keyboard, an 11 inch -12 inch screen(no touch-screen required), an attached cover, no optical drive, just multiple USB ports, Internet access via Wireless N. MS Office (or really just Word)installable from external optical drive or otherwise, but no big internal drive needed. 4 lbs at most, and in the $299-399 range. An HDMI output would be nice, but not required. I hear there's a name for those: netbook.
Posted by:
steve Zimmett
19 Apr 2013
Bing delivers five times as many malware websites as Google, according to an 18-month study by AV-Test. According to Wikipedia:Bing Bar incorporates features from Windows Live and from the Bing search engine.
If I delete this website will I still be able to use Windows Live??
Posted by:
Doc
21 Apr 2013
BOB! - TWO ITEMS TO LOOK AT FOR CHARGING PHONES, LAP-TOPS -- 1) fuel cell, & 2) boiling water.
=============================================
You may have seen these two items in Science Daily(SD), but just in case you missed them (I get SD delivered by topic, this one was under 'Strange Science News) and here they are:
From Science Daily (Strange Science News): power-cell:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130418094803.htm
Company home page: http://www.powertrekk.com/powertrekk/
===============================
Using fire+water+metal pot=power
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130416114124.htm
Company site: http://www.thepowerpot.com/powerpot-v
===========================================
Have a friend who helped set up and run a hospital for the Batwa (pygmy's) when they were thrown off their ancestral land when it because a UN World Heritage Site (mountain gorillas, the Batwa don't hunt them, and have lived with and protected them for, oh, only a few tens of thousands of years) and now have no home, land, and you know the rest of the story. Internally displaced people. --
I think MD's could use the power-cell in power-out emergencies, and campers (or urban- sub- urbanites) might find the boiling water concept useful in emergencies -- God save us all from campers who bring music and TV and MP-5 files when they want to 'get away from it all'. Heck, they might even charge those FRS-GMRS radios if kept boiling all night, but don't know about the last - probably worth a mention in the 'geeky update'. I the middle of Nevada there's little cell service, but I'll bet that you'll find stick and MP players all over public campgrounds.
They ARE nifty, and look how young the kids are -- and they even used social media companies to fund their initial research!
Thank you for all your help - I've found if I google you and a subject it comes up reasonably fast if I have the search terms correct and we use a common vocabulary.