Geekly Update - 18 September 2013

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

The 2013 Ig Nobel prizes, which lampoon unusual scientific achievements, were awarded last week. Winners include the inventor of a bra that converts into a face mask with radiation sensor, and a group of Japanese chemists for discovering that the reason why onions make people cry is "even more complicated than scientists previously realized."

A new study predicts that 45 percent of American jobs will be done by computers in the year 2033. This item was created by Auto-Update © v0.9.1.15 (beta)

The “USB Condom” protects your phone or other mobile devices from data theft or malware infection during charging on an unfamiliar USB port, such as one on a computer at work. It blocks the data-transmitting wires in a USB connection while allowing simple electric power to flow through others.

"Elvis, Michael, and now Steve?" After only a few hours online, Microsoft pulled several YouTube ads that mocked the new iPhone 5’s lack of innovation, following a firestorm of criticism. The ads featured a slender, closely-cropped, bespectacled guy who never faced the camera – but was wearing a black mock turtleneck pullover. Harvard sells six-figure MBA degrees in which you’re taught how to do things like this.

"We'll fix YOU..." The creator of the best browser add-on of this century, Social Fixer, is surprised to find himself kicked off of Facebook after four years. Seems he improved Facebook too much.

The U.S. government has warned itself not to use a data encryption standard whose development may have been influenced by the NSA. The standard is implemented in Windows versions that run tablets, but the part the NSA was involved with is disabled by default. Developers must enable it to use it in apps.

Google is “working with authorities to address the issue” after one of its Google Street View drivers in Bogor, Indonesia, ran the logo-bedecked car into a bus, tried flee the scene, and immediately ran into another bus. That’s what he gets for relying on Google Maps for directions.

The Millenial Generation is most likely to get its coupons and deals via – newspapers! The 6th Annual Red Plum Pursestring Survey found that 51% of 18-34 year-olds get their savings that they actually use from traditional fish wrappers; 38% search the Internet; 33% check their snailmail box; 25% grab in-store offers.

Kids (of all ages) can learn Web programming on the $35 Raspberry Pi computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard, using an app called Coder developed in Google Creative Labs. “Download it, put it on an SD card, plug it in and it turns your Raspberry Pi into a simple place to write code and a miniserver to run it on, everything you need to get started making real web things.

The fate of MSN.com is the subject of much debate. Earlier this year, rumor had it that Yahoo refused to trade its search business to Microsoft for MSN.com. Then Microsoft spent money to optimize MSN.com for Windows 8, RT, and IE 10. Now part-time contract bloggers, production staff, and others are being trimmed from a site that gets 100 million visitors per month. Real persons can profitably run Web sites with a tiny fraction of that traffic.

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