Geekly Update - 19 February 2020

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

Microsoft's ElectionGuard system isn't even trying to protect voting machines from hackers. Instead, it aims to make vote hacking pointless. The open-source ElectionGuard system uses a touchscreen and two printed copies of the voting record. One copy goes into the ballot box, and the other has a QR code that lets voters check to make sure their vote was not changed after the fact.

The friendly folks at the NSA have some advice for aspiring coders: learn the Python programming language. And thanks to a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request by one programmer, the NSA has released a 400-page Python training manual.

Kari Paul is a technology journalist who rented a car with GigCarShare, an "eco-friendly car sharing for the Bay Area and Sacramento." But she soon discovered that sharing has its limits. When she travelled into a rural area of California where there was no cell service, the car refused to start, and Paul was stranded for hours.

On the flip side of that connected car coin is Masamba Sinclair, who rented a Ford Expedition and paired the vehicle with the FordPass app on his phone. Several months after returning the car, Sinclair discovered that he could still remotely start it, lock or unlock the doors, and track its location.

The Corona Virus scare has resulted in a worldwide spike in demand for face masks. But how does one use the "face unlock" feature on their smartphone while wearing a mask? Simple, get a custom respirator mask that looks exactly like the lower half of your face. The "Resting Risk Face" mask sells for $40.

This just in from the "Yes, But Maybe" Department: One Harvard scientist says that a mysterious repeating radio signal from the other side of the universe could be a message from an alien civilization. But more likely, says Abraham Loeb, who serves as Chair of Harvard's Department of Astronomy, the pulses are just "the bright analogs of pulsars, which are spinning neutron stars with strong magnetic fields."

How smart can a baby diaper be? MIT researchers think it's dumb to let a baby wallow in filth, so they've created a diaper-embedded moisture sensor that can alert a caregiver when a diaper is wet. The sensor costs less than 2 cents to manufacture, and can send a "distress signal" via RFID.

If you've always wanted to go into space, but didn't have the inclination to spend years training to be an astronaut, here's your chance. Space Adventures has entered into an agreement with SpaceX to fly private citizens on the first Crew Dragon free-flyer mission. The flight, which is expected to last about 5 days, will undoubtedly carry a multi-million dollar ticket price.

If you're longing for a return to the days of the flip phone, they're back, sort of. The new Motorola Razr and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip offer the aesthetic of the 2005-era flips, but they're expensive ($1400-$1500) and not nearly as rugged, according to testers.

And just in case you were wondering whether or not a robot can move donuts, cupcakes and croissants from a conveyor belt without getting sticky fingers, here's an entertaining video that answers the question.

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