Geekly Update - 19 September 2018

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

We've had toasters on the Internet since 1990, so is the news about Amazon's Alexa-powered microwave oven such a big deal?

Early testers of the upcoming Windows 10 October 2018 Update encountered a warning when they tried to install competing web browsers such as Chrome or Firefox. 'You already have Microsoft Edge - the safer, faster browser for Windows 10'. After the predictable firestorm ensued, Microsoft dropped plans to include this in the final product.

FEMA will conduct a test of the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system on October 3rd. A new feature of the WEA is the capability for the President to address the nation during a national emergency.

Can't get your kids to put down the phone during dinner? Google's Family Link allows parents to temporarily lock a smartphone, set limits on screen time, block certain apps, and locate their kids.

Is the world ready for a two-ton, six-legged, 9-foot-tall robot? It had better be, because Mantis is here. British engineer Matt Denton built the walking hexapod robot, which was inspired by the Star Wars movies.

Malware-fighting firm Trend Micro apologized after some of its Mac OS apps were caught collecting customers’ browsing histories without explicit consent. The company says this was done only during setup and the offending functions have been removed.

Here is a charming physics-based puzzle game that can give your brain beneficial exercise.

Male and female specimens of all 66,000 vertebrate species known will be completely sequenced and stored in a new genomic Ark. We’re gonna need a bigger boat.

Hackers needed only 22 lines of programming code to steal the records of 380,000 customers from British Airways. By modifying a script on the BA payment form, the hackers captured customers’ names, addresses, phone numbers and other details

A man who left fake TripAdvisor reviews has been sentenced to prison in Italy. Please don't say it can’t happen here.

Dubai has mandated that all new buildings must be 25 percent 3D-printed by 2025 (if man is still alive).

The top-selling paid utility in Apple’s App Store, Adware Doctor, has been booted after it was found to be collecting users’ browsing histories and transmitting them to servers in China. No, it is not made by Trend Micro.

Democrats want the FCC to investigate whether Verizon’s throttling of cellular data speeds during the recent fires in Mendicino, CA, violated FCC rules. So do a few firefighters, their families, and decent people everywhere.

This last item isn't terribly geeky, but it is funny. Surveillance footage at a store in China captured the moment when a cup of noodles went flying into the air. The clerk had set the hot cup on top of a lighter, which then exploded.

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