Geekly Update - 21 May 2020

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

Sheep dogs may be losing their jobs to robots soon, if Spot, the Boston Dynamics robot dog has any say in the matter. Spot is seen herding sheep in this video, and only needs electricity to run.

A "prolific leaker" says Apple is getting ready to announce their take smart glasses, seven years after Google Glass debuted and failed to gain traction in the market. The Apple Glass is expected to retail for $499, and will work with prescriptions.

Apple and Google are rolling out "contact tracing" tools, designed to notify people who have been in close contact with others testing positive for the coronavirus.

And of course, there are contact tracing text message scams. The FTC is warning people not to click on links in text messages claiming that you've been in contact with an infected person.

Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne will launch a rocket from midair over the Pacific Ocean this weekend. A small rocket is dropped from a modified 747, flying high in Earth's atmosphere.

Even though AT&T was smacked down by the National Advertising Review Board for misleading advertising regarding the use of their '5G E' icon, the company will continue to dispplay it on AT&T smartphones. AT&T's "5G Evolution" is actually an upgraded 4G LTE network, which does not allow phones to connect to a 5G network.

89-year-old William Shatner, TV's Captain Kirk from Star Trek, is volunteering for NASA's Demo-2 mission, just in case NASA astronauts Bob Behnken or Doug Hurley can't make it on board the SpaceX Crew Dragon.

New York CIty's Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) is using UV light during its nightly cleaning procedures to kill the coronavirus on subways, buses, and subway stations. The entire subway system is shut down for cleaning four hours every evening.

"I can almost remember their funny faces, that time you told them that you were buying a website for three billion dollars...." Walmart is shutting down Jet.com, their wannabe Amazon competitor. Walmart purchased Jet for $3 billion in 2016, and has lost another $2 billion trying to compete for a slice of the e-commerce pie.

Having trouble getting a strong wifi signal all over your home? The editors at Popular Mechanics have a list of wireless routers that will improve signal coverage and download times. See "The 6 Best Wi-Fi Routers To Get Your Home Internet Up to Speed".

Scientists at the California Institute of Technology have developed a camera that can snap 70 trillion frames per second. Yes, that's Trillion with a "T" -- and they say this CUSP (compressed ultrafast spectral photography) tech is fast enough to observe nuclear fusion and radioactive molecule decay.

Suprise! Some Tesla cars have a bidirectional charging feature that could send excess battery energy back to the grid, or power your home during an outage. Tesla may offer electric utilities the ability to access power from their fleet of one million electric vehicles to offset electricity demand during peak hours. With your permission, of course.

The Hign Court in Singapore has handed down a death sentence through Zoom video conferencing. Punithan Genasan was found guilty of drug trafficking, and sentenced to death via a Zoom call between High Court officials, the man and his legal team. The execution, however, will not be virtual.

Your thoughts on these topics are welcome! Post your comment or question below...