Geekly Update - 22 May 2013

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

Smell-O-Vision is here! Or rather, there. You can now rent movies on DVDs that smell like pizza when they are played... if you’re in Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The trick lies in flavored varnish that releases the aroma of Domino’s Pizza when the DVD is warmed up by the player.

Charge your cell phone in 20 seconds? 18-year-old Eesha Khare has invented a supercapacitor that can store lots of energy in a tiny device. She netted $50K in Intel's Young Scientist competition, but impatient gadget lovers may benefit from superfast recharging times.

Meet the Jetsons? Anjan Contractor wants to change your perception of food. His company is creating a 3D food printer that can synthesize food from powdered carbs, protein, sugars, and maybe a few bugs.

A Florida woman whose iPhone 4’s power button stopped working three months after the warranty expired has declined Apple’s offer to fix it for $150 plus shipping. Instead, she’s suing Apple for $5 million under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.

First the robots came for the hamburger flippers. Now they’re coming for your bartender. The Makr Shakr demonstrated at geekfest Google I/O mixes and delivers drinks automatically; lets you see what everyone else is drinking; and even estimates your blood-alcohol level. Tipping is not allowed because the robot can’t get back up.

3D printers are making models of human hearts for cardiac surgeons to plan and practice on. The layers are built from CT or ultrasound images. http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/to-help-solve-challenging-cardiac-problems-doctors-at-childrens-press-print/2013/05/13/b2eee214-8d9b-11e2-9838-d62f083ba93f_story.html

Google is consolidating and tripling the amount of free cloud storage provided across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google+ Photos from 5 GB to 15 GB. It’s all in one bucket now instead of having different free storage limits for each service.

Watch out, Paypal! Google Wallet users can now exchange money instantly via GMail, drawing funds from credit or debit cards, bank accounts, or funds in their Google Wallet accounts.

"Take the money and run." Yahoo will pay $1.1 billion cash for Tumblr, the search company announced on May 19, 2013. Yahoo gets a young audience of 184 million unique monthly visitors, and Tumblr founder David Karp gets $250 million.

Helping phishers confuse victims: Apple is accused of requiring credit card customers to email scans of their driver’s licenses, passports, bank statements, and other documentation to verify their identities. A phone call to Apple customer service confirmed that the company really does this. Just say “no.”

Easter egg? Microsoft posted a help-wanted ad for a Bing software developer. The only way to find the ad is to visit Bing.com using Internet Explorer in debug mode. Then you’ll see, “Do you want to debug this webpage?” and, if you indicate interest by starting up IE’s developer tools console, you’ll get an invitation and link to check out the job.

YouTube is adding an ultra-low 144p resolution option to its videos, presumably for viewers with very slow Internet connections and excellent imaginations. Kids who play Minecraft will think this is a great leap forward.

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