Geekly Update - 23 October 2013
Will legions of half-human bionic creatures be knocking on your door this Halloween? Are we any closer to getting our piping hot pizzas delivered by friendly drones? And ewww, what's THAT inside your computer? Get answers to these burning questions, and the scoop on the latest tech news, in this edition of the Geekly Update. It's guaranteed to make you 146% smarter. Read, think and comment! |
The AskBobRankin Geekly Update
Move over, Six Million Dollar Man. A walking, talking bionic man has been constructed using medical-grade bionic parts and artificial organs. Okay, he's more like a manbot. But he's even got fake blood coursing through his circulatory system, and it only cost a mere million to build.
Next March, Australian students should be able to order a textbook online and have it delivered to them by an unmanned air vehicle – a drone. The aircraft, named Flirety, homes in on the GPS position obtained from the buyer’s smartphone, then hovers over the customer so he or she can retrieve the book. Umm, sounds kinda like downloading an ebook, only a lot more complicated and papery.
“If you don’t clean under your bed,” warned Mom, “the dust bunnies will get you.” See what happens when you don’t clean inside your computer’s case. Not safe for lunch.
Paypal competitor Square has launched a simple money transfer service that lets anyone send money to anyone else’s mail addresses. Just address an email, enter the amount as the subject line, and CC : cash@square.com. Square responds with a request for a debit card number to fund the payment, and sends the recipient a link to transfer the money to a bank account in 1-2 business days. Oh, and it’s free – for now.
Popular piracy site ISOhunt.com will be shutting down (and paying a $110 million fine) after losing a copyright infringement court battle with the movie industry, which claims the Bittorrent site enabled millions of copies of movies to be stolen.
3D printers are stepping beyond molten plastic into “the metal age. The European Space Agency is planning to print aircraft and spaceship parts using super-tough metals that cannot be shaped any other way.
Microsoft is testing prototypes of its own version of Google Glass, according to The Wall Street Journal. The most important design criterion: when a Google Glass wearer is detected, let loose the death beams.
Google Chrome has implemented “supervised users” whose browsing activity is subject to monitoring and control by a parent (or parole officer, or employer). Wonder how long it'll take the kids to figure out they can open Firefox or Internet Explorer and surf with no restrictions?
Facebook lifted its ban on extremely violent content, such as videos of beheadings, at least partially. Imposed in May, 2013, due to user complains about lost lunches, the ban will now be imposed based upon some faceless Facebook staffer’s divination of the poster’s intent, probably using sophisticated behavior modeling tools such as tea leaves.
The latest update to Windows 8.1 causes Windows RT devices to not start up properly. Both Windows RT users are furious.
Your thoughts on these topics are welcome! Post your comment or question below...
This article was posted by Bob Rankin on 23 Oct 2013
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Article information: AskBobRankin -- Geekly Update - 23 October 2013 (Posted: 23 Oct 2013)
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Most recent comments on "Geekly Update - 23 October 2013"
Posted by:
David
23 Oct 2013
"Both Windows RT users are furious."
My first chuckle of the day.
Posted by:
RandiO
23 Oct 2013
I had 3 days of Win8.1Pro upgrade woes, but it turned out I was not just one of two other users that were having the same issue.The Win8.1Pro package is supposed to be a 2.63GB download but my attempts would get to about 50% of the download and start all over (and over and over) again!After three days and about 67.3GBytes of downloads (I use DUMeter stopwatch to monitor network activity), I called Microsoft and after about 5 different tech support peeps taking control of my PC and not being able to fix the problem,I did a BitTorrent download of the Win8.1Pro ISO, burned it onto a DVD.I, then, found out that my legitimate and paid-for Win8Pro key would not work.Some digging discovered that Microsoft makes available a few "stub keys" available at their website and using one of those, I was able to finally shoe-horn Win8.1Pro onto my system and then was successfully able to activate my version using my legit keys.
The first thing upon booting into the new Win8.1Pro and installing MediaCenter, I replaced the new “Start" button with the OpenSource Windows Classic Shell (http://www.classicshell.net/) and life is good...
Posted by:
MmeMoxie
23 Oct 2013
Bob, just a note, about 2 issues, you bring up, on this Geekly Update.
First note: For those of us, who have ever repaired a PC for family or friend ... we have seen our share of "dust bunnies" and plain, old bugs, in some of the PCs. Yes, they are disgusting and I always hated it, when I got one of those. YUCK!!!
Second note: Facebook's re-ruling on excessive violent content, "Now the company has relaxed its stance. It will allow violent content such as beheadings to be published, provided the intent is to raise awareness rather than celebrate violence." One of the dumbest reason, I have ever heard, to simply satisfy stupid curiosity!!! For those who are interested, there are enough places on the Internet, to find what they seek.
Facebook's powers that be ... Seem to have forgotten one small, but important detail ... Children are on Facebook!!! Be this action, right or wrong by parents, none the less, children on Facebook is a reality. Tsk, tsk, tsk ... On Facebook. Bad, really bad, bad, bad move.
Posted by:
TheRube
24 Oct 2013
Hello.
As always I am always on the Internet giving due diligence to research:
I am very fond of PayPal especially after hardening their infrastructure after a well-publicized hack break-in some years ago.
www.square.com is actually listed under www.squareup.com in the U.S. Better Business Directory
Though squareup.com is not BBB accredited they did receive an overall B- with an astonishing number of complaints within the last three years.
(I won't go into the details but check it out yourself)
TR
Posted by:
PhilB
24 Oct 2013
> Paypal competitor Square has launched a simple money transfer service...
This sounds like a great idea, but you might have pointed out that it is available only in North America and Japan. The Square website says: "Square is currently available in the 50 United States, Canada, and Japan. We are beginning to look into other markets, though at this time we cannot officially support banks or merchants outside of the US, Canada, and Japan." What a shame!
Posted by:
Robert the Bruce of North California
25 Oct 2013
"Both Windows RT users are furious."
Gee, all two of them? I thought there were three.
Posted by:
Brian S.
25 Oct 2013
Okay, so let me get this straight: The ban on full beheadings has been lifted, but it's still in effect for partial beheadings? Or is it the other way around? I'm confused.
Posted by:
nana
26 Oct 2013
I'm ROTFL at your statement..."Facebook lifted its ban on extremely violent content,......,the ban will now be imposed based upon some faceless Facebook staffer’s divination of the poster’s intent, probably using sophisticated behavior modeling tools such as tea leaves."
Thank you for the laugh amid all these convoluted FB guidelines.