Geekly Update - 25 September 2013

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

"A lot of bull?" New York’s EZ-Pass highway toll collection technology is being used to track drivers far from toll roads, according to an anonymous blogger cited by Fox News. He says he rigged his car to “moo” like a cow whenever it detected EZ-Pass tech in use. The New York City Department of Transportation insists that scanners installed all over NYC are just for "studying traffic patterns."

Armed robbers found easy pickings outside of an Apple store in Houston. Campers eager to be first in line to get a new iPhone 5 were, instead, first to be relieved of their old phones, their wallets, and other valuables. It pays to sleep in a bed, even if it’s in your parents’ basement.

Apple’s TouchID fingerprint lock was hacked only three days after it became available. A European hacker group demonstrated that a photograph of a user’s fingerprint on any smooth surface is sufficient to fool the much-vaunted security system. And in related news, here’s a cat whose pawprint unlocks an iPhone 5.

Don't toss out your old music CD collection... Japanese physicists have found a way to use them as part of a wastewater treatment process. Next up, figuring out what to do with all those AOL disks.

For only $16,000 you can now buy your own life-size Imperial AT-ST Scout walker on eBay and… WHOOOSH! And there go all of my Star Wars fan subscribers to check their Paypal balances.

A beautiful infographic depicts fifty years of space exploration, but only by Earthlings.

Microsoft is working on bringing the Internet to rural Africa, using "white spaces technology" that takes advantage of unused broadcast TV channels and solar power. The project could enable Internet connections of up to 2Mb/second to the rural communities.

LinkedIn users have launched a class action lawsuit against the professional social network, alleging that they didn’t know giving any Internet company access to one’s email contacts is just like sharing friends and family with multi-level marketers.

Life imitates art imitating life: the script for the movie about Wikileaks has been leaked to Wikileaks which has leaked it all over the Internet.

Homeless, unemployed, and surviving on Bitcoins is no way to go through life, son. Or is it?