Geekly Update - 26 January 2022

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

A headline on Space.com proclaimed: "Spacex Dragon Splashes Down Off Florida Coast With Nearly 5,000 Pounds of Science on Board". That made me wonder... how much does a pound of Science go for these days?

Kaspersky Labs is warning about new malware dubbed MoonBounce, which worms its way into your computer's BIOS. It operates in memory only, and is capable of persisting in the system even after formatting or replacing your hard drive.

It pays to check your spam folder every once in a while. You might find an email that was mistakenly classified as junk mail, or an email confirming that you won three million dollars in the Lottery. That actually happened to Michigan resident Laura Spears, who found the notification from the Michigan Lottery while checking her spam folder for a missing message from a friend. Take that, Nigerian princes!

Ameca, a humanoid robot created by Engineered Arts, has realistic facial expressions and can respond to physical interactions. And unlike human babies, it does NOT like to be booped on the nose. Ameca's reaction "freaked out even those who work with it on a daily basis."

Do you have an old smartphone gathering dust in your junk drawer? You can turn your abandoned Android or iPhone into a free wireless security camera in just a few minutes. The article on FastCompany shows how to enable live-streaming surveillance, two-way talk and motion detection on pretty much any phone.

If you want to fly through space at (almost) the speed of light, all you need is a ring inside a box, attached to each end by a spring. So says NASA engineer David Burns. An engine based on this principle could theoretically go as fast as 99 percent of the speed of light, without any fuel. So much for warp speed.

Beware of smishing expeditions, says FBI Special Agent Aaron Rouse. Smishing is phishing, only it happens via text (SMS) messages. If a scammer succeeds in enticing you to click on a link in a text message, it could lead to malware, identity theft and other types of fraud. A few current examples are texts purportedly from AT&T saying your bill has been paid, with a link to claim a gift, or a Netflix scam asking users to click on a link if they want to "keep watching."

IEEE Spectrum says Wi-Fi 7 "stomps on the gas" and leaves devices running Wi-Fi 6 in the dust. Devices using the Wi-Fi 7 standard can achieve data transfer speeds up to 40 gigabits per second, four times faster than with Wi-Fi 6. All you need is a 40 gig internet connection, which is 40 times faster than anything available to consumers today.

The Chrome operating system isn't just for Chromebooks. You can install Chromium OS (an open-source version of Chrome OS) on your Windows, Mac, or Linux computer. Or, you can try it out without installing it, by booting from a USB drive. Alphr's How To Download And Install Chrome OS has the details and caveats.

Facing foreclosure on their home and farm, a Georgia couple created Dastardly Ducks, a collection of 100,000 cartoon ducks to raise money. The collection of NFTs created by the programmer/graphic artist team sold out in less than six hours, earning them just under $120,000.

Bleeping Computer reports that SysJoker malware is targeting Windows, Linux, and macOS computers. Sysjoker runs as a backdoor process, and has the ability to evade detection on all three operating systems. Run for the hills?

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