Geekly Update - 27 February 2019

Tell me this Bob - I feel that the latest malware actually came from YOU!

After curiously clicking on your recommendation to use your company "Flowers Fast", I now receive pop-up ads on my desktop from your company every few days. Perhaps you would be so kind as to provide instructions on how to remove your malware from my system...

I would not have expected this type of clandestine advertising from you Bob...

EDITOR'S NOTE: It's not malware at all. In fact, you wouldn't get those unless you clicked the "Allow" button (twice!) when presented with the prompt on your first visit. To turn them off, click the little "gear" icon on the notification.

Regarding "Spare keys to your house or car can now be stored on a smartphone in case you need another way to lose them.", great! Someone parks my car (or gets access to my keys for just a few seconds) and now they can easily make a copy? This doesn't work for the smart keys that have a chip in them but would work for most car keys, house keys, etc.

People have always been able to make a wax impression of a key but it was real work to make the duplicate from the wax impression.

More on the Spare Keys. I misunderstood. Apparently you have to take the key to the Home Depot or other partner retailers to have it scanned. You can't just take a picture. So it is a little bit more secure.

I appreciate your posts Bob

pdsterling ... Depending on the manufacturer and age of the GPS, there may be no way to update the software! You would have to contact the GPS manufacturer.

I also am getting unwanted Flowers Fast pop-ups.

EDITOR'S NOTE: As I mentioned before, you wouldn't get those unless you clicked the "Allow" button (twice!) when presented with the prompt on your first visit. To turn them off, click the little "gear" icon on the notification.

I have a question about the device advertised on this page that will "double your wi-fi download speed and extend the range"......seems miraculous.

Not all locals were thrilled about Amazon in New York? I use Amazon, but, apart from that, just think of them as another mega-giant among those taking over everything. Still, a report I read said a poll showed 26% of New Yorkers in the area were against Amazon and 70% were for them building there. The poll may be wrong or biased, but still... (Another example of the rich and powerful vs. the rich and powerful?)

Garmin provides the Garmin Express software for updating your Garmin GPS.
But to get your free lifetime updates, you need to update at least once or twice a year. If you don't, your free lifetime updates expire. Then you have to pay for the updates. Love my Garmin.

Thanks for the Radio Garden link. It is very interesting to scan round the world and listen to what the locals are listening to.

I enjoyed clicking around on the Radio Garden globe! Found several interesting ones.

I used to get unwanted fast pop-ups, but now my PC is old and slow.

Mark and George: Bob Rankin has *no* control what-so-ever on the advertising that shows up on his page.

Or, more properly, the webmaster of askbobrankin.com contracts with an advertising agency which then sells ads to advertisers and other ad agencies. Then possibly a third or fourth level advertiser. This is why even well known and "good" websites can end up hosting "bad" advertising. It might not have even been "Flowers Fast."

These things have driven me to use an ad-blocker almost everywhere. Pages load faster, by some measures 70% faster across the board. And no more mal-vertising.

My browser home page is set to https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html, which provides a gorgeous new picture of space every new day.

Our local MicroCenter store is selling the Raspberry Pi Zero W (wireless) for $4.99. Heck, the case for it alone is more expensive.

Radio garden no work even on the BBC.

People who do not exist . . . interesting that they all look related.

So excited to learn about Radio Garden. Found a report that was on NPR two years ago, but I guess I never heard that report. I learned that Radio Garden is from the Netherlands. This is like a modern version of shortwave radio, right? However, I have not been able to figure out how to operate the website. After half an hour of "sprouting", it offered me public radio stations in my city. I couldn't see how to go to another part of the world. Will try tomorrow.

Oh, man! Thanks a million for the link to radio.garden. Ages ago, before the internet, i used to listen to far-away stations on my shortwave radio. Since then, i occasionally found radio stations online, but the effort involved wasn't always worth it. The site works great, i just wish they would mark country boundaries on the map.
For those who have problems, perhaps try a different browser; i have no problem using Google Chrome, version 72.0.3626.119.

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@Jeri, thanks for mentioning the 1 year update requirement. I saw that and thought, oh my, how long has it been since I updated. I scrambled to find my charge cable for my Garmin, and plugged it into my PC. A message displayed on the Garmin that my Maps were OVER a year old, and I could PURCHASE updates on their web page. I could just SHOOT someone!