Geekly Update - 27 May 2015

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

Merriam Webster's Dictionary is tipping its hat to popular culture, adding 1700 new words and acronyms. Many of them were popularized by email, social media and texting. Among the new arrivals are "meme," "photobomb," and "NSFW."

"AI = All In" Claudico, the top-ranked poker-playing artificial intelligence bot, took on four professional players in a two-week Texas Hold’Em tournament. Any bets on who won?

Beware of third-party hotel reservation websites, says the American Hotel & Lodging Assn. At best, you may get stuck with booking fees and a no-refund policy. At worst, you may pay for a reservation but get no room.

Catalin Duru is a Canadian inventor who created his own hoverboard, and used it to fly over 900 feet, as high as 16-feet above the surface of a lake in Quebec.

Clever engineers in Reading, England have demonstrated that a passenger bus powered by cow poo can reach speeds of 76 mph. To be precise, the mostly brown, cow-spotted bus runs on "bovine manure-derived biomethane." An official said they did it to "get the image of bus transport away from being dirty, smelly, and slow." One out of three ain't bad.

The Apple Watch contains security features to protect your data, but nothing in it deters theft of the Watch. Resetting an Apple Watch so it can be used with another iPhone is as easy as pressing the “crown” button.

YouTube Kids is not safe for kids, several child advocate organizations claim. Despite Google’s screening, videos on making acid, nooses, and juggling knives while holding a chainsaw have made it onto the “toddler friendly” service.

Don’t you hate it when you’re eating KFC’s greasy chicken and get grease all over your keyboard? Well, KFC is now providing trays with Bluetooth keyboards built into them, so yours can stay clean.

Paypal was ordered to pay $25 million in refunds and fines by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to settle charges that Paypal signed up customers for Paypal Credit accounts without their permission.

Anyone can copy the Apple iPhone’s design, a federal appeals court ruled on May 18. Patents protect only the functionality of a product, the court noted, and rounded corners are not a function.

The Walrus Webcam is back, and in HD, too! After a decade offline, the live stream of 2-ton walruses on the beach of Alaska’s Round Island will return this year.