Geekly Update - 27 November 2015

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

"U R FIRED!" After taking over as the new manager of a Florida restaurant, Brad Barrett decided to save a little time and fire 13 workers with a group text message. I wonder if he'll be accepting job applications via Twitter or Snapchat?

A UK cat discovered a bug in Linux desktop GNOME; when it stepped on a certain sequence of keys, the operating system crashed. The bug was fixed; no word if the cat was.

Domino’s Pizza now offers a “Buy Now” button; like Amazon’s, the thumb-sized device can be preprogrammed with your favorite order and payment info, sending both to your local Domino’s with one press of a button. Just keep it away from cats.

'Tis the season... remember that box of IBM punch cards you've had in the attic since 1978? It's time to put them to good use. See these images of holiday wreaths made of punch cards, and get busy!

T-mobile is offering Sprint customers $200 credits to switch. Additionally, T-mobile will pay early-termination fees and other incentives worth up to $650 to new customers who switch from any competitor.

Using terror to fight terror, Anonymous hacktivists are “rickrolling” ISIS social media accounts with jihadi-tempting posts that link to Rick Astley’s 1987 pop hit, “Never Gonna Give You Up.”

Former TV station Web producer Matthew Keys has been convicted of helping Anonymous hack the Web servers of the Los Angeles Times in 2010. He faces 3-5 years in prison for giving login credentials to Anonymous that helped the group alter a news story on LATimes.com. The vandalism was corrected in less than an hour.

United Airlines will let passengers pay for in-flight WiFi using their frequent-flyer miles beginning in 2016. The miles needed to buy an hour of WiFi will vary depending on supply and demand. Lufthansa charges 3,500 miles or 9 euros for an hour of Internet access.

For the first time, a federal judge has imposed conditions upon law enforcement’s use of “stingray” devices that mimic cellphone towers and sweep up all nearby transmissions.

“It’s not a data breach, it’s just a clerical error,” says Georgia’s Secretary of State in response to charges that 6 million voter records sold (legally) to private parties included voters’ Social Security Numbers and other private data. Among the buyers were several political and news organizations, and the Georgia Gun Owners magazine.

Facebook is testing a new “breakup” feature that will hide posts from exes and delete the heartbroken’s name from the ex’s posts without taking the drastic step of unfriending or blocking anyone.

YouTube is offering to pay the legal fees of a handful of members fighting copyright infringement claims, and will continue to display their allegedly infringing videos in the U.S.

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