Geekly Update - 29 April 2015

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

A software robot that accidentally bought drugs on the “Dark Web” is now free from police custody. Swiss police determined that Darknet Shoppers developers had no criminal intent; they just turned the bot loose with Bitcoins to see what it would bring home.

In the UK, insurers are warning that claims for burglary losses may be denied if policyholders post their vacation plans and real-time holiday photos on social media. "You wouldn't put a poster up on your front lawn saying you're going on holiday,” as they put it.

"Then: Hack-saw, Now: Hack-ing…" Inmates at San Quentin prison are learning to program for private companies from behind bars. What could possibly go wrong?

The USDA has officially announced that “best by,” “sell by,” and “use by” dates on food are meaningless marketing ploys. To help reduce the 36 pounds of food that American households throw out each month (!) the USDA has released the FoodKeeper app that tells you how long that can of tuna will really last.

A suspect in a drug case seems to have fled the country after tricking Virginia police by placing his GPS ankle monitor on his cat.

A total of 81 credit card skimmers were recovered when Florida officials inspected 6,000 gas stations for the illicit devices. Skimmers, which can be used by fraudsters to capture credit card data, are hard to detect when inserted into ATMs and other devices that accept credit cards for payment. More gas stations will be checked.

Google Street View now includes surface and underwater views of Loch Ness, the lake home of the legendary eponymous monster.

Google users can now download their own search histories, through an elaborate process that leaves most of them wondering what the heck to do with JSON files.

The NSA tried to get into the spirit of Earth Day with a creepy leering blue version of Spongebob Squarepants. “Dunk,” the mascot, exhorts schoolchildren to help determine what their schools could recycle by asking them to “dig through all of the trash in your school and then you’re going to analyze it.”

Hillary Hartley joined Twitter in 2006. She wants everyone to know that @Hillary is NOT @HillaryClinton and to stop asking her about Benghazi.

Navajo woman Brenna Happy Cloud was locked out of her Facebook account for five days because the company didn’t believe her surname was real. Facebook customer service demanded several proofs of identity, including a copy of Happy Cloud’s Social Security card.

Your thoughts on these topics are welcome. Post a comment below, or the milk in your fridge will spoil in 15 seconds...