Geekly Update - 29 Jun 2017

Category: Tech-News

Will Google's promise to stop snooping in your Gmail improve your privacy? Is your name, address and phone number on a list of 200 million exposed voter records? Why is Virgin Mobile kicking Android users to the curb? And can you make a pair of sneakers with Origami? Get answers in today's Geekly Update -- it's jam-packed with the latest tech news. This issue is guaranteed to make you 146% smarter -- you'll see why. Read, think, and, comment!

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

Nate Wilson was fishing in the Tennessee River, but he didn't expect to reel in an algae-covered digital camera. The memory card was still intact, so Wilson posted the photos on Facebook and within hours, located the owner of the camera who had lost it five years ago.

Stoopid Criminals Part 19: Ryan Coupens was attacked and mugged by six men in downtown Denver. Fortunately for him, the group posted celebratory videos on Snapchat. Colorado police are now using the video footage to identify and apprehend the attackers.

Maybe you can take it with you. Arthur Werner of Steel City, PA, loved his 1990 Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail motorcycle. So much so, that he plans to be buried in his motorcycle's sidecar after his funeral on June 30th.

Geekly Update 06-29-2017

Colorado is considering the first ban on sales of cellphones to children under age 13. The Denver Post reports the ban “would require retailers to ask customers the age of the primary user of the smartphone and submit monthly adherence reports to the Colorado Department of Revenue.”

The personal data of 198 million voters from the 2008 and 2012 elections was left exposed on an unsecured Amazon Web Services server. The trove contains name, address, date of birth, phone number, and voter registration details. Whoops.

Virgin Mobile is going all-iPhone, and offering one year of “unlimited” voice, text, and data for just one dollar. Fine print applies, of course.

The Girl Scouts and security firm Palo Alto Networks are teaming up to teach cyber-security skills to girls as young as 5. The goal is to increase the participation of women in the security profession.

A $120 million fine is proposed for Adrian Abramovich, the kingpin of a robocalling operation that illegally dialed hundreds of millions of phones.

Google is going to stop scanning your Google Mail to better target ads within Gmail. But Google will still use your browsing history, YouTube habits, and other Chrome activity as long as you are signed into your Google account.

A tiny bug got stuck inside Kirk Hamilton’s monitor. His efforts to liberate it, and the fatal mistake he made, make amusing reading.

An algorithm that designs ideal folding patterns to create any 3D object from a sheet of paper means Ultimate Origami is not far off.

Australia may be the last continent to see driverless cars. Engineers are trying to figure out how a computer can process a hopping kangaroo.

This $400 smart tea maker is probably not going to appeal to smart people.

 
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Most recent comments on "Geekly Update - 29 Jun 2017"

Posted by:

pdsterling
29 Jun 2017

regarding the bug on the screen: I am assuming that this is a young person with whatever problem he has. I have this problem all the time. apparently, bits of fibroid matter are floating in the aqueous humour of my eyes (left one the worst) and appear as black bits of various sizes in my field of vision. one hopes this can be remedied when I have my cataracts removed, as it is very annoying.


Posted by:

RichF
29 Jun 2017

I'm amazed that bug guy wouldn't think of the ramification of smashing a bug in his monitor.


Posted by:

David
29 Jun 2017

Arthur "plans" to be buried in his sidecar? Did he make those plans earlier, and plans to die before tomorrow? Is he going to be buried in his sidecar alive?

I did read the linked story, and he's already passed on, so maybe "planned" is a better word. After all, a wise man once said, "...spelling, punctuation, grammar and proper use of UPPER/lower case are important!"

:)


Posted by:

David
29 Jun 2017

Re: driverless cars. Have they figured out yet how to differentiate between a child and a dog in the way, and how to assign relative values? One person vs. a crowd? Hit a person vs. drive off a cliff? Those aren't hypotheticals.


Posted by:

Bruce Butterfield
29 Jun 2017

For pdsterling: bad news for you. The cataract surgery and replacement lenses will give you superior vision, but the floaters are not connected to the lenses at all. I tell you this from experience.

I had lens replacements in both eyes 8 years ago and see better than ever before. BUT the floaters are still wandering around in my eyes. The good news is that your brain learns to cancel out recognition of most of them after a while. Good luck with your surgeries.


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