Geekdays

It’s another Geekdays – but it’s also the last Geekdays you’ll be hearing in a while. After this one, we’re taking the rest of September off. And this has nothing to do with the rumors that the Health and Safety people heard our writers shouting from the basement when they were doing a routine inspection… Despite the efforts that we put into soundproofing that place so that we wouldn’t have to hear them … Amazing, really. Anyway – it has nothing at all to do with that.

Show notes and links:

* Balloons Are Bad—Should We Ban Them? (gizmodo.com)

* Woman: My iPhone was seized at border, then imaged—feds must now delete data (arstechnica.com)

* New facial recognition security system used in US airports identifies first imposter (techspot.com)

* The Monstrous ‘Fatbergs’ Lurking Below Cities Might Have a Surprisingly Important Benefit (sciencealert.com)

It almost didn’t happen – but then it happened! A new episode of Geekdays, for your listening pleasure!

Show notes and links:

* HBO’s Watchmen Is Coming in 2019 (gizmodo.com)

* End of the Rainbow? New Map Scale Is More Readable by People Who Are Color Blind (scientificamerican.com)

* Blue light from phone screens accelerates blindness, study finds | Society (theguardian.com)

* The Drive-Thru Speaker at a Dunkin’ Donuts Broke. So Employees Did Something Truly Brilliant (inc.com)

Sorry about the lost week! I wish there was some way we could make it up to you that isn’t just … being on time and doing six stories as we’ve promised all along. But hey, hopefully we’ll be better at that. Maybe. You know – if fate wills it, etc.

Show notes and links:

* Superbugs Are Growing More Resistant to Hand Sanitizer, Scientists Warn (sciencealert.com)

* Condoms shouldn’t be washed or reused, according to CDC (businessinsider.com)

* Massive study finds nearly no increase to diversity in popular films (mashable.com)

* Activists aren’t happy after Facebook removes phony protest rally (thenextweb.com)

* This tweet contains an entirely playable, retro-style arcade game (theverge.com)

* Confirmed: Fortnite on Android will drive its bus past Google’s 30% cut [Updated] (arstechnica.com)

It’s another late episode, but if you’re waiting for something good; you’re never let down when an episode of Geekdays appears in your inbox. And don’t worry – we’re getting back on track with the schedule soon enough, as work in other spheres of our lives is finally settling down.

Show notes and links:

* Tommy Hilfiger tracks, rewards you for wearing its smart clothes (engadget.com)

* Orlando Bloom stops play twice to scold audience member he thinks is using an iPad (9to5mac.com)

* Google Says It Will Stop Android Phones From Suggesting “My Face” When Users Type “Sit On” (buzzfeednews.com)

* Terms of Service Violation (bloomberg.com)

* The future of search-and-rescue robots might be centaur, not human (theverge.com)

Late. Late as all heck, I know. But I have an excuse. A real, honest-to-goodness kind of excuse.

Show notes and links:

* The 21st Century Internet Act aims to enshrine net neutrality in law – TechCrunch (techcrunch.com)

* Discovery of 14,000-Year-Old Toast Suggests Bread Can Be Added to Paleo Diet (gizmodo.com)

* U.S. Army develops algorithm that shows how to get ‘optimal alertness’ from caffeine (bigthink.com)

* Should Your Family Be Able to Inherit Your Facebook Messages? (gizmodo.com)

* 3D-printed gun lawsuit ends after 3+ years—in gun publisher’s favor (arstechnica.com)

* KFC Just Showed a Brilliant Understanding of Customers That Must Have Made Competitors Kick Themselves (inc.com)

Sorry about the delay on this one, it got stuck in the publication queue and didn’t get into the feed for some reason. But here it is, better late than never!

Show notes and links:

* Nintendo reportedly closes ‘unpatchable’ flaw in new Switch units (engadget.com)

* Walmart’s Newly Patented Technology For Eavesdropping On Workers Presents Privacy Concerns (buzzfeed.com)

* California mall owner’s license plate readers send info to ICE (updated) (engadget.com)

* Scientists have developed the world’s first full-color, 3D X-rays (mashable.com)

* There Is Now Just One Blockbuster Left in the US (gizmodo.com)

We’re on Facebook, we’re on Google, we’re in your machine learning artificial intelligences – but most of all, we’re in space trying to avoid the most annoying sound on Earth.

Show notes and links:

* Facebook finds Independence document ‘racist’ (bbc.co.uk)

* Google tries to calm controversy over app developers having access to your Gmail (theverge.com)

* IBM to release world’s largest facial dataset for studying AI bias (ibm.com)

* Facial recognition software is not ready for use by law enforcement – TechCrunch (techcrunch.com)

* ‘I was shocked it was so easy’: ​meet the professor who says facial recognition ​​can tell if you’re gay | Technology (theguardian.com)

* Most Annoying Sound on Earth Finally Explained by Science | National Geographic (youtube.com)

* Amazon Shipments to the Moon May Be Possible by 2023 (geek.com)

* We Have More Evidence That Two Earth-Like Exoplanets Have Stable Climates And Seasons Just Like Us (sciencealert.com)

Facebook, streaming music, Facebook, Playstation … and a Hawaiian love song for a comet.

Show notes and links:

* Facebook patent turns phone mics on to record reactions to ads (engadget.com)

* Independent record labels get boost from streaming music services (reuters.com)

* Facebook’s ‘keyword snooze’ hides phrases from your News Feed for 30 days (venturebeat.com)

* Sony admits PS4 has a cross-play problem, tries to offer hope (cnet.com)

* First Known Interstellar Object Gets Unexpected Speed Boost (nasa.gov)

* Astronomers Have Figured Out Why Venus Has a Mysterious Bulge in Its Atmosphere (sciencealert.com)

Netflix accounts, video game consoles, life in space. If this isn’t your average episode of Geekdays, then I don’t know what is.

Show notes and links:

* Here are the People We’re Most Commonly Borrowing a Netflix Login From (exstreamist.com)

* Netflix’s approval among Republicans has declined in 2018: Survey (businessinsider.com)

* PlayStation 4 Was the Best Selling Console for May 2018 (ign.com)

* Why Is Nintendo’s Switch So Successful? It’s All About The Marketing (forbes.com)

* Xbox One won’t get VR support after all (techradar.com)

* Xbox’s next exclusive is an American Girl doll set (polygon.com)

* Striped displays aren’t a defect, here’s why they occur (androidauthority.com)

* Supreme Court Says Cops Need to Get a Warrant to Get Your Phone Location Data (vice.com)

* Cops Are Confident iPhone Hackers Have Found a Workaround to Apple’s New Security Feature (vice.com)

* Apple commits to blocking iPhone unlockers used by police (cultofmac.com)

* Amazon has discontinued the Mayday button on its Fire tablets (thenextweb.com)

* New Model Predicts That We’re Probably the Only Advanced Civilization in the Observable Universe (universetoday.com)

Another week, another Geekdays. It’s funny how those two things go hand in hand. It’s almost hard to imagine one without the other. Do you think that weeks would stop happening if Geekdays were to stop happening? Is this show responsible for us having weeks? I don’t know … And I’m scared to find out.

Show notes and links:

* Spanish soccer league app spied on fans to catch pirate broadcasts (engadget.com)

* Hi rez images from NASA’s 1967/8 Lunar Orbiters were withheld to hide US spying capabilities / Boing Boing (boingboing.net)

* Recovery of Lost Apollo Data Has Solved a 40-Year-Old Mystery on The ‘Moon Warming’ (sciencealert.com)

* SleepScore App Aims to Take Your Slumber to New Depths (digitaltrends.com)

* Bob Ross can mellow you out through a mobile app (engadget.com)

* Gotti has a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes and the reviews are priceless (mashable.com)