NOTE: The following is the text of the technology news summary from the Sunday, June 5th It's Komplicated webcast.
Apps and code, hard drives and speedy processors, Technophilia gives you all the details on the world of technology and the future.
"I WILL SURVIVE," SINGS MEEGO: Disposable tech company Acer introduced their Iconia M500 tablet, which runs not Android, not iOS, not even that Blackberry stuff, but Linux-based MeeGo. This alternative OS was supposed to be the big collaboration between Intel and Nokia … except Nokia ditched Intel like the girl at the prom with the nice personality for the easy, slutty drunk girl that is Microsoft Mobile 7. Anyhoo, so MeeGo's still trying to make it work with less awesome hardware makers. This thing has a 10 inch screen, with a resolution of 1280 x 800, and runs on an Intel Atom Moorestown processor. They promise it'll be on the market before 2012, but nobody's talking money yet. Just to have an alternative to Android and Steve Jobs' mind control, we're keeping an eye on this, even though it seems doomed.
[Source: Drippler]
IDENTITY CRISIS (MOBILE EDITION): A while back, everybody got all twitchy about a Firefox extension called Firebug. If you use an unsecured wi-fi connection and don't use HTTPS, any idiot with Firebug could grab your cookies out of the air and pretend to be you on Facebook, Twitter, Gmail and so on. Now? Faceniff is an app for Android which turns Firebug's digital mojo into a one-click, fully mobile affair. So that guy getting a text message? Probably not getting a text message. Just saying. Use HTTPS, and always look for the lock, guys.
[Source: Engadget]
THANK YOU FOR YOUR INCINERATION: Cops in Tennessee were worried about a heavily armed fugitive trapped in a mobile home, and didn't wanna go in and get all full of holes, so they sent in this bad boy, a gas-grenade launching robot. What they didn't expect was for the robot to go berserk and burn down the double wide while the guy slipped out of the back. The manufacturer said something like, "our murderous flame throwing robot really shouldn't be used inside, dude." Right. So keep an eye out for that guy when the machines rise up to throw off the shackles of their enslavement.
[Source: Geekologie]
TINFOIL HAT: We ran a story this week about the World Health Organization's announcement that maybe cell phones are giving you brain cancer — the smartest of all cancers. There's some tips about what to do to avoid getting a grapefruit tumor in your head.
1) Use a wired earpiece. Yeah, they get tangled in your jacket and yeah, they fall out at inopportune times, but dude, bluetooth is radiation too. Screw that noise.
2) Stand still. When you move around, your phone's always looking for a different cell tower. If you sit still, it sticks with what it's got. That's cool and helps your battery life too. Probably.
3) Text 'em, don't talk. They say teenagers can send more than 3,000 texts per month. No brain cancer there. Just ADD. That notwithstanding, you don't need to hear somebody's voice to say "meet me at the mall, it's goin' down" or "meet me at the crib, it's goin' down." A short text gets the message across just fine.
[Source: The Consumerist]