Weird Tech takes a political twist this week, courtesy of Facebook. The social networking site found itself in a cauldron of boiling political fury after its auto-complete function controversially listed Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank as residents of ‘Palestine’.
Tensions in the area have run high between Jewish settlers and the non-Jewish population of Palestine since World War I. The situation worsened when Israel captured the West Bank in 1967.
"I was surprised and disappointed to find that my hometown of Ariel is listed in Facebook as being part of a country called 'Palestine,'" wrote Ari Zimmerman in a posting on Facebook. "I am a citizen of Israel, as are all of the other residents of Ariel. We do not live in 'Palestine', nor does anyone else."
Facebook has hurriedly responded to accusations of having a “political agenda”, with users in specific Israeli West Bank settlements now able to choose between Israel and Palestine residency options, Reuters reported.
“What? I was just warming my ear…”
In other news, a German lorry driver escaped charges for talking on his mobile phone whilst driving after claiming he was using it to warm his ear. A court in Hamm accepted Walter Klein’s story that he was holding the phone to his ear because it was warm after being recharged, and he had an earache.
Had he been making a call without using a handsfree set, the 43-year-old would have been in breach of the law. The court accepted his excuse after he provided an “itemised telephone bill proving he had not been using the phone at the time he was stopped”.
Round-up in brief
Thanks to some newly restored Houdini movies, it was discovered that the master of escape was in fact also the first person – ever – to fight a robot on film.
And many technological advances were made this week (this does not include the Sour Milk Alarm) - not least in the form of Patakara's decidely torturous-looking Smile Trainer. If you’re finding the latest digital cameras with their smile detection tech simply too difficult to work with, then this could be one for you.
(If you’re having problems installing Windows Vista SP1 then Japan’s SP1 toilet roll might be more down your street.)
And finally…
A serial burglar who thought he had made a clean getaway after committing multiple burglaries was foiled after failing to take into account his GPS ankle bracelet. Police followed signals from the suspect’s electronic monitoring bracelet, which had been fitted as a term of his probation for an unrelated crime.
The man was apprehended during a traffic stop when deputies found several stolen items in his car, the Springfield News reports.
