Geek Weekly: Our top weird tech stories for 4 September

Technology Decisions’ weekly wrap of IT fails, latest tech, new must-have gadgets, ‘computer says no’ moments and more.

Pie boys beckoned with beacons. Hungry spectators at the MCG in Melbourne will soon be able to win a free pie thanks to iBeacon Bluetooth technology carried by ‘pie boys’ (roving pie sellers). A smartphone app will alert patrons that a pie boy is near; by presenting the notification to the pie boy, patrons will get a free pie and go in the draw for a year’s worth of pies. But as someone in the Technology Decisions office has pointed out, if they can do this with pies, why can’t they invent a system that sees beer or wine delivered direct to your seat upon request? An opportunity waiting to be filled - over to you, tech industry.

Buy, sell, what’s the difference? A ‘coding error’ that went unnoticed for six years has resulted in Deutsche Bank being slapped with a US$7.8 million fine. The Financial Conduct Authority of Britain said the bank “failed to properly report 29,411,494 Equity Swap CFD (contracts for difference) transactions. The failure, which affected all Deutsche’s Equity Swap CFD transaction reports in this period” [November 2007 and April 2013] breached rules on transaction reporting. The error led to sells being reported as buys, and vice versa. Deutsche was given a 30% discount on its fine once it agreed to an early settlement.

Sorry about the orbit. A software error might also be to blame for sending two European navigation satellites into the wrong orbit. A Russian Soyuz rocket launched the twin Galileo satellites (the fifth and sixth of an eventual 30) from Europe’s Kourou space base in French Guiana on 22 August, but it soon became apparent that they had not reached the correct orbits. Officials are discussing ways in which to recover the situation, perhaps by keeping the satellites where they are and changing the programming of ground stations. The US$7.2 billion project is presently six years behind schedule.

How to make Apple’s top 10 apps. Or, more to the point, how to avoid making any of the top 10 mistakes that will see your app summarily rejected by the computer giant. According to a post on the Apple developer site, common mistakes include submitting an app before it’s ready, ie, with bugs still present; with broken links; not making sure advertisements are served by the Advertising Identifier (IDFA); poor UI design; placeholder pictures left in; incomplete application information; misleading apps that don’t do what they’re supposed to do; not a wide enough market. Like all software development, it pays to do your homework and not only make sure the product works, but will also be a good potential seller through whatever channel(s) you aim for, whether that’s the App Store or anywhere else.

Comic Sans? You can’t be serious. When should the world’s most ridiculed font be used on the front page of a newspaper? When covering the goings on at the ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption) in Sydney, of course. Matt Martel, the executive editor of photography and presentation at Fairfax Media, has gone into print to defend his choice of font for speech bubbles illustrating a story about a couple of former pollies who had appeared before the commission. “Chris Hartcher’s and Eric Roozendaal’s comments to the ICAC were treated typographically with the respect they deserve. And they deserved Comic Sans.’

3D consumer printing still five years away... Gartner says that widespread adoption of 3D printing by consumers is still at least five years away. “Today, approximately 40 manufacturers sell the 3D printers most commonly used in businesses, and over 200 startups worldwide are developing and selling consumer-oriented 3D printers, priced from just a few hundred dollars. However, even this price is too high for mainstream consumers at this time, despite broad awareness of the technology and considerable media interest.”

… but the Star Trek Tricorder is almost here. Ten teams have now been shortlisted for the Qualcomm Tricorder XPrize, which aims to kickstart development of a handheld device that can measure five vital signs and diagnose 15 different diseases - just like the gizmo used by ‘Bones’ McKoy in Star Trek. With one of these in your hands, hopefully you’ll be able to avoid uttering the immortal words, “It’s worse than that; he’s dead, Jim”!