Answer key: You don't know tech

Dan Tynan

San Francisco - Question 1: What social net is worth $850M to AOL?

10 points
a. Bebo

With some 40 million members, Bebo trails only MySpace and Facebook in the social-networking sweepstakes. AOL hopes the acquisition will enable it to foist interactive ads onto impressionable Euro teens. And possibly make AOL seem just a bit less like LUZRs.

Question 2: What is Ashely Dupre unlikely to become any time soon?

10 points
c. Interscope recording star

Though Dupre's breathy hip-hop singles were the most popular downloads on Amie Street last week, the would-be pop diva has yet to get an offer from a record company. Girls Gone Wild dangled a $1 million offer, but withdrew it after discovering Dupre had already appeared in a GGW video in 2003. Meanwhile, both Hustler and Penthouse have reportedly offered seven figures for nude pix of the politically poisonous vixen. Who says crime doesn't pay?

Question 3: Who's talking about his powerful, highly profitable, industry leading ad platform?

10 points
c. Jerry Yang, explaining why Yahoo is not really dead yet, Jim

Yang issued the statement in a press release accompanying Yahoo's three-year plan, which was presented to Yahoo's board in December 2007 BM (Before Microsoft). However, there is no evidence Yang was inhaling nitrous oxide at the time.

Question 4: How did Sequoia Voting Systems respond to New Jersey's request for help???

10 points
d.By threatening to sue Felten for breach of intellectual property

Question 5: What's gone wrong for some users installing Vista Service Pack 1?

10 points
d.All of the above

As a general rule, the answer to any question about Vista problems is "All of the above." Users posting to the official Windows Team Blog have reported blue screens, minimal driver support, problems with activation keys, and a whole lot more. Good thing we all waited for SP1 to fix Vista, eh?

Question 6: What will the first Google-based phone be called?

10 points
b. HTC Dream

Sources close to HTC, the first manufacturer to publicly admit it's making a gPhone, say the QWERTY-keyboard-based handset will likely be available by year's end. Given the tepid reception the Android platform has received so far, let's hope this Dream doesn't turn into a nightmare.

Question 7: Who's got a smartphone up its sleeve?

10 points
b. Dell

After axing the Axim and ditching its DJ20 media player, Dell is still apparently hungry for a piece of your pocket, or so rumors would suggest. The new handsets will allegedly employ Windows Mobile 6

Question 8: How much cash did FCC's spectrum auction rake in?

10 points
c. $19.6 billion

FCC more than doubled its revenue goalsYahoo or a Facebook plus five Bebos.

[ Verizon, AT&T, and Qualcomm have since been announced as among the spectrum auction winners. ]

Question 9: What's next for AppleiTunes, according to the rumor mill?

10 points
a. Offer unlimited monthly subscriptions

b. Sell iPods with songs preloaded

c. Offer unlimited downloads for iPod/iPhone owners who pay extra

As with Vista, the "All of the above" option almost always applies to rumors about iTunes. Apple is in deep negotiations with record companies to do something dramatic, but exactly what depends on who's doing the talking. And no, Steve Jobs did not bury Paul.

Question 10: What is Apple patches plus escort singles minus A.C. Clarke?

10 points
c. 6

Apple's mega update fixes 87 security flaws in OS 10.4 and OS 10.5. Ms. Dupre's singles were going for 9 cents on Amie Street before the news hit; 98 cents afterward. The author of such books as Childhood's End and the screenplay for 2001: A Space Odyssey was 90 at the time of his death. So 87 + 9 - 90 = 6. So easy even a Sequoia e-voting system might get it right, most of the time. Join us next week for another electrifying quiz.

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