Geek Week in Review

Got week? We got news. Here are some of the weirder items to cross my desk of late.

Bust a cap in your access. ISPs across the nation experienced an Internet slowdown last Sunday due to problems with Level 3 Communications’ fiber backbone outside of Cleveland. The cause? Not Redmond, Russian hackers, or rabid squirrels; the cable was riddled with bullet holes. Get the feeling Level 3 was late with its loan payments?

MySpook. It seems even the spy community is going Web 2.0. According to a report in London’s Financial Times, US intelligence agencies are plotting to create an information sharing portal named “A-Space” where spooks from the NSA, CIA, MI5, and other quasi-friendly clandestine ops can share information. I can see it now: “Hi, my name’s Ivan. My hobbies are tapping phones, writing in code, and garrotting foreign enemies of freedom.”

So much for that IT security job. More than 1.6 million jobseekers who posted resumes to Monster.com’s job site may have had their identities stolen by a Trojan Horse; hackers will likely use the information to launch phishing attacks. The good news? Victims will all soon be earning $5000 a week working from home in their spare time.

So fresh, so Femtocell. Telecom geeks are all hot and bothered over “Femtocells,” which I was disappointed to learn are mini-cell towers you connect to your broadband line to get high-speed wireless access in your home. I thought a Femtocell was where Paris Hilton does time.

Stop or I’ll shake. From the delightfully twisted Lester Haines at The Register comes the story of a London man who robbed a bookmakers shop last week using a concealed weapon – a vibrator. I understand he threatened to bring the bookies to a heightened state of ecstasy unless they handed over the cash. (Yes, I know — there’s not a shred of tech news in that item. But I couldn’t resist.)

Send your news of the weird and the geeky to me here. Top tipsters qualify for strange swag.