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Opinion

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz

By Dan Tynan
April 10, 2009 12:00 PM ET

InfoWorld - Some relationships just aren't meant to be -- as IBM and Sun Micro found out when what looked like a rock-solid deal disintegrated overnight. But they weren't the only ones enduring a bittersweet parting this week. Will Wright and Electronic Arts, Fox News and Roger Friedman, Google and the newspaper industry, iTunes fans and the 99 cent download all went their separate ways. Can you separate the real news answers from the near misses? Try your luck on our quiz. Give yourself 10 points for each correct answer. Ready?

1. The IBM-Sun marriage is apparently over before IBM even got to first base. How far apart were the two parties on share price when the deal disintegrated?

a. $5

b. $2

c. $1.25

d. 15 cents

2. Fox News movie reviewer Roger Friedman has to find a new vulpine network to work for after getting axed. What was his transgression?

a. Trafficking in child porn

b. Trafficking in pirated movies

c. Reviewing pirated movies

d. Panning X-Men Origins: Wolverine

3. Thirty-four-year-old Suwicha Thakho just got sentenced to 10 years in the slammer for an online offense. What did the Thai man do wrong?

a. Trafficking in child porn

b. Trafficking in pirated movies

c. Posting pictures of Thailand's royal family online

d. Panning X-Men Origins: Wolverine

4. "There is no doubt that certain websites are best described as parasites or tech tapeworms in the intestines of the Internet. ... Google encourages promiscuity -- and shamelessly so -- and therefore a significant proportion of their users don't necessarily associate that content with the creator." Who says many Web sites are promiscuous worms, spawned by Google?

a. Robert Thomson, editor of The Wall Street Journal

b. Henry Porter, editorial writer for The Observer

c. Billy Bragg, recording artist

d. Rupert Murdoch, media titan

5. Microsoft has debuted the second of its ads chiding Apple for selling overpriced hardware, only instead of a dishy redhead this one stars a hunky Italian American. What is this happy laptop hunter's name?

a. Giancarlo

b. Giampaolo

c. Giovanni

d. Geocaching

6. General Motors and Segway have teamed up to build a concept car. (No, this is not an April Fools' joke.) What do they call their two-wheeled two-seater?

a. PUMA (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility)

b. BOBCAT (Battery Oriented Bicycle-Car Adaptation Technology)

c. MEERKAT (Mobile Energy Efficient Road Kill All Terrain)

d. VIXEN (Vehicular Innovation with eXtreme Energy Niceness)

7. Will Wright, the brains behind The Sims game franchise and Spore, is leaving Electronic Arts to focus on a think tank he started eight years ago. Where's he going?

a. Stupid Fun Club

b. Stupid Gun Club

c. Sim City Planning

d. Silly Willy's Home for Arrested Adolescents

8. This week brought with it more chilling news on the international cybersecurity front. Which of the following things did NOT happen?

Reprinted with permission from InfoWorld. Story copyright 2010 InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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