Geekly Update - 06 September 2012

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

"With this tweet, I thee wed." A couple in Istanbul, Turkey were married in a wedding ceremony conducted on Twitter. The mayor then ruined everything by handing them a paper marriage certificate. He couldn't scan and email it to the groom's smartphone??

"Jane, get me off this crazy survey!" While Carnegie Mellon's Robot Hall of Fame usually gets its inductees from a panel of robotics experts, regular (dumb) folks like us now get to select this year's nominees. Head over to the Robot Survey before September 30 to make your vote count and choose from 12 finalists, including the Jetsons' Rosie, PR2 and iRobot's Big Dog.

It turns out the theory about monkeys, typewriters and Shakespeare might be true after all. Zookeepers have supplied orangutans with iPads and some apps that allow them to play games, make music and paint. But alas, voting rights are still a distant dream for cute large furry primates.

"Here's a pretty smart dumbphone." Ever long for the days when a cell phone was just used for calling? The $80 OwnFone, only available in the UK for now, has 2 to 12 personalized contact buttons, switches on and off and does not have SMS capability, display or keypad. Braille and photo buttons will be offered soon.

If Martians really do exist, imagine their surprise when will.i.am debuted his latest tune "Reach for the Stars" from the Curiosity rover. With the singer's i.a.m.angel Foundation and Discovery Education collaborating on the project, NASA streamed the song Tuesday, along with Administrator Charles Bolden encouraging students to study the science and technology.

EA's Madden NFL 13 made its debut this week with Calvin Johnson as its front cover pin-up and lots of hoopla. Oh, and there's the virtual Twitter feed, so you can pretend to participate in social media.

"One more for the Duh Files..." The University of Chicago's Professor Bing Liu has been studying online reviews and finds that often reviewers-for-hire or customers who receive a discount are responsible for some products getting high marks even when not warranted.

Google's Politics and Election site plans to encourage voter participation by posting election results, trends and YouTube live video this November. They are also teaming with TurboVote to help potential voters receive registration forms, state specific info and reminders.

Sony has created a cross between a tablet and notebook with itsVAIO Duo 11 that has a clever Surf Slider design. The device features an 11.6" HD touchscreen, Intel's Core i7-3517U processor, GPS, front and back 720 HD cameras, is stylus capable and will be available in October with 4 or 8GB memory.

Amid rumors that they'll soon announce a next-gen Kindle Fire, Amazon says that it's original Kindle Fire is sold out. They claim that they reached 22% of the tablet market in only nine months, but Google's Nexus and other tablet contenders are nipping at their heels, as they all battle for second place in the tablet wars.

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