Geekly Update - 08 August 2012

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

"iLitigate." Samsung and Apple continue their global court battles over design similarities. The latest news: A highly-paid "design expert" (who just happens to be a former Apple employee) says one Samsung phone is confusingly similar to the iPhone.

Digg, the Myspace of link-sharing services, has resurfaced after its recent sale to Betaworks. Still a work in progress, the social networking site requires a Facebook connection for now and features 70% more images while losing the Diggbar.

"Misery loves company." Microsoft plans to release its Surface tablet October 26, the same day that Windows 8 comes out.

I try not to take rumors too seriously, unless I believe they are cleverly leaked from the source. Pundits are gleefully expecting Apple to announce a new iPhone 5 and iPad mini on September 12th.

Chris Rowland, a guy from New Jersey, accidentally figured out a clever way to get thousands of new Twitter followers. His Twitter handle has the same initials as the Saudi Telecom Company and a mall in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Samsung is now the proud owner of Music Hub, a service that combines iTunes, Spotify and Pandora into one nifty package. Originally available for the Galaxy S III, this gives smartphone owners and desktop browsers access to over 19 million tunes that they can store in clouds.

Microsoft has replaced Hotmail with Outlook.com, which is touted as "the first major improvement to cloud mail in eight years." See Hotmail Gets A New Outlook to see what's new, aside from the austere interface.

Amazon's Cloud Player Premium Service now includes scan and match, and improved audio for 20 million tracks. For $24.99 annually, storage is up to 250,000 tunes and available for PC, Mac, Android device and iPhone.

Great news for Star Wars gaming fanatics as Electronic Arts and BioWare will offer a free-to-play expanded option this fall. Players of the complimentary MMO will soon be able to go up to level 50 before purchasing the game.