Geekly Update - 08 May 2012

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

"Sugar Rush!" Suresh Chapman was charged with a felony by Gainesville, FL police after tossing his soda into a cash register at Taco Bell. Apparently the infusion of sugar and caffeine caused the store's computers to go down for several hours.

Maybe Taco Bell should turn to Kyocera for help. Their new Hydro smartphone can be submerged in up to a meter of water for 30 minutes. But does the 3.2-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash work underwater? You'll have to try it yourself...

Microsoft has invested $300 million in Barnes & Noble for a 17.6% share of its eBook business. The forming of Newco means that they will have a portion of B&N's recent acquisition of digital and college businesses and a Nook application for Windows 8. Some are even speculating that future versions of the Nook will run Windows. Wook, anyone?

A study from comScore reveals that the Kindle Fire has doubled its share of owners in the last two months to 54.4%, making it the most popular Android tablet. The report also finds that 10" tablets are preferred over those that are 7" or 5". Apparently, size does matter.

Rovio announced that "Angry Birds: Space" is its fastest growing game to date, with 50 million downloads in 35 days. The company just released 10 new levels for iOS and Android.

Norton's Identity Safe, which keeps your usernames and passwords secure and automatically plugged in, is being offered as a freebie until Oct. 1. Credit card numbers and registration codes are also protected for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS systems.

In honor of Donate Life Month, Facebook has enabled users to share their organ donor status. If you would like to be a donor, you can register with their Facebook page that claims it has had a 5,000% increase in registration. We're not yet clear on whether Facebook will allow you to "like" your friends' organs.

For those looking to make their big break in show biz, Amazon Studios is seeking original comedy and children's series projects. Since its November 2010 launch, the company has 15 films in various stages of development.

Jawbone's Jambox has grown up into a bigger portable speaker that can be synced with MyTALK for downloading apps and upgrading software. WiFi and Bluetooth compatible, pre-order the Big Jambox in red, white or graphite for $199.99 for a May 15 delivery.

And finally, from the "Huh, They Still Make Those?" department, at the
BlackBerry World Conference this week, RIM announced the release of the BlackBerry 10, minus a keyboard. The company is hoping that free software toolkits will make it easy for third parties to create new apps.