Geekly Update - 15 February 2012

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

"Of COURSE there's a 2-year contract with a hefty early termination fee, why do you ask?" Coinstar, parent company of Redbox, and Verizon are teaming to create a rental release plan effective later this year. Redbox will still supply the movies and Verizon will provide an "affordable" subscription service for streaming.

How much is your privacy worth? Google is handing out $25 Amazon gift cards, in exchange for permission to track your Internet usage for a year. The Screenwise project received thousands of takers, and is no longer accepting applications. "I wonder if they also track what you buy with the gift card?"

An 83 year-old woman is the first recipient of a lower jaw implant made by a 3D printer/a>, from BIOMED Research Institute at the University of Hasselt, Belgium.

Wonder what was the most popular 2012 Super Bowl commercial? Hulu has named Volkswagen's Dark Side Teaser as the favorite while USA Today claims that the honor goes to Doritos' Slingshot Baby spot.

In addition to black, cyan and magenta, Nokia is releasing a white version of its Lumia 800 Windows phone this month. Similar to the case of the Nokia N9, the first are to be released in Europe and each has a 3.7" WVGA ClearBlack display, 8 megapixel rear camera, 1.4GHz single-core processor and 16GB of memory. "Oh wait, it's not an iPhone? It doesn't run Android, either? Never mind..."

Spire Cedia is a new tool developed by Chpwn and Ryan Petrich for jailbreaking Apple devices. If you have an iPad, iPhone or touch you can download it with step by step instructions from iJailbreak. "Warranty? We don't need no stinkin' warranty!"

If you want to watch Netflix's original series Lilyhammer all 8 episodes are available for streaming. Each episode, concerning an ex-gangster in the witness protection program, is about 45 minutes long and is available to Netflix customers.

Kiss' Gene Simmons, mostly known for his long tongue and ability to sell his band's memorabilia, has invested in (and is promoting) http://www.ortsbo.com/app2/">Ortsbo.com. This free service allows anyone to send a message or chat internationally without translating it first, as the robo-translator technology does it for you. "Did you just tell me that you were manufactured to love my baby?"

Those who have their own websites can now include a Spreecast interactive two-way video screen. The free social video platform made its beta debut in November and can also be used as a Facebook comment screen, chat room for up to four, or customizable Twitter stream.

Verizon Wireless released the super-thin Droid 4 on February 10. It runs Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread, has a dual-core 1.2GHz processor and both virtual and a real slider QWERTY keyboard. Get yours for $199.99 with a 2 year contract.