Geekly Update - 16 November 2011

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

"We lose a little on each sale, but make it up on volume." U.S. Cellular says it turned down carrying the iPhone 4S because they had to pay Apple $600 for the phone, charge a customer $200 and make up the price in future service fees.

Call of Duty's Modern Warfare made $400 million in the first 24 hours and should sell about 18 million copies by the year's end, making it the number one selling game according to analysts. Hmmm, that's enough cash to buy 1.8 million iPhones.

"My two front teeth?" Tablets came in second as the most desired gift for the holidays, according to a study by the Consumer Electronics Association. Definitely not in the top 10, though, is the CEA's $699 18th Annual Holiday Purchase Patterns Analysis Brief, which you'll have to read to find out what came in first place.

There is actually an organization that will grant $1,000 per month (no strings!) for ideas that need a kick start. The Awesome Foundation, perhaps coming to a location near you, is composed of 10 "micro-trustees" who contribute $100 each to a proposal that they feel is doable.

"Seriously, there's no Android version?" Last week, Apple launched a free app in California that allows personal pickup, EasyPay and tracking in their retail stores. Now available in all 50 states, customers can order online via iPhone/iPad/touch and have them shipped to a nearby store.

Spotify has finally released a Windows Phone 7 app with background music support after promising same for about a year. The application is free but users must have a $9.99 Premium account and run Mango 7.5 or higher. User reaction is mixed: "Worst WP7 app yet", "Simply awesome", and "Shouldn't have downloaded it" are among the most recent comments on the site.

Barnes & Noble unveiled their latest addition to the Nook line in the form of a tablet. Available November 16, the Nook Tablet has a 7" IPS color touchscreen, 1GB RAM, 16GB storage, a 1.2 GHz dual-core CPU, microSD slot and a price of $249. The new Nook will complete head-on with Amazon's Kindle Fire, also released this week.

Long known for its ToughBook line, Panasonic will have two tablets powered by 1.2 GHz dual-core processors and Android 3.2 next year. The 7 and 10" Toughpads have multi-touch, daylight viewable screens, two cameras, WiFi and that reliable dust, drop, temperature and water-resistant design.

New to the wireless service provider scene is Republic Wireless, who went live Tuesday with unlimited talk, text and data for a mere $19.99. That's the good news. But be aware the company uses a "fair use threshold" and should you go over it, you can be terminated from service.