Geekly Update - 17 January 2012

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

G-Form's new Extreme Sleeve will protect your iPad from almost anything, even if it accidentally falls from space, tumbles 100,000 feet and crash lands on a rocky slope near Area 51.

Now you can continue reading, even if the utility company shuts off your electricity due to non-payment. The SolarKindle cover from Solar Focus promises Kindle users up to 50 hours of usage before needing a recharge. The award winning accessory comes with a built-in 800 lux LED reading lamp and doubles as a solar charger, with a price tag of $79.99.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak admitted that Android smartphones are superior to the iPhone in some ways. Ironically, the recently deceased Apple CEO Steve Jobs hated Android so much, he vowed to destroy it, even if it meant spending all of Apple's $40 billion bankroll.

Wikipedia has announced they will go dark on Wednesday, joining Reddit, the "I Can Has Cheezburger" site and other popular web destinations, to protest the proposed SOPA/PIPA legislation, that some fear will unfairly censor the web.

Sony introduced a range of new products at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), including new models of Bravia HDTVs, Blu-ray players, home theater systems, docks, phones, speakers, receivers, camcorders, over a dozen cameras and accessories.

Also announced at CES 2012, Vizio's new Stream Player Box comes loaded with Google TV and can stream audio, video, games and selections from Apps Plus. The company also debuted its All In One PC, wireless router, M Series Tablet and Cinema Wide Smart TV at the CES.

The Belgian company Boondoggle released an Android/iPhone alarm app that checks the weather overnight and wakes you early should there be either frost or snow. Winter Wake Up is programmable to the point that it will let you sleep if the weather is just too nasty to go to work.

Marvell and One Laptop Per Child released the XO 3.0 Tablet. The low power, rugged tablet is priced at $100.00 to qualifying countries that buy in bulk.

"To the 30... the 20... the 10... touchdown!" A new record was set on Twitter for the most tweets for a sporting event. Over 9,400 tweets per second were sent after Tim Tebow's touchdown pass gave the Denver Broncos an overtime victory over the Steelers.

In other news, ABI Research predicts that over 50% of phones sold this year will run 3G or 4G. Jake Saunders, vice president of forecasting, claims that 1.67 billion handsets will ship by the end of 2012.