Geekly Update - 21 Mar 2011

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

Brightarcs has done what all of us have secretly wanted to do, be a participant in a Frankenstein-like experiment. They took a Kinect and two Tesla coils to make an Evil Genius Simulator that spreads electricity when raising your arms. (The idea was born in a pub in the UK.)

Finally, someone came up with a recharger for alkaline batteries. For $46.10, WattsClever uses a trickle charge on regular batteries, Ni-Cad and Ni-Mh rechargeables.

Google has created a special Person Finder in response to Japan's recent catastrophe that has already listed 300,000 users. Working in both English and Japanese, they can search for loved ones or offer information about those who survived.

HTC unveiled its ThunderBolt this week and availability on Verizon for $249.00 with a 2 year contract. The smartphone is the first to be on the service provider's 4G LTE network and includes the HTC Sense interface that offers email, camera effects and other personalization.

There is a new streaming service in town called Fandor that started up with about 2,500 titles. For $10 a month, it features indie films, foreign movies, shorts and other films you've never heard of.

Apple's Senior VP of marketing Phillip Schiller tweeted that the white iPhone is coming this spring. He called it "a beauty" although that was the extent of his comments.

It seems that the Zune may suffer the same fate as the Walkman. Despite a semi-denial by Dave McLauchlan, Senior Business Development Manager on the Zune Blog, I've still seen more people sporting Walkmans than Zunes in the past two years.

The Social Science Research Council released a study that claims that one of the reasons for piracy is that the price point is too high in Eastern Europe and South America. The report also states that although laws in those areas have been passed, there is a hesitancy to enforce them.

RIM is hoping to compete with the iPad with its upcoming release of its BlackBerry Playbook at a price of $499.00. The 7-inch tablet features a touch-sensitive bezel with gesture control and, like the commercial claims, can wirelessly connect to a Blackberry.

The 15th annual Webby Awards will announce its nominees in April and go live on June 13. And for the 14th time nobody will care.