Geekly Update - 23 August 2011

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

T-Mobile says buy your next phone any of the 6000+ Family Dollar stores. The LG GS170 will be sold in a blister pack that has unlimited calls, texts and 100MB data for $30.00 and $50.00 per month. (Dish towel and ramen noodles not included.)

Facebook released its Messenger for iPhone and Android smartphones. They say it enables you to "send messages directly to your friends on their mobile phones." I guess the folks at Facebook haven't heard of text messages?

As if your typical mouse doesn't do enough, this USB Optical Mouse with 8GB memory features a 1.5" LCD digital photo frame. If only I had translucent hands, I could enjoy all my favorite photos while I work.

Google has purchased Motorola Mobility to be able to make another stab at the mobile market after their Nexus One fiasco. The company feels that this move will protect Android from "anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies."

Comcast is now offering Internet Essentials, a program designed for low income families at $9.95 monthly. Available to kids who qualify for free school lunches in 39 states, this is part of the deal the company made when it purchased NBC Universal and includes a possible purchase of a $149.99 computer with the service. Somehow, I feel like I'm paying for this, even though I'm not a Comcast customer.

Mozilla released Firefox 6 this week for Windows and Mac. While there are no major interface changes, it should be 20% faster and use less memory than previous versions. Some security issues were also addressed, so I recommend that Firefox users download ASAP. Oh, and expect Firefox 7 in about a month...

The latest Pew cellphone study finds that 13% of cell phone users pretend to be doing so to avoid interacting with real humans. About 83% of Americans now own one and the survey also revealed that 51% use them for seeking information, 40% find them for emergencies and 42% find them amusing when bored. The study did not say how many people read surveys when bored.

It's beginning to be all about the cloud as Amazon launched its AWS GovCloud that supposedly keeps US organizations secure. The Amazon Web Service is specifically designed for US government agencies and contractors with sensitive information. Nice, now the hackers don't have to look in so many places to get the juicy bits.

A Flurry study has found that the 5 top grossing titles in Apple's App Store are "freemium" games. In this model, users get the games for free, then pay for in-app "consumable items."

Sony reduced the price of its PlayStation 3 from $300 to $249. Considering that many gamers now play app games on their tablets/smartphones and the PS3 is purchased less often than an Xbox, this is probably a good move for the upcoming holiday season.

Can't contain yourself to 140 character Tweets? With Twitgram, users can send limitless messages, attach pictures and create groups to have private conversations. Kind of like email -- cool! :-)