Geekly Update - 24 August 2012

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

"Cloudy with an increasing chance of vulgarity..." One hundred new words and phrases from Merriam-Webster for 2012 are out. Cloud computing, bucket list, sexting and f-bomb are some that will be added to their Eleventh Edition Collegiate Dictionary this fall.

Barnes & Noble has lowered the price of its Nook Tablet to $179.00 for 8GB and $199.00 for 16GB, making it a bit more competitive with the Amazon Kindle and Google Nexus tablets. To go with that new Nook Tablet, head over to StoryBundle and score some DRM-free eBooks. Donate as much as you like and give it to a charity or the author, making this a fine combination of giving and allowing new authors a chance to get "ePublished."

"No Eye of Newt for you!" Starting in September, eBay will be banning the sale of magic potions, spells, curses, blessings, hexes and other such items on the popular auction site.

In its eternal quest to achieve complete internet dominance, Google will be acquiring the travel site Frommer's from John Wiley & Sons. Critics and competitors are already concerned that Google may favor its own properties in search results. In other news, Google favors its own properties in search results.

"NEWS FLASH: Kids like free music better than buying it!" A Nielsen Music 360 survey determined that while radio is still the way 48% of music lovers discover new tunes, 64% of teens prefer to see/hear them on YouTube. The report also states that while 36% of teenagers bought a CD in the past year, 51% prefer music downloads. File this under "Duh."

Last week, I told you about TuneIn's claims that more that 40 million have become subscribers. Perhaps in response to this and other musical competition, eMusic is offering a credit good for 35 songs if you sign up for a 14-day free trial, even if you don't subscribe to its $11.99 monthly service.

"Is this a reward or a punishment?" Purchase a Windows 7 PC now through January 31st 2013, and you get Windows 8 Pro for an extra $14.99.

What do you do if you don't have iPhone service in a remote area but have to find a Motel 6 for the night? Telenav offers the voice commanded Scout navigation app for offline iPhones. Kind of like Google Maps, only "iPhonier."

Merchant Customer Exchange is the latest attempt to combine smartphone usage with shopping and has already gained the favor of Target, Walmart, Best Buy and other retailers. Although still in the early stages, MCX plans to include customizable offers from retailers in their "mobile wallet" app. Of course, those without smartphones can opt for the good old "scan the number printed on your forehead" method.