Geekly Update - 29 February 2012

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

"Domo arigato, nomo roboto!" The UK company SecurEnvoy found that 66% of 1,000 surveyed suffered from Nomophobia, the fear of being without a mobile phone. About 77% of those between the ages of 18 - 24 were most affected, with 70% being female. In case you're wondering, the term derives from the words "no mobile phone phobia."

"Making it so much easier to give Microsoft the finger." Rumor has it that Microsoft Office will soon be available to Apple iPad users with Word, Powerpoint and Excel.

Google plans to invest $100 million in YouTube to create 25 hours per day of original programming aimed at the 18 - 34 age demographic. That pretty much guarantees you'll never be able to catch up on your viewing.

Apple reports that almost 25 billion apps have been downloaded. The lucky user who gets that one will win a $10,000 App Store gift card. And he'll spend the rest of his miserable life trying to find to find 5,025 worthwhile apps.

"Simply Phabulous!" LG announced that its Optimus Vu will launch next week at its Mobile World Congress. The "phablet" combines the best of smartphone and tablet with a 5-inch display, fast 4G-LTE connectivity, HDMI interface, Snapdragon processor and Android 2.3 Gingerbread (upgradable to Ice Cream Sandwich.)

RIM released Blackberry PlayBook OS 2.0 for download. Included in the software update is email access, built-in calendar and contact application, however using its messenger still requires the use of a smartphone. "In other news, one of the remaining six Blackberry users just bought an iPhone..."

"Forgetting your password is now the goal." Google is in the process of developing a security system for Chrome browser users that would make passwords randomized, diversified and more secure. A small user interface element would be added to a sign-up page allowing the browser to generate and manage the password.

The inexpensive Kindle Fire has been unquestionably successful so it's no surprise that Barnes & Noble released another Nook. The 8GB Tablet has half the storage space of the 16GB version, but comes with a more affordable $199 price tag.

In addition to Xfinity TV and AnyPlay, Comcast is now offering Streampix, a $4.99 per month streaming service for current subscribers. Included in the at-home or mobile service are movies, TV shows and children's programming.

Tired of little Johnny texting your boss? Famigo's Sandbox lets parents control which apps kids can use, with automated filtering for ads, calling, texting, socializing and app purchasing.