Geekly Update - 31 May 2011

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

The good news: Sharp has an 85-inch LCD TV with Super Hi-Vision (the successor to HDTV) and a resolution of 7680x4320 pixels. The bad news: There won't be any Super Hi-Vision TV broadcasts until around 2020. Fail.

With a $399 investment, you can get yourself an Asus EEE Pad Transformer, a tablet with a 10" screen that runs Android. Add a $149 keyboard docking station and you get a mini-laptop.

It seems that Friskies, the cat food folks, have created some iPad and Android games that include Cat Fishing, Tasty Treasure Hunt and Party Mix-up. Even more disturbing than the thought of letting a cat scratch up a screen, who sits in a cubicle and thinks about designing apps like these in the first place?

Perhaps in an effort to keep up with the Joneses (Amazonians?), B&N will be releasing another version of their Nook eInk Reader at a price of $139.00 and a delivery date of June 10. The WiFi eReader has a black and white 6" touchscreen, 50% more contrast than the previous model and access to books, newspapers and magazines.

iPhone users will soon be able capture 360º videos with Kogeto's Dot. The optical attachment snaps on to the top, will set you back $98 for the privilege of a panoramic view of your hood and is currently up for grabs on Kickstarter.

T-Mobile's Facebook calling service has reinvented itself in colors designed not to look like Facebook blue. In shades of grey, white and magenta, the Bobsled app has the capability to initiate calls on Facebook or leave voice messages and will soon work with other voice and data services.

Just like PayPal, you can now make mobile payments via Google. Stored virtual versions of credit cards can be used in Android phones' Wallet to purchase and receive special offers.

A new iPhne app brings on the next generation of emoticons. With the $.99 Smurks, users employ a design tool to stretch and morph faces with hand gestures to create more personal emotions for email, texting or social networking sites.

Sony is now offering free identity theft protection for PlayStation Network users. AllClear ID Plus participants must have had an active account as of April 20 and need to enroll by June 28. I like to think my incessant mocking of Sony had something to do with this development, but the world may never know the truth.

Secrets of the Superbrands, a 3-part BBC drama, finds Alex Riley discovering that devotion to the Apple brand stimulates the same parts of the brain as faith. Well, it does take a fair amount of faith to believe that Macs are not susceptible to malware...