Geekly Update January 19

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

Using some appropriately wry humor, Conan O'Brien has listed the Tonight Show for sale on Craigslist. Note that terms of the sale require an appearance by Barry Manilow.

Bad as your life is, there is always someone who has it worse -- consider the terrible devastation and suffering in Haiti. Did you know you can text HAITI to 90999, thereby giving the Red Cross a $10 donation? Your cell phone provider will bill you and forward the donation to the charity group.

MetroPCS is offering 4 new nationwide service plans to keep up with the "other guys." The Wireless for All plans are available at $40, $45, $50 and $60 per month and included are unlimited talk, text and Internet. The higher priced ones have IM, email access, GPS and international long distance. Nice price, but "these aren't the Droids you're looking for..."

Magic Jack is planning to expand and sell a version of the popular device for cell phones at the same price of $40.00 per year. Cellular carriers are complaining that the gadget will be using radio frequencies without paying for them. Expect legal fireworks...

In an effort to compete with airlines, beginning in March, Amtrak will be offering free WiFi on its Acela trains that run between Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C. Yes, there's the free wifi thing. But also, you don't have to go through the Naked Full-Body Scanner before getting on a train...

Updating a story from an earlier edition of the Geekly Update, Craig "Lazie" Lynch, a man who escaped from prison and communicated with his 40,000 fans on Facebook for months, has finally been caught and sent back to the slammer. Hopefully he can at least twitter from the computer in the prison library...

The 2010 North American International Auto Show began its two week run this week in Detroit. Aside from the usual foreign and domestic cars, the show features plenty of concept cars and "Electric Avenue," a display of 20 new electric, eco-friendly cars.

Canon introduced its new VIXIA HF line of HD camcorders. Features include a Touch Panel LCD with tracking, better image stabilization and HD-to-SD downconversion that allows video to be easily uploaded to the web or burned onto DVDs. Prices start at $679.

Google is considering discontinuing its service in China because of regular cyber attacks, including those directed at human rights groups. They will no longer censor their results and may soon shut down the Google.cn web search engine.

Twicketer is a new mobile beta service that allows users to schedule and sell tickets to events via smartphone. Useful for musicians, artists and budding entrepreneurs, one sends a link through Twitter, Facebook or other social network site, then an electronic ticket can be validated at the event.

After noticing his 3 year-old daughter's interest in the Internet, researcher Matt MacLaurin came up with a free programming language that enables kids to create their own games. Kodu runs on an Xbox using only the controller.