Geekly Update - July 26 2010

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

Have you recently ended a relationship? Make your former spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend or roommate disappear from the Internet with Ex-Blocker. Available for Firefox and Chrome, the plug-in lets you enter first and last name, Twitter, Facebook and blog info, and it will block them from your sight.

In a survey conducted by ForeSee Results, Facebook ranked at the bottom of the heap when it comes to consumer appreciation. Frequent site changes, privacy concerns and advertising led to the low ranking. Oh Facebook, I wish I could quit you!

On the other hand, Facebook claims that they now have 500 million active users. Users spend an average of 500 billion minutes per month on the site and 50% of them log in daily.

The next Boy Scout Jamboree, to be held in Virginia next week, will allow the boys to purchase FreedomPay electronic wristbands for purchasing snacks, equipment and souvenirs.

The Motorola Droid X has only been out a few days, but Verizon Wireless has already issued an OTA update. Included is faster email loading, redesign of the weather widget, updated Bluetooth connection and a pre-loaded Kindle app. Free steak knives have to be coming soon...

As much as a personal comment on the iPhone's problems as an inexpensive cure-all, Antenna-aid takes care of the problem without compromising its looks. A six-pack of the iPhone "band-aids" is available for $4.99.

Apple has released an update that fixes a vulnerability in iTunes by improving bounds checking. You can download the patch on the latest iTunes 9.2.1 for Windows XP, Vista and 7.

Livescribe has a new pen that can hold 4GB (400 hours) of audio at a price of $169.95. In addition to the basic function of recording everything you hear, write and draw, apps will become available for the Echo, giving access to educational tools and entertainment. An 8GB version is also offered for $199.95.

Google's Nexus One is no more. If you were saving your pennies for one of these Android phones, you may want to refocus your quest on the Droid X, or the HTC EVO.

TomTom has been using Star Wars characters Darth Vader and C-3PO for their voice guidance systems via $12.95 downloads. Now Yoda they will be adding. Left, you must turn.