Geekly Update July 5

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

The NY Times has two tests to help determine if you have tech overload and are losing your ability to focus. The first checks your distraction level and the second test is

Bloomberg News has reported that according to "people familiar with the plans," Verizon will begin selling the iPhone next January. But those people have declined to be named, and rumors about the iPhone coming (and not coming) to Verizon abound. Personally, I'm not holding my breath, and am actually more excited about the Android-based phones, such as the Droid X.

That was fast. Microsoft's Kin is canned. The phone that came out in April and targeted a young subscriber market, is no more. Extremely low sales and Verizon's smartphone pricing are credited for the flop. But at least you can still see Kin's online ads and TV commercials, which are still running.

Researchers at Harvard have created flat sheets of composite material that can fold themselves into shapes like toy boats after receiving an electric current. Based on origami, the "Programmable Matter By Folding" can achieve multiple shapes for multiple functions.

BP has ordered 32 of Kevin Costner's Ocean Therapy devices to help clean up the Gulf. The machine sits on a barge, sucks in the bad water, takes out the oil and sends the clean water back in the ocean. No 'Waterworld' jokes, please.

Mspot has completed a month of beta is now being offered as free and unlimited usage. Just upload your music into Mspot and start listening to it on your PC, Mac or cell phone immediately.

If you are on your computer constantly and often suffer from eye strain, headaches, blurred vision and neck and shoulder pain, then you may be a victim of Computer Vision Syndrome. Experts suggest that you use yellow tinted glasses or look away from your monitor for 20 seconds every 20 minutes.

A Reader/Acrobat patch was released by Adobe that should protect against 17 vulnerabilities. The hack could potentially allow code execution attacks if a user opened a rigged PDF file.

Need your eyes examined? Now there's an app for that. A series of tests includes a general vision exam, a check for color blindness and one for retina distortion.

For a mere $9.99 a month, Hulu Plus promises an entire season of current and past TV shows in HD at your convenience, access on iPhone, iPad, and soon other game systems and smartphones. Sign up now to be notified when you can finally ditch that expensive cable bill.