Geekly Update - 14 November 2012

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

"Just another misundertood artist..." A 15-year-old hacker known as Cosmo the God has been sentenced to six years of no Internet access. Even though Cosmo was found guilty of multiple felonies (credit card fraud, identity theft, bomb threats, and online impersonation) his lawyer whined that the sentence imposed on this "bright, gifted kid" was "like taking away Mozart’s piano."

When Sandy hit the East Coast last week, one robot continued bravely on in the Atlantic off the New Jersey coast and sent back statistics every ten minutes. Liquid Robotics' wave glider Mercury measured barometric pressure from 54.3 to over 946 mbars in winds of up to 70 knots.

"You don't tug on Superman's cape... you don't spit into the wind..." And you don't criticize the mayor of Ankara, Turkey on Twitter. Mayor Melih Gokcek is on a crusade to punish anyone with the audacity to insult him online, and has sued over 600 people for doing so.

Barnes & Noble has dropped the price of their Nook Tablet and Nook Color to $159.00 (for 8GB) and $139.00 respectively. The lower price should be available through the holiday season.

"It slices, it dices..." Nigel Ackland feels even more human, now that he has a bionic arm and hand. After losing his arm in an industrial accident, Nigel received the BeBionic3 hand, an amazing device that lets him crack an egg, use a computer mouse, drive with two hands, even pour himself a beer. Can making julienne fries be far behind?

"He's gonna get a phone call." Gizmodo's Brian Barrett spent a week with the iPad Mini and decided it's "not worth the trouble" and felt that it "was born in a fog of anxiety and resentment."

"An update from the Department of Meaningless Statistics..." Apple says that it sold 3 million WiFi iPads and minis in three days, although sales reflect both sizes. That is double the amount of the first weekend sales of the WiFi only, third generation model in March.

Angry Birds Star Wars has finally launched with 80 levels and a storyline that starts on Tattooine and continues on to Deathstar. Find yours for $2.99 at the iTunes store, Kindle Store and Rovio's site.

Qloo, the soon-to-be app for iPhone, iPad and Android makes recommendations for movies, music, restaurants and fashion based on "taste buds" (others who share your interests) and cross matches them. Qloo (pronounced "clue") is only available by invitation at this point, and there will be no ads because the company gets revenue from a portion of sales.

Following NetFlix's lead, Hulu Kids allows access to kids shows, commercial-free to Plus subscribers. Grouped by content, age or network, the service debuted only online and as a PS3 app.

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