Geek Sugar

We may have Valentine's Day on the brain, but February also marks an important time of the year - Black History Month. In honor of Black History Month, let's take a look at some of our favorite geeks, both past and present. Everyone on this list has made vast contributions to furthering tech as we know it.

• Dwayne McDuffie - The recently passed McDuffie wrote comic books for both Marvel and DC (including Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, the Fantastic Four and the Justice League of America) before founding his own company, Milestone Media, which helped pioneer the use of multicultural characters as its heroes.
• Mark Dean - Nerd alert! Without Dean, there may not have been a PC - he holds three of IBM's original nine PC patents, leading the teams that developed the ISA bus and the first one-gigahertz chip.
• Mae Carol Jemison - It doesn't get much geekier than space travel; Jemison was the first black woman to travel in space.
• Philip Emeagwali - We can all blame Emeagwali for our Internet addiction. He developed the fastest supercomputer software in the world. His IQ is too high to be measured by conventional standards, and he's won a Gordon Bell Prize, which is like the Nobel Prize for computer science.

See the rest of the notables when you read more.

Being scholars of the empirical battle known as Star Wars, naturally our favorite commercial during last year's Super Bowl game was Volkswagen's now-classic Darth Vader commercial. The TV ad showed, through a geeky lens, that not just extreme sports or models are needed to sleekly highlight a product. Beyond the mini-Darth spot, last year's game had its share of geek-approved commercials. Were these your favorite, too?

Bridgestone Reply All - It's the office drone's biggest fear: Reply All. The cheeky ad for tires tapped right into the tech nightmare that keeps us up at night.

Coca-Cola Fantasy Epic - A fantasy war worthy of a Tolkien treatment, this commercial showed you can buy a Coke in any world to make the locals smile.

Check out the rest of our favorites last year after the jump.

It's not often that I crave a keyboard for my iPad 2, but this hot white leather Hatch & Co Skinny iPad 2 Case ($75) is hard to resist.

This ultrathin case comes with a Bluetooth touch keyboard (no buttons, just slim raised edges), smart keys to control volume and language, and a smart cover so your iPad goes to sleep when you're done working as to save the battery. The case's battery lasts up to two weeks on its own (six weeks on standby), so you won't have to worry about constantly finding an outlet.

It's a hot little number, and one that I could definitely see myself toting on work trips. Get a better look for yourself in the gallery!

• Standout accessories we're excited to see in the front rows during Fashion Week
• Would you drink a bacon shake?
• Prince Harry and David Beckham have a hot night out in London
• Celebs are loving Downton Abbey-esque updos
• Gwyneth Paltrow and more celebs who got active to support Planned Parenthood
• Start your party engines! How to throw a Cars-themed bash
• Easy tips to warm up the kitchen of your rental
• What's your take on Madonna's video with Nicki Minaj and M.I.A.?
• Video: Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's sweetest moments
• Can you cash in on Facebook's IPO?
• A workout that can help you get Madonna's arms
• Did your pets get in on the Super Bowl action?
• Geek love: 10 couples from sci-fi and comic books
• Make a typography-inspired Valentine's Day mantel

Valentine's Day is quickly approaching, and if you're headed out on a date you aren't 100 percent sure of, then download one of these apps for your iPhone, BlackBerry, Android phones to fake an emergency call, and get the heck outta there - STAT!