There were some iPhone 4G pre launch speculations about the features available on this amazing new gadget. But despite all the rumors, Apple managed to keep most of its ideas secret till the launch date.

The new iPhone 4G is so smart and energy efficient that as you lift it to your ears to accept a call, it automatically turns off the display to save power and to avoid unintentional dialing.

Apple is giving you some FaceTime!

Sci-fi freaks, nerds and your regular movie buffs aren’t the only people day dreaming about video calling.  With iPhone, video calling has become a reality. Yet with the new iPhone 4, anyone can now share stories, ideas and smiles across the world using FaceTime.

FaceTime is a revolutionary new software application which has been incorporated into the iPhone 4G. The best part is that you won’t need to register or have a username or password to access the iPhone Video Calling services. Just find your friends on the Contacts menu, and tap the FaceTime button. Simple, isn’t it? You can even transfer to video calling from voice calls without dropping the line. The service is perfectly seamless and so futuristic that you won’t believe how easy it is to use!

Crisp, Clear and… Wonderful!

The new Apple iPhone 4G has a 960×640 screen. The pixel density is a whopping 326 pixels per inch. You ask what is so amazing about that?

Well these pixels are tiny, really tiny! Each pixel is only 78 micrometers wide. This makes everything on your iPhone 4G screen look crisp and sharp. Though it is a small screen at 9.5 inch x 3.5 inch, the reading is quite easy.

The contrast ratio is also 4 times better than the previous iPhone at 800:1.

Retina Display: You used to see ‘em, but now you don’t!

It’s Apple’s new Retina Display Technology that makes everything on the iPhone 4G screen look so stunning! Whether you are reading from web pages, text books or even your emails, or just looking at pictures and watching movies, your iPhone 4G experience is bound to be spectacular!

The iPhone 4G Retina Display technology is so amazing because it displays some where around 320 pixels per inch. This is beyond the point at which any pixels are visible at all. So, nothing on your iPhone 4G display will pixelate, and all you get is good picture quality every time!

At its launch party, Apple’s CEO Jobs demonstrated through a video the strength of the iPhone display screen. The iPhone 4G Retina display glass is made of the same material used in high speed trains and helicopters. This means that your new iPhone screen is more scratch-resistant, long-lasting and tougher than ever!

Shortcomings:

Well, there aren’t many to tell you the truth! But here are those very little disadvantages that come with keeping an iPhone 4G.

Still no Flash support

Like previous iPhone models and of course the iPad, you won’t be able to interact with websites containing Flash elements. This can greatly restrict your browsing capabilities, especially if you are fan of flash animations, games and software. 

A Micro SIM Dilemma!

Always ahead of the pack, Steve Jobs has yet taken another step towards innovation. The iPhone 4G pre-launch rumors were correct when bloggers had anticipated a phone with Micro-SIM instead of a regular one. So just be ready to pester your network providers till you get a Micro-SIM for your new iPhone.

Oh Dear, look at the price!

Ok, so money might not be an object for iPhone buffs. But, man, the phone’s expensive!

At $299 for a 32 GB model, the 4th generation of iPhone is very pricey.

Plus, it doesn’t help that other mobile phone manufacturers offer the same functionality and features for a very reasonable price. For example the Nokia N8 is even better than the iPhone 4G in some ways and still costs less.

Availability Issues

If you aren’t living in USA or UK, you are sadly out of luck! The iPhone will start selling in France, Germany, Japan as well as the UK and USA in the first week of July.

By August and September, Apple hopes to take iPhone 4G international. So you have got a lot of waiting to do!

Friday was the release date for two Google phones, called Droids, with Verizon Wireless. Both phones run Google’s Android Operating System and both look like they’re the start of some exciting mobile options for Verizon customers. Both phones, the Droid Eris by HTC and the Droid by Motorola, are both phones similar looking to an iPhone with large touch screen interfaces.

This is not surprising, as Apple’s iPhone is likely going to be the main competition for this new deal between Verizon and Google. The initial buzz surrounding these new Droids is positive. They’re powerful phones, with plenty of hard drive space and a good camera. They feature

QWERTY keyboards, WiFi, Flash, all the standard social application abilities, and a growing app library called Android Market. Predictably, the phones all include a full suite of Google features, such as Latitude, Gmail, Search and YouTube and Picasa. The Droid is supposedly the world’s thinnest QWERTY slider.

Presumably these are the first in a line of phones released for Verizon that will feature Google’s Android OS. Their main rival would appear to be the iPhone, and their first strike appears to be a good one. Apple has a head start, something that is very helpful in terms of available apps for download, but with the huge amount of Verizon customers now potential customers, I’m sure the Android Market will be growing fast. Couple this with the better coverage area and reception Verizon offers compared to AT&T and Apple could be in trouble.

Still, these are the first Droids on the market. They are the version 1.0 of the Google and Verizon deal. Similar to the initial version of C3PO that Anakin Skywalker was working on in Episode One of Star Wars, these are the first thoughts of what a phone equipped with Google and Android can do. As they refine what a phone can, and should, do the Droids will be even more exciting. Much like generation one iPhones still can’t do SMS these Droids are the first step in a long process of development. There will likely be bugs, and quirks, and things that just don’t feel right. My initial thoughts on the bigger Droid were that it looked a little boxy, and not quite as sleek as it could be.

The main thing to note here is that Verizon customers never had an option for an iPhone, or a G1 Google phone. Whether it was contracts, perks, quality or loyalty keeping customers with Verizon, the choices were between a couple of blackberries and a handful of Windows Mobile smartphones. Few of those options compare to an iPhone, or these new Droids. Now Apple may be hurt by keeping the iPhone exclusively with AT&T, when millions more would’ve purchased one given the option with another carrier.

I launched Wave and prepared for the shock and awe.  I was neither shocked nor awed.  I saw a mix of instant messaging and e-mails.  It reminded me of my initial impression of Twitter.  I saw it, wasn’t excited and didn’t come back to it for a couple months.  So right now, I am in that period where I still don’t get it! 

Luckily, developers around the world are working with the Google Wave API and according to  a recent Business Week article by Lars Resmussen which stated  We’ll almost certainly build a storeSo many developers have asked us to build a marketplace¢â‚¬â€and we might do a revenue-sharing arrangement.  Resmussen is the Google Engineer behind Wave.   

So it appears, Google is following the iPhone model which is so successful for Apple by selling $200 million in applications every month.  This could blow the doors wide open for Google Wave users and dramatically increase the functionality of the tool and make some visionary application developers a little pocket cash.  This application is also not tied to a device like the iPhone app store, so the growth of the app store and marketplace could exceed Apple.  But there are no published details on anything just yet.

Applications that would excite me for Google Wave would be:

1.  Google Maps integration to see where everyone is or to be able to collaborate on a map with the other users.  Imagine working with someone on a trip using the same map and having the dialog simultaneously?
2. Google Voice integration so if you start a wave, you could include the message to be sent to someone’s phone number as a voicemail.
3. Facebook, Twitter and Gmail integration to be able to communicate with people I am already connected to via Google Wave.  That could be one of the most powerful additions.
4. Video.  Not just the ability to share web cam streams with each other for video conferences, but to be able to show a YouTube slip or other video and all watch and comment simultaneously.

Unfortunately, I am still unamazed and still in limbo.  Hopefully, like Twitter, I will see the light and become a devout user who can see the potential and have the application change my life.  Hopefully.

Live Sync is a wonderful tool if you need to share files with someone or if you want a hands off backup of important files.  Live Sync allows you to synchronize foldersbetween two computers (Windows XP and later and Mac OSX up to 10.5).  The computers can be on a local network or just connected to the internet.  This is a great way to share photos with relatives or files with other people.  I personally use it to synchronize a folder full of Keepers on my desktop with a folder on my backup server so if my computer ever crashed after I added the document but before the nightly backup could run, I still wouldn’t lose the files.

Security essentials:  http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/

Microsoft has realized the necessity of antivirus software on windows PCs and has stepped up with the free Security Essentials.  Security Essentials provides protection against viruses, spyware, rootkits and Trojans.    This is a huge step in the right direction by providing this service free of charge.  Keep in mind, that like all anti-viruses, they are typically only effective in telling you AFTER you’ve been infected, so practice safe surfing habits like not downloading from questionable sites, don’t open e-mail attachments, and make sure you are running as a limited user on your computer and not running as administrator. 

PowerToys http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/powertoys/Xppowertoys.mspx

Microsoft has a history of releasing non-supported PowerTools and Power Toys that their developers create because there is a need.  These are not publicized formally nor are they supported by Microsoft, but there are some gems.

Color Control Panel Applet:  Being an amateur photographer, being able to control how the computer displays colors and be able to control it from the screen all the way to the printer is very important.  This powertoy does just that in one centralized area.

SyncToy: If you have multiple copies of files or need a simple way to compare files, Sync Toy was built to help copy, move and synchronize various files like photos, docuemtns, etc.

RAW Image Thumbnailer Viewer:  As a photographer, I like to shoot my DSLR to capture RAW images.  The issue with RAW images is that many softwares can’t display the RAW files natively. This is where the RAW Image Thumbnailer Viewer comes in.  it allows you to see thumbnails, previews, EXIF data and even print RAW images you may not otherwise be able to see.

Alt-Tab Replacement:  If you multitask and have many files open at once, you may use the Alt-Tab key combination to cycle through the open windows.  The Alt-Tab Replacement PowerToy beefs up this ability and included page previews and the application icon.

Tweak UI:  By far, my favorite of the PowerToys.  TweakUI has been around for years allowing people to manipulate the user interface of Windows to better suit your needs.  Tweak UI is a must have for me when I set up a new computer. 

Image Resizer:  Why open up Photoshop or some other powerful image editing tool if all you need is to resize the image to e0mail or post somewhere?  With a right-click, you can resize one or many images.

Webcam Timershot:  This PowerToy allows you to set up a time lapse photo using your webcam.  Maybe you want to capture traffic or the weather moving in.  The Timershot tool is a simple way to take snapshots at specified intervals.

Here’s my list of Twitter Clients:

The Web interface : (http://www.twitter.com)  It would be a disservice to leave out the twitter.com site itself.  In fact, many people only use the web interface to update their tweets.  It’s simple, it’s fast, and it gets the job done.

TweetDeck:  (http://tweetdeck.com)  TweetDeck is the dark alpha dog of twitter clients.  It is feature rich with the ability to monitor multiple twitter accounts, Facebook,, and MySpace.  You can also quickly see replies, direct messages, topics, saved searches, and it has a built-in spam monitor. 

Twhirl:  (http://www.twhirl.org) The cheery twitter client, twhirl is a bright, well designed interface that allows you handle all your usual twiter needs, but also includes the ability to send photos to TwitPic, automatically shorten long URLs, and cross post to Jaiku. 

Twitterfeed: (http://www.twitterfeed.com)   Sign up and enter your blog RSS feed and Twitterfeed will publish your blog posts onto your twitterfeed.  You choose how often it published the new blog content. 

Tweetie: (http://www.atebits.com/tweetie-iphone/)  Strictly for iPhones, Macs and iPod Touches.  It has a super clean look and lets you post to multiple Twitter accounts.  It allows you to follow tweets, replies, direct messages and trends on Twitter.  It is super easy to set up and will help tweeting on your iPhone, Mac or iPod Touch easier and more powerful.

Twitterberry: (http://www.orangatame.com/products/twitterberry/)  one of the best twitter applications for the Blackberry platform.  Twitterberry separates the replies, direct messages and the posting tof tweets, but makes it very usable on the Blackberry.  Currently there is not integration to TwitPic within the application, but that would be a nice addition¢â‚¬â€(wink wink).

Ping.fm: (http://www.ping.fm/) What Ping.gm brings to the table is how it centralizes updates of Twitter, but also Facebook, Jaiku, Bebo, Friendster, and Myspace.  The interface is simple and straight forward.  I’ve experienced a bit of a lag on the cross-posting, but  the ease of use to update all those sites at once may be enough to lure you over to this site. 

HootSuite: (http://hootsuite.com/) Tweetdeck can tend to be a bet wide especially on netbooks, but that’s where HootSuite comes in.  It allows you to create custom columns to store searches so you can keep an eye on people talking about your store or brand name.  HootSuite was one of the first to incorporate multiple twitter accounts as well. 

Seesmic: (http://seesmic.com/) Available in a web application, a desktop application and rumor has it, a mobile application soon.  Seesmic is one of the dominant twitter clients and it’s easy to see why.  They are continually pushing the envelope of features including a single column interface that resembles the familiar e-mail interface.  They also allow an unlimited number of columns to be added, a simple way to watch search terms, direct messages, and @ replies.  They included all the follow stats and complete profile view of your followers.  Not bad for a company that started as a vlogging site.  Seesmic is making tweeting on any platform easier and more intuitive.

Destroy Twitter: (https://destroytwitter.com/) An unusual name for an application, but in a sea of weird twitter clients, it needs to be this odd to stand out.  After all, it would be a little different if you were building an application for your Mac called Kill Apple.  I am digressing.  Destroy Twitter is eerily similar to Tweetdeck (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?)  What appears to be Destroy Twitter’s strong suit is configuration.  You can choose when to ping twitter, font size, column size and a plethora of other settings to make your tweeting more enjoyable

Every person has different likes and dislikes, but if I were to recommend three to look into, they would be Tweetdeck, Seesmic, and HootSuite for their attention to detail, ease of use and over all usefulness in daily tweeting.  No go forth and tweet!

1.  Turn your monitor into a strobe light.  http://www.bobshowto.com/fun/strobe-light.htm
   Maybe it’s a laptop, or a big projector, get a great spooky effect in your house with just your monitor and this web site.  This would be perfect for a haunted data center for the co-workers to walk through!
2. Decorate your workstation for the spooky season with this USB powered decoration set. http://www.thisnext.com/item/C5EB1B00/BC37BE2A/USB-Halloween-Decoration-Kit
   Complete with seasonal mouse pad, lights to hang on the monitor or possibly your collection of action figures in your cubicle. 
3. Build your own talking skull. http://www.kickthefog.com/talking_skull.htm Everything you need to build your own creepy talking skull.  This is an involved build, but the result is one that will make all your geeky friends drool with jealousy. 
4. Create your own Jack o Lantern carving pattern. http://www.canadianliving.com/crafts/other_crafts/digital_crafts_jack_o_lantern_templates.php  That’s right.  Want to carve Tux or maybe a portrait of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates?  Follow these instructions and you will have a 100% original pumpkin on your porch this season! Here are a few of the geekier Jack-o-lanterns I’ve seen decorating the porches of probable geeks.

 5.  Use a voice changer.  http://www.screamingbee.com/product/download.aspx Sure there are great toy versions of this technology, but here’s a free piece of software that will morph your voice into something a little creepier! 

6.  Dress up like Master Chief from Halo.  http://halloweenaddict.com/2009/08/halo-master-chief-costume.html Who wouldn’t want to be master Chief from Halo?  Hop on your Warthog, although it does looks more like a Puma and go blast some enemies.  Afterwards, kick back and watch a little Red Vs. Blue.

7.  Dress up as Pixels.  Get a bunch of square boxes and spray paint them different colors.  Walk next to each other all night.  Try to look Jaggy.

8. Get answers from the Beyond on the internet.  http://www.witchboard.com/online-witchboard/Online Ouija-like board for your amusement and Halloween fun!  Ask questions like What is the next Apple Announcement and see what the digital spirits have to say.  Hopefully it won’t be a Null Pointer Exception.

9.  Online Trick or Treating?  http://doorlesschambers.com organizes online trick or treating for virtual Disney-themed goodies every year from October 25 through the 31^st.  It may not fill up your pillowcase, but it might be just what you need while you are stuck answering tech support phone calls on October 31^st.

10.  Make your own real Spiderman web slinger. http://www.instructables.com/id/Creepy_Cobweb_Shooter/?contestId=V9T8TI4FLROLS8R  Instructables does it again with a great video and set of instructions on creating a webslinger.  Sure you need an air compressor, but what Spiderman fan didn’t want their own web shooter? 

11.  EVERYTHING Halloween Online.  http://www.halloween-online.com/  Buy a prop coffin, check out some ghoulish recipes ( I like the Skull Jell-O mold), find some costume ideas, check out some Halloween games to play with your friends, and even Halloween party planning ideas and suggestions.  This site has everything you need for a fun and safe Halloween.

Since then, television has gone crazy with specialty channels, 24 hour cartoons, 24 hours sports, 24 hour extreme salad shooting, etc.  Cable companies have been able to tier packages to combine different channels and make a little money.  OK, a LOT of money.

People recorded their shows on VCRs and now DVRs so they can watch them later.  We began watching TV on our terms, not based on what the TV execs thought was the best timing for the program.  We could just schedule a recording of the program, but that is almost becoming a bit more work than some folks want.  What if all the programs were available all the time.  Sort of like a 24-hour TV channel?  That’s where the internet comes in.

The big networks (and some of the smaller ones too) have joined up and began placing their past shows online at sites like TV.com (http://www.tv.com) , Hulu (http://www.hulu.com), and Joost (http://www.joost.com). Here you can search for the shows and individual episodes you desire to watch.  Miss that last episode of Grey’s Anatomy?  No problem!  Don’t have cable at all, but need to feed your Family Guy addiction?  There you are.  TV on the internet.  As these sites grow, you will start to see more and more integration between the computer and your TV.  Hulu already offers a free application (Hulu Desktop) to give you a more TV-friendly experience.

At home, you could connect HDMI or DVI from your computer to your TV or, go a little more old school with an S-Video cable from a laptop and a cable with RCA on one end and a plug for the earphone jack on the other to port sound to your TV.  Put a wireless keyboard and mouse on it and set your TV input to the right source and you will be watching the internet on the original Boob tube.

iTunes is another possibility.  This way you can purchase episodes for $1.99 each or season passes to your favorite series and then watch them on the go via your iPod or iPhone.  This is a super simple way to watch your shows without being tethered by a cable to anything.  Plus you can always hook your iPod up to your TV to watch the shows that way.  Apple does sell a cord to do that.

Lastly, I give you the Slingbox.  This is a nifty little contraption that hooks up in your house, connects to your existing cable, cable box and the network via Ethernet and allows you to log in and control your cable box over the internet.  Watch shows, flip channels, etc.  The Sling website even has some shows streaming from their site.  This is the ultimate tool for a road warrior who longs to watch their familiar local news every night, or for that downtime in a hotel and you can watch shows you’ve already recorded on your cable-provider DVR.

What this all boils down to is that we now have even more options when it comes to What should we watch, honey?  Hopefully this increasingly level of access to programming will mean an increasing level of quality content provided by the networks.  Still all of these options may still hear the phrase uttered, There’s nothing on!, but hopefully it will be uttered less often.

1. Bejeweled Blitz

Bejeweled Blitz may be the most addictive game on Facebook. It’s a common internet game that you’ve probably played before. You get one minute to match up three of the same kind of jewel in a row to clear them for points, getting bonuses for speed and for four or five gems in a row. As is standard for Facebook apps, it keeps a high score list of all your friends and sends you notifications when someone tops your score. The most addicting part of this is that it’s only a minute to play. It takes almost no time, until you repeat to yourself It’s just one more minute 30 times and before you know it you’ve been playing for an hour. The high scores reset every Tuesday morning so even if you’ve set a comfortable score and have stopped playing, as soon as you see your friends setting new scores, you’ll be right back at it.

2. Mafia Wars

Mafia Wars is a popular game, and it’s title basically tells you what it is. You create a mobster and have a long list of jobs you can do as well as fight other mobsters. As you gain levels you can do more complex jobs, put hits on people, or expand your empire to Cuba. Your mob is basically your Facebook friends that also play Mafia Wars, and like every other app, it publishes to your news feed to alert your friends you need help with a mission, or gain a level, or reach a new kill total. The game is less demanding than others because you have energy and strength meters that can really only be refilled over time. You likely won’t be able to sit there and play it non-stop for an hour, and can have fun just checking in occasionally and doing jobs with your refreshed energy. The game will continually exploit peer pressure to get you to return. It’ll send you notifications whenever one of your mob reaches a milestone that you haven’t, and will offer little rewards for you to claim when your character is used in a fight by one of your friends.

3. Farmville

Farmville by the makers of Mafia Wars is another addicting game. It’s a guilty pleasure type of game though, as many that play it feel ashamed that they do so. It’s also one of the more annoying games for your friends, because it publishes updates and requests to your wall more often than most. The game itself is very simple; you run a farm. You need to do nothing more complicated than click. You set up the ground, pick crops to grow, plant trees and buy animals. Then after a set amount of time you can sell your crops or harvest milk or apples to gain money which you can then use to turn around and buy more. Your friends become your neighbors, and after a while you can make your farm bigger. It almost becomes a decorating game of arranging your farm and trees and animals and fences to look nice. It’s one of the few applications with music playing. You’ll find the music becomes both irritating and catchy as you are playing.

4.  MindJolt Games

MindJolt Games is a collection of hundreds of different games. Most of them are quick and easy games, and some of them aren’t even very good. Most of them are simple, fun, and addicting. They are always adding more games as well, and they’re all simple enough to be intriguing without having to learn a lot of rules. Today I played Smiley Collapse, a game where you have a smiley that you have to navigate downwards past rising platforms. There are strategy games and card games and solitaire games and pretty much anything you can think of. It keeps track of all the high scores of your friends so you can follow them to their best games and try to beat them. There are reflex games like SplodeyMan where you simply have to hit the space as fast as possible upon command. While you are in the application, it’s always suggesting five or six different games for you to play on the sidebar, and it’s very easy to get drawn in to check out another game that sounds interesting.

5. Farkle

Farkle is a dice game. In each of 10 rounds you roll six dice and try to make combinations that score points. Three of the same number score points, as do one of each number and three pairs of numbers. A one or a five can score points on its own. After you pick up the dice to score, you have the option of holding your score for that round or rolling the remaining dice. If at any time there is no scoring opportunities, you get a Farkle and don’t score any points for that round. The game is mostly luck, but there is just enough decision in when to hold and when to roll that keeps you coming back to try to beat your, or your friend’s, high score.

What is more scarce today however than the world’s diminishing oil reserves… is man’s attention.

So in case nobody formally informed you, welcome to the Attention Economy, where value is based on drawing attention to oneself. To understand this better, let’s contrast the Attention Economy to that of other economy: the wallet economy. In the wallet economy, instead of competing for a share of people’s attention, you’re seeking a percentage of their disposable income. Capital One built a whole advertising campaign around the value of not only carrying hard currency, but the clout that comes from credit cards… hence, the “what’s in your wallet?” ad nauseum TV ads.

The term Attention Economy was invented by the first introduced by  Michael Goldhaber, who wrote a remarkably prescient piece in December 1997 in which he described a new arrangement in which the “flow of attention” metaphorically replaced money as the currency of the Internet. A book on this topic has since been written by Thomas H. Davenport and John C. Beck, with some of the basic principles laid down by Goldhaber.

In the Attention Economy, your value is no longer determined by your net worth… but more importantly…by your NET worth. Since the Internet encompassed our lives, think about how inexpensive it is for an individual or a corporation to disseminate their message to the masses. The paradigm has shifted. All of sudden talk is cheap, and it’s listening that garners significant value. Man needs interaction to determine his or her self worth. And no fat wallet is going to make us feel better about ourselves unless it is coupled with a little ‘attention currency.’

If this is a hard concept to swallow, just think about a world where you receive no acknowledgment from your fellow man. As Goldhaber puts it: “Living without feedback, even in the lap of luxury, would be for all (but a few recluses) barely living at all.” And that statement was made over ten years ago when the Internet was barely coming out of its digital womb. So how much cheaper is it to get your word out today and why is it so much harder to be heard. Because of the information explosion online, we no longer read – we skim. The news that lasted days now becomes old news in just a few hours.

Attention Economics is primarily concerned in getting consumers to consume advertising. Traditional media advertisers retained a model that follows consumers through a linear process called AIDA – Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. Attention is therefore the primary first step in the process of converting non-consumers. Since the cost to channel advertising to consumers is now sufficiently low and more ads can be transmitted to a consumer than the consumer can process, our attention becomes the scarce commodity to be allocated.

When information is abundant, the false positives are very costly and basically deal breakers. Web-surfers happily leave web sites, knowing they have plenty of alternatives. Unfortunately, this becomes a lose-lose situation, because if potential customers are not satisfied then sellers lose revenue. The idea behind the Attention Economy is to create a marketplace where sellers make buyers happy by providing them with relevant information.

It is important to realize that the key ingredient in the attention game is relevancy. As long as consumers see relevant content, they are going to keep coming back – creating more opportunities for sellers to sell.  Statistics show that the longer a user stays on a web site absorbing content, the greater the odds they will be swayed by one’s brand message or sale of product.

Twitter with its medieval-like armies of “followers and followed” is a fitting example of how the Attention Economy works. The value of one’s fiefdom on Twitter is based on how many followers we have and thus how many people read our words. In essence we grow our power base as digital feudal lords by winning the attention of a huge army of followers. In place of food and shelter provided in the days of feudalism, we exchange information for one’s loyalty.

To put this in perspective, think about how many articles have been written about the “monetization” of Twitter, and the reluctance of the Twitter brass to roll out a business model just yet. I believe one of the reasons for this hesitation is based on the current state of Twitter. Since attention is the valuable commodity Twitter can offer its users, its enrollment growth has exploded exponentially. And the fiefdom of the Twitterverse continues to be a marketplace for the attention-deprived to thrive and connect.

According to Goldhaber, “if money becomes less reliable or less useful to prop up our standard of living, we would could be heading fast for a pure Attention Economy, whereby goods and services would flow directly to those who have attention from those who can provide the goods and services.”

While all of this is very abstract, how does this work in the real world? Well

Harmonize Application

some companies have been hard at work trying to hit the mark. Goldhaber offers up Apple and Google as two role models that have captured our imagination for years. But lesser known is the Yamaha Corporation of America, Band & Orchestral Division that recently announced the launch of a new Facebook application called “Harmonize.” Here you have a platform that provides instrumentalists with the ability to connect with other artists worldwide in addition to presenting interactive advice from Yamaha artists, technique tips and performance opportunities.

Developed in a collaborative effort with R2Integrated, a leading creative digital marketing firm, CEO Matt Goddard noted that the goal of this application was predicated on “developing a tool that was not a time taker? The ability to share wisdom and tips with other artists quickly using the efficiency of the web was targeted as a time saver.”

So in an attention-deprived milieu, Harmonize was not trying to change behavior but rather provide another set of tools for an already existing behavior. According to Goddard, “our goals were long term.  Not to try and create a one-and-done viral campaign, but for Harmonize to be the foundation for many customer related engagement activities, over the long-haul.”

Goddard believes, “the only way to overcome any distraction in our Attention Economy is to find the things that matter to your customers and get that piece right.  Tools will come and go, mobile will soon take over and then something else. Getting people’s attention is going to be harder and harder over time.”

In a recent NY Magazine article,”In Defense of Distraction,” Sam Anderson notes that “Focus is a paradox¢â‚¬â€it has distraction built into it. The two are symbiotic; they’re the systole and diastole of consciousness. Attention comes from the Latin to stretch out or reach toward, distraction from to pull apart. We need both. In their extreme forms, focus and attention may even circle back around and bleed into one other.”

David Meyer, one of the world’s reigning experts on multitasking, says there’s a subset of Buddhists who believe that the most advanced monks become essentially world-class multi-taskers ¢â‚¬â€that all those years of meditation might actually speed up their mental processes enough to handle the kind of information overload the rest of us find crippling.

Anderson also underscored this point by noting that, “we recently elected the first-ever BlackBerry president, able to flit between sixteen national crises while focusing at a world-class level.”

According Goldhaber, Obama, in addition to managing the nation’s financial economy is also a master at managing the Attention Economy. “His whole campaign was strategic, where it netted him money, volunteers, and much loyalty. “There’s No One As Irish As Barack O’Bama” is a humorous folk song written in 2008 by the Corrigan Brothers. “The adulatory quality of this video, coming from Ireland, made Obama’s fan base seem that much larger, which also helped expand audience loyalty further, and win new fans for Obama domestically and internationally,” noted Goldhaber.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EADUQWKoVek[/youtube]

Similar to the Buddhist monks ability to multi-task, it appears that we are evolving as the Attention Economy matures. The next generation will have an easier time adapting to the ebb and flow of this phenomenon. Our kids will be able to juggle multi-levels of challenges while also conducting mindful web-surfing, dedicated Twittering and perhaps as Anderson sees it, the ability to live in syn ch with a world that offers a “zen-like state of focused distraction.”

Well, if you’ve made it to the end of this article, I give you props for providing me your undivided attention. Now if I can impose on you for comments and feedback, I promise I will give it my utmost attention as well. Also I welcome you to follow me on Twitter, where I run my own little fiefdom of presently 3334 followers!

In case you haven’t heard, Tony Hawk is releasing yet another video game based on his extreme skateboarding franchise. I’ve played a few of them, and found them very much the same. This new one, simply known as Ride, comes with a very unique accessory.

The board peripheral is motion-controlled, which would make it a more advanced version of the WiiFit Balance board. There may not be any wheels on this board, but the player can manipulate it as if it was a real skateboard. More advanced stunts, such jumping and grabbing the board, are accomplished by kneeling and touching the buttons on the side.

Tony Hawk: Ride is planned to be released later this year for the Xbox 360, Ninetndo Wii, and Playstation 3. There is supposed plans that the board peripheral will be used for other games like snowboarding and surfing.

This seems to be a trend among video game peripherals to be used for more than one game. For example, the WiiFit Balance Board can be used with other games where balance is important, and has recently been incorporated in the Wii version of Punch-Out. So not only can the player use the Wiimote and Nunchuk like boxing gloves like in WiiSports, but this new version of Punch-Out allows the gamer a chance to dodge blows by shifting weight on the WiiFit board.

Perhaps we are seeing a dawn of a new age of video games where the accessory is a heavy part of the action. After all, Guitar Hero and Rock Band were simply complex controllers that were in need of a game, and they have swept the nation. The soon-to-be released DJ Hero will have a turntable peripheral that could be just as popular.

Sadly, this was not the fate for Steel Battalion. This was an X-box game which required an advanced peripheral with two control sticks and forty buttons. Granted, it completely immersed a gamer into playing a vertical tank, but sales of units were quite limited due to its complexity. The high price didn’t help it, either.

I would like to suggest other games that would come out, though it would require a huge peripheral.

Starbucks Barista: The game comes with a very complex controller that can make virtual coffee, espresso, lattes, in many forms. Players must compete as the morning rush comes in, and points are given as they meet all the orders exactly.

Folk Hero: Imagine that you are mythical American heroes Paul Bunyan, John Henry, or Johnny Appleseed. It is easy with the axe, hammer, and seedbag peripherals.

Crazy Climber 2000: I realize that we are long past the year 2000, but an update of the old-school Crazy Climber video game is long overdue. Of course, this version requires the user have their own climbing wall and a Virtual Boy. Now the question you have to ask yourself is: which is harder to obtain?

Rifle Squad: This game is made for all the cadets at the academy that have to do those rifle drills like at the beginning of A Few Good Men. Some of you might not remember that film, and I suppose it would not help to mention the film Stripes. Maybe you should catch the end of the Hillary Duff classic Cadet Kelly. Anyway, the motion-controlled rifle peripheral along with the game will make you feel like you are a part of the spinning and stepping rifle team.

I can’t really think of any more of peripheral-based games right now, but I am certain that the video game developers will. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if similar ideas are under development.

So does this age of peripherals do to the video game industry? It will encourage more gamers to get off the couch, and immerse themselves in the game. In short, it is preparing us for virtual reality gaming.

Youtube’s user generated content may be great for sharing viral videos, but it’s size doesn’t really stack up when it comes to ad revenue. Hulu, despite being only a fraction of the size of Youtube, is expected to bring in over half of the ad dollars that Youtube expects. That’s 120 million for Hulu, and only 200 million for Youtube, which is highly disproportionate.

The correlation between desirable content and ad revenue generated is the reason that Disney has discreetly bought up 30% of Hulu for a sum that has not been publicly named. Disney currently operates through its ABC portal, but an alliance with Hulu will give the company a far broader audience base. Hulu also benefits quite a bit in this arrangement, as it will now have free access to popular primetime shows like “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives.” Disney shares the board with NBC and Universal, and holds three seats.

This model of video aggregation is proving to be even more valid, considering that this is the first big Media buy in recent memory. Questions remain, however, as to whether Hulu can continue to expand at the current rate from a user standpoint.

Hulu’s recent success may be due to a series of popular commercials starring celebrities such as Alec Baldwin, in which Hulu execs are supposedly aliens. These moderately amusing commercials have heightened awareness of the site, and Disney’s new marketing dollars can only help increase brand awareness.

With Hulu arising as a legitimate market share of TV audiences, it is interesting to see how competing news and TV agencies will keep up. As broadcasting agencies fight to remain relevant in the internet boom, how they develop their online presence and partnerships will be critical.

Some sites are resisting the pull of Hulu. For example, CBS, which uses its own portal TV.com. Apple is also resisting free online videos, in favor of paid rather than ad based models. Youtube has shown that its content does not guarantee ad dollars, so it will also be interesting to see how it copes with a lack of access to prime-time shows.

SketchBox

SketchBox is a multifunctional sticky notes manager for your Mac Desktop. Unlike other Sticky notes it doesn’t limit itself to just writing text but you can even draw and set individual reminders for each sticky to use them as visual alarm clock.

SketchBox Sticky notes consists of three layers: The drawing canvas, a little text editor and an intuitive alarm timer that combines the best of analog and digital clocks. While editing text you can still see your drawing in the semitransparent background and vice-versa.

Anxiety

Anxiety is an excellentt To-do list application for Mac OS X Leopard that synchronizes with iCal and Mail. It is extremely lightweight and aims to provide a streamlined, easily accessible interface to add and check off your tasks, while remaining poised to melt into the background at a moments notice.

Anxiety’s sleek interface provides just what you need to jot your tasks down, without burdening you with cumbersome large windows. With a tiny desktop footprint and clean minimalist aesthetics, the application is simultaneously small, beautiful and effective.

Camouflage

Camouflage is a tool that allows you to hide all icons behind the wallpaper. If you were looking for Camouflage you probably have a messy desktop, so you should put this window in list-view to have a much better overview over the tons of files

Key features include

• Perfect system-integration: change your wallpaper and Camouflage will show the change instantly.
• Works with multiple monitors: attach new monitors and the icons will instantly be hidden.
• Drag & drop: drag files on the desktop and they will be copied onto your real desktop.
• Finder integration: click the desktop and Finder will be activated and opens or selects a separate desktop window. (You can disable this with the Popup Desktop option of the menu. To still open a window, press the option-key while clicking the desktop, or by double-clicking on the desktop)
• Support for Path Finder
• Ability to show and hide the icons
• Works with desktop managers
• Ability to ‘click through’ Camouflage to get the normal Desktop-Context menu

iClockr

iClockr is a simple tool to show you a simple way to track your time. The concept of iClockr is based on 3 columns including

Projects: A project is a bundle of tasks
Tasks: A tasks is a bundle of durations
Durations: A duration is the smallest brick to calculate your total time.

iClockr is a great tool to Track Timeline for Different Tasks and Projects.

Appointments

Appointments is an application designed to keep record of customers, contact persons and important events related to them. Information is collected in a structured way: there are separate dictionaries with customers data, contact persons, appointment managers etc. which are used to create appointments record. The application provides convenient user interface tools for sorting and filtering stored data.

Key features include

• Document based architecture
• File based datastore and
• Multiuser access

Paparazzi!

To take screenshots of the entire page I personally use Fireshot. It is like the perfect add-on for Firefox that also provides editing tool. On the other hand Mac users like to take advantage of a small utility known as Paparazzi.

You can grab a free copy of Paparazzi from here.

iStat Pro

iStat pro is a highly configurable widget that lets you monitor every aspect of your Mac, including CPU, memory, disks, network, battery, temperatures, fans, load & uptime and processes.

It even allows you to filter out specific disks, network interfaces, or fan sensors, if you’d like.

AppFresh

AppFresh is responsible to keep all your applications,widgets, preference panes and application plugins installed on your Mac up-to-date. AppFresh works by checking the excellent osx.iusethis.com for new versions and lets you download and install available updates easily.

AppFresh provides a central place to control the software updates available to your Mac, integrating most popular and most common update checking technologies such as Apple Software Update, Sparkle, Microsoft AutoUpdate, Adobe Updater, osx.iusethis.com and more.

TextWrangler

TextWrangler is the powerful general purpose text editor, and Unix and server administrator’s tool. You can use this text editor for a wide variety of tasks from cleaning up data, to editing configuration files on your Mac or server, to writing HTML or coding.

Key features include

• Powerful single and multi-file search & replace
• Flexible ‘grep’ style pattern-based search and replace based on PCRE (Perl-Compatible Regular Expression)
• Sort Lines and Process Duplicate Lines plug-ins offer grep pattern support for sorting, extracting, and handling text
• Find Differences to compare two versions of a text file and merge the differences
• Support for a wide variety of BBEdit plug-ins

The Unarchiver

The Unarchiver is a much more capable replacement for “BOMArchiveHelper.app”, the built-in archive unpacker program in Mac OS X. The Unarchiver is designed to handle many more formats than BOMArchiveHelper, and to better fit in with the design of the Finder.

It can also handle filenames in foreign character sets, created with non-English versions of other operating systems. I personally find it useful for opening Japanese archives, but it should handle many other languages just as well.

These applications can definitely come in handy in everyday life routine.

Recently I’ve come across something that is way more useful than I thought it would be. A free 24-in-one installer pack that allows you to install almost all the necessary applicatons a new PC should have.

Smart Installer Pack is a combination of tools such as browsers, messengers, torrents and Pc cleaners. The package includes Yahoo Messenger, Yahoo Widgets, Skype, Google Earth, Winamp, Firefox, Bittorent, Gmail Notifier, Rocket Dock, Codecs Pack, Adobe Flash Player,Apple QuickTime, SunJava, Adobe Reader, WinRar, Open Office, Daemon Tools, ThunderBird, Gimp, Picasa, Avira Antivirus, Google Chrome, CCleaner and KmPlayer.

The best feature includes quick installation of each program. To get started all you have to do is download Smart Installer Pack, click on the icon of the application you want to install and it will be done within a matter of seconds.

Key features of Smart Installer Pack includes

• Easy, intuitive user interface design
• Contains usual start-up software
• Greatly improves the time needed to install that software, eliminating some of the unnecessary searching, downloading, etc
• All free
• The installer comes packed in a convenient executable file
• You can choose which software you want to install using suggestive icons
• The application is made as small as possible

You can grab a free copy of Smart Installer Pack from the official website.

Sharp looking units packing less power than traditional Windows desktops are now dominating the market formerly ruled by Apple’s $1,200 iMac, but at a significantly lower price. They’re part of the new generation of computers called Nettops, an offshoot of Netbooks. Nettops are usually powered by Atom processors that run either Windows XP or Linux.  Like Netbooks for the desktop category, they combine an all-in-one factor with a smaller screen than most desktops (between 15 and 19 inches).

John Jacobs, director of notebook market research for DisplaySearch, said, “A year ago I would have said Netbooks are not going to cannibalize the notebook market. Then the economy went kablooey”. Since the economy has dropped, many who were searching for a notebook in the price range of $800 have decided to try the Netbook route that is the much more affordable price range of $400.

Jacobs added, “I think we’ll see something like that for Nettops,” he said. “Either for retirees or younger folks who don’t need the portability of a notebook, and just need something to get on the Internet and do basic computing. Nettops, and all-in-ones will be very attractive devices, and we expect to see a lot of retailers who have stayed out of it will jump into it.”

DisplaySearch estimates that the all-in-one category will rise to more than 6 million units in 2009 and by 2010 to well over 7 million units. That’s close to an 80% market spike in shipments that was completely unseen at the end of 2008.

Boost to a dragging category

Nettops ascent appears to be the most exciting thing to occur to the desktop PC market in quite some time. In much the same way this poor economy has given rise to Netbooks, industry watchers expect  buyers to have the same attraction to Nettops.

Richard Shim, a PC analyst with IDC, says, “Right now, nothing is going to stem the losses in terms of shipment decline that the desktop PC category is experiencing, especially with the (current) economy. But,” he adds, “Nettops and lower-cost all-in-ones will help to maintain some of the market share for desktops. It’s a bright spot in the market.”

All-in-ones grabbed the public’s attention over a year ago when Dell, Gateway, and HP introduced sharp-looking desktop units such as the Gateway One and the Dell XPS. HP went a step further and introduced a machine with a touch-screen interface, and an accompanying higher price tag, of course.

Then riding on the success of its Eee PC Netbook, Asus introduced the Eee Top, which was then followed up by MSI’s Netbook the WindTop. Dell then countered by dropping its higher priced XPS One for the Studio One 19. It didn’t come equipped with an Atom processor, but did have a significantly lower price. Since HP’s addition all of the previously mentioned machines have come with either a touch screen or tablet-like stylus input.

DisplaySearch has calculated that all-in-one Nettops cost manufactures around $399 to build. Add in the retailer’s take and the price tag rises, but not a great deal. These machines usually sell for between $450 and $800. If all you are looking for is a computer for the office or living room to surf the Internet, play music and movies, or for the kids to use for their homework, these machines are an attractive buy. And for users who don’t want Windows Vista or require something before Windows 7, Nettops are the only computers in the desktop category that come equipped with Windows XP.

Almost custom made for the discount retailers

Market data for the all-in-one Nettops isn’t really available in the U.S.as of yet. Japan is still the only market where Nettops have been widely available for the last year.

It is believed Nettops will thrive in the non-traditional electronics retailers, once they become available, in the same way Netbooks have. Since they come stocked essentially ready to straight out of the box, Nettops seem almost custom made for discount retailers like Costco, Wal-Mart and Target. And the price is low too. Wal-Mart currently carries an Averatec Nettop and Target sells the Eee Top from Asus.

But Nettops won’t be relegated to the discount retailers alone. There will probably be some shelf space available from retailers like Best Buy that usually steers clear of low-margin, niche products.

Retailers weren’t willing to take much of a chance on Netbooks, but Jacobs says, they’ve changed their tune now that there is a nice healthy accessory market for them”. He also points out that retailers would probably prefer to sell something for $400 than not making a sale at all. We can assume the same will be true for Nettops.

The tech world is currently dislocated. The gaming market is fragmented and the PC concept seems to have no clear direction or leader. Developers and users want a return back to a simpler time where one device could be used for multiple functions instead of a collection of new, complicated devices that are incompatible with everything else.

One possible solution to gaming’s problems, Onlive, was announced last month. Onlive would utilize a private cloud to link up and deliver content, mostly video games. But as for everything else, it’s currently up for grabs between Microsoft and Google and computing’s next big move, called “3rd Rebirth.”

The idea of a small device that could very well handle a selection of single tasks was introduced by iPhone. Apple is rumored to be in the netbook game, and HP is supposedly in development with an Android powered netbook. The system composed of a small, inexpensive device connected with a back-end computing service could be coming to fruition with the second half of the system being handled by a private cloud.

VMware (NYSE: VMW), EMC (NYSE: EMC) and Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) are companies that are currently showcasing the private cloud concept. The private cloud concept has the cost advantages of cloud computing with the addition of being much more secure, reliable and contained.

The next generation of computing may likely be defined by the operating systems war that will touch off between Apple, Microsoft, and Google. Of course Microsoft and Apple are vastly more established, but have current OS that must avoid doing battle with the new OS they develop. This cannibalization process may end up evening the field for Google.

Introducing the SmartClient:

Google’s initial offering isn’t expected until 2010. It will be a cross between thin clients and PCs, defined here as “smartclients”.

It has been largely believed that back-end performance would be inadequate for today’s market, but with the consolidation of various platforms that is underway, starting with gaming, this may no longer be the case.

Solving Gaming’s Problems:

Gaming’s first cycle came to an end with Atari being the last one standing. It was soon overwhelmed with low-quality games. For a short period there was one platform that everyone could focus on.

With PC gaming consistently falling short, game consoles have flourished under Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. Sony and Nintendo spawned smaller versions and there were 5 gaming platforms with a new one said to be on the way. In this system bridging 2 platforms with 1 game is near impossible.

The PC never seemed to get into the gaming world. There was hope that the PC would eventually displace the consoles, but it has never materialized. PCs and gaming systems have very different sets of strengths and weaknesses that remain in place today.

Enter the ‘SmartClient’:

Despite Apple’s avoidance of gaming, it has been the iPhone model that is currently drawing the majority of the gaming buzz. More so that both PCs and gaming systems.

The situation has not been beneficial for anyone. Developers and users all must gamble when producing and buying consoles and games on what will be the other’s choice. It has been inefficient, but it has continued to seem to be what both consumers and developers want.

Is the ‘smartclient’ the answer?

It has long been believed that evolution would go the way of PCs, and eventually TVs would be on their way out. Over time though, it seems to be going the opposite direction.

Google appears to be betting on TVs in the race in an attempt to displace Microsoft. It is depending on the development of devices that are similar to smartphones and TVs instead of the PC direction.

The computing Renaissance:

But Google will be dependant upon the new presence of the private cloud. Without it, smartclient-like devices will be relatively limited and unable to give the performance needed to compete with the PCs.

Onlive should be the first major test of whether or not the performance expected from a PC can be achieved through a smartclient type of device. If it is successful, it could possibly change gaming forever by making the gaming systems and PC gaming completely obsolete. We then would be able to have an appliance-like device complete with PC capabilities. With this we should be into the aforementioned 3rd rebirth of computers.

As of now the current crop of netbooks would be unable to make the impact necessary to start the push to the next level.

The ‘CloneCloud’ by Intel:

But the concept ‘CloneCloud’ has just been introduced. This would provide the ability to mirror the virtual polymorphic image of a low-powered desktop device, like a netbook, in the cloud, and sync the two constantly. This will provide a full on PC-type of experience, with the benefit of private cloud-type assistance. This would allow for a new world of tasks that wouldn’t even require the client PC to be turned on; only the virtual client running. You could then be able to switch between running a high level game, transcoding a movie while the third was running an intensive virus scan.

It’s hard to predict the future, especially in the tech world, but massive change is coming in the near to immediate future… Are you ready?